Parry Particulars

Mt. Fuji

2012-01-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Today I had to run downtown to Pottery Barn, so I went to lunch with my better half. We enjoyed Italian soda and thin crust pizza. I had lots of garlic on mine, so I'm going to smell for awhile. Then when I went to Pottery Barn, they were closed for Inventory. Lame.

Finally at 10:30 last night we heard from Evan. These last two transfers have not been great for him. His companion is not a hard worker. In today's e-mail he could hardly contain himself. He's been made a senior companion and transferred to...Mt. Fuji, one of the most beautiful places on earth.

He could not be happier. I'm so excited for next week's letter--I hope he has lots of pictures. He was also happy because he played in a stake softball game and hit two home runs and two doubles. He was voted MVP of the game.

Dinner Guests

2012-01-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today was a regular Sunday. But we did have a fun dinner. We invited our friends the Johnsons to eat with us tonight. Keith has taught Jake, Evan, and Sam how to hit baseballs (he did a great job). Now he is the manager of the Salt Lake Bees. He works in the Angels organization, so Sam loves to pick Keith's brain and find out all about what's up with the Angels. We had a great time visiting with Keith, his wife, Malena, Kory, his son, and Mya, his daughter. Fun people to be around.

Usually by now (it's 9:13), we have heard from Evan. He writes us some time on his Monday morning, which is Sunday evening for us. Today we haven't had anything. It's transfer day, so I'm starting to wonder what's up in Japan.

Jimmer Is In Town

2012-01-28T22:14:00.001-07:00

Jimmer came to town this weekend. He's a King now. In fact, they were selling t-shirts that said, "Got Jimmer?" on the front. And "We do!" on the back. Craig bought four tickets to the game and took the boys to see Jimmer. He did alright. He wasn't amazing, but had a few amazing moments. He had a chance to tie the game with a long three-point shot with four seconds left in the game. He shot an air ball. Unfortunately, there were a lot of Utah Ute fans at the game who decided that since Jimmer had once played for BYU, they hated him. They boo'd every time Jimmer got the ball. I think that's pretty low budget. I have never and would never boo for Andre Miller or Andrew Bogut. The Jazz won, but I wanted the Kings.

Craig washed all four cars today. We kind of just worked around the house today and caught up on some things.

Dress Shopping

2012-01-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

I was so tired this morning from sleeping (or not sleeping) at the hospital. I decided to lay down after the kids went to school and woke up three hours later. Kind of a lost day really. Jake took a ski day and described the snow as "sublime". In the afternoon, Caroline and I went shopping for a dress to wear to the Valentine's Dance. We took her friend, Breanne, and her mom, Jenny, with us. We had a great time. We spent a long time at Nordstrom and tried on lots and lots of dresses. Caroline settled on two to bring home and choose from. We also got some shoes at DSW. Craig wondered why she needed new shoes. He doesn't get it. Here's the amazing dress:

Haha. You'll get to see it in two weeks just like everyone else.

I found this hilarious picture on Facebook. It looks like Jake and his friends have really been working out:

The kids are off tonight watching Bountiful (hopefully) beat WX. Sam is a friends. And Craig and I are home all alone.

Free Ride

2012-01-26T22:30:00.001-07:00

I went to an afternoon movie with my friend today. Other than being freezing and having to wear my scarf around my ears, it was a great time. The movie was sad, but we expected that. I quite liked it: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Caroline had her allergy shot today and an hour later broke out into hives everywhere. Then her lips got a little bit swollen and her throat and chest were tight. I immediately went into "anaphylactic shock" mode. I've had lots of practice with this! As I called 911, I gave her a shot of epi in her thigh. Then we were off on our "free ride" to the hospital. Acutally it probably wasn't free. Here's my view of the ambulance:

When we got to Primary Children's, we were shown to the Resuscitation Room. By then, the crisis was really over and Caroline was breathing fine. The ER Chief told me I did everything exactly right. I even threw some sweats and my iPad into my purse, so I was ultra prepared.

Unfortunately, though, we had to spend the night in the Rapid Treatment Unit. It's hard to sleep in a hospital. I heard Caroline's machines beeping all night long.

Isaac was the most interested in the whole event since he's very experienced at this. He was on his way home from skiing when she got sick, so he called later and asked for a description of all of Caroline's symptoms, then he compared what usually happens to him. It was funny.

Busy Busy

2012-01-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today was seriously the busiest day. I felt like I didn't have time to breathe. Craig was busy too. He's working on a big case and might have to work into the night. As usual, Jake was only home for an hour or so after school before he went back for an activity. Tonight was region drill. Sam and Isaac both had baseball practice. I ran lots of errands. I had fun hanging out with Stacey and Hanne for an hour getting pointers on some knitting. I paid it forward by helping my visiting teachers for an hour with some crocheting.

The best part of the day was Caroline getting asked to the Valentine's Dance. She's already planning her shopping trip to look for a dress. She is exccited to be going with Josh Calder.

Stocking Up

2012-01-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

I have decided to make this the year of preparation. I'm making sure our food storage is up to snuff! I know someday we'll be glad we stored food, medicine, blankets and other miscellaneous useful items. Today I went to Smith's and bought things on their add that were a really good deal. I got Jell-O, pasta and soap for $1 each.

Craig spent last night and all of today in St. George for a hearing. Caroline and I had tickets for "Game's Afoot" at Hale Centre Theatre. Even though it was really snowing, we made the trek to West Valley City. Coincidentally, my mom was there so we sat with her after intermission. The play was a riot. Caroline and I always enjoy a good play at Hale Centre.

News From Japan

2012-01-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Evan wrote an awesome letter this week. He had an amazing week. He was invited by President Baird to a leadership conference this week. He was told that the top 20 missionaries in the mission were invited and only two of them, Parry and Ellsworth, were junior companions. His confidence has been down some because Japanese has been so hard to learn, but this conference perked him right up. He said he learned a lot to help him be a better missionary and teacher.

Jake left church a little early today because he caught "Ravenitis". Unfortunately for him, he answered his phone when Craig called and told him to come back for Priesthood. Sam was put in the Teacher's Quorum Presidency today.

After church we went home and watched two really good football games. The Patriots beat the Ravens when the Ravens missed a short field goal with 11 seconds left in the game. This was after the Ravens dropped a TD pass in the end zone to win. Then the 49ers lost in overtime to the Giants. I had sad boys. Sam is a Niners guy and Jake and Isaac are Ravens fans. We watched most of the second game at The Mother Ship. This is usually what happens when we meet up there:

Craig left in the early afternoon for St. George.

Mitt

2012-01-19T22:20:00.001-07:00

Sam had a Deacon's game tonight. If we hadn't reigned people in, we could have won by 50. Instead, we got up by enough to win and then tried to make sure everyone on our team had a chance to score. We have some kids who don't play a lot of basketball, so they were excited about their scoring opportunities.

Before I left for the game, I watched the beginning of the South Caroline Republican debate, but I thought I was going to go crazy after only the first five minutes. I want Mitt to win so much and think so much of him. Newt Gingrich was really on a high horse tonight and definitely shouldn't throw rocks in that glass house of his. Mitt did not perform well tonight.

Thinking About Japan

2012-01-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

I could not stop thinking about Evan in Japan today. I hope everything is okay with him and this isn't some sort of empathy link. This has been a pretty slow eight months for me.

We had two basketball games tonight (only two!). Sam's team came from behind and got a big win against a much taller team. Sam played great and proudly wore Jimmer's BYU number--32. Then we went to Jake's priest game. They waited too long to get things going and lost a game they could have won. Oh well.

The best part of today was the e-mail that came from the elementary school. Apparently, they are instituting some rules about what they deem to be appropriate winter clothing. Police state came to my mind. I guess Craig had the same thought because he fired off a return e-mail that was quite entertaining. Here's one of the better sentences: "Now that you have determined that parents are irresponsible, ignorant and incapable of themselves ensuring that their own children are dressed in such a way so as to prevent frostbite and hypothermia (for that matter, when was the last time a child at Valley View suffered frostbite at recess?), what Orwellian regulation is next?" Haha. I wonder what Isaac will be wearing to school tomorrow.

BYU Quarterbacks

2012-01-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

I think former BYU quarterbacks flock to me or something. We met Steve Young over Thanksgiving and yesterday at my gym I got to meet Ty Detmer. He's still got quite a southern drawl and he's still pretty cute. My kids were jealous. Once upon a time I met Jim McMahon too. He's my favorite.

Last night I continued my "Year of Preparation" or whatever. I'm not really settled on that name. But in any case, I went to the cannery and got some good staples for the storage room. I am going to be prepared of we have a disaster. We're gonna eat good.

Craig is busy at work. In fact, we didn't talk once on the phone today. He's happier when he's busy though so I guess that's good.

50 Hats

2012-01-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today I completed my 50th hat for our stake service project.

It's been fun crocheting these cute little hats. I did a whole bunch of them on my flights to and from Germany. It's time to move on to something else though. Jake needs some help finishing the 150 baby booties he has knitted on the loom. Busy hands.

No school today. Craig went to work and after I cracked the whip in the morning and saw results with a very clean basement, the kids all went off to do their things and I curled up to catch up on Downtown Abbey. Can't believe I missed all of last season. Very cool series.

"Is That a Hive?"

