February!

This month:

• Isaiah joined the wrestling team
• Our water heater went out
• We had more snow days!
• My Grandma Iris passed away
• Kalia took selfies
• I finished the first half of my birthday resolution (to read all the conference talks)
• Brooklin made us cute heart pancakes for Valentine's Day
• Caleb was ordained a priest
• Isaiah got a black eye (in wrestling)
• Darwin went to Alaska for a week (and Kalia missed him so I made her a "Daddy Baby")
• London made the honor roll
• Kalia broke her toy box
• London had a band concert

January updates

This month:

• Had six snow day and two snow delayed days of school
• Kalia had an ear infection
• I had a sinus infection
• Caleb had a birthday
• Darwin taught all the kids how to change the oil in the car
• I crocheted....A LOT
• Brooklin made a very questionable cake
• Caleb and Isaiah got good notes from school for being awesome
• We made a trip to The Bass Pro Shop
• Kalia learned how to get ready for prayers

We really haven't had any good snow this year.

Another picture from my phone.

This year, we haven't been sledding once! We have had a few good snowy days, but they are always immediately followed by several days of rain which leaves us with sheets of ice everywhere. =P We haven't even had very many really cold days. This sign was posted a few weeks ago in the school parking lot.

First Snowman of the year!

He may be tiny...but we are very excited to have us some snow!! Can't wait to go sledding again!

1st track meet

Brooklin had her first track meet this afternoon. She ran the 1600, the 400, and did the long jump. The meet lasted for about two hours, and it poured rain the entire time...but since we live in rain country...it was business as usual!

Her first run was the 1600. When the starting shot was fired, she hesitated just a little and never did quite catch up to the leading group of three girls. She ran in the sixth place for all but the last 200 yards, then two other girls passed her. The last 100 yards, she turned it up three notches, and passed three girls to come in fourth. She just sped past them! I was impressed!

Her second event was supposed to be the 800. She was waiting in line to do the long jump, when her friend came to get her to race. Brooklin knew that she was in two races with her friend, so she just went. When she got to the starting line she said, "So, two times around then?" The guy looked at her and said, "No, just once for the 400." She was like ... well, I guess since I'm here I'm racing the 400... She ended up coming in first place. (The second picture is of her at the half way point of the 400). Since she still needed to do the long jump, she didn't end up running the 800. Oh well. =)

On the long jump, we don't know how she did, but she scratched two of her jumps and they let her sneak in a fourth one. I had just a little fun with photoshop and her long jump pictures. Instead of posting all four of them, I selected her out of three of the shots and pasted them into the fourth shot. It isn't perfect, but it works.

Getting ready to run the 400...see all the rain?

Half way through the 400...see the snow lining the track!? It isn't totally gone everywhere yet! And just if you were wondering, the field is turf...nobody has that much green in their yards yet either! HA!

The long jump.

45 degrees and pouring raining

We can't have sunny days everyday...Juneau would look more like Idaho, and less like a rain forest. I'm grateful for the rain.

IT"S 75 DEGREES HERE...

...and all the snow in my yard is gone as of last night! I had to help it along. I went out twice a day this whole week and threw the snow from the yard back into the driveway so it could melt faster. Last night we thatched the front and backyards and raked a majority of the moss out of the "lawn". We got 6 black garbage bags of just moss!! This morning, we got 4 more bags of lawn rubbish...sticks, leaves, garbage, etc. Brooklin took four trees out with a grub axe and Darwin built a cover for our fire pit. We also found out that we have a brick boarder in our backyard! It was covered with moss, and Isaiah and London found it while raking the yard. It makes a nice big oval in our backyard for the grass, and then it is supposed to be surrounded by gravel...but most of the gravel is covered with weeds and, you guessed it, MOSS! I swept out the garage, and Caleb helped with everything. It has been super sunny here...I think going on 11 days of no rain! We had to water the planter boxes today it was so hot. All the kids are slightly pink from the sun and we got to wear shorts and short sleeves today! I know that most of you who don't live here won't be as excited about the 11 days of sun, but it is unheard of up here. The parks are FULL to copacity and people are swimming in the lakes! Very fun stuff.

Brooklin finally was able to try out her RipStick today. She got it for Christmas, but has only tried it in the garage, since it has been too snowy outside for it. Caleb casually walked up to her and said, "Hey Brooklin, I'd like a try to break my head." !!!!HA!!!!! and with that, I'm going back out to enjoy the sunshine.

Snow Beautiful

Today is 13Jan09. I started this post on the 7th, and for some reason, the site wasn't downloading pictures, so this post has been stuck in editing for a week...oops! I took all of these pictures on the 7th, and later in the week, we got 3 more feet of snow. Sunday, it warmed up to 40 degrees and has been raining ever since, so the roads are nasty and everything is turning gray now. I am glad I got these pictures before it got ugly!