Willy Wonka Book Club

It was our turn for the book choice and we decided on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The girls had listened to it years back, so it was fun to read it this time. It's just great!

It was easy to come up with a fun book club - candy-making! Plus watching the movie, of course. The girls chose the newer version of the movie . . . which I opposed, but whatever! I'm old and old-school. :)

One of the girls wasn't able to come, but we still had fun with the four girls.

On Friday night my girls made the "lickable" wallpaper.

 Super cute! Emmy realized she's not nearly as creative as Lucy . . . :)

Edible teacups . . . that were filled with skittles. They were way cuter in person.

 Enjoying their teacups . . .

 Drinking their skittles . . .

 Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter cups. YUM.

 Their candy boxes. We made the peanut butter cups, jolly rancher lollipops, some jello candy melts, and almond joys. They we sent home (or kept home) with the advice to share! :)

Jolly ranchers - so easy and yummy.

Another great book and fun book club!

Our Annual Ski-Trip

We went back to Sunlight Mountain in Glenwood Springs. It's a great ski mountain for our family! This time, we got lodging right on the side of the mountain - it was beyond awesome. I mean, the condo itself wasn't great or anything, but the ease and convenience were everything!

We left early Friday morning and had a long drive there - a little under 3 hours. But we got our tickets and all our gear on and skied the day away. Jonas found a friend from school (we know their family; the dad is actually one of the kids' pediatricians) and snowboarded a lot with him since they both wanted to do a lot on the terrain park area. The rest of us were together, then we'd lose a couple, then we'd find each other again, etc.

That evening we skied to the back deck of the condominiums and checked ourselves in. I cooked up spaghetti for dinner and it was yummy. We watched "The Three Amigos" and it was oh-so-funny in an oh-so-dumb way. :)

On Saturday we got up, ate, and then pretty much skied out of the condo to the lifts. So awesome. We took a lunch break in our condo as well and that was nice. I had to end the day a little early because I had a horrible headache, but the kids skied to the end. Lucy and I skied all morning until lunchtime. That gave Ben time with the three older kids. We skied a little together after lunch, then it was Ben with the girls (once I left) and the two boys finished up their ski-trip doing a favorite black run a couple of times.

We went out to dinner that night in Glenwood to a place called Russo's. It was so good! (We ordered some fries as appetizers - craziest menu of fries with the craziest toppings and combos. But our turned our delicious!) Jonas got the spiciest thing on the menu: Mango Reaper Chicken Wings. (Carolina) Reapers are the hottest peppers known to man. Ha. They were totally spicy for him, but he loved them! A few others had a tiny bite and even that was enough to do them in.

Sunday we got up and packed up. We went to church in Glenwood. It was good. There were like 20 Young Women! Lucky! A lot of Young Men, too. But only like 10 or so in the whole primary. :) We drove home and got ready to host the youth for a Munch & Mingle and Face to Face activity.

Another great weekend skiing with the family!

 Oh yeah, Friday evening we went in the hot tub. It was gross. I can't explain it . . . just gross water. Jonas and I weren't big fans at all and were the first to leave. :)

 Murphy beds! (No, the girls didn't share it.) The condo was a big room with a kitchen area, then a double-bed (queen probably), two Murphy beds, and a pull-out couch. We had to move the couch to the kitchen area to have room to actually pull it out. Ha.

 The kitchen.

 The bed.

 The Murphy beds.

 Lucy caused a lot of frustrated feelings in me. :) She whined a whole lot (and I was with her a whole lot. Mostly because I like skiing her level - ha). Mainly about her boots - which we then had to undue every buckle on them (which helped). Her legs would hurt. Or she would be scared on a run. Overall, though, she did great. She's actually a really good skier! She just needs to whine less while doing it . .

 The back deck to our condo. Our room was around the corner. The hot tub was on the right of this picture.

 We had some nice days for skiing! (But I must be getting old because I still got cold! :( )

 Ben and Jonas - our snowboarders. Jonas and Ben skied after lunch on Saturday. Jonas is a good snowboarder, but he can't keep up with us on our skies, or with Ben on his board. Which makes sense since he's been boarding for like 4 days now . . . But he does well on it and really likes it.

 The kids at the chapel - I guess there are services there on Sundays, ha.

 Jonas going off a jump at the terrain park.

