Another week down.............

(Historical recording--nothing profound--just life)  It was one of those weeks where every day had somewhere to go and things to get done and it all worked out--well, if you don't count the lack of many actual dinners (thank heavens for pot pies and other convenience foods).  A couple of times I didn't even see Gary from morning until night as we were busy doing our own thing.

Sunday after Church we headed up to visit Gary's sister, Vonette and her family.  Vonette is recovering from getting her tonsils out--definitely harder for adults than children.  We played our new game "Fruit Basket" which they liked.  As we drove up Ogden canyon there was a beautiful full moon just coming over the mountains.  I tried to capture it with my phone as we were driving but only got this:

Really--the moon was huge and gorgeous.  Just imagine a time you have seen a large, beautiful moon in the east sky!  That is what it looked like that night.

Monday I had a meeting at Jena's school in preparation for Jena's upcoming IEP.  It didn't go well, but we will see what the future brings.  Then I spent the next hour doing a phone conference about Ben.  He had spent the past few weeks in day treatment at the CRU as they changed his medication again.  He was discharged that evening.  The I picked up Jena and we headed up for skiing.

Although it was hazy and overcast on the west side of the mountains where we all live, there were blue skies and sunshine.  I spent the 2 hours she skied, studying and enjoying the weather and scenery.  I love having a reason to head to the mountains each week in the winter. Almost as good as going to the beach in the winter.

Tuesday, I spent at my internship and school while Gary ran Jena to Zone conference in South Ogden.  It turned out that they divided their mission on Tuesday and Jena is now part of the Farmington UT Young Church Service Mission with a new mission leader.  Then he took her to Institute that evening.

Wednesday and Thursday I spent at the NOJOs Conference.  Even after two days of classes, I don't actually know that the letters stand for.  However the conference was focused on prevention and treatment of sex abuse victims and juvenile offenders.  Some of it was very interesting and even a bit entertaining and some was just very hard and sad.  The world can be a very hard and difficult places for many people.

Gary was taxi man again, running Jena to the DI and Ben to an appointment and then later he was off for dinner and bowling with Allan.  I rushed back from Salt Lake to run Jena to Wonderwood for her reading and math class.

And Wednesday I was asked if I could do a presentation for an upcoming Relief Society Meeting. The theme is "Rejuvenate--mind, body and soul".  I am doing the "Mind" class.  Any one who has any ideas, please send them my way!

Thursday Jena was off to school and then work.  I had the conference and then back to DCFS to help with a supervised visit then finally to the grocery store for some long needed groceries before heading home.  I was able to get some homework done before we all headed to bed.

Thursday we had a new arrival to the Giberson family--Jarom and Starla Ipson had a new baby girl named "Dottie" for her two great-grandma's Dorothy and Donna.  Here she is with big sister, Evanie. Jarom is my sister Valerie's oldest son.

Friday--I did a little bit of housework and school before Gary and I headed to drop stuff off in Bountiful for UDSF and then to get Jena for Snowbasin Adaptive Ski Race Day.  Again the weather was perfect.  Gary and I had the timing and finish line duties.

Number 5 is ready to go!

On the way up on the ski lift with Suzy

The view down the hill from the finishing line.
Since we don't ski, we don't see this view very often.

Jena coming down the "bushes" course.

Jena got a second place medal in the rollers and a first place medal for the bushes course.  This picture was the cutest.

A mom made these balloon skiers for all of the skiers.  Isn't that so cute and sweet!  One of the most involved balloon figures I have ever seen.

On the way home we had to drop off Jena's skis to be "tuned". And on our way home, we got to go under the train tracks with a train crossing.  Gary and I are geeks about trains.  We love to watch them.

I am not a big fan of the snow, but it does make
for a pretty backdrop in photos.

Friday night we watched BYU Men's Volleyball (they are VERY good and currently ranked 2nd in the nation.)  They have not lost a set in 34 days.

Saturday is now housecleaning day for me while Jena and Gary head to the bowling alley for Special Olympic bowling.  The afternoon was spent doing homework, preparing for Cub committee meeting today, and running errands........

including taking Jena swimming with her friend, Kaitlyn.  They had fun as usual when they are together.

Rushed home to watch the BYU Men's basketball game (loss to Gonzaga :(  ) and right after it the Men's Volleyball game (won in three straight again ;)---they now haven't lost even a set in 35 days!) Amazing run!  That was four hours of TV sports but I am glad to have married a BYU fan as well (even though he likes to tease me about being a fan.)  We had popcorn and counting it as our date night.

