VaLenTiNeS DAY

Well we all know what was this week.... VALENTINES DAY!!! Isn't it fun to celebrate LOVE?!

I woke up a little early to make Brandon and Tylee breakfast before Brandon had head off to class. When I walked downstairs, Brandon had left out a dozen beautiful pink roses in a vase with the cutest card in the world.

 Just a little Secret.. His notes are GOOD!!! I usually like the notes better than the gift because they mean so much. I love when he leaves little notes telling me that he loves me around the house.

Brandon loves German Pancakes. (They have many different names but that is what I grew up calling them.) So naturally this is what I made him for breakfast. They are pretty tasty with powdered sugar and syrup.

I forgot to take a picture of mine but this surprisingly looked exactly like the ones I made except the sides were a little bit taller.

 After he rushed out the door for class here is what we did for our celebration. Brandon left for school, while he was gone the decorating, baking and whatnot began.

I made cookies while tylee painted canvases for her daddy and grandparents.

I came up with "50 REESES" (reasons) why I loved Brandon. I scattered mini REESES cups all over the bed with a little heart shaped notes that I punched out with a heart paper punch that said why I loved him. I also scattered candy and hearts all over and made a little banner to hang above the bed. I made a little gift basket with a Fanta saying he was FANTA-stic and Hot Tamales saying he was "One Hot Tamale." There was a few other surprises that I put in there as well.

1. You hold my hand                                                  26. You make me feel safe
2. You play with Tylee                                               27. We can talk about "nothing"
3. Your sexy                                                              28. Your eyes
4. Your funny                                                            29. Your touch
5. Your personality                                                    30. You let me tickle you SOMETIMES
6. You give good hugs                                                31. You can finish my sentences
7. You send cute text messages                                    32. You can't spell
8. You help with the dishes                                         33. Amazing voice
9. You help with the laundry                                       34. Your stuck with me forever
10. You put Tylee in her carseat                                  35. You run errands for me
11. I am your top priority                                           36. You help clean
12. I trust you                                                           37. Your laugh
13. You trust me                                                        38. You play me in Ping pong
14. You love me when I'm cranky                               39. Your fun
15. Your my future                                                    40. You play guitar
16.  You sing silly songs                                             41. You take care of the cars
17. You always kiss me goodnight                               42. Your adventurous
18. You remind us to read scriptures                            43. You try new things
19. You get Tylee ready for church                              44. You like to take me along with you
20. You start the car                                                   45. You say I'm beautiful when I'm not ready
21. You take out the trash                                           46. You always say sorry even if I'm wrong
22. You help around the house                                    47. You let me tease you
23. You work hard for us                                          48. You watch movies you might not like w/me
24. Your Testimony                                                   49. You give good massages
25. Your Smile                                                          50. You are calm when I get frustrated *even
                                                                                      though sometimes that frustrates me more,
                                                                                       I love it

It didn't take long to write the reasons I loved about him. In fact he is so great that I could think of MANY more. Maybe next time I will shoot for 100+ **Disclaimer: As I was trying to write them down for the blog I couldn't remember some of the EXACT ones I did so some of them may be a tad different.

I got Tylee her Valentines gift wrapped. We are taking Tylee to Disney on Ice in a few weeks so I have been trying to introduce her to ALL of the princesses instead of just tangled.. she is obsessed with her. So we got Tylee a Tiana doll with "The Princess and the Frog" movie. We also got her some green bubbles and green Bug Juice (a type of drink). We got her some licorice and a cool valentine cup she could put her drink in.

Then I got ready for our surprise date.

THE SURPRISE...

...basically all Brandon told me was that I had to be ready to go by 4:00 pm. He originally said that I had to wear a blindfold the whole night but yeah right... :) I told him I would just close my eyes if he wanted me to.

 Well unbeknownst to me, after Brandon got home from school and my parents came and we exchanged Valentine treats, Brandon came up behind me right before we left and gave me a hug from behind while putting his hands in my coat pocket. He does this quite frequently so I thought NOTHING of it. But he had slipped a little ticket in my pocket. We went and dropped Tylee off with the babysitter (Aunt Amanda) She had the cutest things planned for Tylee to do and keep her entertained.

 Then we got in the car (Conversation that follows is not exact wording, just the gist of it) and while we were in the car I said,
"So are you going to give me a hint."
He replied, "You should know. It's written all over you." I was so confused I thought he was talking some sort of a riddle or something so I sat trying to figure it out. Finally he said "okay not all over you but somewhere." So that gave me the clue to check in my pockets and guess what I found?! Wait for it......

I found a movie ticket to "Safe Haven" Ladies and Gents that may not seem like a big deal to any of you but I am a HUGE fan of Nicholas Sparks. I have read almost all of his books and seen all of his current movies so I was very EXCITED!! Oh and I hadn't even told him that the movie was coming out that night and I wanted to see it. He overheard me talking to someone about it previously and remembered. How thoughtful is that. And to be honest Brandon and I actually hardly ever go to a movie because we usually have Tylee with us. She usually comes with us wherever we go, which I love. She is our little buddy.

