February Happenings

February flew by and I need to document all that happened before it is forgotten. I tried downloading pics from my phone to keep with my pics on my computer, and hopefully this year will be more organized!

Ashley had a lot of fun with friends. She is always going to some party and SO badly wants to have a phone of her own to text all of her friends.

She brought Gabby to one of Jerrica’s basketball games and they were “chosen” to keep the clock, maybe a new job for the future.

We kept the kids’ mailboxes stuffed with goodies and notes from the first until Valentine’s Day. One day after school the little girls helped me do origami hearts out of five dollar bills for the mailboxes. I was a little bothered when the kids quickly unfolded them to stick the money in their wallets, but I guess you can’t hand a cashier a fancy origami heart.

We had our annual fancy chocolate fondue party with the kids’ photo books for Valentines. Those books are always a labor of love, but I sure enjoy those sweet faces as they carefully look at each page. I printed a paperback book to send to Jacob in Mexico. Stephen surprised me with an InstaPot and favorite treats.

Lots of trips to Great Wolf Lodge with the kids and their friends. Nathan works there and is always quick to hook us up with passes. He even took his friends one day. Stephen had a member of his team die during February. Stephen had called me from work emotional that this young man had died the night before. We both talked about how quick life can pass by. When I got off the phone I drove to the school with swimsuits and pulled all of my high schoolers out. I told them we were going to go play at Great Wolf. We ended our afternoon with a special treat at a restaurant, but the real treat was spending the day with them!

We saw quite a few movies. I really enjoyed Hidden Figures!

Nathan got an amazing patriarchle blessing. Everyone was crying. The Stake Patriarch said "I have given over 200 blessings and I can say this man is one of the most special that I have been given the privilege to bless.” Oh how we LOVE Nathan! I too think that he is pretty incredible!

We have had a very mild winter, like not much snow at all. However, one day was very frosty and crisp. Everything was white!

Lots of basketball games for the month of February. I will have to highlight a few of my favorite pics in another post. Jerrica’s teacher from last year LOVES Jerrica, like in the way that she still gives her sweet notes and gifts. They are Harry Potter nerds together. Anyway, she usually takes tickets at the door for the basketball games and Jerrica curls right up beside her to help. I almost enjoyed watching them giggle and talk more than I enjoyed watching the games. I would always text Ms. Kane to send Jerrica over to me so that she wouldn’t be bugging her, but she would always beg to let Jerrica stay and keep her company.

The girls had New Beginnings at church with a Wizard of Oz theme. It blows my mind that Ashley will turn 12 this year and be part of Young Women! The big girls also had a fun youth conference at the Broadmoor building during the month of February. I am always grateful for the little uplift that the talks and activities are for my children spiritually.

This month was also filled with ward conferences that kept me busy. It was weird how I longed to be sitting with my own family in the chapel. There is just something about being together as a family, and with mine growing so fast I know my time is ticking.

Also this month, everything broke and stretched our budget a little further than it’s used to. However, there were blessings mixed in with all of it and our outlook changed on certain things. Our old neighbor came to fix our oven. He has an appliance repair business. I took one look at him when he came to fix it and knew that he would die in my house. He has leukemia and his color was so ashen and his weight loss was so unbelievable. He couldn’t walk on his own. We cried together as he talked about probably not making it through the summer. I thought of my problems and it put them right back into perspective.