The much anticipated day arrived~ Wicked! I got Paisley and I tickets clear back for her birthday, and February seemed a world away. And it was! But here it is, finally the glorious day has arrived!
It was so fun to spend the day together, Paisley loved it! It really is a spectacular show!
I suppose Jon's equivalent would be hiking with the boys. He sent this cute pic of Adren during thier snowy hike:
I caught Sookie mesmerized and enjoying the warmth of the fire. She's a sweet cat.
And more basketball games! This game was particularly fun because Adren played against Pedro's team. Both teams were all good friends so they were all cheering each other on and giving high-fives. It was great.
Paisley looks so darling in her Wicked T!
Maybe it's because of the long, dark winter~ maybe because I haven't' been able to kick this respiratory virus that is leaving a dark cloud over me~ maybe it is the need for more drama in my life~ but I painted the fireplace black. I like it! (For now.)
Jon and I planned on going down to St. George over Presidents Day weekend. I had been really looking forward to some time off with the family, it is always so relaxing down there. As the weekend came up, Adren mentioned his dearest friends birthday party that he really didn't want to miss. It was a big ordeal, the church had been reserved, everyone was going to be there, yada-yada. I felt for him, and told Jon we really didn't need to rush down and be there Friday night. We decided we'd let him go to the first hour or so of the party, and plan on heading out of town around 9:30 pm. The kids could sleep on the way, and it would be nice to be already down there Saturday. (We are so nice.)
We heard a storm was brewing, but didn't pay too much attention to it because we were heading South, and it seems storm talk is always bigger than the actual storm. Amiright?
Flakes were falling when we picked up Adren at the church and headed on the freeway. It started falling pretty hard, pretty fast. I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on my book or podcast, and put all my focus on the road and to give Jon some moral support. Soon enough it felt like it was just us and semi's on the road. We couldn't even see the road! I kept pulling up the weather and it looked like it just had to get better the further south we went. Snow wasn't even supposed to be starting for another couple of hours, we just needed to get ahead of it! At one point Jon wanted to turn back but we'd already been on the road for almost two hours and the thought of starting all over in the morning seemed awful! It just had to get better! Well, it got worse. I've never been in such a storm. I watched the guardrails on my side to help guide, but the wipers started to ice up so we'd have to pull over and scrape off the ice so we could see. I don't think Jon ever got above 20mph.~ I'm not exaggerating. We just couldn't believe how bad it was. Our noses were inches from the windshield but we could only see the foot ahead of us. Finally, at 2:00am we arrived at Beaver! What a welcome sight, over four hours later! It seemed like 2pm for the amount of traffic there. Everyone seemed to have pulled of at that exit. We found a motel with four rooms left. I was so grateful to have a safe place to finish out the night. Jon was so exhausted he crashed immediately- but I was still so rattled I couldn't sleep for a while. I was so grateful we were safe and sound! I kept pondering what was to be learned from that experience. Through my prayerful pondering, it occurred to me that I needed a reminder that Jon and I make a good team in stressful situations. We spoke kindly and were encouraging, no blaming or unproductive comments. I appreciate that about us. Not necessary to make a bad situation worse. I also realized I have complete confidence in Jon in those situations and am grateful he is so careful.
The next day as we were about to pull off to the Hurricane house the van lost all power! Just all of a sudden, nothing worked. It came back on immediately but sure spooked us. Because of that we didn't dare venture off too far. We ended up taking it in to a place down there for a diagnostic test, the guy thought it looked fine, perhaps got too much water up underneath it during the storm. It left us uneasy for the trip back so after some hiking around, a little shopping and dining, we decided to get back to Provo. The much anticipated relaxing trip ended up being one of the most stressful weekends I've spent in a long time, and then cut short. Oh well.
Snow in St. George. We left one cold, snowy city to another cold, snowy city.
I had a work meeting to get back to the next morning. This was my second meeting of this kind so I knew what to expect. We spend several hours in Timpview auditorium while a man clicks through his power point presentation cracking cliche (and a bit sexist) jokes in his monotone voice. Seriously. He is sooo bad. It sounds like he is hired by the school district to do these lectures, so I'm really scratching my head that he has no lecture/ public speaking skills. And the worst part is he keeps suggesting we take a break every 30 min. so he can drag out the day and fill the time so we can say we spent X amount of hours meeting.
This is what his power point was queued at when I came back into the auditorium after break #7 and had to chuckle at how boring every. single. element. was.
Cute friends. I can picture their little grade school faces laughing together. (This is the one with the can't miss party.)
I came in my room to find Paisley curling Adren's hair. He's requested me to curl it a few times since. Perms and curly hair with the boys is kindof a thing right now, guys.
And while that is a thing, so is being a pirate, apparently. Zeke kept requesting to be taken to find a pirate hook. Well, we found a whole package complete with gold tooth. He's just adorable. Whatever.
Beautiful Paisley. I can't believe she just has a few months left in Elementary School and then she's off to big 7th grade at Dixon.
It's nice to just lounge around and be together.
And I love to see little snippets of our home. It seems to change on the regular, so I've learned to snap away so I can remember!
*VALENTINES DAY*
Time to get the boxes together! Still only two this year!
Zeke channeled his most favorite Narwhal Onesie and made an amazing box that looked identical!
Pretty impressive!
Paisley's very last Valentines box was so amazing! She made a little tiny Movie Theater! It was sooooo pretty and had so much detail. She did such a great job and it was so fun to see!
The Valentines go in a special compartment in the back. The little sign on top shows where to put it.
