McPhaul Madness: Fabulous February

February was a very busy good month for us. Most of it was filled with cold snowy or windy days. We kept the fire stoked and stayed plenty warm inside the house. I was able to organize the toys and bring them back in the house (actually in the garage in tubs). However, the kids were very excited and it is like Christmas all over again. ( I hauled out to storage every toy that we owned last November and they stayed there because I got so sick of picking up toys.) Anyway life is good and here is a little clip of what we have been doing.

Visiting with our friends who own the old Robbers Roost Don and Carmie. Carmie is a full Italian and she made us a wonderful meal in crockpots.

February 2nd. Happy Birthday to Darlin Dawn. 2 years old.

Darlin also potty trained 1 week before her 2nd birthday. She was completely potty trained in 2 days. No accidents.....I'm serious none. Not even at night. I put a pull up on her for 1 week with no wetts and then just let her sleep in her panties. She also insists on putting the panties on by herself, wiping(which is pretty scary, thank goodness for soap and water), and flushing without help. I think it is because she sees her older siblings and wants to be independent. I must say, however, that about 2 months ago I started bringing her in with me and the kids when we went potty and clapping hysterically for myself and kids when we "went", then saying "good job mom, way to go mom, or yes Blazen you went pee, ect." So when Darlin went pee that first day and the clapping and hollering was for her she was pretty stoked and wanted to go again. I must also admit that she got an m&m any time she sat on the potty. I also didn't ask her if she wanted to go, I just took her to "get and m&m" every hour. So there it is...my tricks. (Training the other two didn't go that smooth with all the tricks and more, just a little note in case you are potty training and it doesn't work in two days.)

Back to the birthday. I saw this neat idea for a farming cake on the internet and thought I would try it out. Mine didn't turn out as professional as the internet picture, bummer....never does, but on the bright side of things; Darlin thought it was great!!!!

We had a little party for Darlin. Granny, Auntie, Tessa, and Cookie came over. Darlin got some very nice gifts. Her favorite game was duck, duck, goose. And she loved her pop.

Look out the alien might just get you. Booo!

Ace went to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Nashville, Tennessee. He really enjoyed connecting with so many different aspects of the cattle industry. It was hosted in Opre Land. I was able to fly in for 1 day to be with Ace. Opre land is just huge. It is a huge convention center/hotel/resort/restaurants. You name it, it has it, all indoors, in one huge complex. We were able to go to The Grand Old Opre and watch several artists as well. (The Oakridge Boys, Charlie Pride, Josh Turner, and others) Mom drove down and stayed with the kids. They learned to yodel like Grandpa Dwaine while we were gone.

February 14th. Happy Valentines Day. I woke up and made my family heart pancakes. Cutting them out after they are cooked works much better than trying to make a heart and cook it. This year we did strawberry syrup. We also had red Sunny D.

February 21st Happy Birthday Denim Bleu. 7 years old.

We celebrated Denims birthday in Albuquerque going to the MONSTER TRUCK RALLY. Everyone loved it. We got to see Grave Digger. We also got several goodies there. Denim chose regular popcorn and a big slushy. It was soooooooo loud. We stuck cotton in our ears.

We also did a little family dinner on the 20th, and took cupcakes to her class on the 21st.

I took all of these pictures with the I-touch, they did not turn out as well as my Nikon.

(Monster Truck Picture Coming)

Denim loves Smurfette, so we went with that.

McCarty & Brenden Hatfield

Febrary 24th 2012

Logan, UT Temple

My youngest sister got married to a wonderful man. We were able to be there with them. It was an emotional time for me as it wraps the Amy Family up. It was so special being in the temple with all of my siblings. I just can't describe how amazing it was. McCarty is so happy; she was beautiful.

LeOna did the flowers again. They turned out awesome....she used turqoise feathers. Loved it. McCarty's colors were purple, turqoise, & yellow, accented with black. I have to admit that I was worried, but it was actually gorgeous.