Spring???

This has been the never-ending winter. On Friday it snowed, but cleared long enough to make my birthday a beautiful day. And then we woke up to more snow on Sunday and it's been snowing all day today :(

But . . . 

The days are getting longer.
We now have more daylight in the evening.
Spring break is almost here.
The snow doesn't stay around for long.
I have bulbs popping through.
I got to clean a lot of my house yesterday for my birthday.
There are good, thoughtful people surrounding me and my family. For instance, I was thrown a surprise party by my "class" or actually Kori Bunderson who went to school with me and now works with me and shares my same birthday.

Life is good.

I took Nate to get fitted for a tux for prom and he treated me to dinner for my birthday. Kid dates are the best!! Especially when they are paying.

Basketball has come to an end and tennis started this week.


Nate played his first tennis match against Grantsville, a tough rival team. He was down 3-4 in the third set and came back to win. It was sure fun to watch him play. I missed watching both my boys play at the same time. When Erik gets home, he's going to have some tough competition.

Nate and his Lake Point ward team also played a tough championship basketball game against Big Canyon to the finish and pulled it off by two points. It was too intense for me to think about documenting it at all.

But who really won?

The week before our wards were realigned so some of our players technically were in the other ward. Hmmmm . . .

We are now part of the Adobe Rock Ward and get to meet at 12pm. I hate late church but on the bright side we only have to go at the 12pm time for 10 months.


It also means splitting groups. Alex hasn't had scouts for a few weeks as our new ward gets situated.

One week there was no competition except the old men who showed to cheer on the young fellas. I guess they got recruited to play.

For my birthday I saw a chair just like my great-grandma Ma used to have in her kitchen and knew I wanted it. I love it! It brings back such memories and will probably end up in my classroom at some point.

Tyler also got supplies to complete a project we've been wanting to accomplish for a few years. Grapes! We've got the poles and wire. Now if the weather would just cooperate.


In school I feel like I've been a runaway freight train as we move from one project to another. There was Chinese New Year, 100 Days of School, Valentines, and Mardi Gras. I've had lots to think about and plan IN ADDITION to my regular school stuff.

Spring break can't come soon enough.

Young Women basketball

Our young women combine with the young women of the other Lake Point ward for basketball, creating a whole new identity -- Big Lake (formed from Big Canyon and Lake Point). I think the other wards in our stake aren't quite sure who we are exactly when we tell them we are Big Lake. We're just a mystery team, an enigma.

Corrie, Brailey, Meredith, Melanie, Naomi, Kiersten, Coach Jamie, Hannah, Kallie

Our little team made it to region this year and boy were they excited (they did last year too). The lady who coaches both wards was going to be out of town and our sports specialist wasn't comfortable enough coaching. So I became the coach for a day.

That was an experience I've never had and found it quite enjoyable. But I had a dilemma. I did not realize region play could take all day and had scheduled an outing with my sisters for the evening. I really wanted them to win, but I didn't want them to win all three games. Maybe just one or two.

They played their hearts out, but without any official practices, there were just too many things that could have been improved on.

They all took heart in that they performed better than last year. Losing 32 to 17 was much better than losing 40 to 5.

Kiersten has taken it upon herself to set up practices in our backyard every Thursday at 7pm for the next year in hopes that they might win region next year.

January

I'm going to attempt this year to document more of the little things which will probably translate into a post at the end of the month of things I haven't already addressed. I used to be so much better at writing down things the kids would do or funny things they would say. As each one has joined our family it's become more of a challenge.

* * * * *

Our family has developed some "potty" mouths lately as we try to coax and get Alex excited about really wanting to use the potty consistently. We thought he was fully potty trained at the beginning of the month, but the past 4 weeks we've seen huge relapses. I'm hoping this next month will be better. I just don't remember having to go through so much with my others. One day I was yelling to him upstairs to come downstairs and go potty. I yelled for him several times. He was busy playing by Tyler who was working and Tyler heard Al give a big sigh and then say to himself, "Why do I have time?"

* * * * *

Tyler ended up in the emergency room one night after a coughing episode left him unable to breath. It scared him enough that he wanted to get it checked out. Turns out he has Pertussis or Whooping Cough. I'm pretty sure the reason I haven't had a cough is I think a nurse might have included the booster in a tetanus booster I got after having either Nate or Ash. Ty's trying to sleep it off and remain calm when the coughing hits him.

* * * * *

There is a boy in our Primary who we like to tease Ashlyn about. One Sunday during Sharing Time the kids were asked to tell who they looked up to and admired. Everett raised his hand and said Ashlyn. The look she gave him was priceless. They were the only two on their row and she was a little speechless. He just looked at me and smiled. Ash has really taken to these bracelets that are the latest fad. I'm beginning to wonder how far up her arm they'll reach.

* * * * *

Alex started Primary this year which means he gets to be with me. I wasn't sure how he would handle having Mom in there, but so far he's done fabulous. He loves to wear his cowboy boots and bring his scripture case with him, just like his older siblings. At the beginning of the year he got a CTR ring. He's lost it and found it several times. One time during the lost stage he came to me and asked if I knew where his DVR ring was. Sadly someone has corrected him and he now refers to it correctly,"C-T-R, that means Choose the Right."

 * * * * *

Erik has been busy, busy, busy with basketball. I kind of like it since it gives us a lot to do during the dreary month of January. He's on a competition team like last year, except they are terrible. It hasn't been a matter of not losing every game, but rather not being decimated by every team. There have been no close games and it's quite disheartening for the boys and their coach who has thrown in the towel. He also got placed on a Jr. Stallions team as a fluke. I looked at both schedules and decided we could probably make it work for both. His Jr. Stallions team has been a lot of fun and they've actually won most of their games. AND church ball has started. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays involves some kind of basketball. Good thing Tyler and I both love the sport.

* * * * *

I decided to try and get a pot luck lunch group going in our neighborhood. I thought of all the ladies who are home and would probably like to get out and socialize once in awhile. I sent my flyers around and had a few accept and then back out. Even the morning of I wasn't sure who was going to show. Turns out we had a nice little group of about seven of us. I'll try again this next month and see if we can't get a few more.

* * * * *

One of Kiersten's conversations with Alex as she's getting stuff out for a sandwich.
Alex: I want some cheese!
Kiersten: Shocker.
Alex: I want some shocker!
Moral of the story: Sarcasm and three years old don't mix.

* * * * *

Alex likes to say "boo-yah" and I had no idea where it came from. I asked him once and all he told me was Studio C, a favorite BYUTV show the kids like to watch. No one is really sure if that's where it came from. Tyler and he also have a little ongoing conversation about Mt. Dew. They refer to each other as "Dew Man." "Dew Man, can you go get me a Dew, Dew Man." "I'll get you a Mt. Dew, Dew Man."

* * * * *

Kiersten put together her first piano recital featuring a few Christmas songs. We both decided that December is too crazy of a time for families and we didn't want to add to it. But January's pretty much free reign, right? We did have a few bumps in trying to find a date that would work for everyone, but we did it and even got to perform our Sleigh Ride duet we've been learning for a couple of months.

* * * * *

Alex said his first real prayer all by himself and he calls stop signs, "sign stops," and green lights are "green go," which sounds an awful lot like gringo.

* * * * *

One of our traditions for good grades is ice cream. EVERYONE has to get straight A's and then we treat them to ice cream (and sometimes fries). This night was a frosty night at Wendy's after one of Erik's basketball games.