Proud Mama Moments

Here we are creeping up on [actually more like bounding toward] the end of the school year, and before we leave it all behind I want to make mention of a few notable items. April and May have been particularly busy and eventful.

Caleb: Starting in December, Caleb participated in the winter drumline. This was new to me, so if you're also wondering what that is, let me briefly explain. It's basically like a marching band field show minus all the wind instruments -- percussion only here -- and is performed indoors. They practiced many hours during the week and on Saturdays, which practice ultimately payed off. They took 2nd place in the state competition for their show titled "Dante's Inferno." If you want a sampling of what they looked like, here's part of it. This is early in the season, so they still had some work to do. Caleb is the lanky hooded figure in the front row on the left side.

Marissa: The last few months for Marissa were filled with basketball and track. She has been practicing with the high school basketball teams and participating in some tournaments with them. Her time to shine, however, was at the regional track meet. She competed in the shot put and 4 x 100 relay. Her relay team came in 4th place. But best of all, she won the shot put for the 8th grade girls with a distance of 32' 11"! And ... even with her busy schedule she has stayed on the honor roll and looks like she'll get a 4.0 this term.

Aiden: It's a good thing we like to watch basketball, cause that's what we do. Aiden finished up the regular season well, winning the championship game for 5th graders, and has since been focused on his traveling team. They had some polishing to do since they hadn't really been practicing together, but after a rough start they picked it up and started playing more like a team. In their most recent tournament, they finished in 1st place for their bracket. For school, he had to give an ancestor report in Spanish [that means using mostly past tense!] and got an A+.

Morgan: It may not seem like a big deal to some, but Morgan overcame some anxiety and trepidation to perform two songs in her piano recital. I tried to convince her to perform an original composition she titled "Follow Your Destiny," but she decided it was too personal to share with an audience. She did a wonderful job and was very poised in spite of her butterflies. She also mastered 214 out of 217 spelling words for the 2nd grade and has lovely cursive penmanship which she practices in very sweet letters to all the members of our family.

So there you have it. Sometimes a mom just has to brag. Better than all this, though, is that they are just genuinely good kids. They help me and are kind to each other. We laugh a lot together. I'm not sure how I got to be so lucky!

2014 in a blog-shell

 
Disneyland!

Need I say more? Our memories of 2014 are definitely dominated by our trip to California this summer to celebrate Mom and Dad S’s 50th anniversary.

Jeremy and I loved seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces even after spending long days on our feet. Morgan took two trips to the instacare – first for croup and then for an ear infection – and yet she plugged along and hardly complained.

Some favorites: Thunder Mountain Railroad, Cars Land, California Screamin’, World of Color, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones.I personally got a kick out of watching Jeremy and Caleb on the Winnie the Pooh ride. We needed it after taking the plunge on Splash Mountain. We also enjoyed a day at the beach and good food.

We say regularly that we want to go back, and I hope we can someday.

 

 








We decided to take advantage of being in southern California by extending our trip and spending a few days in San Diego. I don’t think any of us regretted it.

We tried to hit as many attractions as possible including Old Town, the Mormon Battalion museum, the beach, the San Diego temple, the USS Midway museum, and of course Sea World.

I solidified my crazy mom status by dragging everyone to a park with an awesome view only to find out it would close in about five minutes. Not wanting to pay admission, we turned around, found a spot to take a picture in the middle of a cemetery, and drove back to the hotel.

The summer also included a trip for ⅔ of the family to Oregon and then down to the cabin, partly for my 20th high school reunion [really?!?] but more to visit Mom and Dad B and see their new home.

One of the most memorable and hysterical parts of the trip was going “clamming” on the coast. I will forever have the image of my parents and the kids squishing through the mud with shovels in hand.

The cabin was of course refreshing. The morning we left I could see that Aiden was struggling. I asked him if he was okay and he started to cry, which is not normal for him. He said he didn’t want to leave, and I could totally relate.





















The reason the other ⅓ of the family stayed behind was because Caleb had committed to marching band. This was his first season, and he had a great experience.

He wasn’t overly fond of the parades, but he really enjoyed playing the synthesizer for the field show as well developing friendships with his fellow pit members.

His high school took 3rd in state and 4th in the region, which was remarkable for being their first year as a 5A band. He liked it enough to decide to sign up for the winter drum line, so we’re back to fun practice schedules. By now we should be able to drive to the high school with our eyes closed.

We’ve watched a substantial amount of basketball this year. Marissa was assigned to the 8th grade B team, but as the coaches watched her during practice they decided she would benefit from playing with the A team as well.

Aiden plays with a competitive team in addition to being on the 5th grade A team.

Caleb played with city recreation. That’s a lot of basketball.






In other activities, Marissa gave track a try in the spring and found she has a knack for the shot put. She took 3rd in regionals. If you consider her skinny arms, that’s pretty impressive.

Morgan took another year of dance but is taking a break right now. I’m still trying to figure out how to convince her to sing in front of other people. Caleb got his driver’s permit.

