February

February was quite the eventful month. Madi started saying her own prayers which are very cute to listen to. We also worked some more on getting her potty trained and finally after some tears (from both of us) and complete frustration, we gave up once again. We had dentist appointments and found out Parker had 4 cavities (just one more thing to make me feel guilty about), but we only needed to get 2 filled and the dentist said we will just watch the other two for now since they are baby teeth. This was a much better diagnosis considering we also had an estimate from a pediatric dentist who claimed we needed 4 caps and at least one filling and it would cost over $1,100. Parker is still busy with preshool and started learning how to read.

Probably the biggest news would be that on the Sunday, Feb. 10th, I actually got released from the Primary presidency. For those of you who don't know, I was the first counselor in the Primary presidency in our ward in Wellsville for 2 years. Then we moved into Logan and after being in our current ward for about 3 months, I got a calling to be the first counselor in the Primary presidency again. It was really funny to Lynn and I becuase we were both called into the exact same callings we had in Wellsville. Apparantly we hadn't learned enough while we were there. Anyway, after being in this calling in the Woodruff ward for 2 1/2 years, we got released. It was kind of a surprise, but a nice relief as well. However, after being in that calling for almost a total of 5 years I was finally getting the hang of it and able to plan sharing times without too much stress, I guess that is why I was finally released. One can't ever get too comfortable with his/her calling in the church. Right now (whisper) I am still calling free.

In all of my adult life, I think I have pretty much always had a calling in the Primary so it is really weird to actually attend Sunday School and Relief Society on a regular basis. I really enjoy being in the Primary because of the simple gospel lessons (I feel like I will never have all of the standards figured out) and mostly becuase of the sweet innocence of the kids. Don't get me wrong, there were definately days I was ready to wring a neck or two, but there is nothing that invites the spirit into the room quicker than the primary children singing their hearts out to any of the great primary songs. I never thought I would say this, but believe it or not I do miss it at times.

Considering Lynn and I aren't very romantic people, we really didn't do much for Valentine's Day. In fact we bought seasons 1, 2, and 3 of The Office as our present to each other. I love that show! Our Stake also had a Sweethearts dance that we went to, but considering neither one of us really know how to dance (ok mostly me) we mostly just sat there and socialized with people. It was a fun date and always nice to get out.

We also went sledding with our good friends, the Christensen's, over at the school by our house. The kids had a blast and Parker even got up the nerve to go off the jump a few times. Val, Lannis, Caleb and Annie Christensen are some good friends of ours that we seem to do a lot with. Our kids are almost exactly the same age and get along really well and Val AND Lannis both golf so in the summer we spend quite a few Saturdays going golfing with them. Here are some pictures of our sledding adventure.

Caleb, Parker, Lynn, Madi, Nicole and Dallin all checking out the hill before the first run. I forgot to mention that Lynn's sister Lisa was also in town and those are her kids, Nicole and Dallin, at the right.


Parker all smiles after a good ride!


Madi never dared go on her own so Lynn or I had to ride with her everytime.


By the end Madi and Annie decided that eating snow was a lot more fun.


Parker and Caleb ready for a ride.


Parker going off the jump

Another funny that happened after sledding was that Parker actually dried to deceive us for the first time that we can think of. We had the Christensen's over for hot chocolate after and Parker said he wanted some noodles that were in the fridge. I said we would get them in a minute. Next thing we knew, he had his hands behind his back and he was trying to sneak out of the kitchen. I asked him what he was hiding behind his back and he said "nothing, my back just itches and I'm scratching it." Well, come to find out he had the bowl of noodles behind his back and was trying to go to his room with them which he knows is off limits becuase we only eat in the kitchen. Little stinker.

One other eventful thing we had happen in February is that one Friday I went down to Ogden to do a little shopping and met my friend Carley and her two kids for lunch. After lunch we went to The Treehouse Museum and let the kids have some fun. My other good friend, Julie met us at the museum with her three kids as well.

Here is the clan sitting in the Oval Office - Lexi, Carson, Madi, Alivia, Parker, Garrett and Porter.

