January 2008

Time has flown by in January, but Pat insists that we need a post for each month. It's really February now but we can count this one for January. It’s nice to be back in the routine. Azdin started piano, which he totally loves. I think since I don’t play I really want my kids to learn! Hopefully, they will both love it. We also started them in a hip hop class together. They are a little shy when they have to do some free style in the circle. The teacher won’t take "no" for an answer, so Azdin took Baysia by the hand to help her. When class was over Baysia said “that was really scary!” We’ll see how they do.

On a more serious note, In December we had the tragic loss of Pat’s nephew Taylor at just 18 years old. Since we hope for this blogging to be a kind of journaling for the kids we thought we should mention it. It has been really hard on all of Pat’s family. It really makes you stop and think about how fragile life is. You never know what life has in store for each of us. I remember Taylor just a cute little blonde bouncing around the house. It is so hard to loose people so young. Our hearts go out to his mom, dad, sister and all his family and friends. We all need to enjoy today because sometimes that’s all we have.

With that said, we hope for a bright new year with lots of happiness and health for everyone! I am grateful for all our many blessings! Time is just flying by. I can’t believe how old we are all getting so quickly! I think one of my biggest wishes is that it could all slow down a bit. Here are a few of our January/ February events for 2008!


Now that all the Christmas decorations had come down, I was ready to start on the next holiday. Last year I made some Valentine cones filled with kisses for the kids’ teachers, so I decided to expand on that idea this year and make them even more fun. I also make them for the kids and fill them with treats in time for Valentine’s Day. Enochka and I stayed up a few late, but fun, nights doing signs and cones. Here are a few pictures of my creations. It gets really addicting! It was Pat’s sister’s birthday so I made her a cone and put a little gift in it. You can make them for all occasions!















It was Pat’s niece Katie’s big 21st birthday on Sunday. We were privileged enough to have spent the evening with her at our house. She is such a cute girl! What 21 year old would just hang out at our house on her birthday? She's so good and mature for 21! It was also her mom Kathy’s birthday last week so we kind of celebrated both. Poor Azdin had the flu and was in the other room sleeping all day. He could not stand any noise, which didn’t work out too well with Pat screaming over the super bowl. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and ate some dang good vegetarian chili and corn bread! We love u Katie and Kathy! Happy Birthday!



For Christmas the kids got this awesome butterfly kit from Aunt Jamie and Uncle Steve. They got to watch the whole life cycle of a caterpillar to a butterfly. They both just loved it! I would highly recommend it!



Azdin's class had a breakfast with the dad's and they built birdhouses. It was really cute and you could see how thrilled all the kids were to have their dad's at school.



The gorgeous gourd collection continues! A few months’ back I posted Baysia taking a squash and turning it into a baby, well the trend continues… I bought a butternut squash to make some soup with and found Baysia with a new baby.

Our Beloved Prophet

On January 29th we were at a friend’s farewell for his mission and got the news that our sweet prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, had died at age 97. It was probably 7:30 p.m. and someone received a text message that the prophet died. He died around 7:00. Is that not amazing the way news travels now. By the time we got home we had more messages on our answering machine informing us of his death. I just couldn't believe how fast everone found out. Anyway, I feel very lucky to have had such a unifier and tender hearted leader to guide us for so many years. As we watched his funeral this past Saturday on TV I was unprepared to be overwhelmed with emotion. They showed pictures of him to some music and I felt extremely grateful for his love and service world wide, I felt sorrowful for our loss, but then I felt joy for him as he was reunited with our Savior and his sweet wife. I think President Monson summed it up well at his funeral when he said Quoting an unnamed poet,: “‘Here and there, and now and then, God makes a giant among men.’ President Hinckley was such a giant – a giant of knowledge, of faith, of testimony, of compassion, of vision.” What a giant and what a life to have lead!