February is the month of the Heart

February has been a wonderful month for many many reasons, but we've had a lot of wonderful moments pull at our heart strings.  February is always bittersweet because its the month that Ryan died.  It has been 5 years this year, and that seems impossible.  But the 12th ended up being a wonderful day filled with reflections of Ryan and being able to quietly think of him and the impact he had on me.  I was able to spend the day at Camp Z with the young women from our ward on a retreat.  We snow shoed and enjoyed the beauties of Washington and I felt a strong sense of peace and love surrounded by snow and forest…two things Ryan loved.

 Uncle Jake came to visit so the rest of the weekend was full of fun and food!  The kids were pleasantly surprised to have such a warm President's Day and we had buddies over to celebrate.  I went out to find the older boys sporting their skins playing a mean game of lightning!  I love this group of boys. We are so blessed to have such good people here in Yakima and I can't wait to watch them grow up together.

 Lyv passed into full on big girl status after loosing her first tooth!  It had been loose for a while, the adult tooth was even starting to come in behind it, and I told her if she didn't get it out the dentist would.  That was all the motivation she needed.  You should have seen her…blood filled mouth, with the biggest grin proudly showing me the tooth she literally ripped out her gums!  This girl!

She got to go to a Father/Daughter Social hosted by the high school with one handsome guy!  It was such a great night for both of them. Shawn even bought her a corsage…she looked darling.

 Jack had a Valentine's Concert for the 1st Graders and was asked to play the part of the Big Bad Wolf!   He looked adorable up there and said his part perfectly.  He is such a smart cookie this one…watch out world, Jack is coming!

 Finally - what is February without our traditional 14 Days of Love via Mail….the kids love this tradition, and day 12 was "Donut" know what we would do without you, so we went in search of a donut after school.  Apparently donuts were on the brain that day because they only had these GIANT Texas sized ones left.  The kids didn't complain!