Flying Away and Shoveling

Hola!

How was your first week of 2017?

We had David and Teresa home the whole week!

SCHOOL STARTS. Of course, last week Kara and I went back to school, and Frank was working (yippee for that, right? :) :) ). David and Teresa tried to visit friends or have lunch with them, or whatever, right up until hours before we went to the airport on Saturday.

I found this picture of David by the Highlander:
New Year's Eve 8 years ago

LIFE HACK: 5 drivers have to actually communicate, often repeating themselves many times in a row, to share 3 cars.  (P.S. Life Hack definition: "A strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one's time and daily activities in a more efficient way.")

FLYING EARLY. Then, Dark and Early on Saturday morning, we got out the door at 5a.m. to drive them to the airport! For a 7a.m. flight. And then...just like that...they were gone :( :( :(

Look there are BUDS on this tree! Really!

Timing was actually good, though, for them to fly out that early. Our first snowstorm of the new year

started about noon, and continued on into the night. Not really a blizzard, but just a steady snowstorm. We got about 6 inches.

LATE CHURCH. Another blessing of the new year: we have church from 1-4p.m.! Frank was able to "sleep in" a little, then get up and shovel us out this morning. (He shovels, and I take pictures. So nice we can divide the work evenly.) Blue skies, and the roads had already been cleared. Just hours after the snow falls, it is still WHITE! Ha. It was really pretty. Cold, but pretty.

MISSION PREP. Teresa's break was far from leisurely. She tried to check off all the boxes, to complete the application to go on a mission :) :) :) She can't choose where she goes, but among other things she tells them her availability date, and if she is willing to learn a language, etc.  (She would like to start soon after the semester ends, the end of April. Lots of factors determine her actual start date, so we won't know that until she opens the letter, maybe in a month or so.)

She had dentist and doctor appointments, tb test reading, interviews with church leaders...the very last piece is insurance. Since Frank just started with Wolters Kluwer, he sent in all the info this past week for our family for insurance. We should get the cards & policy numbers next week sometime. Then they can push the "submit" button and finish the application!

Well I hope your week was filled with productive moments, including quiet moments to reflect. Upward and onward, and remember, in the words of our ever-looking-at-the-bright-side-neighbor Rob, "Today is One Day Closer To Spring!!"

Love, Kari

Mexican Food and a Magic Show

Happy New Year!

okay this is NOT Frank or I
but I bet we ALMOST
 looked like this!

WELCOME 2017. Just thinking about our New Year's Eve...each child went to a respective friend's house, to celebrate, and Frank and I went to the church to socialize :) They had music and food, in the gym, and we saw some people we hadn't chatted with in awhile. We also learned the Merengue.

David and Teresa are trying to see people, and squeeze in any last activities they can, in their last couple of days here. Their semester starts next week, so they will fly back to Provo on Saturday.


Kara went back to school today, like me.

And today was Frank's first day in the office! (He was working last week, but from home. Now he'll go to the office in Waltham, 2 towns over, every day.) Our Christmas vacation has officially come to an end.

CHRISTMAS "STAYCATION"
Activities included:

*Board Games.

*Taqueria Mexico, Our favorite Mexican Restaurant last night :)

*Books

*Movies

*Zucchini Bread

*Magic Show in Boston: illusionist Ivan Amodei!

*Visiting favorite high school teachers

*Christmas Eve dinner with the Berreys (family friends from Michigan, 20 yrs ago)

*Music program and beautiful Christmas messages, the Sunday before Christmas and Day

*Angela spent Christmas with us, too! (She's a -- gasp -- senior this year, and will graduate from UMass in Business Marketing in May.)

All in all, it was a very full but not too full holiday break, and enjoyable time spent with family. It's fun to have more people at the table to add to the conversation or tell us about different adventures.

Have a great week!
Love, Kari

One week and counting!

Hola--I started this 2 weeks ago and I'm sending it anyway. Happy New Year in an hour :) :) :) But I'll get credit for posting this IN 2016!

