Crafts

We had a craft day with Jaron's sisters today, and I made some fun valentines stuff.

This is something I didn't make today, but I've been trying to get it to look cute for a long time. It's really not working, but I promised some people I would post it. It's supposed to be magnetic so it's super easy to change the hangy things, but that's not working either :( My mom cut the vinyl with her Cricut (I'm not sure what the font is called).

And on to the cuter stuff that I did today. These hearts came as raw wood from Hobby Lobby. I painted them and put them in a vase. I need to get some glass beads for the vase, though, so you don't get to see that part yet because it's not cute. I'm debating on repainting the middle heart, because I don't really like how it turned out.

I'm a big fan of this one. The blocks are from Hobby Lobby (if Jaron had a saw, I would totally have him cut them, but for now, I just bought them this size). The letters also came from Hobby Lobby and are made by "Spare Parts." They came in a pack with the whole alphabet and numbers.

Something I love about the size of these blocks (1 1/2") is that they fit perfect with this calendar. The calendar was something I made with the women in Jaron's family last fall. It's neat because you just flip it each day, and the big part has everyone's birthdays (don't be offended if you don't see yours for February, because I still haven't finished it!). I plan to do "spring" similar to put with the calendar.

And those are my crafts!

Reading

I've never been much of a reader. I started The Work and the Glory series and never finished. I'm only half way through the 5th Harry Potter book (and I don't remember when I started them....long long ago). I don't even want to touch the Twilight series because I know I'll never finish.

I do love kids books, and I love reading to Kaden. I'm also loving that he's loving books, so hopefully that will stick with him. His favorites right now are the Max and Ruby series, and If You Give A... series.

A few weeks ago, Jaron heard about these books:

(click the picture to go to the website for more about the books)

We had never heard of them, and thought they sounded interesting, but then didn't really think about it again. Then, for some reason, I hear about them all the time now! My cousin mentioned that her son loves to read them. Then a girl at work said her daughter loved them, too. So, we decided to head to the library last night to check out the first book (there's 3 out now, there will be 5 in the series).

Well, after I started, I couldn't put it down! I don't know what it is, but I'm addicted. It took Kaden yelling at me that he was cold (because he got out of the bathtub) to get me to put it down. Jaron started reading this morning and couldn't stop laughing. We're not that far into it, but I'm excited to read more! I know, I'm lame, I'm excited about a book about a middle-school boy. Maybe these are the kind of books I was destined to read. Why don't they write grown-up books with doodled stick figures on the pages? Text books sure would be more interesting, too!

Bubble Wrap

Just in case you were wondering, today is National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.

And, in case you're bored, enjoy some bubble wrap fun.

Broken

Jaron is officially broken. Remember me telling you about how he fell on the ice this weekend? He went to the doctor yesterday only to find that two ribs are indeed broken. He's been in a lot of pain, and he knew the only thing the doctors could do if they were broken is give him drugs. And that's all they did. He slept better last night, but he's still in pain. He isn't supposed to take the drugs during the day, unless he's off work and school, so he's just stuck with Tylenol and Ibuprofen until bed time. Fun, huh?

On top of this, I haven't felt great this week. Kaden had a stomach bug this weekend, and he finally shared with me. So, poor Kaden has been somewhat neglected by his defective parents. I guess it's Ok that it's winter, he can't play outside with this horrid inversion, and he loves to watch movies. Just trying to look at the positives.

p.s. sorry I still don't have pictures (hint hint to Ashley!)

Giveaways

This is random, but here's a couple of giveaway's I've stumbled across in the last few days. I thought I'd give you the links if your interested in entering them.

Bumbleride Indie Twin Stroller from "I Never Grew Up"

Lots of things from "Mormom Mommy Blogs"

Enjoy!

How Does That Happen?

