volunteers

caroline and jake started their volunteering job today.  they are working at lakeview hospital every monday from 4-7.  they are both needed some extra activities for sterling scholar and college applications.  today they got oriented, had their badges made and learned about what they would be doing.  they will probably have some time to study each week.  when they work they can go to the cafeteria for free too.  it's fun that they can go at the same time.

we are all getting excited to go to phoenix on wednesday.  the forecast is 75 degrees!  jake and caroline are staying home, but the rest of us are excited to be warm.

byu rocketed to the number three spot in the nation today.  that is definitely the most exciting thing that happened today.  here's hoping they can keep that ranking.

the dinner that was a hit

i ran across a martha stewart idea several months ago and i've been hankering to try it since then.  today was the day.  we had a delicious "grilled cheese bar" with only one rule:  everyone had to try one thing that was different for them.  we had eight different kinds of cheese, three kinds of bread, tomatoes, avacados, onions, meats, pickles, fruit and olive oil to drizzle over the top.  there were some pretty amazing combinations going on.  craig did his open face, pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, basil and olive oil drizzled on top.  yumm-o.  my favorite was sourdough bread, sharp cheddar cheese, bacon and pickles.  it was a fun dinner and one we would definitely try again.  perfect for watching the red carpet at the academy awards. 

red iguana and a very, very exciting basketball game

we had a fun day!  we got to watch byu (the #7 team in the country) play san diego state (the #4 team in the country) duel it out on the hardwood.  the game was played in san diego in front of a very loud and hostile crowd.  many of the students at the game were dressed up to mock lds missionaries, which i thought was very bad form.  they were asked before the game by the head basketball coach not to bring religion into the game.  but, we had the last laugh, beating san diego by 13 which will likely put us into the top three or four in the country when the polls come out on monday.  exciting times for byu fans. 

after the game, we got to see evan!  those days are numbered for us.  he drove up and met me at mr. mac where we bought one of his two mission suits.  then craig, evan, caroline and i went to the red iguana for dinner.  delish mexican food (evan's mexican food days are numbered as well). and good company. 

believable buff

biscuit is OUT and believable buff is IN.  thank heavens!  i am not usually one to go wrong on colors, but biscuit looked just like the flesh colored crayon in the box.  i hated it.  craig told me to live with it for two weeks and i'd probably end up liking it.  but i knew i wouldn't like it if i lived with it for 52 weeks.  i thought i would only have to do one coat of the buff because i had "primed" with the biscuit, but it took two more coats.  jen, my cute sister-in-law noticed on facebook that i was painting and came over to help with the second coat.  we had a great time talking and painting.  i will post pictures later.

tonight, the older kids scattered and craig and i went to the blue and gold banquet with isaac and the rest of the cute cub scouts.  isaac earned his bear and two webelos pins.  dinner was awesome, but chuck full of pitfalls for ick.  he avoided hummus, lentil soup, buns with soy flour and sugar snap peas (any one of which would have sent him to the hospital).  i was so happy that there was bbq shredded pork left over.  natalie gave it to me to freeze for evan's missionary open house.  i figured it was enough for about 30 sandwiches, so now i just have to make 220 more servings.

boo for biscuit

i have to say, 1 1/2 weeks on thyroid medication is making a happier life for everyone here at the parry house.  i have so much more energy and i'm a wee bit more cheerful.  i'm tackling a little home improvement project.  after thomas left, i was able to reclaim some areas of my house that he was using (happy to share my space).  i decided to paint my sewing room a lighter color in hopes of making it feel more bright and open.  i selected a lovely shade called "biscuit", painted two coats and promptly began hating it.  it's peachy, the worst color of paint.  i'm extremely annoyed, which is canceling out the thyroid medication for today.  now i have to paint it all over again tomorrow, after i spent the whole day today on this project.  i hope it will be worth it in the end.

the dogs spent the whole day at the groomers today.  it made the house quiet--i missed those eight little legs following me around the house.  they came back smelling good with hair a much more practical length than before.  whenever i pull up at the vets where they get groomed, romeo immediately begins shaking like a leaf  and he tries to climb up on my neck.  jeter, on the other hand, runs around greeting everyone and giving them kisses.

