February

 February kicked off with the big event I've been working on with the PTO at CIenega for the last several months, the Bowling Tournament. It was a bit of a pain to plan--really it was not bad to plan, but we felt the pressure of the Admin's goal to raise $20,000+ for uniforms, and we weren't going to hit that mark no matter what we did. Once I let go of that pressure, it actually wasn't so bad. I was glad when the day arrived and we were able to get everyone checked in and started bowling, then it was easy from there. We had a great team of volunteers and helpers to make it all run smoothly.

Because the money was supposed to go for band and football uniforms, we got a band team (and a half) together to bowl. It actually was a lot of fun, and I was a little bummed to miss out on the cool shirts. But at least I got to hang out with my band buddies. 

Megan has moved on from crocheting super cute creatures, to crocheting fashion pieces. This shirt is so impressive, and super cute.

She also made a vest and a do-rag. She's got a whole list of things that she wants to make.

Most of Annie's free time in February has been spent building her physics marble track. They made it super cute and did a great job (and used a TON of tape), but they are so over this project. (In fact they got together over spring break to burn it in a bonfire.)

Megan is a baby whisperer--at church she often has little kids hanging around her, and she's so good at keeping them entertained.

Besides running after kids at church, Megan also ran a lot doing basketball during the 3rd quarter. She picked it up really quickly and was put on the B team this year, since not a lot of students tried out, which means that she was playing games against teams with mostly 7th graders on it, and often 8th graders as well. Though they did not have a great record, they did improve a ton from their first game to the end of the season. With a little more shooting practice they could be really good next year. 

At the end of the season banquet Megan was recognized as the defensive player of the year on her team! 

All State Jazz band

 Rachel made it through two rounds or auditions and got into All-State Jazz Band this year! It's quite an accomplishment and very exciting! The performance was on a Thursday night up in Mesa, and she had to be there all day Wednesday and Thursday for rehearsals, so the school was going to pay for a hotel room, but we thought it would be a fun opportunity for her to visit with her second cousin, Mariah, and Susie was gracious enough to rearrange her schedule allow Rachel to stay with them and to get her where she needed to be. Jacob drove her up Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Susie drove her to downtown Mesa and passed her off to Mr Bailey who would keep track of her during the day.

She said it was a lot of fun playing with lots of really great musicians. Everyone got at least one solo, and Rachel ended up with a couple of them. They ate lunch with some of the other Tucson band directors and students both days and went out to dinner Wednesday night with some of them. Since jazz musicians are predominantly male, Rachel was a bit in the minority and some of the meals she just hung back with the directors since some of the guys are weird. But even that was part of the charm. She had a good time all around and loved being able to paricitpate. 

We drove up Thursday night to watch the performance, and Susie's family came, too. We ate dinner together then went see the show. And it was so good! The only complaint was that it ended at 9pm, then we still had 2 hours to drive home. Rachel was amazing on her solos, and we all enjoyed the music. Mr Bailey sat with us and it was touching to see him wiping tears away after Rachel did so well on her first solo. 

The kid next to Rachel has the "jazz stank face" that means he's really digging what she's playing. 

January

 With the new year, Megan is in Young Womens now, and able to go into the temple! So the first day the temple was open we all went and didn't have to leave anyone behind. It was fabulous. Grandma and Grandpa already were planning to be there to do sealings, so they came over to the baptistry when they were done. It was a good day.

In December the Stake Young Women presidency got reorganized. I was so worried that I'd be released just as Megan was coming in to YW and finally able to go to camp with me, but thankfully, I got to stay in. I love my calling and it is a joy to work with these ladies. Julie Bytheway (blue) is the president, Berta Echols (striped) is the 1st counselor, and Sheridan Robinson (grey) is the 2nd counselor. We have lots of fun together.

Since Ryan got stacking cups for Christmas he has been a cup stacking maniac. He has a timer and everything and has gotten really good and fast. We have had to tell him often that it is time to go to bed and stop stacking. 

One night I came to find him stacking his cups in a different way.

