Baptisms for the Dead

Saturday March 7th Paul and I took Nicole and Amy to the San Antonio Temple to do baptisms for the dead.  This was Nicole's first time and Amy's second time--but her first time bringing family names!  We were so excited to be a part of this special day.

Jell-O Party

March 1st was a special day for us, or rather it was a special day for our sister Nicole.  March 1st marked her one-year anniversary of being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She had given a talk in church a couple weeks before that and mentioned that.  When she said that, the idea came to my mind that we needed to go something to celebrate.  I talked with Paul about it and we came to the conclusion that we would host a JELL-O party in honor of her.  We happen to know that she love JELL-O--and did, long before becoming a Mormon!  :D  So we thought it would be fun to have a JELL-O dessert potluck.  We invited a few friends who have helped her in this journey and told them to keep it a secret-we wanted to surprise her.  We had invited her to our home Sunday evening for some JELL-O, and so that's what she thought it was--just us and some dessert.  Little did she know that we had 20+ people waiting there to congratulate her!

When she finally arrived--we had told her a later time than everyone else to make sure everyone was there before her--she was completely surprised!

President's Day

Mark and Bonnye came up from San Antonio to spend President's Day weekend with us.  We were happy to host them--and Frodo!  Sunday night we finished off the oil and cheese fondues, but again were so full that we didn't eat the chocolate.  The next morning we decided that it was time:  so we ate chocolate fondue for breakfast!

It was really yummy--and yes, Bonnye is hiding under her sweater.  She said no pictures can be taken of her in the morning... :D

Valentine's Day Part 2

Playing mini golf took most of the morning and early afternoon.  When we got home, we relaxed a bit--we weren't used to being in the sun that long since it's been cold.  I even got slightly sunburned.  (But that isn't too hard for me.) :D

Paul went grocery shopping in preparation for his part of the day.  While we waited for that to be ready, our neighbor Judy stopped by.  She had a little something for us and asked Glenn if he would be her Valentine!  So sweet!

Valentine's Day Part 1

When talking about Valentine's Day, I told Paul that I had an idea for the morning.  He was good with that because he had plans for the evening.  Perfect!

My plan was to get special Valentine doughnuts from Krispy Kreme.  Yum yum!

February Fun

February came so fast!  January was full of fun and February was no less busy, perhaps even busier!  The days and weeks seem to fill up so fast that before I know it, the month is over!  That definitely happened with February.  Not just because it is a short month, but also because we had so many fun activities and things going on.  

Remember last March when I posted a video of Glenn reading his first chapter of the first Magic Tree house book?  Well Glenn finished the entire series at the beginning of this month!  All 52 books!!  And actually a new book--a Super Edition--came out in January 2015 and he read that one too!  He probably could've completed the series in January or possibly December, but every time we went to the library, the last books were checked out; then we went on vacation and didn't read as much.  But when we got back, we made it a priority to get the last books read!  

Congratulations Glenn!!  That's 53 books in less than 52 weeks!

(Plus that doesn't count all the other books he's read.  He also started a new series called A to Z Mysteries and had read a few of The Secrets of Droon.  Plus a ton other books too.) 

He is a great reader and we are so proud of him!!

A Date in Downtown Austin

On the evening of January 24th, Paul and I again headed downtown-this time for a triple date with some good friends in the ward.  We got tickets to see Brian Regan and we were so excited!!

We started off the evening carpooling down together--quoting Brian Regan practically the entire way. :D  We got some pizza at Home Slice.  It was so busy and crowded, so we had to walk across the street where they had More Home Slice--a place where we could get individual slices a lot faster.  

A Day in Downtown Austin

January 24th we headed downtown again, this time for a Kid's Spring and Summer Camp Fair.  We wanted some information about possible things that Glenn could do here in Austin and the surrounding areas.  We parked the car on the top level of the parking garage and had this great view of the buildings downtown.

A Day at Zilker Park

We had a beautiful day mid-January and we took advantage of it by going to Zilker Park.  We wanted to ride on the Zilker Zephyr--the little train that goes around part of the park.  

Back at Home in January

We sure had a great time in Utah and on the way home, but it also felt really good to be home too. 

