February 2016 update!

February highlights for our family:

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!

GPa Rod and GMa Deb visit Ridgecrest!

Our Spring Break 2015 started out in the best possible way last Thursday night!  Grandpa Rod and Grandma Deb rolled into town and greeted Rhiannon and Wade as they came home from piano and basketball practices.  Our vacation had begun!

The weekend was nice and low-key.  We did many fun things with our special visitors:

--had lunch at a new food truck called The Dog Haus near Leroy Jackson Park, 

--ate dinner at Red Bowl (Asian food), 

--enjoyed a visit from the Easter Bunny, 

--took a trip out to the Indian Wells Brewery and got a TON of sodas, 

--took walks, 

--played a lot of board games, 

--listened to piano "recitals" from Rhiannon and Wade

--broke in Grandpa's new Kia (REALLY NICE CAR),

--listened to some of General Conference,

--had a great Easter dinner and conversation with Howard and Sandi,

--watched movies and TV,

--watched some exciting NCAA basketball games,

--and r-e-l-a-x-e-d.

Grandpa and Grandma were really good sports about our 4-legged family members, too.  We are pretty sure Oscar fell in love with Grandma because he became her permanent shadow around the house!

Thanks for a lovely visit--we enjoyed every minute of it!!!!

The Round Rock Sheens visit Ridgecrest!!!

Boy, oh boy, we were happy to have the Round Rock Sheens for a quick visit this past weekend!  Amy and the kids had been in California for almost a month; Logan joined them and they made their way down to us via Yosemite.  They only stayed a night and had to leave in the morning to get to the Grand Canyon, but we were happy to spend time with them!

Love you, guys!  Thanks for making the drive down!

Will really liked those "dog houses!"

Abby was up early and helped me with breakast!

Sibling pic--love this guy and his family!

Wade and Collin played some Wii and Need for Speed

Amy and Olivia--glad Amy could sleep in a little bit!

Playing in Rhiannon's room

Collin was so good with the dogs!

Say cheese!

Evan had a great time playing the Playmobil Pirate ship--glad we still had that thing!

Girls being silly!

Hurray for girl cousins!!! :)

I could not get enough of this--so funny!

Round Rock Sheens in Ridgecrest!

THANK YOU FOR COMING!!!  We love you!

Who's at the door?

 

A couple weeks ago there was a knock at the door.  "Who could that be?" I asked with a sheepish grin.  It was my brother Brant, who'd driven up from Anaheim on a business trip.  I'm kicking myself for not capturing the look on everyone's faces when he walked in--it was a complete surprise, even from Jason, who hadn't gotten my cryptic email the day before to "warn" him. :)

 

It was a short, very sweet visit--we had dinner, visited, showed off Oscar, and then we all hit the bed trail for school in the morning, work, and Brant's need to get on the road by 6:30am to get to Ontario for more business meetings.

 

I hope Brant knows how much his surprise visit meant to us--we loved that time with him and really appreciate the fact that his time driving was longer than the time we actually got to spend with him!  That's dedication! :)  Love ya, Brant!

 

 

It really doesn't get too much better than this!

On Saturday, November 5th, 2011,  Wade Cushing got baptized and confirmed!  We are so proud of him for making the decision to become an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a wonderful day, made even better with lots of family and friends coming out for it!  I'll write more about it later--my heart is too full!

California relatives!

Labor Day weekend FUN!!!

Derrick, Traci, Max, and Maggie braved fires and horrendous traffic last Friday on their way up to Ridgecrest.  We were so happy they arrived safe and sound!!!  Recently they moved to Anaheim, California for Derrick's training with JCPenney.  It's REALLY cool to have relatives in the same state, however temporary! :)

Top 12 Favorite DTMM moments, in no particular order:

1.  Swimming

2.  24/7 watch on Maggie, who sure liked our stairs! :)

3.  Watching Wade and Max play light sabres outside

4.  Apples to Apples

5.  Pizza Hut night

6.  Not one, but two Rook games--it had been a very long time since we'd played, and it was fun!

7.  Picking up Max from Sunbeams and hearing him say bye to his new fans:  "Bye, little girls!"

8.  Derrick and Traci's cool garage sale finds

9.  Time at the park

10.  Traci earning Best Aunt award after taking Wade and Rhiannon to WalMart--she let them look all over the store and was SUPER patient with them!

11.  Ward breakfast on Labor Day

12.  More fun Labor Day afternoon, swimming and barbecuing with D, T, M, and M, Sandi, and McLain and Melissa and their kids

I'm sure there were more, but those were some of MY favorites! :)  We love our favorite California relatives and had a great time making memories with them!