In other News….

Carter has been busy with lots of school projects this month.  He is doing really well in school and staying motivated until the end.  We are so proud of his study habits.  He worked really hard first semester with a tutor and was able to get an A out of Calculus, which has been giving him trouble all year.  On February 17, we were invited to an academic assembly to acknowledge students with outstanding academics.  Carter was in the highest category 4.0-5.1.  We are so excited for him.  He has always been a great student.  It has paid off for him!  Now if some colleges can get back to us……. he applied to BYU Provo, UC Davis, UCLA, and U of Washington.  We haven’t heard from any of them.  Any day now…..  Jared had the day off so he was able to come to the assembly with me.  We escorted Carter around the gym. 

   

He also was invited to two different girl ask guy dances this month.  Sweethearts for school and Sweethearts for the stake.  Skylar asked him to the school dance with a poster full of a code he had to decipher.  Abby asked him with homemade Fortune Cookies with clues inside each one.  He made a code back for Skylar and he blew up balloons for Abby with sayings inside each one.  It’s fun to see how clever these teenagers are.  (still waiting on group pictures and pictures from Skylar.  I was out of town. 

Josh and Cole have been busy with Basketball practices and games.  We love the Upwards league they have here.  It is the same one they had in Roseville.  It is a Christian based program.  They give spiritual thoughts before the game and really focus on teamwork.  Jared and I LOVE this league.  The boys get to be announced each week and run through a tunnel before starting the game and then they earn stars in different colors for teamwork, good sportsmanship and hustle on offense and defense.  They are improving for sure.  It is fun to watch their games on Saturdays. 

Sisters and Mom trip

I had such a fun girl’s trip down to southern Cali to see Kandra’s new house.  It was the perfect opportunity to have a sister’s and mom trip.  We started planning it back over Christmas break.  Jared had taken Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off to watch kids so that I could go. 

Day # 1 Saturday

We flew in on Saturday mid day.  Rachel and I were on the same Delta flight, and were greeted by Kandra at the bottom of the escalator with a Jackson Girl’s homemade sign!  It was super cute!  Rachel and I had already been chatting nonstop from the minute we met up in the SLC airport until we met up with Kandra.  We had a short 30 minute wait for Mom and Kim who flew Southwest together.  We stopped for caffeinated drinks and then headed to see Kandra’s new house in Calimesa just outside of Yucaipa.  Its tucked away by the hills and in a sort of remote location.  It is a beautiful neighborhood!  We explored the whole house and took in all there new art pieces hung on the walls and furniture they have purchased.  Clark and Me Soon showed up shortly after we arrived and we all visited for awhile.  Soon we headed to a BBQ restaurant in Yucaipa and found ourselves dining on ribs, steak, sweet potato fries and gourmet salads.  It was delicious.  We even made our own fry sauce at the table after requesting mayonnaise! 

After dinner we went into the ALDI grocery store where I was anticipating Milka Bars and “Latter Chocolate”, but was disappointed to learn that it is a very Americanized version of ALDI.  They did have the pay carts (with quarters) and the Butter Keks crackers that are dipped in Chocolate on one side and have images of European monuments on them.  I love those.  I bought a few and some chocolate bars and we headed home to visit and we watched McFarland, the movie with Kevin Costner about Cross Country Runners.  No one had seen it except Kim and I.  Everyone loved it. 

Day #2  Sunday

We slept in thanks to 1:00 pm church and then went walking/running through the neighborhood.  We enjoyed their church in a very old building in Yucaipa.  The ward is very active and full of neat people.  It is nice for Patrick and Kandra to be in a WARD as opposed to the Branch they have been in for a very long time. 

Clark and Me Soon stuck around after church for awhile and we made chicken tacos for dinner.  Kandra made some killer brownies with cream cheese mixed in after dinner per Rachel’s request or shall we say pleadings?!  We ended up saying goodbye to Clark and Me Soon and then watching Larry Crowne with Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks. Patrick and I stayed up visiting about teenagers and trying to lose weight.  It was good to hear about Harrison as a missionary.  I can’t believe our boys are this old!!

Day #3  Monday

We got up and moving and went to CORKY”S for Breakfast.  Some people had salad and some had Breakfast.  We next headed to Palm Springs for the day.  Patrick had the day off so he got to come with us.  Palm Springs was really a fun outing!  Its so pretty with all the contrast between its Palm trees and mountains.  We enjoyed the sunshine because the two day before had actually been gray and rainy on and off.  There was an art festival in the main square, so we walked around it looking at all the different types of ART.  One guy had Art formed from magazine clippings, another had blocks that formed castles, and another had stationary made from fabric.  There was photography and all kinds of interesting jewelry/ yard art.  After exploring these booths, we made our way down the main street looking in different stores.  We hit a record store, sock store, some clothing boutiques, and an ice cream/ shaved ice shop.  I also went into SEES to pick up some chocolate to take home to the family. 

When we got back from Palm Springs, we sat in the neighborhood hot tub. 

Day #4  Tuesday

We all went into town to get Pedicures first thing.  Then we came back to the house so Mom and Kim could pack up.  They had an afternoon flight.  Kim had to get home to work.  We then headed toward Ontario and the biggest outlet mall in all of California.  It was AWESOME.  I had some research/ shopping to do at Restoration Hardware so I headed straight there.  Everyone else hit different shops while I was in there.  WE didn’t have long before it was time to take Mom and Kim to the airport, so we went and dropped them off.  I didn’t get to hit the stores I wanted!  Next time.  Hunter had to be picked up from school soon so we went and grabbed him and then headed to Sushi for lunch.  It was yummy!  It was nice to spend some time with Hunter and see where his school is.  Next we headed back to the house to get packed up and hang out.  Patrick got home and we told him about our day.  Then we got out the new Batman puzzle purchased in Palm Springs and we worked on it and had some group therapy.  We turned in at about 11 when the puzzle was 2/3 the way finished since we had to get up at 4:00 am to get to the airport!  Way to early! 

