No Hibernating Around Here...

We haven't really gone into hibernation around here (though I haven't posted yet this month).  In fact, after the bitter cold and snowy days in January, the month of February has brought unexpectedly warmer weather and rain.  The snow is melting fast but I'm not going to say 'spring has sprung' quite yet.  It is only February!  Here's a sampling of what's been happening around here.

I should have put something else is the picture to show just how HUGE this thank you card is in size (biggest card I've ever seen). Brinley, Jantzen and Anna received this from some HCP employees to show appreciation for all the hard work these three do in regularly cleaning a 10,000 sq. ft. office space.  Yeah, it's a BIG job and scheduling gets a little tricky sometimes.  But they're learning important lessons along the way.

Elsie continues to enjoy her experience with Act It Out during their weekly rehearsals.  She was just assigned her part for the spring performance of "Treasure Island".  I think she's excited to be a pirate!

Playing the whip cream face game after class.

Does Quinn still create costumes and dress the part to whatever his imagination cooks up?  I think the answer is - YES and double YES!  He is a funny kid and keeps us all entertained.  Usually, we don't even ask.  He quietly goes about his business...

What could possibly help ease the pain of tax preparation?  Another computer monitor, of course!  Aaron is the man when it comes to that poignant task.  I was lost years ago and haven't engaged myself in it since.  And thank goodness for an excellent accountant.  This stuff just keeps getting more and more complicated.  

Jantzen's basketball season has been in full swing all month long.  Lots and lots of games.  What a fun surprise to run into family at one of Jantzen's games played south of here.  Not only were Kathy and Brent in attendance, but Aunt Jackie also happened to be at this game taking yearbook pictures for the school she teaches at.  We're hoping to get a better quality photo from her camera of Jantzen playing....and maybe one will even show up in a rival team's yearbook?!?  Ha-ha!  Too bad I wasn't able to attend this away game and catch-up with some of my extended family.

The parents/moms of the MJH team players have rotated through our assignments to work concessions during games and to provide 'sack lunches' for the players.  Alisa G. and I buddied up to prepare food for a recent game.  As I set out the sacks and drinks in the designated area where the boys would come pick things up while heading out to the bus, I had to chuckle as I noticed the sign posted, "No Eating In This Area".

The boys always dress up on game days.  Jantzen has acquired a new wardrobe during the process.  He now has several (non-white) long-sleeve button up shirts and slacks.  He needed a little overhaul in this department anyway but when we bought new Sunday shoes at the outlets after Christmas, I had no idea how much use he would get out of them.

The kids recently participated in various activities associated with "Hello Week".  It's sponsored by the school district to promote healthy relationships and mental health awareness.  In this age of social media and digital technology, who knew children would need to be taught to verbally say 'hello' to another human being?  It's a timely campaign and more a commentary on society in general.  An interesting world we live in to be sure.

Our weekends have been particularly busy lately.  One activity worth documenting is the dinner we hosted for Brinley's MHS "Sweetheart Ball" on February 11.  It was an action-packed day as she started out by taking the ACT then the day date/dinner/dance to follow.  Meanwhile, other children had basketball games, birthday parties, Aaron and I attended a wedding and luncheon, etc.  I arrived home in time to whip up the requested meal of chicken alfredo pasta bake, salad and french bread.  It was a girl's choice dance so one of Brinley's friends brought a yummy cheesecake dessert.

Based on the chitter-chatter and laughter of the evening, it appeared that everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves at our place.  One of the young men was particularly entertaining and got a real kick out of our 'hidden appliances and pantry' along with our pull-out microwave drawer.  I'm pretty sure he posted something of it into cyberspace for all the world to enjoy.  He was hilarious!

Brinley & Cody C.

Although I knew a lot of the kids in the group, I wasn't as familiar with the boys.  It was fun to find out that the mother of Brinley's date, Cody C., attended high school with my younger brother, McKay.  I know Cody's aunt April W. as she was a year older than me and participated on the track team.  She and her husband also loved my parents Kristeldell house years ago and wanted to buy it but never did.  Small world.

Guys: Sam F., James T., Sam C., Joe J., Cody C., Dylan P.
Girls: Caroline, Rachel, Becca, Megan, Brinley, Haley 

Brinley, Caroline, Becca, Haley, Megan, Rachel 

Jantzen, Jett, Quinn

Our busy weekend continued on Sunday as we made arrangements to take Jett and Jagger for the day.  Jantzen went all out and made a triple batch of crepes for a late-breakfast when I returned with the boys.  We had Sunday clothes for them though they weren't initially thrilled about joining us for church.  Jagger adjusted easily and was happy to follow Quinn around in Primary.  Jett was not as accommodating.  He did well enough through sacrament meeting but it was a good thing it wasn't my turn to teach Sunday school class because the two of us ended up coming home before church was over.   Since we were hosting an extended M. family dinner, I used the precious time wisely and decided it wasn't all bad that Jett refused nursery and walking the halls for an hour already was enough for both of us.  Ha-ha!   After dinner, I returned the boys to their mom and they were sound asleep in my car.  They played their little hearts out all day and enjoyed being with M. cousins again.