We said farewell to our old blue van after 13 years together, replacing it with a new-to-us-but-not-really-new-at-all red van. The first thing we had to do after we bought it from our Ute fan neighbors was to remove the Utah sticker on the back window just so Aiden could breathe again.

We’re all busy with church responsibilities as well. Jeremy perseveres as 1st counselor in the bishopric; I am still Laurel advisor and went to girls camp as assistant director; Caleb serves as his teacher’s quorum president, and Marissa is 1st counselor in her Beehive class. Aiden goes to scouts, where he just received his Webelos badge, and Morgan gets dragged all over the place.

School work keeps us hopping, as does work-work.

Life is good, and we count our blessings every day.


P.S. Please pardon the formatting issues. I think Blogger was feeling neglected and decided to act out. Either that or I'm way out of practice.








 

Happy tears

I told Morgan she was going to have a new cousin, to which she said, "That's so sad!"

Huh? I didn't get this response, so I asked her to explain.

"Because," she said. "Babies are so cute that it makes you want to cry."

Aha! Even though most of the time I can't see it, here's evidence she must be my daughter.

July dump

I soooo want to be a valiant blogger. Kind of like how I want to have a clean, organized house. And keep up on my correspondence. And have an updated photo album. And . . .

But since I don't really want to burden you with all of the things I'm not doing, I will instead delight you with some of our July DOings!

We painted.

I will pause for a moment to let the momentousness of this sink in.

This may not seem terribly noteworthy, especially when our color choice has a name like "rye," but since painting normally sits up there with all the things I would like to do but don't, it's actually very significant. Plus, we had to move the piano. We've lived in our house for 10 years now, and the front room and kitchen have remained builder "apple peel," minus one red wall in the kitchen. Please don't judge me. Painting also gave me a chance to do the spring cleaning I didn't get around to this year, or even possibly last year. Did I already ask you to not judge me? I haven't taken pictures of the finished product, but you can check me out cleaning atop the plant shelf [or whatever you call a useless 3/4 wall].

We celebrated Morgan's 6th birthday. Jeremy and I actually ditched her for half of the day to attend the temple sealing of our good friends to their adopted baby daughter. After we came home, we took the family to see Despicable Me: 2 and to dinner -- at an actual restaurant. As gifts she received additional modes of escape, I mean transportation, in the form of a scooter and a new-to-her bike.

Six!

Somewhere in there I made a cake. Morgan first requested a unicorn, which eventually evolved into baby Princess Celestia from My Little Pony. Aargh! I gave it a good effort. She looks a little freaky with her too big Japanese anime eyes and strange tumor wings on her back. Oh well. I guess I should stick to blue pigs.

It looks a little better if you squint.

We went camping in American Fork Canyon with Jeremy's side of the family. We stayed at Timpooneke, which is the most fun campground name to say pretty much ever. It was truly beautiful up there, and I'm ashamed we don't spend more time in our lovely mountains. Not only did it take a mere 45 minutes to reach the campsite, but the temperature was about 20 degrees less than in the valley. Jeremy took the kids fishing, we played lots of games, splashed in a creek, went on a hike, and lazed around. 

Am I standing in a hole?

Praying to the campfire gods

Marissa and I wearing our girls camp sweatshirts, just in case we get lost in the forest.

I think that pretty well covers it. And I think I've made a record number of appearances here. Now on to August!

The most wonderful time of the year

January is rough. I'm sitting here watching a nasty snow storm brewing outside. This after several days of rain and mud that got tracked all through the house. And this after some of the coldest temperatures I've ever experienced. I know, some Arctic dwellers are saying, "Waaahhh," but weeks of single digit degrees and me just don't get along. So I wish to take a mental departure and reflect on a few of my favorite Christmas things. Just a few. Humor me, please.

Now I know this is completely contradictory, but one thing I really enjoyed this year was our white Christmas. It snowed on Christmas Eve, so we woke to a winter wonderland. Of course, then I was done with it. But for the morning's ambiance, it was lovely. And moving on...

Ever since the kids were itty bitty, we have opened pajamas on Christmas Eve. I know this is a fairly typical tradition, but for me this hearkens back to my childhood when my grandma would make pajamas for all of her grandchildren under 12 years of age. I came closer to appreciating this feat -- she had 50-something grandkids -- when I saw a sale on fleece and decided to make p.j. bottoms for our family. Here was the final result:

Bonuses:
1) I could accommodate Caleb's freakishly long legs. Honestly, I don't think he'll ever be able to buy a pair of p.j.'s and have them fit properly.
2) Notice Aiden's shorts. He is always hot and won't wear pants to bed. So shorts it was.
3) Doesn't every grown man want dinosaur pajamas?
4) Oh, man, they're toasty. It's like wearing a blanket, without the embarrassment of being seen in a Snuggie.

