1st Quarter Round Up in Pictures

I have not blogged in so long, here are the pictures on my computer that show what we have been doing this year so far.

We started 2011 with our friends, the Baldwins, beating on pans outside at midnight.

On Friday, January 7th we celebrated Rachel's 9th birthday at Disneyland.

We also celebrated little Joshua's birthday (he shares Rachel's birthday).

Rich with our beautiful girls at Disneyland.

The girls in Long Beach in January.

Bekah at Fort Mac in February.

Abby and Emma at a tea party in February.

Hannah at the tea party.

We were able to help Nathaniel celebrate his 5th birthday in February.

Abby going after the piñata.

Hannah after trying to hit the piñata.

Rachel with the piñata.

Bekah after she won musical chairs.

The kids at the party.

My first Valentine's Day gift from Rich.

We made waffles and chicken the next night for dinner.

Richard also surprised us and took us to San Diego for a night.

Rich's Mom also joined us for our special night in San Diego.

We stayed in Little Italy. What a wonderful place with so much to discover.

Rachel, Hannah and Bekah at a park next to our hotel.

Abby being Abby at the park.

Rich and his Mom at the park.

The next morning we had delicious bagels in Little Italy.

Nana and Rachel at the bagel shop.

Abby at the bagel shop.

Hannah and Abby collecting sticker balls in Heritage Park.

Rich and I in Heritage Park.

In front of the Mormon Museum.

Nana panning for gold at the Mormon Museum.

Hannah panning for gold.

Bekah and Abby panning for gold.

A lizard Rich caught outside of Old Town Cafe in San Diego.

On March 3rd I was able to celebrate Tanya's birthday with Linda and Ruby too.

Not wanting Tanya's tiara to go to waste, I took her to Sam's for some more pictures.

She was a good sport.

She has adapted well to California weather. Boogie board and flip flops.

On Friday, March 4th

Richard and I were able to attend

the 25th Anniversary Banquet for

The Master's Seminary.

This is the only picture of us from the night. Unfortunately, it is blurry.

Air Force One above the tables (1000 people were there to celebrate this milestone).

Marine One (Our table was right next the nose)

Ronald Reagan's grave.

Rich next to a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Just a random squirrel I took a picture of at home.

Well, that is the highlights of the last three months in our lives. Hopefully, I can keep up with this in the future.

Valentine's Day Recap

Our Valentine's Day Dinner

Well, we had our annual Valentine's dinner. As I mentioned before we invited our single friends over to share the night with us. We ended up with 6 friends joining us. Our Valentine's dinner was never so lively, Pete can make anybody laugh I think. After dinner we played a couple of games and did the mailbox. I gave my girls an hour and a half earlier in the day to make all the cards and they still ran out of time. But our guests had plenty of cards to take home.
There were a few things I learned on Valentine's Day this year:

1. Simpler is better. I started off wanting to make an elaborate meal for our friends and realized quickly that it was not going to happen. Too much stress.

2. It is hard to make a meal that does not include garlic or onions.

3. I thought I was serving others, but God used our friends to totally bless me. As we sat around the table just talking, I just kind of sat back and looked around and thanked God for all our friends.

Thank you Pete, Elisabeth, Amy, Grace, Julie and Ricky for making our day so special. We love you all.

For My Sweet Valentine.

My Dearest Richard,

I want to say Happy Valentine's Day to you and thank you for being such an amazing husband. I honestly could not imagine my life without you.
I am putting your Valentine on my blog, so everybody will know I love you. Plus I can do this better than draw you a picture. We both know you are the artistic one and I am the social one.

Richard, I love you because:

• You are my best friend (I am happy just hanging around with you).

• You have given me 4 beautiful girls.

• You make me laugh.

• You protect me from others and from myself.

• You still give me chills when you kiss me.

• You chose me to be your wife.

• You comfort me when I am sad.

• You constantly challenge me to be a better follower of Christ.

• You are a man of integrity.
  

There are so many other reasons I love you, but this is enough for the world to see.
I love you more and more each day. I truly thank you for making my life so complete.