Well 2024 has been alright - albeit we haven't even finished the first month. :) But we've had some good times . . .
Ben had some much-needed nasal surgery - a septoplasty (basically straightening up a deviated septum) and turbinate reduction. It's been a week and it's gone okay for him. Not horrible, but not great either. He hasn't had too much pain - but definite discomfort and a lot of congestion. Today he got his splints out of each nare and, per his text, he feels amazing. Yay. Ben also signed up for a half-Ironman! Wowzers! I thought we'd do a couple Olympic-length triathlons first, but Ben decided to jump right into the half. It'll be May 4th in St. George and so he'll be training lots these next few months.
I finally got out on my cross-country skis last week and that was lovely. It was a beautiful day and the snow was great. I had a great time with two great friends. Other than that, not much new with me! I will be signing up (as soon as registration opens) for an Olympic triathlon - which is about double the distances of the sprints I've done.
Miles is doing great - he's always upbeat and happy when we Facebook message him on Mondays. We don't always get the chance to visit with him, but it's nice (even if it's for 5 minutes) when we do! I'll probably post a bunch of the random pictures he's taken and sent me in a separate post. We miss him but are happy with what he's up to. :)
Jonas is plugging away at his final semester of high school - crazy! He only has a half-day schedule and so is done at like 11:45 every day. He then works, well Mondays-Thursdays, at the rec from 12-4. Not a bad schedule at all! He's gotten into duck hunting and gets up real early (like 5am) to join up with friends. He and his truck were in an accident a couple of weeks ago and so that was a bummer - but luckily no injuries. A silly lady ran into him and completely bent his rear axle. We'll see what the insurance says . . .
Emmy hates school - but not in a I-have-no-friends-way. Luckily she has a couple good friends, plus just a lot of fun friends in classes, etc. She just does not like most of her teachers or her class subjects. Sigh. I am not sure what to do about that . . . She's excited to start the competition season in gymnastics, but is a bit bummed her giants (a bar skill) might not be ready to compete this year. She loves driving and ever since Ben fixed the lights (he also worked on her brakes, got new tires, etc.), she hasn't been pulled over. :)
Lucy loves school - but probably mostly the social aspect of it. But she does well in her classes, too. She's always wanting to do something with one friend or another. She's grown a bit sassy in her teens, but is still pretty great to have around - most times. She, too, is excited to start competing. Both she and Emmy are in new levels - Lucy in platinum and Emmy in diamond.
Pictures:
The girls and I hadn't been to Telluride in like forever (as in like 7 years!). So during the break we made a little trip over there. We walked around Main St. (with Lucy buying something at the thrift shop) and then took the gondola ride over the ski hills. It was a fun and pretty outing.
We girls also went up to my parents' home - heading out on New Year's Eve day. The girls had gotten some Christmas cash and wanted to buy . . . clothes. So Monday we checked out the awesome thrift store in Orem and then ended up at the South Town mall. The girls each got stuff and were happy and excited about it all. :)
On Tuesday, I took the girls to hang out with their Coon friends - Holly and Lila. They had a great time and I think did even more shopping. :) But less clothes and more beauty-products this time, ha. It's always fun to see them and I miss the frienship our girls had with them here - but glad they are still great friends! I hung out - did a little thrift shopping of my own, walked around City Center in Salt Lake, etc. Then I met the girls and we headed back to Midway - meeting my parents and Derek (who had just flown in!) for dinner. We had a fun evening eating out and then playing games. My girls hadn't seen Derek in like 6-7 years. Crazy!
We headed back home on Wednesday morning, but not before meeting up with our favorite Blythe (aka Sister Hardy) for breakfast. We had a wonderful chat and just love and adore Blythe!
Melissa, Molly, and I getting some skiing on - my kind of skiing. :)
Last Saturday we went to Silverton - for Kendall Mountain's Night Skiing. We = our whole family (minus Miles of course) and a couple of friends. It's been like forever since we've done something fun as a whole family! It's just hard with teenagers, their schedules (mainly Jonas), their desires to want to hang out with family (mainly Jonas), etc. - but throw in snowboarding and a beautiful girl and VOILA! everyone comes. :) Abby joined us as well as Lucy's friend, Ruby.
I was supposed to be Emmy's main ski-buddy, but it's just next-to-impossible for me to find ski boots that fit and seeing as Lucy now uses my old pair, I just didn't have the gear. Luckily Ben was feeling okay enough - at least for little Kendall Moutain - and Emmy wanted to learn snowboarding . . . so it worked out great.
I had asked an old co-worker of Ben's if we could stay in their place at Silverton and she said yes - and for free! Lucky us. So we got to Silverton late afternoon on Saturday, hung out for a bit, skied from 6-9, the kids watched movies and at some point fell asleep, and we left Sunday morning. So a short trip, but great. All the kids had a fabulous time - yay!
I love, and have missed, Kendall. So many wonderful memories here. Night skiing here, though, was a first for us.
Ben took Emmy a couple time in the beginning. It was a bit rough going, but she was determined to keep at it. Abby and Emmy then went for a couple of runs while Ben and Jonas were able to get some high-speed runs in together.
Ruby and Lucy - they had a blast!!
Such cute and sweet friends. :)
Abby and Jonas. They had a really fun time, too. Abby is not super-confident with her snowboarding skills (although she looked good to me!), and so I think Kendall was a great place to go. Although some of the runs weren't quite lit up well, but that's the fun of night skiing, I guess!
Emmy and Abby had a fun couple runs together. I could hear them laughing lots well before I could finally see them. :)
On one of her runs with Abby, Emmy had a good fall - one of many, many of the night. But this one was enough to knock the wind out of her and to cause some nauseousness - good ol' tailbone pain! Aiyiyi. She laid down like this for a good while before finally getting up - laughing through it all, of course. :)
By the end of the night and on Emmy's last two runs, Ben said Emmy had made huge progress and was totally getting it. Emmy was super excited about it, too! So fun. I am so glad we got to go! I just kind of watched them all come down the hill throughout the night. Jonas would wave to me while he and Abby were in line. :) It was a fun atmosphere and just a fun night.
Ruby and Lucy doing what else - taking a selfie. This was a cute room for the girls. Poor Abby and Emmy had a bit of a chilly room! Jonas had the main room's couch. :) Ben and I had the upstairs room and it was just great.
Girls getting ready for church. We got back too late for the start of our church - which was our plan and I had already gotten a sub for my class. Emmy decided to attend our sacrament meeting (which is the 2nd hour), but the rest of us (Ben, myself, Lucy and Ruby) went to our building's other ward. Ben had "business to conduct" in it anyways and so it worked out well. One of the girls' friends from school was the youth speaker and so that was fun. The girls also knew a ton of the other kids and so they had a good time.
We ended the day with having the missionaries over for dinner - and fun fact: one of the elders (Elder Pedro "Pee-dro") will be playing football for BYU in the fall! So fun!
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