Happy Sunday! Today is exactly 1 week before Christmas.  Are you ready? We love December, when we get cards from lots of people we don't see very often. We can catch up that way, and learn about highlights of their year. If we just get a photo, we can see how much their kids have changed, at least!

MUSIC PROGRAM. We had our nice Christmas program in church this morning. Actually I guess it's "one of two" Christmas programs. On Christmas Day, we'll have special messages about Christmas. Today's was the choir program, with lovely instrumental numbers and different groups of people, including the Primary children, singing beautiful Christmas songs. Many people travel for Christmas, and it may have diminished our choir to not very many people...I think that's why they had the musical Christmas program today. Anyway it was beautiful.

OVERNIGHT FLIGHT. David and Teresa came home on Friday! (And there was much rejoicing.) It was frigid when Frank picked them up at 5:40 in the morning. Teresa didn't even bring a coat, actually...and it was about 6 degrees!?!?!? It has since snowed, rained a LOT to melt that snow, and it was in the 50's today. Can't quite figure out that New England weather!

our raspberry bush out back right after it snowed

Their finals are done, though, and that feels good. They have some breathing time before next term starts.  BYU almost always gets 2 weeks off, and this year they get 3.

Kara has a normal schedule for another week. Seminary and high school go through Friday, for Pete's sake! Yes, Christmas Eve is their first day off! The stars aligned so that she only gets a week and a day off this time around. She goes back January 3. Bummer. And actually, I checked next year's school calendar and it's the same.

GAMES AND COSTUMES. Our friends the McDonalds had their annual Christmas party last night. White Elephant gift exchange, costume contest, and so much food you wouldn't believe it! Great chance to talk to some neat people. It's a highlight.

Frank and I have figured out the strategy for the White Elephant game. We EACH bring a gift, so we can BOTH open presents or steal the good ones from other people. The opened good gift can only be stolen twice, then it's frozen. So if we see something we like, Frank or I steal it from whoever has it (steal #1), then the other (Frank or I) steals it from each other: steal #2. We get the gift :) :) Sneaky, huh! Haha.

PUZZLE TIME. We have a Christmas puzzle that I really like...I pulled it out this afternoon. After 20 years of me taking photos of my kids, they don't usually go for the "smile" or for "natural-looking" photos. This is what I got. :/

Oh, and here's the fun thing Kara made for her teachers this year...hot chocolate snowmen, 3 jars stacked on top of each other like snowmen. marshmallows in one hot chocolate in another, and peppermint candies in the bottom. She finds things online and makes them. Very fun gifts!

Next post: January 2017! Love, Kari

December Fun and Some White Stuff

Hola and Happy December!

front yard lamp post

LITTLE BIT OF SNOW. We are starting out the month with a dusting of snow this morning! I took a couple of pictures. Just light snow, not too much today, but enough to tell you it's December :)

raspberry bush in backyard

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST. We had a fun weekend, with a Christmas party/pancake breakfast at the church on Saturday morning. FIRST it was a challenging feat of spreading cords all around the whole gym and beyond, to accommodate all the griddles and waffle irons going. After tripping a few circuits, they did manage to do it!

There were amazing selections of different types of pancakes -- blueberry, coconut, even chocolate chip and mini MandM's. Also fancy types of waffles, with tons of toppings!

Then there was hot chocolate bar...you could add peppermint, candy bar bits, sprinkles...the table was full of options!

ELF spaghetti (Internet photo)

Of course, there was the 3-year-old who combined the food on the breakfast table with the chocolate bar ingredients...she brought back a pancake that looked like when ELF (movie) dressed up his spaghetti! There were sprinkles and candy AND syrup on top of her pancake. Her mother's gag reflexes kicked in, I think. She said, "We are not eating that..." The poor child was very distraught.

NYC reflection

JOB SEARCH. Frank has interviews in NYC today. The job would be in Waltham, just 2 towns over from us, so we're hoping. This is about his 4th round with this company, and would be an interesting opportunity for him. Crossing fingers!