New year, new glasses. Megan's glasses were fine, but this quarter she started playing basketball, and got hit right in the face one day, so we had to go get her glasses adjusted since they were bent from the face smashing. We decided it was time for new glasses anyway, then she could keep her old ones to use for basketball, and the new ones would stay safe. She tried on quite a few before she settled on one, and also ended getting up getting a second pair for free. 

Ryan was invited to play in the middle school honor band. They got out of school early 2 days in a row to go to practice, and had a concert at the end of the second day. 

Jacob and Megan and Grandma and Grandpa stayed to hear the rest of the concert (and take Ryan home), but I ducked out right after the band played to go to Annie's Thespian induction. This is all new to us, having never been involved in drama ever. It takes a certain amount of experience in order to be inducted as a Thespian, so it's special for her to be inducted as a freshman. 

The next morning I headed north with Rachel and Megan to meet up with Annette and Jesse (and more importantly Sarah and Aften). They were down for Annette's cousin's funeral, so we left Megan with them to entertain and watch the kids while I took Rachel to her All-State Jazz audition. Megan was so happy to have time with the girls.

The warm up room for the auditions was thick with stress. Everyone was just anxiously waiting for their turn to audition. She left thinking that she messed up on one of the parts of the audition, but on our drive home we got a call from Mr Bailey to let her know that she made it to All State Jazz! We were all JAZZED to hear it ! :) 

For my birthday I got a ding dong ditched and found this beautiful boquet of flowers. It took a little sleuthing, but I figured out that my band mom friend, Emily dropped them off for me. So nice of her. :) 

Ryan got invited to his friend Carter's surprise birthday party. I'm glad he's got good friends at church and at school. 

Megan went out for basketball this year. There weren't a lot of girls that tried out, so the B and C team were both completely made up of 6th graders. Megan played on the B team, but got to also play a couple of games on the C team, which she enjoyed because it was more evenly matched. I enjoyed watching her play. 

Utah visit

 We left on Boxing Day to visit our Utah family. The kids had gotten bears from our neighbor Shannon and they planned on taking them with them to take pictures wherever we went, Flat Stanley style, but forgot about that plan after the first picture in Page where we stopped for lunch.

Megan was most excited to see the babies. Sarah took right to her, spending lots of time playing peek a boo with Megan, and by the end of our time there, Megan was the first one she would seek out when they came to Grandma's house to visit.

Everyone loved seeing Aften, of course. She's a smiley, fun baby, and got passed around a lot.

Saturday morning everyone gathered for Christmas 2.0. Andrew had gotten little gifts of toys or candy for everyone and everyone enjoyed opening more presents.

After the presents, we headed to the Provo Rec center where the kids got some swimming in. 

So much peek-a-boo.

The cousins enjoyed playing Jackbox games together. 

We stopped by Von and Patty's for a short visit, then headed to lunch. The kids' favorite lunch up in Utah is Tucano's for the Brazilian grill experience. After lunch we headed to the Bean Museum and met up with Savannah and her mom and Jared, since they were in Utah hanging with her mom while Savannah's sister who lives with her took her family on vacation. It was fun to spend a little time with them.

We had a fun time at the BYU bowling lanes. Some did better than others (and some a lot worse). 

The best thing about Provo is all the cousin time. 

The other tradition that Jacob loves is Red Robin. Rachel and I got wiser this time and split a burger since she always fills up on the bottomless fries and never has room for much of her burger. Everyone had a good time, and it was a good way to wrap up our time in Provo.

We had planned to leave on New Year's Day, but there was some weather coming in, so we decided it would be wiser to drive home on New Year's Eve and miss the rain/snow. The kids were disappointed to miss NYE with cousins, and to leave a day earlier than planned. Megan was especially disappointed to miss out on more time with Sarah and Aften, but Annette's cousin had passed away that Sunday, and her funeral was going to be in Phoenix the following week, when Rachel had to go up for her all-state jazz audition anyway, so we planned to meet up so Megan could see them again, and that brought her a little comfort. The drive home was uneventful, and our NYE was pretty low key and a little lame, but I liked going to bed early. :)