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Sunday, December 11, 2016

November & part of December

I think it is a sad commentary that my usually weekly post has turned into a month then 5 weeks!  I am glad life is slowing down a bit for a few weeks here.  I have two finals left and one class presentation on student teaching and then I am done until January 9th.  I learned I will be teaching at Skyridge High School and go up in a few weeks to meet the teacher and see what the classroom is like.  I have dreams about the first day of school, just like a little kid right now.


In November I was able to take Allison and her friend Kaori up to U of U for a high school science day where they spend the day taking classes.  They are working on a school project together for English about how forensics were used to catch serial killers (I know, I know - it was not my first pick) and were excited that one of the classes was on forensics.  Then they were thrilled that they figured out how to take public transportation home from SLC by themselves afterwards.  I was just praying hard that they were safe for that hour getting home.

She has been busy with school and projects.  Her choir has gone to a BYU basketball game to sing, had a couple of concerts and then has gone up to sing at Primary's and the capital and walk around temple square.


Robyn has been practicing after school and during PE to try out for the archery team.  Unfortunately once try outs came she turned into a crying, jittery hot mess which was not good for aiming.  So she didn't make the team and was very bummed about it.  I was impressed at the try outs that she had a girl stop what she was doing and come over to give Robyn a hug and calm her down a bit.  She has had some friend difficulties which just makes me shake my head and mutter unpleasant things about girls.  But she has two friends that she has arranged some fun play dates with.  One day I took them all sledding till it was too dark.  Another night they came over and made sugar cookies and watched Christmas movies.


Biggest news of the month is that we got to go spend a week at Thanksgiving with my brother Daniel and his family in Denver.  We left right after school Tuesday and came back Sunday.  It was so fun to just hang out and visit and it felt way too short.  I think my kids would love it if we just moved into their house.  Big kids and adults went to the movies to see Fantastic Beasts.  We went to some parks to enjoy sunshine and warmth.  Allison spent a night and most of a day black Friday shopping with Mimi and was in girly heaven.  Spencer shot BB's in their backyard.  Girls built gingerbread turkeys. Jeremy walked in the nearby preserve almost every day.  We went swimming.  We went to an outdoor skating rink.  Ate too much food, and talked as much as we could.  We just love them.



We came back through snow and came back to reality with school, work and snow.  Robyn had one glorious snow day where she and all the kids from the street played outside and went from house to house for hot chocolate.  We had our lighting parade (a day late because of bad weather so I was in class) where all the lights on the street came on.  And we dove into Christmas.  We have a new Christmas tree this year that is not held together with fishing line.  A big improvement.

Robyn and Taylor joined Kelly and cousins to go up to Festival of Trees.  Allison had gone two days previously as a field trip so she stayed home in bed.


It was a tear jerker of a day because I read a bunch of the stories about why people donated the trees with Robyn.  And then that night we went to a Night at Bethlehem.  A live nativity activity where you walk from scene to scene.  This time of year I can get pretty sappy as I am just so grateful for a Savior who made it so that the blind can see and the lame can walk.


And where was Jeremy while all this was going on?  He was off in Mexico for a long weekend to take selfies with people, share his weight loss story and strutt his stuff on stage.  He loved it.


Spencer officially accepted Utah State so he is all set for next year.  Volleyball season finished up.  I always like seeing him play.  Their team lost I think every game but he had fun and loved his coach who despite being very competitive is the best person I have seen at building up his players.  Spencer is taking mill work and has made us a napkin holder and now a foot stool.  He has enjoyed learning some new skills.


No new pictures of Taylor but he is doing well.  We had his transition meeting and then this week we have his IEP meeting.  He loved Thanksgiving and ate a ton of stuffing and mashed potatoes.  I finished getting his wheelchair all fixed so his brakes work now. 

Not a lot of big news but just all the little stuff that we enjoy and takes up most of our days.  Glad we can usually greet each day with a smile and am always grateful that each day I get to start over again!