Mar and Apr

 Hooray! It is finished. I said it had to be off the ping pong table by Alex's bday, and it was. Brothers don't think it is manly enough for their man cave, but really it is the family game room, not a man cave. ;)

 Our 3rd grade astronaut.

 Just the usual school production. M didn't want a speaking part; just singing for her.

 The MOON!

 Park day with Meg and Felicity.

Stephanie Nguyen and I love this place. We have found the perfect combination. Steph expects we'll be eating here anytime we run on my side of town. Green Smoothie bowl (with strawberries instead of mangoes) here we come!

 Sewing up some owls.

 Coach Dan and his dolphins. (Check out the sweet hair bows I made for the team. The bows weren't too tricky, but those glitter letters were another story!)

 Macey is an awesome defender!

 March madness trip. Two guys, going to AZ for male bonding!

In front of big screens.

 Spring time!

 My twin sewing students. They dress alike, but they make very individual sewing choices. Love to see their personalities come through in their work.

 While Dad and Alex were gone, I took Ry and Macey to this park (oh and Lucy and Mike came along too). They enjoyed zip lining over and over again.

 Spring break fun with one of her besties. It was a hot 67deg this day!

 Soccer sunset!

 Monopoly, ya'll!

 The price of leaving part of his uniform at home. Band concert attire selfie with mom!

 Piano practice. Some days go better than others! Always better if you're wearing a hat.

 A day off from school took us to the arcade, Free Play, with the D's.

 These boys are getting as big as men!

I can tell you I was feeling pretty macho driving the truck around full of rocks! These are the Eagle Project rocks the kids can paint.

Well, here is Eagle Project try and fail day one. This fail wasn't Alex's fault, but the weather's. We were there about 30 min when the tornado sirens went off. Inside we went to hunker down. Once we got the all clear, the police told us to go home (they were just there for security). Which we did. And when the hail started falling 30 min later, we were glad the truck was safely stored in the garage!

 Next attempt is this Thursday. Sure hope it works out. Just $200 folks!

 Owls all done!

 Concert day! So, after a hard trip to Salt Lake on the volunteer front, I laid low all fall. Just did my bit here and there. This semester the Youth Choir Manager (who has become a dear friend!) asked me if I would be one of her assistants just to ease her load a bit. Because this woman is amazing and has given 4 years of her life to DMCO, I said yes. It wasn't a large burden I took on, but it was a task I enjoyed, and it helped Jenn. One perk, I don't have to be holed up in a room with 100 tired, noisy, cranky kids backstage. I had to make sure 300 youth arrived and departed safely, but that was much easier on my nerves! (But not on my step count! Allen Performing Arts center must be 10 acres!)

 Another perk, was crossing paths with Stephanie! This lady is a great person and I'm thankful that our friendship has survived the Frisco move. LOL!

 Bless my husband, he always take great pictures while I'm just sitting there enjoying the view!

 Macey is in the second row next to the boy in the middle. (They all look alike in the uniform, which is the point, but it makes it hard to find your own kid!)

 Our singer!

Our hero. He watched both concerts. They were both 2+ hours, so that is no small feat. I joined him for the first one, and Alex joined him for the second one.

 Bluebonnets! Jo and I out for our 10K steps!

 I chaperoned Ryan's band trip to Sandy Lake Amusement park. As Dan knows, I don't take great photos. Here is the band warming up, but Ryan is behind Mr Smith so you can't see him.

Ryan is in the front row with the red hat. They earned a 1 (which is like an 'A') from the judges. And they also won best band of the day! Which is very cool. The kids enjoyed the junk food, rides and free time! The weather was great, so I didn't mind hanging out at the park either.

Whoops! Missed the 1st quarter entirely! Jan, Feb

It is April (almost May actually!) and I haven't blogged since Christmas. There is always something going on over here, but getting all the photos and the stories together at the same time is a challenge! I am so thankful for my beautiful family. I am truly, enormously, amazingly blessed for the folks I get to see day in and day out. I love them and thank the Lord for sending them into my life! So, let's go back to the beginning of the year and see what has been going on around here....

 Grandma and Grandpa came for Ryan's ordination. Here Grandma is helping to color the giant lama coloring page Macey got from a friend for Christmas.

Fall always happens while we are gone for Christmas. The whole family got out and raked leaves!

The yearly rosca with the Contreras. Always a good time with them.

Ryan's ordination day! Our bunch gets taller and taller... Funny story; I had ward council this day and was in knee deep with the bishopric all morning. When it was time for ward business to sustain Ryan, the gentleman conducting forgot to do it. Dan and Bob turn to me and say 'what about Ryan?!' So I have to jump up and go to the front to remind them to sustain Ryan. It was just so funny that I became the messenger. They proceeded to sustain him following the passing of the sacrament, so it was fine. 

Now, we are a white shirt and tie family, not a suit family (excluding Bob) so it was funny to see these guys all grab suit jackets and dust them off for this special day. They are handsome no matter how they dress!

Trombone love.

We met up with the D's to watch Nico play hockey. It was, of course, cold there. These two decided to share a jacket to keep warm!

Hank sporting a sweet 'stache.

 Alex and a friend were invited to play the trumpet for a ward member. He was making a background recording of Ring of Fire for when he does gigs and needed some trumpet sounds!

Cub Scout fun. I was a backup den leader for one whole year. I just finally called someone to replace to me. But before that was over I got to share my wood burner with the Bears. Suzanne is an awesome scouter and I'm super blessed to have served with her.

Trip to the mall with Megan.

This is Laura. She is one of my sewing students. I started teaching sewing lessons after Christmas. In Nov I decided that for Christmas I would give Macey a sewing box filled up with supplies and start teaching her a few skills. A short time after that decision a friend of a friend asked if I could teach her twins to sew. Funny that! Then I was telling Laura's mom about the turn of events and she jumped on the chance too. So now I have 3 students plus Macey. I just (in April) made a Facebook page for sewing lessons and camps for summer. We'll see if anyone else is looking for the same opportunity for their kids.

A girl and her dog. We were watching the Olympics while sister wasn't feel to great. It was a Saturday morning and Macey asks how long are the Olympics. 2 weeks. 'Oh, are we only watching that...' I think she wanted a turn at the controller. :)

Puppy valentines box. M didn't really want my help with the project. I only suggested a few things, but she did a great job on her own.

Alex has finally started on his Eagle Project. Step one, fund raising. Our family has donated enough funds to get him started. Now we need to finish collecting the last $200 or so to finish it up. Here Alex is presenting his idea to the kids and asking them to put money in a collection jar.

Ryna probably won't want much recorded about this surgery. He was having some birth defects corrected in his male anatomy; the easy answer is that it was for hernia prevention. Needless to say, abdominal surgery isn't fun, so this wasn't exactly a party.

However, there was some messing around. He had nothing to eat or drink all day. His surgery was supposed to be at lunch time, but instead it was at 3pm. 

I had to leave to take care of Macey. Dan was the best nurse and was with Ryan all along the way on this journey. He was a great support to Ryan.

One silver lining is that the only thing he was really capable of doing was sitting and watching screens. He powered through the discomfort to sit at his desk. He is still healing at this time, but doing great.

Our teenager turned 15! He had some guys over on a Saturday, but it was actually kind of lame. He got Spikeball, which is going to be awesome on his beach trip with the band. One great moment for him was when we went to dinner that night. We went to Fudruckers, his favorite burger place. As we were getting our drinks, a table full of girls from school noticed Alex. They wished him a happy birthday, which was super nice. About 10 min later these girls sang Happy Birthday across the restaurant to him. Alex was mortified! But we thought it was cool of them. :)