Masters

Celeste officially graduated this month with her graduate degree in Nonprofit Administration. She is now a Master of the Arts. She didn't walk but I made her dress up in the appropriate garb so that we could at least take some pictures to remember this milestone. I think this has been a good program for her, which program is very service oriented. The majority of her courses required working with various nonprofit organizations in the area including the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, O'Fallon Tourism, Gifted Wedding, and several others.

Celeste really focused her research on the health and wellness opportunities nonprofit organizations can provide to society. She has worked really hard the past couple years and it paid off with her 4.0 gpa. I am so glad I have such a smart and hard working wife. I really am lucky. Congratulations Celeste! I love you.

What an amazing example she is and will be for her girls. They are also lucky to call her their mom!

Spring Time Fun

We have been excited and enjoying the spring time. Not only is it baseball season but its also a time for gardening, yard sales and hopefully some camping. The girls love to play in Brindi's sleeping bag and its probably getting that time that we give them a taste of the real thing in Missouri. Watch out ticks!

Celeste found some accessories and a couple extra potatoes for Brindi. She loves her Potato head probably because of toy story. But she has been playing non stop with them now that she has a little family of potatoes and even calls them daddy, mommy and brindi. She even lets us play with her and design ourselves.

Brooke has even got in on the fun with her cool glasses.

Here are the girls hanging out in the yard.

Our little garden plot.

Brindi doing her share of the work planting seeds. She did dump out a couple packets of seeds so who knows what and where things may grow this year.

The girls putting on the finishing touches on our garden. We are getting excited for our strawberries, squash, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and most of all the little tomatoes.

Cardinal Baseball

The boys of summer are back. Unfortunately, the weather has not been coorperating until this week. So we decided to take advantage and packed up the kids and headed to Busch Stadium for a day at the ball field. It was an afternoon game so the sun was bright and we all got a little burned but it was fun to see our first baseball game of the season. We also lucked out and got free STL hats at the game. Hopefully we will have many more days this summer at the ball field.

1/4 Century Old

Joe posted pictures, but I need to write about my birthday. Joe has always been a spoiler and very thoughtful. Rachel my running partner is going to be moving in September, so Joe got me an ipod shuffle so I wouldn't be lonely running. I've never had music or books to listen to while running, so I'm quite excited about it. If the shuffle wasn't enough he had a card with plane ticket info for Brooke, Brin, and I to fly into ABQ in June! I have to admit I was emotional all day. I miss the west SO bad(aka...my family/Joe's family), but have realized that our little family needs to stick together, so I wasn't planning on flying out early or staying longer like we have in the past without Joe. I was starting to wrap my mind around just being there for 3 weeks(I know it's sad that I don't think that is enough time). So it was a sweet surprise when I read the card!!! I was emotional because I know what went into making it possible for us to go. Maybe someday I'll be as unselfish as Joe. I had a great day...thanks every one for the gifts, cards, and emails, they really meant a lot. I wish you were all here to share the cake (actually maybe not). My visiting teacher made it...another thoughtful gift. It was chocolate cheese cake with caramel and nuts, with a cookie crust, covered with a layer of chocolate...lets just say it was AMAZING!!!I have never tasted something this good.

Stats are in...

We headed over to the doctor's office yesterday for Brindi's 3 year and Brooke's 4 month appointments. Brindi had so much fun she wants to go back to play in the waiting room that has a tree house, Brooke on the other hand had shots and is still crabby so I don't think she wants to go back anytime soon. I don't have stats from Brindi at four months, so I guess I'll have to compare notes when Brooke hits 6months instead.

Brindi's Stats...

28.8 lbs

35 inches tall

48.8 in. head

Brooke's Stats....

13.9 lbs

23.25 inches tall

40 in. head

Easter

Our pretty little ladies in their Easter dresses.

Brindi lucked out this year with left-over gift cards, garage sales, and returned gifts. What I mean to say is she was spoiled. We have also begun to build up our dvd collection in preparation for our trip west this summer, which means we will use them as gifts to ourselves for the next couple months :)

We had a couple of Brindi's friends over after church for a nice Easter dinner and then the kids had a little Easter egg hunt in our front yard. Above is the little gang and I think they were quite happy with all the eggs they found:)

In my Leisure and Society course, we discuss Holidays, Holy Days, and Celebrations and I always pose the question to my class whether of not society has forgotten why we celebrate holidays and if holidays are losing their meaning. While my class and I may agree that society as a whole may be losing sight of the true meaning of holidays from time to time, I look at my own social circles and see that the true meaning of holidays are ever present. I am so thankful for my social circle, comprised of members of the church as well as other Christians in the area, and their devotion to the true meaning of holidays like Easter. Even though we may do many activities with bunnies, eggs, and gifts (all having interesting stories how they came about), I know why we celebrate Easter and I love my Savior for what he has done for my family and me.

Coloring Eggs

Comfortable?

Cold Egg Hunt

This past Saturday we headed over to Weldon Springs for a free Easter Egg hunt (We went to another one that cost $5 per child...yeah we left). It was a freezing day with strong winds but we ventured out. I actually think Celeste picked up more eggs than Brindi because Brindi was frozen stiff as you can tell by some of her expressions in the pictures. This is also the reason Brindi got a golden egg which had a number for a special prize. The special prizes were all worth $25 a piece. It was a pretty cool hunt which we will attend next year for sure. When we got home Brindi lined up all her candy and then matched them all up in pairs of two. Kind of a funny girl:)

San Diego Conference

This past week I was able to attend the American Alliance for Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) annual conference that just happened to be held in San Diego this year. The same location where I served my mission, coincidence that I attended this years conference...maybe maybe not. The conference was really good and a great educational opportunity for me and a chance to see several of my old colleagues and friends from the University of Idaho. In the evenings, I was also able to drive around and visit individuals and places that meant a lot to me during my time on the mish.

