Feb stuff

I swear, I can't keep up!  Time just keeps rolling by!!!  Here are a few highlights from February~~

Super Bowl singing time!!  The kids LOVED this!

When the weather's nice, what else would you do but run around on the trampoline in your undies??!

Cheapest gasoline has been in YEARS!!!
I remember when I first got my car before college and gas was less than $1/gal!

Filled the WHOLE Suburban tank for just about $30!!  Amazing!

Blake's science fair project on fracking.  Don't know what fracking is?  Neither did I.
((Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground
at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside.))

Off to the school daddy-daughter dance!! 

She didn't take one bite of her enchiladas but she had no problem
eating sour cream by the spoonful, straight from the container!

Cutest workout buddy -- doing a little bit of weights before she's off to ballet.

Blake's basketball team fought hard this season and come out on top!  Way to go, Celtics!!
Championship game was played at US Airways center where the Phoenix Suns play.

Both boys ended up 1st place in their division this season!!

I was in charge of Brooklyn's Valentine's Day class party.  I came up with a few Minute To Win It style games that fit the V-day theme.  The kids had a lot of fun!!

Oh dear, this little miss was having quite a day.  She apparently wasn't happy that she had to be buckled in and proceeded to get out of her carseat several times in a row.  I have NEVER had one of my kids do this!  I pulled over each time and strapped her back in, which made her even more mad!!  

DARLING bracelets that all the YW received at New Beginnings
The 2015 youth theme is "O ye that embark in the service of God" D&C 4:2 

2/3 of the bishopric +1 showed up to the adult session of stake conference in matching ties!

Just because she's SO.DARN.CUTE!!!

My super awesome, thoughtful friend Shelbi dropped by this goodie bag for me before the half marathon!!!

White & Gold? Or Blue & Black? #dressgate

This was THE craziest thing I have ever heard of.  Someone took a (poor) photo of a dress and asked whether it was blue and black or white and gold.  It went viral all over the internet, Facebook and other social media.  We went to Walgreens that night and heard other people talking about it.  Some saw blue and black and others argued it was white and gold.  People were seriously getting in debates over the stupid dress!!

 The memes were the best.

Well, the local news stations were all over this, of course, and called up Southwestern Eye Center to have a professional come and set the record straight so naturally, they sent Matt. ;)  The bulk of his day was running back and forth to a few news studios and one came to them at the office.   (these are pics of the tv screen)

So funny.  I'll never get sick of seeing him on TV!! #hesfamous

A Couple of Metal Mouths!

The time has finally arrived!  The dentist recommended we make a consult with an orthodontist for Brooklyn & Gavin.  I didn't realize either of them had issues so I was surprised!  Brooklyn was moping about the idea of getting braces, but once we visited the office, she was all set and ready to go!  We decided to go with Garn & Mason out here in Queen Creek.  The kids were WOWed by the office!! They have such fun incentive programs for the kids for keeping up on their hygiene and compliance where they can earn tokens to buy things like movie tickets or even an iPod!! They have a no-wait policy for appointments, the staff is all SO friendly and happy and they have a video game area the kids can hang out until they are called back.

Brooklyn has long-since lost all her baby teeth so they suggested going straight into braces for Brooklyn to correct both overbite and overjet.  For Gavin, they recommended a double helix expander to correct a crossbite and widen his mouth to make room for the crowded adult teeth that are still waiting to come in.  This is far different from the palate expander I had to have when I was in 7th grade that I had to crank with a little key!  I still remember the pain and torture of that evil device!

We set up our BIG DAY appointment and got both of them going with treatment.  Brooklyn will have braces for 2 years and Gavin will have the expander for a year and then we'll see where we go from there.  Thankfully our HSA is very healthy and we were able to pay in full up front for both kids' treatments.  I told Matt we should just plan on all our kids needing braces and if they don't, we can be excited about that!

THE Most Amazing Valentine's Date!!

Valentine's Day, ahhhhhhh.  I'm still not sure how this whole thing came about, but we had a plan with the Andersons, Madsens and Owens and the guys told us they were taking care of it all.  A woman's dream!!!

First of all, the ladies were instructed that we must leave the house and get a pedicure.  No arguing with that!!

We came back to this lovely dressed table and the guys scurrying about, finishing up the meal they had prepared, entirely on their own.

And it just keeps getting better.

Chocolate fondue for dessert!!

We then proceeded to play some games.  First, we headed out to the backyard where we had to get a balloon from our feet to our heads WITHOUT using our hands.  Matt's idea.  It was HILARIOUS!  Especially for Shelbi, who was at a bit of a disadvantage being 7 months pregnant!

Madsen's take two--

Since the photo booth was still set up from Brooklyn's party the night before, we did some pictures!

We stayed up waaaaaay too late, chatting, playing games, laughing til we cried.  It was SUCH a fun night!!  I'm grateful that we have good friends in the ward that we enjoy spending time with!  I seriously don't remember a more fun Valentine's day!