March 2016

March was full.  And since I'm behind I'm just going to give a basic overview.  At this stage I'm just documenting, not elaborating!

Adele is an ambassador at school.  The ambassadors put on a leadership conference that included a session with Governor Herbert.  She had a cute little school shirt:

I spoke in stake conference, which for our stake is in the old Tabernacle.

Geoff had a work trip to Florida.

He squeezed in a little beach time.

Ceci continues to make a welcome home sign for him each time he goes somewhere.

No pictures of a youth fundraiser we put on.  It was a successful lasagna dinner with an auction. We raised over $15,000!  It was a LOT of work, but worth it.

One of us got into St. Patrick's Day...

Tennie had a regionals drama competition where she got Best Supporting Actress!  It was a 40-minute play and Tennie was truly the star of the show.  I'm working on getting clips.

Adele, Ceci and I went to St. George for Spring Break.  My brother Nate was in town and showed us a few lesser-known parts of town.

Tag and Ceci doing a selfie.

We went to Tag and Pack's soccer games.  

My brother Mitch joined us for a little hike up Web Hill.

We fit in one swim.

We had a competitive game night playing Farkle.

Meanwhile, Geoff took Tennie and four friends to LA to celebrate her 16th birthday!  First stop, gelato in Las Vegas:

They arrived in LA, stopped for some groceries and headed to Geoff's brother Christian and his wife Heather's home where they had a dance party with a strobe light and all waiting for them.

On the first day they went to the beach...

...where Tennie's friend Moriya stepped on some glass in the ocean and cut her toe, which required a trip to the ER and 13 stitches!

They drove around LA a bit.

Friends Sonya, Moriya, Tennie, Kate and Elena.

One night Aunt Heather did a spa for them.

Christian took them to his recording studio where Moriya and Tennie recorded a few songs they had written. One of Christian's friends stopped in and heard them singing and was interested in them doing some music together.  He owns a recording studio!  They were flattered, and they're in communication on the first song.  We'll see what happens.

A few did some surfing.

They stopped in St. George on the way home to break up the trip.  Nielsen's Frozen Custard was a top priority before leaving town.

Shoot, they arrived before it opened!

We all got home just in time to put on a nice Passover dinner.  Geoff's dad, Nikki and our neighbors, the Oaks, joined us.

The Saturday before Easter we had a cousin Easter egg hunt.

We got to go to the Women's Conference with Sister Oaks.  We saw Sister Oscarson who is in our stake and knows our us from some activities she has participated in.

We colored eggs just in the nick of time.

I wish life hadn't been such a whirlwind.  Easter snuck up on us without a lot of focus until the few days before.  But it was a lovely holiday.

And that's a wrap.

February 2016

Another busy month whizzed by.  February was full with the events that fill up a calendar: baby shower, wedding, orthodontist appointments, etc. Adele and Ceci had an audition for a print ad, there was a parent meeting for a play Tennie is in at school (followed by evening and Saturday rehearsals), a parent meeting for a new Waldorf Charter School that Ceci will attend next Fall, speaking at a ward conference, plus Geoff and I have weekly School Improvement Committee meeting for Tennie and Adele's school, and we've started a series of five meetings with some of Tennie's friends on how to access scholarships (Geoff works with a guy who has figured out the system.)  Let me add a few things I have pictures of:

Our friends the Serafins were in town for family reunion.  Thankfully Ashley and I got to visit while Adele and Ceci played with Nina and her cousin Tabitha:

Geoff, Tennie and Adele had a daddy/daughter 50's theme dance:

We had a stake youth snowshoeing activity up at the mountain home of our stake YM's president.  It could not have been a more beautiful location and perfect day:

Bailey had a Star Wars birthday party. Em's parties never disappoint!

Geoff took a beating from some of the Jedis-in-training:

(Although he got them all back when he dressed up as Darth Vader for the official Jedi Training):

Tennie passed the written driver's test and is now in possession of her driver's PERMIT! (Third attempt was a charm!)

Ceci and I went on a field trip to the Natural History Museum.  They have some pretty scary reptiles!

Ceci is never a dull companion!

Adele and Ceci went with Nikki to visit her office:

We stopped by the Puppy Barn to have their dog fix:

Geoff and Ceci spend at least two afternoons skiing every week.  Ceci conquered her goal to go down a double black diamond.

We hiked up to Ensign Peak with Geoff's dad one gorgeous, early Spring evening:

One of our family goals is to have a green smoothie every day.  We're definitely not perfect but we are getting more greens than we normally would. I'm jumping into March now, but Geoff and I just did a week cleanse.  Our prize at the end was trying an acai bowl.  We've heard these raved about but hadn't experience what all the fuss was about...until yesterday.  Oh boy was it ever tasty!!!  We're going back tomorrow morning for more...

Until the end of March...