Lindsey's roller coaster week....

I got a call on Thursday morning from a friend who had witnessed Lindsey falling off her scooter on the way to school.  She said that Lindsey was crying and that she'd chipped a tooth.  Because she was closer to the school than home, my friend told her to go on to the school to the nurses office.  Then my friend called me.  I called the office to warn them that she was on her way in.  Then I quickly did the morning carpool to Curtis and went to Marion.  

I saw her tooth and immediately called the dentist who told me I could bring her in, but that they'd have to work in.

They took such good care of her, and within two hours she had her tooth repaired and she was back at school.  She enjoyed a milk shake, and has some scrapes and bruises that will heal.

Not sure what was worse, the physical effects of the fall or the embarrassment for having fallen in front of so many people and that they saw her cry.

We love and appreciate Dr. Lisi for working so hard and fast to repair her tooth.

But then the next day, she was recognized at school by her teacher for the 3rd 9 weeks as a "Marvelous Maverick".  Her teacher said this about her: She is an “excellent student who always shows a passion for learning. She is very creative and is always thinking of new ways to do things. Most important she is kind to everyone in our class, and we love that!”  She was a bit sheepish about posing for pictures with her face looking the way it does, but she was a trooper.  And whats even better was that one of her BFF's Bella also was awarded Marvelous Maverick.

Spring Break 2019

Spring Break camping with cousins at Lake Mineral Wells State Park.

Playing card games for hours in the tent

Sunrise over the lake

Rock climbing!  Day one we had one good route and another route that wasn't so good.  Our kids weren't so sure they wanted to do it again day two, but we're really glad we did because we found some good places for routes and they spent all day running up and down the wall.  So proud of all our kids who continue to amaze us with their determination to do hard things!

Smores.

And its really cold.  Really cold.  It gets close to freezing each morning and we're cold.

Home on Saturday and a late trip to Braums for ice cream.

Valentines Day Tire

I didn't need this.

Valentines day 2019.

I'd spent the day sitting at dad's house waiting for the house cleaners to come.  I'd gone to Lowes to get flowers for the front.  The plan was to take photos and list the house for sale the next day.

On my way home, I was on the phone with Sam and I heard a noise and realized that I'd gotten a flat.  When I pulled off the side of the road I realized it was really bad.

I called Stephen and while he started on his way towards me, due to traffic, he wasn't going to get there anytime soon.  I was thankful for a really nice guy who pulled up behind me.  Apparently I wasn't in the best part of town and he was concerned for my safety once night fell.  He fixed my tire.  And I drove on home, meeting Stephen at some point along the way to get more air put in my spare tire.  We made it home.  What a day!

Also on this day, I got a call that parole had yet been denied again for Mathew Wise (yay!).  I'd been up early to make cinnamon rolls with pink frosting for my loves.  But then had to tell Matthew that one of his best friend lost his grandma and we cried, because we know what that feels like.  I learned that another friend lost their dad and I cried for them.  Roller Coaster!

Anastasia

I got a birthday treat to go see Anastasia the musical at Fair Park, it was amazing!

A close call

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Stephen was napping and I was preparing for a church meeting when we heard a crash!  Stephen got up from his nap to see what had broken (now?) and found that it was the light over the kitchen table--it had fallen right out of the ceiling and crashed on the table and broke into a million pieces.  Apparently the boys were wrestling or playing with Nerf guns upstairs and running, bouncing, wrestling.  We imagine they jostled it loose.  What was incredible is that the girls had just returned from a Young Women's presidency meeting and were about to be at that table to do some things.  They literally had a voice that told them to step away from the table just moments before the light fell.  The next day, Lindsey quietly told me about her impression and identified it as the Holy Spirit.  Wow!  Connection made.

Incidentally, I really disliked the light fixture and I was kind of glad it broke.  My sweet husband who saves lots of stuff was so pleased to show me that he'd salvaged one of those lights from another room of the house to put a new one in.  Oh yay!

Baptisms

We were honored to attend the baptism of Cecily Harris!

And then our kiddos went to the temple to do baptisms--and it was these girl's first time!  Thrilled!  What a special experience.  There was an amazing spirit in the temple, especially when we did the names that Jodie and Jake had helped us find for Bella to do.

Jodie Byrne

Some times we have days we never want to forget and February 8th 2019 is one I never want to forget.  I was almost invited to the special dinner with Elder Holland, but a few days before I got a text from Jodie Byrne asking me to speak at her baptism on Friday February 8th!!! 

A little back story.

October 2015 a family showed up at our ward Trunk or Treat.  Lindsey with 100 BFFs was thrilled to see that it was a friend from school who she was in kindergarten with.  Jake Black was an inactive member of the church.  He and his live in girlfriend and her two kids were visiting with the missionaries.

Lindsey's baptism was just a few weeks later and we invited them to come.  Jodie came and she felt something.  She began taking the lessons. 

For months we waited for Jake and Jodie to get married.  Cold feed on both sides.  In the summer of 2017, Bella wanted to be baptized, and she was.

But then December of 2018, over Christmas, Jake and Jodie got married!!!

Then in January, they began attending church very regularly.  Jodie was a woman on a mission that included getting her family to the temple.  I knew that she was on track to be baptized and I was thrilled to be asked to be part of her baptism.

What a sweet and precious experience it was to be there and to witness it.  And it was a wonderful reason to miss an evening with an apostle.

Elder Holland

I had the supreme honor of helping to arrange a dinner for some of our local religious leaders and Elder Jeffrey R Holland, Bishop Gerald Cause, and Elder McKay.   

It was hosted at the home of Bill Benac.  Due to how many LDS leaders we had, I wasn't invited to attend.  It was a precious experience for those who attended.

