Update on Happenings Around Here . . .

What we've been up to lately:

Ben - 

 He went to Florida (a first for him!) for a work conference. I don't know if it was a conference, but I don't know what else to call it. Basically a company, Arthrex, shows off its medical orthopedic devices to docs and medical reps in hopes of their usage of their equipment. Ben was invited to go. He felt out of place there for many reasons, but I think it was a good, overall experience for him! It definitely was beautiful.

Me -

I found excellent deals on chacos for all the kids - here are we girls showing ours off.  :) Awesome. I've just been busy with the same-old things I'm always busy with: grocery shopping, cooking meals, putting together lunches, exercising, an itty-bitty of working, PAC'ing, giving talks in church (my second one in just 6 weeks - two different wards, though - is this Sunday), etc.

Miles -

Miles has been doing some driving . . . not a ton, but some. He really likes it. He's an okay driver.  :)  He just needs more experience. He loves his car, "the boat." He loves showing it to his friends. He loves honking its horn (sounds more like a train toot). He bought a manual for it and is anxious to get it working great.

He is doing well with his schooling and hopefully will finally finish his first semester of English very soon (second semester will be done this summer - lucky him).

He had his first job interview - with the forest service. He did not get it, but it was a good experience in filling out an application, working on his resume, and actually interviewing. It would have been the *perfect* job for him - but he had one big strike against him: it's a 10-week job and Miles would have only been available for the first 8 weeks, due to family reunions. The lady called to tell him he didn't get the job, but that he interviewed very well (Ummm, even with responding to, "What is your biggest weakness," with "Sometimes I get distracted. . . " Yikes!), and that she hopes he'll apply again next year. He definitely will!

Jonas - 

He decided to do lacrosse and track this spring. Two sports he's never done before. He likes them both and it definitely keeps him very busy! He has track every day after school. Lacrosse is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - pretty much after track. He's managing it well!

 On Jonas' first lacrosse game, he got to play for like 2 minutes, at most. It was kind of disappointing, but Jonas wasn't too upset by it (probably Ben and I were more so!).

 The second game (it was a "tournament" and his team had two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday - which Jonas didn't participate in) Jonas saw a little more action. We told him if he got a hold of the ball, we would buy him some Dippin' Dots after the game. Luckily he did - for a brief moment!  :)

Then this past Tuesday I spent my day in Olathe at a track meet. It was chilly and windy and sort of miserable up there, but oh well. Track meets go on forever - or at least 4 hours. But it was kind of fun (it would have been way more fun without the chill and wind) and I got to visit with my friend Sarah the whole time.

For some unclear reason to me, Jonas chose to do "long-distance" running in track. He hates running and he doesn't have good endurance. But he did just fine at the meet!

 Jonas had two events - the 1600m (1 mile) and the 800m (1/2 mile). First up, the 1600!

 And he's off!

 Go, Jonas, go!

 He wasn't first, but he wasn't last either. :) I was proud of him. His time was 7:19. He ran the whole thing and had a great sprint at the end.

My camera didn't like me during the 800m, so I don't have any pictures from that. But pretty much the same thing: not first, not last. He liked the 800 much better - actually, he felt a little sick after the mile run. I think it's more than he's ever really exerted himself. His 800m time was 3:34. There were two kids on his heels but when one of the kids' mothers cheered on her son and told him to get ahead of Jonas, Jonas kicked it up a bit and didn't let that happen.  :) He realized he doesn't want people passing him.

 Awesome Jonas.

The Girls -
Ha, I'll just link them together. Emmy is working on her Personal Progress program in YWs as it will end this year. There is a slight modification for new beehives that will help them in finishing it up in one year - although it will still be quite a challenge! She completed her Faith project and is now working on Divine Nature. It's awesome that she's doing it! We are doing our 5k training while Lucy has piano lessons and that's really fun for me to run with her.

Lucy continues to love school, friends, sugar, and gymnastics. Both girls are working on their fly-aways from the bar. Oh, I think I have some videos . . .

(These videos were taken a couple of weeks ago. Emmy has told me she has greatly improved and that Coach is hardly spotting her now . . .)

I was nominated by one of the girls' teammates to make a cake for their Easter party they were planning for during one of their practices.

 It wasn't quite as picture-perfect as the one online, but cute enough. Oh, and delicious, too - a homemade coconut vanilla cake. The girls had a fun night at gym with cake, egg hunts, veggie trays, etc.

Okay, that's enough for now!

Just Add Magic

It was our turn for book club and we (we, meaning me) chose the book Just Add Magic. I read about it online and saw it had a fun series on Amazon, so I thought we'd give it a try (the plot sounded perfect, too - a few friends, a magic cookbook, hexes, crushes, etc.).

It was a fun read and lent to a great book club!

