February: Check!

Hola!

I know we are supposed to "Live in the Moment," "Enjoy Today," and "Take Time to Smell the Roses."  And I think I do that, for the most part.  Really.

But there are also times that I am kind of glad to "get through things."  It may be the Type-A Task-Oriented part of me.  Go down the list, get it done, check it off.

So, here are two of those times.

JANUARY 31st is a big accomplishment, I feel.  We "made it through" January, and a nice chunk of winter is under our belts.

Another big accomplishment is FEBRUARY 28!  Yes!  So as of tomorrow, we "made it through" February, and now there really is a light at the end of our tunnel of winter.  Granted, it's frigid here through May.  Those of us in New England still have 3 more months of too-cold temps.  But to get through February is a big deal.  For this, I will shout, "CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYBODY!  YOU MADE IT THROUGH FEBRUARY!"  :)  This would be a little funnier if it wasn't so painfully true...sigh.

NO SCHOOL.  Last week was our "February Break."  There were some lucky people who went to warm places.  I am tempted to make NEXT year's warm vacation in February.  Or maybe we'll take a warm vacation in December, February, AND April.  That decision is still being debated.



Anyway, the kids were out of school and we stayed here.  This made for lots of sleeping in, last-minute plans, sleepovers, and chauffeuring all over creation anyway.  Even without structure, we go through a lot of gas.  Go figure.

RACHELLE VISITS.  We had a treat, having our cousin/niece Rachelle come visit for a couple of days at the end of the week!  The weather was typical Boston cold, but we layered up and went out sightseeing anyway.  Walden Pond, Boston Temple, Freedom Trail... hopefully she can come when it's warm sometime, too. :)


SKIING and SNOWBOARDING.  Frank took Kara and Teresa to the closest ski resort to us, really a smaller "hill."  Teresa wanted to try snowboarding, so she took lessons.  She decided she likes it, but she also likes the speed when she puts skiis on.  1/2 way through the day, she switched back to skis.  It wasn't crowded--that's awesome!  The 3 of them skied together the rest of the day.

VOLLEYBALL CLINIC.  Teresa took advantage of brushing up on the volleyball skills, specifically setting.  For 3 days she participated in a vball camp.

SAVE-A-DOG.  While we are not getting another pet anytime soon, Teresa does enjoy playing with dogs and puppies.  She has been through Save-A-Dog's orientation training, and now volunteers periodically with the abandoned pups who are up for adoption there.

FOUR for FOUR!  David's big news is, he has now been ACCEPTED to BYU!  The huge accomplishment is that he got 4 acceptances for the 4 university applications he turned in.  Very cool.  He is still considering his top 2 choices: BYU and Northeastern, here in Boston.  It is nice to have choices.  This is a process, and he has until May 1 to officially accept...he has applied for some scholarship help too with Northeastern, and wants to get results from those efforts before making a hard and final decision.  We should know on those scholarships by the end of March.

I better move on with my list...it is raining like crazy today.  Hope you have a fabulous week!

Kari

February and Freezing

Hola!

Nothing like fresh snow to eat!

Sunday again.  The week flew by, but here is a synopsis...

SNOW.  It's been off-and-on sunny, rainy, cold, warm, so the snow from last weekend has "shrunk" a little.  Then, it snowed some more last night and this morning.  That forced a scramble of snow-shoveling before our 9a.m. church!

PIANO RECITAL.  Kara showcased her piano skills for us, along with the other students who take from our teacher.  Every year the teacher has a recital with all of her students at her church.  This is lucky for us, since the building is about 1 mile from our house!  It's so nice to hear the kids play, and to give them some recognition for their hard work on their talents.

VALENTINE's DAY.  Yep, Thursday was Heart Day, or it should be renamed Candy Day, or The Holiday Second Only in Sugar to Halloween.  Hmmm. Somehow quite a few holidays have turned into "Sugar High Holidays!"  Halloween Candy, Christmas Candy, now we're finished with Valentine's Day, and it's on to Easter: Chocolate Eggs, Cadbury, Peeps, Reeses Eggs...  then CVS puts their candy on 1/2 off, the day after.  Needless to say, there has been a lot of chocolate in the house this week!


GAMES NIGHT.  We added to the chocolate, of course, when we pulled out the chocolate fountain and had some couples over to play games, the day after Valentine's Day.  We answered some Newlywed Game questions: Who is the better driver, how many boyfriends/girlfriends before getting married, who is better at finances, what was the first meal your spouse ever made for you.  It is funny to listen to the banter between couples.

ROBOTICS.  David is into crunch time for his Robotics team at the high school.  It's a program/competition put on by NASA.  The team has been working for about 6 weeks, and tomorrow is the last day they can work on the robot.  Every year each team gets a challenge, and a "Robotics Kit" to make a robot that can accomplish certain tasks within the challenge.  It's a neat program.

