Memorial Day

Mike has a tradition on Memorial day to take the kids downtown to the courthouse. Today Madi was to tired so just Will and Mike road there bikes down. Little does Madi know that Mike took Will to Panera Bread to continue with the tradition.

So today a tv station aired a story about some family of mine. My step cousin (My grandma married her grandpa, but we have known each other since we were like 5 or something) is in the military. Her husband also is in the military. They are both deployed right now. Her aunt has taken in her kids and they did a great story on them.



There is an article from Military.com about her husband and some of the things he has been doing.


http://www.military.com/news/article/despite-doubts-troops-save-afghan-boy.html?wh=wh

Testimony of the Book of Mormon

Madi at the Talent Show

Madi tried out for the Talent Show and made it! She was so excited! Her Piano teacher came and they played together. She did a really good job.

A New Excercise Adventure

So March is my birthday month. And this year I knew I was ready for a change. I want to improve my life and I know that it won't happen over night (no matter how much I would like for that to happen)! So I made a commitment to myself that March was the month to make the resolutions to take the time for ME and try to improve those things that I feel need improvement. So I was looking a book I bought a while back and realized that it has 31 chapters and at the end of each chapter is a exercise to work on.

I was like oh I can do that through the month of March!! Yea. So upon reading the introduction, sure enough that is exactly what she suggests!! And as some of you may know I love Emily Watts!! She is and has been such an inspiration to me.

So today I started my journey this month. You can read about it here if you would like. Now to be fair to the author I will only have the chapter title. I will work on the suggested exercise at the end of the chapter and writing my thoughts. I suggest you go and get this book! Or any of the many Emily Watts books! Really go get one they are that good!!

Look who is being all crafty!!

So it is valentines day! Happy Valentines Day to you!! Over the last couple of days we have been in full valentines day mode. Madi had found these cute crafts to make at Michael's Crafts and Gifts. She was really excited about making them for her class mates. She also wanted to do regular valentines day cards as well. Good thing we had two days off of school so she could get them all done!!




For the kids teachers I found this idea from Martha Stewart. It was for Christmas cards so I just adapted it for Valentines Day. The Teachers loved them. There are 24 kids in each of their classes so I put 24 clothes pins on.

Two years ago we made Paint can Valentine holders and Madi loved hers. It was getting to be all beat up and she wanted a new one. So Here is Madi's!And Here is Will's
I was at Will's party so I walked down to see Madi and her teacher had already hung her wreath. I guess the kids were really excited to place there card on the wreath. Doesn't it look great!!

On Saturday the kids have basketball games. We were in charge of Will's treat. So I found this
project. We made them for Will's teammates and Madi's. I had so much fun making them we decided to make them for their Sunday primary classmates too. It was fun watching all the kids "rock" out to them!!
Breakfast was fun today. Mike made Pink milk! (can't rellay tell but it is pink and strawberry! YUM!)

I made Toast and eggs. It was fun! I thought it was a cute idea!
I even had fun with the sausage! At church today we had a speaker talk about love and how appropriate it was that the theme this week was love. He told the story of St. Valentine. I think I found the story that he read.

St. Valentine's Story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.

Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.

I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.

One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."

I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!