grandma jane

This is my friend, Jane. I love this woman.

My kids love this woman.

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The whole ward loves this woman.

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I would dare guess that the whole world would love this woman if the whole world knew this woman.

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She's one of the cutest, happiest, most positive people I've ever known. She's the kind of woman that makes you happy just by walking into the room.

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She's also one of the most selfless, giving people I've ever know.

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She has a way of making you feel like the most important person in the world when you are around to her.

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I'm learning a lot from Jane.

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Jane's moving in a few months.

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I'm moving in a few months, too.

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I'm really going to miss Jane.

twelve years

To my family:

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If there's one day of the year that I wish we could all be together, it's today. I wish we could take flowers to the cemetary together, because we probably haven't all been there together for 12 years. I wish we could do a Service Day project together to honor Dad and all he did to serve everyone around him. I wish I wasn't so far away from the rest of you.

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I feel so far away and disconnected sometimes from all of you, but I feel connected to all of you today. I've had you all on my mind a lot these last few days. I've been pretty wrapped up with my own little life lately- Matt's school, his new job, getting ready to move, keeping up with the kids, keeping up with my calling, etc. I guess what I've been feeling the last few days as I've been worrying about Brian after his ski accident and today marking 12 years since Dad passed away, is that family (meaning all of you as well as Matt and the kids) is really more important than anything else there may be vying for my time.

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I'm grateful Brian's okay. I'm grateful Grandma's home from the hospital. I'm grateful for my incredible husband and our special little family. I'm grateful for all of you. I'm grateful for Mom and the strength and inspiration and amazing example she is to all of us.

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I'm grateful for Dad. I liked how Kerri said it, "He is and always will be my one true hero". That's the way I feel too. I miss him terribly.

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I love you all.

day of rest

It's been a long week.

I just want to go to sleep.

This picture felt appropriate.

one

one butterfly birthday cake

one yellow rose from dad

one birthday balloon

one big mess

one birthday girl

one special day

where were you a year ago?

We were here.

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Welcoming our baby girl

to the family.

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What I remember most about this day:

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-Mom arriving from the airport at about 12:05 am, just in time for me to go into labor at about 12:30 am.

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-Getting poked twice for an epidural that virtually stopped my labor and numbed me from the waist up, rather than from the waist down.

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-5 hours of labor followed by the most painful, most incredible

30 minutes of my life.

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-Watching our baby girl come into this world.

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-It was love at first sight, and we've all been smitten ever since.

Happy Birthday, Liddy Lou!

Celebrating

For Valentine's Day, we got lots and lots of..

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...SNOW.

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Well, I guess it wasn't really THAT much snow, but enough to make the roads bad and schools close. It made for a GREAT day.

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In a way, it was ironic. I drove all over town Tuesday night, visiting 4 different stores trying to find Valentine's for Garrett to take to his preschool party, only to have it cancelled because of the snow.

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We ventured out into the snow Wednesday morning to visit our friend Jane, who we consider our New Jersey Grandma.

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The boys took her a flower and chocolate kisses for Valentine's Day. She sent us home with 3 sleds.

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An advantageous trade.

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Matt came home from work and we took the kids sledding. I forgot how much fun (and exhausting) that is!

After letting the kids thaw out in a warm bath, we took Valentine's goodies to Dori, who I think the boys both have crushes on. Ethan wanted to stay and have dinner with her at her house.

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Also much to our delight, we had enough snow and icy roads for Matt's 7:00 class (and presentation) to get cancelled.

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We ordered in, put the kids to bed, and turned on a movie while we ate dinner and folded laundry. Such is life...

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To get our chocolate fix for the evening, we considered going to Chili's to pick up our favorite Molten Chocolate Cake. The weather kept us in though, so instead we came up with our own chocolate creation.

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We named it:

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"Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake"

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I don't have a good picture of it because we devoured it, but I wish you could try a bite. What began as an experiment turned into something quite wonderful, if I do say so myself.

It is SO GOOD. Fresh strawberry slices baked into the rich chocolate cake, with a smooth strawberry puree whipped into a creamy chocolate buttercream glaze.

. I'm considering selling the recipe to Chili's.

February 14th

Happy Valentine's Day

new bags

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These are my new bags.

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I can't tell you how happy I am to have new bags.

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I can't remember the last time I bought a new purse. It quite possibly could be while I was still a teenager, or at least before I started having babies.

