Skip to main content

Soon It Will Be Spring

 I have had a good attitude about the weather this winter. The gloom hasn't weighed on me. The cold hasn't cut me. Not yet. But I'm starting to feel my mood shift. It's been icy and windy, and I've had enough.

To brighten my afternoon, I'm reviewing some snapshots of our family adventures over the past few months. I might feel grumpy right now, and maybe for a few days now, but I haven't been grumpy ALL winter. We've had some fun. To prove it, I have to go all the way back to December because I can't believe I didn't share some of these delights. I'll write about some of these pictures so future generations will know the context, but some of them speak for themselves.


Snowflake-making competition in seminary. One of the kids accidentally made a creepy face.
Went to visit Mom at her new house in Arizona. We spent some time at the Mesa Temple Visitors Center. Fun to see Grandma Della.


I like how Gavin and Brooklyn get along most of the time. You'll see a few pictures of them in this post keeping each other entertained.
Christmas Eve dinner at the Olive Garden. We are such fancy people.

Christmas PJ's from Grandma.
Gavin and Brooklyn got snowboarding gear.
Christmas dinner.
One of Gavin's favorite gifts. He learned about Jackie Robinson and with his new love of baseball, he had to have a jersey.
This is what happens when you take candy to bed with you.
Candy bar game on Christmas break. This picture shows smiles, but, unfortunately, the game got quite intense and one person was kicked out.
McDonald's break on our after-Christmas shopping trip.
Basketball, basketball. I need to get some better pictures, considering how much time I spend watching games.
At Thanksgiving, Emily made a delicious cheese loaf. Brooklyn had a serious craving for it a month later and made a replica.
This is Sean's birthday cake from his seminary teacher (not me--my teaching partner). She has been making birthday cakes for all of the kids according to the thing they like best. Sean didn't give her a good answer when she asked, so since he's hardly at seminary, she figured he likes to sleep best. She was right!
Our handsome 15-year-old!!!
Our beautiful 12-year-old. Earrings and braces!!
Cute 9 1/2 year old. He won this prize from the arcade games at the place where we watch a lot of basketball games.
More cute 9 1/2 year old. He decided to comb his hair.
Sean trying to convince me to take him to McDonalds. He said he would pay.
Snowmen on an icy yard.
Snowman on an icy car.

Dead snowman.


And now we're all up-to-date!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back To School Meanies

 Letter From the Nest August 15, 2025 https://open.substack.com/pub/lettersfromthenest/p/back-to-school?r=48qui&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web One August, more than twenty years ago, at an evening book club discussion, my “older” friends (now I look back and know those women were the age I am now), were discussing the woes and triumphs of back-to-school season. One woman was anticipating her youngest child’s senior year of high school. She said, “For more than two decades, our lives have revolved around the school district’s academic calendar. I don’t know how I will plan my life without knowing about school breaks or holidays.” I remember her bittersweet tone as she anticipated freedom from school schedule constraints but also mourned how those constraints guided her choices. What would she do? Other women joined the discussion, wondering if their kids would have good teachers, if they’d be able to balance volunteering in the classroom, how to streamline school supply pu...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Legacy Stinks

 Letters from the Nest https://lettersfromthenest.substack.com/p/my-legacy-stinks Lately, I have been asking you, “What will you do to make Sunday special?” This is me encouraging you in your worship without giving you a prescribed list of things to do. One thing I do differently on Sundays is that I read a Sunday book that’s “different” than the fiction I read during the week. Usually, it’s a religious book, but sometimes it’s an inspiring biography or narrative nonfiction with an uplifting theme. My Sunday book for the past few months has been “Both Things Are True,” by Kate Holbrook. This collection of essays explores a range of topics, including faith, forgiveness, women’s roles, trials, history, and more. Each chapter contains a dichotomy that fuels the discussion. For example, the chapter on forgiveness explores both the concepts of forgetting and remembering. Last Sunday, I began reading the chapter entitled "The Weight of Legacy," in which she discusses the dichotomy ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lyme Disease??

Let me just preface this by saying that I am soooo grateful for good health insurance. I have been to the Dr. for the kids lately so often, that I am embarrassed that they recognize our family when we walk in the door. So, here's Ricky's story. A couple of weeks ago he was extremely sick. He had a fever for over a week, complained that he couldn't move his legs, and ended up with an awful looking rash all over his body. We went to the Dr. 2 times for this. The first time, she said, it was a virus and it should run its course. When Ricky was getting worse, instead of better, we took him back in to a quick clinic where the nurse diagnosed him with strep (even though the short test was negative). Well, after a priesthood blessing and antibiotics (which we discovered later that he didn't even need to take--and in fact they may have made him feel worse), he got better. Then, last week, I discovered a new, crazy rash on his legs which continued to grow, turn purple on the in...
5 comments
Read more