It's Still February

Hello my Dear!

How has your week been? I enjoyed your email! It sounds like you have an other of great teaching opportunities right now and I hope each of your friends are progressing. I know they have all been blessed by your positive influence, and I"m looking forward to some updates!

I’m sorry I missed your email last week. I'll try to make up for it today, so get ready for a long update!

1. Last weekend we took a trip to St. George for Jett’s soccer tournament. It was kind of a pain to drive all the way down there for just 3 games, but whatever.  The day we were supposed to drive a storm blew in, and the traffic was terrible. We got slowed on the freeway, and probably at least 7 emergency vehicles passed us. Apparently earlier in the day a car lit on fire, and traffic was stopped for hours. Awful. But we made it there safe and sound and got to sleep in the next morning.  The kids were disappointed about missing their Valentine’s parties at school, so we tried to make it a fun Valentiney day. We took them to the Children’s museum, played baseball and frisbee, and out to eat at the Crepe Restaurant (Dad didn’t love it.) Then back to the hotel for games and treats. Saturday was filled with soccer, baseball, and dinner at Angelica’s (Dad did love it.) On Sunday they dragged me to the 10 am Sacrament meeting instead of at noon, and I was super grumpy about it. That afternoon we drove out to Sand Hollow Reservoir and found the Hancock’s hanging out at the jumping rock. Tate and Jett followed their crazy cousins down into the FREEZING cold water. Tate wasn’t quite prepared for how cold it was and panicked a little because he was having a hard time breathing. Poor kid! He only jumped once! Monday Jett had a super early game, which left the rest of the day open for us to go see the Parade of Homes! We had Jersey Mike’s for lunch (thinking of you!) and then drove into Zion National Park so dad could drive through a tunnel that’s usually closed to traffic.  He likes to do things like that I guess!

2. Ok, but the Parade of Homes. . . Holy Cow! It was amazing. Dad did NOT want to go with the kids.  But I whined enough that he finally agreed.  And those houses were super fancy.  Like way fancier than any other Parade homes we’ve seen in the past. One of the homes was 20,000 square feet and pretty much had a water park in the back yard. Lazy river, two pools, hot tub. Lane pool, and a cold and hot plunge. Insane. And now I think I may need to drive down to St. George every February to go see the parade. 

3. While we were in St. George Blake and Ethan stayed with Grandma and Grandpa (too cool to hang with us). They accidentally locked themselves out of the house. Lol.  Eventually they found a window that wasn’t locked and were able to climb in. They drove down to Provo to go to a basketball game with Michael once night. That weekend Ethan met with the bishop to have an interview about getting his patriarchal blessing. And Blake finished up all of his mission paperwork and got everything submitted. We should be hearing about his call any day now! (Adam Barrett got called to serve in Albania!) That Monday Michael went river rafting with some friends despite the cold. Crazy! But her said he stayed mostly warm because of all his nice dry suit gear. Plus the sun was out. What an adventurer!

4. Tuesday was back to reality for all of us. Jett and Ethan had their final lesson with Linda before Federation. On Saturday we went to Federation at Penni Eads’ house on Sunset Drive close to the Jr. High. She has a huge music studio with two Grand Pianos and two upright pianos. Ethan didn’t have his best performance. He was a bit sloppy with his first song, and during his second song he got stuck and had to start over again at the beginning. He was pretty unhappy about it all. But his music was still really beautiful. We got in the car and Jett and Ethan were debating whether his performance was a bad as yours was a few years ago. Ah! The nostalgia of remembering piano performance anxiety! They survived and now it’s over. And bonus—Linda texted to say they both got Superiors.

5. Tate passed off his Kindergarten Skill Sets book! That’s a big accomplishment for him—especially since he refused to practice with me at home! Now he gets to bring home new books to read every day. Learning to read is hard!

6.Ethan’s school basketball team had their “banquet” this week. Except it wasn’t a banquet. They got to go to Flowrider, and parents weren’t really invited. But later that night another parent texted me to congratulate Ethan on his award. Apparently he won the District Sportsmanship Award and got a plaque! He did not even mention it to us. Dad asked him why and he said—that award is for kids who don’t play. Ouch. We are still trying to find a good strength and agility class for him. He’s been working out with the footballers at the high school twice a week. This week we tried taking him to Brickyard, but all the kids were a lot younger and it wasn’t a good fit for him. Apparently high school volleyball tryouts are tomorrow, but Ethan doesn’t even want to try out. Too bad. He’s planning to play a lot of basketball this summer, so hopefully things work out for him to keep playing basketball. 

7. I had my PTA Day at the Capital on Friday and got to go meet with PTA advocates and legislators. It’s always a fun but frustrating day—and I wonder if all my time and efforts actually make any difference. Not sure how long I'll continue doing this.

8. Dad had a Young Men’s “campout” at the Nattress’ cabin. He had a great time, but came home super tired. Blake was the only boy from our family who went. Ethan and Jett decided to go to their last ski day with their Kaysville Ski program. Michael decided to come ski with them that night and they had a really good time. Ethan and Jett tell me that Michael is a really good skier!

9. I worked all week on more fix-it projects at home. Paint touchup and fixing holes in the wall are the bane of my existence! But at least I could listen to audio books while I do boring housework. We also finished putting up the baseboard in the court, and it looks really good. Glad to have that project finished!

10. Dad helped Tate give a talk today in Primary. Ethan and “King Drip Lord the III, II, and I” got set apart for callings in their class presidencies. 

As you can see, our lives are full of the exciting and mundane. As always, we miss having you with us.

Love you,
Mom