HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE!!!

This is Reed. I just wanted to wish Allie a very Happy Birthday. I can't believe I'm married to such an incredible woman. I'm looking forward to many more birthdays and I hope that each one is even better than the last!

Allie is the best mom. Jensen just lights up every time he sees her. This morning I walked him into our bedroom and he got so excited. When he saw her he started smiling and laughing and then ran over to her. Jensen and I are so lucky to have such a great person like Allie in our lives. We appreciate all that you do for us even though we don't say it enough....Jensen has an excuse...I don't.

Jensen and I made this card for Allie. His contribution was tearing off the letters and trying to eat them which helps add his own little signature to it.

We love you so much and are so thankful for all that you do for us. Have a great day!

ECFE

This is where Jensen and I have been every Friday for the last 10 weeks. Early Childhood and Family Education is what that stands for. They have a great program here in Minnesota for pre pre-school kids. I got the referral from our friend Darci. It gives us an excuse to get out of the house and Jensen gets to play with other little kids his age.

Here we are at snack time. He looks like such a big boy.

We have a singing time. Which all the parents look really silly, but the kids really like it.

Jensen really loves coming here every Friday and I've had a pretty good time too.

Happy Valentines to Jensen!

I guess once you have a kid he's the only one that gets presents anymore. My mom and dad sent this sweet 4-wheeler to Jensen for Valentine's Day. I guess this what it means to be the only grand child (for another month anyway). Thanks Vovo! He loved it! He's learned how to get on by himself, but hasn't quite figured out how to get off without falling. So he just stays on it as long as he can. Sorry about all the pics. They're mostly for the grandparents. Enjoy!

Well, it's official...

Reed received an offer from Target for an internship this summer. We are very excited. It's a very coveted internship considering it's the #11 internship in the country ranked by Forbes. I am so proud of Reed; he's worked so hard for this. I'm also so happy that we don't have to move for the summer. Despite how much I've complained about the winter here, I really love the summer. We live within minutes from several parks and lakes, so this summer should be a lot of fun. We've made some great friends and are really enjoying Minneapolis. Honey, I'm so proud of you and thank you for not making me move for 10 weeks.

Jensen's Debut

Here is this week's Target ad and there is our little Superstar baby. And yes, we know the blanket is pink.We decided to send some pics of Jensen to some agencies here in Minneapolis and since Target is based here they do a lot of work here too. They picked Jensen's picture (out of 400 other babies) and had us come do a photo shoot. He had a blast. There was a guy there that's soul purpose was to get Jensen to smile, and Jensen just loved the attention. We were scheduled to be for one hour, but they said they got all they wanted in 15 minutes. We had a great experience and it doesn't hurt that he got paid for it too.

Wishful thinking

I was just sitting here looking at blogs and there is a picture of us on beach, and I couldn't help but think how nice it was to be warm. Don't get me wrong, I totally dig getting all bundled up to go outside, snuggling close with some hot cocoa, keeping my feet warm with my rice bag (thanks Ruthie), and playing in the snow, but 4 more months of this is just ridiculous. I can't wait for warm weather. And when I say warm weather I just mean anything above 30 degrees. I know all of you living in California and Arizona are just sitting there in your shorts and t-shirts chuckling. But don't worry, your day will come. It's karma! So for now I will continue to enjoy these wonderful sub zero temperatures, remembering and hoping for warmer days.

Our Trip to Utah!

We went to Utah over Reed's winter break for about 2 weeks. We had such a great time with friends and family. We're just sad we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to (hey, there's always next time). And we couldn't say enough about the weather. Everyone there kept complaining how cold it was while Reed and I were just thrilled we didn't have to put 5 layers of clothes on before walking out the door. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and would love to share with you some of our highlights (get ready to be bombarded with pictures):

Babies, babies and more babies. The 2 cuties I'm holding are my dear friend, Lauren's twins Lyla and Jane (I think Lyla's the one with the hat). And then our little New Year's miracle baby, Morgan Elizabeth (on the right). Reed's sister Erin had this cute little girl on Jan 1st. She was the 1st baby girl born at St. Mark's. We were so thrilled we got a chance to see her.

Next was our nephew Jonah's baptism. This is when Jensen and Kira saw each other for the 1st time on our trip. And she just decided to love him to death. We are so proud of Jonah for making such a wonderful decision to be baptized and follow the example of our Savior.

Then we had Christmas with my family. Jensen made out like a bandit, and we all got some pretty cool things. Reed really loved his new sherpa. Now he can withstand the Minnesota winter. Thanks mom and dad.

We also got a chance to go to Gateway Discovery Children's museum. We had such a great time with our cousins from California. We made music, constructed buildings, drove a police car, rode a horse, mowed a lawn, made and reported the news, and flew the life flight helicopter to save some lives. All in all it was a pretty productive day.

We took advantage of the warm weather and went sledding. Jensen just loved it. We just wish Ian could have come with us. Poor guy, he was sick most of the trip.

For the second weekend we were there my parents got a condo in Midway for all of us to stay at. It is so beautiful there. The place where we stayed all the homes looked like little Swiss villas. We went swimming, ate lots of good food and played lots of Wii. I never really played it much before, so when I beat everyone at tennis it was that much sweeter (especially my brothers).

I just had to show these last few pictures because it was so cute to see how much Jensen and Kira loved each. That is until Kira loved him a little too much.

And of course, the highlight of our trip (other than all the other stuff I listed), the Sugar Bowl. One of the most amazing games I have ever seen, the Runnin' Utes against Alabama's Crimson Tide. Utah killed one of the most amazing teams in the NCAA. It's nice to see your alma mater represented like that nationally. Way to go Utes! And we had a great time watching it with our close friends, the Mackays. I love the picture of Oliver teaching Jensen how to read books. What can I say, they are both very advanced.

We had a wonderful time and we are so grateful for our fantastic parents that made our trip that much more fun. Thanks for all you do for us. We love you and can't wait to see you all again very soon.