Margaret's 70!

We woke up this morning and quietly tried to surprise Margaret with some cinnamon rolls we picked up the night before. She was so darling making such a fuss over our simple little birthday gesture. It made me so anxious for her to see all that we had in store for her at our family party. Steve, Margaret, Aaron, and I went for a nice walk together. Then Aaron and I left for a bit to run some errands for the party. We bought some beautiful white roses at Costco--5 dozen for the program.

We returned to Heber to get ready and drive to Jackson's championship game in Salt Lake. Even though they lost, Jackson's 34 yard kick was really exciting. He scored the only points for his team during the game.

Then we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Everything was stunning. Susan made beautiful favors, Kelly-- beautiful name tags and framed photos, Stacy-- lovely centerpieces, AnnDee brought some touching quotes, and Lindsay---a gorgeous cake. Everything was perfect. The play we performed, "This is Your Life Margaret Nadauld", was so fun and entertaining and the guests we invited were such a surprise to Margaret.

I think she loved every second of it. My favorite parts were the amazing missionary quartet and Kelly's touching slideshow, The Geneva missionaries were a huge surprise and their professional voices were stunning. They sang a medley in French and there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

I am so grateful to have such a remarkable mother-in-law.

College Bound and Utah Bound

The kids dressed up in all their BYU clothing for their final day of school spirit week--college bound day. Aaron and I drove to Portland and arrived in Salt Lake around 10pm. The trip was so simple without any kids and it felt like we were honeymooners again. I'm feeling grateful for every mile we've traveled and for all that's still in store.

Leopard Leaves and Crazy Hair

I tried to make the kids' hair crazy for spirit week without making it too difficult for Mary to run at P.E. It's not that crazy, but the do's will do. Nikki found a cool leaf she called a leopard leaf. I thought it was so cute.

Pears are good for...

removing front teeth. They're soft enough to be gentle, yet firm enough to give it a good yank. I'm excited to no longer look at it dangling and wiggling all over.

Swinging Superheroes

Yesterday Aaron, Josh, and Ben put a tire swing together on the front pine tree. The kids played on it all evening. When they got up this morning and got dressed as superheroes for spirit week at school they decided to test the capes out.

Singing is for the birds...

and mice!

Sarah gave the kids little animal masks to wear when they sang their best at primary today. I love these little singers of mine. They also sang happy birthday to Nicole today. Boy was she happy about that.

Cozy

I can't recall the last time we had such a carefree Saturday. I felt uneasy and confused with the empty schedule on my calendar--no sports, no church activities, no birthdays, no pressing errands or assignments...nothing. It was almost paralyzing charting out the order of the "Things I'd Love to Do" list. What was definitely not going to be done right away was getting dressed at 5am. Nope! Not only was there no seminary to prepare for, but knowing that I would have two weeks off completely emptied my mind!

So, I puttered around on the computer ordering Christmas cards, doing minimal house work, and you know...feelin' giddy. Elise slept over last night so the kids were very entertained. Around four o'clock we ran a couple of errands before returning home to watch the BYU game with some of the cousins. They all snuggled up in front of the fireplace in these fuzzy blankets. And it just made me feel all cozy.

I'd love more cozy Saturdays like this one.