In random order these are a few things we've been up to.


Losing teeth! This is tooth number five, but the hardest for me to get used to. My little girl's smile is forever changed.


Listening to General Conference in our "reverence tent". Thanks for the idea Rachel and Anne! It was a hit.

Playing peek-a-boo and hoping for Spring to come.


Taking our agression out on any sign of winter (frozen ice from the gutters) and splashing in the puddles.


FINALLY going to Chuck E. Cheese's for Family Night. Grant was in Heaven!

ONCE UPON A TIME.....there was a beautiful black bead. One Sunday afternoon this bead was discovered by a curious little boy. This beautiful, black bead was lying on the floor, along with other colorful beads, in the primary room of the local LDS church. The little boy looked at this bead and thought to himself, "I wonder if this will fit up my nose?" The little boy then placed the bead in his nose and discovered, that indeed, the bead did fit up his nose. The bead then fell out and the boy thought, "I wonder if I can get the bead to stay in my nose?" Sure enough the boy accomplished this task, but not without realizing that a bead in his nose was not a good thing. The boy looked at his primary teacher with a very terrified look on his face and said, "The bead is stuck in my nose, and it hurts."

Quickly the teacher took the young, terrified boy to his dad. The young boy was then placed on the counter in the men's bathroom so that his dad, along with a medically trained individual, could look up the boy's nose and try to get the bead out. In the end they were unsuccessful, which in turn meant a trip to the nearby children's hospital. Once at the hospital the young boy was delighted to see that he would be able to watch cartoons on Sunday, since there was a TV in the waiting room. The boy thought to himself, "this hospital stuff isn't so bad".

Then the time came to take the young boy back to a room where the doctors could assess the best way to remove the bead. Many attempts were made as the boy screamed and kicked his legs. Finally the only option was to strap the young boy down, but the boy's brave and heroic father saved the day by offering to tightly pin the boy in his arms for one last attempt. With tears flowing from the eyes of the boy and his father, the doctors proceeded to cover the boy's mouth and blow air up his unblocked nostril. Miraculously the beautiful, black bead popped right out! The doctors, the boy's father and the young, curious boy sighed with relief.

As the young boy left the hospital, he told his dad, "That was fun! But I never want to go to that hospital again and see those doctors."

The moral of the story: "Never put beautiful, black beads in your nose!"

So Grant has hit that age where he says a lot of really cute things, but he has also hit that age where he is very sensitive if we chuckle at the funny things he says. One example, is when we had the missionaries over for dinner on Saturday and made steak for them. Before dinner Grant was asking questions about the raw steaks that I was preparing. He asked what animal it came from, I answered cow and Grant said, "I didn't know you could eat cow." During dinner Grant came up to me, whispered in my ear, and said, "can I have more cow?", I laughed and quietly told the missionaries what he said. I felt so bad as I noticed a few minutes later that Grant was sitting on the floor in the family room with a very sad look on his face--I knew right then that I had made a mistake. Luckily he forgave me, but now I know to be a little more sensitive in my response to his cute comments. Here is another funny conversation with Grant:

Grant- "Daddy gives you lots of hugs"

Me-"Ya I know! But why do you think he gives me so many hugs?"

Here I was completely expecting Grant to say "because he loves you" or something to that tune. Instead he says:

Grant-"Because your his owner"

Me-"So because I'm Daddy's owner he has to give me lots of hugs?"

Grant-"ya"

When I told Harvey this he said, "I guess Grant knows who's really in charge in this family." To me I simply loved the fact that the underlying observation Grant had is that Harvey and I love each other and show our affection through hugs. I think I've read a quote somewhere that the most important gift you can give your children is for them to know, without a doubt, that their parents love each other.

Happy engagement day Rachel! I proposed to Rachel 11 years ago today and every day I'm grateful she said yes. To celebrate, we had salmon for dinner and broke out the Martinelli's (and then went to Costco).

Here's to the next 11+ years!

love, Harv

Today is Ella's 2nd birthday! Her day started off with Lauren, Grant and I waking her up by singing Happy Birthday! At breakfast I found her balancing a blueberry on top of her sippy cup (I'm assuming it was supposed to represent a candle on a cake) and singing, "birthday you you, birthday you you." When Lauren asked Ella how old she is, Ella's response was,"almost two." I guess now that she's actually two we'll have to retrain her.

As for the rest, it has yet to happen. And although Ella hasn't opened up any gifts yet, she has received one of the best gifts from Lauren and Grant. They have been treating their little sister like a queen, telling Ella what a special day it is, and including her in all their play (not usually the case). What a treat for me too.

I've been meaning to document a few funny conversations I've had with the kids, or conversations that I've overheard. So here we go:

While Lauren was at school Grant and I made banana bread together. I had given him the job of peeling the bananas and mashing them up. I then asked him if he would throw the peels away. Seeing as he was feeling pretty proud to be assigned some responsibilities I said:

"Grant you can be the official garbage boy!"

Grant: In an exasperated voice, "No, I'm not the garbage boy, I'm the servant.....and the prince"

I guess he knows his place. :)


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Lauren: "When your wife has a baby, do you want to have a boy first or a girl first?"

Grant: "A girl!"

Lauren: "What will you name her?"

Grant: "Sweet. No maybe Sweet Berry"

What a lucky girl!



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Talking about the order of birthdays in our family Lauren said:


"If Ella has the first birthday of the year, then Jesus has the last birthday of the year."


Grant: "I think Jesus has the first birthday because he's the greatest guy in the earth!"


I guess that amidst all the chaos of FHE something has gotten through. I agree with Grant "Jesus is the greatest guy..."



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One night at dinner Lauren said the blessing on the food. In her prayer she made a comment that made Harv and I chuckle. Amongst other things she said, "I'm grateful for the spirit that is in our home....(pause, pause).....sometimes."

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Seeing as it's Valentine's Day in a couple of days I think these comments are very appropriate. After having a dance party with the kids I was cuddling with Lauren on the couch. She gave me a big hug and expressed how happy she was and how much she loves me i this unique way. She said to me:

"My heart is having a playdate with your heart" and, "I love you 900 times more than 900. That's how much I love you"


Music to a mother's ears!