A Tale of Two Anniversary Status Updates

Me: Twenty-two years ago today(ish) I married that cute H boy from the singles ward. 

I chose.... wisely. 

Him: It has been 22 awesome years with my wife. Happy anniversary. I had a great day spending it with you and look forward to many more.

To celebrate, we had a lovely dinner at Salty's. Thanks Mom and Bob!

To the tune of "Zero Population" from Saturday's Warrior

"Argue and Shout! Argue and Shout! I'm gonna stab my eyeballs oooooouuuuut"

Durn kids.

Fun Day with Bella

Spent the day in Longview at my Smarty Smarterson's last knowledge bowl competition. (sniffle) 

Knowledge Bowl is fun. The kids on the two teams love participating and always dress beautifully for the meets. I always enjoy the meets and find myself getting caught up in the excitement. On very rare occasions I know the answers to the questions (never the math ones - usually history, pop culture or geography) and have to make sure I don't helpfully shout them out. 

Bella's dear Laurel adviser, Renee R from our ward, attended one with us earlier in the school year. What a sweet lady she is. 

Post Church Nap

Check out those huge feet.

My handsome Carter

We should really have these boys get their hair cut more often because - aside from the obvious reason of them looking like long-haired hippie freaks - the longer we wait, the older they look afterward.

Case in point:

Cute boy face

Middle Age

I have finally reached that special time of life, when one has the privilege of saying to another adult

"I have shoes that are older than you"

Discovery

Okay, almond milk ROCKS.

Getting a posse together. Enough is enough.

We spent the weekend in Medford, Oregon for Carter's soccer tournament. We had great weather!

Our hotel was situated near the Medford veterans' memorial. Harrison and I spent some time there, and checking out our surroundings.

feats of strength

 Later Hubby and the kids enjoyed swimming at the hotel pool.

Look at us, Mommy!

Because I'd never seen it, and it would have been "my" temple if my family had stayed in Brookings, I made Hubby drive us the short distance to the Central Point, Oregon temple. What an absolutely beautiful place.

Three babies

"Hey, look at that cow! It's standing up!"
(It was a bull, behaving procreationally)

Happy Valentine's Day to all...

...and to all some good chocolate.

With my husband helplessly looking on, I have spent the last 20+ years indoctrinating our children into the awesomeness of Weird Al. So this clip is ultra-familiar.

Thus, their Valentine's Day gifts:

It's not like they won't use it

The children were delighted (mostly because of the candy).

Hubby and I went to Sweetheart Ball tonight. It was fun but not very well attended this time. When we got there, some of our stake peeps were involved in a Newlywed Game type skit thing up on stage. We ate, danced a few times, chatted some people up and came home exhausted - going to the dollar store must have wiped me out.

Happy Birthday, President Lincoln

"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
- Abraham Lincoln

Researching my peeps today, I found the name of a cousin, Ambler Ryburn (born in 1871 in Virginia). She was the daughter of aunt Stacy Mariah Crumley and uncle Samuel Washington Ryburn. Stacy's parents were my 4th-great grandparents Daniel Crumley and Stacy Jones. It may have been misspelled, misunderstood, mis-written down or whatever, but I kind of fell in serious like with the name Ambler. 

FHE

But first: this selfie.

For Family Home Evening tonight, Roz threw a party for us up in her room. She decorated, prepared treats, and everything. It was darling. We played Apples to Apples.

Funness

New Drapes

When Mom came over for my birthday, she gifted me with some drapes she didn't need anymore, thinking they would be perfect for my bedroom. She was quite right (good idea, quite right, good idea, quite right - that's for Melanie).

 Here they are, going up on the wall.

Hubby installing hardware while Bella looks down at something

Very matchy with the comforter. Yay.

That's purty, honey

Thanks Mom, for all the great birthday house stuff! Love you!

The Big Storm

It's pretty exciting. Everyone is home! School's out and Brian's employer says he's non-essential. WHATEVER 

Check the Couve!!

Cute Carter

Cute Rozzie

Cute Daddy

Me :)

Here we are :) 

L to R: Taj, Regan, Roz, Lilly

Lily and Roz: snowball fight!

A great hill

Whee!

The big kids got in on the action too.
Breven, Jaydn, Tyler, Breanna, Bella, Harrison

This was quite the storm. School was cancelled for a couple of days, as was church on Sunday. Woot! I mean, sadly, we couldn't even go to church on Sunday.

Note to self

I made Rice Krispie Treats today, for tonight's Mutual activity. I never make Rice Krispie treats. This is not important information to have, unless you're me, and you've forgotten yet again that any time you get sticky stuff on your hands that won't easily come off, it's enough to make you wanna scream. Just one more weird thing about me that you may not have known. NO STICKY STUFF. It's probably why I'm not more into baking.

"Welcome to Hell, Mrs. Brinatty. You will spend eternity attempting to remove Rice Krispie Treat guck from your hands. Enjoy."

When I expressed this displeasure on Facebook I was met with comments like, "Just eat it off." Yeah, but when you're planning to serve these treats to other people, can you really be stopping to lick your hands while you're trying to press the guck into the pan? No. You cannot. You have to be all hygienic and stuff. 

My handsome Harrison

...got a haircut tonight. It had been a while, so yes, we took a picture. WOW.

yep

Today wasn't my best parenting day. Later in the evening:
Me: I have been argued with enough today that I need to go to bed.
Brian: YOU HAVE NOT