It's Over

I realize it just snowed a few days ago, and it is currently not very warm outside, but I have officially declared winter OVER. That means sandals and not boots and jackets instead of coats. I'm actually excited for yard work. Can't wait to get back on my bike. Even though we've got a crazy busy summer coming up, I'll take ANYTHING to be in the sun again. Not to worry, I'm not one of those people who complains about all weather extremes. As long as it's hot, I'm HAPPY. So since I haven't blogged much, here is how we survived the winter and what we've been up to:





For anyone who doesn't already know (not sure how that is possible), this is a BYU house. We spent lots and lots of time watching BYU basketball together with family and friends. Our kids are dedicated Cougar fans and we had tons of fun this year with Jimmer-mania. I realized at the end of the BYU basketball season that between BYU Football and BYU Basketball we had dedicated at least one day a week to BYU for nearly SEVEN MONTHS! Seems crazy, but we LOVE IT. We have lots of fun having friends and family over, eating good food, cheering for our team, and hearing the nonstop commentary, cheering, insanity, and random BYU trivia from Dave. Thankfully I convinced Dave (with threats of violence) to take down the BLUE/WHITE Christmas lights sometime near the middle of February, or they would have been up until TWO WEEKS AGO. Ugh. Really, it was fun and honestly it's how we survived the winter. Gave us something to look forward to and reasons to throw a party. So thanks Cougars for a great season!

Austin, Jackson, and London also played basketball and had a great season. Not sure how I managed to not get ANY pictures of that. I'm lame. London scored her first baskets this season and was REALLY excited about that. Way to go London! The boys were on the same team again this year. LOVE that we can do that every other year since they divide it up by grade. They have a lot of fun playing together. Dave and I also have been playing a lot of basketball with the ward. Our team of amazing ladies won the stake tournament and went on to region ... thanks to lots of time playing together and some superstar talent (you know who you are). :) I only played a little because of my ankle... but I think they'd all agree I was a fantastic team mascot/scorekeeper for the rest of the season. Ha ha. I rolled my bad ankle again in our region game (after getting pushed in the back), so I haven't played since then. And last week, I made the plunge and bought these bad boys:


Hopefully it will help, so I can play every week. High tops and an ankle brace ... please tell me I will not roll it NOW??? Heaven knows I'll look like a dork. It better be worth it.

Our stake puts on a fancy dinner for all those who have earned their Young Women Personal Progress Medallion. The leaders have the opportunity to earn theirs as well, so I did, and Dave and I attended the dinner in February along with four of my amazing girls who had earned their medallions and their parents as well as Michelle and Bishop Hunt since Michelle earned hers too. It was a beautiful dinner and a lovely evening. Personal Progress is such an inspired program, and I'm grateful to be able to take part in it. I'm so proud of my Young Women (that includes you Michelle) for their hard work.


Speaking of hard work, London was awarded Student of the Month by her teacher, Mrs. Washburn, last month. She has improved a lot this year, and we are so grateful to Mrs. Washburn for all the extra time and attention she has given to London. Austin and London have both had her for a teacher, and we couldn't love her more. She has a way of getting through to my kids and teaching them to love reading. I don't know how she does it, but she's 2 for 2 with my kids, and we LOVE HER!


T.J. had an animal report for school. I'm no rookie at these animal reports, and we finally got smart this time. I happen to know that at the conclusion of the animal report project, they have to make a model of their animal out of something. After struggling (through much frustration and tears ... from the kindergartener) to build gorillas, horses, dinosaurs, etc., out of clay, legos, paper, cardboard boxes, etc., I managed to convince T.J. that a snake was the way to go. You can see his stellar model of a rattlesnake (complete with rattle) made entirely out of salt dough by a 5-year-old. I may be slow, but I catch on eventually. He could not have been more proud. :)


Jackson had a science fair project to do a few months ago, and we came up with testing the effect of drag on improving your swimming speed. So he and Dave had to swim with clothes on (increased drag) to see if it would improve their swim time in a regular swim suit. Our hypothesis was correct, and Jackson completed a great project and went on to compete in the District Science Fair. Way to go Jacks!





So, it's not like I've been just laying around complaining about winter. We've actually done stuff to pass the time and enjoy the journey and all that. But let's be honest, now that's its getting warm, let the real fun begin. Yay for Spring and SUMMER!!! And for those of you who thought I could not make it through the winter with the heater only partially working in my car, TAKE IT BACK! We made it. I'll get it fixed eventually, but I don't want to think about that today ... I'll think about that tomorrow. It's sunny, and I'm going outside.