 Miles flying through the air.

Wheeee.

 Cute picture!

Jonas loving his super-spicy wings. :)

 #Strivetobe - That was the hashtag we were supposed to use - we could have ended up on TV. But we didn't. It was a fun get-together.

The end.

Random

Jonas had a band concert last week. We were very generous and didn't force the other three children to attend - so they didn't. This picture is of Jonas' solo during his Jazz performance. He did great!

We saw this hair on pinterest and Lucy said, "Yeah, I want it!" Until I did it . . . then she didn't want it. Crazy girl. So we did something different (that wasn't nearly as cute, but still Valentine-y).

I found this at a store downtown and love it so much! It's so adorable!

I accompanied Miles, Jonas, and Emmy to Junction this past Saturday. Elder Anderson had a fireside for the youth of 5 stakes: 2 in Junction, Montrose, Craig, and Rifle. It was a great evening with such a great spirit. Miles drove there and back. It made the whole event stressful for me, but it was good experience for him.

We stopped for dinner at Cafe Rio first, of course! Ben was on-call and so he wasn't able to come. And Lucy is too young - and had a fun birthday party to go to anyways. The kids all were able to go up and shake Elder Anderson's hand. Pretty cool.

We needed to send in a picture of Emmy to the Stake YWs for posters they put up in honor of all those who earned their Personal Progress. So Emmy's will be up this Stake Conference in April. Whoop, whoop. Ben got this beautiful picture of our beautiful girl.

We {Heart} Gymnastics!

The girls didn't compete this past season as they are still working on their skills and their routines. But a couple of we moms thought a "showcase" of sorts would be good for the team girls - as well as all of Coach's gymnasts. So I sent Coach a letter practically begging him to do one - promising to help with flyers, etc. Coach, somewhat begrudgingly, agreed. :) Coach has done showcases in the past - way past because we've never been a part of one - that were quite elaborate. Gym decorated, cool theme, etc. I just wanted a low-key one where the gymnasts could go out and show their families what they've been working on. So that's what we did.

Csilla helped me with ideas - very basic, yet fun, ideas. We put up heart balloons in the gym and then had a waffle-bar fundraiser after the show. All in all, I think it was great! Emmy was totally excited for it - as well as totally nervous. She could really benefit from performing more often in meets. She just gets super nervous. Lucy gets nervous as well, but she's still in that young-age and isn't quite as phased by it as Emmy.

Since you weren't there, here are two videos of the girls on their events. They performed their routines - or modified routines, as they are still fine-tuning them. They definitely have some needs for improvement, but they are getting there.

 Some of the gymnasts from Snow Shadow Gymnastics (not everyone showed up).

 I think this was at the end - they were all done performing.

Waffle-bar time! Miles, Jonas, and Kyle helped make the waffles. The room smelled wonderful and the waffles tasted delicious! I think Miles and Jonas were happy to not have to watch ALL the gymnasts perform. They got to leave the gym and start making the waffles early. After blowing a few of coach's fuses, we finally got the waffle-makers plugged in and working :). The boys did a great job and we sure appreciated their help.

 Lucy eating . . .

 Lots of people eating . . .

Emmy went crazy and ate like 5-6 waffles! I had gotten whipped cream, chocolate and strawberry syrups, Maple syrup, and sprinkles. Yep, sounds like just the thing Emmy would go crazy about.

It was a fun event!

My Week

Well, we were busy while Ben was gone. Just about every night that week, Jonas wanted me to take him places - the rec. center, lacrosse drop-in, a high-school basketball game. That's not a ton - but when it's added to getting girls to gym, PAC meetings, etc., it made for busy evenings.

The boys had another fun skiing day up at Telluride on February 8th. Jonas just snowboarded the whole time and had a lot of fun - including a big crash off a big jump. But he got up and tried it again. The girls were busy getting sick - ha. Lucy stayed home from school on Tuesday. Emmy called me around 10am on Friday and I came and got here. I think they just had some bad colds as they were coughing like crazy. But thankfully they are better now and getting ready for their little "gymnastics showcase" this Saturday.

I worked on Monday and Tuesday. I think I only had one mental breakdown - on Tuesday. It had to do with Lucy. She can really drive me nuts at times . . . and that was one of those times. But I do remember thinking on Tuesday evening, "It's only Tuesday!?"

