A Few Fun Things

The first fun thing that's happened in the last few weeks is Elises's 16th birthday. It's hard to believe that Elise is now the same age as I was when I started dating her father, but it's true: she's met one of the biggest milestone birthdays around. She celebrated her 16th at the Mall of America with three good friends. I gave her my credit card and the four of them went and ate at The Rainforest Cafe like grownups--although she had to call and ask me if she's supposed to give the server the credit card again after writing in the tip. (A good question, actually. The things we just do without thinking about them.) Here they are, looking cute in a candy shop:

And here Elise is, trying to pose with her birthday cake in a dignified manner. Then her dad showed up.

Love that girl. It will probably be a few months yet before she attempts the driver's license. The winter has been so treacherous she hasn't done all the driving she needs to with her permit yet . . . but I'm happy to put that one off a few months, especially since she has a brother who can driver her around.

And speaking of Elise and her brother, today was the last day of their speech season. They've both done a great job, learned a lot, and grown. And I'm very happy that the days of waking up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday are now behind us. I went and helped judge at the final meet today and it was bittersweet seeing Ethan up there getting awards. It's been a great four years for him on the speech team--a defining element of his high school experience and identity--and I'm so glad that he's had this opportunity. Here's a shot of the whole speech team, and then Ethan holding a his brother (while his brother holds his trophy).

 
As a matter of fact, while I type this there are dozens of speech students in our basement, laughing and stomping around. I took a photo of all their shoes in the entryway, then snapped a quick photo of a bunch of them watching Frozen and singing along (I tried to make sure no one saw me, then skittered back up the stairs. That's one reason the photo is not of the highest quality: my clandestine photography skills aren't so great). Anyway, speech parties are the best non-Mormon parties you ever want your high school students to attend.

Aaaaand speaking of going to MORMON parties, it looks like Ethan will be attending a few in the future, since he's decided to go to BYU (go Cougs!). He's excited and so am I. He gets to go to COLLEGE. My favorite!! And walk around on BYU campus with the mountains so close and listen to the bells ring. There are few places in the world I like more than a beautiful college campus in the fall. Everyone is so young and alive and interesting, and there are trees and pretty buildings and people lying on the grass reading books. Love it love it. Of course, the transition to college can be hard sometimes too, but I think Ethan is ready. He gets to pick his room this Friday: Helaman or Heritage? Will his roommate be a "night owl" or an "early riser"? So many interesting questions.

Now for the younger two, a few fun things as well.  Both Jonas and Wyatt went skiing at our local "resort" over spring break. I put resort in quotes because it's nothing like a Utah ski resort, but that said, it's one of the nicest in Minnesota and has some hills that are fun, especially for those who don't need to ski down black diamond trails. Unfortunately I don't have any Jonas skiing pictures because he went with friends in the ward--I am certain he looked dashing heading down the mountain. But just so Jonas will get a little photo time, here's a cute shot of him trying to eat the sugar ribbon off of Elise's Sam's Club birthday cake (it was hard as a rock):

Now you tell me: should I worry about getting this kid braces? It seems almost de riguer these days, but his teeth are pretty straight if you ask me.

Anyway, back to skiing. We did get some great shots of Wyatt. He went twice: once for an official lesson, and the again with dad.

 Getting on the "magic carpet" on his first day of lessons:

Figuring it out:

Practicing "pizza" with his class (headed by a teenager named Ethan):

And on the lift for the very first time. All by himself! With NO RESTRAINTS! It made me a little nervous, I've got to admit.

But he looked pretty happy about it:

Heading down the "bigger" hill for the first time.

After the lesson Forrest thought he caught on quickly enough that he could go up with just dad for an afternoon, so Forrest got off work a little early and took Wyatt for a few hours. He was pumped to get some Dad and Wyatt time.

This time, he got a traveling companion on the ski lift:

And Forrest took a great video of him swooshing down the mountain. Those kids, they learn fast:

We have a big week ahead of us as well. Forrest's birthday, Jonas's birthday, and Ethan's Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday. I'm just proud of myself that I got two posts finished in the month of March. I have a feeling my next post won't be for a while. A huge crush of paper grading awaits. We'll see though: maybe I'll surprise myself and become super organized somehow. You never know!

A Bit About Everybody

So it's March now, and although it's still cold and snowy in Minnesota, today gave us small reason to hope. It's above 20 degrees, the sun is out, the snow is melting a bit. I felt so good about it I went and got a pedicure--just a spur of the moment pedicure. Funny to think that I'd never had a pedicure in my life until about 3 years ago; I didn't know what I was missing.

Anyway, do you want some more pictures of snow? Sure you do! I know that last month I posted a picture of our backyard after a big snowfall. But here's ANOTHER picture of our backyard after a big snowfall:

The latest big snowfall occurred (of course) when Forrest was out of town. During this winter of record-breaking consecutive below-zero days and SIX (yes, SIX) days out of school due to cold temps or snow, Forrest has visited Las Vegas, Florida and, next week, Arizona. The photo below isn't our house (thank goodness) but it is a picture of our neighbors' house, and the kind of snow blowing that Ethan and I got to do while Forrest was hanging out in Vegas. (Not that he hasn't done more than his fair share of snow blowing over the years. He totally has. But I reserve the right to complain when he's in Vegas in February.)