2012-01-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

We had 11:00 a.m. church today. It's a lame time. Really the only good time is 9:00 a.m. Today it was especially lame because there were two more play-off games. During sacrament meeting, Isaac was itching and coughing. We had to try, but we found a few random hives. And the coughing, well, that was our ticket out of there. Helllooooo Ravens v. Texans. A marginal excuse, given that Isaac coughs every single day of his life. I was punished for leaving though. Texas lost. And I hate the Ravens. The late game was good though--the Giants upset the Packers. And I realized that Craig and I cheered for opposite teams all weekend long. What does that say about us? Probably nothing.

We heard from Evan. He is still positive despite the fact that his companion doesn't like to work and they had pretty low numbers this week. In fact, I'm amazed at his level of optimism. He is blessed to have a Mission President who he loves. Transfers are coming up in a week and a half, so maybe there will be a change. Evan thinks either he or his companion will be transferred.

Skiing & Football

2012-01-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

Jake and Caroline went skiing today. At different resorts. Jake was at Snowbird with Dallin and TJ:

Caroline was at Park City with Breanne:

What little snow we have was reportedly bad, but they both had fun days.

Craig, Sam, Isaac and I stayed home and watched maybe the best NFL game of the year. The 49ers beat the Saints with seconds left in the game to advance to the NFC Championship. We made cookies for some friends. We did lots of wash. The boys had basketball practices. I pretended like I was on vacation since I didn't get to go on vacation.

Long Weekend

2012-01-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of a four day weekend. It's our turn to have the condo and I really want to go, but my kids pretty much refused to go with me. They gave super good reasons:

1. Caroline was going to go skiing with eight friends and they all crapped out except one, so she stayed home to ski with that friend.
2. Sam wanted to have a sleepover every night. Sleepovers are awesome for getting sleep and being cheerful.
3. Jake had dance practice. Yep, dance practice.
4. And Isaac had...a poker game.

Super important stuff. Craig finally took pity on me and said he could go for three days but then he said it was always boring to go to St. George. At that point, I let the dream go. But if one person says they are bored this weekend, they are getting a chore list with 20 things on it.

Craig and I went to visit Doug tonight. He had knee replacement surgery this week. It was fun to visit, especially because he was a little loopy.

Deacon's Ball

2012-01-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Sam is playing deacon's ball again this year, even though he is officially a teacher. We don't have a teacher's team, so he had to either play with the priests or the deacons. The priests are Jake's size so that wasn't going to happen. Sam was told by the stake though that he could only play at 75 percent. I'm not exactly sure if Sam's going to play at 75 percent. Tonight we won by oodles. Sam had me keep his stats and they were pretty good. Church basketball has been so fun for my boys.

Today was also the last day of the semester. Caroline is extremely happy that debate is over. She can put it behind her and never speak of it again. Jake is also pretty glad it's over.

Three Basketball Games

2012-01-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had three basketball games. Jake had a priest game, which went better this week. Jake had 18 points and no fouls. I guess the secret is to win by a lot and then it's not necessary to take people out. President Eyring was there again and I had to ask him if he was trash talking after someone on the other team missed the rim with his shot and I heard President Eyring behind me say, "air ball". He said he wasn't trash talking, just helping our defense. Haha. It was pretty funny.

Isaac's first game of two on the night went well. It was his comp game with the usual crew. These kids are used to winning every sport every season. They aren't humbble. We won be quite a bit. Between the first and second of Isaac's games, we went to Yogurt Stop. The second basketball game went even better. It was a rec game, so the kids have less experience than comp kids. At one point, Isaac counted down 3-2-1 to try and get the player on the other team with the ball to throw up a prayer shot because he thought the clock was winding down. It worked. Isaac is naughty.

Craig is very busy at work. He started working on a new patent infringement case that will hopefully keep him busy for awhile. He spent the better part of five hours today listening to a Russian man explain complicated technology with an accent. Craig said his head was spinning at the end of the meeting. I wouldn't have lasted an hour.

The Beginning

2012-01-10T19:20:00.001-07:00

Today is the beginning of the best time of the year. I love what starts now and continues until July. I love baseball season. The only thing that could be better than getting two awesome boys off to baseball practice would be getting three awesome boys off to baseball practice. Yes, Jake has made it official. He is choosing to spend his spring doing other things--which is entirely his decision, but still a sad one for me. I thought after taking his junior year off, he might come back to the fold.

Sam is playing with the high school and also another Bountiful team with some of his friends. He will be busy and I'm interested to see how much he enjoys putting so much time into baseball this year. Isaac is back on the Monarchs this year, but Craig and Jerron Hale are helping coach. We have some great new kids and they all excitedly meet at St. Olaf's to carpool into downtown for practice two nights a week. When I dropped Isaac off tonight, I heard kids from the carpool car start yelling his name as soon as he got out of my car. He's a popular guy in some circles.

Boys and baseball. There's always lots to talk about there, but Caroline has definitely hit a milestone or sorts. She has decided after careful thought that it's time to end her violin career. Since she has started high school and been busy with AP classes, new friends, volunteering, and other homework, violin has taken a backseat. We decided if she couldn't practice more, it wasn't going to be worth the money. She's a little worried that she won't know what to do with herself, but I suspect she will have enough to keep her busy.

National Championship

2012-01-09T22:01:00.001-07:00

OK, really, who wants to watch two SEC teams play for the national championship. I guess SEC schools and fans are okay with it, but I wasn't. Tonight's game was Alabama vs. LSU. The first time they played each other this season, the final score of the game was 9-6 in overtime: NO ONE EVEN SCORED A TOUCHDOWN. Tonight's game started with a slew of field goals until finally, toward the end of the game, we were treated to an actual touchdown. Bama won 21-0. I would say that the evening was completely boring, but we had great company.

We invited our friends the Gautavai family over to watch the game. They have three boys about the same age as Evan, Jake and Isaac. They are a football-loving family for sure. Their oldest boy is a friend of Evan's, Camree. He is leaving on his mission next week--Merida, Mexico. Some of the kids also invited a few other friends and my trainer, Bryce, and his girlfriend also joined us. It was a good group. Good think the conversation was interesting, beause they game was boresville.

Afterwards, at 9:30, Craig had to run out to his parents to help give his dad a blessing. Doug is having knee replacement surgery today. He wants to get whipped back into shape so he and Linda can go on a mission.

Frustrated in Japan

2012-01-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

This morning we had Stake Conference. Lots of good stuff in conference this weekend. Now if we can only apply it...

It's a bonus to be out of church by noon. I took a nap with the doggies. I'm not sure who lovess those naps more, me or the dogs. We watched wild card games and most people were happy with the Giants and the Broncos winning. We had Grandma and Ryan over for hamburgers on the grill. Caroline made her famous chocolate chip cookies so she was popular.

Sundays are the night we get e-mails from Evan and we are usually able to chat via e-mail for a bit. He had a very frustrating week. His companion won't talk to him and doesn't want to work very much. I know that he is growing from these trials, but it's hard to see him suffer through them. Since most wards had fast Sunday today (ours is next week), we had decided yesterday to fast with our extended family for Evan because he has been frustrated with his Japanese. I'm grateful that we fasted when we did because it sounds like he needed a lift and I know our faith and prayers will help him with his Japanese and also with his trials.

Finally, Snow

2012-01-07T23:45:00.001-07:00

We have had literally no snow this year. Even at the ski resorts there are just a few lifts open and the rest of the hill is brown. Today we were supposed to get a skiff but we woke up to a foot! Tt was so exciting, like we hadn't seen snow in years, even though last year was the snowiest year I can remember. The younger boys did some serious sledding. Here's the hill when I went to pick Isaac and his friends up:

The actually wouldn't come with me though. They stayed until dark and then walked home.

Today was so busy. I felt like we were running from morning until night. We had four basketball practices, errands to run, chores to do, cousins to tend, a ward temple session, dinner with friends and the evening session of Stake Conference. I was exhaused at 11:00.

doctor again

2012-01-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

isaac woke up wheezing and coughing again this morning, so we went to the doctor. again. to make a long story short, the doctor wants him to "max out" the dose of his preventative inhaler. this is a little scary to me because i don't know what to happen if this dose doesn't work. we shold probably move, but no one really wants to move just so isaac can breathe, which sounds kinda harsh i guess.

i spent nearly two hours exercising today. i wish all people had been created equal. because the nearly two hours of exercise is not going to make me look like scarlet johannsen.

the vice principal called today to "apologize" about the incident yesterday with sam, but she had kind of a different story than the boys. i know, usually the kids have the made up story, but this time, she had a completely made up story. she treated those boys very badly and this isn't over yet.

all the kids have been collected from the rec center, friends' houses, and basketball games, so i'm going to go to sleep too.

"Stupid Eighth Graders"

2012-01-05T20:24:00.002-07:00

Today was the day that Sam got called a "stupid eighth grader" by an administrator at his school. Yep, it's the truth. She also told him to shut up. And she called him stupid more than once. His infraction? I brought him a burrito from Costa Vida for lunch today. When he finished eating, he had a little rice left and his friend asked if he could have the rest. Sam, knowing that the lunch lady is a bit nazi-ish about trash, told his friend repeatedly that he could finish the rice if he threw the trash away. You can guess that the friend didn't throw the trash away and Sam was fingered for it. When he tried to explain himself, the Vice Principal said "that is the stupidest excuse I've ever heard". Hmmm. I'm thinking a visit to the office is in order for me tomorrow. Craig has already sent an e-mail. Everytime Sam tells the story, he laughs. I'm glad he feels good enough about himself that this is not a big issue. But, yep, heads are prolly gonna roll tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Cute Caroline is still enjoying her volunteer time at the hospital and I found out today that she's been getting applications for all her friends so that they can volunteer with her. I think that shows real leadership. Or sociability. But it's all for good, so it doesn't matter what it's called.

