A Story About Flowers

A long, long time ago there was a man who sent beautiful yellow roses to a woman.  He didn't send them once, or twice, he sent them quite a bit.  The man and the woman got married and eventually had a discussion on the price of flowers versus how long they lived.  Being the frugal people they were, they decided to omit the practice of buying flowers and spend the money elsewhere.  This was the standard practice until...

...February 13th!!  That's when Dave, um..I mean the man, brought home flowers to me, uh, the woman (the man never could wait to give surprises, always likes to be early!).  Well, they were beautiful and the woman was so surprised!  She carried the flowers around while she searched for a vase.  The flowers went with her to the storeroom, no vase.  Laundry room, no vase.  Ahh, cabinet over the wall oven!  No vase.  Craft room? No vase.  Guest room closet??  No vase.  Under the sink maybe?  Nope.  No vase.  It seems as though the man and woman had been so good at the practice of not buying flowers that the woman saw no need to keep a large vase when previously cleaning out cabinets.  Alas, all she could find was a pitcher.  It would have to do because her pretty blooms were getting quite thirsty!  So, the beautiful bouquet rested comfortably there until it could bloom no more - which was about a week later.  The woman was so happy with her flowers and now wonders if the "no flowers" agreement is now back on for another 10 years!

Well, if it is, that's fine.  The man has never stopped the practice of making the woman breakfast and dipping strawberries in chocolate on special occasions...and she is not offering to negotiate giving that up for flowers!

Oh how the woman loves her man!!

Birthdays, Byes and Boys

The first birthday in the year for our family belongs to Kendal!!  So, we celebrated her big number "2" with one of her favorite foods - pizza!

After stuffing ourselves with pizza, it was soon time to do the celebratory singing of song!  Watch this video and look at her eyes - it seems as though she's unsure of what's happening or we aren't singing that well!  She's OK, though, when it comes time to blow out the candle!

With the song done, it's time to bring on the cupcakes!  She's lovin' the icing!!

While the sugar-high is raging, it's time to open the mountain of gifts.  She "read" each card - OK, Mommy read it - carefully and then proceeded to open!

We had a wonderful time and loved celebrating with our beautiful little Kendal!

Before we get on to the "bye" part of this post, wanna see one of my Christmas presents?  It's a lovely, heavy pot that is good for soups and pot roasts!  I love it!  Here it is with some corn chowder in it...

The Czech gang stopped back by after their Cancun trip before heading over the Atlantic.  Sofia is showing Daddy her baby and Daddy is showing Sofia his baby - Bremen!

And now we all sit together!!

All too soon, it's time for the goodbyes. 

It's kind of sad to think we won't see Sofia (and Alena) for a very long time now.  This living so very far away thing doesn't work - at least for me.

Then, the end of January brought......wait for it........my yearly date with the Stake's 8-10 year old boys...the Pinewood Derby!!  Here are some pictures of the day's event.

Here's the help - Vonnie, Phyllis, me - and the Pit Crew - Dave!!

The screen projected the winners and times of each run - down to the 10,000th of a second!  The dads were really into that!

We finished the day with trophies and treats!  Donuts were the "spare tires" and the treats were NASCAR cups filled with candy and their ribbons.

Everyone had a good time and the boys were as cute as could be!!  (Anyone want to guess who this is?)

A New Year!

We celebrated the New Year early in the evening with the kids.  Sparklers, glow necklaces and horns were enjoyed by all!

We went to the zoo to soak up some Arizona sunshine while the folks from cold climates were here.  We started our visit with a train ride.

Who would have thought ducks would be an interesting stop at the zoo!








Kangaroo baby!!





The baby komodo dragons were a hit!

My little pearl!!

I didn't know nuts came in clam shells!










Sofia loved the goats....









and so did Lexi!







This poor goat left right after the picture was taken.  I think he felt a little threatened.






Lexi shares her lunch with Papa.

The gang!!

Monkeys......
watching monkeys!!







Of course, you know we had to do rockets!

The launcher.

The audience.

Jon has his arms full of sweetness!!

If there is a baby in the house, there will be ice cream offered - that's just a Papa rule!

And all too soon, it was time to go home.  The Idaho gang took off for Idaho and the Czech bunch took off for Cancun for a short trip before hopping across the pond.  (Don't have pics of the Cancun departure!)

It WAS fun and I'd love another visit right now - somebody just has to convince Jon to fly again...