And that is a wrap!  The week of February 21-27th is "in the books".  Hope your week was awesome, too.

Tracy Aviary and Wonderwood

The weather has been amazing this week and it continued through Saturday as we headed on a field trip to the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City with Wonderwood.  They have been studying birds so this was a chance to learn and see birds in person.

Here is our group.  It included about half the students at Wonderwood, parents and organizers and some peers.

Emily looking through a hole with her binoculars

They practiced their binocular skills on Wednesday so
Jena is using them here to look more closely at some owls.

Pelicans-
I wrote my first ever paper on pelicans.  It was in third grade and
I remember I chose them because it was the only animal I could draw at the time. 

Barney the Owl
His egg was saved by some miners who found it in a mine shaft.
Unfortunately the person who kept it didn't know about birds and Barney imprinted to a human rather than a bird.
He can fly and hunt but he sees himself as a human and doesn't relate to other birds
so he lives at the Aviary.

All the birds at the aviary are unable to live in the wild due to past injury or illness which has left them weaker or they come from situations where they weren't able to learn the right skills to live in the wild.

Jena and Maddie

Jena was nervous to go into the feeding cage with the birds.  But after a few minutes she relaxed and decided to hold a cup of blueberries for the birds to ear.  She did a great job and held very still and let the bird eat all of the blueberries.

While we were in the cage, one landed on my head.  Everyone loved that.  I got this self picture.  I heard some crunching but it wasn't until later than I discovered some seed shells in my hair. (Needless to say, I decided to take a shower before Gary and I headed to the temple last night.)

Emily and Jena

Our group had a tour guide who taught them (and me)  fun things about birds.  They got to touch feathers, bones, claws of different birds and even a skull of a turkey vulture.

 It has been a long time since I have been to the Aviary and they have really expanded and upgraded the exhibits.  I believe all of the birds are native to this area.  I loved these little black and white birds with very long red legs.  Isn't nature amazing--what is the point of long red legs except to bring beauty and diversity to our lives!

Can't wait to go again soon.

February Friday Fun

Friday we got to play with Scarlett for a few hours during the time that Scott's work and Chantel's overlapped.  Scarlett was happy to be here and showed off several little talents while she was here.

We played playdough:

Ben played for a while.  Not sure why they are all serious in this picture.

She then entertained us with doing three standing somersaults--two of them were perfect.  I assumed that she had been practicing at home because she did them without hesitation, but Chantel was surprised to hear about this new skill.  Silly girl.  Of course she won't share with Chantel later (although last night Chantel posted a little video of her doing a somersault on Facebook so she is still practicing.)

Then we headed outside.  The weather was gorgeous for a February Friday and we stayed out side for about 45 minutes.  I think I pushed Scarlett swinging for about 15 minutes straight before she wanted to walk around and jump on the trampoline.

Boots aren't the best for jumping but Jena managed it anyway.

Jena wanted Scarlett to sit on top of the rock in the front of our house but she wasn't quite ready to sit there without someone holding on.  She liked it.  We walked around the neighborhood while she stepped into every little snow pile she could find.

A few minutes after we got back in the house, Gary (Grandpa) asked if she wanted to go for a walk to deliver a computer down the street.  She was so excited to get in the stroller and head outside again.

In the middle of all of this fun, we were constantly amazed at Scarlett's developing speech.  She was trying to copy almost everything we said to her.  For the first time ever, she said "Ben" when he walked into the room.  She has been saying "NeNe" for Jena for awhile but she has been the only one Scarlett seemed to address.  That was changed to NeNee--and once "Jennee".  She is working on that "J" sound.

Today she also called me "Mama" when she wanted my attention.  Again it was the first time she has used a name to get my attention.  We were trying to coach her to say "grandma" when she called me mama without any luck.

We were outside visiting with some neighbors when Chantel arrived.  We walked into the house and started gathering her stuff. All of a sudden Scarlett got very excited and I thought she said "Gra--pa". She said it slowly and carefully.  I tuned around and there was Gary.  We all went nuts and Scarlett said it a few more times "Gra-pa".  She was clearly showing off for us all.  I think Gary is still basking in the glow of being the first grandparent addressed!  I guess our attempts to practice "grandma" worked out for Gary.