Off to the movie we went. We splurged a little and got some popcorn and drinks. I'm hating the new management at the university theater. They completely racked up the prices. Anyway I absolutely LOVED it! Let me tell ya Nicholas Sparks is one talented man. His stories are very good. After the movie we headed to dinner. He didn't tell me where were eating either. We ended up at Callaways (a cozy little pizza and pasta joint that I love).

After eating WAY too many breadsticks and salad and spaghetti we left. He had planned to take me to my favorite frozen yogurt place Twizleberry. I was too full to want to go so we ended at the mall window shopping. It was such a fun little date. We then went and picked up the little one and headed home. It was such a fun Valentines Day and I always love spending time with my husband. I hope everyone else had an enjoyable day with those that they love.

A shout out to the world: I LOVE BRANDON GRIFFIN!  

Terrific Tuesday

**Terrific Tuesday**

Today for our T4T [Time for Tylee] we did ziplock paint bags: 

Instructions - Put some paint blobs on a piece of paper and stick the paper in a ziplock bag. Let the children go to town. Tylee loved this activity.

Magnificent Monday

**Magnificent Monday**

PLAN THE WEEK

Today for our T4T [timeout for tylee] all we did was plan the week. Of course we did other things together but they weren't really out of the norm. So we talked about what we wanted to do and we set up a plan. Now all we need to do is put that plan in motion. 

Here is some of our plans:

**I looked around for a planner that I liked and none of them had everything that I wanted so I made my own.**

Magnificent Monday

***Magnificent Monday*** 

Today was our first day back with Family Home Evening. Because of our such short planning it was very simple.

LESSON: BEING HONEST
ACTIVITY: THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF STORY
TREAT: BROWNIES

We had a lesson about being honest. Daddy shared a story about being honest. I read the Aesop's fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". We ate some brownies that I made. I wish I had an amazing recipe to share for this but in all HONESTY :) I just used a box. Remember how I said this lesson was very simple. Over all I think the message got across to our little miss. Hopefully as we continue to teach her she will learn the importance of honesty.

Timeout for Tylee

I decided that time passes too quickly. We don't spend enough time with the people that we love. We don't take enough photos. Kids grow way to fast. As a result of this I have decided to create a timeout for Tylee. [T4T]

Basically I am going to create time to spend a little bit with the little girl that I love. Therefore I am going to take time out of my day for Tylee.

"[If it is important you will find a way, if not you will find an excuse.]"

On the agenda this week is:

Magnificent Monday: Make our schedule

Terrific Tuesday: Finger paint

Wonderful Wednesday: Toddler-time at the library

Thriving Thursday: Blow Bubbles

Fabulous Friday: Cereal Art

Super Saturday: Matching Game

Sensational Sunday: Make play-doh 

*feel free to copy my ideas, but give credit where it is due (if you use my ideas please link back to my page. These include but are not limited to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or any other type of social media)

Came and went

Okay so since the last time I blogged:

We got sick.... (Hence the non-finished Halloween blog posts - I will try to do some catch up posts)

Halloween came and went.

We dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood (Tylee was Little Red, Brandon was the BIG BAD WOLF and I was the Grandma.

Can I just say we love the D.I. for costumes (We found everything there except Brandons and Tylee's coats (they already had them.)

We went to Park City for a little getaway vacation with Brandon's family. It was very fun.

Thanksgiving came and went.

I decided to get the creativity back on and I made Tylee's turkey shirt. It was super fun and turned out pretty cute I thought. No I didn't have a pattern.. I just free handed or I would put it on here for others to steal. I do however have the pattern I made if anyone wants it just comment and I can email it to you or put it in a post, but its really not hard and my pattern is far from perfect.

This year we celebrated with my family (BALES). It was a lot of fun to see all of the family and cousins.

The Kevin & Julie Bales family is growing!!!!

Christmas came and went. 

this year Santa came to Grandma and Papa Griffin's House. 

 We got so lucky that Santa brought Tylee a kitchen (Bike is from grandparents Griffins)

 Grandma and Papa Bales spoiled us too...

We were so spoiled and many thanks go out to those who made Christmas 2012 special. We all loved it and appreciate the many gifts and cards. THANK YOU!!

On a side note: Just after Christmas we also got to celebrate another special occasion. My Best Friend's Wedding!!!

 It's a good thing we Love you megs cuz it was FREEZING outside.

Then over the much needed school break for Brandon, we went SNOWSHOEIN'

We came home to some sleepy heads on the couch... :)

 Enjoying some JIMMY JOHNS

BRINGING IN THE NEW YEARS!! It came and Went

 YES she did stay up till midnight.. Crazy girl

 The cute Cox family celebrated the new year with us too!

next up is the cruise blog post... stay tuned... (waiting on some more pics)