Lunar New Year-Year of the Horse

Lila needs more volunteer hours for NHS so she was excited to be able to volunteer at the Chinese New Year activity at Heritage. She and I volunteered together for the first shift and then she stayed for the second shift and worked with a cute girl from our neighborhood.

 

The boys went around and enjoyed all of the activities. 

 

We watched one of the Lion dances then we headed home while Lila worked her second shift.

 

The performed at the assembly earlier that day which is always fun for them.

You can watch their performances online here: 

4^th Grade https://youtu.be/pu0XwfOKoi0

6^th Grade https://youtu.be/gKLxZJPScgY

 

We are truly grateful for the opportunity the kids have to be learning Chinese and to appreciate a different culture. 新年快乐

 

Steve was a trooper and took the boys to practice basketball at the gym then headed down to the U to help Ellie clean her apartment. Kodiak had been sick and brought the two of them home for some r&r. Bless Steve for being such a trooper! 

Switcheroo, I love you!

Last week as my Dad was having surgery and I was finalizing plans for a ski trip to Jackson Hole (which I never really felt settled about). I decided to do a little switch. We would go to Sun Valley over President's weekend so we could stop by and see my parents and then we would do Jackson Hole over the next break the kids have. I found some better housing in Jackson Hole that will be more ski in ski out and found housing in Sun Valley so things were falling into place and I was grateful our original Jackson Hole housing had a flexible cancellation policy. I called the Sun Valley rental agency that the place was booked through the following day to ask some questions and everything was lining up. Then three days before we were supposed to leave I got a call saying they were going to have to cancel my booking. I have never had that happen and was kind of frustrated. I called them, it's a whole story because they were going to make me call VRBO to get my refund. . .Anyway, we decided to stay home Friday and Saturday and have a chill weekend here. I think we are all still a little tired from the crazy busy weekend and the boys had early out Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday thanks to parent teacher conferences which were great to attend with each of them. Their teachers this year are amazing and we gave them each a little valentine with chocolates while we met with them. So we went on with our regular activities the rest of the week. Andrew had his Valentine party on Thursday and Marcus had his on Friday. I forgot to take a picture of Marcus with the R2D2 Valentine holder.

 

Saturday the kids woke up to presents and heart shaped pancakes as per Valentine's tradition.

 

Marcus had a mid day basketball game. They only had 5 people there on his team since it was a holiday weekend and they were really crushing the other team so they were trying to pass the ball around so everyone could score. It took Marcus several times to make a basket, it was so close so many times. It was fun and I have video proof of him dribbling it down, taking a shot missing, somebody else taking a shot, Marcus getting the rebound and finally making a basket. The weather was lovely so we took the boys to play pickleball outside. We had a blast until the very end. Steve and I were playing singles while the boys played on the playground for a bit. Then Andrew wanted to play again but he stood right next to the net while we were playing a point and I tried to hit a crazy backhand and the ball hit him right in the head. He was not too happy and refused to play. UGH! So we went home and I started making our traditional fondue dinner.

 

 

After dinner Lila came up and said, is it ok if I have some friends over to watch a movie. We said sure. I was going to make cookies earlier but didn't get around to it so I started making cookies. It was kind of funny because I wanted to make Valentine M&M cookies but I could not find the Valentine M&Ms at any stores so then I decided I would just sort through my Christmas M&Ms to get the red ones for Valentine cookies then I could do it again with the green ones for St Patrick's Day the kids thought I was genius and hilarious at the same time. Anyway, it turns out that Finn and Easton were the only two that could come so Lila had two boys over on Valentine's to watch a movie. 😉 

 

Sunday morning we got up and started getting ready to head to Idaho. We decided to spend the afternoon at my parent's house then head to Sun Valley and ski Monday. We took off around 11:30am. When we got to my parent's house my Mom spoiled all the kids with Valentine boxes and I gifted them 5 freezer meals they can throw in a slow cooker and enjoy.
 

