Winter Life

It's great when activities pop up throughout the wintertime to keep us busy and add some spark to the cold, crummy days.  I made some rolls that turned out amazingly well.  That is always a bonus!

Shanna got a HUGE bag of gummy bears.  She put some away in a compartment. 

This year we had four kids at the Youth Standards night!  That was fun.  Elden tagged along and watched a movie in a classroom while we all were at the meeting. Clark conducted which was really fun.

A trip to the dump is always fun.  We picked up some brush from off a friend's driveway and took it to the dump.

Cal found a Christmas tree. Pretty funny since it was the middle of February.  But it was the dump. 

We don't pass up on a chance to hang out with family!  We went up to PA for Joseph's 18th birthday!

Yep, Clark is driving now which is awesome!  It will be exciting when he gets his license.

We enjoyed more skiing!

Each year we visit Funky's Skating for an annual church activity. 

We finally got some snow!  We haven't had a really good snow fall in awhile, but we take snow when we can!

Lee bought this pretty orchid and it's been fun having it at the house especially in the winter.

In true Virginia style, the snow was almost gone a day later.

It's great going skiing when it's warm out!

Cal and Clark came with us to the Blue Ridge Food Pantry one day since they had a day off of school.

One night we decided to make our own pizzas.

And fun going skiing at night with fog.  It's kind of eerie.

Lee and I started making our own yogurt and we're still going strong!  I was never interested in making it before.  But then I heard how easy it was to make with an instant pot.  Though I am sure it's easy the other way as well. 

Around Valentine's Day we went on a double date with Jason and Susan Jones.  First we ate at the Rocktown Kitchen and then saw the Shanghai Orchestra.  It's not their official name, but I can't remember what it is.  They were so amazing!!!

February: Family & Friend Fun

The first Friday of the month the local children's museum has a free night.  I've been talking to my kids about doing this for a little while and we finally did.  I invited a couple of friends to join me. We met up with the Peterson's.

After we went to their house to hang out and eat dinner.  We had a great time!  We love doing things with them.

Clark made it to district band.  He practiced on a Friday and Saturday with the other district band members. Saturday afternoon they performed and did a great job!

That night we met up with Reed and Jeff to go skiing.  They went earlier to familiarize themselves with skiing.  It was Reed's first time and Jeff hadn't been in a long time.

The kids remember the lobster bisque skit from Studio C.  We saw it at Costco, which Cal thought was funny.

Lois and Jeff stayed for Sunday as well.

Monday nights have been family ski nights as well.

We were able to meet up with some friends that night as well.

Elden with his buddy Kaden.

For an early Valentine's Date some friend's invited us to meet up for dinner then go to the Shanghai Orchestra.  They were amazing!  So was Siheng Song, the pianist.  We ate at Rocktown Kitchen beforehand.

Us with Susan & Jason Jones at JMU after the concert.

 

A random breakfast one morning.  Very delicious!

Lee and Clark made sweet and sour chicken for Sunday dinner one night.  It turned out great!

I've probably "needed" this bag for a long time but finally got one after being the Relief Society president.  I was given a reusable shopping bag.  I just did not want to take that to church every Sunday.  This is the biggest purse I've ever owned.  I would like to get a gray one as well.  But it's been great having everything fit in one bag! Valentine's day was around this time and the spirit prompted me with a great idea....get a bunch of heart cut-outs and have the sisters in Relief Society write notes to the sisters serving in Young Women and Primary.  I bought some chocolates and starburts for the sisters to eat as well. I bought some Valentine cards, wrote a little note and sent them to each sister.  Sadly I think they arrived late, but a few sisters told me afterwards how much they appreciated it.  I thought overall it turned out well. 

We had a little fun with Valentine's day and did a little decoration on the table.
 

 The boxes have candy in them. The girls also received socks.  I'll have to look for boy socks next year.

For Relief Society my counselors and I need to visit each sister during the year and ask how about their well being and how they are doing.  I visited my friend Brittany and she gave me this cute jar full of little Godiva chocolates!  Yum!

For Valentine's Day we finally used a Christmas gift of going to a trampoline park.  I invited a friend to meet us there, Staci England. We had a fun time there!

My dad would leave us Valentine's on the doorstep every year.  Lee does the same for our kids. Hope Valentine's Day was fun, filled with candy!