February Happenings

 

Gracie's class went on a field trip to the Nature Center. They got to do a variety of outdoor activities and she said it was super fun. It included snow shoes and cross county skiing

Valentine's Day class photo

15 Reasons Not To Be In A Play-Hallie's 1st

 Since Hallie has started Junior High any new activity that is presented she wants to try it! That is something that I lacked growing up was the confidence and desire to try new things and put myself out there. I'm so proud of her and excited to see where her life goes. When the announcement of the play came there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to do it and she has loved it.

One of the nights we were lucky enough to have Kerry and Joy join us

Just as the play was about to end Emy lost her tooth. I grabbed a wet wipe to help the bleeding stop and tried not to make a scene during the play.

This is Paityn. Hallie met her at school and they have become insta-friends. After meeting and talking to her mom it sounds like the are both the answer to each others and us(the parents) prayers. They are building a home in Eden and are currently living in her grandparents vacation home while they build. I hope they continue to be great friends because Hallie has had plenty of friends that have taken advantage of her. I was so grateful that she came to support Hallie.

Sourdough Help

 Awhile ago I attended a sourdough class with Jamie and I've been trying it out. I can't say I'm an expert or even good at it but its been something fun to try and do some experimenting.  

Oops and Moose Season

 In a rush to get out the door and get the kids from school I looked in my mirror and saw sky but the door wasn't quite all the way up and I hit the garage door. I knew immediately what I had done and jumped out to see the damage. The car was fine but the garage door was slightly bent and I couldn't open or close it. I immediately started calling friends to make sure the girls got picked up. Amy is as solid as they come when it comes to a friend that will bail you out. She immediately came up and grabbed me and we went to grab kids. Matt was out of town but call our garage guy and they came the next morning and were able to reset the door and straighten it out enough so it would open and close until they could order a new one. They said to plan on 12-16 weeks for the new panels so I was really glad they were able to get it to work for now.

Its that time of year that we get to see several of these amazing creatures. And pay extra special attention to make sure we don't hit them.

Happy Love Day

 The kids were excited to open the couple things each of them got for Valentine's this year. 

While making dinner Liam had been quiet for more than a few minutes and I walked in the family room to find him like this. 

The kids don't regularly fall asleep outside of their beds but when they do I always wonder how they sleep like that

Emy's cute Valentine's Day hair

This is what Liam got and that turned into all the kids finding the other magnetix and building for quite awhile

Gracie learned to make these at cooking class and we made more once she got home to go with our Valentine's dinner. They were delicious

Spreading the Love-A New Tradition

 Primary Children's has become a bit of a black cloud to our family. Don't get me wrong I'm grateful for modern medicine and having a place to go like this but when we come here its hard not to think about the hard times but we are working on changing that. After coming home from scans I was talking to the kids about something we could do. When Liam was in treatment there were so many people and groups that gave so much in service of us and Liam. I talked often about wanting to do that for others but once Liam was done with treatment I couldn't get away and stay away fast enough. After talking with the kids we decided to make valentines and place them on all the cars in the parking lot. The girls immediately got to work cutting out hearts and writing on them. Liam even colored on some.

The next day we drove down and started putting out our 150 valentines. We started on the top level and it didn't take us long to realize we hadn't brought enough. The kids were so sad and felt bad that someone would feel left out. So we did our best and spread them out but then and there we decided we needed to do it again and make way more the next time.

Our mission was successful in making Primary Children's a little bit of a brighter spot in our world. It feels surreal yet amazing to be back on the serving side. I hope we can continue to find ways we feel comfortable serving those that are in a hard time in their lives. Love these sweet kids of mine and the opportunity to teach them how and what it feels like to serve

Matt's Birthday Surprise

 Matt loves the Jazz and has for as long as I have known him. So one day while scrolling social media I saw someone had listed a set of tickets for a game near his birthday. So I bought them in secret and then lined up everything for a date night I just didn't tell him what we were doing. We went to dinner and he didn't ask to many questions. I was dying inside wanting to tell him but being so excited that he had no idea what we were doing. As we finished dinner we had decided to go do some shopping. But I started to panic when I realized we were running out of time. So I told him to keep driving and then I came out with it. It worked! He was so excited! So off to the game we went. Our tickets ended up being really great. I can't remember the last time I surprised Matt like this and it was fun! I love this guy and I'm so happy to call him mine. Thanks for choosing me!

Liam's Fight with Cancer-2 Years Cancer Free!!!

 Just days back from our wonderful Hawaiian vacation it was time for scans. After an US and Xray the results were in and everything looked great. This little buddy here is 2 years in remission and we couldn't be happier. So grateful for modern medicine and our little miracle.

Day 8-Catamaran & Polynesian Cultural Center

 First up this morning was our Catamaran ride that once again left from Kualoa Ranch. On the way out we were able to see several turtles breech the water and it definitely had us watching the water closely for more.

This is what our tour guide called the China Man's Hat. When The boat passes another small island and you sit in a specific spot on the boat it makes it look like you have a hat on.

At one point we were even able to see a couple whales in the distance

These are the ferry boats we took to and from the Island and catamaran

When we got back to the ranch we noticed they had a farmers market and I was so excited so we went to check it out. We bought some star fruit, baby bananas, and some rambutan.

Then we grabbed lunch at a local food truck spot. These smoothies as you can imagine were amazing. After we got our order we wished we had bought more.

We stopped at the shrimp truck that people were raving about but I found it quite disappointing

When we got back to the duplex we tried all of our farmer market fruits. Everyone was intrigued by the rambutan but not as impressed with the taste but I was happy everyone was willing to try.  

After we caught our breath it was off to the PCC

We visited all of the villages and participated in their activities. 

This is Tonga. We got to see how they put the entire coconut to use and don't waste any of it. That even included them using the husk as fire starter

He also demonstrated how they climb the trees to retrieve the coconuts

Then off to Samoa they showed us how to make "potato soup" out of green bananas. They were very resourceful and didn't have potatoes. Hallie and Emy were chosen as helpers.

Then we tried to start a fire with sticks...key word tired

In Tahiti we learned to dance. In some ways it was fun but embarrassing for me. 

These buildings weren't built by hand. They were beautiful and amazing

In Figi we got to try spear throwing

And fishing....we saw quite a few but didn't catch anything

Fiji

Hawaii

Then we headed back over to try out the "potato soup." To my surprise they all loved it and had multiple servings 

We learned to make a fish out of a palm leaf

And some stick twirling

here's a picture of our daring fishes

Aotearoa

Tonga seemed to be the one that had the lasting impression though. Matt was chosen as an on stage participant and I think I can leave it at that. He is just so fun no matter where he is 

I was concerned about us not having enough time. Several people said they spent multiple days at the PCC but we didn't have time in the schedule to do more that one day. But we found that as the end of that day came we were ready to go home.

As we were leaving Kualoa Ranch there was this sprouted coconut on the side of the road and Hallie begged to bring it home....so of coarse we did. We thought it would get caught up in customs but surprisingly it made it to Utah without a hitch.  Although months later we threw it away becuase we can't grow a coconut tree in Utah.