The Tradition of Church Ball

2012-01-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

Church ball started tonight. Church ball is something looked forward to, talked about, and bragged about the whole year. It's quite the Mormon tradition. The priests had their first game tonight. We have a big, quite good team. Jake is one of the leaders and he is quite aggressive--even for my standards. President Eyring attended our church game last night because his grandson is on the team. When he comes to our games, sometimes I find myself wondering if, after he watches our game, church ball worldwide will be canceled. The games are rough. I guess the bragging rights are so important that the players go all out. Jake likes to use his sharp elbows to get position. And tonight, after becoming frustrating twice another player, he simply pushed the other player away and once the other player was called for a foul. Hmmmmm. I had to close my eyes a few times. But admittedly, I look forward to church ball just like the boys. The deacons start up next week, so it should be twice the fun!

Waking Up

2012-01-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a hard day for waking up. To start, I was bummed that no one reminded me it was late start and I could have slept in 30 more minutes. I didn't even do anything productive with my extra 30 minutes, I just got back in my warm bed and laid there. And waking up the kids wasn't that great either. Caroline, who is always good as gold in waking herself up, did great, but the boys were tough. They all have holiday hangover I guess. I'm always glad to get back to a routine (not the cooking dinner every night part), but it's hard to have constant parties come to an end.

Tonight we had G-dawg over for our dinner of Shephard's Pie. Sam had four helpings. It's his favorite dinner. Caroline has decided to quit the violin, which makes me sad, but I'm tired of spending money when she's not practicing. Jake went on the team bus to the Bountiful basketball game. Sam and Isaac decided to go to the Jazz game after dinner, so we dashed in and they made it only a minute late. The most exciting thing about tonight is waiting for the Iowa caucus returns. We are obviously hoping Mitt Romney wins. We were in Mitt's ward in Belmont for the four years we lived there. When I finally called it a night, Romney and Santorum were within 40 votes of each other. An amazing number when the total number of votes was in the tens of thousands.

Take Down

2012-01-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

So today was the great Christmas decoration take down day. Sometimes I wonder how it manages to take all day. I think it's because we are interrupted by bowl games, friends, and fondue:

This is the chocolate fondue spread. We also had a pot of cheese fondue going. It's a favorite. When my kids asked me if we could have it more than once a year, I quickly and firmly said, "NO"! So many calories and so much mess.

There were especially good games on today and somehow Sam thought it was okay for his friends to start arriving at noon, long before Christmas was picked up. He had five friends over for hours. Then Jake's friends started to trickle in and he ended up with a bunch for most of the day. Last time I looked downstairs, Caroline's friends were here. Isaac partied with everyone's friends.

Back to school tomorrow. I'm ready, but the kids aren't!

It's a New Year!

2012-01-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

The most noticeable difference for me this year is that I've decided to capitalize. I know it's a radical change, but it's the right thing to do. Today we enjoyed a great sacrament meeting compliments of a returning missionary, Sister Eyring, and D. Craig Parry. They both did a great job. I'll admit I was wishing it was Elder Parry's homecoming.

Speaking of Elder Parry, we got a great letter from Evan today. He had a lot of positive things to say, but was a little discouraged about his language skills. We have decided to fast for him as a family. He is showing some great leadership and trying to get his companion to work a little harder. We're proud of him.

None of Evan's pants fit because he's lost so much weight. I told him not to lose anymore! He looks great though.

new year's eve

2011-12-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

isaac went skiing again today. he's still not feeling 100 percent, but the air is cleaner at the ski resorts and he can always come home and crash. craig took isaac and his friend, josh welling, to the resort. craig was going to work on his talk in the lodge while the boys skied, but he forget his computer cord.

craig took me and my other sister wives to dinner for new year's. we ate at a yummy japanese restaurant and thought about evan.

afterwards, ryan joined us to watch tv and visit. i spent a good part of the time teaching cindy how to play words with friends. i helped her beat me. it was really just beating myself. the kids all had parties to attend and friends to hang out with. i'm pretty sure jake found someone to kiss him at midnight, but he's not talking. isaac had a few friends over to our house. around midnight, there was another earthquake in japan, but evan said he didn't feel it.

i'm hoping some things are going to change in 2012. i'm hoping to make it a better year!

the ski machine

2011-12-30T22:38:00.001-07:00

isaac, the skiing machine, wanted to go again today. there still isn't any snow, but he and craig enjoyed a few hours on the slopes together. sam spent the night at his friend's cabin last night and then had a delicious lunch at the snowbasin lodge. byu played their bowl game: the armed forced bowl against tulsa. it was a tight game. byu was down by 7 with under a minute to play and we had the ball inside the 5. riley nelson, our quarterback, faked a spike and hit hoffman in the end zone for his third touchdown of the day and get us another bowl win. it's not exactly the glory days of mcmahon and young, but it's still good to win our bowl game. in a house full of football crazy boys, i was left alone to watch the game with g-dawg. we had fun sharing useful apps on our iphones and visiting.

bored to tears

2011-12-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

isaac's friends must have all left the country because he was literally bored to tears today. he's still not feeling 100 percent and we didn't really do much today other than putter around the house and run a few errands. when the older kids left to do baptisms for the dead with craig around 5:00, we decided to see if there was an movie. so, at 4:52, we decided to try and make the 5:10 showing of we bought a zoo. we made it before the previews ended, with soda and popcorn in hand. it was a fun mother-son activity. the movie was cute. i don't need to see it again, but it was a good boredom buster today. sam is off at a friend's cabin tonight. jake bought like 40 bags of salt today at costco and then went on a date tonight. he and his friends made hot chocolate and i guess all our spoons were dirty:

caroline went ice skating and then hung out with some cute friends. she also has a giant hive on her arm from her allergy shot, but no headache to speak of. craig's working on his big-time church talk for sunday. he always gives awesome talks.

things are looking up

2011-12-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

things are looking up today for isaac. he's feeling pretty good. he even had three friends over for the afternoon and then went to basketball practice (even though he had to use his inhaler three times). only one breathing treatment today. just as he was going to bed and i felt victorious, caroline came home from her friend's house sobbing. she had a horrible headache and says she's been having headaches in the same spot for months. yikes. i immediately thought "brain tumor" because i was trained by jake. craig glared at me when i said the words out loud. after a bit, she felt better and went to sleep. we'll deal with that problem next time she has a headache.

in the afternoon, caroline and i ran some errands in layton. we accidentally went to our favorite shoe store, dsw, only to find out that they are closing the layton store. boo for that, but yay for 30 percent off the clearance prices. eight pairs of shoes later and $110 we headed for syracuse where we picked up sam and his friend, jaxson, from jaxson's house.

we played two games of settlers (i won one--craig won one). i'm just so glad isaac could breath today!

staying out of the hospital

2011-12-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

so at this point, on like day 1,000,000 of isaac having breathing problems, i'm ready to give up. this month has been particularly bad. this past week has been the worst of the worst. we've been to the doctor, to kid's care, had a chest x-ray at the hospital and talked to several doctors on the phone, and he's still wheezing. as frustrated as i am, isaac is more frustrated. today he was put on a higher dose of steroids and a z-pack after having a test for whooping cough. the doctor we saw today called isaac a "fragile asthmatic". a little discouraging. i got to the point today where i felt like he would be better off in the hospital for a few days, that we he would get around-the-clock monitoring and have oxygen available. but he's rallying a bit, so we are sleeping at home again, wondering the whole time if we might end up in the emergency room in the night.

g-dawg's birthday

2011-12-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

this morning some of us hit the mall for a few after-christmas sales. before we knew it, caroline also had a new iphone. that puts our iphone number at five. dad and evan are the only hold outs.

today is g-dawg's birthday. we have had a tradition since long before my dad died to enjoy an adults-only dinner at the restaurant of mom's choice. since dad is gone, we have contined that fun tradition. almost every year we go somewhere different and we often go to a movie afterwards. this year, the mandarin was the choice. we had yummy chinese food and lively conversation (as always). we were missing ryan & stacey and of course, dad and scott. after a very senior citizen-like dinner time of 4:30, we went to a newly released movie, war horse. for me and almost everyone in our party, the movie was a total bust. it felt like ww1 in real time. craig said he liked it though.

christmas day

2011-12-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

christmas morning started beautifully with sacrament meeting. president eyring spoke to a sold-out crowd. he always gives such great talks in our ward. he promised us that we would remember this christmas and our feelings about the saviour. the meeting went a little over, so when president eyring sat down, isaac and i raced home to get our breakfast casserole out of the oven just in the nick of time. after jake took sacrament to a ward shut-in, we finally got to our presents. it was 11:00 before we started unwrapping. everyone seemed happy enough with their stuff and we had a great time spending the day together.

rome & jete enjoying some new toys and a new food dish

ick with his lord of the rings pez dispensers and ngata jersey

sam opening his stocking--he got an awesome range finder

caroline and liv at grandma's--caroline is opening some fancy indian slippers

jake and sam checking out jake's new ski films

we had a delicious dinner at grandma davis's house with some of our cousins and then we came home to talk to our two missionaries on the phone. it was so good to hear evan's voice again. he sounded really good. we talked for almost an hour and caught him up on all the sports opening. we also heard about his life in japan. it was really hard to say good-bye, but we will get to skype with him on mother's day, which is right around the corner? we also talked with thomas and he is doing great too. another great christmas!