I was really looking forward to hearing what Drew Brees would have to say but was sadly disappointed. It was still pretty cool to see him though. He currently serves as the co-chair for the President's Council on Physical Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition and was speaking as part of the National Association on Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) which is a branch of AAHPERD.

I went by and finally visited the updated and new Mormon Battalion. This site was actually in one of my districts when I served. The building I remember was completely destroyed and replaced with a new state of the art visitor center. When the church does something, they sure do it right. All the records were digitalized and could be e-mailed to you as well as pictures of patrons becoming honorary members of the Battalion. Portraits and windows of people actually talked and told the story of the Battalions journey to the west as you go from room to room. It was really impressive. It is the best interpretive site I have ever seen.

Above is the profile of Levi Hancock which is one of Celeste's ancestors. This information now can be easily e-mailed to people from the site. It was pretty cool reading all the history and discovering that Levi Hancock was the only general authority that joined the Battalion.

I also visited the temple one evening. I almost forgot how beautiful this temple really is. It is absolutely breathtaking on the outside and only gets better on the inside as you enter the Celestial room. A very unique temple with a two story Celestial room and which also boasts of the seal of Melchizedek throughout the grounds and the temple walls and windows. It is by far one of my favorites!

Besides the educational sessions the highlight of the trip was being able to spend an evening with one of my favorite investigators and now members of the church, Don Millsberg. I was lucky enough to see Don get baptized and was there the first time he attended the temple. It was so great being able to catch-up with him and his life as well as talk about my life. He is quite the individual and strong member of the church. I have been really blessed to know him.

The Magic House

This past week Brindi and I went on a little Daddy-Daughter date to the Magic House. It was there annual free family night. Celeste was busy with a young women's sleep over and so it was just us out on the town.

The Magic House is such a cool place that is a complete hands-on educational museum with secret passages; stretchy boards; a 3 story and 2 story slide; giant blocks; and a giant ruler.

The water section was probably Brindi's favorite part and it was difficult to pull her away. She seemed to have spent almost a hour playing in the water.

There was also this giant 3 story bean stalk that you could climb up and down. Brindi was a little too small so I spent my fair share of time climbing through small little passages as I helped her climb to the top.

There is also a section just for Bob the Builder. This is where we spent the first hour of the night. Picking and planting flowers, cutting wood, organizing balls, sliding, and playing in all the construction equipment.

There were several walls through out the facility covered in chalk boards. Brindi is getting pretty good at writing her own name. You can somewhat make out the letters. She gets so proud of herself.

We are so lucky to have so many fun activities to do in the area. It was my first time to go to the Magic House and I was pretty impressed. We didn't even make it to the bubble room or even the 3rd floor and we spent over 3 hours there. A pretty cool place. It was Brindi's second time to go there. She went there a couple weeks ago with Celeste and some friends and the next morning she woke up so excited and came running into our bedroom saying "we need to get dressed mom and take dad to the magic house." I am so glad she was able to take me. I love the time I get to spend with Brindi. We have so much fun together.

Smiles and Bubbles

Brooke LOVES the bath!!! Her smiles say it all. Her and Brindi have so much fun together. Brindi plays with her like she's her baby and Brooke just sits there and coos and smiles while Brin's doing it.

St. Patrick Day Parade

This past weekend Brindi and I headed over to Cottleville for the annual St. Patty's parade. We found a little clearing towards the end of the parade route and took up camp. Brindi kept asking where our chairs were because everyone had chairs except for us. She was quite concerned about the whole thing. Because we were at the end, we had plenty of time to play around as we waited almost an hour before the first float came by. The spacing was not the greatest between floats either, meaning we watched pavement more than floats but Brindi did not seem to mind. She did ask several times where the candy was. One of the sad misfortunes of being towards the end is the fact floats run out of candy by the end. She did get a little bit of candy but was showered with green beads, a clover hat, flower planting seeds and sunburned cheeks. It was quite the fun little daddy-daughter date.

Brooke's Blessing

Brooke's blessing was very sweet and very promising. I hope the blessing her father gave her helps her to become all that the Lord wants her to be and all that she wants to be. It was a great blessing and our little family of girls is so blessed to have a father and husband who stays worthy to hold the priesthood. It truly has been a blessing in our lives. With that being said... We thought we would be blessing her during sacrament the first week of March. Well I was sitting in church the week before and they announce that we are having a broadcast stake conference. I was a little taken back since we just had Elder Christoferson(spelling??) come to our stake in December for stake conference and when I talked to the bishopric about blessing Brooke that week they said that would be great...Well....after hearing this we ended up blessing her after conference in the bishop's office. I was so glad that Grandma and Grandpa Lovell were able to come...it would have been pretty lonely in that office with just us and the bishopric. The other plus of it being Stake Conference was having the stake president there. Brooke is one special girl. It meant the world to us to have Gma and Gpa there. Brindi of course ate them up and she only wanted to take a picture if Grandpa and Grandma were in the picture........finally we got her to take one with Brooke, but failed to get a single good one of all four of us.

Heart Attack

Having a new little one or any young children during Valentines' Day can put the holiday on the back burner. But than again its these two young ones that truly made the day a day of love. We kept the holiday pretty simple this year with small purchases and more heart felt messages. Celeste received a card of why Joe is so lucky to have her. Joe began to receive a countdown of e-mails early in the morning that continued through the day with notes on why Celeste loved him. We had lunch at Applebees. Celeste than received some tulips and milk chocolate candies and Joe's car received a heart attack and was filled with m&ms and dots. We spent the night with the kids and just talking. Pretty simple but it seems those simple pleasures create the best days.

Taking a Stroll