Valentine's and Tax Returns and Dividends

I'm sure you're all aware that Valentine's Day was last weekend. Nate and I don't really do anything special to celebrate. We usually go on a date, but we didn't this year. We did get to spend a few hours together on Saturday doing some shopping.
Lilly took valentines to her preschool last week. Since Jonah was off track until Tuesday, his Valentine party at school is going to be tomorrow. He very dutifully wrote his name on all 21 valentines by himself and we attached a little bag of sweet tarts to each one. He's very excited about it.
The kids got fun valentines in the mail from their grandparents. They got a fun package from Grandma and Grandpa Barnum and Aunt Emily. Thanks guys!

Here's Jayne and Lilly in their matching outfits from the Barnums

February and March have become two of my favorite months since Nate started working at Les Schwab. We get our tax refund in February and Nate gets a dividend check from Les Schwab in February as well. Then in March he gets his annual bonus, which is usually a good chunk of change. So this is the time of year that we pay off bills and sometimes get some fun or much needed things for ourselves.
The tax return came last week and the dividend check this week. Wanna know what we got? You know you do! Too bad, you get to read about it anyway. =)

We've needed a new couch for a very long time. The one we had in our living room had belonged to Nate's grandparents for a lot of years before it was given to us. Between kids jumping on it and all the time Nate and I spent on it watching movies together, the poor thing had reached its end. All the fabric was worn, the back cushions were ripped off in some parts, and the springs were practically non existent. So, we'd been price checking for quite a while. We found this red sectional on sale at RC Willey and fell in love! It was the only thing we found in the style we wanted that was in our price range, and with the sale it was 1/2 off plus the ottoman was free! Yippee! It was delivered yesterday and the kids immediately started climbing all over it. I wasn't sure about the red color, but now that it's here I absolutely love it!
We also got a new TV. We hadn't bought one since we first got married, almost eight years ago. That one died and was replaced by one we were given which was also the old, huge, heavy style. So we invested in a 37" LCD HDTV. We are loving it! We're movie people, so we'll definitely be getting our money's worth out of this one.

Then, for the grand finale.........Nate bought a 1993 Jeep Wrangler.

Some friends in our ward have had this thing sitting in their driveway with a flat tire for a very long time. Last week, Nate brought them a tire from work and helped them put it on. That led to the conversation about how they had been trying to sell the Jeep with no luck. So Nate made a deal. He helped replace the fuel pump and get it running, and they sold it to him for $1000 less than what it's worth. (Don't worry, I looked it up and made him get it to pass safety and emissions before buying it just to be sure.) We got it registered today and Nate is loving it. He's been driving a really beat up 1990 Subaru station wagon. The Subaru needs some expensive repairs(the kind that aren't worth doing because it would be more than the car is worth) before it would pass safety and emissions and it was due to be registered in April. So we had been looking for something to meet our needs and feel lucky and blessed to have found it.

So, there you have it. Happy Tax Season!

I'll leave you with a picture of my two paleontologists digging for dinosaurs in the backyard this afternoon.