Other pre-spring break goings on

 Rachel's friend, Eden, wanted to go to Winter Formal, since it was her Senior year and she didn't want to miss out on the experience, so she and Rachel made a fun evening of it. They didn't stay super long at the dance, apparently for their own good, because while they were at McDonald's after leaving the dance early, they found out that someone had set off a stink bomb at the dance. They were lucky to miss the drama.

Annie got jeans that she LOVED, and they immediately started breaking. This was just the first of many holes she has patched. She's probably got at least 5 patches on them.

Rachel dropped her trumpet at a pep band game and the valve got very stuck. We took it in to get it fixed and ended up being talked into getting her an upgrade, since she's such a good trumpet player and playing on a nicer instrument would make a difference for her. She took it home and realized she didn't really like it, because it was different, but after a week or so she got used to the new sound and is happy with her upgrade. 

A month or so after that a similar story happened with Annie. We took her clarinet in to get it fixed, but found out we had paid it off last year, so we could use the credit from all the money we put into renting her clarinet, and put it towards a new clarinet, which we did. So in the matter of a month we bought two very nice instruments and got to visit IMC much too often.

I came home one evening to find that the YW in the Saguaro Park ward had heart attacked our door. It was super nice, and sure made me feel good. Even better, was that they did it to all the Stake YW presidency, and one of the counselors had just had a death in the family, so it was good timing to pour out a little extra love for her when she needed it. 

Over Rodeo break Annie hosted a craft camp to earn some money. She is really good at these craft camps and loves the money she earns from them.

Over Rodeo Break, we also had a girls' outing with Grandma, Annie, Megan and me. We hit Cane's for lunch, then went shopping at TJ Maxx, Bookmans and some thrift stores. Rachel even came to meet us in the middle of her outing with Eded, since Grandma offered $20 in clothes. Treasures were found, though not all were bought.

Every once in a while Rachel picks up the guitar again, and it's always lovely to hear her play.

At our shopping outing I bought fake eyelashes to see how they worked. It would take a bit to get used to wearing them for sure.

Cienega's band had a preview concert with their music that they'd be playing at the Music Festival later that week. 

I was able to go to their festival performance, too, and they did a great job. Beautiful music. They earned a Superior, and were super close to earning a Superior with Distinction.

The festival was the last day of school before Spring Break. There was also an awards assembly at the middle school that day, where both Annie and Ryan were recognized for their straight As and being awesome.

And, if that day weren't busy enough, it was also Starbase graduation. 

I somehow managed to get to all 3 events, then Megan left school early with me, we headed to pick up Annie and Ryan from school, and as soon as Rachel and Dad got home, we loaded the car and headed towards Utah, driving until we were ready to sleep, making it as far as Mesquite, Nevada, then continuing the following day, the rest of the way to Provo.

Basketball

Annie was planning to not do basketball this year since she was doing drama and was a drama officer, but after the first day back she was so conflicted, realizing that this was the last semester of 8th grade and she wanted to hang out with her buddies as much as she could. Since Courtney and Lucy were doing basketball, that meant she wanted to do basketball, but she didn't want to quit drama. She ended up talking to the drama advisor and got permission to do both, so we were back to the basketball fun that we missed last year. Annie was on the B team with Courtney and Lucy, and they had a good time, though the team was pretty small this year.

At the end of season banquet, Annie was recognized for putting forth full effort whenever she was practicing or in a game, receiving the Hustle Award.

Small but mighty team.

The girls with "grandma" aka Coach Mendeevil.

Vail Pride Day and Regionals

February 23, 2025

 Last Saturday was a musical day. Ryan and Annie performed in a combined middle school band performance at Vail Pride Day, where the school district gathers to show how awesome the kids are. Megan held a tarantula and cockroach for the highlight of her day.

Then we drove up to Thatcher for Rachel’s performance with the regional band that afternoon. It is an auditioned band and has the best high school musicians in Southeastern Arizona and they played some amazing music. I guess I was enjoying the music too much to remember to record any of it.