Here are few out-of-order pictures from our week:

 Bundled kids ready to ride in the 0-degree morning! Brrrrr. But they survived! They can do hard things. :)

 Friday night was nice - after running around with activities in the afternoon, we enjoyed watching the BYU gym meet and the girls worked on their cute valentines.

I sent this picture to Ben to make him jealous of how much fun I was having with our messy children . . . I gathered all their stuff from around the house and dumped them on "their stair" for clean-up. Magically, new stuff would appear the next day . . .

We're super happy that Ben could be up in Littleton, but we're sure happy to have him home again, too.

Ben's Week

Ben had quite the first week of February. He took the train to Denver on Saturday, February 1st. Then, Monday - Thursday he was given injections to stimulate production of stem cells. On Friday, one IV took his blood out, filtered out the stem cells, then put the remaining blood back into another IV. That evening his brother Joe received Ben’s stem cells. A stem-cell transplant as Joe has myelodysplastic syndrome - a cancer that has caused a whole bunch of Joe’s blood cells to turn naughty. 😡 Thankfully Ben was a perfect match - which actually isn’t that common, even for siblings. We are all rooting for Joe and his family as we sure love and adore them all!

Ben was also able to take walks and drive in a lot of snow, visit the temple with his parents, and spend time with a much beloved wrestling coach (who is now battling his own cancer). Ben had a week, for sure!

That's what I posted on facebook. I'll put in a few pictures and maybe add a few more commentary . . .

Lucy loves making cards and notes for others. :)

 Ben definitely felt the "main" side effect of his injections - bone pain. Especially in his hips, femurs, and ribs. I guess it makes sense, the side effect, as the drug is stimulating the bone marrow to increase production of cells. So at least Ben knew the drug was working in his body!

 I always got mad when I saw pictures of Ben with Joe - without a mask. Ha. I guess it wasn't required, but still . . . So the last day (!) Ben appeased me and wore a mask. Joe had been wiped clean of his naughty cells - plus it wiped what good cells his bone marrow had as well. So his body was comprised and so I thought a mask a good idea. :)

 This was the transplant day - under the blankets was the IV that was taking the blood out of Ben. It was then, like I said above, filtered. Stem cells were collected and kept. Then the rest of Ben's blood went back in to his body in his left IV. This process took 5-6 hours. Joe got Ben's blood a few hours later - at about 5 that evening.

 Denver got lots and lots of snow that week Ben was there!

 Temple time!

 Enjoying the fresh air and snow.

Coach Barron and Ben. Coach Barron (Ray) was Ben's high school wrestling coach. I have never met this man, but have heard some of the best and most tender stories about him. His worth in the lives of the thousands of kids he coached wasn't in his coaching, but rather his plain greatness as a human. Or so I have been told by many . . . including Ben, his friends, Ben's parents, his friends parents, etc., etc. There was to be his last time coaching event at one of the local schools in Littleton, but that day school and, thus, extracurricular activities, were canceled. Luckily, Ben was still able to hook up with Coach Barron - Pete and Christian Sabey went with Ben and so they all had a great time visiting with Coach Barron. I still don't understand how a coach who has coached hundreds and hundreds of other kids since Ben's wrestling days (more than 25 years ago), still totally knew and remembered Ben. In fact, a few years ago Coach Barron came to Montrose with Heritage's football team (he was helping coach that as well). He saw Ben and immediately recognized him. Amazing. He's an impressive man in so many ways.

What a week!

Update

Here's one of my dreaded long updates!

Ben - He just left for Denver, via the train, this morning. He will be there 8 days: all of next week, coming back on Sunday. He's there as a donor for his brother Joe. Joe was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (a type of cancer) about a year ago. It's been a tough year for Joe and his family and he ended up needing a stem-cell transplant. After some testing, etc., Ben was found to be a perfect match. Which only happens for about 25% of siblings, so we were super happy! This week Ben will be checking in to the hospital on Monday - Thursday, every morning, for a subcutaneous injection of a medication to help stimulate his body to produce stem-cells (baby cells that eventually mature and specialize into specific cells - in this case: red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells. All these cells were affected and basically attacked with Joe's cancer.) Friday is transplant day. Ben will have two IVs - one taking blood out and then the blood being filtered and stem cells being saved and collected. Then the another IV will be used to put the blood (minus new stem cells for Joe!) back in to Ben. That will take about 5 hours. If they get enough stem cells, good. If not, they will need to repeat Friday's procedure on Saturday. Joe is already at the hospital receiving chemotherapy to kill all the naughty cancer cells in his body. We are fasting, praying, and hoping for the very best for one of the very best and his very best wife and children. :)

