Valentine Love!

I LOVE Valentines Day! I love the meaning of the holiday and the decorations and all the fun sweet treats! Now that I have a kiddo of my own I especially love celebrating all holidays in a special way. It is extra important to me now to have my house decorated and find ways to incorporate the meaning of the holiday into our day to day celebration.

My friend Susan and I have started getting together for a monthly craft day where we can make fun crafts. This month we decided to make cute Valentines Day crafts! We both searched Pinterest for different ideas and then met at Hobby Lobby to go shopping. We found a picture of that had the letters LOVE wrapped in 3 different shades of pink yarn so, we decided that we would make that our big project. We put our own little twist on the letters and think they turned out pretty darn cute!



We also made this cute little wreath! It was super simple and the best part is that when February is over the hearts can be pulled out and replaced with cut outs for the next holiday. We already made 4 leaf clovers for next month.



I made wanted to have decorations in every room of my house so I also made 2 different garlands to hang. We recently bought a new king size mattress but have decided to wait on purchasing a headboard so I thought this cute little garland would help fill the empty space and be fun in our bedroom!


And these cute little hearts are hanging in our living room across our entertainment center!

Love was in the air while we were crafting!

Cade and Carlee sharing a hug and kiss

In addition to my new crafts I also changed out pillows on the couch, picture frames, and hand towels to add a little extra something special!

Cade has been sharing the love all month long thanks to a few cute t-shirts that Grinna sent him!

Gregg had to work on Valentines Day this year so we decided to celebrate Monday evening instead. I had a crazy day at work Monday and was quite surprised when I got a phone call to the main office because I had flowers waiting for me. This beautiful arrangement from my 2 favorite boys helped to brighten my day and made my office so pretty all week!

I found an idea on Pinterest to make an All about YOU Valentine basket for Gregg. I have been shopping over the last few weeks for Gregg's favorite things as well as different things to represent what I love most about Gregg. I got him a card and wrote him a sweet message and then made tags for all the items that I put in the basket. I think the gift turned out perfect and enjoyed sharing these things with Gregg!

Sweet boy on Valentines Day

I enjoyed getting to make cute Valentines this year for Cade's teachers and friends at school. Time ended up slipping away from me and so I went for a simple printable this year but look forward to getting more crafty in the future!



We also hosted a Valentines Party for our Play Group at our house this month! I was super excited about this and really enjoyed getting everything ready for the cute little kids to come over and play. (I got great pictures of everything set up before the party but failed miserable at taking pictures during the party!)

Pretty flowers and LOVE letter to greet everyone

The plan was for everyone to come over right before lunch time. I decided to keep the menu simple and just do sandwiches for the Mamma's and chicken nuggets for the kiddies plus some fun sweet treats for everyone to enjoy!

Food table all set up

close up of food

Cade found one of the girls headbands and decided he wanted to wear it

All the kids brought Valentines to pass out at the party. I found these cute mailboxes at the Dollar store and bought some letters to put the kids names on the box. I then got some other stickers for the kids and we let everyone decorate their box to carry their Valentines in.

Precious (and cooperative) kids in their Valentines clothes
Cade, McKenzie, Max, McKensley, Connor and Matthew

We have had a most wonderful February so far and have enjoyed being able to celebrate our LOVE for our family and friends!

Steamboat, Colorado

January 14-21

We went to Steanboat, Colorado with our ski club in mid January. This was Gregg and I's first time to ski since our trip to Italy in January 2010 so we have been looking forward to this trip for several months. We were also a little nervous about being rusty! (Me especially since I have also had a baby and gained a few pounds since the last time!)

Headed to the airport

having fun on the airplane

Our flight was very smooth and Cade did GREAT! He was awake for about 30 minutes after we took off and then slept the rest of the flight. It was kinda erie to fly into Colorado since they have had minimal snow this year. The ground and mountains were all brown instead of snow covered.


Our first stop was at the condo head quarters to get all checked in. Cade and I had lots of fun playing on an old sleigh while the guys got everything taken care of.

After that we headed up the mountain a little to our beautiful condo! We were originally supposed to be staying in some condos that were right across from the mountains but those had some kind of leak in them so we were moved a little farther away. We were still within walking distance from the slopes and there was also a great shuttle that picked us up to carry us where we wanted to go.

Since we had Cade with us we requested to have a 2 bedroom condo instead of one of the 4 bedroom condos. We stayed with the guy that Gregg normally rides on the ambulance with, Deacon, and his wife.

our condo

Once we got settled in we went to the slopes to scope everything out and get something to eat. Then later we went into town to the grocery store to go shopping for the week and then hung out around the condo.

Pretty hot air baloon greeting us on our 2nd morning

Sunday was beautiful and scheduled to be one of the warmer days during our trip so we decided to walk around the downtown area and sight see.

