Our first full day without Jake

I took Jake to the airport yesterday around noon. He went on a little trip to Texas to take care of some paperwork issues we are having with the house we bought there. My dear sweet cousin Monica (Kayla's mom) picked him up from the airport. Jake told me he would hitch-hike but thankfully Monica answered our plea for assistance (since renting a rental car last minute was OUTRAGEOUS!) I am so glad he is the take care of business type. I have complete confidence in his abilities to all that is needed of him in TX. Today he said he went to lunch with my Mom and Dad and also went and checked out my Uncle's Karate studio. I am so glad my Dad is his entertainment, chauffeur, and hotel while Jake is in town.
But back to OUR full day without Jake...

Malachi is in full crawling mode and I absolutely 100% LOVE IT! It makes me so overwhelmingly happy I can't contain myself. I love it! I knew I would. He is my first baby I was excited about learning to crawl and be mobile. The girls could sit quietly and play for hours on end but not my needy little boy. I knew once he was able to crawl he would be better able to entertain himself. I love that he has found the books/papers in my nightstand and pulls them out numerous times a day and I just look over and smile! He is so cute! Josh came over this morning so he and Kayla could go REGISTER for their upcoming wedding. He ever so kindly shared his Valentine candy with the kids. I love that he and Malachi have similar facial expressions in this picture.

Beau had his first RUGBY game of the season today. They played here in Provo against an Orem team. It was a diverse group. Almost the entire Provo (Beau's) team was white and just about the entire Orem team was Polynesian so Orem definitely had a weight advantage. Provo came out on top and won 17-12! Beau didn't get to start due to missing practices while we were on vacation but came in and did great! When we got there the girls were so excited! They played on the playground, sliding down WET slides (I didn't know they were wet)!
We were watching the game and Aimi Lark kept asking me if she could RUN! A nice lady (who's son plays on Beau's team) let the girls play with her dog, sit on her blanket, and she was good sideline conversation for me.
Beau's team's real uniforms having come in yet but they are wearing old BYU ones because their coach used to coach for BYU.
After about half an hour at the game it turned bitter cold (and remember the girls have wet pants from the slides). I didn't dress any of us properly and the small blankets I brought were not sufficient. Brody got his jackets from the car and we wrapped the girls in them.
Beau had a sweet play of running up the left side and he ended up out of bounds. His team all ran over to congratulate him.
Before the game was over I took my Popsicle children to the car. Mali Su being her stubborn self refused to walk. I carried her, the diaper bag, and pulled Malachi in his stroller (while Brody had Aimi Lark and Beau's bag) most of the way before I set her down and asked her to walk...she gave me this look:
We got home, thawed out, had dinner and Nate (Kayla's brother who actually served his mission in FRAZIER PARK (Jake's hometown)) saved my sanity. He entertained the girls AND Malachi while I actually ate some dinner and did all the other tasks that I need to do when I get home. It was amazing. THANKS NATE!
I love the age Aimi Lark is at. It is really fun to be able to reason with her. I explained to her and Mali Su that if they ate their dinner they could have dessert. "CHOCOLATE!?" Aimi Lark excitedly asked. I later made some CHOCOLATE and she for the first time licked the spatula and was in heaven! I love that she got the concept of eat dinner and THEN you get dessert...Mali Su not so much.

Jake being gone this time is different than usual.
1. I have a HOUSE full of people that I can talk to so the lonely feeling I usually get when it is just me and the babies is not as strong.
2. This is not the army taking him from me for a training, FTX, etc. This was our choice to fly him down there to accomplish something for our family so I think that makes it different for me too.
Although as usual I am having a hard time falling asleep without him here.
LOVE YOU Hunnie!