Four Jingle Bells

Our neighbor, Tom, was planting new grass and would have his sprinklers going alot.  The kids went over and road bikes and rollerblades through them. He is such a great neighbor. Doesn't even mind! Blake and Hailey got up early on Mother's Day and made me a delicious breakfast, with the best waffles I've ever had!  This is the first year they have made something from a real recipe! It was fun for everyone. The kids had a super secret project for me and I wasn't allowed to look under the kiddie pool for a week.  It turned out to be a pond, named Lake Heather.  I love it.  They got me a new pot for one of my plants and some fun cookies supplies. They got me some chocolate too, which I hid and they found.  But luckily, they left me three squares. ha.  We went to a BBQ with our friends, the Willsons, that night. It was a great day.  I love being mom to these kids.  They teach me much more than I teach them! We went on a walk for Mo...

Brooke being adorable. Dad playing chess with Spencer. Sometimes this ends in tears. (Spencer's not Dad's) but we're working on that.  Spencer is quite the chess player. He is figuring out lots of good moves and takes his time.  He is lucky to learn from Dad, the chess master, who learned from the players in Spain. Brooke and I were snuggling one day after church. She said her picture below was her favorite one of us. We got it in our heads one Sunday that we needed to make donuts. I am not a good donut baker so we went with a youtube video on how to make the best donuts. Spencer was a great help.  Everyone loved them. We have had an awkward seating situation in our front room since it is such a long room.  I discovered a scratch and dent shop out of an old barn, where we got these great chairs for a great deal. And no scratches or dents!   Blake and I went to The Cheesecake Factory before we saw Garth Brooks one night.  This wa...

 Blake hurt his back helping someone move so he told the kids to walk on his back to help it.  They were happy to help.  Interesting chiropractic practice.  We visited the Nauvoo temple for a long weekend to get away for a little bit.  We hadn't gone away since October and it was so nice to escape.  The tulips around the temple were amazing.  There were so many and it smelled so good!  There are no sunsets as beautiful as the Nauvoo sunsets! The fields were covered with these purple flowers.  They were everywhere!   I hope so much that someday we will all be in the temple together.  We made a goal to get to the temple once a month, rain or shine, summer or winter.  We live three hours away but we really want the kids to understand the importance of the temple and it's never too far to serve in the temple.  They all wanted individual pictures this time.  And then they said I needed...