The Holy Ghost

Cole has always been very sensitive and aware of emotions. He gets really worried when anyone cries and loves to make everyone else laugh. Well, I am also very sensitive and I cry...a lot...even when I'm not sad.

The other day I was reading a conference talk and I started crying. Cole asked me why I was so sad and why the scriptures make me sad. I thought this would be the perfect time to talk to him about the Holy Ghost and how I feel the spirit. So I told him that I wasn't sad, but when I feel the Holy Ghost I cry. I told him I was the opposite of sad. The Holy Ghost makes me feel good inside and at peace, and sometimes I cry when I am happy.

I thought I was making perfect sense and that Cole was understanding. Then he said "Mom, remember the other day when I hurt my foot? I felt the Holy Ghost and cried too." So much for my logic. Now Cole thinks that the Holy Ghost hurts and makes him cry!

Motherhood is a tricky business.

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentine's Day is such a great holiday! It's all about showing the people you love that you really do love them. Even though I try to show my kids and hubby that every day, it's fun to have a day devoted just to that.

The kids are pretty easy to please and were so excited for their V-day surprises in the morning.

Ben was a little bit harder because he had an extra long day with his rotation that day, but I managed a few surprises for him. We had a really fun night as a family going out to eat and just loving being with each other!

Yesterday Cole had a Valentine's Day party with his friends at preschool. We got really into the box this year and ended up making Cole a "Valentine Express" for all of his Valentine's. Ben was very creative and Cole was super excited about it...even though Ben said I made it too girly :)

We had a really great Valentine's Day this year.

The best part about it is that today I am 14 weeks along with baby #3!!

We are so blessed to have so much love in our family!

Spreading the Love

We had a blast decorating Valentine's cookies for FHE tonight! Cole really got into the decorating...and Ellie really got into the icing :)

Cookies are always a fun activity...especially when it's time to eat them!!

If you got any cookies from us don't worry, I let Cole and Ellie eat all the cookies that they decorated and we gave the germ free ones that I decorated to our friends :)

Sledding!

We went sledding tonight for FHE with our friends the Pfeiffers. The snow had turned a little icy so the hill was fast and slippery...it was quite the thrill!

We all had a lot of fun, but Ellie was in heaven! She couldn't get enough of the sledding. She would laugh the whole way down and then beg to go again :)

Oh what fun it is to ride! Now I know why Ellie is always singing Jingle Bells :)

Snow Day

We are back in Iowa and we finally had a big snow storm! The kids were so excited. They couldn't wait to get all bundled up and outside in the fluffy white snow.

While Ben shoveled the kids started a snowball fight :)

(I think Ellie lost)

You can't have snow without a snowman, so after the snowballs Daddy and the kids built a snowman!

What a fun afternoon in the snow!!

Jumping Around

We had one last fun cousin day today before we go back to Iowa. We went to Get Air Sportsplex with my sisters Mindy and Maryn and their kids. It was a warehouse full of trampolines and foam pits so the kids could bounce and jump and run to their hearts content. With all the bouncing it was extremely hard to get good pictures...but I managed a few mediocre ones.

Edyn was the only one who bounced small enough to get a decent picture so she is the only cousin that made this post :)

We spent most of our time in the kiddie section where it wasn't as crowded. Cole and Ellie really got into the bouncing and jumping around:

Cole especially loved the tramps by the foam pit where he could make foam towers before he jumped into the pits:

They also got a lot of good sliding in on the sloping tramps:

We had so much fun with our Green cousins today!! Thanks for the adventure!

Snow!

We finally got snow!! Ben and the kids were so excited. I had to drive to work in it today, so I wasn't loving it though :) The kids and Ben played in it all morning, building a snowman and sledding down Grandma and Grandpa Coombs awesome backyard. Since I wasn't there I didn't take any pics. But...when I got home from work we went to Kenzie's elementary and played in the wonderful fluffy snow!!

Cole and Emersyn were able to try skiing for the very first time.

Ben gave Cole a little skiing lesson and he skied down the hill all by himself!!

Ellie had a blast sledding down the hill with cousins!

We even played on the snow covered playground!

We had a ball playing in the snow today!!

Thanks Maryn and Kreg for letting Cole borrow skis and inviting us for a fun afternoon in the snow!