I'm in love

She's a beauty, ain't she?

For Valentines Day Adam and I gave each other a new washing machine. Yeah, we're super romantic that way. Two weeks ago our washing machine died.  Sure, it had been making loud noises for over a year but I was sure it would just keep on keepin' on.  Alas, it was not to be.  We bought our first washer and dryer when we got married 13 1/2 years ago and since they were built to last about 12 years it put us into a dilemma. We had 3 options: pay to get it fixed, get a deal on a used one from KSL.com, or just invest in something really good that will get us through the years our family will produce the highest volume of laundry.  We tried our best to ignore the problem for the first week, but when that failed to solve anything we decided to go with option #3 and it was delivered on Valentines Day-- how fitting.  Nothing says "I love you" more than being able to do a HUGE load of laundry (twice as big as before).  Yeah, my standards have changed-- I was downright giddy.

The lid allows you to see what is going on inside so the kids like to watch the machine do it's thing.

We didn't get a new dryer so our set is no longer matchy matchy.

 

But hey, I know exactly the dryer I want when this one finally bites the dust.  Yes, there is hope to be matchy matchy once again, but let's hope its not too soon.

Can I tell you how thankful I am that my parent's had 2 sets of washers and dryers around the corner from me during the interim? It was really nice to be able to run over and do 2 loads at a time while coming and going as I pleased.  If I had had to do the laundry mat thing we probably would have solved the problem in about 24 hours instead of taking our time to figure out what we really wanted.

Jenna spent her Valentines Day in Salt Lake City with her Ambassador orchestra group.  In 5th grade orchestra you have the option of becoming an Ambassador but to do so you have to commit to extra Saturday rehearsals and have to have a private teacher to help you with the harder music. Ambassadors come from all over the valley and are from different elementary schools but Jenna is lucky that her 2 orchestra friends that live on our same street are also in Ambassadors. In February each year the Ambassadors go on an all day trip to SLC on a school day where they have an opportunity to rehearse in Abravenel Hall with a guest conductor, talk to members of the Utah Symphony, watch the Utah Symphony rehearse and eat at The Cheesecake Factory in City Creek.  Pretty cool for a 5th grade orchestra student.  Jenna took her own camera and took a lot of pictures of everyone else, but unfortunately she didn't think to ask anyone to get a picture of her.  Oops.

On the Abravenal Hall stage



Walking into the Cheesecake Factory

Mmmmm, cheesecake!

The bus arrived back in the valley around 5:30 p.m.  Since this year the trip just happened to be on Valentines Day the 31 students in Ambassadors brought Valentines for each other and they had an exchange on the bus.  Jenna also planned ahead and made a Valentines box and Valentines for her own class and took it in the day before.  Korinne was responsible to bring home her filled Valentine box after school and all went as planned.  What's not to love about Valentines from 2 classes??  Britton was happy to not have to deal with Valentines since he is in middle school now.  He was quite surprised by how some students did stuff anyway.  Why? Why would they do that? "It was mostly the girls" he said, but you could see how confused he was that people still did stuff for a holiday when they didn't have to.  Hmm, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree now does it?

On Thursday night the Ambassadors had a special concert for the parents before they went to SLC the next day.  It was at the Tabernacle and although I didn't have a great picture spot managed to get a few of Jenna.

Jameson celebrated Valentines day by making messes and getting into some pink chapstick.

Pucker up, ladies!

When we built our house I thought having drawers next to the stove was essential, now with a 2 year old Jameson I think it is the worst. idea. ever.

He doesn't see them as drawers, he sees them as a built-in ladder for easy access to everything interesting.  I have yet to find a way to keep him off of the "ladder".  When I'm cooking something on the stove it is a constant battle to keep him a safe distance away.

 If anyone has any great ideas, let me know.  We can put things on doorknobs to keep him out, but I can't remove drawers (and even if I did he would still be able to climb up the cabinet).  Thank goodness the knobs on our stove are child locked!  Jameson is a "do it yourself" kind of guy and I've already seen him putting pans on the stove and trying to turn the knobs.  He doesn't see the need to ask for help when he can clearly take the matter into his own hands. 

 

And this too shall pass. . .