I love being a grandparent!  Already counting the days until I see Liam again--12 days--Niki--69 days--Scarlett-not sure but maybe Friday again.  And one of the things on my bucket list is to see all three of them together in the same room at the same time---hopefully sometime in 2017!!!

And back to Pack Meetings.......

I can remember talking to my friend, Robynn Thiot, years ago and making a plan to do a cub scout den in an inner-city school in Plano when "we were old".  That is a little hard to accomplish since I am in Utah and she is still in Texas, but I get to be involved in Cub Scouts again "when I am old".  As the Pack Committee Chair, one of my jobs is to help make Pack Meeting fun.

First job:  Organize and put on the Blue and Gold Banquet!

Here is our invitation but missing the cute border and the two clip art cub scouts.  As our ward is new and this was the third pack meeting that they have had, we decided to have a casual picnic in the park theme and play some getting to know you games with the group.

Welcome, Pack 830!

You are invited to the 1^st Annual

“Blue and Gold Banquet Picnic”

“GETTING TO KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU”

Thursday, February 18, 2016

6:30-8:00 PM  at our Church

FOR ALL CUBS SCOUTS AND THEIR PARENTS(including boys turning 8 in 2016)

Dinner will be served. Bring a blanket or camp chairs to sit on.

Unfortunately, I have my internship on Thursdays and that Thursday I was in Spanish Fork for a policy meeting so I couldn't leave early.  Instead, I gather everything together that I could and made a map with where I wanted everything.  Then Thursday afternoon Gary and some of the Cub leaders met and decorated for me.  That was weird not to be there but they did a great job.  It will be that way for two more months as we continue to have policy meetings on that Thursday.  Oh, well.

Getting ready for the Pack meeting to start

Flag ceremony to start our first Blue and Gold

We had each of the boys and the leaders make a poster to tell about themselves.
They turned out great and the boys loved showing their friends
the cool stuff on their posters.

We had French dip sandwiches, chips, carrots and green salad
AND root beer floats which were a big hit!

During our picnic, we had the boys stand on a stand in the middle of the "park" and had their parents introduce themselves and their scout.  They were instructed to say "This is _________ and one way he is awesome is ______________."  Most parents couldn't confine themselves to one thing.  It was so cute to see them talk about their son and the boys's were so cute--a mix of being proud and being embarrassed.  Since this is my first activity with the boys, I learned lots about them--if only I can keep it all straight!

After a skit and the awards, we divided into groups and did three game stations.  The den leaders were in charge of these and they were great.

Webelos:  I have never seen this before.  They divided into two teams and we given one half of a very long
Pixie stick.  On the count of three, they had to all eat the pixie stuff.  Then the entire team was done, then the leaders cut off the other end of the stick and they were to rush over, load it with beans and try to know over the tower of cups by blowing the beans.  I don't like pixie sticks and I can't imagine eating it quickly and then trying to blow beans.
It was a big hit and the boys loved it, especially because their parents were trying as hard as they are.

Wolves:  They tossed "Sponge Bob-Square pants" around the circle and first practiced each other's names.
Then they learned some of their interests and talents.

Bears:  They did "Minute to Win It" games
which are perfect for cub scouts and their parents.

We started at 6:32 and ended at 8:05 and had food and fun.  I think it was a success.  Another great thing was all of the cub leaders were highly involved and clean-up was done in less than 30 minutes.

Next month:  PINEWOOD DERBY   (luckily, I have a perfect source for that!)

Happy belated Valentine's Day or Presidents' Day---

any reason to have a celebration with family---or at least part of the family.

With the holiday, Gary didn't have his bowling commitment on Monday night and Jena is still on a break from Centerpoint until the next production so we decided it would be fun to have everyone over for dinner and to go swimming.  Of course, Tosha and family were out (of the country) and then Scott had to work....

Then at the last minute on Monday, Gary had to drive Mom Hall and his sister, Vonette and husband Gary to St. George.  They go down each February so Gary Kerr can attend a conference for work and they get to enjoy the warmer weather.  The Wednesday before they left, Vonette had to get her tonsils out.  At the time she assumed that it would be awesome to be resting poolside to recover.  However she is the main driver on distance trips and she was not ready for that task when Monday rolled around.  Gary drove them down, spent the night and then took a "interesting" Greyhound bus ride back home.  You meet interesting people on a bus and Gary had a talkative seat partner.

Back to our holiday gathering; So it ended up being the rest of us who had Rogo for dinner, played with the grandkids downstairs and then went swimming (Ben skipped the swimming part.)

