The Boys are Back

On the day that Ginni was in the hospital to have her baby, we picked up Alex and his grandma, Evelyn, and headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch. We already had Max and Jack with us, so it was quite the car full of boys.

Here they are eating ice cream and celebrating Alex becoming a big brother!

                                                                     Ethan

                                                                        Max

                                                    Alex-the only big brother in the bunch

                                                                        Jack

'Da Bulls

Logan played on the Bulls for 2 Ridges basketball this year. It was a tough season. A few close losses; lots of bad calls from the refs, and just a few victories. We were proud of the boys for pushing through and playing hard. It's obviously more fun to win, but sometimes you learn more from persevering through the losses.

At the 5th grade award ceremony, Logan's coach, Rick Adams, gave Logan the Coach's Award. He presented him with a nice trophy for always playing hard, taking directions, trying to improve and being a team player.

Birthday Girl

I took a fun weekend trip to see everyone in UT for my birthday. Thursday I got to be the 3rd wheel and have a Valentine's dinner at Maddox with mom and dad. Friday I got to spend time with Heidi's adorable boys-Campbell and Bronson --and hold her chubbylicious, baby girl, Audrey.

                                                        Bro-yo's breakfast of champions

                                                      Baby Audrey, almost 3 months
                                                     
Saturday morning dad, Heidi and I were able to do a temple session at the newly built, Brigham City temple. That afternoon Heidi and I met Steph at the City Creek shopping center in Salt Lake for some serious bargain hunting. That night we had my birthday dinner at Mom's with mom, dad, Kirk and Heidi's family. We had tilapia, baked potatoes, veggie and a gluten-free carrot cake cupcake with a candle on top. (Heidi attempted a GF cake but it was doomed from the outset. She gave the boys the beaters to lick and they said it tasted "gross"! When it was cooked it had the taste and denseness of corn bread.) She was a good sport and looked up a GF bakery in Salt Lake where we stopped to buy the cupcakes!

               So fun to spend my birthday with my parents and siblings! Love them all so much:)

A New "do"

Surprise! I chopped my hair off. Well, technically I was not the one doing the chopping. I visited my talented, creative, amazing stylist, Chad, while I was in UT and told him I was ready for a change. He started showing me these fabulous short hair styles and we selected photos of the ones I liked best. I only chickened out once and asked if I should get it cut mid-length and then go for the short cut in the summer. He said, "No way. Just go for it!" So I did!

I absolutely love the style. It is sooooooo easy to fix in the morning. Towel dry, 2-3 minutes with the blow dryer and a few strokes of the flat iron. Plus it never gets messed up! Rain? Wind? Bring it on--this hair do almost looks better when it's a bit messed up. I feel 10 lbs. lighter and love the new me!

Chinese New Year

To celebrate Chinese New Year, Sydney's class had a full morning of art activities. They would rotate to each 2nd grade classroom to complete a different art project. They made a mask, a kite, a drum...and 2 other things that I can't think of. Mom brain. Her class was very well-behaved and received compliments from several of the other teachers for listening well and working so quietly.

Here is Sydney and her friend, Kyra, wearing the masks they made.

Ethan also brought home an art project for Chinese New Year. He learned that the Chinese invented the first fireworks. Here is his "firework" creation:

(

                                                         (Yes-fireworks. Not spiders.)

Sing-sing-sing

For the second year in a row, Mikelle was selected to sing in the all-district chorus concert. She joined about 80 young ladies from area middle schools and spent 2 days with a guest conductor learning 4 songs. On Saturday, we attended the performance. I was impressed with the mature sound the director got from the singers. Their sound was very rich and round. Our favorite number was a jazz piece arranged by the conductor's husband. It was titled, "I Can't Give You Anything but Love".

                                     Mikelle, and her cute friend from church, Abby Perkins.

Superbowl

We hosted the Super bowl bash this year. The Candlands and the Greenbaums came and brought enough food for an army. The Greenbaums were outfitted in their Ravens gear that Ben and Rob camped out the day after the division championship to get. They were definitely the loudest fans too....but no one here seemed to mind. The power outage at the Superdome and the delay of game put a damper on things and everyone departed to their own homes to watch the end of the game. We were all relieved when the Ravens won--even though the 49'ers almost stole the victory away.

The quote of the day belonged the Ethan. The next day on the way to school he asked me, "Mom, what team did the RAISINS beat in the Superbowl yesterday?"