Hope your week is uneventful, or eventful, whichever you prefer!

Kari

Snow and More Snow

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

BLIZZARD.  We had our first real snowstorm in awhile, this weekend!  The media hyped it up like you wouldn't believe, so we were told we would need to prepare for THE BIG ONE.  Of course, the 'real' BIG ONE was back in 1978, and I looked at photos on the Internet.  It was a doozie, I'll give them that much.

Ours was 24 inches in about 24 hours.  A true blizzard, I think!  Then as fast as it came, ... it went away.  The afternoon was even sunny, so as we began to dig out, it was a really pretty day.  Today, Sunday, had bright blue skies and it was just brilliant with the bright, new snowfall.

Frank gives the car a mohawk

Here are some photos.  Lots to move and re-move, between the driveway and the deck and around the mailbox which the snowplow guy doesn't really pay attention to.

BURIED CARS. The cars were pretty well buried, and Frank gave one a mohawk...

ELECTRICITY.  Best news of the day?  We had power the whole time!!!!!  YES!!!

David front-flipping from the deck railing

WORK AND PLAY.  Thankfully the kids pitch in with snow removal.  Tedious, yes, but when you mix it in with a little bit of play too, it becomes more tolerable.

SIGNS OF SPRING? You wouldn't believe it, but I'm looking out at the neighbor's magnolia tree and it has hundreds of buds on it.  Yes, it's probably 15 degrees out and this tree is determined to put forth leaves and flowers!

The trees somehow think it's time to bud

Our little tree by the deck has some on it, too.  Remarkable.  We are so far from spring it's like a century away!  But the trees won't be convinced.

ROOF RAKING.  Remember our insane practice of "raking the roof?" Yep, here's Frank, keeping the ice dams from forming with thawing and freezing, causing leaks to come into the house.  Bleh!  Thanks, Frank, 100 times.  No fun.  Here he is raking the roof, and a photo of the house with 1/2 the roof raked.  He finished it off today.  The whole roof, front and back.

Teresa helped with the flat roof over the sunroom and garage.  She put those metal spikes on her boots.  She likes being up there.


FLYING.  Frank is going to Denver for a few days tomorrow.  The airports should be running all flights by then.  Yesterday they cancelled most of them, but they should be back to normal soon.

Teresa's highlight: working on the roof!

Well, my time is up.  Hope your week is really boring.  (Oh--I mean, that's what I want OUR week to be!  If you, on the other hand, want excitement, I hope you get it!)

Kari :)

A break, involving snow-angels and eating snow

Trying to find the mailbox

Good snow for tunneling!

Saturday Reflections

Hello!

Reflecting on the week a little.

what we all want: happy teeth

TEETH. I had an oral surgery Thursday, the same procedure I had a year and 3 mos ago, just on a different part of my mouth.  Grafting a little tissue from the top of my mouth to the gumline, as I have a few teeth with receding gums.


So, overall it was yukky!  I'll spare you the details and just say that I am thankful it was not painful during the process.  I just wish I had taken the extra sedative and fallen asleep!  But alas, I was awake and heard all the sound effects and felt the pressure and pulling and pushing and eeeewwww. :(

FLAT TIRE.  Frank was in Houston this week, and of course it is never convenient for him to be gone!  It was 8 p.m. and had started to rain, and David comes in the door with "The tire on the highlander is flat."

They were on their way to a youth activity at the church, and so I had him drive his sisters in the other car, to the church.  But we needed both cars the next day!  And I am wimpy on car things...I have no interest, whatsoever, in changing my own tire...

challenges come in different shapes and sizes

My brain bounced around to different neighbors I could ask to help.  But then I thought wait, I have a high school senior.  Shouldn't he be able to do this kind of thing?

Meanwhile David had texted me from the church activity.  "When I get home," he says, "I can google it for any specific details about the Highlander, and I can change it."  He also named 2 neighbors we could ask for help as back-up.  So when he got home, I held the flashlight in one hand and the car manual in the other, and I read out the steps to David.  He went through all the steps, and changed the tire all by himself!  Yes, he did!  I was so proud of him.

Of course it was not speedy.  Or clean.  And it had started to rain.  But he did it!  HUGE sigh of relief from me.  My Hero! :)

GRATITUDE.  I am also especially grateful for my family this week.  Our friend at church has been battling melanoma for 15 months, and she passed away 2 days ago.  Her kids are the same ages as mine.  Our hearts goes out to her family, and we are praying for the support and comfort of her daughters and husband.  They are such a beautiful family.  This made me think of my own kids and husband, and my extended family and friends.  I am so grateful for my support system of wonderful people around me.

my own reasons to be thankful

I hope you have a refreshing week full of people you love, and activities you find fulfilling.  Occasionally we are given experiences that make us stop, and think of the most important things we have.  And they're not the "things we have."  They're the people we can touch, and those who touch our lives for good.

