Snow Days, Sunshine and Dancing

Hello Familia--

(Using the wolf Peanut shared, after Groundhog's Day...)

Happy Snow shoveling from the Arctic North! We've had a week of S.N.O.W. here in Wayland, some with Frank, and some without.

After I had started clearing off cars Thursday night

SNOW DAYS. Frank spent the week in Atlanta, so he had some warmer temps than we did. The weather service predicted "8-12 inches" for us last Thursday, and we put the yardstick into the snow in the backyard. 10 inches!

Then today (Sunday) we got some more. It's still snowing. Maybe another 8 inches, I'm not exactly sure. It should stop by morning. We had last Thursday off of school, and they've already cancelled for tomorrow. 2 snow days in one week. I started feeling a cold coming on Friday, and today it's in full swing. Hoping that every day it gets a little better.

SUNSHINE in the DESERT. I took a few pics in Arizona when I was there. It was not WARM while I was there (Mom assures me that since I left, the temps have reached into the 70's and 80's. Thanks, Mom :0 :0 :0 ) While I was there it was more like in the 50s during the days. But I did have some sunshine one day, so I took a walk with my camera. Cactus makes some very interesting photos.

What else exciting this week? Kind of same-old-same-old, after we dig ourselves out.

RUMBA. Frank and I learned some Rumba steps on Saturday--Carole Ann, in our church congregation, is a dance instructor and she agreed to teach some couples some basic dances. Okay, we have NO experience...but she's a patient teacher!

HOSTESS JOB. Oh--Kara got a job at a restaurant very close to us, "Prime Grill 131." She'll be a hostess on weekends, and maybe one other night of the week. THat means she greets people at the front door, and seats them. They're only open for dinner, and close at 10 during the week. Yay, Kara!

Frank has a short couple of days in NYC this week, then to Florida the end of the week. Conferences in Orlando, plus he can go see his mom and dad :) :) :) Sunny Florida here he comes!

Last photo...I didn't post David & his group of high school friends, as they got together over Christmas time. They went to one of those "find your way out of the maze" places, where you have a certain amount of time to figure out the clues and get out. Here they are in front of our house, before they left for their Boston outing.

Have a great week!  Kari

Clocks, Prisons, Shedding Skin

Hello and Happy February!

Yes, we are really into February -- and that means we made it through January! YESSSS!

Internet groundhog

PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL. The groundhog in Pennsylvania who sees his shadow, or not, saw his shadow, so I guess that means 6 more weeks of winter.  But even if he does NOT see his shadow, isn't Spring Equinox (March 20) STILL six weeks away? I never really got that...

One of my students asked what Groundhog Day was, and I said it was kind of a made-up holiday. Because there are not many holidays in January, and Valentine's Day is still a ways away.

TICK TOCK. Still waiting on Teresa's mission call...I keep telling myself they did NOT lose it...ha! They say you'll know between 10 days and 3 weeks, and today it has been 18 days. We'll probably know within a week or so.

**Actually we Skyped with David and Teresa tonight, and Teresa got a text from the Stake President that her mission file online says "In Process." So they did NOT lose anything, for real. We are just learning patience :) :) :)

 (Here's a photo I took way back when (2006) of one of my very favorite clocks, to help me pass the time.)

Big Ben, London

These internet photos show the hotel today

FORMER PRISON. Last Thursday, Frank and I went to a University of Michigan meet-the-Dean night, at this really cool hotel in Boston.

center: those balconies overlooking the
atrium were guard lookouts to watch
prisoners during their exercise time

 Back in the 1800's, it used to be a prison. They did a remarkable job of renovating it, using the same architecture, into a nice hotel. It was called "The Charles Street Jail" in 1851, and now they call it "Liberty Hotel."

TENNIS. Kara has been practicing serves and playing tennis, to get her ready for the high school tennis season which starts in April.

PLANES, TRAINS and AUTOMOBILES. Frank travels to Atlanta this week, then Minneapolis, for meetings and various conferences.

FOOTBALL. Patriots and Falcons play today for the superbowl title. It's a pretty big deal around here, and it's probably too bad we're not die-hard football fans! We live in a very sports-fanatic region! Since we've been here, today is the 3rd time the New England Patriots made it to the Superbowl Championship.

SNAKESKIN. And lastly, Komodo shed his skin again and Frank measured it. He is now as tall as Frank! Yes, a family member has grown to matching Frank's height...our baby snake (sniff) has grown to be 6 feet long.

Here's Frank, a couple of years back, when Komodo was "only" 5 feet long...

...and a blast-from-the-past "cute kid picture" from a few years back...like almost 10. (May of 2017.)

Have a great week ahead!
Love, Kari

Arizona, Mexican Food and another Minute of Daylight

Hello, All!

It has been a little while since I posted. We only have one more day left in January! YESSS!

Did you know that after Christmas, we get an additional MINUTE of daylight every day? My friend relayed that cool tidbit-fact to me today. :)

I had a lovely almost-week in Tucson, so that was a definite highlight. Frank and Kara held down the fort here in Wayland, letting me have a nice visit with Mom and Grandma.

The Arizona Temple will be finished this summer!

106 years young :)

Avery + Mom & Dad

I also saw Kris/Jessica/Avery/Trent, and we even got to see Avery perform in her gymnastics meet!

THAT was a real treat--those girls were SO cute! :) :) :) And limber. Wow, they can all do the splits :0 :0 :0



Grandma, Mom and I went out to dinner at Lupes, a yummy Mexican restaurant close to their house. Yep, 106 and she can still go have dinner out! Not every day. But one day, yes!

We do not have snow on the ground at this moment, which is another happy factoid for me. The true skiers around here are not all that happy about it. I do have a couple of snow-y photos to share, though.


Kara has survived two weeks of testing: one week of quarter-finals, then the SAT, then one week of Mid-terms. I don't quite get why they had to do end-of-quarter tests AND midterms. But there you have it. Her brain is full. Ugh.

Internet photo

Teresa, on the other hand, survived getting her wisdom teeth out, just 3 days ago. Double-Ugh! But it did go smoothly, and she did not have tons of swelling. Her roommates have taken good care of her.

David is taking a beginning Chinese class this term.  He listens to Chinese via headphones, while he works his quiet part-time custodial job each afternoon. (A double-good use of time!)

Well the day is moving on...
Have a great week!

Love, Kari

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