NYC pigeons

He has also had a couple of phone interviews with other companies (in Boston and Cambridge, MA) and recruiters the last few days, and tomorrow.

We thought it would be really slow between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we have been happy to be wrong about that! It would be SO great to get a new job this month. (I know...just like we've said every month! Ha. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers :) )

PUZZLE TIME. We're re-discovering our games and puzzles. It's fun to just play a quick game as a 15-minute breather or part of date night sometimes. Here's a puzzle Frank pulled out yesterday. The Grand Canyon is so amazing!

Christmas 2005

summer 2016

YOUTH DANCE. Kara had an 'ugly sweater' dance at the church in Belmont (30 minutes away) last weekend. She took a sweater but I told her it wasn't ugly enough :) :) I didn't get a picture before she zipped out the door but here are some pics of all 3 kids, I've just been browsing through.

NEW AWNING. And, here's a picture of the awning we had put on, as the final piece of the hail damage renovation. It's just for shade in the summer, stretches out about 10 feet. (The old one was faded, kind of a puke green, and torn by the hail.)

Well I should probably get to my "Monday list." I have exceeded my allotted blog time! I just have so much fun with pictures, I could keep going and going.

Hope this week brings good things your way!

Love, Kari

Thanksgiving Weekend activities

Hola, and

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEKEND!

Thanksgiving Day pies

PIE NIGHT. Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, we had our 7th annual "Pie Night." Everybody brings a pie, or something else if they don't care for pies. The idea is you should eat the best stuff first, of course, so we have our dessert on Wednesday night, before the big turkey dinner on Thursday. :) :)

TURKEY DAY. We had a relaxing Thanksgiving Day dinner with some fun families from church. 5 families came, and I believe we had 24 people (kids' ages ranged from 4 to 16yrs). The best part is only having to cook 2 dishes, and the rest is supplied by other people!

Afterwards we played games -- an oldie, "Catch Phrase," and a new one: Codenames. Then we ate some more food. Yep, lots of food.

WAY back in 4th grade,
Kara broker her leg...

DINNER CONVERSATION. For whatever reason, injuries came up as a topic (I know, around the dinner table, right?!?!) and Kara talked about when she broke her leg in the 4th grade. She also had this conversation with someone at school a couple of months ago. Back then, I sent her a picture of her xray, on her phone.  So, she even got to show everybody the xray of her broken leg...?!?!? Dinner was close to being over at that point, anyway. Bleh.

PEOPLE HERE. Another treat was having Angela here for the weekend! Here is a photo of her and Kara preparing our green bean casserole.


David and Teresa did not come home :(, but they'll be here for Christmas in a few weeks! Yippee! Although I think their "Yippee" will be more of an "I'm-So-Glad-Finals-Are-Over!!" type of thing, ha!

They each had Thanksgiving Dinner at different friends' houses. They took a mini-trip on Friday to Salt Lake City, to visit with cousins. Rachelle lives there now, and Sheree lives 1 3/4 hours north of SLC. She drove down with her family and they had a dinner together. Cool huh! Here's a picture Rachelle sent me, of the 4 cousins.

David, Rachelle, Sheree, Teresa

Angela, Kara + tree

DECORATING THE TREE. We took advantage of Angela being here, to decorate the Christmas tree. It's more fun with more people :)

We love taking out the ornaments Grandma Kay has given over the years. Some are musical, and we put the batteries in (we store the batteries separately between Christmases) and play the songs.

Journal gift from David

THANKSGIVING. About 6 weeks ago, I started a "Gratitude Journal" with this beautiful journal/ notebook David brought me back from Italy. Each day, I list 3 things I am thankful for. It may be a quick list, only a few words, or sometimes I end up writing a paragraph, describing the story behind my "thankful" thing. It has really helped me see how MANY wonderful blessings I have, family and friends being among the most important. We are so blessed.

Hope your weekend was relaxing, or fun, or filling, or whatever you wanted it to be!

Love, Kari

Leaves, Soccer and Sweet Potatoes

Hola, Familia!

