Switchfoot

When I was in Jr. High I started listening to an awesome local band called Switchfoot. Their songs were really fun and catchy, and their message was amazing. Since they are a Christian band their lyrics were clean, and also so inspiring. My friends and I became their biggest (mormon) fans! We went to all the concerts we could and listened to their music all the time as we drove around town.
Well, a few years later when I worked at Pier One, we were in the back room unpacking boxes with the radio on, and that is when I heard them on the radio for the first time! It was really exciting and I called a couple people from back home right away! It's awesome to see a band you loved so much for so many years make it! I have continued to love them and introduced my husband to them who also loves them.
For the first time since I moved from San Diego, Switchfoot came to town! So Scott and I got tickets, arranged babysitters, and we were SO there! :) It was such an awesome concert. We were only a few feet from the band, and had room to move (unlike many a concert I went to in HS) At one point, Jon (lead singer) climbed up on a speaker that we were standing next to and sang "This is Your Life," one of my favorite songs.
We kept saying to each other that it was nice to not feel like "mom" and "dad" for the night, and be the young people that we are! I guess that's the trade off of having kids young! We promised each other to make it to more concerts from now on!

Thanks Burns for watching the kids!

One of my fave songs...

Camera phone pics...

I ♥ Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Probably because it's all about love and sweets! This year I decided to do a little cookie exchange. There are not a lot of things I love more than 1. girl's night outs, and 2. cookies! Yummmm, the cookies were DIVINE. I LOOOOVE parties and had a lot of fun planning this one. One of my favorite party resources is Blonde Designs where I blatantly copied her ideas. :) Now you know I am not that cool.

most of the spread

my cookies

easy to make and easy to serve!

this was also easy, just a bakery box from Smith's that I put a little sign on- everyone took their cookies home in one of these babies.


When Valentine's day is on sunday, it's a little weird! (Since we don't spend money on sundays) It's kind of like a two-day thing. So Saturday night we went on a fun little date. We ate at Flying Star. Everything was so yummy, especially the chocolate cake! Then, this year we decided instead of buying each other gifts we would go shopping together and pick stuff out. I picked out 2 necklaces (the cheapo kind!) and Scott picked a UNM hat. It was really fun to shop without kids!! :)

Today for Valentine's day, I gave the kids a Valentine with little treats, and Scott kept his tradition alive of ringing the doorbell and leaving heart chocolate boxes on the doorstep for the kids. I guess he used to always do that with his dad. I think it's really cute!

I got these.... did you know these basically have nutella on the inside?! Same company. Mmmmmmm

Another reason I probably LOVE Valentine's Day is because that is essentially when we first got together. Our first date was on the 11th of Feb, but I had no idea he liked me! Our second date was Valentine's day and that's when we held hands and snuggled for the first time. This picture is from the Sweetheart's dance a week later and we were officially a couple by then! I stinkin love my husband so much, and I have loved the last 7 years we have spent together. I always think how lucky I am that I found a guy that is so good for me! I don't know if there could be a better match out there! Basically he's the bomb.

Jace turned 2!

The morning of Jace's birthday Makenna was so excited that she woke Jace up and said "How old are you Jace?!" For the first time, he said "two!" and put his pointer finger up! It was so cute! I had been trying to work on it with him the last couple days, but he wouldn't do it until his actual birthday I guess! So the night before I blew up about 30 balloons since he still loves them, and I think that was the best thing ever for him! He played and played and played!

For Joy school that day we went on a field trip to the aquarium and I knew Jace would like that on his birthday. It was really fun and Jace's friend Nathan came too.

Then for dinner we had Hawaiian Haystacks (Jace's favorite), and then the Burns came over! Jace opened his presents. Let's see, he got: a police battery-powered motorcycle (that he doesn't care about), a race car, Thomas the train, a leap frog cars and trucks magnet thing, a stuffed animal from the Burns, and his favorite thing- his scooter from Grandma Sheffield. He could not stop scooting around all night!

this is a rare picture- a smile at the camera!

don't laugh at my cake

Jace did really good blowing out the candles!

scooting around!
The toy on the left is his motorcycle. All the kids loved it, but Jace could care less.

with his cousins! Camden looks so cute!

Jace is a very special little guy. I'm so happy I'm his mommy! I definitely have a special bond with him. He's my little cuddle bug.
Here are some things Jace is doing right now at 2 years old:

He talks in sentences now. The other day he said a sentence that was 8 words long! I'm glad he's talking so well now because when compared to his sister, he was a little slow!

He can put his shoes on by himself. His favorites are his flip-flops.

nicknames: Jace face, Jacey, baby boy

He is very good at feeding himself with minimal messes (yessssss!)

He loves to dump out boxes of things: toys, cereal, blocks, anything put away nicely in a box!

He still takes 3 hour naps- hallelujah

He loves his sister Kenna and says "I miss Kenna. I love Kenna." when she is gone.

He's very sweet and more on the quiet side.

He's also very cautious around strangers, and has a hard time when I leave him still.

He LOVES babies and LOVES to pick them up... yikes...

He loves to read books, especially his animal books or books with balloons.

He almost never denies me a kiss!

He despises having his hair cut, hence the long hair.

He LOVES to play outside

He still loves balls, not a shocker

He's acting more and more like a kid now! Scott was saying the other day "he's like a little person now!" Well, he's still my baby boy.

He's also still a big boy!
weight: 33.5 lbs (95%)
height: 36.5 inches (95%)
head: 95%
Doc said he's more the size of a 3 year old... :)

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH JACE!

SNOW

Since we moved to Albuquerque 3 years ago, not once have we had enough snow that it actually stayed for longer than a few hours! The weekend we moved here to NE Albuquerque, there was actually a few feet of snow. We haven't seen anything like that since. Well a couple weeks ago we had a nice snow storm, and it stayed a whole day and a half! :) Makenna had a blast. Jace was too sick the first day to even care, but the second day he went out and loved it.

holding the snowman's hands

this is what happens in Albuquerque... drip drip drip...

Inspired

I'll update soon... I promise....

In the mean time, there is a blog I've been following for a while because she is an amazing photographer. Well, recently her baby passed away from pertussis (he was not old enough to get the vaccine), and her posts have really inspired me. I have been so motivated to be a better mom to my kids through her struggles. Maybe she can inspire you too...

Natalie's blog