two basketball games tonight.  isaac's team remains undefeated after another rough and tumble game.  isaac has a giant bump and bruise on his elbow to prove it.  sam is playing now, so i'll have to update the outcome later, but his team loses all the time, so an update will probably not be necessary.

one last jimmer--live!

we decided to take in one last live byu game.  we hosted colorado state and despite being hammered, fouled, slapped and pushed down, jimmer came through for us and dropped in 34 points.  big game this weekend at san diego state.  i'm not sure if i can watch i'm so nervous.  winner takes the mountain west conference and gets a top 5 ranking.  yikes.  sam, isaac, sam stobbe and i had fun.  becky kimball offered us courtside seats at the last minute so isaac and his friend enjoyed the first half in the good seats and sam and evan enjoyed them in the second half.  mom sat fourth row from the top the whole game.

caroline played half of her yw basketball game then craig took her to fencing.  she even won some matches!

and jake won his church basketball game, sending his team to region.

ganglers unite

tonight is as good a time as any to outline the fun jake is having at school this year.  he is a member of the ganglers club.  it's an unofficial group of kids who pass the "gangler test", which is a complicated maneuver that is accomplished with hands clutched together and arms have to go over their head.  if you pass it, you are a gangler.  i definitely can't do it.  in answer to the ganglers, a group of kids at the high school have gotten together to form the "stocky people" group. 

last week on jake's birthday, the stocky people declared "G cubed" day.  this is also known is "give a gangler grief" day.  the stocky people were targeting the ganglers.  they have also decided to have "stocky people appreciation day", which is making the ganglers mad because they felt like they were just targeted on G cubed day and by definition, ganglers are not planners, so they don't know how to retaliate.

one interesting fact about stocky people is that if ganglers turn sideways, the stocky people can't see them.  there are also "fanganglers", which are fat ganglers and "burly" people, which i'm not really sure about.  also, there is a difference between ganglers and lurps, which is important to know.

globetrotting

some days i feel like we're globetrotting, there's so much to do.  but today, the globetrotters were in town.  craig took caroline, isaac and sam to enjoy the show.  i keep hoping the washington generals will get a win one day, but it wasn't this day.  afterwards, the kids waited in line to see "flight time" and "big easy", two of our favorite competitors from the amazing race.  caroline asked them what happens to the cowboys (another of our favorite teams who were in big trouble sunday when the show was "to be continued").  they told her to watch next sunday, but then winked and smiled.  we hope that means the cowboys don't get eliminated.

craig, isaac and jake went skiing today--probably their last snow day of the season.  i'm told the powder was amazing and a great time was had by all.  everyone was home early because the deep powder made their legs so tired.  isaac took quite a spill in the trees.  it took craig 15 minutes to dig him out.  i'm glad he was wearing a helmet.

caroline, sam and i ran errands around town, caroline got her hair cut and colored (looks fabulous) and sam and i went to the gateway.  we all met up at dinner time for dinner at joy luck for jake's birthday.

11 years

i realized today around 2:00, which is actually pretty late in the day, that today is the 11th anniversary of the day my dad died. for some reason those memories flooded back strong and hard when i remembered that that day was a sunday too.  you'd think after 11 years, i would be out of avoidance mode, but avoiding is the main way i deal with everything.  i can't help thinking about all the things my dad has missed.  11 years is a long time.

the snow from last night continued all through the night and into this morning.  i think we had a foot on our driveway.  we have 9:00 church and got a call around 8:45 that the last two meetings were canceled due to the weather.  i think they should have canceled all three hours, especially because the streets were unplowed and nearly undrivable.  i didn't understand the thinking behind getting ready for church, driving there, and then leaving before it was over.  but still, canceling church is so rare and kind of exciting so i'll take two hours--particularly on sundays when i have the sharing time lesson. 