We spent the weekend in Ely, NV (pictures and details to come later, as soon as the pictures are emailed to me). On Saturday, we went to Cave Lake to see snow sculptures. The lake is completely frozen over. We spent about an hour and half walking around on ice. Even with Jaron carrying and chasing Kaden around, no one was injured. Sure, kids fell, and of course Garth and Ashley had to play "Chicken," but there were no injuries.

Next we headed to the train depot. It was the Nevada Northern's (a steam engine) 100th birthday. Since Kaden loves trains, we thought it would be lots of fun for him to see the real thing in action. Well, it was icy, but we were trying to be careful. Again, Jaron carried Kaden around most of the time so he didn't fall on the ice or run onto the tracks. They did good for a little while, but as we were walking, Jaron slipped. He was holding Kaden, and protected him really well. Unfortunately, Jaron landed on his back, and hurt it pretty good. He was doing a little better yesterday, but he's home with Kaden today, so we'll see how that goes!

So, how is it that we can safely run around on a frozen lake for over an hour, but we can't look at a train without falling?

p.s. This is Jaron's 3rd injury of the winter season. I think it's time for him to be locked in a round padded room. Ok, maybe not. He at least shouldn't be allowed to use knives or go near ice.

Why I Love Cache Valley

So, I have nothing to blog about. It's been very uneventful since Christmas. So, I've been thinking, and decided I'm going to ramble here. As Jaron is starting to look around for jobs, I started thinking about things I would miss about Cache Valley if we leave. There's quite the list! So, enjoy my ramblings until we actually do something worth blogging about (hopefully this weekend we'll have a great adventure!)

1. Aggie Basketball
2. Aggie Ice Cream
3. Free movies on campus

(from those first three, you'd think I was still a student!)

4. The Pumpkin Walk
5. Our view and closeness of the temple
6. Homes aren't built on top of each other yet (unless it's a townhouse or apartment, then of course they are)
7. Traffic isn't even half as bad as Salt Lake
8. Hobby Lobby (if we ever move, there'd better be one close by!)
9. The Bluebird
10. Stake conference at the Tabernacle
11. Gossners (cheap cheese!)
12. Brent - he can always put a smile on my face
13. Bonnie (Kaden's daycare provider)
14. Bear Lake is close enough for a day trip
15. Salt Lake is close enough for a day trip
16. BATC offers a Photoshop Elements class for $30 that I want to take some day
17. On The Avenue - super cute craft boutique
18. The many friends we've made through work and church and school
19. Idaho is only 30-ish minutes away (if you ever just wanted to get out of Utah, just because)
20. Walking only 2 blocks to church
21. Dr. Stebel - I don't think I can have any more kids without him being my dr.
22. These mountains - yes, there's mountains in many other places, but the Cache Valley mountains are just....wow to me. I have a sweet view from my cubicle at work.
23. Having Kaden's aunt and uncle live upstairs (and they're usually willing to babysit! Thanks guys!!!)
24. Caspers - cheap Fat Boys
25. Pepperidge Farm - cheap Goldfish
26. Logan Canyon
27. Green Canyon
28. The many other canyons we have yet to explore
29. "Free" (tax funded) bus system
30. Old Main - seeing the "A" blue and knowing we won some sort of sporting event creates a sense of pride

The Beginning of the End

It's official. Jaron has started his LAST semester of school!!! He has orientation stuff today and tomorrow, then I believe Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday he'll be going to observe the teachers he'll be with so he can get a feel of where they're at in the classes. I'm just a little excited for him to be done, can you tell? Less than 4 months until Graduation!!!!

Kaden Gets in Shape

There hasn't been a day since Christmas that Kaden hasn't begged to play Wii Fit. He needs help with some of the activities, but some he can do by himself. With quite a bit of help, he currently holds the records for the Slalom and Table Balance (or whatever it's called where you have to move the table around and get the balls in the holes). He loves to play it, and it gets his energy out. It's great! Here's some video clips of him playing by himself. We're not in them because we won't allow anyone to video us doing it!