I Think My Heart is Glowing

So yay for the Olympics! I love watching them! We are all sorts of behind so we just barely watched the Opening ceremony yesterday afternoon (thank heavens for DVRS!). Watching the torch carried made me miss my Grandpa and think back to that awesome day 8 years ago when he got to carry the Olympic Torch on his 100th birthday. P.S. If you heard me talk in church the other day-this is that same grandpa I talked about. That man was the coolest! Last night Ben and I stayed up way too late to watch the Snowboarding Halfpipe. Oh, it was so awesome! I remember back in the day when Tony Hawk met little boy Shaun White at some skatepark and was totally in awe of his skills. To have Tony Hawk in awe is amazing! It's been so great to kind of see Shaun White grow up, in a sense, and continue to do so many amazing things. He seems so humble about it too, which is great. I was glad he beat out Japan's goatee-stroaking Kazuhiro Kokubo, who seemed the opposite. I loved how, after he'd already won gold, Shaun was at the top of the hill debating if he should just go straight down or do some trick and then he comes down and does a Double McTwist! Woot! Woot! Shaun White!
So whenever I watch the Olympics there's always some event that I totally dream of doing. In the summer, it's women's slalom kayaking-oh yeah! That looks so hard but so much fun. There was some lady last time that was like 40 or something so it's still totally achievable, right? As for the winter Olympics, I'm such a huge fan of the luge. I know it's crazy dangerous but it's just the bomb. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the luge events. It's so sad that they had such tragedy overshadow it. I hear that they have some kind of luge thing up in Park City and I totally want to try. I could totally do it too. I used to be quite the expert on the "skateboarding luge". Or maybe I was just crazy.

It's Friday, I'm in love!

Okay, so I'm a big fan of holidays. But Valentine's, yeah, not so much. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Valentine's is stuck right in the middle of the February gunky days of winter, where you are just so dang sick of it all and not even a holiday is too exciting at this point. Maybe it's because there's all this gooshy stuff around this holiday that just doesn't interest me too much~stuffed animals, light up boxer shorts, candy, etc., etc. I mean, I like romantic stuff and all but I just don't find the cheesiness of Valentine's particularly romantic. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that the love of my high school years decided that the day before Valentine's was the perfect day to break up. Ever since then I've kind of thought how sucky Valentine's is for those without someone to smooch and stuff, even if I haven't had to spend too many without someone myself. It just makes me feel bad that others have to have it pointed out to them that they are alone. Lame.
As I was complaining to Ben the other day about the whole blah Valentine's week, Skylar told us her teacher at school said, "Valentine's is the day that you get to tell all of your friends and family that you love them." and it hit me. That's why I kind of hate Valentine's! Really, do we need a holiday to have to tell someone we love them? Shouldn't that be an every day kind of thing? So, to all of you out there, my friends and family and also to the love of my life, Ben, I just want to take today, a simple Friday, to tell you that you are loved. Who needs a stinkin' holiday to say that?

Okay, bah humbug aside. Here's some fun pictures of Valentine's celebrations and such that kind of make it seem all worth it:
P.S. This little girl is finally on the go!!

Our Sledding Sweety

Ignore my awful voice and listen closely for Alexis's laugh. She loves sledding!!

Get on your sleds!

There's pretty much only one good thing about winter after Christmas and that would be sledding! Have I mentioned that I love our little sledding hill by our house? It is the best. We invited some friends over for our annual sled fest and headed to the hill.









Even with some high flying jumps, there was only one injury caused by a stick going down the hill with one of the crazy sledding kids. Um, yeah, that was my kid. It involved just a minor scratch but some major time out. Crazy kid. Sorry Little Maddie!
















After awhile the kiddos moved on to building a snowman. With a little help from the guys, it ended up being, as Skylar said, " the biggest snowman in the whole.....neighborhood!" We then headed back to our house for some hot cocoa, munching, and playing games well into the night. What a great day!