Amy and Tennis

Amy plays on the tennis team.  She is number one on the JV team, so when a varsity player is absent from a match or unable to play, she gets to play a varsity match.  If she plays three varsity matches in a season, she then letters.  For the past two weeks, Chris has been able to attend her matches, both of which she has won.

Her match this past Monday was a varsity match and she was so thrilled to win with her partner Peyton.  She has improved a lot over last year.

Easter Egg Hunt

My girls never tire of celebrating Easter with the traditional Easter Egg Hunt.  For the past couple of years, the weather has been pleasant enough that we have been able to hide the eggs outside.  This year, we were recovering from a blizzard so the ground was wet, muddy, and mushy in places.

I filled the eggs, coordinated a second treasure hunt, and then let Chris hide the eggs.  He hides them higher and harder.  Each of the girls had 18 eggs to find in their specific color.  Amy's eggs were purple, Kristen's were pink, and Misha's were blue.  Plus there was one "golden" egg to find that would then help them in the second treasure hunt.

It took awhile for the girls to find all of their eggs.  I think Chris had to give a few hints along the way.  Once that was finished, they opened up the "golden" egg to search for the next eight golden eggs--in the fridge, by Misha's books, in Amy's shoes, in the gift wrap storage, in the dirty laundry--until they finally found their treasure.  We gave them two flotation devices to be used in the lake this summer.

We also had the missionaries for dinner.  Amy made cupcakes and everyone got to decorate their own cupcake for dessert.

This is what the pink frosting did to Misha's teeth:

Family Fun

Summer is coming.  There will soon be a lot of groaning from my girls because of all the Saturday yard work they get to participate in.  We decided to spend this Saturday doing some fun family stuff so that when they say to us, "We never do anything fun on Saturday.  All we ever do is work, work, work!", then Chris and I can respond, "Do you remember that day we took you to the Chocolate Exhibit at the museum?"  Yeah, we are stellar parents like that.

We were a little late getting out of the house and were shooting for the 3 pm showing of Living in the Age of Airplanes IMAX.  We missed it by just minutes.  Instead, we headed over to Chick-fil-A for a snack before checking out the Museum's Chocolate Exhibit and purchasing tickets for the IMAX at 5 pm.

We found this cool table in the Chick-fil-A main dining room.  It was probably ten feet long.  I would love a smaller size in my kitchen.

Anyway, back to the museum and being cool parents.  We headed up to the Chocolate Exhibit.  NO SAMPLES!!!!  Amy and Misha hurried through the exhibit, skimming over most of the information, and then headed down a level to the body and fitness exhibit.  Chris, Kristen, and I joined them after leaving the Chocolate Exhibit.  We had about twenty minutes to explore before the 5 pm showing of Living in the Age of Airplanes.

The lighting here was terrible.

The movie was interesting and lasted for 45 minutes.  I didn't realize that the museum was closed now, and we were directed out the back of the museum.  Misha remembered that she had left her jacket hanging in the regular part of the museum, so we had to find a way back in.  Fortunately, their handicap doors stayed open a long time when someone exited, so we ran back in through the exit doors to grab her jacket.

We grabbed a quick dinner at Cafe Rio.  Our night-o-fun was not over.  Noooo.  We still needed to find some shorts in an appropriate length for Amy for our cruise.  We stopped at H&M where Kristen got in to the spirit of trying things on.

She Loves to Read

...and she loves the fireplace.

No Longer Droop in Sin

As I was helping to remove the heavy snow and ice from the evergreens in our yard after the blizzard, I couldn't help but think about scriptures I had recently read--the Psalm of Nephi--in 2 Nephi 4:16-19:

16 Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.

17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.

19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.

Nephi lamented that he had made mistakes. We all make mistakes.

As I knocked the heavy snow off the branches and watched as they bounced back up, I couldn't help but think of the hope Nephi had when he said:

28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul. (2 Nephi 4:28)

Three White Jars

I stopped at King Soopers to get groceries this morning after dropping off my carpool kids.  I should have stopped for groceries on Tuesday evening, I forgot.  The blizzard kept me home Wednesday.  Yay to apples and bananas again.

While I was shopping, I came across some clearance dishes and found three white empty jars.  There was no price attached so I asked one of the workers if her scanner could give me a price.  Apparently the price wasn't in the system.  She called the manager, Garrison, to find out why.  He said the jars weren't for sale.  They had been holding some smaller items that were for sale.  Bummer.  I put them back and Garrison filled them up with the small utensils that were in the clearance bin.  I went about finishing my shopping when Garrison and the other lady found me a couple of aisles over.