Here are some pictures of the evening:

 We started out by having the girls tell each other's fortunes. One girl would hold her candle and let the wax drop into a bowl of cold water. The "fortune teller" would look at the wax and tell the girl's fortune. :)

 Emmy was a weird fortune teller . . .

 Lucy thought she was pretty funny. . .

 After that, we made some chili for the "Annual Alfred Nobel chili cook-off." (All ideas came from the book, of course.) By this time, Holly (in yellow) was suffering from burning-of-the-lips from chopping jalapenos and then touching her lips - the rest of the girls were crying due to chopping onions.  It was great fun.  :)  Actually, it was totally chaotic and super messy!  But the girls enjoyed it.

We walked down to our local Mexicn Meat Market - Carniceria Sonora (in the book it was called La Cocina). It was fun looking at the weird food (cactus anyone? plus a whole lot of "I have no idea what that is and can't read what it is either . . . ").

 The girls picked out some food and snacked on the bench outside. Jillian (in the light green shirt) had to leave early for volleyball, so her mom met us here and took Jillian.

We walked back home and tried the two chilis. There was definitely a favorite . . . So we ate chili and cornbread. The girls did more wax fortune-telling (including to Jonas), etc.

Then they got to go and watch a few episodes of Just Add Magic. Apparently it's pretty good - my boys even really liked it.  :)

 Of course I had to make them each a "Swirley." Those were eaten all the time in the book!  (Oh, the book has recipes at the end of it. We used those for the two chilis we made and the Swirley's.) This was some Rocket Launcher Rainbow Swirley and consisted of strawberry ice cream blended up with skittles, next layer of banana ice cream drizzled with caramel, then topped with pistachio ice cream. Earlier I dipped the cups in melted white-chocolate chips and nerds.  I think they all approved.  :)

The kids also did "M.A.S.H." to each other. They thought it was quite funny - and it was.  :)

 What a fun book and book club night!  (We had a "late over" as the girls were there until about 9 - that's late for us!)

My 40th "Birthday Party"

So I came across this yurt one day online and thought it would be a fun way to celebrate me getting so old.  :)  This yurt, while farther away than some that we have close by, was perfect because it was only a 1 1/2 mile hike/snowshoe.  Which meant that the whole family, particularly Lucy, could do it. (A lot of the other yurts are about 6 miles - that's too much in snowshoes for my kids, at least my youngest ones.)

So we left after school on Friday and got up to the trail-head around 6:30. We started snowshoeing a little after 7. It was snowing and very beautiful. It was quite steeper than I had thought, so Lucy was a bit tired and frustrated. But it got better and Lucy got better, too.  :)

Close to 8, it started getting a bit dark. Luckily Ben's coworker had been to this yurt and had told Ben to look for a sign and that we'd hike down and then up a steep ravine. If we wouldn't have had that small bit of information, I doubt we would have found the yurt! I mean we had to hike down this really steep ravine and then hike up it - without any trail-markers. If we didn't know about this, Ben would not have led us down and up this spot.  Anyways, we made it to the yurt at about 8:20. Bella and Brigham came and had a blast running in the snow.

The yurt was fun and the kids really thought it was cool. Ben got a fire going and warmed us all up (almost too warm at one point!). We played some Connect Four, had hot chocolate, and then I read a book aloud. It was 11:00 pm at this point - the girls fell asleep while I was reading and the boys went fast as soon as I finished. Ben and I had a hard time sleeping, but it wasn't horrible. Ben liked his job of stoking the fire throughout the night - really, he did.  :)  The dogs, especially Brigham, weren't quite sure about their sleeping arrangements for the night. Bella slept all over - with Jonas, Lucy, and Miles (Emmy was on a top bunk), and by Brigham and Ben. Brigham just gets so anxious with everything. When I would even turn to my other side, Brigham was there licking me to make sure I was okay.  :)  Silly, yet awesome, dog.

We woke up and it had probably snowed 3-4 inches during the night. But by the time we woke up, the clouds were gone and it was a beautiful, sunny day! As we came in at nighttime, it was fun to see our surroundings as we got up - so pretty.