See if you can hear this song in your head...it's the Mamas and the Papas
"All the leaves are gone (all the leaves are gone)
And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)

On a winter's day (on a winter's day...)

I'd be safe and warm...if I was in L.A.
California Dreamin'...on such a winter's day..."

That song totally fits the mood today!  Yes! Cold and grey. We had a little rain last night, which we desperately need. The leaves on the trees are indeed brown or "mostly" gone, although there are some left on the tree out in the front yard. And the sky is grey.

BOYS SOCCER. Last night we went to watch our Boys High School soccer team. It was the State Finals, and we won!  Cool, huh! We have had a strong boys soccer team the last few years. 2 years ago the boys also took the state title. Teeny Tiny Wayland! We only have 14,000 people in this town. 850 at the high school. Anyway it was cool to watch :) :) :)

SWEET POTATOES. Frank came back from visiting his family in Virginia, and he brought me back some sweet potatoes, grown personally by Poppa Dave! Yessss! I love those. I baked some yesterday, and Kara and I had sweet potato for lunch.

Boston Temple

TEMPLE. Kara and I went to the temple in the morning, while Frank was on a scout campout. What a beautiful day it was! We got a nice lady to take our picture.

Kara, Kari squinting into the sun

SUPERMOON TUESDAY. It was a little cloudy on Supermoon night, but I still was able to get a few pictures. Big, bright and beautiful!

Hope your weekend has been great! Can't believe Thanksgiving is only 4 days away.

Have a great week! Kari

Supermoon with a little cloud cover

More Leaves and Musical Instruments

Hola, Familia!

FALLING LEAVES. I'm looking outside at the front yard, and we are now to the "raining leaves" stage of autumn. Sometimes you catch it where a breeze takes off a cloud of leaves and they just keep on fluttering, fluttering to the ground! The maple tree by the kitchen window is mostly orange and a little green. But those leaves just keep on coming!

All these falling leaves are happening AFTER Frank already spent 8 hours on the front and back yards during the week, raking up the WET leaves, after a rainy weekend. I gave my token piddly 1 hour, to help drag leaves back to the woods behind the house. That was Round One...

FOOD DRIVE. This morning Frank is out with the scouts, collecting canned goods for their annual food drive. It's cold, but not raining! Outside activities are SO much more fun when it's not freezing rain...?!?!?

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. I am finishing up the "instrument collection" we started a few months ago. Any used instruments, to be gathered for Fitchburg School District that is about an hour away from us. They don't have a huge music program. It's been neat to see people's generosity.

This happens to be MY saxophone, that I played
in middle school. Kara also played it in 6th grade!

Mostly I have gathered used instruments from people whose kids are out of the house, and they still have the instruments those children played in high school or middle school. One couple who donated a bunch of instruments have 4 kids, all in college or older, and this couple was getting ready to downsize and move. They brought over a drum set. Very cool!

Then she calls me again 2 weeks later. "We are to the attic stage of the house and we found another drumset I had forgotten about!" It was kind of funny. "My sister gave us her son's set to get my son started. Then when he decided to start his own band in high school, we bought him the set I already gave you."

So they donated 2 full drum sets! Those, plus 15 other donated instruments, have been sitting in our garage for a few months now. We plan to deliver them this week or next.

SOCCER. Kara has a few more soccer games to ref, I think today may be the last of her games.

OK, she's playing here,
not reffing, ha :)

THE EMPLOYMENT HUNT. The job search goes on...ups and downs, of course! Frank has had quite a few interviews (maybe 15?), that have gone nowhere. LAME. This week he'll talk to a few people (yes, interviews, yay) on Monday and Tuesday.

Then he'll go to Williamsburg and northern Virginia for almost a week. He gets to see family! David and Diane will be in Williamsburg, so he'll start there. Then he can help drive the 3 of them up to Dana's. Pam will visit too! It's so nice to get the siblings together occasionally.

Blog time is up! Have a great weekend and week.
Love, Kari