February 2014

February was pretty awesome around here.  The weather was warm enough that we kept the windows open some days (I can’t remember that ever happening in February here) but it was still cold enough in the mountains to snow there when it rained here, plus we had plenty to keep us busy.  Take a look:

Autumn stayed busy with dance conventions and competitions.  This is her favorite time of year when she gets to dance on stage A LOT and compete her solo, trio and team numbers.  She is doing great so far.  She had a terrifying experience during one of her solo competitions this month when she forgot part of her dance on stage.  I thought for sure she was about to run off the stage crying, but was so proud of her for picking it back up and finishing the dance beautifully, smiling all the while.  She did cry once she was offstage because she was so disappointed in herself, but I was so impressed at her poise and ability to handle the embarrassment with grace.  She bounced right back and nailed her trio later that same night and took first place with her trio, which helped restore her confidence a little.

Seth finished up the basketball season and started back at track.  I had to laugh when he came home from his first track practice, flopped on the couch and declared, “I am SO out of shape!”  He is working hard and will be back in track shape in no time, I’m sure. 

Our kitchen cabinets are finally finished and we love the end result!  We also decided to have our entry way railing re-toned to match our new front door.  Here are some pictures…

The railing before..

and after…

My mom got some bad news when a CAT scan showed that her brain tumor is growing again, so she started 6 weeks of daily radiation treatments to hopefully shrink it back down.  She is doing okay so far, though the radiation has definitely left her very tired.  She is almost halfway done with radiation and is really looking forward to not having to go to the cancer treatment center every day. 

Seth had another fun winter campout with his troop where they stayed in a cabin and went sledding.  He also went with his troop for one of their activities to the Food and Care Coalition and made and served dinner to the homeless.  Here’s a picture Bryce took of his troop after that activity. I love that they are almost camouflaged against the brown grass. 

Devin has been busy practicing with the HOSA club’s Parli-pro (short for parliamentary procedure) team, getting ready for the State competition coming up in March.  He thinks they have a good chance of winning state, (Lone Peak has won State the last two years in a row) which would earn them an all expenses paid trip to Orlando for the National tournament in June.  We’ll see how State goes.

Devin and I took a trip to SLC with the Highland City Youth Council to tour the State Capital at the invitation of our House of Representatives rep, Mike Kennedy.  Not only did we get to tour the capital building, but we also watched part of a session of the House, met with Rep. Kennedy for a Q & A and then a few of the council were able to go sit with Rep. Kennedy on the House floor for a few minutes while the bills were debated.  Devin was one of the kids randomly chosen, and he thought it was pretty cool to see the House of Representatives in action from the perspective of the politician.

Megan is still loving her mission!  We love to hear from her each week and to get pictures to see how she is doing.  She has been gone 8 months now and I would love to say that it has gone by so fast, but that would be a lie, so I’ll just say that we love that she is serving as a missionary and learning and growing so much. She inspires us!!

Hope you all have a great month!!