My kids are super adorable

I forgot to mention last week that my Dad came down and fixed this thing for us.

Our water softener started to leak and when the company came out to fix it, they said it was a problem with our pressure regulator. I didn't even know that thing existed. But apparently every house has one, and ours was original to the house and no longer functioning at all. The pressure was way too high and was forcing water out of our softener against its will. :)

Cecily playing on the computer at the library.

I can't say how much money my dad has saved us by helping us fix/make/redo things around this house, but it's a lot. And I am amazed every time at his handiness. I don't know if there are many people these days that have that kind of skill, but he does.

Mira made this "marry room" for me.

Steve and Emilia both had Martin Luther King Day off. We didn't have any plans for the day, but it turned out to be relaxing and fulfilling. In the morning, Steve went to the temple and I hung out with the kids while they played. After lunch, Ben and Dylan came over so Steve and Ben could play LOTR card game and the girls made books together and played dolls. That meant I got to go to the grocery store ALL BY MYSELF. And I managed to save 50% on my purchases, so it was even kind of exiting. It felt like a vacation almost. :) After Cecily woke up from her nap, we ate dinner and took everybody to the Cocoa Bean for hot chocolate and treats. Then back at home, we watched the new Annie movie (which was terrible, sadly). Then the kids went to bed and I got to work on my writing for a while. Great day right there.

My girls and their cousins at the birthday party.

Tuesday, Megan came down with the girls in the afternoon. It was nice to have them visit and play. I also got to hang out with my friend Gina that night, which is always nice.

Mira made this MLP pony with playdoh hair.

We also got to go to the library this week, do some rearranging and decluttering, and yesterday I took the older two girls to cousin Meg's birthday party while Steve tried potty training Cecily. He was unsuccessful. And we haven't had any success today yet either. I'm not sure any of us are going to last much longer if we don't see more progress tonight. I'm a super impatient potty trainer I guess.

Today Steve and I were asked to give talks in church. It's nice to not be nervous or worry about speaking in public. I just had to figure out how to speak on the topic, "How is Jesus Christ important in my life." That was a tough one to narrow down to a 12-min talk, but it seemed to turn out okay.

Besides, with these smiley happy kids, how can everything not be okay?