Kari

Weekend in Wayland

Hola--

The Komodo Belt

Teresa and Kara and prickly ball

The weekends get away from me somehow, so I'm determined to at least get a quick post in before it gets too late.

KOMODO.  I haven't posted any photos of Komodo lately.  Frank took him out and he was all wrapped around his middle.  Komodo is probably 5 feet long by now.

HEDGEHOG.  Our friend got a hedgehog, and the girls were dying to go see it!  They are funny creatures.  This one was "cranky" -- rolled up in a ball and hissed and chirped to let us know he was irritated with us being there!  But they are interesting creatures.

ANGELA. I haven't mentioned Angela, but it has been so neat to get to know her, and associating with her has been a great experience for our family.  She is a senior with David at Wayland High School.  Her extended family is from Taiwan, and her parents have lived here in Wayland for over 20 years.

She visited her aunt in Taiwan I think it was last summer, and met the missionaries for the first time over there.  She returned home and the Taiwan missionaries sent a referral to the missionaries here. They contacted her, and over the next few months she learned more. Her family is Buddhist.



So the first time we met her was when the missionaries asked us to give her a ride to church.  "She goes to school with David and Teresa, and lives just a few miles from you."  It turns out that David and Teresa both knew her, and did not know she was learning about the church.  We arranged to pick her up, and then when we took her home, David and I went inside to introduce ourselves to her mom.

Angela is such a smart girl.  Very sweet, and also a character so she always has people laughing.  Over the last few months we have had her over to our house for different things, and we've been there as she's participated in youth and church activities, and learned more about the gospel.

Yesterday she got baptized.  Her mom and sister came, which was huge.  They are supportive even if it's such a big change from what they are used to.  She asked Frank to baptize her (she calls him "Papa Whitesell," her church dad), and it was such a good day!  Her enthusiasm is contagious and people just like to be around her.  There must have been 50 people there to support her, including a group of school friends...she asked 6 of her senior girlfriends from high school to come.  They came, just because if it was important to Angela, it was also important to them.  It was really neat.

So, that was a weekend highlight for me.  Here are some pictures of Angela.  She has one older sister so she's the youngest, and after she graduates high school her parents are moving back to Taiwan this summer.  She has applied to BYU and wants continue her education here (U.S.)...all kinds of "leaps of faith" this girl is taking!  It has been so inspiring to watch.  We are so blessed to know her.

That's our weekend in a nutshell!  Tomorrow we have Martin Luther King Day off.  Then the high schoolers take midterms.  Good Luck, David and Teresa and Angela. :)

Kari

Happy New Year!

Well if you can believe it, we are into a new year: 2013!

December was as usual a whirlwind.  I am a little sad to see the "Christmas month" end, but at the same time excited for what the coming year may hold.

I do love December!  Thanks to Kara our youngest (a teenager in less than 3 months), we had a beautifully decorated house.  She reminds us to decorate, to cook yummy food and take it to the neighbors and teachers, and to draw names amongst each other for Secret Santa.  I honestly don't know if all that would have happened without her enthusiasm!

This year our family Christmas present was a cruise.  We'll take any excuse for a vacation, I suppose, but this really is the last Christmas David will be living with us full-time.  So away we went!

Frank's pretty good with the underwater camera

WARM TEMPS for MOM.  My request for any trip is always "warm."  New England has much harsher winters than I anticipated, and each year I become more of a wimp.  I'll admit it.  I like to be comfortable, and this includes warm temperatures.  The cruise left from Puerto Rico and stopped at 5 Caribbean islands.  We were in the high 70's and 80's every day.

NEVER DULL.  Thanks to Frank, our vacations are as active as possible.  We/he always looks for fun and different things to do.  I'll just highlight some of the excursions.

ST. THOMAS.  Our first stop was St. Thomas, of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and we told the kids they could try scuba diving this time.  Everybody donned tanks and flippers, took the quick "intro" course and got into the waist-deep water.  Frank and I took it too, even though we're already certified.  We hung around in our tanks and gear and watched a few minutes, then wandered off some to explore a little.

Local fruits

The kids liked being in the water.  Learning to equalize came easily to Kara and David, and it was more challenging/uncomfortable for Teresa.  She didn't equalize very well this time, at all.

Eeeewwww...

CHRISTMAS DAY.  Christmas Day was a day at sea!  We brought scriptures and some illustrations of the birth of our Savior.  We read the Christmas story and sang hymns.