Jagger - looking sharp

We got a lot of mileage out of the dance decorations and left them up to welcome in Valentine's Day morning.  You know it's an important tradition to the children when they keep asking if I remember what we do each year...

Anna took it upon herself to make the Valentine's cards we leave at the breakfast table for everyone.  The kids were really sweet and kind and also helped us mail a package out to Tanner.  He loved getting their messages and the makings for chicken salad sandwiches mailed to him.  The other kids laughed when they looked in the box and saw small containers of chia seeds, sunflower seeds and chopped almonds along with cans of chicken and mayo, etc.  I assured them Tanner would be thrilled.  And he TOTALLY was!

My gift to Aaron.

Flowers from Aaron to me.

I met my own Valentine for lunch at a Mexican restaurant and fortunately we were ahead of the lunch-hour rush in a college town.  The place was hopping by the time we left as it was so near campus.  It was so fun to take a break during the middle of the day and meet up for lunch.

As always, the kids had fun creating and decorating their Valentine's containers.  I love how quickly the two youngest can read through their cards from classmates, pull off the candy and chuck the rest.  In the past, some of the more sentimental kids had a harder time parting with the actual Valentine's. 

Jantzen's latest drawing.

Parent-teacher conference time is always hectic.  Knowing our after school schedule these days, I arranged to meet with the elementary teachers a few days before and that proved to be very fortuitous.  It was the first time I had actually met Elsie's new teacher, Mrs. Holt who joined the faculty after Christmas.  Both of them have good teachers right now and are doing well.  Jantzen and Anna are also doing very well in their classes.  They both have an art class this trimester and the teacher is new this year (Jantzen misses Mr. Zabo).  When I introduced myself, he was so sincere and said he hopes to be the kind of parent (someday) to have such wonderful children as Jantzen and Anna are.  Wow - proud parent moment!  All of their teachers were complimentary of them.  The high school does not hold PTC mid-year so that simplified the schedule a bit.

This is NOT traced.

Jantzen told me the background is a little crazy because he was getting bored in class.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure my free-hand drawing/painting of Bugs Bunny wouldn't look quite like his....since I struggled with stick-figures.

Anna is dressed up because she had a presentation in a health class.  It's a bittersweet relationship she has with Clark Studio and her hour long lessons but she has made a lot of progress and plays so beautifully!

Another action-packed weekend began earlier than usual since the kids didn't have school on Friday (teacher work day).  After taking Jantzen to 6:30am basketball practice, I dropped Anna off at the Tavares' place where she carpooled to St. George with a group of her soccer teammates for a weekend tournament.  Aaron and I originally planned to make the drive but plans/commitments have a way of changing so we had to cancel that idea.  She was happy to join a few friends/moms for the weekend away.  And Bob and Janene and LaVerne (living in St. George) attended both of her Saturday games and gave us updates along the way.  Besides the rainy weather, the girls played hard against teams from CA, AZ and NV where they can practice outside year-round.  Physically, they had clear advantages in that regard but Anna's team rallied and kept the scores tight/tied.  Way to play Anna!

The dad who helped load the van thanked Anna for packing so light and tight.  Ah, my daughter!

Bob, Janene, Anna, LaVerne

This was Jantzen's view on Saturday mid-day.  He, too, joined a van full of teammates for an exciting Utah adventure.  The sport wasn't soccer but basketball.  His former coach (Rick M.) arranged to take the boys to a BYU basketball game months ago and with the help of BYU-I President Clark (son is on the team), rumor has it the boys are getting VIP seats.  The boys enjoyed visiting Temple Square and toured KSL Radio where they somehow got on the radio?  Dinner at Toscano's Brazilian Grill.  Meeting some of the BYU players.  It will be a very late night when they finally roll back into town...

Back: Landen, Braxton, Carter, Taden, John
Front: Quinn, Jett, Colby, Jace, Jantzen, Max

And perhaps the most exciting news of the week....or at least the most painful....was the fact that Brinley had all four wisdom teeth removed Friday morning.  They were fully impacted and our local dentist performed the surgery in his office under oral sedation.  There was a miscommunication about the medicine (valium) she was suppose to take the night before to help the sedation work more effectively.  Aaron gave her a blessing just before the appointment and she was truly blessed.  No complications and the laughing gas worked well enough on its own.  Brinley is a real trooper!  Of course, she's pretty darn sore and the cheeks are swollen but we're confident everything will heal well.  Not so sure she'll make it to church tomorrow to hear her Dad speak in sacrament meeting but lucky for Jantzen it's 1pm church so he'll be joining us.  Anna plays another game (or two) on Monday before she returns home in time to return to school on Tuesday.  

Speaking of school, Aaron received news of his acceptance into the Babson College 10,000 Small Business Program.  It's an intense 12-week program that started this past week.  He will travel to Boston for two full weeks during the course but most of the work is online.  He has specific times for group calls and projects so his schedule is mighty full these days.  He began the application process for this last summer not knowing what his chances would be as they receive hundreds of applicants and only 42 were accepted into his section.  About 150 people nationwide are able to take advantage of this opportunity for entrepreneurial small business owners (fully funded by Goldman-Sachs) each year.  We feel very grateful for the education Aaron will be receiving this spring.  No, we haven't been hibernating but rather, working to keep above ground:).  Life is good and we are blessed.