Rockin' weekend, rocky week

We partied pretty hard last weekend, what with three holidays and all (isn't Friday the 13th a holiday?) and had all sorts of fun, which was good because this past week has been rough. We'll run down the fun stuff first . . . Technically this was the Monday before the holiday weekend. I had the night off from school, so we made Valentines for Family Home Evening. And here are the finished products, ready to mail to aunts/uncles/cousins and grandparents. Happy Valentine's Day to me! Chuck took pity on his poor, cookie-less wife and hooked me up with mini-cupcakes AND beautiful flowers. Here's my cute little Valentine #1 . . . (yeah, he's wearing a truck pajama shirt underneath, the kid needs a long-sleeved white shirt!) and my cute little Valentine #2! Their mommy loves them :). She also loves Target clearance (Clyde's t-shirt two summers ago) and Savers thrift store (Will's t-shirt in December). Matching t-shirts are adorable, but matching t-shirts for less than a dollar each are even more adorable! The boys giving last minute hugs before we left on a date that night. We hit up a wedding reception, saw a movie and ate at Olive Garden - we're not very original, and we're okay with that!

To wrap up the holiday weekend, Chuck's brother Lee and his seriously awesome wife Aleesha came and stayed with us Sunday night. And luckily they brought their darling seven-month-old daughter Bri with them, because otherwise we wouldn't have let them in. Sweet chubby-cheeked cousins - Will is just about four months older than Bri.

Clyde felt left out, so he jumped in too. :) It was a short visit, but Lee and Chuck managed to fit in some video game playing and Leesh and I sneaked out for some shopping - my beloved Savers had their Winter Clearance on President's Day - everything in the store was 50% off! I didn't find out about it until that afternoon, so we only had an hour, but I scored some pretty sweet stuff.

Then the week began. And it's been pretty lame. Clyde and Will seem to be going through some sort of injury-prone phase, between the two of them we've had blood on like six occasions. Clyde had a nasty spill when his footie-pajama clad feet lost traction while standing on a kitchen chair; the LARGE goose egg on his forehead shows exactly where it came into contact with the kitchen floor. I've kept him in the house since it happened, but there's no avoiding church tomorrow . . . should I dress him in green to coordinate with the bruise or pick a busy print shirt to distract people from it? Of course, it happened Wednesday night when I was just starting in on a paper due by midnight, and injured two-year-olds only want their mommies (which I do relish) so that delayed things a bit. The paper did get e-mailed by 2am with a paragraph explanation and my teacher didn't dock me at all, so that's good!

Early in the week I found out that my 79-year-old Grandma Braden had been hospitalized a few days prior and that it was very serious. She passed away Friday morning, February 20th. I will miss her a great deal, but my grief is more for my grandpa and my dad, as well as for my cousin Adam who, like Quinn, is serving as a missionary right now. He was very close to my grandparents and I'm sure it's difficult for him not to be here. We're all grateful for our testimonies in the gospel of Jesus Christ; that we know about eternal life. I let Quinn know what was going on when I e-mailed him last Monday, and I'd like to include part of his response (spelling errors fixed, he's a wretched typist!) here:

"Death is a part of life that we each will pass through, but He, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, conquered it. We will all live again, and that is the hope and faith that we carry . . . We have the absolute hope that we

will be raised from mortality to immorality, from corruption to incorruption. Along with that He conquered the spiritual death, or sin. He defeated

that and leads the way for us to do the same. Whatever

happens, the Lord is in charge. Our fear and sadness will be swallowed up in the hope of immortality and eternal life." Elder Quinn Braden

This is Quinn with Grandpa and Grandma last June, shortly before he left on his mission.

These pictures are from this past December when my dad and I took Clyde and Will over to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Of course we waited until the end of the visit when my children were getting fussy/uncooperative to take pictures!

So that was our week, and this weekend has been little improvement. Chuck woke up early this afternoon to stay with the boys while I went to a Relief Society activity, but then another injury occurred (Will pushed open a door with Clyde right on the other side, more blood) so I decided it wasn't meant to be, especially since I was only going to be able to be there for an hour before Chuck needed to leave for work anyways.

I'm convinced things will look up tomorrow, since it's Sunday (love church), Chuck's taking the night off (love Chuck), I made chocolate cupcakes tonight as another substitute for cookies (love chocolate, not entirely sure this is what my poor teacher had in mind, though), and it's the Academy Awards (love being shallow and looking at the dresses). Happy Sunday to you all as well!