State Basketball Tournament

The boys played in the state basketball tournament on the first weekend in March.  They had a fun time playing together one last time for the season.

Then after the tournament we headed to Dave and Buster's to hang out and eat.  It is a restaurant and arcade all in one.  We had never been there before so didn't know what to expect.  The food was good and the kids had a blast playing the games.  It was a fun weekend.  These were some of the prizes that they picked out with their reward tickets.  

Utah

My mom called me on Wed morning (the 2nd) and said that my Grandma, her mom,  had fallen and was not doing well.  She didn't have many details, things didn't look good at all, but that she would let me know when she knew more.  A few hours later she called and told me that my Grandma had passed away.  It was so sudden and unexpected for me.  My Grandma hasn't been in the best of health as of late, but she wasn't on the verge of leaving us.  But she had fallen earlier in the week and broke leg/ankle.  Then she had even more things happen to her and I think that her body just couldn't take the stress of everything.  I am going to miss her so much.  

The kids and I made a marathon drive to Utah for the funeral.  Jake couldn't come because of work.  We left Sunday morning after the basketball tournament was over.  Thankfully Lexie has her learners permit and she helped drive.  She was great!

We arrived in Vernal about 3 in the afternoon on Monday.  In time for the viewing.  It was good to see so many of my family that I haven't seen for so long, but I just wish it could have been for a happier things.  The funeral was Tuesday.  Both my parents spoke and did fantastic!  I was also asked by my Grandpa to give the eulogy, which essentially was reading her obituary.  I was nervous about that, I  guess I did fine.  Everyone said so.  I can hardly remember it.  What I do remember was that my dad and Uncle Robert were literally holding up my Grandpa as we walked from the church to the cars to go to the funeral.  He was overcome with grief.  They have been married for over 70 years.  I can't imagine losing someone after so long.  

We only stayed in Utah until Thursday morning and then we headed home again. It was a short trip.

When we pulled into the driveway at home this is what the odometer read.  We drove 2856.9 miles in 6 days. 

Home improvements (more)

It seems like there is a never ending list of things that we want to change or make better in our new house.  We are slowing working through them and making this OUR house.

We got a new washer and dryer.  These things are HUGE!  They hold so many clothes, which helps make doing laundry so much easier because I can do less loads. 

Jake made me these awesome shelves for the office.  They are perfect for what I need.  And soon we will paint the wall behind them.  

While we were gone to Utah for my Grandma's funeral Jake took it upon himself to paint our bedroom.  It looks amazing.  I absolutely love the color.  It was an awful tannish color but now it is a soft green-blue that is perfect.  I was so surprised when we got home and found this.  

Here it is with the bed all made.  We have since gotten things up on the wall so I should take another picture.  

More February Happenings

My kiddos are so much fun. I love them so much and they are always teaching me too!  They never complain as they get dragged from one activity to the next supporting their siblings.

Here are Abbie and Myles at a basketball tournament.  

Silly face time.  

Myles really likes playing sword fighting on the Wii and he is really good at it.  But he doesn't like to lose.  At all!  He got really upset at Ashton this day because Ashton bet him.  

Maybe we should work on being a gracious loser.  

One afternoon I found Myles "making cookies"  Thankfully the oven was off.  But man did he have a good time.  

And Myles is getting to be such a good helper.  He helped me mop and vacuum 

The big kids taught Myles how to play Uno.  And he really understands it and can play it.  You have to wait for him to figure out what card he can play, but he understands the rules which I think is amazing since he is barely three!

And I just had to take this picture one day when we were at the zoo.  Look how sweet they are.  

Basketball

We had tournaments almost every Saturday this month.  We usually played three games.  The boys definitely got better as the year went on, they played better and better each tournament we went to.

We had great coaches.  They taught the boys so much.

2nd place 

This is the home tournament.

Warming up before our first game

3rd place

Another tournament 

Warming up before our last tournament of the regular season.

This tournament didn't go quite as well as the others.  The team played well without him because, Ashton ended up with a concussion and we had to leave early.  

Here we are in the hospital making sure that everything else was okay.   Thankfully his concussion wasn't major and he was able to recover quickly enough to play in the state tournament a few weeks later.  

He did miss a few days of school and had to take it easy for a while.  His teacher was amazing to work with us and keep me informed with what was happening each day and how it was going for him.  His classmates made him these cute get well cards.

I am so proud of Ashton.  He came to the team behind because he had not played before, and most of the rest of the team had played last year.  He worked hard and learned a lot.  I had two of his coaches (Paul and Jeff) come to me on different occasions and tell me what a hard worker Ashton was.  What a good kid he was and how much he had improved from the beginning of the year.  That is what I want for him.  To work hard and be a good kid.  Winning basketball (or any other sport) games is secondary to learning skills (life and basketball) and being a good teammate.   And I love to watch him play.  

Valentine's Day

Last year Jake got the kids these super cute "love bugs" for Valentines day.  They are little cake pops shaped like lady bugs.  They are delicious and so much fun.  The kids were super excited when they got them again this year.  I love it when we make memories and traditions with our family.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Baseball

Even though we are right in the middle of basketball, it is time to look ahead to summer.  I wish it was here already I am not a fan of the cold.  Anyway it is sign up time for baseball and this year it is traveling ball.  We are super excited.  And it's never to early to play a little catch, right?  Even if there is snow on the ground and it is about 30 degrees outside?  We didn't think so either!

January Fun

Lexie was Judge Hawthorne in the school's winter play "The Crucible".  She did a wonderful job and the play was fantastic.

She worked really hard, they all did and it showed in a wonderful play.  

Ashton has a science fair of sorts at school, but this was really the best kind of science fair.  The kids worked in teams and did all the study, prep and making of their project at school.  They went on a field trip to the zoo, learned all about monkeys and then made enrichment toys for one kind of monkey.  

Here is Ashton and one of the kids from his group at the parents showcase day.  He did a great job explaining their toy to all the parents.  

Their project was picked to move on to the next round, I was very proud of him.