Valentine's Day

The boys woke up to a room full of red balloons. Needless to say, they LOVED it!

David and I also "heart attacked" their room.
We had fun coming up with phrases and later reading them all to the boys.

For lunch we had a heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's.
We all love pizza! 

After lunch David and the boys received some treats.


For dinner I made some DIVINE mushroom smothered pork chops, delicious cheesy pasta, and a rather lame salad which consisted of ... lettuce (go me). But really those pork chops were heavenly and SO easy!!!
And please notice my beautiful roses! David treated me to a lovely bouquet of my favorite flowers!


After dinner we read our valentines. Of course I got choked up. I'm a sap, especially when it comes to expressing the incredible love I feel for my husband and my children.


The boys and David then opened their presents. The boys each got a book. David got a little picture frame from the boys and a Canvas wedding photo from me.
Lest you think I was left out of the fun, I was treated to a little shopping trip to Kohls. David, my boys, and Dann (David's dad) spoiled me with some fun new clothes.
I do love Valentines Day. It's a fun holiday to just focus on the love we have for each other, even if we do express that love daily anyway!

Stone free!!!

Ever since a couple weeks after I had my kidney stone "blasted" back in August I had a little health problem. I never wanted to bring it up since it was rather embarrassing. I felt like I had to go ALL the time. It was awful. But of course I didn't get it checked out the end of December when some obvious signs occurred that made me finally accept that I was still having stone problems. After a CT scan I learned I had 4 stone fragments leftover from my original stone still in my ureter. Thankfully, yes thankfully, I also learned that 3 of those 4 were causing my problem.  Well in January I had them all removed and I am happy to report that I am stone free!!!

I know that this was a direct blessing from my family members fasting for me and for the priesthood blessings I received. I'm so grateful to each of my family members who fasted and prayed in my behalf. I felt your prayers and your love for me. And I am truly grateful for the priesthood. I cannot imagine my life without it. What a comfort it provides to me in every aspect of my life. 

Henry - 8 months

Henry turned 8 months old on January 21st. Here are some highlights leading up to his 8 month birthday.


This kid loves his food. We started giving him peanut butter around this time. He sure loves it!

He became a more proficient crawler.

His preferred crawl is on his hands and feet. He looks like a little monkey! I love it!

He has such a sweet face. 

Kissable cheeks!

One of the big surprises of the month - Henry got his first tooth on January 20th. I was a little bummed at first, but as that little beauty came up I definitely fell in love with that toothy grin. 

The best part of waking up

Good morning, Mommy!!!

I love my boys and my sweet husband!

Gowans Family Christmas Party

Our yearly Gowans Christmas party was held New Year's Day. We enjoyed a great dinner and a rousing game of Bingo. I love this party because it's one of a handful of times during the year that I get to see most of my Gowans family.

This is my Grandma modeling one of the white elephant/bingo gifts. 

My grandpa. 

We sure love the close relationship we have with my Grandma and Grandpa Gowans. Both of them are great examples to me and I love and adore both. 

I'm sad this turned out blurry. But aren't they so cute?


Henry sure enjoyed the food!


My family - minus my mom who was working and my siblings Becky and Jacob and their families. 

Sunday Best - Christmas edition

Aren't they SO handsome?
You should see the older ladies in our ward smile as my boys go by.

The Playhouse

I first saw a felt playhouse that fits over a card table on a craft blog several months ago. I thought it was super cute. Through that blog I found an etsy shop that sells felt playhouses. Let's just say they aren't cheap. So I decided to look into making my own. I bought about $30 of felt, made/drew my own patterns, and got to work. I slaved away on this thing for many, many hours. I finally started sewing once I was all out of pins; I was pretty nervous! But it all worked out great. I stayed up until 1:30 am Christmas morning sewing. I then woke up at 5:45 to finish sewing. I finished right before 8 am! I would have finished sewing it earlier in the week but some health problems came up that set me back a few days. I'll post more about that later.

Anyway, here is the picture overload.

Front

The door lifts up. 

I got the flower idea from Better homes and gardens magazine.

More flowers.

Mail box.

Left Side



The strawberries are removable.

I love the birds and the bird house!

Rose bush.

Right Side

The tree is on both the side and the back.

All the apples are removable.

Inside shot of a window.

Close up of dog.

Squirrel! I drew this little critter all by myself! I guess I can be an artist.

Back Side

The garden!

1 of 3 carrots.

1 of 2 onions.

1 of 3 ears of corn. The corn and cornstalk were really fun and challenging to make.

Close up of owl and dragonfly.

I adore this owl!!!! I can't believe I drew this by hand!


(This is David playing the wizard of Oz. He's wearing my new "ruby" slippers.)
We sure love this playhouse! The boys LOVE playing in it and harvesting all their fruits and vegetables.
I hope it lasts for many years.  

Snow Fun!

David had several days off around Christmas. It was SO nice to have him home and to do things we normally didn't get the chance to do. On the 29th of December we went out to play in the snow.

All bundled up. 

Stompin' around in the snow.

Just chillin'.

His fingers found a way out and into the snow.

Teaching William how to make snow angels.

William's first time making a snow angel!

We loved playing in the snow!