christmas eve

2011-12-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

christmas eve is always enjoyable. our tradition is to have dinner at craig's parents and then enjoy a little family home evening. we started out the day gaining another iPhone. sam switched from t-mobile at at&t and inherited my phone, which means i got a 4s. yay! then we all went to mi:4 (mission impossible for you uneducated folks). we all really liked it. then we headed out to south salt lake.

we had a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin, bernaise sauce and funeral potatoes. we had some fun times reading christmas stories around the living room. jake even sang innkeeper, caroline played the violin and isaac read a story. we ended, as always, with grandpa's bells, then raced santa home.

another ski day

2011-12-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

with all the presents wrapped today, most of the boys off skiing, and sam at g-dawg's with monte, caroline and i decided to go to a matinee. we went to the new theaters in centerville and we were the only two people in the theater for the 11:00 a.m. showing of new year's eve. we had a great time just the two of us, stopped at paradise bakery on the way home for lunch and then i took a little nap! those last few days before christmas are very enjoyable when the presents are bought and wrapped. the boys had fun, but they were wishing for some snow. we don't have any this year.

first ski day

2011-12-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

today was the first ski day of the season! there really isn't much snow right now so they are making a lot, but there's enough to have a decent day. craig took isaac, sam, jake and dallin. they seemed to have a great time. sam wasn't sure if he wanted to go today but when i told him he had to do chores of he stayed home, he decided skiing sounded pretty good. i had a productive present-wrapping day and almost completely finished everything i had to do. caroline helped me (a tiny bit) and then caught up on some dvr shows before going off to spend the evening with friends.

optional day

2011-12-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

in my opinion, today was an optional day at school. i don't know who decided to have our wind make-up day today and cut into our christmas vacation, but whoever it was is a killjoy. isaac skipped school altogether, although partly because he's back on steroids and frequent breathing treatments. sam skipped the first few hours, as did caroline, but they both eventually made it. jake went and said half the school was taking a personal day, but he said it was one of the most fun days he's had as an officer, so go figure.

while it may be tmi for most peeps, i had a colonoscopy. last time i had one it didn't go well and they found several pre-cancerous polyps. today went well--no new findings of irregular cells! i don't have to go back for ten years.

gunk in the air

2011-12-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

craig's day: "okay", but wishing for a new and interesting case to work on.
becky's day: running out of shopping days and having a colonoscopy tomorrow is slowing things down.
jake's day: good day. stayed late to do extra credit for english (yay says mom) and then despite having many other things to do, drove downtown to donate blood.
caroline's day: school was okay, but making over 100 cookies for her friends and jake's friends after school made for a great afternoon.
sam's day: started very early at the temple with craig, jake & caroline. then he went to school early to sing christmas carols with the spanish students.
ick's day: school was school. the air is so bad right now that isaac is constantly coughing. as we speak, he's off to kid's care with craig. we'll see what the doc says...

cheese ball day

2011-12-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

today was cheese ball day. before the making of the cheese balls started, however, i had a dermatologist appointment and had to run a few errands. i was so excited to discover after i had done all these things that my pants were on inside out all morning. yay me!

the cheese ball making went great. i cranked out 50 cheese balls for neighborhood gifts, with a little help from jen and celeste. it was a fun day, but now i'm exhausted. most of them have been delivered and i forgot to take a picture until now, but here are a few remnants. imagine 48 more bags like this:

my multi-cultural santa bags were so cute, jen suggested a paper bag garland. i'm so glad she did, because it turned out so very cute!

white elephants and sad news

2011-12-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

tonight was the annual racous christmas party at g-dawg's. we did all the regular stuff: ate big, decorated cookie houses, exchanged white elephants, and then watched our family highlight video. a great time is always had by all! there's always lots of laughing and lots of loud talking. i love it. i missed evan so much though.

we also learned today that our dear friend in japan, sister shinoda, passed away. craig baptized her many years ago and we have kept in close contact. she and her husband also came to visit last summer and attended evan's high school graduation. the shinodas live in evan's first area and they have been taking care of him and contacting him. it's such a sad day, especially for craig.

early christmas present

2011-12-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

i'm a lucky girl. craig got me this fancy treadmill for christmas and spent the afternoon putting it together for me. i love it. my other treadmill broke a few weeks ago, but this one is way better anyway. haha.

we had a yummy breakfast this morning at lamb's cafe and then spent a few hours shopping at the gateway for some christmas gifts. we watched byu take on baylor, the number six team in the country, then craig and i went to a party with some of the people he works with.

i was amazed at all the little things craig got done in the afternoon though. the treadmill was the most exciting to me, but he was a busy boy. i'm grateful for all he does for us!

favorite tradition

2011-12-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

my favorite christmas tradition is staying downtown at the marriott. we always eat at benihana's, go to temple square to look at the lights, sometimes see a movie or swim and then wake up and have a great breakfast. i don't know why it's so fun to be downtown, but i really enjoy being together enjoying some family time.

we also celebrated sam's birthday at dinner and were lucky to be joined by mackynzie, our cousin at byu, before she flew back to san diego for christmas.

allergy #s

2011-12-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

isaac had some blood drawn a few weeks ago to see how his allergy numbers are going. i suspected that they would continue to go in the wrong direction, particularly soy, because the soy food have been giving him so much trouble over the past few years. we had some positive news though. his fish and shellfish numbers were down and dr. broadbent agreed to do skin testing with crab, salmon and shrimp next month. if skin testing goes well, she will allow isaac to eat these things in her office and see how he does. if he doesn't react, we may be able to reintroduce them into his diet. he still can't eat any nuts, but we weren't counting on that. and his soy numbers were actually down a little bit. he still can't eat things with soy protein, but maybe it's a trend. all around, it went pretty well.

air france: blah

2011-12-13T23:28:00.001-07:00

this morning we woke up so so early to get to the zurich airport for our 7:30 flight to paris. in paris we were going to get on the non-stop flight to slc. best flight from europe ever. you get on the plane in paris and get off at home. no atlanta. no new york city. it's the best. but, air france is the pits. last time we flew air france we had engine trouble over the atlantic halfway to chicago and instead of continuing on, we turned around and went back to paris. lame. well, our flight this morning was canceled so we were left scrambling with lots of other americans, to get on a flight to the u.s. luckily, we get rebooked on the zurich-atlanta flight, but it cost us about eight hours. delta gave us each a $200 travel voucher for our inconvenience. we made it home tired, but safe and the kids weren't that happy to see us--they loved their baby-sitters.

bonus christmas market

2011-12-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

today we had some extra time before we needed to get into zurich, so we hit a bonus christmas market! it was one of the best we saw. colmar, france is a beautiful old town with canals. and we had the best lunch ever--i had quiche (cause we were in france) and craig got rusti, which is something we've had before in switzerland. i think there are a lot of variations, but it's basically local potatoes made into hash browns, cooked in a skillet sometimes with sauce and meat. this rusti had pork medallions and bernaise sauce. it was delish. i'm lucky that craig shared part of his food with me!

we got into zurich after dark. but it gets dark around here really early. we checked in and then went to find somewhere to eat in the old town. zurich is beautiful at night.

i was a little annoyed with the food people of zurich. i really really wanted fondue, but we were turned away at every restaurant we tried. finally, after walking around for 90 minutes, a table opened up. it was good, but i got tired of the cheese after awhile.

france

2011-12-11T23:30:00.001-07:00

this morning we peeked into the nurmburg market just to see it in the light. we also enjoyed a second helping of the yummiest treat of the trip: apples breaded then fried and topped with vanilla sauce. they were so delicious. we ate them while talking to a japanese couple who live in munich but are from a small town in japan that they thought we would never know, but it's a town craig has been to many times. small world.

on our way to our final destination in france tonight, we stopped over at the rothenburg christmas market. i'm telling you, we could have stayed all of december and not run out of markets. rothenburg is a lovely old walled town in germany. this was my third visit, but i've never been there in december.

then we drove into france. our destination was strasbourg. craig and i were talking on the way about the fact that strasbourg is in a region of france near the border of germany. this area has changed hands between france and germany a few times because it's a fertile area. as we were driving, we were wondering what strasbourg would look like--whether it would look like german or france. i was amazed that immediately upon driving into strasbourg, the architecture completelly changed to wrought-iron railings and french architecture. the strasbourg market was the only christmas market with chandelier decorations outside. that's definitely french.

at home today, jake's school choir got to sing at the assembly hall on temple square. we heard it was amazing!

continuing our tour of deutschland

2011-12-10T23:00:00.001-07:00

this morning we woke up in munchen and walked down to the marienplatz to see the christmas market in the day light. we went to a few other markets in munich before driving on to regensburg. at one of the markets we saw st. nicholas:

in regensburg, we walked around their christmas market. i really liked it and enjoyed seeing it in the day.

we finished up our day in nurmburg, germany. a jolly christmas market. my only problem with all the markets was the amount of drinking that went on. there were many stalls in each market devoted to warm alcoholic drinks. i could tell the people drinking these hot drinks were warmer than we were, but i was annoyed by the huge crowds around those stalls that impeded progress.

craig wanted to buy everything he saw. it's trouble when i'm the voice of reason. haha.

meanwhile back at the ranch, byu played utah in basketball and isaac and sam were there to cheer the cougars to a win. our niece, olivia, was baptized and we were sorry to miss that important event. it was also the high school christmas dance. it's sounds like a fun time was had by all.

salzburg

2011-12-09T20:03:00.001-07:00

while the kids at home were enjoying the baby sitters, kimberly and patrick, and jake was competing in a debate tournament, craig and i landed in munchen and drove to salzburg, austria. we got to salzburg just as the christmas market was opening on a friday morning. salzburg is one of the most beautiful towns in europe. the market was not crowded first thing in the morning.

this is a view of salzburg from the front of the castle on the hill

this is a picture from the back of the castle. this valley is where the sound of music was filmed. i think it's beautiful, especially on a cold wintry day.

after a delicious lunch of goulash at one of the oldest restaurants in the world, st. peterskeller, we walked through the old graveyard cut into the side of the rock mountain. part of the sound of music was filmed here also.

after spending most of the day in salzburg, we drove back to munchen, stopping in a tiny town to see the tiny chapel where silent night was written:

we got into munich early enough to walk down to the marienplatz and see the munchen christmas market at night. it was crowded, but one of my favorite markets. we found a delicious german restaurant that was warm and yummy.

and we're off...