I suppose Jon's equivalent would be hiking with the boys. He sent this cute pic of Adren during thier snowy hike:
I caught Sookie mesmerized and enjoying the warmth of the fire. She's a sweet cat.
And more basketball games! This game was particularly fun because Adren played against Pedro's team. Both teams were all good friends so they were all cheering each other on and giving high-fives. It was great.
 |
| I added some gold leaf to my silver mirror. |
Jon and I planned on going down to St. George over Presidents Day weekend. I had been really looking forward to some time off with the family, it is always so relaxing down there. As the weekend came up, Adren mentioned his dearest friends birthday party that he really didn't want to miss. It was a big ordeal, the church had been reserved, everyone was going to be there, yada-yada. I felt for him, and told Jon we really didn't need to rush down and be there Friday night. We decided we'd let him go to the first hour or so of the party, and plan on heading out of town around 9:30 pm. The kids could sleep on the way, and it would be nice to be already down there Saturday. (We are so nice.)
We heard a storm was brewing, but didn't pay too much attention to it because we were heading South, and it seems storm talk is always bigger than the actual storm. Amiright?
Flakes were falling when we picked up Adren at the church and headed on the freeway. It started falling pretty hard, pretty fast. I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate on my book or podcast, and put all my focus on the road and to give Jon some moral support. Soon enough it felt like it was just us and semi's on the road. We couldn't even see the road! I kept pulling up the weather and it looked like it just had to get better the further south we went. Snow wasn't even supposed to be starting for another couple of hours, we just needed to get ahead of it! At one point Jon wanted to turn back but we'd already been on the road for almost two hours and the thought of starting all over in the morning seemed awful! It just had to get better! Well, it got worse. I've never been in such a storm. I watched the guardrails on my side to help guide, but the wipers started to ice up so we'd have to pull over and scrape off the ice so we could see. I don't think Jon ever got above 20mph.~ I'm not exaggerating. We just couldn't believe how bad it was. Our noses were inches from the windshield but we could only see the foot ahead of us. Finally, at 2:00am we arrived at Beaver! What a welcome sight, over four hours later! It seemed like 2pm for the amount of traffic there. Everyone seemed to have pulled of at that exit. We found a motel with four rooms left. I was so grateful to have a safe place to finish out the night. Jon was so exhausted he crashed immediately- but I was still so rattled I couldn't sleep for a while. I was so grateful we were safe and sound! I kept pondering what was to be learned from that experience. Through my prayerful pondering, it occurred to me that I needed a reminder that Jon and I make a good team in stressful situations. We spoke kindly and were encouraging, no blaming or unproductive comments. I appreciate that about us. Not necessary to make a bad situation worse. I also realized I have complete confidence in Jon in those situations and am grateful he is so careful.
The next day as we were about to pull off to the Hurricane house the van lost all power! Just all of a sudden, nothing worked. It came back on immediately but sure spooked us. Because of that we didn't dare venture off too far. We ended up taking it in to a place down there for a diagnostic test, the guy thought it looked fine, perhaps got too much water up underneath it during the storm. It left us uneasy for the trip back so after some hiking around, a little shopping and dining, we decided to get back to Provo. The much anticipated relaxing trip ended up being one of the most stressful weekends I've spent in a long time, and then cut short. Oh well.
Snow in St. George. We left one cold, snowy city to another cold, snowy city.
I had a work meeting to get back to the next morning. This was my second meeting of this kind so I knew what to expect. We spend several hours in Timpview auditorium while a man clicks through his power point presentation cracking cliche (and a bit sexist) jokes in his monotone voice. Seriously. He is sooo bad. It sounds like he is hired by the school district to do these lectures, so I'm really scratching my head that he has no lecture/ public speaking skills. And the worst part is he keeps suggesting we take a break every 30 min. so he can drag out the day and fill the time so we can say we spent X amount of hours meeting.
This is what his power point was queued at when I came back into the auditorium after break #7 and had to chuckle at how boring every. single. element. was.
Cute friends. I can picture their little grade school faces laughing together. (This is the one with the can't miss party.)
I came in my room to find Paisley curling Adren's hair. He's requested me to curl it a few times since. Perms and curly hair with the boys is kindof a thing right now, guys.
And while that is a thing, so is being a pirate, apparently. Zeke kept requesting to be taken to find a pirate hook. Well, we found a whole package complete with gold tooth. He's just adorable. Whatever.
 |
| We're waiting to head over to church. |
And I love to see little snippets of our home. It seems to change on the regular, so I've learned to snap away so I can remember!
 |
| The GOLD ottoman. Still love. |
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| Loved these huge snowflakes coming down and watching from inside the cozy house. |
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| The DI chair I recovered has turned out real nice. It quickly became Sookies favorite spot to sit so we've had to work on shooing her off so that it doesn't become a fur trap! |
Time to get the boxes together! Still only two this year!
Zeke channeled his most favorite Narwhal Onesie and made an amazing box that looked identical!
Pretty impressive!
Paisley's very last Valentines box was so amazing! She made a little tiny Movie Theater! It was sooooo pretty and had so much detail. She did such a great job and it was so fun to see!
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| Tiny popcorn buckets- one that spilled! |
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| I love her movie posters on the side of the Theater. |
The kids woke to the fancy Valentines counter:
Off to school!
Of course, the final Hoor-ah of February is Dad's birthday!
We sure love him, and love seeing how Eli~Pie is even out-growing his daddy in height. (not in facial hair for a few years yet.)