A funny thing to remember is that just before all the guests were supposed to arrive, the power went out in their home!  When Elder Holland arrived, Bill was getting lights and Barbara wasn't dressed or ready.  Good thing they had a lot of candles.

Cleaning out dad's house

It's time to clean out my father's home and get it ready to sell.  This has involved going through everything.  Determining what needed to be saved and put into storage and what could be sold in an estate sale.  It's a project that has been overwhelming and emotional.

I am so grateful for my Aunt Lois and Uncle Brian who came from Utah for the week to help me.

While they were here, we took the opportunity to have my cousin Alan and his family come over for dessert.  His kids and my kids are enjoying getting to know each other.

Sam gets braces

Operation new smile is underway for this guy!

Grandma McKneely instructed me to take him to the store to get him his favorite flavor of ice cream.  He enjoyed a bowl every day after school when he got home since his mouth was sore.

Matthew is Marvelous!

Matthew was recognized in the 2nd 9 weeks of school as a "Marvelous Maverick" by his teacher.  "Matthew is such a curious student.  I love the way his is always questioning ideas and participating in class learning.  Keep up the good work!"

This month marks a significant change for our church.  We no longer have church for 3 hours, we have it for 2 and are encouraged to spend time studying the gospel at home.  "Come Follow Me" this year is studying the New Testament.  In our home we're encouraging our kids to study on their own the assigned chapters during the week in preparation for our discussion on Sunday.  So imagine my surprise when I happened upon this scene.  He especially likes the chapters in "Matthew".

New Years 2019

We have this tradition of hanging out with the Furness and Torpy families for New Years Eve, and we bowl and eat....

Kaitlyn had pink eye so we wouldn't let her bowl but she came and hung out.  After bowling we headed over to the Torpys for food and socializing.

Then a few days later, we met up with the Bennions at the Perot Museum... 

Bike riding!

The family that bikes together.....enjoyed nice weather and a family bike ride when we got home from Boston.

Boston for Christmas 2018

Last year Thanksgiving was really hard for Joey and Liz traveling with sick 2 year-olds, it was so rough that we all agreed that we would go to Boston for Christmas 2018.

Our family is so richly blessed, our children have everything they need and most of what they want.  Rather than give them more "stuff" for Christmas, we decided that their gift would be the "experience" of going to Boston and doing fun things.  So here is our Christmas....

On Sunday we got up for an EARLY morning flight at 4am.  Landed in Boston, waiting for dad to get us a vehicle.  We got a pick up truck which was a little squishy but it fit all the luggage.

This cool guy was working the car rental counter, very festive!

Arrived at Joey and Liz' house!  

For dinner we enjoyed scallops risotto--yum!

Monday (Christmas Eve) we watched Home Alone--always a classic at Christmas.  It began to barely snow.  We were really hoping for a white Christmas, but as it turned out we had to go seek out the snow.  We went on a walk and helped Liz and Joey get ready to host their annual family party which was lovely.  We did go to bed for a few hours but got up those that were interested in going to a Christmas Eve Mass in Concord--I LOVED it.  

K with Evie

M with Jack

Kaitlyn is working a lot on her festival piece and Jack enjoys dancing while listening.

Hot cocoa flowed and flowed each morning

Snow flurries and jumping on the trampoline!

Christmas Eve Mass at the Concord Catholic Church

Christmas Day (Tuesday)--Jack and Evie really enjoyed the traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls--it was just nice to all be together.  Because this trip WAS the BIG gift for Christmas there wasn't much to open for us.  We did gift tickets to Lion King on Broadway for our MCO Tour next summer.  And we upgraded some ipads and kind of passed down old ones to now be "kids" devices.

A Christmas surprise that we opened! 

Baby Howe coming soon!

Love these two!

And these two--there was a lot of guitar hero played over the week in Boston!

Wednesday we spent a day at Nashoba ski area.  The snow was fake, but enough for us beginners.  We put us all in ski school but by the end of the day these kids were all amazing on the slopes!

Matthew could do the bunny slopes by pointing his skis straight down and going, I kept telling him I needed him to practice switch backs so I could feel confident about him moving to harder hills.  I don't think he fully appreciated that advice until he tried his first Blue Hill and went so fast!  He almost ended up in the parking lot!  He also fell a lot the first time down.  Stephen was sure he wouldn't want to go again but he did, and he kept doing it until he could go down without falling.  Love his determination.

They all did so very well on the slopes!

Sam was super confident on the mountain, Lindsey held her own as well not wanting to be left behind by her brothers.  Mom and K aren't the most confident but they'd better catch up soon because the other kiddos loved it so much and definitely want to go again sometime!  Watched Hunger Games!

On Thursday we still wanted fun in the snow.  After a lazy morning we decided to go tubing.  It was a VERY poplular idea and the crowd was pretty big but with our group rate we skipped the 1.5 hour line right to the front!  It was so fun!  The slopes were straight lanes and kind of iced over so they were fast!

After being in the cold we enjoyed a dinner of corn chowder and watched The House with the clock in the Walls and enjoyed some family games!

Friday we hung around the house.  Played more games (Scum, Ticket to Ride, Sleeping Queens, Cover your Assets) We went to see the new Mary Poppins in the Theater and then grilled out for dinner!

Saturday we ventured into the city, Downtown Boston.  Joey and Liz paid for us to have the experience of ice skating in the Boston Common--SO FUN!

On our way back to Joey and Liz' we drove by Raytheon HQ in Waltham, MA.  We joked that Stephen was just there scoping out his future corner office with a view! LOL

During General Conference I felt impressed to make more effort to take our kids to the temple.  So we arranged to go do baptisms at the temple while we were there.  What a sweet experience it was.  With recent announcements to the change of when youth can participate in things, Lindsey will go with us next time!