2011-12-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

...left early this morning for the airport and flew off to atlanta. the kids seemed like they were going to be fine under the great care of kimberly and patrick--kimberly is jennifer's cousin. we had an uneventful flight to atlanta and then headed over the atlantic to munchen. a great stroke of luck was a half empty plane, so i had an entire row of three seats to myself. nighty-night.

while we were flying away, caroline got her hair cut and colored. she looks amazing with dark hair this time and gets prettier every day.

welcome to the american league

2011-12-07T19:55:00.001-07:00

big happenings in baseball right now. even though it's the off season, there's a lot of movement. fans have been waiting very anxiously to see where albert pujols landed. he's a free agent this winter and arguably the best hitter in baseball. so he is highly sought after. he's been with the cardinals since the beginning of his career. apparently, the cardinals and the marlins were bidding on pujols and then at the last minute, the angels swooped in and signed "phat albert" for $250 million over ten years. wow. sam wasn't sure he wanted his angels to tie up that much money, but he's decided to embrace it and hope for a world series ring in the next few years. the angels signed ace pitcher c.j. wilson on the same day. they're stocking up. when we told evan, he was shocked, but welcomed albert to the american league. he would like the american league to crush the national league on a regular basis. pujols helps with this campaign.

oh, and i've decided to go to germany. huzzah!

should i stay or should i go?

2011-12-06T19:00:00.001-07:00

craig has invited me to go to germany with him for four short days. i have been back and forth, up and down, and all over the place. there are always so many things to walk away from. in this case, i would be shirking responsibilities with my primary lesson, chaperoning the christmas dance, baptisms, and the general mom things that happen each and every day. last night when i went to bed, i for sure wasn't going. today, i'm not so sure. it would be so awesome to spend five straight days with craig taking in christmas markets in western europe. a dream come true really. i guess i'll see how i feel in the morning. haha.

good news/bad news

2011-12-05T18:50:00.002-07:00

so we had kind of a good news/bad news thing goin' on this week. not in my wildest imagination did i think jake wouldn't be selected as the social science sterling scholar at bountiful. but he wasn't. big disappointment. if we could go back in time, i'd do a few things different. jake was chosen as the runner up, whatever that means. haha. we are still so proud of jake. so that's the bad news.

the good news, which is way fun: jake was voted by the senior class as the "best all-around". that's always what i think of jake, he's just the best at everything, easy to like, nice to everyone, smart, funny...even though it's just a silly thing, i think it's an honor to be best all-around. his female partner in this honor is kelsy schwab, who applied to be the english sterling scholar and wasn't selected (she is also student body president), so kelsy and jake are referring to themselves a the lovable losers. they're definitely not losers though.

and isaac had his championship football party tonight. these kids are gonna get way too full of themselves if they keep winning. we had great poly food, great company, watched highlights of the season and then each boy got their trophy and heard their coaches say a few nice things about them. coach larsen pointed out that isaac was definitely the person who kept them laughing at practice.

ox in the mire

2011-12-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

late last night, we started getting weather reports that the winds would be back tonight. the scary thing about that is all the piles of debris in people's yards getting blown around by the wind creates a very dangerous situation. i was very surprised to find out at our 9:00 a.m. sacrament meeting that the rest of church would be canceled and that wards and stakes all over davis county were canceling as well so that all able-bodied men could help the city remove debris to the landfill.

jake, craig, isaac and sam went out with the truck and helped in the stake. soon, thousands of trucks were full and headed for the landfill, only to find that the line to dump was hours and miles long. here's the landfill after a new section was opened:

cars full of debris for as far as the eye can see. a smart person decided to have alternate dumping locations where loads could be consolidated into large dump trucks, so soon there was a huge line down from the benches leading to the high school. jake took some pictures of the strange site at bountiful high:

president eyring even put his work clothes on and took a load to the landfill with his son. my boys were great helpers too.

it was a strange sunday. craig thought it was weird when he saw president eggett of our stake presidency walking through the halls of the church wearing jeans on a sunday morning with a walkie-talkie. it was a great sight seeing so many people helping each other. i missed elder parry and elder hamilton so much today because i know that they would have loved serving alongside their b-town brethren.

hopefully we won't lost power tonight again. stay tuned.

work day

2011-12-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

today was kind of a work day. it was the first day since the storm that i really saw people venture out of their house much. lots of cars were on the roads, you could hear chainsaws around the neighborhood. one neighbor called me to say they had one of my wreaths and could see another missing wreath on our roof. craig spent most of the day propping up the fence, rehanging all our christmas lights and helping me put up the wreaths. by the end of the day, i felt we were back on track. the insurance company will have to come look at our fence tomorrow and we will have to address the major damage sometime, but for now the dogs can't get out.

we were so happy to have jake come home this morning. he had a fabulous time in washington, d.c. and williamsburg, virginia. he did come home quite tired though. after a few chores around the house, he headed to his beloved high school to help deck the halls and cheer on the basketball team. apparently, we were beating one of the best schools in the state by one with a minute left when the power went out again.

caroline was delighted (not) to have a debate tournament in northridge. she was home in the afternoon, unhappy again with her speech and debate skills. i think it's great she can just rule this out as a talent now and not worry that she's missed her calling in life. she has many talents, debate is probably not one of them.

craig and i had a yummy thai dinner with friends before we had to chaperone a house full of jr. high and high school kids. it's good to have the house full, i know i'll miss it someday. i just hate it when they plan hide-and-seek.

wind day

2011-12-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

my kids have been going to school in davis county their whole lives, save evan's first year of college. in all those years, i can remember a day when evan's pre-school in salt lake was canceled for snow and another day when i thought schools should be closed. but that's it. all those years and not a snow day. so that makes today and yesterday really weird because schools were closed for a wind day. unusual for sure. i found that our wind day wasn't terribly productive, but being a free day, i guess it didn't have to be.

unfortunately (per caroline) today's high school debate tournament was not canceled. it took place at northridge in the afternoon and into the evening. caroline competed and craig was a judge. they are home now, but craig's car broke down for like the fifth time in a few months, so as we head off to bed, the car is sitting up at northridge high school and it's snowing.

jake will be home from d.c. in the morning. we will all be glad to see him.

snark

2011-11-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

isaac is the king of snark. i can't figure out where that gene comes from. he's comes up with some pretty good stuff though. today we went to the doctor and when we checked in, the receptionist asked if any of our information had changed. isaac calmy and quickly replied, "well, we moved to hawaii and my mom finally let me start drinking." deadpan. it was quite the story around the office. the dutch lady drawing his blood even offered him a place to live if he would further entertain her. the good news of the day is that lung capacity and function were the best they've been in a long time. we're hoping for a winter free of hospitals and steroids! that would be a first.

and finally, caroline chose her dress for the christmas dance. she's gonna look amazing. pictures next week.

"watch out for that car parked across the street"

2011-11-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

i'm not supposed to blog this, but it's family history. tonight i spent a frustrating hour at my mom's trying to help put up her christmas decorations. the whole gang was back together. for me, things did not go smoothly, and i felt a bit like i had wasted my time. oh well, live and learn. on the way out the door, as caroline got in the truck, i reminded her that there was a car directly across the street from the driveway. i then got in my car, backed up, and watched caroline back into said car. she only took out one door of the car that was so new it still had the temporary license in the window. we've all done it though.

jake is having the time of his life in washington, d.c. with the close-up program. every time he calls they've had some new adventure. today they saw a play at ford's theater. i've never seen a play there. he's also had some great face time with congressman bishop.

my dad's birthday

2011-11-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

today's is my dad's birthday. i guess he would have been 69 years old. i try not to think about him much, even on his birthday, because it's sad. but i should say that there were a lot of great things about my dad's life and i'm going to come to terms with those. i am coming to terms with those. on his birthday, i will say something nice about my dad: he taught me how important it is to always think about others. i'm not very good at it, but he set a great example.

today was a day spent at school getting back into the swing of things, since we missed the two days of last week. i don't think anyone missed much though because those few days before thanksgiving aren't very productive. for family home evening, we decorated our beautiful tree. i love our tree. it is filled with ornaments that evoke memories of far away places and great family vacations.

this year, there's an ornament that says evan front and center. we miss him.

home again

2011-11-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

we got up early and this time made it all the way home. vacations are awesome, but it always feels so good to be home. the house was quiet without jake, evan and the doggies, who were still at the vet. spending the day gearing up for a busy, busy week at work and school.

sad to leave

2011-11-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

i for one was really sad to leave phoenix. we seemed like such a small group. with evan in japan and jake in washington, d.c., the rest of us piled in the car and headed for st. george. part of the drive was really very beautiful. at one point we were on a reservation in northern arizona and we stopped at a convenience store. it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere, but we ran into two missionaries in the store. i was in the car when caroline told me so i sent her back in with $20 to give to the missionaries for lunch. she came back and said that craig had just given them $20 too, so they had $40 for lunch. i know people are taking good care of evan in japan, so we were just paying it forward.

