February 2011

My Valentine of 14 years now!!! My Dear Sweet Wesley. Our first Valentine's together, right after we were engaged, Wes got me a blown glass replica of the Salt Lake Temple where we were to be sealed for Time and all Eternity. It adorned the top of our wedding cake. This year he got me another replica of the Salt Lake Temple. The detail is amazing-I LOVE IT! For Valentine's dinner I asked the kids what they wanted to eat. Zac commented "EVERYTHING RED" thus- our menu- Roasted red onions, red peppers, on top or roasted red potatoes with garlic butter cream sauce. Red leaf lettuce with red roma tomatoes and Red french dressing. Grilled steak(not so red after cooked:)adorned with sauteed mushrooms(not red but for Wes a must) and for dessert-Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting-MMMmm!

This year Cameron's Valentine Box for school was a skunk that held a Valentine that says "LOVE STINKS" Something Cameron would say. Anyways, We inserted my Airwick sprayer with motion sensor on it- so everytime you lifted the skunks tail it would spray.

Zac's BIG idea was this Love Bird. I think he got quite a few extra Valentines' because the kids enjoyed sticking their Valentine in the bird's mouth and hearing it travel down its throat into the bird's belly-HA!

We went to St. George President's Day Weekend for Cameron's soccer tournament. The Utah President's Cup. They were in the Gold division. While we were there we stayed with my Cousin's Jason's wife's family. The Slater's. They were so kind and hospitable. We enjoyed our stay and the chance to meet such a great family. We appreciate their generosity. We took the kids on a tour of the St. George temple. A sister missionary from Bakers, Calif led us in the tour-she was AWESOME! We enjoyed listening the history of this beautiful temple.

The McKinney Clan

While we were in St. George Wes had a big day. It was his 37th birthday on Saturday. He got a "special" birthday card ;) and I made a big dinner for him on Sunday Hope he had a memorable week.

So Cameron's team, from our little valley, SWAT VALLEY UNITED, WON the Championship! On Saturday we got rained on all day for the games, we enjoyed a nice pasta buffet as a team afterwards, and then on Monday finished off the games. The championship game was a close one. Going to overtime and then ending with a shoot-out. The boys did great-we were proud of them whether they won or not-but it's always funner to come out on top I guess.

SWAT stands for Soccer With ATTI-TUDE!

This is a friend to Cameron and Zac, Nate Preston, who flew out the next day to New Zealand, the day of the devastating earthquake. Their family is moving back their but they are in a different part of the country so seem to be doing fine. Best of Luck to them and their family.

On our way to California we stopped at our dear friends, the Bainbridge Family, WE LOOOOOVE spending time with them and the kids all do well together. They are always so hospitable and we always feel at home.

Wish we could have spent more time with them but we had a very important meeting with some very important people:)

The Happiest Place on Earth with Special Family Members!

Especially THIS little Cutie Patootie!!!!!

Three of my main men waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. Ethan was quite enthralled with it all. He even kept his glasses on and sat like a statue during the 3-D movies. He cried a few times in some of the rides, but I think overall loved it.

The boys weren't actually all that thrilled to ride the teacups but it was a MUST for their Disneyland experience. Notice the matchy matchy shirts. I totally recommend it for any family going to a crowded place with lots of kiddos, although, we got quite a few stares and comments when Wes and I had Dallin and Jocey by ourselves with our kiddos-HA!

One of the highlights was the girls getting to meet the princesses. The Disney workers were very kind and let us meet 3 of the princesses before the next shift of princesses. They met Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Belle, and Aurora. They were soooooo sweet and very much in character and gave each of them special attention. Lucy LOVED It!

and I can't say enough of how Sweet Tinkerbell was. You can tell that their personalities are genuinely that sweet. Overall we had such a great time. The kids had so much fun and it was even magical for me. We love our hotel-Radisson Suites in Buena Park, the breakfast's themselves were Amazing. We relished in getting to spend time with family even though it can get quite chaotic with so many people. Even Mel got to spend some time with us. We appreciated my parents help and Ryan and Meagan's help. I know they would have probably had a lot more fun if they were just by themselves but they were so patient. THANK YOU!