Road Trip to NAU

Dave & Rylee headed out on a road trip checking out NAU in Flagstaff AZ.  How did this happen?  I am not really sure how she got old enough for this road trip.  They headed out really early way to early for me.  Rylee said way to early for the first day of Spring Break.  

They found a yummy breakfast.
Both quickly told me not so much.

They found the college and the admission office in plenty of time for the tour to start.

Rylee loved the school and the whole college experience.  Then it started to snow.  Her smile dimmed just a little and wished she had brought warmer clothes.  She is now excited for this new adventure to begin.  Me not so much.  I am glad that this is still over a year away.  This way I will have the time to figure out how to slow time down.

They were both really exhausted by the time they got home.  They both had to get rested up before our next road trip as a family.

Fast and Furious February

After a busy January what should I have expected but a fast paced February.  It started with the Super Bowl and Dacoda's 15th Birthday.  Followed by Valentine's Day, birthday parties, class projects, and last but not least the ACT for all Juniors in the district.  

Here are a few side notes pictures...

Dacoda's Birthday
His own iPhone

Paint job gone wrong at work.
How do you change Vednor to Vendor???
Who has the white out?

Hanging out with Dad in the garage.

Ginger tagging along.

Happy Valentine's Day
Who doesn't love a Kit Kat Bar

Ryder & Friends
Reegan's Birthday Party.

Crazy boys enjoying
yummy cake.

I am exhausted already and we are only 2 months into the year.  March is knocking at the door and it's not quiet but roaring like a lion.

2nd Time...

How much do you love me?  Means to me Mom can I do something scary.  Reganne has asked over the couple of years if she could get her ears pierced again?  The answer was always after soccer season.  When soccer ended I thought those plans had been forgotten.   Surprise!!! she remembered and really started begging.  More begging until we finally agreed that she could do it but had to take extra care not to let them get infected like last time.

Tuesday night the mall is empty except for the crazy girls with me.

Getting ready

Done!!!
Love that smile!!
That means success.

Silly girls!!

Support Group

They all had fun shopping for earrings and giving their opinions on what looks good.  Ended the night with a stop at Swig for a drink.  I am glad that they came along to cheer and to give moral support.

WCSD SUPAF 2019

Another reminder that the school year is over half way over.  The middle school choir was getting ready to perform at SUPAF.  Reganne has been working hard on the songs Mr. Woolfe chose to perform.  This was going to take the place of an evening concert this quarter. 

Taking a late lunch to attend I ended up a little too early.  There weren't many any in audience so I didn't have to fight for a seat.  They sounded amazing!!!  For a smaller group they were able to fill the auditorium with magic.

Looking good

Sounding great from
the back row.

Dang stage lights.
She is on the second row on the end.

Love the dress
and her choice of shoes.

She has great fashion sense.  She looked amazing and so grown up.  One quarter left until this girl becomes a freshman.

CVE Choir Concert

I am not sure how the end of the 2nd trimester happened already.  It has and with it comes a choir concert and SEP's for all the kids.  This time wasn't a surprise the director and helpers sent home notes and emails with dates and times.  I was prepared. 

We even arrived early enough to get a aisle seat.  Thank goodness since the family in front of me were all tall.  I had to stretch to get any pictures.

Great group

Waiting to start...

This looks like trouble getting
ready to start.

They all settled down and put on a good show.  I love the actions and all the songs they having been working on.  Most of all I love their smiles.  

After their performance I was reminded that there is only 1 1/2 months left of choir.  How did this happen??

Introducing...

Donald the Duck the newest member of our family.  Rylee's Animal Science Class had a unit on what it takes to hatch chickens & ducks and take care of them.  Once they hatched the kids with permission from parents you can take them home.  There was a good chance that they wouldn't hatch.  Rylee is really smart and got Reganne & Ryder on board with her.  They all agreed to help to take care of it and I wouldn't need to do anything.  All that was left was to wait...

Waiting...... The email finally arrived on President's Day that the eggs have hatched.  Now the fun begins.

Donald
3 days old

Introductions
Not sure if this is a good one or not.
Waters Stand Off

New House

Custom built
by these 2 boys

One minor problem that they built the sides out of cardboard and with the heat lamp it began to smoke a little.  Not good to have fried baby duck.  Dave found a good cage with a built in pool and feeder.  

He or she (to early to tell) is growing like a weed and loves meal worms, strawberries, bananas, and grapes.  The dogs aren't sure what to make of him.  He is very noisy and had to be moved out of Rylee's room to another spot in the basement.

2 weeks and counting.... Will we all survive??

Winter Weather

Sunday afternoon the clouds start rolling in and the rain starts.  The weather reports are predicting snow this week.  How right will they be?  We will have to wait and see....

Sunday Night...the rain was slightly white

Good Morning!!!
That is a lot of white.
3 inches to be exact.

The kids weren't excited since it wouldn't be a snow day since there wasn't any school due to it being President's Day.  I was a little freaked out about driving in it.  Once we made it to River Rd and it was just wet.  I felt really stupid not driving myself.  Usually the snow melts as soon as the sun appears.  It wasn't too sunny.

Neither dog was to sure of what to do
with all the white stuff.

There was another storm headed our way and it was supposed to be another doosey.  Wednesday was going to be awful.  The college cancelled their after school program for Ryder due to possible bad roads.  They had just doomed the storm to fizzle out.  Weather.com kept moving the arrival back until is was only showing clouds.  However, by 6:00 it started to rain and quickly turned slushy.  There were still errands to run and kids to pick up.  We all made it home safe and sound.  

Good Morning!!! School was going to be delayed 2 hours. We have another 3 inches of snow.  This time the weather station wasn't responding.  We had to use the old fashioned ruler to get out total. 

Dang!!!
Where are my bones

A little snowy.

They did love running around in it this time.  It continued to snow most of the day.   It wasn't until much later that the weather station thawed out and verified another inch of water.  3 inches of water in a week is a lot for the desert.  We are very grateful for all the water.  Instead of hearing about the drought this summer it will be all the flooding.  It seems were are never happy or satisfied.  The good news is next weeks weather reports are telling us that we will be in the 60's.

CSC Final Countdown Swim Meet

It is the final meet of the short course season and it is in Cedar City.  The weather forecast wasn't looking very promising for Friday travel.  Lucky for us Becca was able to schedule all his events on Saturday.  This was going to be a just for fun meet and work on his times.  He has already qualified for a relay team at JO's but has to wait for other 11 year old boys to qualify in the club.  This was going to be hard with on 3 boys that age.

Let's have some fun....

Warm ups

Trying to snag a picture
from this angle was difficult

Timing Sheet
Dave & I ended up timing since
they were short 6 spots.
This also means no fun pictures behind the blocks.

Snowy picture for Talon
This was Ryder's reply when I asked him
Why?

The ice had melted.
Thank goodness!!!
I was sure I would slip and crack my head on
our way in this morning.

We had a great morning.  We taught Dave how to time which was a little stressful.  He is a perfectionist and doesn't allow himself time to learn.

The official times:

9B  Mixed 11-12 year olds 200 IM 1st Place 3.36.65

11B  Mixed 11-12 year olds 50 Freestyle  3rd Place 37.79

14B  Mixed 11-12 year olds 50 Butterfly  2nd Place 49.41

Goodbye short course until August!!!