Table ready for everyone to arrive--
Got the balloons for a cheap price after Valentine's Day...
unfortunately one of them was a pink and red "Happy Birthday" balloon.  It was
tucked in the Valentine balloon section and had a Minnie Mouse so I thought
it would be perfect for Scarlett.  I bought it, put it in the car with three other balloons, tied in on
a chair, then took it downstairs for Scarlett to play with it and STILL didn't notice
it was a birthday balloon until Jessica commented on it about 30 minutes later.
Proof that you see what you expect to see!

Scarlett loved the balloon anyway.

Jena and Liam

 After dinner, we headed to the Rush for swimming.  Scarlett had to hang on the bar before she went down the slide.  She has watched her parents do pullups on their bar at home so she is just following suit.

Both Scarlett and Liam love the water so it was fun to play in the pool with them.  Scarlett spent most of her time climbing the stairs and going down the slide.  Liam loved kicking and splashing around in the lazy river.

And of course, Jena loves the water as well.  She could swim all day and night.  I am sure that we will go again soon.

Mid-February ALREADY???

And 2016 is rushing along......

Jena is back on the ski slopes.  She is the one in the orange pants.  This past week, she went down on Becker which is a much larger hill and more difficult.  They took a couple of breaks but she did great. Terrie told me that when they took breaks they would sing songs from musicals.  They must have hit a wide range as Jena was singing songs from all types of musicals all the way home.  Unfortunately I don't know the words like Terrie and Jena do.

We were able to slip in a visit with Scarlett this week while Scott and Chantel grabbed a lobster and steak dinner for Valentine's day a few days early.  Scarlett wanted me to play with her in our little toy room under the basement stairs so that is what we did.  Ben joined us for a couple of minutes and took this pictures of us.  Suffice it to say, that it is much easier for Scarlett to stand up and sit down than it was for me.  However I loved it.  I love playing with toys and being silly and I also love just watching kids engage in their toys.  I am so glad to have grandchildren so I get to enjoy this part of life again.

And "simplifying" aside, I am so glad that I have saved so many of the toys the kids had over the years.  I love playing with them again.

Side note:  One of my friend's adult sons has taken her big box of legos and is trying to put them back into sets like they came in.  I can't imagine that as I look at our huge box of legos.  Hopefully our grandchildren are free-lance builders like Scott and Ben and don't want instructions on how to build something great.

Friday night, we had one of those nights with four possible activities.  I headed to Salt Lake for the Annual UDSF Volunteer Meeting and Dinner without Gary as he and Jena headed to the CenterPointe Theater for an evening dinner and program for all volunteers.  Jena missed two possible dances one in Ogden and one in Layton.  Can't do everything at once.

Another fun thing from this week is that my 2015 blog books have arrived.  Yes, 'books'.  When I was constructing the book, it turned out that I had over 1069 pictures within the blog for last year. The limit for one book is 1000.  So I divided it in half and made two books.  This is the first time that has happened since I started making the blog books in 2010.  Sorry you all had to scroll through so many pictures, but for Jena and I, we loved it this week as we remembered the many great things we did this past year.

Excited to see what 2016 has in store for us.  I am sure it will have adventure, good times and bad, times we laugh and times we cry.  There will be times we work hard and others where we play. There will be sickness and pain---but joy and health as well.  It will be life--and we are so lucky to be sharing it with each other.

Happy Valentine's Day

We hope that you are having a great day with your family and friends on this Valentine Sabbath Day. Gary and I "went out for Chinese" at our ward YW fundraising dinner at the Church last night.  And tomorrow.  Some of the kids and grand kids are coming over for dinner and swimming at the Rush. Sounds like a perfect weekend.

I got this pillow for Gary's birthday and added the two hearts for Valentine's.
Scarlett loved them because they are so squishy.
Although you can guess that this pillow says "I love you", Gary calls it the "Ivy-Leo-heart U" pillow.
So if you know a couple whose names are Ivy and Leo, send them to Target to get their own special pillow.
Silly, Gary!

Touches of Valentine's around the house
(So that I can remember where things go for next year!)

We might not always hand the blue rope light under the mantel for Valentine's Day.
Gary found it in some stuff and decided we needed to save it and hung it as a joke.
I think it is good to have a little blue around the house.  Too much red!

It is true, Gary, I love you MORE and Mostest and Forever!