"Hey, if you want the jars, you can have them.  The utensils don't need to be in the jars to be sold.  What do you think would be a good price?"  I responded that I wasn't sure but the thought of $3 popped in to my head.  Garrison asked, "Does $3 each sound okay."  I nodded and he put a special ticket on them and then just asked me to explain to the checkout person.

I thought it interesting that they came to find me in the store.

So, now I have three matching jars.

I Loved the Flowers

Amy brought me flowers two weeks ago.  I have loved having them on my counter and wished they would last forever.  I told Amy that she should bring me flowers more often so that I could have them all of the time.  I finally threw them out this morning.  It was time.

Crazy Socks

Chris loves the colorful socks that have been available the past couple of fashion seasons.  They offer a fun way for him to dress professionally with a little bit of personality peaking out.  This brand of socks is appropriately called "Happy Socks."

Another Snow Day

As I picked up my carpool kids on Monday this week when the weather was supposed to be in the 70s, I remarked that it was a shame that we wouldn't be having any snow days this week.

As we went to bed on Tuesday evening with still lovely weather, but with the weather forecaster predicting a blizzard on Wednesday, I didn't really give it a second thought.  Until the phone rang at 5:02 on Wednesday morning announcing a school district snow day.  I got up to tell Misha and Amy that school was cancelled so they wouldn't get up and get ready for seminary and looked out the window to see grass and driveway but with rain starting and the wind howling.

Chris didn't believe the forecasters and prepared to leave for the airport at 6:30 am.  I was supposed to drive him so that Amy would have access to his car.  Within a short while, the snow started and the wind continued howling in earnest.  I told Chris that he could take the car to the airport if he still planned to go but that I wasn't going to drive him.  "There's a reason they are calling it a blizzard even if it doesn't look bad now."  Amy and I would just have to work things out with one car.  I went downstairs to exercise.

The time came for Chris to leave.  His flight had been cancelled.  He made another reservation for later in the day around 4 pm.  The weather continued getting progressively worse.  It was a big leap of faith for our school district to cancel school with only rain on the ground, but it was the best decision.  Our blizzard arrived.  Chris' second flight was pushed off throughout the day until it was finally cancelled and the whole airport was shut down.

We were glad to stay home and enjoy a day of no driving.  Amy slept until 11 am.  She even slept through my vacuuming.  That's one tired chica.  The day before she had been up since 5 am and got home from work after 9 pm.  Misha rested in bed.  She had been home sick from school on Monday and Tuesday so Wednesday was a bonus without really missing school.  Kristen, as you can see, took advantage of a relaxing morning with her toes warming in front of the fireplace.

Many of our friends lost power for much of the day; we had a few flickers throughout the morning but maintained power all day.  Yay.

Chris went out to start clearing the driveway after lunch.  He spent the first half hour or so using Max to clear the snow, but it was so deep, that even Max had problems moving it.  (He took a short break to drive Kristen down to Sophie's house).  I went out to help Chris when he started shoveling by hand.  I shoveled the front porch and walkway and that took me about an hour.  I had this stupid little dig-yourself-out-of-a-snowbank shovel because the snow-pushing shovels were just to heavy to lift and Chris had the honest to goodness real shoveler.  I'm going to buy more shovels.  The snow was almost to my waist.

I finally called Amy and Misha to come outside to help and to knock the snow of the evergreens.  We all came back in wet and sore and tired.

After an hour of being inside, Chris asked the girls to suit up again to go help Sophie's family.  Ben and Tasha were out of town and the grandparents and kids couldn't get the snow shoveled nor did they have a 4-wheeler with a snow blade.  They loaded up on to Max and headed on down.  There was a lot of gratefulness for the help.

The end of the blizzard.

My New Camera

Remember this?

If only I had looked back at my seat before leaving the bus, I would have seen my Canon G12 sitting on the seat.  When I realized that I had lost my camera, I was so disappointed and Misha was pretty sad that I had lost all of the pictures she had taken at Corregidor.  Yep, I am still sad about it.  I didn't notice it missing until the next day.

Such a sad loss.  And my husband wasn't too thrilled to plop down another chunk of change to replace the lost camera.  He did, however, buy me another camera that was less expensive.  I never liked it.

So for my birthday this year, Chris offered to buy me a newer version of the G12.  Yay!  He found a barely used Canon G16 on Ebay, and I am now the happy owner.

Cameras and purses? Kind of my obsessions. And, I really need a new purse.

