Thanks to Jessica

for my new wallpaper with five grandchildren on it:

Scarlett and Niki (Left)
Liam, Zander, and James  (Right)

I LOVE IT!!! and she assures me that she will be able to make me a new one when Baby2 Russell arrives next month.

Aren't they darling!!!

Hello, Spring!

Although we have been having some rain over the past few days, before that the weather has been gorgeous and included several record highs for March in the high 70s.  (And Thursday we had a record amount of rainfall in one day in March of almost 2" at the airport in Salt Lake.)

One day last week, I was opening my family room blinds and saw this--

I knew that spring was on its way.

I was determined to head outside at some point to see other signs of spring in my garden but life has been filled with other things.  I worked every day this week at The Children's Center including three days of training on a parent education program for our parents.  It was good but a lot of information for three days.  Evenings it was always dark by the time I could head outside.

I have a big school project due on Tuesday which I finished up yesterday morning (Whew!) and then we headed down to Provo to see Ben.

I saw some signs of spring there....the trees along the street into the state hospital were blazing white--just like in the famous "Popcorn Poppin'" Primary song.

through the windshield on a rainy day!

Not about spring--but we were able to go out to the Sizzler with Ben.

He got endless shrimp with his steak and had three extra baskets of shrimp.
Today when he called, he mentioned how great it was to eat shrimp again.

 Finally this afternoon I went out to take a look at my forsythia bush and found other signs of spring!

Spring is on its way!!!

I love the change of seasons (well, as you know, I am not a big fan of cold and snow but I guess it is necessary for the other three great seasons in Utah!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day (March 17th)

Dedicated readers of this blog will remember that Jena decided to be a leprechaun for Halloween so I convinced her to pull out her shirt and wear it for St. Patrick's Day.  Apparently it was a big hit at school!

and then it was ----Happy World Down Syndrome Day (March 21)!

I put a picture of Jena in her green shirt and this logo on Facebook.....

..with the following post: "Well the day is almost over, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to acknowledge all of the great friends and people we know with Down syndrome. March 21...3-21...was chosen to be World Down Syndrome Day as the number represents the three copies of the 21st chromosome which leads to Down syndrome occurring in people.

One question that I am often asked was did we search for a child with Down syndrome to adopt. And the answer is no. We were searching only for the right child for our family. That was Jena and she happened to have Down syndrome. And it was and continues to be a remarkable journey to travel my life journey with her. She dreams big, lives in the present, and cares about everyone. Life is a different pace than it would have been otherwise....I don't understand the details of the master plan of the universe, but Jena and others like her bless us as individuals, families and as humans. For that gift, I will be forever grateful."

And since this is about Jena, the day after World Down Syndrome Day, she went to the Bountiful Temple with the Davis County North Young Church Service Missionaries.  She did baptisms for the dead with many of the other missionaries.  Gary headed upstairs and was able to do sealings with some of the other missionaries who were endowed.

This is her last activity with the whole group as she will be released on April 15th.  What a sweet experience this has been for her and for us!  We are very sad to see it end.

A special box

When I came home on Wednesday, I had a box on my porch and this was what was inside. 

From my facebook post on March 15:  "This might really happen...walking on May 5 and finishing my classes on August 9th...a bit backwards but more opportunities to celebrate. This has been an awesome journey. Thanks to the great professors of Utah State and the best cohort in the history of social work! Go Kaysville-Utah State University."

It has been over three years since I decided to start this journey and almost 8 semesters later (and one to go), it is really hard to think that it is ending in August.  In the weird sense of time, it feels like I have been in school forever and yet it also feels like it went by so fast.  And this semester feels like it is dragging and August will never be here, but I am sure in a blink of an eye (and several hundreds pages of reading, papers, and a test or two) it will be done and then I will be a social worker.  I love learning and I think I could go to school forever (and I think we will in the eternities!).  However I started this path to improve my ability to help others and so that will be the next step--finding a place where I can make a small difference in someone's life---I know that all I have learned has made a difference in my life--and that is a good place to start.

Baby quilts...

Back in January when I called my "machine-quilt" person to take over Zander's quilt top, she told me that she could take the baby quilt on March 16th. I quickly added two more baby quilts--just to be save--and still barely got James's done in time to take with Zander's (good news is that she will take Baby2 Russell's quilt in 3 weeks and have it ready for me to take to Okinawa in May--now I just have to get it done!)

Here is Baby James's top.  A number of years ago, Scott had found a monster quilt online that he loved. However when finding it again, I realized it was too difficult for my basic skills.  Since my goal is for me to actually make the quilt, I didn't want to hire someone to make the more difficult monster quilt. But I found this cute monster fabric and made one monster face from the fabric. Hopefully it won't be too scary for James!

Two quilts done and one more to go.

A trip to Provo.....

We are making lots of trips to Provo for the past eight months to visit Ben.  This week I made two--one to attend the clinical with Ben and his doctor and then on Friday night for our first "off grounds" visit with him.  He had gotten permission to go to dinner with us.  Timing turned out a bit crazy with Jena having her last day of skiing and we also attended a wedding celebration for Karla's granddaughter Erin.  We got to run and pick up food at the Mall and Ben enjoyed just getting away from the hospital for awhile.  Hopefully we can arrange to do it again soon and do a sit down dinner somewhere.