the st. george group (ick, craig & sam) bugged out and headed home around 2:00 this afternoon when rocky mountain canceled all of tomorrow's baseball games because of rain.  it was a bit of a bust for baseball, but they seemed to have fun.

we had dinner at g-dawg's, watched tonight's amazing race and part of the all-star game--our satellite is still down.

today did not go well

i would have to say, today had it's bright spots, but overall it did not go well.  all the baseball games in st. george got rained out, including the ones that sam's team were supposed to play in.  bother.  so, this is what you do when you are staying in a hotel in st. george, it's raining and your main activity gets canceled.  you swim.  you watch tv in the room.  you goof around and get locked out of your room.  you go to movies that you may not have even wanted to see.  you spend lots of money at arcades.  you eat.  and most of these activities are not fun if you are the adult chaperone by the way. 

caroline and i went to ikea today.  this did not go well either.  i was looking for something in particular, a storage unit for my sewing room.  we had to borrow a car from my mom because the suburban was in st. george.  i didn't find what i was looking for, but then when i got all the way home decided i liked something after all, which i don't have now because i have to go all the way back to draper to get it.

caroline, g-dawg and i went to a movie tonight.  unknown.  it was enjoyable, but when we got out and headed it home it was dumping snow.  the roads were horrible and there were no slowplows in site.  i called the bountiful police and told them it was time to put their donuts down and make our city safe.  i also said that this was their chance to do something besides write speeding tickets to the good citizens of bountiful.

now my satellite is down.  kaput.  there is no signal on any tv in the house.  it's saturday night of a holiday weekend and my satellite guy (rye) is in another state. 

i'm finishing up my sharing time lesson for tomorrow and i need to print some facts about sea turtles.  you guessed it:  my printer just ran out of ink before i printed my last page. 

17 years of jake

i have shared the earth with jake now for 17 years.  and that's a good thing.  he's such a great kid, for which i can take no credit.  he does share some of my genetics, but he came from heaven a great kid.  it's been an honor to be his mother.  today he turned 17.  i can't believe he'll be on a mission in roughly two years.  i know the they will be exciting years though.  happy birthday jake! 

the day jake was born at a boston area hospital overlooking the charles river (with fenway park on the opposite banks), we were enjoying the 1994 winter olympics.  dan jansen, after trying and falling so many times, finally won a gold medal.  i was so inspired, we thought about naming our new baby dan, but he was and is a jake.

caroline and i shared a lovely afternoon.  with craig, isaac and sam playing, coaching and watching baseball in dixie and jake doing his own thing, we headed off for pedicures and some errands.  then we went over to g-dawg's to watch the american idol that didn't record here because the dish blew over in the wind.  it's been a fun night.

thursday afternoon movies

my friend and i have been going to movies on thursday afternoons.  not every thursday, but some thursdays.  we went today.  we feel like we're robbing a bank or something.  we feel like our kids are going to come find us, drag us out of the movie and make us go home and do chores or something.  but there's something so refreshing about shutting the door behind us to our committments at home and enjoying an afternoon of popcorn, diet coke and mindless entertainment.  i heartily recommend afternoon movies.  today there were like 25 people in the theater and we were mad that our secret was getting out.  we are used to five or six others sharing our movie.

my suburban just drove off to st. george.  with people in it of course.  craig, sam and isaac are headed for a baseball tournament in dixie, where it's supposed to be warm, but it's not going to be this weekend.  the low is supposed to be 30 degrees.  i stayed home with caroline and jake--it's jake's birthday tomorrow.  caroline and i had planned to go to ikea on saturday and i didn't remember that when i told craig i could trade him cars.  grrrrr.

girl's basketball tonight and 9-year-old basketball tonight.  the girl's game was wild as ever.  did you know that when girls foul each other in a church game, they often apologize.  i think that's funny.  isaac's game was close and isaac was naughty.  when he made a great play, he blew kisses to the crowd.  i heard a couple sitting near me say what a poor sport he was and that he should be benched for showboating.  i think he was just having fun though and the referees high fived him a few times.  maybe those people just need to lighten up.