St Patricks Day

Chris was telling Kristen this morning that she ought to work for Hallmark when she grows up.  That girl can celebrate any day.  She made a leprechaun trap with her friend earlier in the week and put the finishing touches on it last night.

Even though she "knows", she chooses to have an imaginative, believing heart and enjoy the traditions of the day.  I play along.

She made hair ornamentation as well (but that's because her lame mom wouldn't buy green hair spray!)

Doesn't really look appetizing does it?

School Concerts

Both Amy and Misha had school concerts this week.  Not terribly noteworthy except for the fact that Chris was home and able to attend in person and not via Facebook nor with me recording the songs for him to watch later.

Amy's concert was about an hour and half long.  She was done in the first fifteen minutes as she was part of the first choir to sing, but we chose to stay for the entire concert listening to the five or six other choirs as well.  One of us, who shall remain unnamed, got a little bored.

We attended Misha's concert on Wednesday evening and only the Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Band were playing.  Six songs total.  Less than 45 minutes.

Misha may have developed the beginnings of carpal tunnel as a percussionist, but she sure does love playing.  The little bored person chose to stay home this time.

Throw Down Champion

Kristen's school just had a school-wide contest to see could read Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham the fastest.  It is no surprise that my happy little talker won with a time of two minutes and ten seconds.  She received Easter candy, a copy of Green Eggs and Ham, and a sweet note from Mrs. Colvin, the librarian for her accomplishment.

Kristen,

Great job on being the 2016 Champion!  I am so proud of you!  You have been an absolute joy since the day you started at Centennial.  You have such a kind heart and sweetness to you.  Thank you for being such a lovely young lady.

Love,
Mrs. Colvin

Microwave Bad Luck

When we lived in our house at Monarch Estates, we had a babysitter over one night to watch the girls.  She made popcorn, though I am sure she didn't use the "Popcorn" button on the Microwave panel.  When I walked in the house from a date with Chris, I was assailed with an awful burnt smell.  Our babysitter had hurried out the door to have Chris take her home.  I checked around the house until I found the source of the stench.  My microwave.  It was yellow inside instead of the beautiful pristine white, and it smelled horribly.  I found the burnt bag of popcorn in the garbage can in the garage.  I was so disappointed to have a less-than-perfect microwave so soon after moving in to a new house.

Fast forward about twelve years, Kristen and her friend were at the house while I was not yet home.  Kristen was making pancakes and her friend wanted EasyMac.  I don't know if there was no water added to the EasyMac or if the cook time was set for something far more than it should have been.  Kristen called me and said that they had burned something in the microwave and it was smoking.  UGHGHGH.  When I returned home, I was again assailed with that awful burnt smell.  Kristen had opened a few windows and turned on the stove fan, but it just wasn't enough for that smell.

And my microwave.  My less than two year old microwave.  It was yellowed just like my last one.

When Chris called to check in for the evening, I was walking on my treadmill.  I couldn't talk to him.  "I just need to walk to get my frustration out."

Easy Mac should NOT look like this when you cook it!

After about a week, the smell is not quite so strong, definitely it has left the house where it had permeated through all the rooms, but when you open the microwave or walk in to the pantry past the microwave, the smell hits you.

Good Bye to the Steel Table

When we purchased our property here at Pelican Shores, the previous developer had set up a campfire and picnic area close to the back of our lot (it had been the lot he was planning to build on).  It consisted of chairs carved from logs, a picnic table, a fire pit with a grill, and a heavier-than-sin steel table.  Plus, he brought in some great rocks that we could later use for landscaping.

As we moved forward on building on our lot, the log chairs and picnic table were moved down to our beach, the rocks were placed in our landscaping design, and the steel table was moved--using equipment--to Lot 2.  Now a couple of years later, in an effort to clean up Lot 2 in preparation for new owners, the question was:  What do we do with the table?  You could probably make some money off of the metal used to create it, but instead the developer decided to dump it.  Kind of nice to have it gone.

Budgeting FHE

Chris and I presented a budgeting Family Home Evening lesson to our girls that was hands on and thought provoking.  I created a fictitious budget with income and expenses for them to work with, plus emergency expenses.  We gave them Monopoly money to work with to try and cover all of the monthly expenses.  It helped them learn how I budget, why I sometimes say "It is not in our budget this month," or how to make a choice for including cable tv, cell phones, and other "extra" expenses.  I'm sure we could have even spent more time on the lesson, but after a couple of hours, the older two had homework to finish.