As we were waiting to be picked up by Gary and Ben, I took this picture of the County Courthouse in Provo.  I told Jena that when I was at BYU as a student, I once planned a dance here for my dorm. It was when I was a sophomore and I went with some nice boy from my ward who I can't remember his name.  Oh, well!.  As I took the picture Jena said, "Another picture for the blog!" in a "roll your eyes" type of voice----she thinks she is so funny!

Of course behind us was the gorgeous Provo City Center Temple and I took a couple of night shots of it.

I wanted to include one final note from Ben.  He drew this picture and gave it to me a few weeks ago of a blueberry plant.  I like having that reminder of him on our fridge.

And these grandchildren keep growing....

I haven't seen sweet James for almost 2 weeks because my life has been so busy.  However Chantel senet this darling picture of the two kids---

James and Scarlett

They are having fun with these two little ones.

Jessica sent me this composite picture they created from the shots they took for their baby and gender reveal shots.

Top:  I am going to be a brother
Middle:  Big brother and Little brother shirts
Bottom:  Zander and Liam in their brother shirts

When the weather is better, they are going to take the bottom picture over again in our backyard so the back drop is the same.

We actually spent the night last night at Jessica's and Elessia's so got some extra grandma/aunt time. They are having car problems and the bus nor Jessica's coworker were available to get her to work at the right time.  We were trying to work out taking the car to her and getting it back when Gary suggested that we spend the night, so we did.  We got to play with the kids and go on a walk on Sunday.  Jena and I also attended Church at a local ward we walked to.  Nice little outing!

Liam was playing his little guitar so Elessia found one for Jena to play.  Liam was so amazed to watch her strum the guitar that he put his guitar down and watched her for several minutes.  He loves his Aunt Jena.

 We were trying to get a group shot but it was hard to get four people looking at the same time....

 Spending time with Aunt Jena.......

Maybe we need to spend the night with Scott and Chantel someday soon to catch up on time with them.

And from across the ocean--

Niki, Austen and Tosha
Niki needs his sunglasses!

Niki being silly with his friend, Aiden.
Boys are silly!!!

Someday I will graduate from school and time might be less crazy........(no promises, I guess, would be wise.)  I love watching these little sweet people grow!!!

However.....

it is not the romantic get-away that we have sometimes taken around our anniversary.  This year, I had to leave before the awards ceremony to get down to Salt Lake to help set up for the annual UDSF Leadership Dinner and Annual Meeting.  (Perhaps I will add pictures later as they are on our camera not my phone and they don't download well directly to my computer.)

Gary and Jena stayed for the awards and pizza and then headed back to Syracuse where Jena got dressed up for a dinner/dance at Gigi's playhouse and Gary headed to the bowling alley to get ready for the bowling tournament on Saturday.

We all had a great evening (or productive in Gary's case) and got home in time to head to bed.

And get up early for another busy Saturday--I headed to the University of Utah to attend an 8 hour prep course for my Master of Social Work licence exam which I will take sometime in the summer or fall. (It sounds like it would have been boring but it was actually very interesting and fun.)

Meanwhile, Gary and Jena headed to The Rush for the yearly Knights of Columbus Bowling Tournament for the bowlers with special needs. Gary helps with the computer and technical stuff and the bowling center staff.  (He was tired after two rounds of bowling tournament and about 100 bowlers.) Jena won another first place in her group of three, starting with a high game of 128.  So it was a very productive weekend for her in regards to medals--three first places!

I got home with KFC for dinner (Happy Anniversary, dear!) and then Jena and I headed to the theatre to usher.

Gary and I have had some great times celebrating our anniversary--many times on the actual day of our anniversary.  On our 10th, we went to Macau, a small colony about 60 miles away from Hong Kong by hydroplane.  We went to the Philippines and got night certified for scuba diving on our 12th. On our 30th we spent the day in Provo and attend the temple and hung around BYU and ended the day buying a black and white picture of the Provo Temple which now hangs over our basement stairwell where we can see it every time we walk through our house.

But some years, life gets busy and you have an anniversary like this one--busy with life--and it is okay! (note for future generations)

Last note:

On Friday morning of our anniversary, Jena sent Gary the following text:  "Forgot Happy Ann".  We couldn't figure out what she meant so Gary asked her "What?" and she replied,  "Happy Anniversary."   Yes, Gary, "Happy Ann" to you, too.  I am so lucky to have you in my life even if we only spent a few hours together on a hill at Snowbasin.  Love you.

What better way to celebrate

our 39th anniversary than spending the day at Snowbasin at "Race Day" for the Ogden Valley Adaptive Ski program.  Gary and I were the race "starters and controlled the chaos at the top which I think is better than down at the bottom where the timings take place.  It was a beautiful day at Snowbasin and since we were married in the Provo Temple while a blizzard raged outside it seems appropriate to spend the day on the snow to celebrate.....

Terrie, Jena's coach and Jena

Jena posing at the start gate

Jena got a laugh when she responded to Gary's request for her name at the start gate with "I am your daughter."  So of course she said that each time he asked at the start of the race!!

Terrie and Jena on the ski lift
Beautiful blue skies and white fluffy clouds

Uphill from where the races started

And since it was our anniversary, our selfie--

And to top it off, Jena got two first places medals in the rollers and the downhill "brushes" races.  She has gotten faster this year with her new ski boots.

And our anniversary wasn't over yet!!!