unfortunately, our karma from this act didn't help us when we took a bit of a wrong turn in northern arizona and instead of heading over to st. george through hilldale, we ended up driving through zion's national park. this is a beautiful place for sure, but it is not the fastest way to get to st. george and we had to pay $20 for the priviledge of "cutting through" a national park. the car was rather quiet for that part of the drive. the speed limit was 25 mph. i'm not going to rat out the person who chose the route.

day after

2011-11-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

the day after thanksgiving. hmm, more golf for the boys. caroline, stacey and i went yarn shopping at some local arizona shops. i had a lot of fun. stacey and i decided to make matching sweaters. not so we would match, just so we could enjoy a project together. caroline picked out some yarn for me to make her a hat and scarf.

jake spent part of the day writing his senior project. today was the last possible day for him to complete this. then craig took him to the airport to meet up with his close-up group going to washington, d.c. the rest of us went to dinner at a yummy mexican place and sam and isaac were so excited that we ran into a legend:

sam was even wearing a "byu football" shirt when he met steve young. he was quite startstruck. isaac, being only ten, wasn't sure who steve young was. haha.

thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

today was really so awesome. it could not have been a better thanksgiving--only if evan had been here. the boys went golfing this morning and the girls went to the spa. caroline and i got a massage and a facial. we were joined by g-dawg and kim. after three hours of treatments, i lingered in the relaxation room and read for awhile by the fire in my robe. so relaxing.

after our morning activities, we met up on the quad by the hotel and the boys played a little turkey bowl. this was my favorite part of the day. it was so much fun to watch them play together. we sure missed scott.

at 4:00 we all met up for the hotel buffet. i didn't have really high expectations, but boy was i completely blown away. the buffet was the biggest i have ever seen. it was rooms and rooms of food. there was a whole area of traditional turkey, stuffing (cornbread!) and mashed potatoes. there was also an area for untraditional main dishes like salmon and prime rib. there was a waffle, omelette and pancake bar (i didn't waste calories on these). there was a whole area devoted to cheeses. one area was set aside for kids-type dishes (mac & cheese, chicken fingers). one room was for seafood like crab legs, shrimp and lobster. there was a sushi bar. there was also an entire room for desserts. most of them were mini desserts, which i really liked because you could try different things. there was also a chocolate bar. in the dessert room, there was a crepe bar for bananas foster crepes and a whole bar for gelato. it was the craziest buffet i've ever seen! thanks g-dawg!

after dinner, we all rolled to our rooms to watch the ravens game, only to find out that it was on the nfl network and they were only showing it in the lobby. so we rolled to the lobby and had a fun time watching the game there.

carefree

2011-11-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

more golf today. apparently, sam hit into the group ahead of him and they weren't happy. that group consisted of three of my brothers and a brother-in-law, so they'll get over it. jake, true to form, left his senior project until the last minute, so he's working on that today. caroline did some shopping, trying on several dresses for the christmas dance. caroline, jake and i took a short trip to look around carefree, arizona. the shopping was a bust, but we had fun together and carefree fosters a relaxed atmosphere:

mom and dad and the boys went to dinner at a local mexican place. we traded caroline for monte. food was good, but the waiter was a bit of a nut. he brought a tray of drinks which included coke, diet coke and dr. pepper. when he got to our table, he looked at the tray and said, "oh no, they're all brown". that gave us a good laugh!

temple

2011-11-22T20:21:00.003-07:00

craig, always the one to do the right thing, arranged a temple outing this morning. i love temples surrounded by palm trees. sam, monte, jake and caroline had a great time with craig doing baptisms for the dead.

they returned to our resort hotel to golf and hang out at the pool. some of us went to old town scotsdale and did some shopping. caroline, craig and i were joined by kim and g-dawg. we ate possibly the worst lunch in the history of the world, but then enjoyed the old shops and a cupcake at sprinkles. it was a perfect vacation day. we topped it off with a dinner at roy's. the lava flow cake is an all-time favorite of the kids. isaac and i had the delicious hawaiian meatloaf. we ate outside. nobody in utah is eating dinner outside tonight!

very quiet

2011-11-21T20:08:00.001-07:00

it's so quiet around here. evan's in japan. jake's at school. i just dropped the dogs off at the vet to be boarded for a week. and the rest of the hoodlums are on their way to phoenix. did i mention that i really like it when it's really quiet? i ran myself ragged today getting things ready for our trip before i decided that it's almost not worth going on a trip.

jake came home from school and the two of us jetted off on a southwest flight for phoenix. it only took us 1 1/2 hours to get there while it took sam, caroline, craig & ick nearly 11 hours. i liked our system better. we are lucky to be with craig because he's an important marriott-type person and we got one of our rooms upgraded to a fancy suite. it's beautiful here. and warm. and the hotel is very fancy. couldn't be happier!

vegas and sefa

2011-11-20T22:06:00.002-07:00

after church, craig, caroline, isaac, and sam headed to vegas on their way to phoenix tomorrow. they seemed to have a good drive and a great (?) dinner at cuck-a-rama in st. george. upon arriving on the strip, isaac texted me and said, "vegas, where the chicks are hot and the gambling's high". i replied, "good luck with the chicks and the dice". the last word from isaac, "i don't need luck".

jake and i caught upon some serious sleep deprivation and puttered. he handled the downstairs and i hung around up here.

and we heard from evan. he is still awesome. still positive. he doesn't love the korean roommate who keeps using his loofa in the shower, but missions are great to learn patience i suppose. he met a polynesian returned missionary at church who loves missionaries and gives them a mon every time he seems them ($100). evan was just happy to see a poly.

this & that

2011-11-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

wow, a saturday without football? it's actually kinda refreshing. so many choices. unfortunately, jake and caroline were sentenced to an all-day debate tournament and craig had to judge until afternoon. i was the lucky one, shopping with cindy at taipan and having a relaxing lunch. supposedly, sam and isaac were packing while i was out. so, productive day. in the afternoon i realized that scott died a year ago today and as the day went on i felt a little worse until i couldn't find my camera charger and apparently that was the last straw cause i found myself laying on the floor crying over the lost charger while craig kept saying we could just order a new one. silly things set me off i suppose. finally when everyone was tucked in bed, most everything seemed to be done that needed to be done before heading for a warmer climate.

a day off

2011-11-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

isaac very much enjoyed his day off today. i usually go to the temple friday mornings, but had to adjust my schedule today to be home a little more. jake had his 4 1/2 hour scholarship competition today at the utah bar association. he took a look around at the competition when he got there and said he wasn't there to win, so i asked him if he was there for the food. haha. he didn't win, but had a great experience competing and recieved a u.s. senate scholarship finalist certificate. more loot for his portfolio. caroline decided she needed a manicure/pedicure for arizona, so that entertained her after school before she went off with her friends for the evening. sam had a scout campout. brrrr, glad i'm not a scout cause it's snowing. that left isaac, craig and me to entertain ourselves. we decided to go out to dinner and to a movie. we had picked thaiphoon (my favorite) before we invited isaac. my favorite dish there has lots of peanuts in it. i told isaac since he was tagging along on my date, we were still going to thaiphoon and ordering jungle island princess. he was okay with that. thai food is pretty difficult if you have nut/soy allergies so isaac had to have the gluten-free orange chicken (because it didn't have soy in it). i thought it was yummy. afterwards i made a terrible parenting choice and we all went to "tower heist". it was actually quite funny, but also quite dirty. i tried plugging isaac's ears and covering his eyes, but i'm sure bad stuff got in anyway. it was a fun night until we got a text towards the end of the movie saying jake had wrecked the truck. craig dashed out of the movie to learn that jake's friend had taken his phone and sent us a "funny" text, which was not funny at all.

overreaction

2011-11-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

today i decided that our elementary school needs more problems. like they need people to really misbehave. i don't want anyone to get hurt, but if there was a little blood or a little stealing, maybe girls and boys calling each other names on the playground wouldn't seem like such a big deal to the teachers and administrators. and by names i'm not even talking about swear words. i'm talking about some pretty basic name calling stuff. now that i've wasted several hours of my time over the word *ay, helped my child fill out paper work defending himself from his accusors and, in turn, filling out paper work accusing his accusors (because that's part of what you have to do to defend yourself), i'm ready to throw up my arms and walk away. isaac will definitely be taking the day off from school tomorrow and we'll be gone next week for thanksgiving, so hopefully this will blow over. now if punishment is handed down for use of this word, heads are prolly gonna roll.

sam had his end-of-season football party at the budweiser general distrubution. i think the kids like telling people at school that. they seemed to have fun together, but when it ended, craig's car wouldn't start. grrrrrr. his car is struggling.

sweet caroline did her volunteer time at the hospital tonight. it's always a bit slow, but she sure gets a lot done.

and so it begins

2011-11-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

football ended saturday. basketball hasn't even started. but baseball practices started tonight. haha. isaac started his catcher classes tonight. i don't mind. he's an awesome catcher and i can't wait for him to get better. i just think it's a little bit funny. our first games won't be until march.

craig had a great meeting today with a japanese company that are moving their u.s. headquarters to utah. maybe he'll get a trip to japan out of it eventually. jake is still a little lost without football. three of the kids got their flu shots today. only the sickly child is left to get one. oh, and i went to my book of mormon class today and we spent an awesome hour talking about angels. i love knowing that evan has all kinds of angels helping him on his mission.

