New Beginnings-Black & White

Tonight was our annual New Beginnings for the Young Women. The theme was Black and White and there were two excellent talks given by Sis. Crawford and Sis. Rowland on how to make the correct choices in this "black and white" world.

This year was so exciting for Britnee. Since she will be turning 12 in September, she got to come and be introduced. Here is what her proud mother wrote about her:

Britnee McMullin is the 2nd daughter of Matt and Tara McMullin. she is a very happy, intelligent child who has an infectious smile and is always looking for ways to serve others.
Britnee loves to read, draw, dance, and solve crimes with her CSI kit.
Summer is her favorite time of year and she swims like a fish.
Her favorite food is meat loaf and chicken alfredo.
Britnee makes friends easily. She has a strong testimony and is an example to those around her.
She's working very hard on the last few requirements for her Faith in God and is excited to move on to Young Women's and spend more time with her sister Jaycee.

It's not too hard to brag on Brit, she's such a great girl. It was especially fun to have both of our daughters with us tonight. What a great evening!

Diggin' Out

Wow! What a storm we've had. Over the past 10 days we've had 31 and 1/2 inches of new snow. About 10 of those inches fell last night. The sun rose bright and sunny this morning so we've spend today digging out.
I wanted to get some facts about our snow falls so I called our local weather guy. He told me that the measuring stick at his house last year at this time read 16 inches on the level. This year it's reading 33 inches. More than double.
Either way, we have some snow here. Britnee spent the day with grandma Sony so Jaycee and Cody were on snow removal duty. Cody didn't mind helping at all.

The little tractor wasn't quite cutting it, so Matthew got out the back hoe to try and get to the top of ever growing snow piles.


It's no surprise that I'm not a big fan of winter, but it isn't supposed to be spring just yet, and this has been a pretty fun weekend. The sun is out and we are all having fun playing in the snow.

Cody's 1st Blue & Gold Banquet

Tonight was Cody's very first pack meeting and since February is the Cub Scouts birthday, he got to also participate in the Blue and Gold Banquet. The whole family was invited. We had soup in bread bowls and made things from marshmallows and toothpicks.

Gabe, Emilio, and Cody are like the three musketeers~they do almost everything together. Emilio and Cody both got introduced at this pack meeting and Cody got to show that he can already say his name in sign language, thanks to Sis. Stacy.

This scout thing is so new and foreign to me. I don't know the first thing about it. But Cody is so excited he can hardly stand it and can't wait for next months pack meeting~The Rain Gutter Regatta. Hopefully Matthew remembers how to make a boat.

Compliments Are in Order

Jaycee got a note card in the mail this week from the school. The title was "Compliments Are in Order~ Your Student Needs to be Commended For:
~maintaining her grade point average
~working hard everyday
~having a positive attitude
Then at the bottom the counselor also wrote: You are awesome Jaycee! Thanks for all your hard work! Keep it up!!
Jaycee has really been working hard at school and I'm so thrilled to see these things come home in the mail.
Great job Sweetie!!!

A Whole Lotta Love

This year as I was taking down all of the snowmen I realized that my Valentine decor was quite sadly lacking. So I called Wendy in Salt Lake and asked if she could pick me up a couple pieces of wood hearts.
Boy did she ever. I brought home several little valentines projects, ready for paint and personality. The girls were so excited to help so we had quite a little craft fair the other night.

With a little help from Josey and her nifty vinyl cutter, I was able to add a few additions to my Valentine decor.
The little dog holding a heart was a gift from Matthew on our first Valentine's Day together.


I ended up with way more in the way of decor than I'd originally planned. Not to worry though, one can never have too much LoVe in their home.

The Birthday Boy

Our Cody is now 8 years old. His birthday was on the 10th and he had a wonderful day. Bret and Heidi came down and Cody thought that was the best. Uncle Bret made ribs for him and they rivaled any restaurant.
Did I mention? This boy REALLY loves ribs.

He got a new Nintendo DS for his birthday and an Oreo Ice Cream cake to share with his daddy. And to top off this awesome birthday, Cody went to Scouts for the first time. What could be better than that?

Bandito Rides Again

Since we discovered Pickleville Playhouse a couple of years ago, it's become one of our families summer favorites. Last summer, Matt and I went for our anniversary and again at the end of the season with the kids for Jaycee's and Britnee's birthday. We bought the soundtrack that they had for sale and the kids have about worn it out listening to it over the past six months.
So in November when we bought tickets for the Christmas show, we also bought tickets for this performance and give them as part of the kids' Christmas.
We have all been looking forward to today. Jaycee came to Logan early this morning and did Baptisms for the dead with the ward youth and Matt, Cody, Britnee and I came down and picked her up. We bought some new boots for Cody's birthday and ate pizza for lunch.

The show started at 3:00 and the kids sang along with every word. It was a wonderful performance.
I'm so glad for things like this that allow us a chance to spend time together as a family and laugh and have fun in the process.