Last Week and Valentines

Though I never like to have Cory gone, we had a good and productive week. It was very busy to say the least. The week started off with finishing last minute preparations for New Beginnings. On Wednesday the boys received a fun package from Grandma Jones that they enjoyed opening (I enjoyed the chocolate) I guess I should have waited to have them open it on Valentines day but when I get a package, unless it says otherwise, I open it; the boys really enjoyed it.  

Brooklyn with her valentine card

In true Ethan fashion

Later that day a friend of ours invited us to come over and decorate sugar cookies. The boys were in heaven! They both got their fill of cookies and frosting and they got to play. That was really nice for us to have a little break during the week while Cory was gone.

Risa, Ethan and Briggs

Silly picture

That evening we had New Beginnings for the Young Women and it turned out really nice; thanks to all my counselors and those who helped make the evening a success. It was a nice day…busy…but nice!

That night we had a really bad storm and mother nature took care of a tree for us that was a bit homely by knocking it right out of the ground by the roots. That makes two trees in our backyard gone in the past 4 months gone.



Thursday and Friday I decided to tackle painting the downstairs bathroom, hallway and entry, and the living room. I am always amazed at what a few gallons of paint can do to transform a room. I did a little shopping for lamps and curtains and am hoping to finish it up here in the next few weeks. It is coming together. I will post pictures when I am done. We also got to talk to Cory on Skype Friday afternoon and that was nice. We also sold our refrigerator on Craigs list; love that! I took the kids on a little wagon ride and they loved it!

The kids riding the wagon.  Brooklyn loved it and Briggs loved holding her

Saturday I got some stuff done around the house and that night I was a chaparone at the youth dance and our dear friend came over to watch the kids for me. Though not an ideal get-away, it was nice to have a break. Cory got to spend Valentines day with his sister Jodi and her husband Ben in Texas. They went to a great BBQ restaurant and went a boat tour (or something like that). Even though I didn't get to be with Cory he made sure to let me know he was thinking of me and I had a really sweet note in my inbox that morning. We did go out last saturday. Cory planned a nice date for us. We went to a really nice restaurant and had an awesome steak and exceptional service. After that we went and saw Taken; it was pretty good! It was a really nice night just the two of us.

Back to this week. Sunday was of course church. The boys did pretty good. Here is a little excerpt from Ethan's journal, "Today I braved church with you three munchkins on my own and for the most part you did great. You did start a fight with Briggs over a coloring book and screamed your loudest during the mission president’s talk as I took you to the hallway, but other than that you did pretty good. Daddy has been in Texas and he usually takes you to nursery and he goes over the “rules” with you which are, “no hitting, no hugging, no kissing, no yelling, and making lots of good choices.” Well, I didn’t do that so…I went to pick you up from Nursery and you were sitting on the floor crying (in time out). When I asked what happened I was told that multiple time you were trying to hug the little kids, which was fine, but you kept knocking them over and they were hurting their heads. They had given you a couple of warnings and tried to talk to you about it but it wasn’t helping. I felt sad for you. I knew that you weren’t trying to be mean, but I also knew that they had asked you to stop and you didn’t. You really are a tender-hearted little boy."

That morning as we were getting ready I had Brooklyn all dressed up and looking so cute and Briggs said to me, "Brooklyn looks so beautiful," then he said to me, "and you look beautiful too." What a sweet little boy. He is always saying nice things about people; what a good boy.  

Here are some photos I took of Brooklyn and Briggs after church.