Easter 2012

 Easter this year was AWESOME!  We had such a fun day.  Church was wonderful, the kids had a fun time doing Egg hunts and we had some amazing food with family.  Great day!

Cruisin' Mexico

We had a fantastic trip to the Mexican Rivera with the Felt Family.  For Christmas this year my generous parents gave us a cruise for the entire family.  We were thrilled to have some time with the Arizona Cousins and a chance to make some great memories.  We all got to LA where our boat left and we boarded the "Ship Hotel", as Jackson has named it and we were off.  Cruising is a nice way to travel, but I was surprised at how nice it was with small children.  The Cruise line was extremely accommodating for  families with small children.  We had a couple stops in Mexico- one was Cabo San Lucas, we were there for two days and then we stopped in Puerto Vallarta.  We had lots of great beach time.  The kids played and played.  We built sand castles, then smashed the sand castles.  My favorite part was watching Parker run into the cold water and then hurry out and lay face forward into the sand, grab a big handful to get warm and then he'd run back into the water. We rented a wave runner one day which was a lot of fun.  And we found fish tacos everyday for lunch.

Our time on the ship consisted of playing in the pool, then hanging out on the splash pad, taking naps and playing cards.  We had a great trip and we wish we were back sitting on the beach enjoying some family time. Some of my favorite memories from the trip were playing cards with the entire family, eating delicious food and listening to Parker talk about his "cycle bike".  Thank you mom and dad for making this trip possible!  We cashed in some fun tickets and made some incredible memories.

Playing mini golf on the ship

Lovely ladies on one of the formal nights

The cruise directors

Each night we'd come in from dinner and there would be a special animal made out of towels waiting for us as well as chocolates.  Parker would walk in wave "hi" to the animal and then proceed to hand out the chocolates to everyone in the room, "one for mommy, one for Jack, one for daddy and one for Parkie".

Beach time in Cabo 

Jillian getting her sand on

Parker and Abby

Sand Castle demolition team

Bear and Ryan on the wave runner

Ryan, Jack and Alex

Having a snooze in the sun

Enjoying a chipachup sucker

Entertaining the kiddos

Playing cards

Getting thru the long dinners

Felt Family 2012

Grandparents with all the Grankids

Parkerisms

Parker is at such a fun age right now. We are just eating up every little thing he does. I thought I'd write down a couple of our favorite sayings and "moves" of his.

SAYINGS:

Jac Jac: Jackson

Parkie: Calls himself

Sassa: His friend Tessa and Flashlight (they sound exactly the same)

Cycle Bike: Motor cycle or bicycle

Cado: Avacado (which he could eat all day everyday)

Milk, Juice: He says when he's thirsty or hungry

Dinnie: Dinner

If you tell him no or that there isn't what he's asking for, he replies "sorry"

MOVES:

When he says yes, his whole body moves back and forth

He can seriously shake his booty

Thoughts on Marriage

I've been thinking a lot about what makes a good marriage lately. Rob and I had a great talk a couple nights ago about our own marriage. We have a wonderful marriage where we both feel happy and loved, but that doesn't come easily. Marriage is work. We are surrounded by people whose marriage for one reason or another isn't working and our heart aches for them and their families.

My thoughts and prayers have partly been focused on how I can improve my marriage. Just last night I prayed to be a better wife and was deeply touched today while reading the Ensign to come across an article on just that subject. The article outlined some things that "Happily Married" couples do. It was a good checklist and made me realize that although we are doing some wonderful things in our marriage, there is always room for improvement.

The article was written by Douglas Brinley and is found in the January 2012 Ensign. Brinley outlined Ten ideas for enriching your martial relationship, the outline is as follows:

1- Have positive conversations

2- Show affection

3-Remember that you are each other's therapists

4- Be humble and cultivate Christlike attributes

5- Date frequently

6- Enrich your intimacy

7- Spend time with children and grandchildren

8- Seek feedback and help each other

9- Eliminate anger

10- Be sensitive to each other's stress levels

There are a couple things that I LOVED in this article. One is under "having positive conversations". He said that, "Sharing experiences and feelings in depth with each other is the solution to most martial problems." Second is found under being each other's therapist...great idea, not only are you confiding in one another, but you know each other WAY better than any therapist does. Third is under "dating frequently", he said, "above all, recognize that a babysitter is cheaper than a divorce". I've come to realize that a quote I came across a while back is absolutely true, "a good marriage is made up of two great forgivers". We all make mistakes, especially to those who are the closest to us. The truth lies in our ability to forgive and move on when mistakes happen. Good read and a great reminder of making a stronger more eternal marriage in this day of fleeting marriages.

Family Update

Parker:

- Still loves Buzz Lightyear and asks about him all-day long

- Loves to snuggle and give hugs

- Can SERIOUSLY down the food, out eats me most mornings for breakfast

- Extreme climber, found him on the counter one day (yes, I do watch him :))

- Talks up a storm

- Adores his older brother and loves to play with him

Jackson:

- Loves Legos, the Wii and playing with friends

- Is getting awesome at writing his name and anyone else's

- Is getting some wicked swimming skills

- Just sung a song for his cousins baptism with mom and his cousins

- Is getting so darn tall

- Loves to play with Parker and takes good care of him

Meggan:

- Is enjoying new recipes in the kitchen

- Loves hearing the kiddos playing together and giggling

- Having a good time getting house projects crossed of "the list"

- Looking forward to upcoming vacations

- Missing husband

- Enjoying weekend date nights

- Can't seem to catch-up on laundry

Rob:

- Handyman, painter, lumberjack and the muscle of the family

- Racking up on frequent flyer miles

- Looking forward to boarding a plane with the family and the wife, and not the co-workers ;)

- Is enjoying the new recipes in the kitchen

- Is enjoying being able to have some "face-time" with the family while on travel

January Happenings

So it's February...did January fly by for everyone else? After the mad-dash that was December, January seemed to slow down a bit (thank heavens). Our month went like this:

- Rob spent a week or so in Europe for work, the kiddos and I survived this trip without any huge drama. No wind storms, no trips to the ER and everyone was somewhat healthy. Jackson and Parker were so happy to have dad home and even more excited about the "Kinder Surprises" that he brought home for them (they are a chocolate egg with a toy inside- bought and made in Germany).

- Went snowshoeing a couple times- once at Silver Lake (snow was lacking) and once at Taggart Lake (snow was AMAZING).

- Took a weekend trip up to the condo in Jackson Hole

- Jack had swimming lessons twice a week and is getting really good his water tricks

- Found out I have little condition called Chronic Hives- it's been around for about a year and were just trying to figure out the right doses of meds to stop the breakouts. My favorite is when my lips swell-up...it looks like Botox gone bad.

- Pinterest...my new time waster and recipe finder. I've tried a bunch of new recipes I've found off this site- each one totally LOVED. My favorites are; Chicken Parmesan with Avocado, Pizza Panini, Salt & Vinegar Roasted Potatoes, Home-made Cinnamon & Sugar Doughnuts. Seriously this is not good for my waistline ;).