We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet!

Sweet Gordon B. Hinckley passed away today. I am so happy for him and so sad for us. He is such an amazing man that accomplished so much in his life. I have a hard time feeling really sad because I know how happy he must be right now as he holds his sweet wife in his arms! I am so grateful that we have faithful men to lead our church. These men give up their lives to serve us! I am so grateful for this church and the covenants we make. I am so grateful that I have the knowledge of the here after, I know that I will be with my family again! I don't know how people handle death without this knowledge! I Thank Thee O God FOR A PROPHET!

Diamonds In The Snow

Last Monday, we decided to have a picnic by the back door because the snow looked like it had diamonds in it. I always think it looks beautiful after it snows, but I have never seen it look this sparkly. I don't know if I never taken the time to notice or what, but it was gorgeous! The picture doesn't do it justice!

Dad and Kenedy eating icecream with hotfudge!

When we tell Kenedy to say cheese, she says, "Burgers Cheese!" instead of cheese burgers. So funny!

Kenedy loves to eat some (aka snow)! So when she was finished with her icecream, she asked dad for some snow! Don't worry, we have taught her to only eat white snow!

Love Is In The Air

My Greatest Valentine Ever!

Kenedy K Bird 2-11-06

Came to live with her mommy and daddy 2-13-06!

Picture taken 2-14-06 (3 Days Old)

Kathleen we are Eternally Grateful!

I Know it is still January, but Valentines is only 27 days away! Valentine's Day is one of my favorite days! I love coming up with fun things to do with Mike and now with Kenedy! However, I have only been married 6.5 years and have been in love with Mike for 10 years and I am already running out of great ideas. What is going to happen when we have been married 40 years? I thought it would be fun to share some of the fun date ideas and gift ideas that we have all done with and for our spouses and loved ones. I am also looking for a few fun Valentine traditions to do with Kenedy and our future children. Here are a few of our favorite ideas.
Dates: #1 Scavenger Hunt
One year a friend and I planned a scavenger hunt for our husbands. We sent them on a hunt around the University Mall. At each store that had to buy something for us in order to get their next clue. We sent them to Victoria Secrets, The Gap, Bath and Body, See's Candy, A flower place, and then They met us at PF Chang's. When they walked in, we played it up like they were the most thoughtful husbands to bring us all these sweet gifts! They guys had a good time with it as well!

#2 Candlelight in the Park
One year Mike surprised me and took me to the park where he had a candlelight dinner set up. The dinner consisted of Hot Chocolate and Cocoa Puffs.

Gifts: #1 Coupon Books with gift cards to dinner, movies, and his favorite stores
#2 12 days of Valentines with cards and treats and little presents
#3 A flip book that was ten things I love about you ( The answers all had candy in them. I left one every morning and then the last day I heart attacked his office and left him cute treats and with the complete book of the 10 reasons I loved him (Example: I love how you make me "Snicker"! I love your "Kissable lips"!)

Family Ideas: ( I haven't done these yet, but they are some ideas I came up with!)
#1 Letters to family members:I did this with my class when I was teaching a letter writing unit. I thought it would be fun to have a FHE on showing love to one another. For a week before Valentines or how ever many days, have each family member write a letter that contains the things they love about a specific family member and place it in the Valentine mailbox. At dinner time, choose a mail person to get the mail and deliver to the family (With little ones you could even have them dress up like a mailman). I was thinking we will do it three days before Valentines since there are three of us. This way we will all rotate so we write to each other once. In my class I made a list for each student with the names of the person they should write to so that every student got a letter each day. It made such a difference in my class for that couple weeks! Everyone tried extra hard to be nice to one another.

#2 Cookies and Heart attacks
I know this is generic, but I thought it would be fun to make sugar cookies and heart attack a neighbors front door and leave the cookies. I think it is best to pick someone you know that needs it. I am planning on reading the book, "Everybody Loves Mr. Hatch" before we do this just to remind my children that there are people out there that really think that nobody loves them or cares about them!

Thanks for reading about our fun Valentine ideas, now I need to hear yours. I need to have some new ones for the next 60 Valentines that Mike and I have ahead of us! I can't wait to hear all your fun ideas!


P.S. I read this article called, Ten Tips for a Happy Marriage, and thought I would pass it on to all my Good Friends! Happy Valentines!
http://www.ldslivingmagazine.com/articles/show/1303

Back To Second Grade!

Today I had the opportunity to substitute for the newly married Dana Sudweeks Nye. It was so much fun to be back in my element. I substitute every now and then, but this time was different. I felt like I knew my way around. A lot of the activities she uses are from the second grade back at good old Pony Express. This was the first time in a long time that my heart ached to go back to teaching. I was even contemplating on what I could do with Kenedy if I went back. Don't worry the heartache only lasted for about an hour until the 2nd graders started acting like their teacher had not been there in three days and they didn't have to listen to the stupid substitute. What a day! I was exhausted by the end, not physically from teaching, but emotionally from debating all day! There are some very strong personalities in her class. Her class reminded me of my 2nd year and 4th year classes mixed together. The Ryker and Rebecca (Teacher Friends you know exactly who these sweethearts are) from the second year and the chattiness from my 4th year! Dana is a very patient women! Of course with the bad comes the good; she has some darling students in her class. The sad thing is that the hard ones take up so much time that you forget about the well behaved ones. Kind of sad, but such is life! When I got home, I was tired and moody and I still had to fix dinner, clean-up and take care of Kenedy. I take my hat off to the women that do all of this everyday. Eventhough I am exhausted, I do believe I may head back into the teaching world again.....Someday! However, right now I am enjoying playing with, snuggling, feeding, bathing, cleaning, chasing, rocking, entertaining, and loving Kenedy! I LOVE BEING KENEDY'S MOMMY and I am grateful for hard days that remind me of this!

I AM PREGNANT!

Yeah we are finally "Pregnant"! This is what my family calls it when we get our papers turned in! Well they are in and we are just waiting and now working on the Internet stuff! I have an adoption blog started that will be linked from the LDS family website for Birth Mothers to get more information about us. Check it out! I am still working on the blog so check it out every once in awhile. I have my scrapbook page on it and I am working on getting my letter on it, but I have been running into problems. I think I figured it out. We can't wait to tell you all when our "Due Date" is! If you Know of any sweet spirits that need a home, keep us in mind!

2008!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

The best time of the year!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!