Then we ate a linner of Lasgna, the boys played football outside while Lila rested, and then we played some cards before heading on to Sun Valley.

Marcus reading and explaining a Big Nate to Grandpa. . .boy humor 😂

 

We made it to our hotel and the boys noticed a chess table in the lobby so they ate some more lasgna then went down to play a round of chess. Then we turned on the TV we watched an AFV episode and there was this video of a kid opening a present which was a brand new cell phone and as he opened the box it fell out and cracked. Just as the phone on the TV hit the ground Lila's phone fell off the bed and made a thud. The timing was hilarious and we laughed about it. Then we turned on some Olympics, the first time we watched any Olympics and we were able to see figure staking and downhill skiing. It was a fun evening.

 

The next morning everyone slept in until 8:30am. We went down to the hotel breakfast which is always a highlight for the boys, they eat their weight in breakfast foods at the hotel breakfast. Then we got ready to go skiing. Marcus was nervous that we were riding the Gondola up first because he thought that meant hard skiing but I told him we would get up to some easier stuff because we planned to hit Seattle Ridge first which was always a highlight with the kids when we went years ago.

We did a run down Seattle everyone enjoyed so we did it again but stopped to take a picture first.

That lift was starting to get busy so we skied down Lower Broadway which was always a fun run just hard to get out of and back to so we enjoyed it while we could. Well Marcus and I came around a bend and saw Lila helping Andrew back into his skis. Apparently he hit a jump and got some serious air and couldn't quite land it which turned into some tumbles. The lift up from there had no snow underneath it and we saw dropped gloves and ski poles, Lila called a ski equipment graveyard because no one could get to it without snow. And when we got to Christmas Lift it wasn't running, it was running when we went by earlier. So we skied down to another lift and went up to do College Run that is also one of my favorites. The kids all enjoyed it and we even got our pictures taken by a photographer but they want $35/pic so we won't be buying those but the kids thought it was fun. Then everyone was getting a little tired and ready to head back to Mimi and Grandpa's so we decided to do College one more time then head to the car. College Run is 3.6 miles top to bottom and Marcus was crushing it keeping up with Steve, Lila, and Andrew they were all leaving me in the dust. They always have fun doing the little ski down and up this one hill to see who can get the farthest. I tried to take a picture of them doing it but Marcus's skis were backwards so they started coming down.

I know it wasn't much skiing but the kids had a blast and it was just groomer skiing because there isn't much snow with the winter we are having so we made the best of and left happy. Google had us taking the back roads since there was no weather and it was kind of fun, we saw sugar beets and we talked about the Sugar Factory where my Dad, his brother and Dad all worked and the difference between sugar beets and sugarcane. Then we made it to Rupert and ordered from Burgers Etc and took it back to Mimi and Grandpa's then we watched some Olympics with them and visited some more. Marcus sat in the chair next to Grandpa again and had the remote and was muting and skipping commercials and it took me a minute to realize he was running the show and I said, "who let him be in charge?" it was hilarious. On the way home we let the kids watch another movie, they watched two the day before in the car so they thought that was great. Although apparently Finding Dory caused everyone to cry so then they watched Cars 2 and finally Hercules as the final movie. We made it home in time to do a load of laundry and prep for school the next day. It was a lovely little getaway. We made lemonade out of lemons with our VRBO being cancelled and it was a good mix of being home, visiting family, and having an outing.

For Love and The Game

The first week of February was set to be a doozy. My Dad had surgery early Tuesday, February 3rd. I was grateful my sister Venessa could be up there to be with them. Things went pretty smoothly. His blood pressure has been low so they did an EKG before surgery and then he was complaining of chest pain after surgery so they did another EKG. The stone they removed from his bladder was so slippery from infection that it slipped out of the doctor's hands and he had to find it inside my Dad which took him an extra 30 minutes. They came home Wednesday and are getting into new rythyms and routines. So grateful for the power of prayer and that we could fast for him.

