The Baldwin Clan: February Visitors!

Jamie and Evan were finally able to take their honeymoon to Mexico in February, so they flew to Denver to visit us for a few days before they went (leaving the girls behind in Colorado, of course!). During that same time Jason, Rasy and kiddos decided to come to see her while she was here. AND Annalisa and Austin just happened to be coming through for the first time in 4 years, back from their time teaching in Thailand! It was a joyous household :)

We had been feverishly working on finishing the basement in hopes of having a few more rooms on hand, but Jeremy injured his back putting up drywall, so things came to a halt for a few weeks. But, where there is room in your heart there is room in your home!

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One night Anna, Austin, Jamie and Evan went on a double date to the dinner theater to see Hyde (a musical about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I managed to snag a picture of Anna and Austin before they took off! Look how lovely they look!

Looks like the dinner theater goes all out on the holiday weekends!

On the morning of the 14th there were valentines for the kiddos at the table.

Dallin is never disappointed to find chocolate with his name on it!

The kids all exchanged valentines too! So fun to see the cousins get together!

And what day of love could be complete without some time on the Switch?

As usual, all of us ladies were pampered for the holiday. While Austin was out getting Anna yummy things to say "I Love You" with we got to be lazy and hang out. When I asked her to smile for a picture, this is what I got:

That night we had the adult celebration and all the couples had a lovely (and revealing!?!) and romantic evening of fondue!

Happy Valentine's Day to my forever love and to all the great couples I know!

(And thank you to Jamie who sacrificed the lower half of her face to take the selfie :)

Anna and Austin left about the same time Jason and Rasy left and Jamie and Evan took off for Cancun. The kids had adopted Austin as their new favorite friend and were sooo sad to see them go. It was awesome to get to spend some time with them, especially since they had been on the other side of the world for so long! We loved all the late night chats and games and even Anna's ever present whimper about the snow. We will miss you guys! Hopefully they will come back soon to visit!

Jamie sent us proof of life (and her eternal hotness) while they were enjoying Mexico!

When they got back we threw a surprise party for Tori, since her birthday would be only a week after they left! We did a Candyland theme, and the kids all had a blast!

After the initial surprise, we gave Tori a crown and a colorful skirt to put on as our birthday girl/player of honor in this life-size game of Candyland!

The kids took turns tossing our giant dice and progressing along the colorful path through the house.

About every 3rd square had a printed logo of a kind of candy, and when they landed on one of those they got a piece of that candy in their goody bag!

Here is the aerial view! You can see Jamie manning the candy table off to the side and all the kids happily on their way to a sugar high!

The path came through the kitchen and ended in a spiral in the family room. They had to cross a gum drop path over a "river" (that was a blue plastic table cloth to protect the floor from the hanging donuts that were sugar falls) and then make it it to the end with an exact role of the dice.

When they completed the path the received a crown!

Look at that happy face!

The kids indulged in their spoils while we served up a dinner of waffles with whipped cream with eggs, bacon and chocolate milk. So much sugar, and so many happy children!

After that we did the donut eating contest- it is harder than it looks to eat a powdered donut hanging from a string with no hands, and in a hurry! That powdered sugar dries out your mouth in a hurry!

We had a round for the kiddos...