She Can Ride!

Elise did it! She rode her bicycle without using the training wheels! Mike moved them up for her, so she couldn't use them, and off she went! When she first fell, she got right back up and went for it again. In no time she was calling me outside to watch. She's been wanting to ride on her own for months and Thursday was the perfect day for her to do it!!!

Mu$ic Madne$$

This past week Sadie had a concert playing in the Zion Youth Symphony Orchestra. The next day, the orchestra went to a local high school where they met with an adjudicator who gave them some pointers and praised them for the great musicians they are. Just as they were walking on stage, she dropped her bow and broke it. Luckily, one of her friends in the orchestra had an extra one that she was able to use. The picture above was taken before her bow broke, at the evening concert the night before.

I took her to a music store on Friday and she played with many different bows, trying to find one she liked. There are different weights of bows, that aid in the type of music you are playing. They also range in price. One of the bows she tried was almost $1,000. I told her she would have to buy the new bow. There was a definite difference in how they sounded as she tried them out. She found one that she really liked and invested in.



It was $380 (Actually, with tax, over $400). She had to really think about spending that much money. I was surprised at how much a good bow cost, but it didn't bother me that she bought one. She loves music and will be playing for years to come. The fact that she bought it herself will also help her to appreciate and care for it. As we drove home in the car, she was happy and beaming. She told me that she felt very good about the decision that she made. This next week she will be traveling to Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City to play at the Youth Symphony Festival of Utah. She is very excited that this will be the first place she plays, with her new bow. While there, she will also be able to watch American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic, Granite Youth Senior Symphony, Young Artist Chamber Players, Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra and Utah Youth Philharmonic perform.

Ice Skating

Thursday night, we went to Dixie Igloo in St. George to ice skate. Mike really didn't want to go, but he made the mistake of mentioning that it was COSTCO night at the rink. That meant that IF we went we would get to skate at a discounted rate. Of course, most of us wanted to go and so, outvoted by the rest of us, he agreed to treat our family to a night of cold fun!



We all enjoyed ourselves, for the most part. Cari and Trevon had some previous experience skating. Cameron became a bit frustrated that he couldn't "run" like the experienced skaters. I have to say though, for their first time on the ice, our kids did great. Kristi passed by me and said, "It's just like roller-blading."



When I first stepped out onto the ice, I was a little nervous, thinking I should have volunteered to "watch." It had been a very long time since I had been ice skating. I scooted around the rink at first, holding onto the sides, trying not to fall. The little kids did the same.



One of the ladies who works at the rink (and also at COSTCO), gave Elise a stack of buckets from Home Depot. Elise held onto the bucket and pushed her way all over the ice for most of our time there. I almost wished I had a really big bucket to hold onto too! It took me one time around the rink and then I was comfortable skating slowly around. It was a great feeling. I couldn't stop smiling. I tried NOT to smile, but I was having a wonderful time and I couldn't even make myself stop smiling. It was weird; a good kind of weird. I knew I was enjoying myself!





Mike happily watched Corban and took these photos of us, while we had our fun. It was another GREAT family activity that we ALL would love to do again.

Valentine's Weekend

Our Valentine's fun began with making valentines for class parties. Kristi, Cameron and Elise made their classmates some "sweet" notes with help from Mom and Sadie. Cari worked on her homework.



Immediately after school let out on Friday, we drove up to Provo, Utah to spend the weekend with Mike's brother Eric and his family. Eric recently opened up a pizza restaurant and we wanted to check it out! It is called SLABpizza and is DELICIOUS! Mike spent all of Saturday helping his brother at his place, and enjoyed every minute of it. I was glad they could spend some time together.



For lunch, we celebrated my niece's 2nd birthday with a pizza party. Julie (Eric's wife), made a heart shaped cake that was YUMMY too. My brother, Aaron, who lives farther north, came with his four children so that we could visit together. I was so thankful that he made the effort to see me. I love him all the more for it. Julie's mom and her brother, with two of his kids also came to the "party." It was a FULL HOUSE at SLABpizza to say the least! Eric made us whatever kind of pizza we wanted and we kept him busy!