freedoms foundation

today was the freedoms foundation luncheon where jake and others going to valley forge were introduced.  56 high school students from across the state were chosen for the scholarships.  a few weeks ago the director called jake and said jake's interview was one of the very best of all the kids he interviewed.  he asked jake to lead the group of 500 people in the pledge of allegience.  it was an honor and he did a great job, even after we reminded him not to pull a "christina aguilerra".

i know he is going to have a blast at valley forge.  he loves history and he loves leadership type events.  i'm excited for his 4-day trip in may.

tonight our satellite started to have some problems in the wind.  we were alarmed because it's hollywood week on amerian idol.  i went out to check the satellite and found that it was hanging from the roof.  i texted the picture to rye and he laughed out loud at the restaurant where he was eating and texted back, "yah, that's never gonna work".  he was nice enough to get up on a ladder in a driving snow storm to get it working.  thanks rye!

it's 8:30 now.  snow is pounding outsid.  the roads look awful and i'm home alone, which means everyone is checked out in the storm.  wish they were all home so i wouldn't worry.  jake, sam, isaac and monte are at the jazz game.  craig took caroline to fencing. 

girl's basketball

i went to caroline's church basketball game tonight.  i could not believe my eyes.  it was the craziest game i have ever seen.  there were about a billion turnovers and two billion fouls (only three were called the WHOLE game--thought that deserved capital letters stacey).

one of the refs said to caroline, "let's not be dirty" and she said, "why are you looking at me?"  he replied, "i knew your mom growing up".  i wasn't amused. 

we lost by four points.  we started the game with four players to the other ward's 15.  they had fresh substitutes every few minutes.  we fought back from being down 10-0 at one point. 

but, yes, it was one of the craziest games i have ever seen and the quality of basketball was pretty low.  caroline played great though.  very agressive and lots of points. 

bought some paint today...can't wait to embark on my new project. 

sister wives

valentine's day is generally overrated, but occassionally it lives up to the hype.  craig took cindy and me out to dinner at thaiphoon (my fave).  we are calling ourselves the sister wives.  we had yummy food and great conversation.  it was really nice.  craig got cindy some pretty candles and i got beautiful flowers and a heart shaped box for my box collection.  it was a great night...until we got home and cindy found that her car had been wrecked while we were gone by one of her kids and the heart-shaped pizza she left for her kids to eat for dinner caught on fire while they were cooking it.  not good. 

another great valentine's day moment was isaac calling me this morning at 8:00 (his bus comes at 8:30).  i was driving sam's carpool to millcreek.  isaac said, "i don't have any valentine's and i reminded you all weekend".  the reminding part is not true, i'm sure.  luckily we had a box of valentine's that he quickly wrote his name on.  we turned a stiff shopping bag into a valentine's day box and then ran to the market to get candy.  we ended up with easter candy because the store people can hardly wait to move onto the next holiday.  our "nerds" had little hopping bunnies--an extra treat for people on valentine's day today.  we taped the candy to the valentine's while we sat in the car in the store parking lot and then i promptly deposited isaac at school with everything he needed.

i went to parent teacher conference at the high school and briefly visited with three of jake's teachers.  he's a rock star.  everyone loves him.  all the coaches want him to play their sports.  people want him to be their sterling scholar.  and some people want him to be a student body officer.  he's getting great grades while taking hard classes.  he just came from heaven that way though.  wonder what the future holds for jake.

i will say that the decision has finally been made and it's hard to announce the end of an era, but jake has decided to be a track star at the high school instead of a baseball star.  so in the blink of an eye we went from four baseball players around here to just two.  sad days.

caroline bounded home from school yesterday with six flowers from secret admirers at school.  she had a great valentine's day and whoever took the time to send her those flowers really made her day.  later she made cookies and took them to some people to brighten their day and i could see the "pay it forward" principle in action.  what a great day.

happy birthday pugs

jake gave a killer talk at church today.  it was awesome.  he has kind of a pulpit-pounding, booming voice delivery style.  loved it.  i can always learn something from jake.  he had lots of fans call him and tell him how great he did.  some even asked for a copy of his talk.

