Office Party

On Saturday, Rob’s office had a party for the associates and their families at Dave’s and Buster’s. It’s sort of a cross between a bar, a casino (only in decorative atmosphere, there’s no gambling or smoking), and Chuck E Cheese. There are some party rooms with pool tables and a little buffet, a restaurant and bar section, and then the game room. There were traditional arcade games and a lot of the ticket giving games where you basically put in a coin and watch it fall or push a button to see how many tickets you will get. It was a ton of fun! Even Hannah and Sabrina were so good and enjoyed the crazy, loud activities. Hunter and Emma tried out pool for the first time, and we did a little chatting with the adults. Then we just went crazy in the arcade.

We ended up with a ton of tickets and two people gave us their extras when they saw us with four kids. There is a little store where you can spend your tickets, and everyone got something fun to take home. In the mix, we ended up with three extra long slinkies: green, red, and purple. They were all instantly messed up as soon as they came out of the box. I spent 20 minutes untangling one for Emma yesterday, only to have her come back with a tangled mess again 2 minutes later. I looked at her like “don’t even ask” and she said, “I’m going to fix it by myself.” Smart girl. So now that I will not untangle the slinkies, I decided to try them out as art. We got a couple of digital photography books, and I tried some things I read. I still need to work on a sharper focus (time for the tripod), but I think I got some nice abstract images. I’m planning to post on the books later, after I try some more of the advice.

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Advice for Newlyweds

So, as you know my brother Matt is getting married to Ashley this August (the day after our 11th Anniversary!). I was thinking back on my engagement and remembering all of the advice I got. Ok, I don’t remember a lot of it, but it seemed like everyone I talked to had something to say ranging from: “It’s never too late to back out” all the way to: “If you focus on making the other person happy, you’ll have a wonderful marriage.”

Since we all have our own philosophies on what makes a successful marriage, I’d like to hear what some of your thoughts are. Here’s your chance to get them out!

I’ll start. Rob and I take turns saying a couple’s prayer every night. We pray for things that concern both of us, and it helps us communicate with each other as well as with Heavenly Father. Afterwards we stay kneeling and say our own personal prayers. This makes for a good balance between being united in purpose and keeping some things to ourselves.

Don’t criticize the way your spouse does a job. whether it is dishes, laundry, sweeping, mowing, or diapering babies. If it’s clean in the end who cares how it got done! (The diapering babies one stressed me out at first, but then I realized he might just say, “Fine you do it!” and then I was fine. When we were first married Rob really tried to get me to fold laundry a certain way, but I resisted and he hasn’t mentioned it since.)

And lastly, go to bed angry, but do resolve it later. Yes, I know this one goes against all logic and Rob may disagree with me on this one, but I have found that trying to work things out sometimes works best after some sleep. The rest will give you better perspective than you had at 1:00 am.

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Relief Society Quilt Square

Our ward Relief Society received a quilt from another ward a while ago. It was a gift from a woman’s mother’s ward Relief Society. Our RS presidency uses it a lot as a decorative piece on the front table during Sunday lessons. In keeping with the idea of “paying it forward” we are assembling a quilt to give to another ward too. Each sister was given a gold square and could pick blue and ivory scraps to accent their own piece.

I decided to use two hands (or parts of them) to symbolize the service that is provided through the Relief Society. There is a gold string of yarn running from one hand to the other symbolizing the unity of purpose our organization has throughout the world. I traced my own hands, ironed them on, and hand stitched the edges. I’ve never done anything like this before, so it was fun. And it turned out almost as good as in my imagination, not bad for the first try.

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My Baby Turns 1 Today

Today is Sabrina’s first birthday! She is such a cutie pie. We love our “Brina!!” Hunter already showered her with confetti before he left for school, and Emma made decorations in her bedroom. The real fun won’t really start until they get home from school and we finish the cake. Daddy has specific instructions to get home early! So the kids and I were planning on making a cake in the shape of a number 1, but I think I waited too long to take it out of the pan, and it wouldn’t come out in one piece. So instead we did a Confetti Cake! The kids all helped put on M&Ms and different kinds of sprinkles to make a fantastically decorated birthday cake.

Sabrina had a lot of fun opening presents and eating cake. Special thanks to Nana, Papa, and Aunt Erica for calling her on the phone. Also a big THANK YOU from Sabrina for the Baby Einstein DVD from Aunt Erica, Owen & Davis; and the cute spring outfit from Aunt Jeanette & Uncle Dan!

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What? Develop Photos?

I have a whole bunch of film that needs to be developed just sitting in my fridge. There must be 20 rolls. I still used the film camera a lot before I got my new digital one because the pictures were such a nice quality. Now I hardly ever use it, but still have this backlog to get through. I finally took in four rolls to Sam’s Club and got them done. (This first one is with Sabrina and Adrienne, not Hannah)

Two were the disposable cameras I gave to Hunter and Emma when Sabrina was born! They took pictures in the hospital when they would come to visit. I did this same thing when Hannah was born and loved the pictures they took. They would get things like the flowers and the dry erase board the nurse would write on, and the morphine machine. All things that help really bring back the details of the experience and see it from their point of view.

The third roll was from when Matt came home from his mission. This is the last time all of the cousins from my side were together too. The fourth one had pictures from Christmas that Hunter took with the “Cars” camera Emma gave him. I thought I’d post a few of them. I will also post some in the February Folder. Good times!

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