"it's a lie"

2011-11-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

this week is early out for isaac. just after football ends. i think it's a great time for a little relaxation. today was our day to visit with his teacher for parent/teacher conference. these conferences usually go quite well. however, today just as we walked into his classroom, he quickly said to me, "if my teacher says anything bad, it's a lie"! of course, this totally cracked me up because that's isaac being isaac. lucky for him, the report from mrs. arnold was glowing--unless of course she was lying. haha. apparently, isaac is doing higher math than i ever did. not really, but he's in fifth grade and he's doing seventh grade math. he has a math brain.

kariya

2011-11-13T17:42:00.010-07:00

i think kariya is probably pronounced "korea". it would probably be easier to ask craig about this than to wonder about it. anyway, evan was transferred from kasugai to kariya this week. we got our first e-mail from kariya today. i was worried it might not be as positive as all his other e-mails, but was so so grateful to hear today that things are still well in nagoya. evan is living with three other nihongins (japanese missionaries). he expressed that this was difficult, but the upside is that his japanese should improve by leaps and bounds. can't wait to hear all about his adventures in the new city with new people. elder parry sure is a shining example to all of us.

championship saturday

2011-11-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

both sam and isaac's teams made it to the championships this year. woot woot! they worked so hard all year to make it here. what a great reward. the morning dawned cold, very windy and forecasted snow.

sam played granger. his game was first, starting at 10:30. the wind was really strong and their center struggled, hiking the ball over the quarterback and punter's heads several times. i felt so bad for him. granger was very tough and we pretty much got worked.

sam caught a few passes, blocked great and defended the pass great! it was a really fun season for him and for his teammates.

isaac played at 1:30, about the time the snowstorm was blowing in. we were playing a 12-0 east team, who we had lost to in the regular season. it was a close, very exciting game. isaac started both ways (just like sam) and tore it up on both sides of the ball. he cut blocked east's best lineman and took him out for part of the first half. he also had a couple of forced fumbles.

in the end, we defended our title and won the championship! again.

crisis

2011-11-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

friday i was in crisis mode. this happens to me at the end of every sports season. because the high school played yesterday morning this week and isaac and sam have their last game tomorrow, friday was completely empty of things to do. no plans at all. i had plenty to do during the day. went to the gym. went to the temple. the kids spent time with friends. but then evening smacked me in the face. the football kids were pretty raw too:

because for part of the night, they hung out in my bedroom and said this was the first friday in six months when they didn't have anything football related. they were sad.

i was occupied part of the night tending this little nugget:

obviously, hanne was big on my make-up.

i'm a little panicked about boring weekends without football. what's going to happen when i don't have any football players? i better have grandkids then. just sayin'.

end of an era

2011-11-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

today was the end of the road for the 2011 braves. this season was like a roller coaster. literally. we had games that were horrible (like east) and then we had games where we were amazing (like wx!). for jake personally, it was also an up-and-down season. he had crappy games (like east) and amazing games (like wx!). we all learned a lot and jake said he wouldn't trade it for anything.

today we had to face a tough logan team. their quarterback has signed with utah state and he was pretty much amazing. logan pretty much worked us. jake's boot came off today, but he was nowhere near ready to play. he was a great cheerleader on the sideline. speaking of sidelines, because craig does legal work for the uhsaa, he was able to secure sideline passes for us. it was fun to watch the game with the team for a few minutes.

is it the last one?

2011-11-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

jake watched football practice at the high school today. they say they're good and ready for the grizzlies tomorrow. jake won't be playing, but he'll be there cheering his team on. i just keep wondering if today was the last football practice he would ever have. that would be so weird. and sad. but even if today isn't the last practice, the last one is coming very soon because there for sure won't be any more games after next week. {sigh} so much invested in so many years. it will be sad. good thing jake has so many great and exciting things to look forward to.

and we have two championships on saturday! that should keep our hearts racing for a bit.

mvp

2011-11-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

isaac was named the mvp for his team this week. he was rewarded for a season of nearly error-free snapping and, in particular, snapping under the worst of conditions last week in the 'mud bowl'. he deserved it! now we just have to own east on saturday.

and i was so very happy to ship this off today:

this is evan's thanksgiving in a box. i had a fun time gathering canned yams, boxed cornbread stuffing, canned turkey, mini graham cracker crusts with a can of lemon filling and even dream whip in a box. i hope he and his companion have a fun time fixing up a yummy thanksgiving dinner--even if his companion is japanese.

hot potatoes

2011-11-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

today was a very busy day and i don't like very busy days. wow, i spent the whole morning running here and running there. then when the kids got home i did some more running here and there.

caroline and i ran downtown in the afternoon to look for a dress for the christmas dance. we washed some potatoes and wrapped them in tin foil and asked isaac to put them in the oven at 4:30 to bake. so he dutifully turned on the oven, unwrapped all the potatoes and put them in the oven. hahaha.

kariya

2011-11-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

it was so great to hear from evan today. his great attitude continues to amaze me. his e-mail was a little late in coming and i knew transfers were this week, so i suspected something as up. sure enough, evan will be leaving his first area, kasugai, and his first great companion, elder hollister, and move to kariya, another suburb of nagoya. he will be working with a nihongin--a japanese companion. i know it will be very challenging, but i also know evan's japanese will get a great boost. hopefully he can look past the frustration and see the blessings. we're missing this guy:

mud/snow bowl

2011-11-05T19:42:00.001-06:00

great games today. we woke up to six inches of snow at our house and when we got to the fields, they too were covered in snow. only the yard lines and sidelines were shoveled. sam's game was first and it was exciting. we were leading 7-6 until late in the fourth quarter when we picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown. this proved enough to win the game. next week we face granger in the finals.

isaac's game wasn't until 1:30 and by then the fields were a giant mud puddle. i've never seen a game like this one. it was funny to watch the little guys slipping and sliding all over the place. we beat granger 25-0. the coaches told the kids that if they beat granger by four touchdowns, the coaches would take the kids to mcdonald's. so we scored our fourth touchdown on the last play of the game and isaac immediately started making the golden arches sign for his coach. haha, it was so funny. we play east next week. should be a good game.

big win tonight

2011-11-04T22:47:00.000-06:00

bountiful football played in the state quarter-finals tonight. so sad that we didn't get to watch jake play. pretty rotten deal. anyway, we won big, 34-14, so it's on to the semi-finals for us. we get logan next thursday at rice-eccles stadium. i didn't go today because it was so cold and jake wasn't playing, but i think i'll go next week and wear red. i hope no one thinks i'm a utah fan though. it's a risk since we're playing at their stadium.

jake did go to the doc today and got pretty good news. his bone has reattached and he only has to wear his boot for one more week, than graduates to an ankle brace. no sprinting til december though, which pretty much rules out next week. and the next week. wonder why jake had to experience this challenge?

halloween dinner at the mother ship

2011-10-30T19:27:00.000-06:00

we had a fun and yummy dinner at the mother ship tonight. small crowd this year, but still fun. matt and celeste are in vegas and ryan and stacey were out of town. those of us who were there enjoyed a delicious dinner of pork roast and it was fun to show off a few costumes.

here's a good group shot:

and the day's most popular costume may have been isaac's...i mean jessica. she is beautiful, isn't she?

last home games of the season

2011-10-29T20:40:00.000-06:00

today isaac and sam's teams played east, our last home game of the season. playing at home is the best! it's so convenient and we can sit on a big hill and look down on the field, which makes it so easy to see the whole field. sam's team was expected to win and did, making us the second place team going into the play-offs next week. isaac was playing an undefeated east team. it was an intense, hard-fought, close game. we fought hard and almost pulled off a win, but ended up losing by a touchdown. that means isaac's team is also heading into the play-offs as the second place team. the play-offs should be exciting.

craig took me to the mandarin for dinner. it's not his favorite place, but it's one of mine and we haven't been there for so long. to me, it was as yummy as ever!

vet, game seven, bhs v ths

2011-10-28T23:36:00.001-06:00

busy day.

went to the gym. same old depressing thing.

helped with isaac's halloween party. fun, but depressing that we're practically the only school in town that can't have a costume parade.

took jete to the vet expecting the worst, but got better news than i expected. jeter hurt his back and that's why he was feeling so crappy last night. he's on muscle relaxers and pain meds for a few weeks and we're supposed to try and keep him from jumping up on the bed or going up and down stairs. good luck with that.

bountiful hosting timpanogos high school today in the first round of the state play-offs. i would go, but game 7 is game 7 and besides jake is injured. bountiful won by a lot. so fun for those who went i guess.

i stayed home to watch the last game of the baseball season. no more games after game seven. tonight's game not quite as good as last night's game. especially if you were cheering for the rangers which i was. cardinals won. so, fun game for cardinals fans i suppose.

game six

2011-10-28T23:27:00.000-06:00

tonight was game six of the world series. sometimes you're just lucky enough to witness amazing baseball like we were tonight. the cardinals and the rangers apparently decided to make this series close. twice tonight the cardinals were down to their last strike before climbing back into the game. in the ninth inning, they tied the game up with one strike left. then in the tenth, josh hamilton (rangers) hit a two-run home run and i thought it was over. i don't think i was the only one though. unfortunately (if you were cheering for the rangers like i was) the cardinals again tied the game up in the tenth with only one strike remaining. then in the eleventh, the cardinals hit a walk-off home run. it really was an exciting game. all the boys were piled on my bed and nobody could do anything productive until the last out was recorded. it will be a fun family memory. this happens to be one of the best postseasons i've ever watched.