Wisdom teeth

 Rachel kicked off the new year saying goodbye to her wisdom teeth. Last picture with all her teeth:

Riding home in the car afterwards she stroked the window, seeing colors floating around, I guess, in her altered state. The medicine wore off, and she was mentally back to normal, but did not enjoy the soft foods required. As soon as she could, she devoured all the Sonoran hot dogs leftovers I brought home from the New Year's Dance. Recovery was pretty smooth and her swelling was mostly down by the time school started back up the following Monday.

Quality sister time:

Speaking of sisters, Annie must want to be just like Rachel, because shortly after Rachel got her wisdom teeth out, Annie found out that she also needed her wisdom teeth out. In fact, she needed SIX teeth out, not just the normal 4. Annie is officially a mutant. We opted to plan hers for Spring break. 

Annie had her teeth removed at a different location than Rachel did, and they must have kept her in the recovery a little longer that Rachel because she was mostly coherent by the time I brought her to the car (walking, not in a wheelchair like Rachel). 

Annie's 2 extra teeth were tiny. (The other two that aren't pictured were just gross and not fit for a picture, and I think one of them might have been broken.)

Annie's recovery wasn't quite as fast as Rachel's maybe because she had more teeth out. But she took full advantage of her oral surgery, laying around and enjoying more screen time than she normally would have gotten.

By the time school started the following Monday, her swelling was gone and she was mostly back to normal.

January-February

 

On the first day back to school after Christmas break, we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise.

With school back in session, Megan's class jumped right in to StarBase, where once a week they had a field trip to Davis Monthan Air Force Base and spent the whole day there learning and doing fun hands on projects.

They had a Starbase Graduation just before Spring break where the kids were presented with Certificates and they had a slideshow with pictures of all the fun and cool things the kids did. Megan was selected to be the speaker for her class, explaining the class service project they did in connection with the program, and she did a great job speaking clearly and loud enough for all to hear. 

For my birthday Grandpa brought silly string over and the kids had too much fun making a big mess in the backyard. They did clean up after themselves, so it was all good. 

For Martin Luther King Day, we were invited to participate in a JustServe activity, and since the girls are into art, we made some polymer clay beads for Beads of Courage. Some turned out super cute! 

The Gem Show came to town and we made a family outing of it. We had set a goal of a family outing once a month, and since it was still January or February, we hadn't yet forgotten about the goal yet. :) They had all sorts of gems and cool things to see, but Jacob wanted a picture with the metal horses.

The ward had a Minute to Win it Game Night for Valentine's day. There wasn't a ton of people, but we had a good time. Here's Jacob trying to knock ping pong balls down with a party blower.

End of the year

 We wrapped up 2025 getting ready for the New Year's Eve dance that our stake was hosting, and having a BBQ with the Allens and Reimanns. 

Megan went with me to get ready for the NYE dance, with the promise that she could try out the mechanical bull. She did great on the bull, staying on longer than some older kids.

She helped blow up so many balloons for the balloon drop while I helped wrap so many hot dogs in bacon for Sonoran dogs. 

The BBQ was fun. It's always good to get together with friends, though it happens less and less as we get older.

The oldest girls did some photo recreations from when they were little. They turned out pretty spot on. 

Jill, Karolee and I hardly ever remember to get pictures together, but we did for once! 

And apparently it was a day for pictures with friends. We got a picture with our presidency at the NYE Dance. Beth Hills, Kenia Simkins (and her son), me, and Julie Bytheway. It's a pleasure getting to work with them.

So many Sonoran dogs!

The dance was a lot of fun for the kids who came. Annie was the only one from our family that attended with me. Rachel opted to stay home and have Eden come hang out at our house instead. Jacob and the kids too young for the dance stayed home and watched movies, I guess. 

2024 was a pretty good year in all. There were some very hard things, but also many good things. On to 2025!