After we ate breakfast and packed up our stuff (and washed the dishes, chopped some wood, etc.), we headed back down the trail. It should have taken us like 30 minutes - but, instead, 2 1/2 hours later we were all together again at the car. As we were snowshoeing down, a couple of men and two dogs were running up the trail. Well Bella decided to join them. The runners knew that and didn't really allow us a chance to get Bella. We told her to "come" but she didn't . . . Then the runner, up ahead a bit, said he'd just keep on running and she'd probably turn around. Well she didn't. So Ben and I started back up the trail . . . the kids and Brigham were ahead of us and almost to the car by this point. Anyways, we went for quite some time with no sign of either the runners or Bella. Ben and I were very mad at the runners! Finally, Ben took off his pack and snowshoes, and started running after them. I went up too, but slower. Ben called me (we had excellent cell service!) and said he was back at the yurt area and still no sign of anyone, so he was going to continue to follow the tracks. I went back down and caught up with the kids and told them what was happening. I kept getting updates from Ben - pretty much, "I haven't found them yet." It was so frustrating! Finally Ben got two snowmobilers to take him up the trail. As they got to the top of the hill, they finally ran in to the runners - but no Bella. Ben relayed this to me and tears from the girls (myself included) quickly ensued. (The boys had headed back up the trail to get Ben's pack.) The runners didn't feel like Bella followed them for too long after they had passed us . . . but I wonder about that . . . anyways, we knew Bella was alone in the woods and probably lost at this point. Ben and I had already traversed the trail and had no sign of her.

But, Miles found her near the area of the yurt. Quickly after Miles located her, the snowmobilers brought Ben back down to the spot and Ben saw Miles and Bella. He called us and we were all so happy, of course.  :)

Wow, long story! We were all mentally and physically exhausted after that - especially Ben!

But, as Ben stated the night before, quoting one of his friends (Pete Sabey): There is no real adventure unless you feel someone's life is at stake (or something like that).  True that!

 Starting out in the snow! The dogs were on leashes at this point because the trail-head was right by a road. They were getting themselves all tangled up - haha.

 Heading up a steep incline! Jonas decided Bella should have been named "Shadow" because she is black and follows Brigham around everywhere. Look at her in action! I think Bella thinks she is every bit as tall as Brigham. :)

 More trekking up and up . . .

 Miles is a powerful snowshoer - so fast!

 In the yurt, on the sketchy metal bunk bed.  :)

 Bella was exhausted from the hike and found lots of comfortable places to rest - like the backpacks.

 Jonas pampered her with his sweatshirt. :)

The girls playing Connect Four.

 Early morning + 40 years of age = wow. Not the best picture of me, haha.

 The beautiful forest we were in.

 The back of the yurt, coming in from the trail.

 The family (minus myself and the dogs) in front of Wilson Yurt. (Yes, Wilson was even there in spirit, I guess you could say . . .)

 The kids had a great time and enjoyed snowshoeing (except when they didn't . . . really only in the case for the girls, and not too much either . . .).

 Once Emmy fell off the trail . . . but at least she was in good spirits about it!

 The sign - which was hard to see at nighttime!

 Hiking back home - in fresh snow, awesome!

Bella finally returns!  :)

I'm Officially Over the Hill

So "Over the Hill" has always been 40 to me - am I wrong about that?!  A few commented online that they thought it was 50.  Whatever, I turned the big 4-0 on Wednesday.

I went for a lovely run that morning with Brigham.  It was like in the 40s and was one of the warmest morning-runs I've had all year.  I didn't have to wear any layers so it was super awesome.  I then spent a couple of hours (mainly because my computer is so lame and causes such inefficiencies with my life) designing my birthday present to myself - using birthday money I received.  I ended up designing these super cute chaco sandals:

I've been wearing chacos that are super-duper old. I think they are probably like a dozen years old or something!  And they definitely smell like it.  :)  Anyways, I'm super excited to get my new shoes!  It was totally worth turning 40 for them!

I made myself a "salted caramel Rice Krispie" cake.  It was part of my gift to myself: making my cake = licking up the bowls.  Win!

Emmy and I went for a run while Lucy was in her piano lesson.  It was great!  We took Bella with us and she does super.  (I had already taken Brigham in the morning and so I didn't take him again.  Not because he couldn't handle another run.  But because we didn't want to handle both dogs - they can get annoying.)  Lucy practiced playing "Happy Birthday" at her lesson.

So cute!

Csilla dropped off some cute balloons and a beautiful orchid.  While I was out running with Emmy, my boss dropped off some planted flowers and lots of MnMs, from the JRC nurses.

After running we decided to eat my cake - yes, before dinner.  Dinner was going to be late, so we decided to do dessert first.  Fun and yummy.

Ben's beautiful bouquet of flowers and the adorable card he picked out - which inspired my cake decoration.  :)

40 candles.  Whoa.

Then it was taking the girls to gym, trying on some chacos to get the right sizing for my online purchase, taking Jonas to lacrosse practice with Miles driving (ahhhh, navigating real traffic - it was a bit scary; I'm a total back-seat driver.  I just can't help it!  I'm not yelling or anything, just "teaching" Miles.  :)  )  I went early to watch the girls at gym practice, then we came home, the girls changed, and we went and picked up Jonas from lacrosse.