Alivia, Carson, Parker and Madi. Maybe Madi should be our next president.

Parker and Garrett dressed as cowboys ready to cross the wild frontier.

Parker and Madi with their tissue paper flowers we made.

Madi, Alivia and Parker - firemen to the rescue!

Parker and Garrett now dressed as Peter Pan, wouldn't their dad's be proud!

Catch Up

Now to start blogging......... Since this is going to be a record for our family history, I am going to start at the beginning of 2008 and go from there. I will give more family details later.

On January 11, 2008, Madilyn (Madi) turned 3 years old. It is hard to imagine that she is already that old. Anyway, we had cake and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Dahle on the 2nd and then headed up to see the Mullen grandparents on the day of her birthday. I made her a butterfly cake and she still talks about it to this day anytime anyone says "birthday". She thinks she is pretty cool now that she is 3!

Below are some pictures from her birthday.

Here is the famous Butterfly cake (at least famous in Madi's eyes, she still talks about it).

There's the smiling birthday girl!

She got a puppy purse from Grandma and Grandpa Dahle.

Here are the presents from all of us. She also got a baby cradle, but it came about a week later - oops! Silly mom for not ordering sooner.

Grandma Mullen made her a Strawberry Shortcake apron, baby burp cloth, baby blanket and a baby quilt that was made from all of the flannel she has made baby blankets out of for all of the grand kids (wow, I feel like I just used the word baby way too many times). The blanket and burp cloth were also made out of the same material that Madi's favorite blanket is made out of. For those of you who don't know, she is very attached to her thumb and her favorite blanket she has named "pink". The minute she sees that blanket, the thumb is in her mouth (a bad habit that I know is going to be a challenge to break, but has been very useful for getting her to go to sleep).

Grandma Mullen even made her a birthday cake for her to have while we were up there. Very spoiled!

While we were in Island Park we had a chance to get a little snowmobiling and sledding in as well. The powder was so deep and fluffy we had to be very careful not to get stuck on the snowmobiles (even though Lynn managed to get stuck a couple times - hee! hee!). Actually it one of the times he got stuck wasn't too funny. We had to dig and pull over and over and probably ended up digging about a 4 foot deep hole around the snowmobile and still couldn't get it out and then finally we found out that a belt was broken and that is why it wasn't moving. Very frustrating, but at least we finally got it out.

Lynn practicing his turns, I never did get very good at turning in the powder. I have a hard time trusting that I need to turn the handles right when I want to turn left (sound like Lightning McQueen on Cars doesn't it).

Parker, Madi and Lynn all ready to head down the hill!

Even Grandma got a chance to do a little sledding with the kids.

I just loved this pic of madi.

Parker ready to head on down the hill.

Lynn taking the kids snowmobiling. This is definitely one of their favorite things to do.

They also can't get enough of Grandma reading them books. It is very cozy being in the cabin with a fire going and about 4 feet of snow outside.

On the way home we stopped to visit with Grandma Helen Mullen for a while at her new place of residence in St. Anthony. It is nice having her a lot closer to Mom and Dad's now. She seemed to be doing really well and enjoyed seeing the kids.

First Time Blogger

Well, I've finally decided to start blogging. I've really been dragging my feet on wanting to blog for a few reasons. First, I didn't see the point of recording our life when I couldn't have a printed copy of it. Second, when my son who is 5 tells me he is going to work and then sits at the computer to start typing, I figure I am already spending too much time at the computer. Third, do any of us really need one more project to feel guilty about? and Fourth, I do not write well, I am not eloquent with my words and the idea of people actually reading this scares me to death. Despite all these reasons, I am trying to turn over a new leaf and start journaling a little more and after I saw a link on my friends blog that actually prints your blogs into a book, I was convinced that blogging would be a good way to start journaling/scrapbooking our life and recording our family memories once again. So, I will be using this blog as a journal for our family. If you care to see what adventures the Dahle's are experiencing, then feel free to read on. Also, if you are interested in the web site that will print your blogs, it is http://www.blurb.com/ - looks pretty fun, thanks Katherine!