The Bates Family

Friday, February 15, 2013

Valentine's Day 2013

We had a busy Valentine's Day

But we got to share it with some people we love, so it made it okay!

Growing up my parents always left a little something by our plate at breakfast.

I wanted to keep that tradition alive!

So we gave the girls each a rose at their plate.

They were so excited!

It didn't have quite the same effect as my youth, because everyone ate breakfast at a different time!

But the girls got the message that they are loved and it may just become a new tradition!

Lucy was totally fascinated!

We then preceded to....

Finish up last minute touches on Abby's Valentines and send her off to preschool!

Make 6 or so dozen sugar cookies for Mark's class. (I am SO DONE with making sugar cookies for awhile!)

Deliver the cookies to Mark at school!

Run a few other errands!

Get back just in time for my niece to come play while her parents went on a hot date!

Prepare as much as I could for dinner!

Head out to Mark's Basketball game! They Won! Wahoo!

Come home and finish dinner, just in time for some friends to show up and eat with us!

PHEW!!!!

It's always fun to have company for dinner... even on Valentine's Day!

I tried some festive things, but didn't get many pictures.

For dessert I made cinnamon rolls (with pink frosting) and White chocolate Hot Cocoa (dyed pink as well!)

The girls were thrilled with their pink hot chocolate!

It was too sweet for my taste....maybe because I was so full! I may have to give it another try!

Abby's Valentine's

Abby wanted to make Valentine's for her preschool class!

I was excited for the chance to make something I have wanted to for a long time.

I saw this idea on pinterest (Surprise! Surprise! )

And thought it was a perfect way to use up all our broken crayons.

The girls helped peel EVERY SINGLE CRAYON! It seriously kept them busy for a couple of hours!

Since it was Abby's Valentine's - She helped with the rest!

We were really worried they didn't turn out because the back of the crayon looks terrible.

But to our surprise (and total gratitude) they worked out awesome!

Abby and I were so happy with the way they turned out!

Thanks Pinterest!!!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Sugar Cookie Decorating!

Thank Goodness for Valentine's Day!

It's a much needed splash of color amongst the dreary winter blues!

Okay, so I was NOT feeling the "14 days of Valentine's" this year!

(I'm kinda in a unenergetic, unmotivated, sit on the couch and stare kinda funk these days!)

But, I felt pretty bad for the girls so I decided to get my butt into gear this week and plan some fun stuff for them.

Tonight for FHE - Decorate and Deliver Sugar Cookies.

The girls LOVED it.

We started out by rolling and cutting the dough!

Then after dinner we frosted and decorated the cookies

Lastly, we delivered the cookies to a few of our favorite people in our ward!

I love it when we get to visit with people we don't get to visit with everyday!

Happy Valentine's Week Everybody!!!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Marky's Birthday

Mark celebrated his birthday the other day.

It was VERY low key! Just the way he wanted.

We went out to eat at Nelson's Frozen Custard. Yummy!

And then had Cheesecake (per his request) with my parents (per my request).

After we got home we opened presents.
The girls and I gave him a garage door opener. Wahoo!!!
Then some great big kisses!

Happy Birthday Marky!
Hope you had a great day!!!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Baby Maren's Blessing!!!

My brother Cody and sister-in-law Anne welcomed sweet baby Maren into the world earlier this month.

We went down to Provo this weekend for her blessing. She was absolutely beautiful!

It was a quick trip and the terrible roads/weather didn't help much! But we made it safely and had loads of fun in the short time we did get to spend together. Between the eating (Maddox, I've missed you!) and shopping (Hobby Lobby - missed you more!) we did spend some time doing some other fun stuff.

Including - Swimming!

After dinner we met back at the hotel to go swimming! The girls had a blast!

The VERY proud grandparents!!!!

Sunday morning church didn't start until 11:00,

so Mark and I decided to take the girls for a drive and show them a few places around Provo.

You can only spend SO much time in a tiny hotel room!

We drove by EVERY apartment or home that some family member lived in while at school at BYU.

We drove by the temple AND the MTC (it was raining so no pictures!).

We still had more time so we drove up to the "Y". (The girls needed a break, so we braved the weather for this picture!)

It was pretty snowy so it was hard for the girls to see.

Can you spot the "Y"?

After church we headed home! It was pretty miserable in some parts (we're taking 30-40 mph on I-15....ugh!), but the girls did great...for the most part! Near the end, they had pretty much had it....aaaww heck....We ALL had had it!

We would TOTALLY do it again, however.... We Love You Baby Maren!