BARBADOS.  We got to visit some cool caves.  Then we had a tasting experience to try the local fruits and other foods.  Next was visiting a banana plantation to see how bananas actually grow.  They grow upside-down in bunches on the tree.  Finish the afternoon snorkeling with sea turtles

Smooth skin afterwards :)

Puerto Rico fort in San Juan

Monstrous trees to hike through

Cleaning off in the oh-so-warm hot springs!

Caves in Barbados

Hot bread with cheese in the middle...heavenly!

ST. LUCIA.  Drive to a volcano, and Frank and Kara and I spread lava-mud on ourselves to exfoliate!  Use the hot springs to wash off the mud.  Our skin was so soft when it was finished!  We ended the tour with hot fresh bread and cheese.  Mmmm.

Mudbaths, St. Lucia

ST. KITTS.  Monkeys, monkeys, and hike the volcano.  It was a lengthy hike, but the view from the top was pretty cool.

ST. MAARTIN.  Shopping of course, and shell collecting on the beach.  St. Maartin is not that big of an island, split between the Netherlands and France.

blue bags over bananas

Night kayaking to see bioluminescent organisms

Everybody, looking touristy :)

Putting on the scuba gear, St. Thomas

Teresa & Kara in their kayak

Hiking in the rainforest, Puerto Rico

snail on tree in rainforest

Teresa is a pretty good photographer

PUERTO RICO.  After the cruise we spent an additional day in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We toured the fort there, and went on a night kayaking trip to see some cool luminescent organisms that lit up in the water when you moved your paddle or hand through it.

RAINFOREST. Teresa took a great spider photo, plus we saw beautiful fern trees, snails, waterfalls, and huge leaves.  Really pretty, and obviously it rains often there.  We just had a soft, warm rainfall for about 20 minutes of our hike.

Now we're back, and my head is still swimming, trying to get into the swing of reality.  It's taken me a week to even download the photos and get it on the blog!  Everybody is back on the hamster wheel, with school, church, seminary, and normal activities.  It was a refreshing change of scenery, though! And a chance for us to do some different things, all together.

December happenings

Hola!

Somehow it became December without me even thinking about it.  Then I looked closer at the calendar, and ...we're already a WEEK into it!  Aaaauuugghh!

December is a "short month" anyway, it seems...we only have 3 weeks to cram all the fun stuff and holiday activities and baking in, then school is out for 10 days.

CHRISTMAS PARTY.  We spent last Saturday decorating for the church Christmas party.  It was a nice dinner and program, including the Nativity play with all the primary children.  They had the littlest ones dress up as animals, and I think the parents were told not to buy anything new, just have them wear costumes they already had.  In the stable we had a pig, a tiger, a lion, and yes, a sheep!  Very cute.

Kara also sang a duet with her friend, a capella.  It was half in Ulru (African language) and half in English.  They were pretty brave to do it without a piano!   Nice work, girls.

DECORATIONS. Our Christmas tree is up, as is our advent calendar.  Many of our ornaments make music, and  it's fun to push the buttons and listen to short clips of Christmas carols.

WARM TEMPS.We will head south for the holidays.  (I'm always in search of "warm," so my request is always south!  Someday I will not live in the Arctic Zone anymore.)  Our family is taking a cruise to 5 Caribbean islands, that starts and ends in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  That will be the week from Christmas Day to New Year's Day.  The kids look forward to the island activities, and of course the endless and nonstop food on a cruise.  I'll be happy not to cook it. :)

PEOPLE. I like listening to the talks in church about making Christmas meaningful.  Spending time with people you love, maybe picking up the telephone instead of texting once in awhile.  That relationships are more important than your to-do lists.

TIME with SISTERS.  Frank got to go visit with his sisters the day after Thanksgiving, and they rarely get together.  I wish we all could have gone, but I'm glad at least he could go.  The D.C. weather even cooperated with them, and he did NOT have any delayed flights.  Yippee!  Distance is definitely challenging sometimes, in keeping track of the activities and events of our family members.  But it's SOOOOO worth it!  We have absolutely the BESTEST families, scattered all over the continental U.S.

Nothing earth-shattering this time.  I just wanted to get in a post before I blinked too many times, and this awesome holiday month was gone.  Here are a couple of fun favorites so far this month:

1) chocolate-chip pumpkin bread
2) putting up musical ornaments on the tree
3) David's annual fundraiser for Robotics: Krispy Kreme donuts :)
4) Frank & Kari going on a SUCCESSFUL one-evening gift shopping trip
5) Our long-distance gift-wrapping and packaging is half-done already!

Have a fantastic week!  Kari