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

Issue 193

Breaking News!

We always wanted six kids, and now we have six for the next 4 months! We "adopted" our darling niece Analese from Idaho so she can finish up her high schooling with Whitney at her charter school. I now have twin seniors and Whitney has a roomate for the first time. I rented both of them cap and gowns this week!

Whitney also started interning this week at The State Capital for the Legislative session two days a week. She is having an amazing experience! It means lots of extra driving for mom and dad, but it's worth it.

Swim Meet

Janey warming up between races. She race 4 events in her second meet. Her favorite is the 50 meter back stroke and she took 1st place in her heat! Way to go Janey!

The Leo

Some Friday's Daniel and I get to take field trips. This Friday we rode trax downtown, straight to the doorstep of The Leonardo Museum. This Tech meets Art museum was just up his ally. He especially enjoyed the exhibit where he got to try on prosthetic legs and walk around. We also explored the Salt Lake City Library next door. After a lunch out, we rode trax home, just in time to greet the girls coming home from school.

Brian Regan

Steve and I were so excited to give the older kids in our family Brian Regan tickets for Christmas. We gave some to ourselves too, of course. The day of the concert finally came, and it was as funny as we'd hoped it would be! We've all been working so hard lately and it was really fun to sit back at laugh non-stop. Walking over to Abravenel Hall for the performace we encountered a smashed ice sculture in a hotel drive way. We kicked chunks of it all the way to the concert and then all the way back when it was done. Just the kind of random thing our family would do to make an evening more memorable.

Issue 192

UMNH

Uncle Tai and Aunt Kersten gave us tickets to the new Utah Museum of Natural History for Christmas. MLK day turned out to be the perfect day to go use them. Its a beautiful museum where you can learn about everything from earthquakes to Indians, dinosaurs to gem stones. The outside of the building was as amazing as the inside and it made for a fun family outing. Thanks for the gift!

Issue 191

What a Week!

A week in which few pictures were taken, because who has the time? Between Relief Society meetings, non-profit meetings, book group meetings, Young Men's meetings, work meetings, we were also dealing with a raging case of the Chicken Pox! Poor Steve L. was exposed at a holiday party, and two weeks later he came home from school and came down with a fever. So much for vaccinations! It was finals week at school and Whitney was doing some pretty intense projects to maintain her great grades. Steve will have some make-up work to do, but after a week of Pringles, Benadryl, Dr. Who, and Hydrocordazone cream, he should be able to finish up fine. Whitney helped me run the 5th Annual Freedom Bowl Competition for our Youth Leadership organization on Saturday and I even pulled off a talk in Sacrament Meeting. Is anyone else glad it's a holiday tomorrow?

Here is a photo treat - Whitney's Student Body Presidency year book photo. Looks right of the cover of a Law and Order DVD.