One of the things we missed was having Monday dinners and Family Home Evenings with Nicole!  We were happy to be back and have her in our home again.  We also got to have the sister missionaries over one Monday.  We have loved having them frequent our home as well.   

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Tuesday January 6th we made our way over to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

White Sands National Monument

We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Savage's house around 9pm Saturday January 3rd.  It was nice seeing them on our trip too.  Cheryl and Grandpa Dennis also went down there so we saw them again.  They left Sunday morning before church and we went to church with Grandma and Grandpa.  When we picked Glenn up from Primary, he said that he wanted to come back.  We were glad he had such a good time.  He said, "They said I was really smart and a good boy, so I want to come back!"  :D

We spent the rest of the day visiting, playing games and eating good food.  The next morning we headed out by about 9:30am.  We were sad our visit couldn't be longer, but we were grateful to see them!  We sure love you both!  Thank you for letting us stay with you!

Hoover Dam

January 2 we left Layton, stopped in Lehi to caravan with Gramma J--Paul went in her car and Glenn and I were in the CR-V.  We drove down to St. George and spent the night at her house there.  Audrey and Lane had also come down and were spending the night there too, so we had another fun night of family and games.  We had dinner together and played Qwirkle, Fantasy Forest and Dominoes.  It was a fun evening.

The next morning Gramma J wanted us to stay and visit longer.  We wanted to, but we had a long way to go.  And Glenn was really struggling to breath.  She has a cat and Glenn's allergies was making it really difficult for him to be comfortable.  Sorry Gramma!  We sure loved spending the time that we could with you!  We love you and are grateful you opened up both your homes to let us stay with you!

One of the fun things about driving to and from Utah from Texas has been the opportunity to see things along the way.  We took the fast way going there, but because Paul had some extra vacation days from work, we decided to make the most of it.  We took a slight detour over into Nevada to see Hoover Dam.  

Leftovers of December 2014

Before heading to Utah, we opened a gift from Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Robyn.  It was a huge Generation Map.  It's incredible the work they've done in connecting so many of their ancestors!

Tree House Children's Museum

On December 30th, we braved the very cold, very windy day to meet Lena and her kids at the Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden.  Before leaving, Glenn and Paul helped with some snow shoveling.  Again, I watched from inside.  It was too cold for me!  The temperature was in the low teens and the wind was blowing at 24 mph with gusts up to 50 mph!  Brr!  We could see the snow blowing off the tops of the mountains when we were inside the building.

Paul's Birthday

Sunday was Paul's birthday.  After church I made grilled cheese sandwiches on Mom's new griddle.  It was a lot easier making several sandwiches at the same time!  Cheryl came up in the afternoon and spent the day with us, playing games and talking.  That evening we had a few other guests.  We also invited Clarisse and her family to come, but weren't sure if they would make it.  Clarisse was having some pregnancy pains, but they eventually came.  Before they did, our best friends, the Jardines, stopped by.  They were on their way south from Logan.  Since we hadn't heard from Clarisse at that point, we invited them to have dinner with us.  So then when Clarisse's family did arrive, we had a full house and a great dinner party!

Games and White Elephant Party

On Saturday the 27th, we had a scheduled game day at Mom and Dad's.  We didn't get started as early as we all would've liked, but that's how it goes.  We did get in a few games though and that was fun.  Paul, Kirsta and Morian played Dominion in the front room.

The Day after Christmas

The day after Christmas was a good, lazy day.  We played games, relaxed on the couch, read and lounged most of the day.  

Anyone remember the game Mall Madness?  Well we still had it in and Glenn wanted to play.  After digging out the old and rusted batteries, Dad was able to get the game working again.  We were so excited!  Hearing "Attention Mall Shoppers, there is a clearance..." brought back so many memories!  It was a lot of fun!

Christmas Day

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Christmas Eve

After spending the morning and afternoon in Provo, we headed north to Clarisse's house to spend Christmas Eve with them and Cheryl. Glenn had fallen asleep in the car so when we brought him into the house he was still kind of sleepy.  His cousins, Evelyn and Felicity, wanted to play but he wasn't quite ready.  They climbed on him and gave him kisses and got right in his face.  He isn't used to that, but he took it well.