This month has been a busy one for Clark. On the 4th he turned 9 years old. That day we had a swimming party at the Dimple Dell Rec Center for his friends, and then another party that night with our family. It sounds silly, but it's true, that I can't believe my "baby" is 9 years old!
In Cub Scouts at the Blue and Gold Banquet, he earned his Wolf badge and graduated to the Bear Den. And to round out the month, his class had their class assembly where he got to be a "reporter" and give a report on Georgia O'Keefe. He did all the research and the poster with very little help.
The next birthday we celebrated was Alan's Aunt Shirley. We all met over at The Wellington and had a pizza dinner in the special dining room that can be reserved for special family occasions. She loves having a place to entertain people. She has now been in assisted living for over a year and is really happy there. She has made a lot of friends and seems to be in pretty good health, so we feel blessed that she is having such a great life.
This year Elliot has been playing for the Waterford 6th grade basketball team. He has really enjoyed being on a school team vs. a Jr. Jazz team and has had a great coach. This past month their team took the Region Championship. It was very exciting! Click the video link above to see some real action (Elliot is #13 -- he throws the ball in to start the action).
The final birthday of the month is always mine, and this year it landed on President's Day. So, the kids were all out of school and Phillip was up here from BYU so I decided it would be fun to go downtown to the Legacy Theater and see the new movie about Joseph Smith. As always, our church does a wonderful job with their films and their displays. After we saw the movie, we went over to Temple Square and visited the two visitor centers. It was fun to see all the impressive stuff they have to tell people about our church.
That night Loren and Alan prepared Chicken Marsala for my birthday dinner and then we did the present thing. And of course we did do the singing thing. It was a great day -- especially because I knew that it was really our last day of being together as a family because Phillip had school Tuesday and Loren would be leaving on his mission Wednesday. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.
So, the day finally arrived and we took Loren down to the Missionary Training Center in Provo. It was a happy sad time. Of course we are thrilled that he has decided to serve a mission, but we are also sad not to have him around. We had a great six months with him living back at home with us. We particularly enjoyed all of his culinary creations. I'm sure his missionary companions will be thrilled to let him cook for them. We have had one letter and he seems to be doing well. He is excited to be learning Spanish. For my part, I am turning into a "mailbox mom," since we don't know when his next letter will come.
The Other Kids
Phillip is very busy with a new semester at BYU. He is working on some wonderful, but very time-consuming graphic design projects. He has moments of panic and stress, but manages to get everything done and turned in on time.
Tess and Madeleine are preparing for finals and looking forward to our 2-week spring break. The weather has been crazy here with winter storms one day and then high temperatures the next with my crocuses blooming in the front yard, and then here comes another snow storm. It is really confusing those of us who like to dress for the weather!
I got a new digital camera for my birthday and have had fun using the video option to capture things that are hard to photograph. I probably overdid things, but I've been having fun and that's what counts, right?!