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It was certainly time to go shopping.

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I went to this shop in Little Italy that Dori sent me too. I'd been coveting her new bag and wanted one of my own. The man at the shop was totally working it to sell me the whole store.

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He complimented my shoes (my $6 clearance deal at Target), kept calling me "sweetie" and tried to convince me that I was really buying the new Prada, rather than a cheap knock-off. When I didn't like one that he showed me, he responded, "Oh, yes, I know. You're much to classy for that one. This one over here...this one looks like you".

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Right, because he'd known me for about 5 minutes. At any rate, he gave me a deal because I bought two, and I'm more excited about them than I ever thought I could be about bags.

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I hate diaper bags. I love having a cute new purse big enough for my stuff plus a sippy cup, spare diaper, a couple toys and a bag of graham crackers.

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Church bags have always been an issue for me. I feel like we take our whole apartment to church each week. Since the addition of Lydia to our family, we've been either 1) taking two diaper bags, or 2) cramming the larger of the two so full that things fall out all around the building. The new church bag was fantastic on Sunday. I had everything we needed with room to spare. Oh, and it looked fabulous with my Sunday outfit.

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Thanks be to my great husband for understanding my need to feel like a woman and not just like a mom and being totally okay with me spending too much money on a new haircut, new shoes, AND two new bags all in one week.

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I'm a new woman.

Friday Night

The Plan:

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Take turns going into the temple while the kids enjoy a dinner and movie night in the comfort of our Toyota Sienna.

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The Anticipated Result:

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Enjoy a fun evening as a family, perform service in the temple, save $50 by not getting a babysitter, pick up some dinner and dessert to go and consider it a "date night" after the kids fall asleep on the way home.

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Execution of the plan:

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made great time

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found a fantastic parking spot

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walked the few short blocks to the temple

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remembered the temple is closed until Tuesday for winter maintenance

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sigh

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walked the few short blocks back to the van

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finished feeding the kids dinner

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changed the kids into pajammies (that's what we call them)

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turned on the Cars DVD

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headed toward Little Italy

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jumped out at Regali Handbags (this gem of a shop Dori told me about)

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made a quick stop at the Cafe next door

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jumped back in the van sporting my new diaper bag replacement, a new church bag, a sun-dried tomato and mozzarella panini, and a slice of Vesuvius Pie

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shared our dinner and devoured our dessert while the kids slept the whole way home

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Success?

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Absolutely. Well, aside from not being able to go to the temple which was the main objective for the trip. Nonetheless, the kids had fun, we had fun, the food was great, we still had a "date night", and I got two new bags. Temple opens on Tuesday; wanna do it again next weekend? Absolutely.

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Highlights of the evening:

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-upon returning to the van to inform the rest of the family about the temple being closed, hearing Garrett's response, "So what are we going to do now on this lovely night?"

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-observing Matt's exceptional NYC driving skills

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-cruising through Manhattan while listening to the Bed of Roses soundtrack with an imaginary wall between us and the backseats. We would have held hands if it weren't Manhattan and Matt didn't need both hands on the wheel.

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-Vesuvius Pie

whole wheat brownies, anyone?

So, have you ever tried 'em? They're really good. They taste just the same as the white flour variety, but with a little extra kick of wholesome goodness. We made some last night and then decorated them today for our Family Night treats.

Happy February!

Here's the recipe:

2/3 cup butter

5 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces (or use the equivalent subsitute of cocoa powder and oil. 1 ounce chocolate = 3 tbsp. cocoa plus 1 tbsp. oil)

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 large eggs

1 cup whole wheat flour

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of square 9x9 pan.

2. Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool 5 minutes.

3. Beat sugar, vanilla, and eggs in bowl with electric mixer. Beat in chocolate, scraping sides of the bowl. Beat in flour just until blended. Spread in pan.

4. Bake 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack for 2 hours.

5. Frost and load on the M&M's (I suppose this is optional).

day out with mom

Today was Ethan's turn for a trip to the city. This time it was me and E,

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just the two of us.

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We went to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, had a fun lunch, and spent some time at Barnes & Noble using his gift card from Grandma Lehnhof. I love that that's what Mom does for the kids' birthdays.

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We got the book, Little Pea.

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So cute.

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We read it the whole way home while we snuggled and ate our yogurt parfait.