almost the best thing about today was that they are talking about baseball on sportscenter.  booya!  football is finally over and pitchers and catchers report tomorrow.  can't wait for opening day.

today was uncle ry's (a.k.a. pugs) birthday.  we were honored that he agreed to share his birthday dinner with us.  we had delicious hamburgers prepared by ryan and esquire.  we even had pastrami to top the burgers.  i had my standby.  a burger isn't a burger without bleu cheese dressing, purple onions and avacados.  delish!  then we enjoyed a quick game of settlers (mom won) and watched a bit of the grammies, before sending ryan, stacey, hanne and sulley off for home. 

i arose from my bed for jimmer

yes, i dragged my sick (but recovering) body out of bed for the byu-utah game.  i always wonder where utah fans go after football season.  i think they hibernate, because i never hear them talk about sports from december to july.  unless they have a good basketball year, which is not this year.  sadly, jimmer did not have a great game--only 23 points.  although the tide did turn in the second half when he went on a personal 13-0 run on utah.  so even though he didn't play his best, we could not have won without him.  i decided today that i like utah even less than i like the red sox.  anyone who knows me will know that that puts utah in a very low place on my list.  the five of us--craig, me, caroline, isaac and sam (evan was in the student section)--had a great time in happy valley, but we decided to get tickets to one more game this season because we didn't want to end on a low jimmer note.

jake went to the sweetheart's dance with his friend, sage, tonight.  we weren't home when he left, so i'm hoping to come up with some pictures from somewhere.

we rushed home from provo, dropped off sam and ick and caroline, craig and i went to the "u" (don't worry i was still wearing my bedazzled "y" shirt) to see spamalot at kingsbury hall.  it was crude but a little bit funny.  clearly people around me were much more amused than i was, but i found some things that made me chuckle.  craig and caroline laughed more than i did.  my brother steven, who used our fourth ticket, laughed the most. 

deacon's world championship

i guess it would only be the world championship if you consider the mueller park stake to be the center of the world, which you probably don't.  anyway, we have a tradition in our stake to end the church ball season with a one-night, winner-take-all deacon's tournament.  it's double elimination, starts at 6:30 and goes until one team is left standing.  sam's facebook status today said, "Deacons ball tournament-the best thing ever invented!"  So, it's popular.

our ward won our first game in OT.  lost our second game, then had to play three games in a row to make it to the finals.  we won the first of the three.  we won the second of the three, to give that ward their first loss.  then we had to play the same team again in the finals.  alas, we lost in the finals, but it was still a fun evening.  sam definitely was one of the more outstanding players. 

bye jerry

jerry sloan retired as head coach of the utah jazz today.  he's been the coach for 23 years, as long as i can remember.  and i worked a lot of games with jerry when i worked for the jazz.  i don't know why he's leaving right in the middle of the season, but he must have his reasons.  i do know that change is good though and though he will be missed and things will be different, maybe it's good to do something new.  only time will tell.

isaac had a basketball game tonight.  nine year olds.  it was the roughest basketball game i've ever seen.  i'm not proud of the way i yelled at the refs, but they let things get so out of hand that the kids started being rougher and rougher.  it was survival of the fittest, which was isaac's team.  they remain undefeated.  three kids were bleeding tonight and isaac was hacking people all over the place on purpuse.  i don't really blame him though.  and sam had a game.  it was 30-2 when craig got there.  not for sam's team.  it's time for a change there too.

yucky day for me.  sick:  cough, runny nose, congestion, the works.  stayed in bed most of the day.

temple

craig and i had a great opportunity today to do sealings in the bountiful temple.  i was so happy to walk into the sealing office and see my friend, cindy.  i didn't expect to see her there because i think sealings are a hard thing to do when you have lost your spouse like she has.  she was so brave and wonderful, especially when the old temple worker asked us if our husbands were joining us.  i almost answered, "only the ones who aren't dead' just to make cindy laugh (which it did when i told her afterwards), but i let it go.  i wish people would think more before they speak.