 

Wednesday, February 4th Lila had dance at Ririe Woodbury so Steve graciously drove her down there after school then went to work while I drove the boys around to all of their after school activities which included an open house at the Jr High for Andrew. Can you believe it? His schedule is going to be packed so he is going to try to do PE online over the summer to make space in his schedule for everything.

 

Friday, February 6th I went in for Marcus's class's Fun Friday activity. I had planned to do some Olympic games with the kids since it was the night of opening ceremonies. We did a torch run with a tissue paper on top of a pool noodle, we did a curling activity where they pushed a paper plate as far as they could with a pool noodle, then we did speed skating on paper plates as I was demonstrating this activity I managed to slide out and did a superman across the gym floor 😂I'm grateful I didn't get too hurt (Marcus thinks we should get the footage and submit it to AFV but I don't know if it's worth any kind of prize). We did a couple of other activities then we went back to the classroom where everyone sang Happy Birthday to Marcus and we passed out cupcakes. I was glad I could go in that day even with the injury to my pride with my fall.

 

Saturday, February 7th, Steve took Andrew to his final VEX Robotics competition while I went to the baptism of one of my cute primary kids from last year (the final one had a December birthday). It was so special! I came home and checked in with Steve. Andrew's team was not doing great but then just as Marcus and I were loading up to go watch they scored 101 points a new district record. They went on to score 94, then 109, and their final run was 111 (so they broke their own record two more times). They also got the high score in skills. They were a little frustrated with the skills judge because she wasn't going to give them the 100 points so they went and did another competition and knew they should be getting that many points so they went to the skills judge and politely advocated for themselves and they did in fact score over 100 points in the skills. I told Steve they have learned some great life skills: diligence in problem solving, adapting to the problems they were experiencing, and self advocating. So proud of them! They were so happy and the qualified for state! 🙌 As they were being given their awards this cute Mom & Grandma in front of us turned around and say they had noticed Andrew and his teammates and how gracious they were and how they congratulated the teams they played with; they said they were very polite and gracious winners. Another win for my Mama heart!

 

Then we came home and took Marcus to his afternoon basketball game. When we got home we began preparations for Sweethearts. Lila had been working on her hair while we were at basketball and it turned out beautiful but was frustrated with her nails and didn't think we had time to do anything but we setup a station and I did my left hand nails with a bunch of options so she could choose a color. We all pitched in and got to work.

Here are some pictures. It was a balmy 57 that day but Lila was still freezing outside.

 

Steve and I did a workout then I started cooking dinner because I had begged Lila to let me host dinner. I was having a hard time deciding what to make for the dinner and the kids were not any help. So I finally decided I did not need to cook everything from scratch so I went to Sam's and got Chicken Cordon Blue, Scalloped Potatoes, Salad, and two Trifle Cakes then I made Lila's favorite garlic croissant bread. It turned out so yummy and the kids enjoyed themselves.

 

The dance was from 8-10pm so I fed them dessert around 7:30pm giving them time to get to the dance but then they went downstairs and were playing and swing dancing.

 

So Steve had to finagle a car out of the garage to get Andrew to his 8:30pm basketball game. They left around 9pm for the dance after the girls all changed into their tennis shoes because you can't wear high heels on the gym floor. Then they went to Macey's after the dance to play games. They all had good time and I'm so glad they worked and planned it out together. They did their day date on Friday, they did a craft which I still have not seen yet. I'll have to ask about that. Anyway, cute group of kids.