as the day went on today, it became apparent to me that jeter was very sick. he hardly moved. i was concerned he had addison's disease after all. during the game we tried to get him to drink some water and interact with us, but he was struggling. i slept on the couch with him in case he had a problem. off to the vet tomorrow...

rain, rain, go away

2011-10-26T21:42:00.001-06:00

tonight is supposed to be game six of the world series. baseball days are numbered. the rangers are leading the series 3-2. i planned my whole week around this game, after i got cheated out of monday's game. that's why i went to the choir concert last night. anyhoo, by early afternoon the game had been canceled due to rain. pretty disappointing when you're looking forward to something so much.

oh, and even though i realize it's not very christian and that's the whole idea, i officially don't like sharing the bountiful temple with those homeless ogden temple-goers. it's always so stinkin' crowded in bountiful now. i went at 10 a.m. today--not a seat in the house. and sooooo s-l-o-w.

choir concert

2011-10-25T22:24:00.000-06:00

tonight was the bhs fall choir concert. the theme was patriotic to note the 10th anniversary of 9/11. jake is in the a'capella choir. i enjoyed the evening, but many of the songs were in memory of a death or a war and i found it a little dreary.

inconvenient theater tickets

2011-10-24T22:10:00.000-06:00

sam and isaac had a day of football so they spent the evening watching football. this is a big disappointment to me since the world series was on. also a big disappointment, i bought hale center tickets for tonight. i bought my tickets months ago. i really wanted to stay home and watch the game. i told caroline to remind me next year when i bought tickets not to get them in october. we had fun together though. the play was my fair lady. between checking my phone for game updates, i enjoyed the play, except for the last 15 minutes when i was snoozing. but the rangers won!

i came home hoping to find that jake had knocked out several pages of the 20-page portfolio he has to finish for a scholarship--due next tuesday. it appears that the focus was a bit lacking. some progress was made, but not enough for me, especially considering he has two nights of choir concerts, a debate class and a football game the rest of the nights this week.

whew...

2011-10-23T21:59:00.000-06:00

...you can't imagine how happy i am that this day is over. i had to teach relief society. i've never taught in this ward, i guess they only trust me to teach primary age children. i was nervous. i think it went well because i got a lot of compliments, but i'll never be able to teach again because i told all the personal stories i've ever had, so i'm out of material.

sam gave the most awesome talk in sacrament meeting. good thing we have the best talk-writer-helper in the world at our house. most of the ideas were sam's, but he had a little help from craig. he talked about missions. it really was a good talk.

craig had to teach my primary lesson for me and he said the kids were good. that's a rip off because they aren't usually good for me. i have the two rowdiest boys in the primary, one of them is named parry.

oh, and evan is still doing great. he even says his japanese is coming along. he sent a picture of the nagoya-jo today. jo means castle. he took the picture from the top of the marriott where someone took them for dinner. he hasn't actually been able to visit the jo though because it's not in his area. i hope he goes somewhere next where there is lots of sight-seeing.

west

2011-10-22T22:06:00.000-06:00

today sam and isaac's teams played west. west is scary. and dirty. sam thought someone was going to pull a knife out during his game. isaac's game wasn't bad, but the team sam played was horrible. the west coaches were yelling from the sideline for their players to do unsportsmanlike things. lots of swearing, lots of cheap shots. the best way to counteract this, i guess, is to win, which we did. both sam and isaac had their way with the panthers.

evidence of boredom

2011-10-21T21:56:00.000-06:00

first friday without a football game in forever. you know high school boys are bored if they will go to dinner on a friday night with their parents. we were glad to have them along. yummy burgers at salt lake burger co.

uea

2011-10-20T21:53:00.000-06:00

uea is fall recess. it's fun unless you have football and can't leave town. like we do. so instead of heading to disneyland or st. george or moab like the rest of the non-football-playing world, we hung around home. this can be good and it can be bad. it's good to recharge and relax but it can be a little boring.

reality bites

2011-10-19T19:44:00.000-06:00

we had a glimmer of hope yesterday when jake texted and said his foot was feeling so much better, could he tape it and finish the football season? because the "specialist" was so squirmy about being 100 percent sure that jake had a broken bone, i decided i should get one more opinion. just to prove that i'm a good mom and all. plus, if someone is going to end their high school football career on an injury, it's best to make sure the doctor is right. i called my trusty podiatrist who has seen us through snake bites, numerous ingrown toenails, warts, tendinitis, and plantar fascitis. dr. anderson to the rescue. after a description of the events of the last few days, he told us to come in this morning and he'd take a look, but he admitted being skeptical about the "break".

so you can see, i got my hopes all up that we might get to see jake play football again. it took dr. anderson all of 10 seconds to look at the x-ray and notify us that indeed the foot is very fractured, cannot be walked on, let alone played football on. furthermore, being noncompliant about the boot will result in surgery. boo. and not cause it's halloween. so bad news is bad the first time, but it's worse the second time.

to further ruin my day, i got a call from dr. folland saying that the blood he took from jeter yesterday came back abnormal. he had elevated levels of three different things. he started asking me questions about jete's activity level and other symptoms and i suddenly realized how much this little pup has grown on me. he's such a sweet dog. jury is still out on jeter's health. he may have something called addison's disease, which seems to be treatable with hormones, but still, it has me a little worried.

today was a day

2011-10-18T22:07:00.000-06:00

let's just say that when i finally got home today around 2:30, i got in my bed, pulled the covers up and fell asleep. silly? i know. but i packed so much into the hours between 8:00 and 2:30 that i found myself exhausted.

isaac threw a wrench in things by having breathing problems to start the day off. i went to the gym for 90 minutes. while there, got a phone call from sick-boy asking for a keva juice. left the gym, got a keva juice, delivered it at home. had 20 minutes to shower and dress before leaving for the doctor. spent a depressing 45 minutes there hoping to solve my metabolism problems. didn't happen. ran to dick's to get isaac some heavy-hitting meds to get him breathing again, delivered said meds at home. stopped at five stores for various purchases and returns. picked up dogs at the vet. stopped at one more store. then the crash.

after recovery, i was able to cook dinner while watching the presidential debate (which was very interesting, especially with mitt in the thick of things). never even saw jake and caroline until after 8:00 when their debate tournament ended. and isaac had a football scrimmage (which in a bad parenting move, i allowed him to attend even though he had skipped school). craig provided parental support at the scrimmage.

whew. i guess i wouldn't trade days like this, but i don't wanna have one every day!

such a bummer

2011-10-17T21:33:00.000-06:00

so, jake played the best game of his football life on friday against woods cross. i can't count the number of people who told me how well he did. such a great game and a great win. when we were watching his amazing performance, we didn't know that it would be the last time we watched jake play football.

now he looks like this:

we took jake to an orthopedic sports specialist today and he was diagnosed with a fracture on the proximal edge of his foot. this is where he got kicked during the indoor soccer activity after the dance on saturday night. a whole piece of his bone broke off. right now the piece is close and may just heal on its own. if it doesn't, he will have to have the bone surgically pinned back together.

we may only have a few games left, but it's still hard to be so abruptly done with football. all that's left for jake is the family turkey bowls and throwing around the pigskin with friends. in his wisdom, jake said to me today, "everything happens for a reason. i'm just waiting to see what the reason is for this." such a good boy!

p-day again already

2011-10-16T22:18:00.000-06:00

we love sundays when we get to hear from evan. his letters are always so positive and upbeat. i can't imagine him loving his mission any more than he does. how cool is it to get positive and happy letters from a missionary? i'm grateful. evan is still serving in kasugai with elder hollister. he wishes he understood japanese a little better and that the japanese people didn't sit on the floor, but other than that, it's pretty rosy.

here he is at english class after whooping everyone at ping pong.

church was good today. and napping on sunday afternoon was amazing.

halloween dance

2011-10-15T21:33:00.002-06:00

sam lost his football game today against granger. they had to have been cheating though. i'm sure they had at least five guys over the weight limit. boo for cheating. sam never came out of the game and came home exhausted.

isaac's team got back on track, beating granger today.

in the afternoon, we squeezed in some yard work, a little house work, shopping for sunday groceries and some lesson preparation went on in there somewhere.

then it was time for the halloween dance. caroline's group went as 80s aerobic dancers:

they had a yummy homemade dinner at tabitha's house before the dance, played an amazing race game in the afternoon for their day activity, and watched a movie after the dance. a full day of fun for her first high school dance!

jake's group went as beach bums (which came back to haunt him):

jake's group was mostly made up of girl's soccer players and their dates. they had dinner at someone's house, went to the dance, and then played indoor soccer after the dance--too bad the girls didn't tell the boys to bring proper shoes, since that choice will cost jake the rest of his senior football season... (see post for 10/17/11).

ya, so not this year either

2011-10-14T22:45:00.001-06:00

tonight we played wx. it was jake's last game against them. wx hates bountiful and they haven't beaten us for 24 straight years. every year we hear a lot about how this is going to be the year for wx. this year the newspapers were picking them to finally beat us. well, jake had an a-mazing game. really amazing. he played defensive end and d-tackle. he even had a sack of the wx qb in the endzone, caused a fumble and we recovered for a touchdown. it was an honor to watch him and bountiful prevailed. again. maybe next year.

jake is #33:

central park

2011-10-13T21:42:00.001-06:00

our last day in new york city. we decided to walk around central park, something i have never done in all my visits there. i loved it. the park is beautiful and obviously fully of landmarks.

this is strawberry fields, a monument to john lennon and the next picture is the dakota apartments where he lived when he was killed.