We got up early Monday morning to make breakfast before everyone headed out to the slopes. While we were at the ski shop getting everything rented we started talking to one of the employees who said that last week they had fitted a little boy for skis that couldn't even walk yet! That made us really excited because we had really wanted to try and put Cade on a pair of skis just to get him exposed. We decided to go for it and got Cade a pai of skiis for the next couple of days. After getting skiis we all went up on the gondola to the top of the mountain. Cade and I hung out in the restaurant at the top for a little while while everyone else took off skiing and then we rode the gondola back down to hang out at the condo.

First gondola ride!

Tuesday morning Gregg, Deacon and Jennifer went out early and then Cade and I came after he woke up from his nap. We decided that we would put Cade on his skis that afternoon and see how he did!

Ready to hit the slopes!!!

Cade took to the skiis really well! He didn't mind the boots (even though they were a couple sizes too big) or the skiis. We hung out on a little exit area right next to the kid ski school area. It had a perfect amount of slope for us to test things out. We were able to ski down the area 3 times before it starting snowing so heavily that we had to head to cover.

Gregg and Cade skiing for the first time!
Gregg and Cade skiing!!!

Cade LOVED skiing! He was talking to Gregg and smiling the entire time that they were coming towards me. I am so exited that he enjoyed it and cannot wait till next year when he is old enough to have ski lessons! I know that in just a couple of years he will passing me up as he zips down the mountain!

After skiing we went to one of the little pubs at the bottom of the slopes to warm up and see all our friends! Another exciting thing about this trip is that we got to meet up with all our Aussie friends again! (We met these 4 families 2 years ago when we were in Italy and have all stayed in touch sicne then.)

Aussie Ellie and Cade

(Cade was smitten with Ellie and spent quite a bit of time with her over the week)

While we were at the Pub they had a dancing competition. Once of the Irving FD Batallion Chiefs won the dance off and a new snowboard which he gave to Ellie! It was quite an entertaining event!!!

We woke up to 11 new inches of snow on Wednesday morning! It was so beautiful and made for GREAT skiing that day!

view of fresh snow from condo
Cade napping before going to ski slopes

Trying to stay warm while waiting on Daddy

After lunch we decided to take Cade up a little lift that we found at the bottom of the mountain. The lift went up probably 100-150 yards and then there was an easy green beginner slope to ski down. We got one of the ski harnesses and adapted it a little so that it would go between Cade's legs and give Gregg a handle on top to lift Cade up with if he fell.

Cade's little skis

The staff was all very nice and helpful to us as we were getting on and off the lift. Cade enjoyed the ride up and was looking all around taking everything in. Once off the lift I skied half way down the little mountain and then waited with the video for Gregg and Cade. (Please excuse quality of this next video as I was trying to ski and watch where I was going all the while watching Gregg and Cade and trying to video!)

After taking Cade down that little slope twice we decided to call it a day and went to an outside pub to enjoy a concert. Later that afternoon they had a professional cowboy downhill race and free for all. There were over 100 of the best professional rodeo cowboys in town to participate in this unique ski rodeo!

Cute little cowboy!

The first set of races were side by side salolm races where the cowboys skied the flags and then had to rope a cowgirl and sattle a horse before crossing the finish line. After that they lined all the cowboys up on the starting line and said go and it was a free for all to see who could cross the finish line first. It was quite entertaining to watch and very funny!!!

Pictures from the race and the downhill

Thursday brought more fun and skiing during the day and then that evening we had a happy hour get together for the ski club and the Aussies! It was so great to get to see everyone for a couple of hours and catch up with all the Aussie families! (We started planning a trip for all of us to go to Australia in a couple of years which I am VERY excited about!)

Cade and I getting ready to head to ski club party

I decided to turn in my skis Friday morning and just spend the day hanging out with Cade. We rode the gondola up around noon and met all the skiers at the restaurant on the top of the mountain for lunch.

Momma and Cade

After lunch we spent the afternoon playing in the snow and watching Ellie practice on her new snowboard. (We all went snowboarding one afternoon in Italy together and had lots of fun. Ellie has since only skiied but decided on this trip to take snowboarding lessons and give it a try again.)

Little marshmellow puff playing in the snow!

Ellie on her new snowboard

Ellie and Cade

Friday night we decided to have a "fancy" dinner to celebrate both Deacon and Jennifer and Gregg and I's Anniversary! (Deacon and Jennifer's 2nd Anniversary was the week before our trip and Gregg and I's 3rd Anniversary was the week after our trip.) We bought steaks, patatos and asparagus at the grocery store and made a YUMMY dinner!

our make shift grill

fancy dinner is served

Cade all dressed up for our dinner

our little family

Saturday brought the end to our trip and the return to reality :( We had such an AMAZING week in Steamboat, Colorado and enjoyed every moment of our trip! It was so great to get away for a week and have fun as a family. We enjoyed being able to catch up with our other TUFF Ski Club members as well as our Aussie friends!

Happy boy enjoying the plane ride back to Dallas