Day of Love

Well my Valentines Day started out with a note left for me on the fridge that said:

To My Valentine

I sit at work, pondering our love,
Thought I'm still, my heart flutters like a dove.
How can I focus on this meaningless tax return,
Reminders of your beautiful smile makes my heart burn.

It all began one mystic night at the quilting bee,
After you saw my tubing prowess, you would my heartthrob be.
I turned on the charm and showed my skills,
To this day your sparkling eyes give me the major chills.

On this Valentine Day, love rages in my heart,
If my love were a match a bonfire it would start.
Instead of chocolates, instead of flowers, I've written you this poem.
Read it oft, when I'm at work, and you are home alome*.

Love, your CPA

*No, this last word isn't a typo, as I first thought, it is written this way to rhyme with "poem".

Now those of you who know Mitch know that he is not the poem-writing type. I realized that this was a bit of a joke, but it made me smile. I called Mitch at work to thank him for my poem, and he mentioned that he "may have had a little help" from a certain co-worker. I found out just 2 days ago that it was written entirely by the co-worker (thanks Tyler, it was beautiful), but Mitch insists it came from his heart and it's the same thing as buying flowers that were grown by someone else. I told him next year I want flowers grown by him!
Sorry this picture is a little dark-- these are some of the valentines we made for Marin's friends. The coloring and gluing are all done by miss Marin. We made sugar cookies and brought them to her friends. Marin loved using the cookie cutters!



We had a Valentines party at Avree's house in Ogden and it was very fun. We ate Papa Murphy's pizza and cheesecake made by Avree-- it was SO yummy! We missed Matt,Val, and Annie being there to celebrate with us!

Ebay

This is a random post, but I have a little time while Marin is napping and Mitch is at work (tax season). Since I have become a stay-at-home mom I have a little more time on my hands to do things such as purchase items on eBay. Getting good deals and bidding on eBay takes a little time and practice I think (consult my mom on this if you don't believe me, she has been burned a time or two). I have made exactly 18 purchases on eBay, all since Marin was born. I just bought a bunch of the cutest little clothes for Marin for summer-- 30 items for $53 and they were new with tags (or NWT in eBay lingo). I'm so proud of myself-- I don't think Mitch fully appreciates all the money I'm "saving" and for awhile I was almost banned from eBay. But, to get to the whole point of this posting (which is not much of one I must admit) I just read over the detailed feedback in my eBay account. I knew I had 100% positive feedback, but had never read the individual comments. I'm pleased to say that everyone who has done business with me on eBay LOVES me. Perfect strangers are gushing over what a wonderful person I am, saying things like "Great communicator!!!!!," and "Love this eBayer!!!!!" and "Please come back again!!!!!" always with at least 5 exclamation points, sometimes a whole LINE of exclamation points. Anyway, this is a great new discovery for me and next time I need a self-esteem booster, I'm going to visit my eBay feedback forum and read all 18 wonderful feedback notes from my good friends on eBay!

kissy kissy!

I stole this collage from Val's blog. I thought it was so cute! We keep trying to get a picture of the 3 kids together, but they won't hold still. We told Scott to give Annie a kiss and as soon as they heard the word "kiss" Marin and Annie started moving in for the kill! It was pretty funny (as you can see in the middle picture where I am cracking up and Sara is on the floor laughing).

The boys at Brighton

Wait, who is this hot snowboarder? Oh, my husband!

Mitch said the snow was amazing (that's Avree's husband Matt with the commentary)


This is Avree's husband Matt on his skis catching some great air!

February Update

Today marked a momentous occasion in Marin's life, being that a) her hair was actually long enough to put in a bow, and b) it was the first time she left anything on her head for longer than 1 second! No more being mistaken for a little boy! (Doesn't she look like a little angel in that 2nd picture? You'd never dream it was the same girl who threw an all-out, on-the-floor, kicking and screaming tantrum in Ikea yesterday!)

Dressing up! Marin has been putting on this same outfit every morning since last week. She has several boas, but will only wear the blue one since it matches the hat. She tries to walk with those plastic shoes on our wood floor and falls flat on her face every time, but insists on doing it! It reminds me of that part on Bambi. We've been up to about the same things in the last little while-- the highlight of Marin's life recently was having my cousin Candace come and visit. She led Candace around the house and told her what to do and when to do it all weekend!

January Report

Well, nothing extremely new to report. . . we just keep getting more and more and more snow here! Marin has discovered that snow is very yummy to eat. She also has discovered a new song to dance to-- "Cotton Eye Joe" and it is hilarious to watch her dancing! She has several signature moves, including the "ice skater pose" (with her head on the floor and one hand and one leg in the air--you kind of have to see it). When she is dancing, no one in the room is allowed to sit. My parents were visiting this weekend and she made both of them, Avree, Matt, and I all stand and dance to "Cotton Eye Joe" several times through and it was the special dance remix so it lasted 5 minutes each time! My dad was the funniest to watch by far! He got laughing so hard at Marin's moves he was crying. If anyone attempted to sit down, she ran over and said "gep up!" while pushing their back forward. Whatever did we do without her?

My most embarrassing moment up to this point. . .

Have any of you ever shopped the after-Christmas sales? It's insane! I had to get a new fake Christmas tree and ornaments so I braved the masses the day after Christmas in order to get a good deal. After I found the tree of my dreams, I commenced looking for ornaments. Where else would I go, but Tai Pan Trading? It's new in St. George and everything was 50% off. It was a madhouse in the store. The lines were hours long, but I needed my ornaments! What good is a tree without them? Avree went with me and got in line while I shopped. 45 minutes later, she was still in line and I had my cart chucked full of ornaments. Marin was getting restless. I carried her around with me for quite awhile, but then decided to let her run around on the ground for awhile. She was in heaven, running from one thing to the next, touching but not grabbing! It was a miracle! All I had to do was follow her around, easy, right? WRONG! She started getting faster and faster and I was walking quite fast to keep up with her. Soon I was running, and about 50 people were watching us intently because they were waiting in line. Marin made an abrupt stop, I made an abrupt stop. . . and WIPE OUT!!! I fell down all the way to the ground. It was just like sliding into a base, which I've never actually done, but without the base. One second I was up, the next down. Several people came over to help me and I hurried and got up, laughing hysterically. No one else laughed with me though so it was just silence all around. I quit laughing and said "I'm fine, just embarrassed." I have a huge bruise on my knee and my wrists where I caught my fall onto the concrete floor!