Then we finally went to dinner.  We thought it would be less-crowded since it was later, but nope!  We probably had to wait for 20-25 minutes, but finally around 7:45 we were seated.  :)  We had a delicious dinner.  Then it was home and I finally opened up my gifts.  I got some cash (for my chacos), some flowers from Ben, and an awesome assortment of gifts from my sister.  She totally rocked it for me!  (Ben's "gift" to me - which I chose - is the snowshoe-to-a-yurt trip we are doing tonight.  Fun!)

There are the orchids and potted flowers.  Lots of bags of MnMs.  Oh, a bag of my favorite chocolate chips from Miles!  Then my sister's awesome gifts - the Amazing handmade bag sewn with corkboard fabric (it's sooooo cool!), a book I've wanted to read (suggested by Erin) but our library didn't carry it, a cool oven-mitt, a fun silicone water-bottle, adorable post-it notes, and my favorite and ultra-hard-to-find candy bar: Violet Crumble.  Loved it all so very much.

Oh, last thing.  My girls were asking a friend of mine the night before (at our church night) what they could do for my birthday.  She suggested they write on post-it notes and stick them throughout the house where I'd fine them.  My girls worked on it the night before and it truly was fun finding them all day long - in my shoes, in Emmy's lunch-box, the dishwasher, in the fridge, the car, etc.  :)

So far I'm loving my 40s!

Spring Break 2019, Part 3

Here's the rest of our fantastic Spring Break:

After we did the car-thing, we headed to dinner at Cafe Rio.

Everybody loves it, so that makes it nice and easy!

We had some time to kill, so we went to the mall.  The girls loved it and we even bought ourselves a necklace heart that connects together - Big Sis, Mom, Lil Sis.  Cute, cute.

 Then we went back to BYU to attend the Jazz band concert.

 It was pretty great - but just a little long!  :)

On Thursday, my dad, Miles, and Ben went back down to Orem to get the car.  The car, or "the boat," drove just fine up the canyon. At one point, however, it did stall. It stalled at a light in Heber, I think.  It was quite exciting, from Jonas' point of view, as he got to go out and help push it (along with a bystander).  It did make it home but it did make us a little weary, now, of the boat. But, it's going to be okay.  I mean, I won't guarantee the car will work perfectly, but the whole situation will be okay.  Ben and Miles will have some fun bonding-time working on the car.  :)  And if it doesn't run like a well-oiled machine ever, well we'll all learn some lessons from this, then.  :)

We took Miles to the church parking lot and let him drive his car for the first time.  He loved it!

My parents were nice enough to take our whole family to Benihana.  We all loved it so much!

 You can never have a bad time at Benihana.

I was super surprised and impressed at how well and how much my girls did eat!

 Cute!

 Miles had a birthday gift-certificate, which also meant free dessert with some "Happy Birthday" singing thrown in.  :)  He loved it, haha.

On Friday Ben and I headed down and attended an endowment session at the Provo City Center temple. Afterwards, my parents brought our kids down and dropped off the oldest three.

 Emmy's first time!

 Emmy was a little nervous and unsure of what to do, where to go, etc.  I always am, too.  I just told her to find someone dressed in white and ask them.  :)  Baptisms worked out perfectly - timing was good (there was a HUGE youth group right behind us) and Ben was able to baptize all of us and do the confirmations.  It was pretty awesome!

We met up with my parents and Lucy (who had spent some time thrift-shopping) at BYU and ate at the CougarEat. Then we went to the BYU gymnastics championship meet.  It was awesome!

Even though BYU didn't do their best, they were still amazing and it was super fun to see all the gymnasts (four teams) up close.  They are all so good!

On Saturday we left after lunchtime and headed back down to BYU . . .

 We checked out the Musuem of Art's display, plus their cool store.  We also went and spent time (and money) at the BYU Store.

We then met up with my parents at the BYU Creamery.

Miles picked the yummiest ice cream: coconut joy.  Mounds in ice-cream form - yum!!!

We finished up at BYU's Varsity Theater watching some Spiderman movie. For a Spiderman/animation movie, it was pretty good!  Although the laughter at the Varsity is always so loud and so it was sometimes hard to hear . . . Good old BYU theater!

I had asked my mom to make bul-ko-ki for dinner and it was perfect!  My kids have either never had it or it's been so long that none of us remember.  But they all (including Emmy!) loved it, too.  I told Emmy it was like jerky for dinner - but just a little chewier.  :)  Miles and Ben were able to squeeze in a good drive (with Miles driving the boat) on real roads - that even went up to 50 MPH.  Ben is so brave.

We had fun that night playing and then not-playing the Mexican Train game, and then playing Splatzi.  We also enjoyed looking at my parents' album from their trip to Israel and Egypt last fall.

On Sunday we headed over to the Sabey's home, dropped off the boat, attended their ward, and then drove home.

BYU might not be the most exotic of places to spend a Spring Break at, but we sure loved it! (My parents' home in Midway was the icing on the cake.)