a few years ago when craig was in the young men's he had the idea for the youth to find a name of one of their anscestors whose temple work had not been done and then take these names through the temple.  so the youth would do the baptisms and their parents could do the rest of the work.  today we did sealings for the last of these people in our family.  the sealer in the temple was very, very impressed with our ward for encouraging the youth in this way.  i thought craig had a great idea.

i started to feel a headache come on this morning and it got worse throughout the day.  now my nose is running, i feel crappy and i have a cough.  how does that happen so fast?  but there's all kinds of good things on tv so i think i'll call it a day and watch american idol, byu, the jazz or modern family.  i'm so happy we still had leftovers from our super bowl party because i haven't made dinner once this week.  tomorrow i'm going to have to step up.

exciting day

i really wish i could say this was an exciting day.  it wasn't.  about the most exciting thing tht happened was late start at the high school (means i can sleep in an extra 30 minutes).  oh, and sam gave the dogs a bath.  if we say the word "bath" to romeo he immediately runs to higher ground and bites anyone that comes within striking distance. 

asthma is the verdict on the breathing trouble.  i was a tad mad at isaac when i heard this from the doctor, but then i realized that hereditary doesn't mean you get it from your kids.  oh well, it might just be a transitory problem so i'll use my inhaler and hopefully when spring arrives i will feel better. 

isaac finally has an appointment with aspen medical research.  he asks me every day when he can start the peanut allergy study.  he's not interested in helping anyone, he's just interested in the $1,300 he's going to get paid to participate.  he has the money spent already. 

jake's gonna be a senior?

i'm not sure when it happened, but jake is almost ready to move out.  he's gonna be a senior next year, i guess.  we had his seop today, which is the time to choose classes for next year.  it's so easy to go to jake's seop.  he knows exactly what he wants.  he had his list of classes all written on a piece of paper ready to go.  if he takes all the ones he wants to take, he'll have to take early morning seminary.  he has four ap classes on the docket for next year.  he confirmed for me during our meeting that he really isn't going to play baseball.  i thought i was prepared for this, but i still hit me hard.  i will miss watching him play.  i hope we like track meets as much as baseball games. 

caroline was nice enough to call me from school today to see if i was feeling okay.  i've been having trouble breathing, but just in the evenings.  as the day day goes on, it gets worse until evening when i have to steal drugs from isaac's stash to get the wheezing to stop.  lucky for me he has rescue inhalers and a nebulizer.  i'm going to the doc tomorrow.

dentist today for ick and sam.  sam is getting his braces off soon.  that will be a great day. 

and we got a letter from evan's mission president today.  he had more information about bikes in the mission and mission boundaries.  mostly he just said he was excited for evan to get there. 

super duper bowl

super bowl sunday is a favorite around here.  we are so glad to have early church!  evan brought some zoobies up to watch the game, most of whom were also cheeseheads, which is unfortunate, since i am a steelers gal.  we had yummy homemade cafe rio burritos and lots of treats "made by dad".  craig spent a lot of time making treats, that i rudely thought didn't look up to my standard, so jake put a note in front o the treats that said "made by dad'. it turns out our guests liked the treats.  when i found that out, i tried to take credit for them. 

the game was close and hard fought.  unfortunately for me, but fortunately for most of the people at our house, the packes beat the stealers.  the steelers kept getting within striking distance and then they kept turning it over.  the commercials were also a big hit.  there was lots of laughing from all over the house during the commercials. 

another saturday being entertained by jimmer

another saturday, another day of entertainment courtesy of jimmer fredette.  craig took sam, isaac, caroline and gavin (sam's friend) to the byu/unlv game today.  jimmer only had 29 points, but he was 16/16 from the free throw line and took over first place on the all-time scoring list in the mwc.  so, it was a productive 29 points.  i stayed home all by myself because jake went skiing.  i enjoyed cleaning (really!).  i also exercised, knitted and watched the game.

evan didn't go to the game because he was skiing, but by the time it was over he was back on campus.  so craig and the kids joined evan at the cannon center for dinner.  this is where he eats every day, but it was something new for the rest of the kids.