Me - I am working about 2 days a week (I am all done at the hospital). It's great. I feel beyond lucky and blessed to have this job as the hours are ideal. I get my kids ready for school, ride my bike with them, drop them off, then ride to work. I usually need help getting Lucy home if I'm working (since it's about 30 minutes before I'm done), but that's been able to work out just fine with Miles being home some of the time - as well as friends and neighbors helping, too. I was so very glad to get out to Ouray and Silverton this past month. I'm enjoying YWs and am so glad to be serving in the ward!

Miles - He just finished up his climbing season. He had his regional competition today, which we (i.e., his family) missed due to a combined YW/YM activity - among other things . . . He didn't do as well today as he had hoped. But for Miles' first year at this new and unique sport, I think he's done a great job. As his teammates just told him, "You don't need more strength [he's totally buffed-up], just better technique." He's motivated to maintain his strength and keep climbing now and over the summer. He was ordained a priest a couple of weeks ago, and blessed the sacrament this past Sunday. He said a fine, while slightly fast, prayer. :) He's pleasant and helpful and nice to be around.

Jonas - He's at a rough spot in his teenage years, I think. He's nice at school to teachers and friends, but he can be a beast at home to us. He's not excelling academically, although he should be as he is smart enough to have straight As. He loves texting . . . almost too much. He likes a girl (Chelsea) and she likes him . . . I think she's going to be baptized soon. He excited about snowboarding at Telluride this coming week. He filled up the car with gas tonight (while I sat in it) and then told me that "technically it's illegal" for him to do so. Some age-limit or something. Huh, who knew? He made a delicious chocolate cake a few weeks ago.

Emmy - She's doing great and loving school. She has a good group of friends who seem pretty nice, not too full of drama, and sporty. She is self-driven to do well in her classes. But that doesn't mean she doesn't moan and groan about her homework at times (at least a couple times a week . . . ). But she's doing well in all of her subjects. She hasn't cut a finger off, much to her delight, in her shop class. She just finished up her third and final day of skiing at Telluride with her school's ski-club. She ended up getting pretty sick on the last two trips' bus-ride home. I convinced her coach to do a "Gymnast showcase" in February and he agreed. All his gymnasts will do a little performance, including the team girls doing their routines on each event. Emmy totally wanted to and still wants to do it - but she is already so worried about it! I tell her it's just for fun . . . But amazingly that doesn't help. . . She's pretty great, yet a little spicy as well. Her latest quote to Ben: "I don't like your stupid speeches!" Ouch. She has since felt quite badly about it . . . especially when we tease her about it . . . :)

Lucy - She's doing pretty great as well. She loves school and loves her teacher. She decided not to do Girls on the Run and I wasn't sad about it. As Lucy told me, "I don't like running." It's the first year she could do it, but there's always 4th or 5th grade if she changes her mind. She likes playing with her friends and had a fun birthday party last weekend and has a "Goodbye/Moving Away" party this coming weekend. She is becoming a good little skier. She loves piano. I'm not sure what else to say about her . . . She still cries a little more than is necessary. She loves riding her bike to school.

Okay, some pictures now:

 Miles climbing in Gunnison. I wasn't able to go as Ben was on-call that weekend and I had to get the girls to all their activities . . . But luckily my wonderful friend Sarah takes pictures for me!

Jonas' "new" snowboard.

Our combined activity for February was today - snowshoeing at the Black Canyon. They do ranger-led tours and have snowshoes for free use. It's awesome. We had 6 adults, 10 YM, and 2 YW. :( Some of the YW were out of town. Bummer. But it was a fun time and the kids all did really great! The last picture is the only one with me in it . . . ha.

January's calendar.

This was today at Miles' Regional Climbing competition. Those walls are 50 feet! The climbing walls here are probably . . . 20 feet? This was part 3 of the video. :) Sarah sent me his whole climb. I just shared the last third, you're welcome.