 

After they left for the dance, I began wrapping presents and changing the decor from sweetheart to football birthday. I kept teasing Marcus that I had not bought him any presents and when I took dessert up to the boys I told him this was it, the only cake he was getting. So he was not for sure if we was getting presents or not. He did get a little early present, I let the boys each open a pack of football cards on Saturday to entertain them while I setup for sweethearts. Then there was a giant football card on top of his presents and when he opened it he was delighted to find it was of his favorite football player, Christian McCaffrey (so lucky!). He kept asking me if I picked that and I said no we just got lucky, maybe I should have said yes and claimed a small Mom victory point. 😉

  

Steve made the requested pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Marcus wanted to skip church because it was his birthday but I said we all go to church when our birthday lands on Sunday so we went. We took the dog for a quick walk after church. Then we had super bowl snack foods per Marcus's request. All he wanted to do was watch the Super Bowl for his birthday. I did managed to gather the family to play Family Feud Football and we all had a lot of fun. I think we need to do that more together and maybe as extended family that could be fun at holiday gatherings.

Steve ran the game for us and about halfway through Ellie realized he had the same name as Steve Harvey the host of family feud and started making it funny comments like, "well Steve I think I'm going to go with. . ." We were all laughing.

 

I knew the weekend would be crazy so we scheduled an escape room for Monday and we had a blast. I was impressed with how well the kids think through things. We have some coupons to go do one in Ogden that everyone says is the best but we had to do this one and Ellie had already done it on a date so it worked out to do this one for Marcus's birthday.

 What a week. I love my family and am so grateful for the time we get to spend together! I'm grateful for Steve who not only puts up with my crazy ideas but helps them become a reality (playing family feud or decorating for sweethearts). Life is good and crazy and I'm just trying to soak up every minute. Lila is graduating next year. . .I try not to think about it too much. She is so amazing and working so hard this year. Andrew is going to Jr High and becoming and official teenager this year. And my baby Marcus just turned 10. . .double digits! YIKES! He is so kind and loving and a little crazy but we love him for being our crazy caboose and keeping us on our toes and full of life.

Mama's Pickleball Weekend

Work has been slow the last little bit for me so I signed up for an extra pickleball league on Wednesdays and it has been fun. It's a smaller group in Woods Cross with a bunch of fun nice ladies. I have really enjoyed it. One of the ladies in the group texted me and invited me to a weekend in St George playing pickleball and hiking. Ironically I had work that Friday but things shifted and I was able to go and I'm so glad I took a leap and said YES (my goal this year is to say yes to more things and be open to opportunities). I drove and my group left Friday around 9:30am. We had fun chatting all the way down that the drive went so fast. We stopped for delicious sugar cookies on our way up to the house. Then we went and played pickleball before the other car of ladies arrived. After they arrived we all went out to dinner then played games and laughed late into the night. We woke up Saturday and went to this great bakery then we went and played more pickleball followed by lunch, a hike, and more pickleball, then Thai takout and hut tubbing. It was a lovely weekend with great weather and such picturesque backdrops of redrock everywhere we went. It was good for me and these ladies are all truly amazing so glad I was able to get to know them a little better and spend a memorable weekend together.

The house we stayed at had a little trail behind it that hooked right into Scout Cave it was a great little hike.

Puzzling and Game Table

Four of us went to church Sunday morning and once again the redrock background just amazing. Lyndee ran into some old family friends at church which was amazing.

The other four went on another hike while we were gone then we played games and cleaned up the house (it was a beautiful house owned by one of the gals Dad's and it was so nice of them to share it with us). Then we hit the road home. I was fasting while traveling that day for my Dad who would be having surgery on Tuesday, my family and I decided to fast for him so I was grateful I was able to do it while traveling without getting a headache, it was a real blessing to me and to have my family do that.

 

Meanwhile Steve was holding down the fort here at home with the crazy Friday afternoon drive around. He was supposed to take the afternoon off but they had a big product deployment so life was crazy and the kids were a few minutes late to everything but all is well. The unfortunate thing is that later that night his boss was like, well it's not going to deploy until next week so forget about it. UGH! Steve also managed to take the boys to the Bountiful Philharmonic Orchestra his teacher plays in for their family performance and handled all the basketball games and even took the kids to get Black Smith Ice Cream because I really wanted to try the January flavor and we hadn't made it there yet. It was a delightful treat after arriving home and breaking my fast with my family. YUM!