A few years ago we decided to try something new for our Christmas Eve dinner. We picked a country, did some research, and planned a menu to represent that country. We also talked about how people celebrate Christmas there. I think we did Brazil that first year. Since then we've done Italy and Australia [I think that's it, but I may have forgotten one]. This year we did Argentina. That's where Jeremy went on his mission, and I was a little intimidated to try things he knew should taste a certain way. But I think we were pretty successful. The menu looked like this:

Appetizer: Empanadas
Main dish: Milanesas
Side dish: Ensalada Rusa
Dessert: Alfajores
Beverage: Ginger ale [cultural fail, I know, but oh well]

Here we are making our alfajores. They are basically cornstarch shortbread sandwich cookies spread with dulce de leche and rolled in coconut. Yum!

[I know I need practice taking food pictures. Not so pretty, but tasty.]

You can see in the background of one of the above pictures another of my favorite Christmas things. It's this:

My wall o' Christmas cards! Okay, I know it's January 27th, but the cards are still hanging. They keep me happy in the midst of wailing winds and blistering cold and post-Christmas doldrums. I have immense guilt for not reciprocating Christmas cards this year. SORRY!!! I hope my prolonged enjoyment of everyone's cards makes up for my neglect.

After Christmas my parents and brother came to visit. They were heading to Idaho to take Spencer to college and stopped here for about a week. It was the first time I'd seen Spencer since his mission, so it was good to have them here and spend some time. Extra bonus: my mom and I finished a 1000 piece puzzle in record time. We stayed up way too late a few times, but we got it done.

Every year I think about making gingerbread houses, and every year I don't quite get around to it. This year we did it. Not real gingerbread. I'm not that ambitious. Graham crackers did the trick, and I tried out boiling sugar for the glue. It was like magic. Those puppies weren't going anywhere. Cleaning up the aftermath was not one of my favorite things, but the process was still worth it. I doubt it will become a tradition, but I would do it again.

So there you have it. A few of my favorite Christmas things...and then I don't feel so bad!

If a Christmas letter I did write...

...it would have looked a little something like this.

2012 by the numbers

 1. New pet added this year. Aiden so badly wanted a tortoise he was willing to do hours of research and save up lots of money to get one. Finally, we decided to give him one for his birthday, and Rico the tortoise joined our household. Aiden also loves and excels at pretty much all sports and is doing well in school and at the piano. Now if I could just get him to fix his hair in some way other than a comb-over! 

2. Years I have now taught the gospel doctrine Sunday school class. I can’t say it’s been easy for me, but it has been a huge learning opportunity and has stretched me by making me do something hard. I also continue to teach piano lessons, volunteer at the elementary school when I can, love my book club, and sort of keep the house clean and food in the fridge. 

3. Days spent at Bear Lake for the S family reunion. We made some great memories swimming at the beach, eating raspberry shakes, and playing with cousins. Bear Lake has definitely become one of our family’s favorite vacations.
 
4. Kids in school. Morgan started Kindergarten, Aiden is a 3rd grader, Marissa is a 6th grader, and Caleb is in 8th grade. It’s a new thing having a quiet house for a few hours every day, and while it’s very nice I still enjoy when everyone is home during the holidays.
 
5. Number of breakdowns we’ve had this year. The car has been in the shop multiple times and we’ve needed to repair/replace the dishwasher, oven, vacuum, water softener, computer, garage door... uh, oh, I’m way past five. Oh well, I guess you can see it’s been one of those years where we’re really looking forward to our next tax return.
 
6. Caleb’s height, in feet. I really look up to him, literally. Not bad for a 13-year-old! He grew nearly six inches this year. Good thing he likes basketball. He’s playing his second season on a Bantam basketball team this winter and loves it. He also continues to play the piano, serves as his Deacon Quorum president, stays involved in Boy Scouts, and enjoys his percussion and science classes at the middle school.
 
7. Months Jeremy (and the rest of us) has survived his calling as 1st counselor in the bishopric. It has required some adjustments, but he does a wonderful job working with people in the ward and balancing his time between work, church responsibilities, and family.
 
8. Basketball games played in Marissa’s season. In each of those she was her team’s top scorer (and sometimes only scorer). The best was when a parent on the opposing team asked if she is our daughter and then said, “Boy, she’s got game!” She also showed her creative side by entering a story into the Reflections contest and having a solo part in the 6th grade Christmas program.
 
9. Date in August on which Jeremy and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. It’s so funny how that would have seemed like such a looooong time when we first got married, but it has passed in a flash. We count our blessings to be together every day.
 
10. Years we will soon have lived in S. S. in our little “starter” home. While the house isn’t quite where we want to stay for much longer if we don’t have to, we still love the community and the people here. It’s a great place to call home.
 
11. Time in hours Morgan is NOT heard singing, and that’s just because she is sleeping. The rest of the time her music fills the house. She is becoming a good little reader, loves her dance class and has started showing a real interest in the piano. I may have to start lessons for her soon, if only so I can hear some songs other than Peter Pumpkin Eater and her own rendition of Joy to the World.
 
12. Hours spent driving to California for a stay at the B family cabin. The drive was totally worth the chance to spend time with my parents, take in the refreshing sights and sounds of nature, relax on the deck overlooking the lake, and catch a record number of fish.

And by the random assortment of pictures