Wade ate a cookie that had walnuts in it, which after about an hour required an Epi-pen shot and a follow-up to emergency room. He was doing great after about an hour and a half. I was the one who told him the cookie was okay. :/
Spoiled by Jason on Valentine's Day! Later that week we had a delicious dinner at Bahay Kubo, a new Filipino restaurant in town.
Me, after pulling weeds in the garden for 3 hours yesterday. Felt so good to feel some warmth outside!
Wade and his friend Katie got a Superior rating at an Ensemble recital at the high school. They did a fantastic job!!
Part 1 of a note Rhiannon left for me to find in my journal! Love!
Part 2 of love notes from Rhiannon
Great quote that I read this month. I love that--"gratitude is the gentle power that restores courage."
Rhiannon had some fun on Valentine's Day up at school. She handed out cute Valentine's to friends that had tattoos in them.
Rhiannon with her friend Marisa. These two beautiful girls get dinner together every week.
A few other big highlights to mention this month:
--Jason, Wade, and I enjoyed a ward temple day last weekend and spent time in the baptistry with our youth group. We had such a huge turnout that we could only do 2 or 3 baptisms per person. My favorite part was watching Wade and four other new Priests perform baptisms for the first time.
--Wade has really packed it in this month. I asked him if he was worn out, and he said, "Not really, because they are all things I want to do and I'm having fun." Some of those fun things this month included a band trip to Disneyland, a trip to Six Flags with a friend, and starting golf at school and going to 4 practices a week after school. Just yesterday alone his day looked like this: lawn jobs, golf clinic, gun shooting with Dad and a friend, board games at another friend's house, birthday party after that, and going to a late 9:15 showing of Green Book with me that night.
--Rhiannon got a new roommate and also found a new job this month. She has two more shifts at the cafeteria and then starts her new job as an office assistant in the College of Education next week. She was SOOOOOOOOOO happy to get that news! The cafeteria job has not been fun, but we are sure proud of how she's given it her best.
More Crossfit for Jason
Drumline and Jazz band for Rhiannon
Subbing here and there for Ver
Piano ensemble recital for Wade
4-Day Presidents' Weekend and Valentine's Day with the Houston Sheens here!
Another blood drive for Ver
Jason and Wade running together
Rhiannon and Wade preparing for ward missionary open house
The usual: Scouts, Mutual, fun with friends, early morning seminary, lots and lots of homework, church callings, orthodontist visits, work, Ragnar preparation, misc. meetings, etc
It's been a surprisingly fast month for us all!
Tomorrow will be a busy day, too. Wade will go to the stake's Youth Service Day, a community event cleaning up around the stake center. Jason will go for a run and oversee garden prep when we get a load of manure delivered. Rhiannon has a master piano class. And both kids will be participating in the open house at the church.
All we can say is....TWO MORE WEEKS UNTIL SPRING BREAK!
I have been stressed out the past couple weeks over "first world problems," particularly the neighborhood dog that consistently wakes me up with its barking between 4-4:40 am (I guess I should be grateful that no one else in my family hears it?), school calendar woes (our academic calendar for next year is RIDICULOUS), and our ward's Scouting program. I'm feeling better about things today, but it's a slow process coming to grips with the very irrational feeling that I need to fix everything. As soon as I let that go, I start to feel better and my neck/shoulders don't feel as tense. But I'm not gonna lie--it's been rough for me! I haven't been sleeping well--a sure sign that I need to chill out because anyone who knows me knows that sleep is usually NOT a problem for me, haha!
Some pics from the last couple weeks:
Derrick, Traci, and their kids Max, Maggie, and Moses rolled into town over Presidents' Weekend, and we had a lot of fun with them! Adults went on a double date Saturday night (Vietnamese food and Baskin Robbins), we got some walks and shopping in, boys shot guns, we played at the park, ate good food, and checked out Classic Burger and the Indian Wells brewery together, too. It was a fast, fun couple of day!
Wednesday mornings we have an extra 30-40 minutes before school starts. It's been nice. One day I took the kids to Starbucks with me to help me use my birthday gift card that a kind neighbor gave me. You should have seen us newbie-Starbucks Mormons in there. We had no idea what we were doing, haha! We got some delicious hot cocoa and enjoyed baked goods, too.
During my big "Minimalism Game" clean-out, I got rid of a lot of unused items but also found some beautiful treasures. This Hungarian tablecloth was one Jason and I picked up on our anniversary trip back in 2007. So lovely!
JASON IS THE BEST!!! He got me and Rhiannon gorgeous roses for Valentine's Day. So thoughtful!
Another Wednesday morning pic. Love these cute kiddoes of ours--they are growing up fast!!!!!
Wade with his friend Tucker Anderson and piano teacher Melanie McDonald. Wade and Tucker did a great job on their fun duet!
Just one of many gorgeous sunrises this month. Most of the pictures on my phone are sunrises or sunsets, haha!
After Willow Springs, we continued our family Valentine's Day experience!
In-and-Out was the unanimous choice for lunch, and then we drove to Ontario. First stop was the Ontario Mills mall which was SUPER CROWDED but fun. The stop at Ghiradelli's at the very end made it all worth it--thanks for the chocolate, Daddy! Wade bought a Lego set, Rhiannon bought a shirt, and we all enjoyed Bath and Body Works, haha--we desert rats are pretty easy to please. :)
Then we went to an Ontario Reign hockey game--it was a ton of fun! The Ontario Reign won in a shoot-out against the Alaska Aces. It was a nice arena and ticket prices were decent--we'll have to go again sometime!
It was a long, busy, fun day. We drove home that night pretty quiet, basking in the memories we'd made together. So thankful!
Oh, and before I forget, since we weren't going to be home on Valentine's Day, Jason surprised Rhiannon and me with flowers the day before, on Friday. So thoughtful and sweet! And those flowers bloomed and stayed beautiful for a solid 3 weeks later!!! Love you, babe! Thank you!
Why did it take me almost a month to blog about this incredible weekend? Probably because there's SO MUCH to tell!
On Valentine's Day we had an all-day family adventure. Adventure #1 was watching Jason drive some sweet cars down at Willow Springs in Rosamond. He'd been there once before to drive his own car, but for his birthday present to himself, he bought a couple Extreme Experience packages and drove some FANCY cars that day instead. (website for more info: Extreme Experience)
He drove his long-time dream car, a GT-R, but he fell in love with the Porsche 911 GT3!!!
SO FUN! The picture below accurately portrays Jason's time there that day, hahahaha!
I have a feeling that Jason will do this again some day. A perfect way for our favorite dad/hubby to celebrate his 40th!
Jason super-spoiled his girls for Valentine's Day! He brought home beautiful flower bouquets on Thursday afternoon that Carin Miles had put together, a talented friend in our ward. It's been over a week and most of the flowers are still going strong and blooming. Love!!! Thanks, babe!!!!
Jason explained to Wade that his Valentine was the golf outing and lunch they'd done the weekend before. Wade was cool with that. :) I did paper heart attacks on the kids' bedroom doors and Jason's desk. But I don't think the flowers can be topped!