Mike and I went out to dinner on Saturday night and then to a malt shoppe and I OVER DID IT!!! My excuse: Valentine's Day! The kids played together and had such a great time the entire weekend. Trevon and his cousin Jeremy were able to go to a BYU college basketball game (men's), and had a GREAT time. They also enjoyed trying to scare their sisters and other cousins too. The girls kept themselves equally busy with games, fashion shows and Wii bowling. I played Cari two bowling games and the next day, my shoulder was so sore! Who would have thought! It was fun!



After going to church on Sunday, I was able to visit a dear friend of mine (from my teenage years in PA). Cheryl lives in Lehi and I love her to death! I was able to meet her husband and kids and enjoyed the time I spent with them. She has a beautiful home and a mean old cat! It was great to see her and made the weekend that much more meaningful. Gee, I should have gotten a picture!

Monday morning, Mike helped out at the pizzeria again. At lunch-time, we ate more pizza, thanks to Uncle Eric and then headed on our way home. It was all too soon for the kids, who look forward to doing it again sometime soon.

"Gashed" Up!

This past week we had some "unexpected" adventures. One night, the kids were playing in the back room, when Elise ended up getting hit in the head with a wooden stool. It was a stool that Trevon had made in shop class a couple years ago. The kids had wanted to clear off the floor, for space to play, and put the stool up on a big storage container. Corban decided to push it off, and it fell onto Elise who was lying on the floor below. The corner edge of the stool leg gashed her on the front of her scalp. I heard the scream, and then Kristi brought Elise to me. Head wounds bleed A LOT! Half her face was covered in blood. Usually, in these circumstances, I rely heavily on Mike. On this particular night, he was not home. I applied pressure to her head, but it took me a while before I could get myself to look at it. Kristi helped by cleaning up the drips of blood that were trailing through the house. I was thankful for a tile floor! I was about to take Elise to Insta-care, but as I was heading out the door, decided to take a look at it first. There, in the front and center of her head was a gash, about an inch long. It had stopped bleeding, but looked deep enough to maybe need a stitch. I wasn't sure. I decided to call our doctor, who lives down the street to ask his opinion. He was gracious enough to let me interrupt his night, to take a look at it; so I would feel better! He said that if the cut had been on the skin, he would have it stitched. Because it was in the hair, he would leave it alone. He also said to wait until the next day before washing her hair. I was so thankful and relieved for his advice. We went home and waited to tell Mike of our adventure that night. I didn't take any pictures of this, but all is well and the stool, safely back on the floor!

Night Skiing

This past Thursday, I had some surgery on my face to make sure there was not any cancerous cells remaining there (not life threatening), similar to the surgery I had three years ago. Back then, the margins did not come back clear, and I didn't want to worry about anything coming back again - so it was time to deal with it for good. Now I have a bunch of stitches running down the right side of my face, but in time, all will heal and my mind will remain at peace.

Having this "operation" didn't slow our family plans any though. We took the kids to Brian Head Ski Resort on Friday night to ski. Trevon had been begging to go, and wanted it to be a FAMILY activity. We loaded up after school and drove an hour and a half to the resort. I made some stew that we kept in the lodge to eat throughout the night. Corban and I "hung out" in the lodge and watched the others ski through the big glass windows. It was great seeing the kids catch on and enjoy themselves.



Elise liked skiing. She was a little fearful of getting on the lift, but through her dad's loving persuasion she did. She overcame her fear and went again and again, each time skiing down with her dad (her skis positioned between his). Cameron was very confident and got on and off of the ski lift by himself. He had a hard time stopping and would fall, but he skied great for his first time. Kristi skied the longest (with Trevon and Mike), mostly holding onto her dad. Sadie was able to do a run without falling before the night was over. Trevon did some jumps, a first for him. Cari had fun too. Mike was a great instructor and enjoyed the quality time he had with the kids. On many of their runs down the mountain, he held Elise in front of him, with Kristi holding onto his back. At the end of the night he was able to ski two runs by himself.



We had a great night together and everyone agreed that we should do it again soon.