Happy Birthday, Sweet Nora!

Dear Nora, 

I'm so glad we could celebrate our birthdays together this year! And in years to come and you contemplate the meaning of your special day, remember ...

1) If you ever run out of matches, you can use your blow torch to light the candles.

(See? It works great.)

2) I just love you. I'm so glad you're my sista. 

3) Which is better: eating the enormous 4-layer devil's food cake or sneaking spoonfuls of the frosting straight from the bowl while "cleaning the kitchen" together? (Haha ... Mom doesn't look too sure about Trent's cake-balancing/cutting abilities in this pic.)

3) Exactly how many fingers can your nephew fit up his nose at the same time? 

4) Everything goes better with home-made ice cream!

We love you, sweetness. So glad you came to visit. Happy Birthday!

Love,

Trent, Melody, & Camden

When the boys are away, the mommies will play!

While Nora was here, we decided to run away for a little while and celebrate our birthdays (mine is 4/17; hers is 4/30) "time-out" style. It was fabulous. The two of us cruised to Boulder, hung out at the Celestial Seasonings Cafe and sipped tea for about an hour, and then took the factory tour. Even the drive was so ... quiet. Except for our rocking out to '80s tunes, that is. (And nobody even complained or covered their ears.)

I love my sista-from-anotha-mista.

Cousins!

We had a blast with Nora and Sammy this past week. 

So glad they came to visit!

@ the Littleton Historical Museum

Turkeys! And beautiful Nora.

Brand new little lambs. The white one was only 2 days old!

@ Cherry Creek Mall (even though I promised myself I'd never be one of "those moms" ... but now I have a crazy-psycho toddler that runs me ragged every day and have become a little desperate when the weather is chilly ... oh, well!)

The cousins! They go together like bacon and eggs. (har har)

My boy. I love him.

Puddle-jumpin' @ Duncan Park

Mmmm ... cinnamon toast. :-P

Employed!

Trent just wrapped up his first week as a branch manager with KeyBank. Yippee! Hooray! Go hunny! We feel so blessed that he was only unemployed for a little over a month, especially in this economy -- and in the banking industry, no less. It was wonderful to have some real time together, even though it was a little stressful. And we definitely learned lessons we couldn't have learned any other way. In the end, we're just happy. And in all honesty, conditions are even better now than they were before Trent lost his job. Mostly, we are grateful that he doesn't have to travel for the next two years after all. Plus, the new bank is much closer (no more 45 min. commute), closes at 5 p.m. rather than 6 p.m., and doesn't have any Saturday hours. Bonus! It's nice to have Daddy around again. 

Thanks a million to all of you who have reached out in love and service and support to our family in our time of need. We feel blessed to know you and to have you in our lives. Whew! We made it through! We're (all) a good team. :) We know the Lord is truly aware of us, and our testimonies and our family are even stronger now because of what we have been through together. Life is good. 

Park With Uncle Party

My brother, Joseph, just got a job with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Washington, DC! Yay, Uncle Party!  Before he hit the town as a full-time working man, he came to spend a week and a half with us in Colorado, which we enjoyed immensely. Here are some pictures of us goofing around at the park.

My favorite thing about this pic is that it wasn't even posed. They were just hanging out, and I ran for my camera. 

He's getting so big.

Our little family ... including our little stinker.

Of course, we couldn't go to a park with Uncle Joseph without playing a little frisbee. 

Unfortunately, things got a little out of hand with the intense wind, and it got stuck. So, of course, Uncle Party went up after it. (This pic is so classic Joseph. See the ring high in the branches above him?) He was shaking the tree like mad trying to get the frisbee down and really freaked out a poor landscaping guy, who came racing across the field in his cart.

Our cool little dude, sportin' his '80s shades.

Handsome guys. LOVE them.

We love you and wish you well, brotha-man! Thanks for coming to spend time with us!

Combating Pornography

The LDS Church just launched a new website dedicated to this purpose:

www.combatingpornography.org

The site is tailored to meet the needs of individuals, spouses, parents, youth and leaders. I'm really happy to see this kind of resource offered in the midst of all the other crazy messages we get in this world.

Uncles

I was just thinking today what awesome uncles my little man has. I mean, super aunts and grandmas and grandpas, too, of course. World class family in general. But ... there's just something about uncles with a little boy. Probably on the brain because Joseph (aka Uncle Party) is here for a visit. We're loving it. And to all the other uncles out there: We love you. Thanks for being super-awesome.

Bebo's Airplane

After a wonderful Easter Sunday including General Conference and a beautiful (and delicious) Easter dinner with Trent's family, we all set off to see Trevor's "office."

The littlest Feist was pretty excited and was the first to dart up the stairs into the plane.

My hunny and me ... looking a little tired at the end of the day.

Even Great-Grandma Tronette came along!

I was allowed to hold him up for this picture and then was instructed, "Okay, Mom, now get out of my seat!"

We may or may not have had to peel him out of the airplane when it was time to go home. Thanks for the tour, Bebo! We love you!