knittin' me up a sweater

this is the view i have tonight.  i know having two people 'leave home' shouldn't make that much of a difference, but it has.  the house seems so quiet without thomas and evan.  evan is back and forth so we still get to see him and talk with him on the phone (but only for a few more months), but thomas is really gone.  it's friday night and i can't believe how boring and quiet it is around here.  craig came home late from work.  isaac has a friend over and they are being strangely quiet.  caroline is working on her driver's ed class so she can get her lisence in september.  sam is at a friend's house.  jake went to the state drill competition in orem and then headed off to his jr. jazz game.  so i'm knitting and watching some dumb dateline show which i missed half of because i had it paused and romeo stepped on the remote so the channel changed. 

yesterday i got a funny e-mail from sam's english teacher.  he has a student teacher right now for a few months.  she gave them a grammer quiz yesterday and sent home an e-mail to the parents of all the students who got 80 percent or better.  she explained that the quiz was on "common grammar mistakes and apostrophe's".  i got a kick out of the apostrophe in apostrophe's.  just a little something that made me laugh yesterday.

love

i'm in love with my new kitchen and it's not really even new.  i just made a few practical changes that will change my life!

for 11 years i've cooked in this kichen with the stovetop in the island, but i have hated it.  it's not the cooking part i hated, it's the space problem of having a big rectangle taken out of the middle of the island.  we didn't even have enough room for placemats.  this layout is going to work so much better.  then we moved the cooktop to the other counter over the stove.  we still need to move the microwave up, but then she's done!  thanks craig.

craig and i picked up isaac from baseball tonight and then went to a wedding reception for a cute girl in our ward, katie nelson.  her mom is my visiting teacher and craig has home taught their family for 11 years.  it was a fun wedding celebration with a chocolate fountain, valentines to sign for the guest book and lots of fun treats.  it was held at the masonic temple, which was very interesting.  i enjoyed seeing the inside of a building i had driven past for 40-something years.

then we went to isaac's basketbaall game and watched another win.  i don't remember the last time these kids lost, but it wasn't this year.  we finished the night with jake's priest game.  this won went down as a loss and jake was really throwing a lot of elbows--very un-jake like.

clutch

still cold here.

had lunch with my mother-in-law at zupa's.  i could eat there again and i could eat with her again.  we had fun.

more dentist appointments, scouts, haircuts, practices.  the usual.

sam had a deacon's game tonight.  it was a very exciting game with lots of lead changes.  we were up by three with 30 seconds left when the other ward tied it up with a three.  sam drove down the court, hoping to make a last second shot to win the game for us and...he was fouled.  i was scared, but he was at the foul line with just a few second left and the score was tied.  but sam was money.  clutch.  he made two free throws and was immediately fouled again.  so he made two more.  and we won.

brrrrrrrrrrr

i do not ever want to be this cold again.  ever.  it is unusually cold here right now.  this morning i went to the temple and my car said 8 degrees.  i parked and walked to the temple doors only to find out that the bronze sliding doors on the bountiful temple were frozen shut.  i'll be darned if i was going to walk all the way downstairs since my face and hands hurt so much from the cold it felt like someone had beat me, so i pried them open.  sam has gym last period so his hair was wet when he went out to the car and when he got there his hair was frozen.  jake and craig did baptisms at the temple this morning.  jake said craig was lucky enough to drop him off at the door before parking the car.  and just try to get the dogs to go potty outside when they weigh all of ten pounds and it's single digit degrees.  i'm dreaming of warmer climes--spring training in march, a quick trip to southern california for spring break in april and then utah should probably be tolerable by may.

lots of activities today.  caroline had violin and fencing.  jake had church basketball and headed off to study ap calculus.  sam had basketball practice.  isaac had baseball practice.  it was hard to get everybody where they needed to be.  now waiting for jake, craig and caroline, then i can call it a day.  and me?  temple.  paradise bakery to pick up a salad for lunch.  and i've decided to knit a sweater so i started that.