A Little Bit Country

 Finally! There was finally enough snow to go Cross Country Skiing. We got a killer deal over the holidays and outfitted the family in cross country ski equipment for a fraction of the original cost. Since it's one of our favorite winter activities, we were very excited. And then . . . no snow! Can you believe March 3rd was the first chance we had to try out the new skis? The little girls LOVED it and we had so much fun! Hopefully we'll get some more skiing in this season. I just hope it doesn't snow in July to make up for the late start!

Happy Birthday Analese!

Analese turned 18 this week! It has been such a pleasure to have her live with us this semester. She is a delight and working very hard in school. We had so much fun celebrating with her on her big day. She also got many calls from family and friends wishing her well. What a beautiful young woman!

It's Official

I guess once something goes out on Facebook it's official. That's were Whitney announced to the world that she has decided to attend BYU Provo! She had been leaning toward BYU Idaho for it's smaller class sizes and cheaper tuition, and even accepted their offer and chose a track. Then the official acceptance came for BYU Provo and she was much more excited about attending there in the end.

Steve and I drove down with her on Saturday and checked out all her dorm options. It was fun to tour the campus with her and a flood of memories came to me as we toured the dorms I used to live in. Sadly they have torn down the actual building I dormed in with my friends, but we walked into one that still stands and it smelled just the same! Whitney chose a different, more updated dorm option that I believe will suit her well. We are very excited for her to start in the fall. I know she will have a wonderful experience. We are very proud of you Whitney!

Issue 197

For the Birds

Presidents' day we took our 4th Annual excursion to see the Bald Eagles migrate through the Bird refuge in Farmington. We also identified 15 other birds for the boy's Bird Study Merit Badge. My favorite was the brilliant yellow Western Meadowlark we saw. This year we got to show Analese the birding ropes and Steve's sister Emily and her kids joined us last minute, for a very enjoyable day.

For 3 Saturdays every February the boys attend a Merit Badge Pow Wow. This year Steve decided to share his love of birding by leading the Bird Study Merit Badge class. He put a lot into making it a successful and fun class, and both Steve and Daniel were able to earn the badge. I hope Steve will teach it every year and pay forward the love of nature and birding that was instilled in him by a talented and caring science teacher long ago.

Night at the Museum

This is Ellie pointing to her "Reflections" entry, "What Diversity Means to Me." She wrote about her paining: "I like to dance and my best friend likes to sing. Diversity is Fun." Her entry won for the first grade and went on to the district competition.



Janey and Ellie got to show off their art work at their school's "Night at the Museum." Janey's grade also gave a recital on their recorders. I have the chance to teach art lessons once a month in Ellie's class, and the penguin picture above is one of the projects I did with the first graders. The girls are both very creative and talented artists.

Issue 196

Jedi Chicken

The Force is strong with this one!

Chess Merit Badge

It's Pow Wow season and the boy's have been working on merit badges. The Chess merit badges is brand new and the boys had fun earning it. Steve was pleased to last the longest playing chess against the merit badge counselor.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Janey and Ellie planned, designed, schemed, crafted and talked non-stop about Valentine's day since the moment they opened their last Christmas present. I'm the room mom for Ellie's 1st grade class, so I got to plan and run the class Valentine's party. So much love to go around!

Issue 195

On the Road Again

Steve hit 7cities in 8 days, rolling out the custom training he'd been working on, non-stop, for the last 5 months. He traveled to Hartford, Philadephia, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Pitsburg. It was a huge milestone and the training got rave reviews. He survived the marathon and we are glad to have him home.

Issue 194

Masquerade

Ellie begged me for a pack of glitter and tissue paper this week. Our family room was turned into a craft studio and many fun masks were the result. I'm not sure if the house will ever recover from the onslaught of glitter, but it provided many hours of creativity.

Scout Camp Update

Winter camps this year have been interesting, since winter had failed to arrive. Daniel's troop went to  the Klondike last weekend, where he specialized in fire building. Steve's Varsity group participated in the Biathlon this weekend, although they had to abandon the snow shoeing for lack of snow. He is however a crack shot when it comes to shot gun shooting