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Celebrations continued with quarter two awards at the middle school.  Michelle earned at 4.0 again but this time we knew about the awards ceremony so she got to go.  You can’t see her but she was there! Kate was also invited but opted to not go to school almost an hour early.  She was nominated by her art teacher to receive an award saying, “Kate takes pride in her art-making, going above and beyond what is expected.  Her pieces are interesting and well-made.  She’s a great representation of someone who take pride in her work.”  I have asked Kate in the past to see her artwork but she has told me it would cost $20. When I asked Michelle if she wanted me to write anything down about her first trip to the temple to do baptisms she said, “it was amazing!”  I am tremendously grateful I got to be there for her and my Activity Days alumni.  It was a joy to have four girls talking in my car along the way and hand out towels and hold their masks. My mothe...

  I realize 14 might be a little too old to celebrate your half birthday, but with icy roads and sidewalks all after school activities were canceled (and there ended up being a two hour delay the next morning) so we just had to bake a cake. Michelle, Natalie and I loved baking and decorating a chocolate teddy bear for our favorite oldest girl. From what I overheard Michelle telling a friend, she actually got a hand cramp from creating all that fur. The picture doesn’t do it justice but I love the look on our teenager’s face. It’s exactly what I expected but she ate some anyway. Happy half birthday, Kate the Great! Danny’s rec center team had their first basketball game and blew the competition away. They had 30 points before the other team got their first basket. During the fourth quarter they were told to let up but they couldn’t help making a few more shots before it was all over.  Danny is thrilled to have friends from school and his baseball team playing basketball togethe...

What a relief to travel home without blowing snow shutting down the interstate!  The forecast had called for snow on I-70 and blowing snow on I-80 so we opted for I-70 and reserved a hotel a few hours from home.  Half the family enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool while they other half of us watched.  I just wanted to be home safe and check out our wood floors and boy, I wasn’t disappointed!  We made it home safely and in good time.  We saw the Sheriff vehicles and the National Guard blocking off roads where they are investigating the start of the Marshall fire.  My co-worker said she knew eight families whose houses burned down and that a family ended up staying with her family.  I work with wonderful people and I missed them and our students while I was on our break even though I was having a lovely time with our family. The wood floors turned out wonderfully! Not only was I grateful to come home to a house, the company we hired did such a good job. ...

I think we are kind of tip toeing into 2022, wishing for the best, but it sure was grand to party on New Year’s Eve with family! We had been watching the devastation from the Marshall Fire all day and heard the news about Betty White’s passing, prompting me to finally watch the documentary about her I had on my Netflix watch list.  But there was celebrating to look forward to here!  All of us made it past midnight by playing games and we counted down with video from Times Square together.  It was a joy to be around Hubby’s family and we even got a visit from “Johnny Green” on New Year’s Day. He left us great presents that were thoughtful and used pretty much immediately. I also had plenty of time to do yoga and listen to my high school friend, Steven Elliott’s, book. It was such a blessing to listen to his story, even though it was so hard to hear. It was great to talk to Kendra’s dad about it since he enjoys military history. Yes, we got to drop by Hubby’s parents for a ...