It was nice to come home to the family!  I love my family!  They were excited for all the chocolate and German crackers. 

Winter Happenings

The past two weeks have been busy and super fun!  Carter threw a surprise party for his good friend here named Scott Young.  He planned the whole thing and lots of his friend group attended.  Scott was surprised and everyone had a good time.  Audrey Chugg helped Carter come up with some games to play.  (we love our college aged cousins!)

 

Scott is the tall one with glasses in the middle.  Carter met him through X Country and he is friends with our cousin Ellie.  They had fun playing the piano, playing a bunch of party games and eating food. 

We also celebrated Josh’s Bday recently with a family party.  !! years old!  He got lots of winter toys for the snow including this sled/snowboard and a giant tube to sled with. 

He also got a Ogo outdoor game, a new German soccer jersey, the Dogman unleashed book, and some money from grandparents.  He was a happy boy!  He also received his Arrow of Light award.  Is it really time for 11 year old scouts???

   

Meanwhile in Boise, they have been having a crazy winter!  The worst in 30 years according to lots of people.  The kids had a total of 6 SNOW days!  Here is our cute PINK rental house during one of the many snowstorms of Snowmaggedon or The Snowpocalypse.  

 

Hanna also celebrated her 16th birthday by going ICE skating in January with all of her friends.  She wanted to wait until after the Holidays to have her party.  This group of kids have been awesome to her!  Lauren, Hannah, Mckenna, Hanna, Jaden, Cody, Brielle, Micaela, and Trent.  They like to be silly together!   

Hanna’s play has been consuming all of her time.  She has had after school rehearsals for 5 weeks since Christmas break.  Several got canceled due to snow so we were not sure how the TARZAN play was going to turn out…..but we were amazed.  It was soooo good!   Hanna found out in December that she was cast as the Young TARZAN.  She came downstairs flew into the kitchen sputtering out “I got young Tarzan!, I got Young Tarzan”!  For a sophomore to land such a great role was pretty exciting!  So finally opening night came and I don’t know who was more nervous, Us or Her! 

 

Biggest Fans on Opening Night…. As well as lots of Gorilla friends

 

Our sweet Young Tarzan… and her pictured with the Older grown Tarzan. 

Closing Night:

Jared and I enjoyed the show so much that we attended opening night, closing night and one other time.  Here are some pictures of the last night: 

Young Tarzan with Young Terk……. and Hanna and her sidekick Mckenna

 

Gorilla, Young Tarzan, Mature Tarzan, Kerchek, Kala, and Grown up Terk

 

Love you baby GIRL and we could not be prouder!!!                        Mrs. Burt: Music Theater extraordinaire!

 

To round out the past few weeks, we had our RED DINNER this past Sunday.   It seems like we haven’t done it for a couple of years!!  We invited the McDonough’s this year.  We ate, played blindfold chocolate guessing, cupid Nerf gun shooting, stack the conversation hearts, and made cards to donate to the retirement home.  Good times! 

Amsterdam

Such a gorgeous time of year in Germany.  As we drove to Amsterdam area, we passed numerous fields, trees and villages, in all their fall splendor.  I couldn’t help but pull over for some shots of the above village!  We stayed at the Duinrell water park resort.  We have been hearing about it for the whole time we have lived in Europe.  It was a lot of fun.  It had lots of pool areas, water slides that shot you straight down, inner tube slides, and the infamous toilet bowl slide.  The kids were in heaven there.  We had the Campbell's along for the weekend which made the water park way more fun with friends.  Duinrell is situated close to The Hague as well as close to Keukenhof where they have the tulip festival every year.  Our bungalow/trailer houses fit us perfectly.  We had one right by the Campbell's so we shared the cooking of dinners. 

After a day at Duinrell, we headed into downtown Amsterdam for some sightseeing.  First stop was the Vincent Van Gogh Art Museum which we had tickets and an entrance time for.  Which was fortuitous timing since it started raining as we walked up. 

The Van Gogh Museum was perfect.  It wasn’t too big and is the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings anywhere.  Ms. Hanna finally made it….she’s been dreaming of the day! 

   

   

Next we headed over to catch a boat cruise of the canals of Amsterdam.  The sun actually shined most of the time we were on it. You can’t tell from the pictures, but as the day wore on it got colder and colder….  Amsterdam is so neat!  Its known as the Venice of Northern Europe since it has so many bridges and canals.  The architecture is uniquely its own however and nothing like Venice.  Lots of Bricks and narrow buildings squished in rows. 

   

 

Amsterdam is the city of bikes……The people ride everywhere they go.  There are bikes lined on every street and corner.  It is definitely the transportation of choice here. 

More bikes……

At the end of the day, it was so cold!  We decided to stick it out and wait in line for a tour of the Anne Frank house.  While we were in line, I downloaded the book since I have never read it.  So it was neat to read the first 50 pages before entering the tour.  It was a very informative tour and very sad to see how they lived for so long once we entered the tour.  Sadly, only Anne’s father survived the concentration camps that they were shipped off to when caught here in Amsterdam.