Dancing with Daffodils

 I forgot that the Friday we got back from NYC we went to see Hoppers in the evening and it was okay. I feel like Disney movies have lost their magic lately and it makes me sad. It was kind of funny and I think pretty clever but it just didn't quite make it all the way. Saturday was busy and I spent four hours watching baseball since Curtis had a double header scrimmage. It was cold and windy and lonely but Curtis played well. I left during the second game to get Emma to a birthday party and take Joel home (who had come to spend the day with Brandon) and Josh came and watched the end then brought Curtis home.  Last week was a challenging one. Josh left on Sunday so after the linger longer I invited Michelle and her girls to come play games with us since Matt was gone too. It was a fun evening and I always love spending time with my favorite people.  The rest of the week was challenging because it was hard to talk to Josh at all with the time difference and his work schedu...

About a month ago I had been walking with Michelle and we were talking about our words for the year. My goal is to let go so I think about that often but my word for the year is gratitude. Every time I get stressed I try to relax and feel grateful for the many, many good things in my life. But Michelle's word for the year is celebrate and with that in my head, I went home and started researching. I had been wanting to take my kids to see Hamilton in NYC for more than a year but our finances just haven't allowed it. I regularly looked for hotels or tickets and everything was always so expensive. Plus it is nearly impossible to find a time for us to get away. With dance rehearsals every Saturday and now Curtis has baseball and Josh has class and Brandon had his play and now flag football, there is never a time where we are all free.  But, that day I was feeling like this was just an experience I really wanted to have with Lily before she leaves this summer and so thankfully, thin...

   March rolled in and we rolled on with Brandon's play. His school did Honk Jr. (story of the ugly duckling) and Brandon was the turkey so he was in all the barnyard scenes. He also was a frog for a short while to have more people on stage during a song but he looked a bit goofy and was therefore in the back because his face was all orange from his turkey make up while wearing all green. Anyway, he had rehearsal every day after school. I had gone one day to help monitor kids back stage and then Thursday I went and helped serve dinner and stayed for the parent preview. I'm always so impressed with how the show comes together. Friday Josh and I went on a date to see the show and then Saturday I was at the school all day selling tickets, helping with concessions and selling tickets again then watching the show with my family. Long day but now we're done with Evergreen theater and that makes me sad. But it was so sweet we had lots of friends come to see Brandon and also the ot...

 The last week of February was normal and good. Monday was a relaxing snow day. Everybody kind of just did their thing (only Lily and Brandon went out in the snow and only for about 30 min) and the Wiests still came over for piano since the snow was already melting. For the first time ever (thankfully) I had a piano student throw up during a lesson. Luckily Leisa was here to clean it up so I didn't lose it too. Then Josh sanitized everything and we kept going with piano lessons. We also had a nice family night that evening. Tuesday I went to Inklings at Michelle's house and then made a grocery list and taught piano lessons.  Wednesday was the gym and grocery store and it was good to catch up with Leisa about her trip to Puerto Rico. Then it was two grocery stores, making dinner, I took Emma to the orthodontist and then got three big kids out the door (with dinner and treats) to go to the temple. It is always a bit of a sacrifice but they all had a really good experience. Lily ...

 Last Friday night Lily got the email that she was accepted to BYU! It was so very exciting. We all expected her to get in but until it was official, I was uneasy. It was such a relief and now we can get planning. We have to figure out housing, getting her out to Utah the same weekend we were supposed to be in Rochester for my nephew's wedding reception, trying out for theater ballet company, registration and all the fun college life stuff plus all the financial part of it. It is a lot but so exciting! I'm so proud of Lily; she worked really hard to make BYU happen. She did NHS and has volunteered about 75-80 hours of her time over the past two years plus Spanish Honors Society and she was a freshman mentor and did Student Leadership Council. She has gotten perfect grades (not easy when you are often up late doing homework and have to get up early for seminary), she always goes to seminary, she has been a leader in our ward and stake and all while dancing 20 hours a week, plus ...