Do you want crushed ice with that?

We are on our fourth ice storm in two years. I'll never forget Geoff careening down this hill during the first storm. He hiked to the top before settling on the sled. His life flashed before my eyes and then he narrowly survived his utter destruction down at the street. This hill in the backyard is convenient for sledding. Emily would have been in this picture today. She went out to join the neighbor kids. She put on her boots, her coat, her hat but forgot she isn't into freezing to death. She only lasted outside for maybe five or ten minutes.

Happy Birthday!

Geoff was born while we lived in Seattle. Lonny, Jenny and I took a walk from our house down to the beach that morning. It was a Friday. Geoff was born that night on his due date. He's always liked being on time. He weighed 7-11 (slurpee anyone?) Happy 21st!

Some advice

Definitely encourage your children to serve a mission. It will change their life. And should they labor with Willie Wonka or be called to Candyland all the better.

Gut, danke Deutschland.
Danke schon Geoff.

Change is coming

Geoff will be flying home March 19th. Okay so he's not actually going to pilot the plane this time and his hair is probably shorter but soon, he'll be on his way.

So you know

I love January because I finally had time to paint the pantry! I know that does not sound too exciting but it's something I wanted to have done for a long time. The pantry has been used and abused for 9 1/2 years and it showed. It's not even the most spacious closet in the house but some of my kids have spent a good portion of their day in that space. When my last guest left after Christmas, the cupboard was bare, so what better time to completely empty it out and get it painted. Unfortunately the elves had gone back to the North Pole so that just left me to get it done.

Now I need to fill it up so we have something to do, like eat, next time the wind comes sweeping down the plain accompanied by freezing rain. And if we should ever have a tornado, then everything will be distributed around the neighborhood. Today we are getting a new roof. The hailstorm that damaged the roof was last April, in fact the same week Eric introduced the truck to a power pole. We like to have all our insurance claims on the same page of the planner.

And for other happenings of a stay at home Mom in a mostly empty house, I sewed the elastics on Emily's ballet shoes for the first time in a couple of years. I could have included the "old shoes" in the picture but now you are spared from having to view what happens after wearing them two maybe three years. Just so you don't think we only purchase footwear in odd years, if we count pointe shoes, Emily has had four pairs of new ballet shoes since June of 2008. Pointe shoes apparently are only expected to last through 17 hours of dance. I knew I should have steered her towards jump roping.

Be My Guest

and you can see BYU basketball in Tulsa. Thankfully the BYU basketball team won, unlike the football team which severely let us down last season when playing TU. Our seats were up high, but right at center court. We were surrounded by enough empty seats that everyone could comfortably move around.

I know they look like they are shooting each other but all the aggression was aimed at a paper target. Or so they say.

The whole family went ice skating at the temporary rink set up in the street downtown. Bryce wasn't a fan so he just looked cute in his little skates. A Zamboni was noticeably missing, the ice had a layer of snow cone makings along the top, but still fun times.