But enough about the weather. What about the kids?! Here's a rundown:

Ethan is possessor of the biggest news of late: he got accepted to BYU!

It's gotten so competitive in Provo that it's an honor just to be accepted. Such an honor that it seems near unto travesty to consider NOT attending BYU if you're lucky enough to get a golden ticket, but Ethan's still mulling over his choices. I think he's leaning BYU's way, but he has a few weeks until he needs to decide definitively. I have done my Mom-ly duty and made him sit down with me and make a nice list of pros and cons (which I dutifully broke up into columns using Microsoft Word, but then the columns kept getting messed up and when I'd type a "BYU Pro" it would end up in the "Utah State Pro" column--highly frustrating). We've done a financial analysis, talked to friends who've gone to both schools, and looked at majors. If anything, it's BYU's Media Arts program that I think Ethan's most excited about right now and could be the deciding factor . . . I mean, everybody knows a bachelor's degree in Media Arts is BIG BUCKS! Seriously, though, he's really excited about all the classes he could take in that major, and since he's already planning on grad school I don't feel the need to hyperventilate too much about a not-as-practical-as-mechanical-engineering major. Ultimately, though, it's up to him. I have to keep practicing saying that about my kids: It's up to him (or her, as the case may be very shortly). An interesting position to suddenly find myself in.

Elise has been busy with speech (as has Ethan, of course) and enjoys her new vocal coach, a very enthusiastic and supportive soprano named Corissa. Elise is planning to compete in Solo & Ensemble (I remember that!) and is exceedingly thrilled about heading to Utah in August to go to EFY at BYU with an old friend from South Jordan. It's almost her birthday--sixteen, I can hardly believe it. As I type, she's upstairs cramming for her finals tomorrow. Biology, Geometry, and History: the three hardest classes all have finals on the same day. I can hear her humming up there though, so it must not be too bad. Speaking of speech, here's a photo of Elise taken with her speech team. Doesn't she look sophisticated? True, she's still super psyched about How to Train Your Dragon 2 and saw Frozen in the theater four times with her friends . . . but she is growing up.

Jonas is growing up too. Want proof? I have the BEST proof ever. A couple of weeks ago the Stake YW hosted a Deacon/Beehive dance and it was just about the best dance ever. I think all youth activities should be geared toward 12 and 13-year-olds. They still care. They still try. And dances? Fugettabout it. These kids took their dance instruction exceedingly seriously. It was so fun to watch. Here's Jonas and the 12 and 13-year-olds of our stake learning the box step. Jonas is in the green and grey.

He's also having a great time in the middle school production of Seussical. He plays "Boy" and is a Who as well. I wasn't sure if Jonas would get the acting bug, but it looks like he's been bitten too.

Wyatt Dean has been bitten by a bug as well--the Rainbow Loom bug. And I admit it: I've been bitten a little bit too. Who doesn't like a challenge? When Wyatt got his Rainbow Loom I took it upon myself to learn the basics so I could teach him, and my initial effort turned out like this:

But I persevered through trial and tribulation, and my second attempt (much like Thomas Edison's 99th attempt at the lightbulb, or whatever it was he was inventing--the phonograph? the cotton gin?) was successful!

Since then Wyatt and I have made a number of designs--the Dragon Scale, the Twisty Wisty, etc. etc. Our most recent attempt was a snake attached to a necklace. It's totes awesome. Here's Wyatt, decked out in some of his Rainbow Loom finery:

And he's doing great otherwise: healthy and happy. Our Bubba. Love him.

And Forrest and I are doing are best to keep one step ahead of all the little demons nipping at our heels. Demons sound so negative, but I can't come up with another word so I'm going with it, even though most of the demons are just life demands and not minions of Satan or anything. Speaking of minions of Satan, though: today Forrest broke down and shrink-wrapped our raspberry bushes because the demon rabbits, who've grown fat and entitled on our neighbors' steady diet of carrot sticks thrown outside into the snow, broke through the protective mesh cover we were using and are just going to town on every stalk they can find. It pains my husband, watching them eat his raspberry bushes.

Forrest is also working hard teaching seminary and enjoying it. I think I made it a lot more complicated when it was my calling. I've been busy with Stake Young Women and I'm getting even busier. We have a big YW activity on Saturday, then we're in charge of our 8-stake Mormon Prom in May. Ahhhh! Give me strength. Then we're on to Girls' Camp and Youth Conference, not to mention ward conference visits. Keeps me on my toes. I do love serving with my friend Brooke though. Brooke is da bomb. Forrest's work is good (and overwhelming) and my work is good (and overwhelming). We both fall asleep immediately when we go to bed at night, although I try not to fall asleep before he does because I sometimes snore (so unladylike) but if he falls asleep first it doesn't bug him. It's the little things we do for our spouses, right? Force yourself to stay up five more minutes?

And now I need to go read over Elise's history paper before I turn her over to Forrest for Geometry review. And then Ethan will come home from his shift at McDonald's and we'll have family prayer and I'll clean up the kitchen and the mudroom which I feel obligated to clean up every night now that seminary is at our house and we'll all fall into bed tired, but hopeful. Why hopeful? Because Friday is the beginning of Spring break, then it will be birthdays, then it will be April, then it will be warm! Hallelujah!