February 2013

February was another cold, wintery month for us, but at least it was warmer than January.  Here’s a look at what we did:

Seth played basketball and started the spring track season.  He has really enjoyed his basketball season – wish I had pictures to share, but the one time I remembered to take my camera, the battery was dead. :)  He starts his basketball tournament this Saturday, and has decided to run distance races in track.  He enjoys running with the team each day after school.

Megan is still doing great at USU and is loving her life as a college freshman.  We had her home for a couple of weekends in February – one to be there when Bryce was set apart in the Bishopric, and another weekend when she came home to finish her missionary papers.  They were submitted this past Sunday, and we expect her call will come the first week in March – you will have to stay tuned to see where she will be serving!  She is so excited and we are excited for her!!  This is the picture she submitted with her papers – any guesses where she will go? :)

We all drove to Pocatello, Idaho to visit with my niece Amanda and her family and be there for her daughter, Ellie’s, blessing.  Eliie is darling and it was a fun weekend for us with our family!

Devin went to another fencing tournament where he won one of his preliminary bouts, but lost in the first full round.  His coaches are pushing him to be more assertive as a fencer, so he is working on that moving forward. 

We were lucky enough to score tickets to a live taping of BYU’s comedy sketch show, “Studio C”.  If you haven’t seen the show on BYUtv, you should check it out on their website or youtube – it’s pretty hilarious.  We had so much fun at the live taping and Devin, Seth and Autumn really enjoyed seeing how a TV show is filmed – it was tons of fun!!

Autumn kicked off her dance competition season with a combined dance convention/competition this past weekend in SLC.  She was able to take tons of classes from some of the best dance teachers in the nation and was also able to compete with her team in their jazz number and with Halle and Nyah in her jazz trio.  Her trio brought down the house and they won overall best duo/trio in their age division, which was super exciting, especially for their first competition!  They won a trophy, a scholarship to the national dance competition and $75 cash – she was pretty excited!

We ended the month celebrating the premiere of “Psych”, which is one of our family faves.  Seth even created his Psych pineapple shirt to wear the day of the premiere. :)

See you all next month!!

January 2013

January was a cold, snowy, bad air quality, long month that we are glad to have behind us.  We did have a few fun events – here’s a look:

Autumn continued with dance.  She is now in the final countdown to dance competition season, which for Autumn, is the biggest reason she does dance.  She loves to compete and be on stage.  This year, she will compete in 3 dances with her team and also compete with 2 of her best dance friends, Nyah and Halle, in a jazz trio. This picture is of Nyah, Halle and Autumn after one of their trio practices.

We visited the BYU Art Museum and had a good time taking in the exhibits there.

The Holloways came from San Diego for a visit for my mom’s birthday, and while they were here, my mom and Bernie invited us over for a stir-fry night.  The kids all had so much fun cooking with Bernie and we all enjoyed the delicious fruits of their labors.  We loved having the Holloways stay with us for a few days and happily celebrated my mom’s birthday as well as her completion of radiation treatments for a brain tumor.

Devin competed in his first and second fencing tournaments and is learning a ton as he competes against kids who have been fencing for years.  He won his first tournament bout at his second tournament and looks forward to improving as he continues to go to classes and tournaments.  He is wearing the orange socks in the pictures.

Seth acted in the Jr. High play, “The Death and Life of Sneaky Fitch”, a western comedy.  He was cast as a school boy and did a good job playing his part.  Although he really enjoyed being in the play, he is excited to have his after school time free again, at least until track season starts at the end of this month.

As you can see from the last picture, we were also privileged to enjoy a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Ririe for a few days who came to town so that Grandpa could ordain Bryce to be a High Priest since he was called to serve as the 2nd counselor in our Bishopric.  We loved having them visit, and were glad they could take in Seth’s play, one of Devin’s fencing tournaments, Seth’s basketball game, and for Grandma, “Phantom of the Opera” at BYU, for which we were lucky enough to score tickets.  It was a really great production – I was glad that Megan was in town for the weekend so she and her roommate, Crystal, could tag along as well.

Well, February has begun warmer than January, and way less polluted, so we can endure the snow for a few more weeks.  Here’s hoping for warmer days ahead! :)