Helping the Needy

Today I had an interesting experience. I was out shopping (yay for being off-track!) and had stopped at Kneaders and bought one of their delicious chocolate chunk cookies...they might possibly have just become my new favorite dessert :). I pulled into a shopping center parking lot and was finishing my cookie before I went inside. I was almost done when a middle aged guy with red bloodshot eyes approached my car and held out his hand as if he were asking for money. I'm not sure why, but this completely shook me up. I shook my head and quickly locked the doors. He must have realized he had alarmed me because he immediately backed off. I felt really shaky after this and decided not to go into the store after all. But as I was driving away, I couldn't help but feel bad. What if this man really needed my help? I had cash. I could have helped him. What was I so afraid of? I couldn't shake these thoughts. I guess that's why I'm writing about it. I can't help but wonder about him. My tendency is to be suspicious of people begging for money. I'm not saying that's right, but it's how I usually feel. I'll gladly help someone if I know they genuinely need it, but then again, who am I to decide who is actually needy and who's doing a con job? I guess the only solution is to do as the Savior said and “remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted” [D&C 52:40]. Hopefully next time I'll remember this :).

Valentine's Day...better late than never!

For Valentine's Day this year Dale completely surprised me by bringing me flowers to school. He's never done that before, so of course I didn't expect it this year...that's his tactic. Sporadic = surprise :). I only wish I had gotten a picture of them! They were BEAUTIFUL!
For Valentine's Day this year we celebrated early. We had Dale's brother Paul and his girlfriend Danielle over for dinner Saturday night. We dined on delectable Papa Murphy Pizza (very fancy, I know :) and red Kool-aid/pink lemonade accompanied by a delicious salad. For dessert we pulled out the chocolate fountain...only it wasn't working so well, so it turned into a chocolate fondue pot. We had lots of fun with the fondue...
A picture is worth a thousand words...and I have 3 :).

My Hero =]

Dale is my hero. Why? Because he carries in all of our groceries every week. Apparently it doesn't take a lot to make me happy :). Not only does he do that, he also always carries them inside in 1 trip. That's right folks, 1 trip! He HATES having to go back multiple times. So each week he carefully loads everything up in his arms and makes 1 trek into the house. As long as he doesn't break anything this works for me too! At least until our little baby boy is big enough to help :). Then they can share the role of being my hero!

It's a BOY!

Boy, oh boy are we excited! We went to the doctor last week and found out we're having a mini Dale, as he calls it :). We couldn't be happier!

I already bought all of my bedding...I guess you can say I'm just a little excited :). It's all boy- cars and airplanes and trucks...I can't wait to decorate the room!