Danielle turns 4!

Danielle's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, which is a crazy day for us, so it was a rushed birthday.  She is in love with anything "My Little Pony" right now and made it easy to please her.  We just bought her a few ponies and she was happy.  I also braided her hair across her head like I do for Nicole, and she looked so beautiful and so old!

Danielle has grown so much.  I knew she would transform this year, but with my internship, I think she has matured that much faster.  She asked for a sun cake, after having a rainbow cake last year, and I was happy to accommodate her.  We had exactly 40 minutes where we were all home to eat dinner, open the rest of her presents, have cake and ice cream and then head to the church for scouts, activity days, and young men's!  It was a wild night, but I think she still enjoyed it.

We recently had a rock show in town that was a lot of fun.  I was fascinated to see how they polish those smooth stones into perfect spheres.

A dinner table was also set up made completely of different rocks.  I still can't get over how realistic it was!

It makes me hungry just looking at that bowl of jello or the yummy drinks.  The loaf of bread looks amazing.

I also found a picture from when Nick and Karla were in town when we climbed the hill behind our house.  Glad that I have at least one photo to commemorate that wonderful visit!

In other news, I was just called as our Young Women's President today, so we won't be slowing down any time soon.  It will be great!

What's red and white and takes a lot of heart?

 I had to share the totally cute Valentine's hairdos that I gave my girls.  I wish I could take credit, but I found the directions on http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/. 

Danielle had her first Valentine's party at her preschool, and we thought it would be fun to make heart cookies for all her friends as well as a large heart to decorate for each family member.  I always like projects that everyone gets into.

The first Valentine's Day that I knew Nathan, I made him heart shaped cookies with pink frosting, and this year I was feeling nostalgic to carry on that tradition. 

Last year we were apart on Valentine's Day.  He was alone in Klamath Falls, and I was with the kids at a BYU traveling dance concert called All About Love that was good to distract me, but still made me miss him.

This year it was so nice to be settled and able to make cookies and have him come home for the evening and join us.

It was also nice to make the house as messy as I wanted to and not worry about cleaning it to show potential buyers.

I prefer soft sugar cookies, though my mom is partial to the crunchy version, because that is what her mother made her.  Somehow it skipped my generation.  My kids are all unified with me that the soft ones are the best.

Of course the most important part of the sugar cookie is not the cookie itself, but the frosting, preferably homemade.

I think Danielle ingested more frosting than cookies, and that's saying a lot, because she ate plenty of cookies.

Who can resist an almost 4-year old though.

We ended up with enough cookies for her class and some to spare.

For our date, we traveled to Ashland, where Brandon was having a basketball game.  We had dinner at the most delicious restaurant.  I will eat there from now on whenever I make the hour-long drive.  It was hand made pasta with roasted organic vegetables and so delicious.  I had the butternut squash and walnut ravioli topped with basil cream sauce.  It was hands down the best meal I've had since Atlantic Fish in Boston.

After dinner we watched the second half of Brandon's game.  He has gotten increasingly better this season, and I am proud of how hard he has worked.  Considering we just moved here this year, he has a bunch of great friends and fits right into the team.

His coach was full of positives, saying that he has one of the best shots on Varsity and JV and that he is a great player.

Danielle has been to a fair share of his games this year, but she really doesn't enjoy basketball as much as her ponies.

Brandon had 100% shooting for free-throws this season.  We were especially impressed when he was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and made 3 free throws in a row!

So, what's red and white and takes a lot of heart.....Valentine's Day and Pelican basketball!