We hoped that they got the notion that just because you have money in your bank account, it doesn't mean that you can spend it.  It might already be allocated.  Also, Chris and I wanted them to understand about saving for big expenses.  We put money away all year long for Christmas, vacations, some utilities and expenses that are paid on a quarterly or yearly basis, and car registration to name a few.  It is never too young to be financially savvy and to develop good spending and saving habits.

Early Spring

We have been enjoying a fabulous burst of spring weather, so much so that Misha took her kayak out for the first time this season.  I couldn't get a good shot of her on the lake since she stayed behind a copse of trees, but here's her return to the house.  She is looking forward to having the snow blade removed from the 4-wheeler; it makes it somewhat cumbersome to drive.

I sat on my deck and enjoyed the 70 plus weather and watched Fixer Upper on my iPad while Misha kayaked.

DIY Lampshade

I have been casually looking for a new lampshade, but have never purchased one simply because it seemed more than I wanted to spend, especially when the lamps already had shades on them.  The shades were just ugly with water damage and age.

As I was looking at Pinterest one day, I had the inspiration to check out Lampshade DIY ideas.  There were many ideas to choose from.  After searching "pins" for awhile, I had thought maybe to spray paint the shade, but then a brainstorm hit and I realized I had leftover paint from our main floor bathroom.  The color would be a perfect match to my decor.

I began by taping off the metal at the top of the lamp as well as the inside of the lamp so that I would have a nice, clean edge.  I used a sponge brush to apply the paint after shaking the can well.  The lampshade required two coats, but I was pleased with the look once I was finished.

Misha, liked the idea so much that she wants to create a  DIY shade for her room.  I swear, I love Pinterest for the ideas and easy-to-complete instructions I can find on almost any topic.

Flowers from Amy

Life with teenagers can be fraught with ups and downs.  Amy and I had one such day last week (incidentally on the same day as the EasyMac and Microwave disaster!)  It was not a good day.

I was pleased to see Amy walk in with some beautiful roses for me the next evening as a peace offering.

Life with teenagers can be touching and sweet and full of love.

Lots of Driving

I have been shuttling Chris back and forth to the airport the past couple of months so that Amy could have the car to drive to seminary, school, and work.  It is more of a sacrifice and convenience on my part.  Shuttling Amy and Misha to seminary and then school as well as Amy to work was taking a lot of my time each day (one hour of driving just to take Amy back and forth to work for each of her shifts).  It is a trade off.  I spend time driving with Chris to the airport early Monday mornings and then pick him up again later on in the week.

A new car you ask?  Well, it won't be "Amy's" as she would like to think it will be, but we are waiting for all of the bonuses and stock grants to pan out before committing ourselves to a payment.

Orchid

I am always sad when the flowers on my orchid shrivel up and fall off the plant, and I wonder what I did wrong.  Twice now it has happened, but I have been happily surprised both times when the orchid blossomed once again.

Academic Award

Kristen was given an Academic Award for February last week.  She has also been accepted in to the Gifted and Talented program for Art and is pulled out once a week from regular classes for accelerated learning in reading.  Proud of the effort she gives to school.

He's a Gentleman

Chris and I were The Orchard on Friday evening. He found a parking spot and handily parallel parked with minimal maneuvering. As he got out of the car and came to my side of the car, a man leaning up against the wall commented, "Wow. You don't see that very often." Chris was a little proud of his parallel parking and acknowledged the man with, "What's that?" The man replied, "A man opening a door for his wife. It's not very common anymore." Parallel parking is a skill, being a gentleman is priceless.

Spotify

Misha and Amy have used Spotify (a music service) for a couple of months now.  Kristen was introduced to it and was thrilled to pick and listen to her own music.  Misha, always one to enjoy peace and quiet, responded nonchalantly to Kristen's "I am really enjoying Spotify." with "You'd enjoy it more if you had headphones."

That 80's Band

Amy had to work last Saturday evening, so Chris and I took Kristen and Misha in to Longmont to the new "mall" to listen to some 80s music.  The music was great and the area wasn't even too packed.  Because the mall (or really big, outdoor foodcourt and theatre) is new, they wanted to start drawing people to the area.  We are a family that loves 80s music, so this seemed liked a fun opportunity.  After hanging out for awhile, playing a bean bag toss game, and listening, Kristen and I went to dance.  Chris came to join us after awhile, but Misha was staunch in her refusal.  After awhile, Misha got tired of watching and went to hang out in the car until we were ready to go eat.  Plus it started to get chilly and she wasn't wearing a jacket.