Feburary

February was a very busy month for us! The first few days of February it snowed, and snowed, and snowed some more.  We had 3 snow days in a row!  Kids were in heaven.  We spent an entire day with our friends; sledding, then hot chocolate and cookies, and then we hug around and had pizza.  It was a perfect snow day!  We got 18 inches of snow fell in two days.  It was crazy! (then it was 60 degrees a week later....)

Trent graduated on the 5th from PA school.  He worked so hard to complete this degree, we are so proud of him!  Trent's dad and step-mom made the journey out to be with us.  The day before his graduation my mom called to tell us they were coming out too.  We were able to help them just a bit and they flew out instead of driving for 10 hours to spend 24 hours with us, just to turn around and drive 10 more hours.  It was a fun weekend with our parents there with us!

Andrew was so upset that he couldn't sit at the front of the room with Trent. Before the graduation started he'd sneak up to be with him.  As soon as the ceremony was over he raced over to be with Trent.  That boy sure loves his dad! There were only 2 other PA's that graduated with Trent.

The day after his graduation Hanna was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She was so excited for this and had been looking forward to it for months. She wanted to invite her teacher from school to her baptism.  So I wrote down the address of the church on a sticky note for her to give her teacher.  She forgot it at home.  I was checking the kids out early so they could go to Trent's graduation so I took the sticky note with me.  I gave the note to her teacher and told her Hanna wanted to invite her to her baptism.  I didn't actually think she'd come, but she did!  She is one of those super amazing teachers.  She told Hanna how proud she was of her and her choice to be baptized.  She is very active in her Christian faith, it showed in how excited she was for Hanna's baptism. Trent and I both did the talks.  Me on baptism and Trent did Holy Ghost.  It was a simple baptism with people we loved there to support Hanna on her special day.  We invited everyone over for a little brunch after the baptism.  I love having people over, so it was a lot of fun!  We had her favorite; Amy's doughnuts, fruit, muffins, and breakfast casserole.   I wasn't super good at taking pictures at the luncheon, but it was fun to visit with our friends!

Hanna's superstar teacher

Trent and I left Sunday night to go to Chelan to find a house. I had arranged my parents flight so that it left the same time Trent and I's did.  That way we didn't have to go to Denver twice. Blair and Rhonda stayed with the kids at home.  What a blessing they are to us!  The kids love having them around and I know they take good care of the kids.

Our trip to Chelan was not so good.  Houses are so so expensive and there's really not many options. We looked at lots, talked to two builders.  And finally decided it would be best to build a home.  We were looking for a home with at least 4 bedrooms and 2 living spaces, preferable on different levels. You wouldn't think that would be hard to find.  But it was.  We found some that would work, but they were at the top of our budget and needed work.  Building is actually cheaper than buying an existing house.  Homes average $179/sqft there.  We are building for $150/sqft, still more than I want to pay...Sigh.

While we were gone Carter had district spelling bee.  He came in 3rd at is school's spelling bee so then he went on to the district spelling bee.  I felt so bad that we couldn't be there, but Grandma and Papa make an excellent substitution!  I don't think he missed us at all.  He did really well, coming in 7th in the district.  He is a very smart kid and we are so proud of him!  Learning comes very easily to him, just like his father.

We said goodbye to Colorado Springs on Feb 24th.  Kids were so sad to leave, there were many tears shed.  We weren't there long, but it has left such a mark on our souls! I sobbed as I was released as Young Women's president on the 21st.  I loved serving the young women!  What an incredible experience that was.  I grew to love those girls so so much! I am always amazed by a Heavenly Father who knows exactly what I need, what I need to learn, how I need to grow.  I am so thankful for those short 9 months I got to serve the young women of the 17th ward!!  We miss Colorado Springs everyday.  We miss our friends....although, we don't miss the 8 inches of snow they got the other day :)