Holidays, Crackers and Armored Catfish

Hello and Happy New Year!

Just thinking that since Teresa's mission blog is all wrapped up and tied with a bow, I should get the family blog going again. I did order a 'mission book' to be made with Teresa's blog, so she'd have a kind of 'yearbook' for her mission.

Meanwhile, the last 2 months happened!

Yes, the time actually flew by, and it seems like we squeezed in a lot.

TURKEY DAY. There was Thanksgiving (Angela and friends joined us. No pics, sorry--they had to leave pretty soon after dinner and I forgot to pull out the camera!)

WELCOME HOME. Then, of course, Teresa came home. And there was much rejoicing :)

Max going to his new home!

MAX NEW HOME. I had been looking for a family who might love to have a rabbit! Max is 7 1/2 years old, and now our kids are not really around to enjoy him as much. So, in December we passed him along to the Glasgows, who used to go to church with us. They have 4 kids and live in Connecticut now. Kara and I met our friend 1/2 way, and handed over Max and all his stuff!

bridesmaids had on Hunter boots
(Mandy's new last name is "Hunter")

WEDDING FESTIVITIES. Mid-December, we got to fly to Seattle and celebrate our niece/cousin's wedding. What a fun weekend! She wanted snow, which we had plenty on the ground, and it did even flurry at the end of the weekend.

Playing in the snow on the way
up to Leavenworth

Our whole family got to be there, which was a surprise for me! It was right in the middle of finals for David, so I assumed he was not coming. But he and Frank planned all along, for him to fly up from Provo. We're in the airport to pick up Grammie D and Poppa Dave, and who walks around the corner: David! It was awesome.

Frank & sisters Pam n Dana, and their
parents David n Diane :)

Otherwise, Dana and Andy also flew out for it. A good showing from the East Coast :)

ping pong ball snowballs

CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. Then a couple of weeks later, of course, Christmas came! Kind of last-minute, Frank looked for tickets to Florida to go visit Grammie D and Poppa Dave. It turns out if you are willing to travel on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day on Spirit Airlines, you can get a pretty good deal to Florida. We would travel on Christmas Eve.

So before that, we decided to celebrate "gift-giving" Christmas on the Saturday before Christmas. Angela came over, and we ate food and opened presents.

People got games as gifts, so we even got to try two of them out! "Red Flags: the game of Terrible Dates," and another one...

hmmm, as teams, you try to get your team to say the word on the card, and the other team gets points if you use THEIR 'forbidden' words to describe your word.

fun word game I can't remember the name of

It was a good day! No snow on the ground at that point, so I used Kathi's idea from forever ago, and put ping-pong balls in everybody's stockings, and we had a snowball fight, of sorts, with ping-pong balls.

Then we flew on Christmas Eve, joining a surprising number of people because I think it was a full flight.

Sunny Florida greeted us, with mostly sunshine! And vegetables. Poppa Dave is an expert gardener, and they have a lot of vegetables at their house.

The BIG ONE: caught by Kara :)

FISHING. The kids like to get in some fishing when we go to Florida, since the Whitesells also have a dock off their backyard, into the canal that leads to Lake Okeechobee. He has fish, turtles, alligators, and birds to watch. Most of the fish they catch are smaller, so they immediately get de-hooked and tossed back in.

resident alligator

armored catfish!!

But THIS time, Kara caught the biggest bream (yep, it's a type of fish, pronounced "Brim") Poppa Dave had ever seen, while they fished! She doesn't love to take them off the hook so Teresa did that part, and actually Frank and Poppa Dave cleaned fish later.

Another first: Teresa tried spear-fishing, since there are huge 'armored catfish' along the bottom of the canal. They are more of a nuisance, as they are NOT good to eat, and they burrow underneath walls, etc.

lots of moss...I think he was
hibernating?

So Poppa Dave catches them, and uses these catfish as the Native Americans used fish: to fertilize the ground in his garden. You wrap the fish in newspaper and bury it. The newspaper somehow speeds up the decay process and in a few months, the newspaper-wrapped fish is gone, and the soil is richer.

Teresa caught one via spear (first try!), and they wrapped it for fertilizing the garden.

PUZZLE TIME. It was also a puzzle week...1000 pieces! Normally I only have patience for a max of 500 pieces. But the kids got it going, and by the end of the week it was done :0

CRACKERS. For Christmas dinner we played music with the holiday crackers (Christmas crackers are a holiday tradition in the UK--our neighbor grew up with them, and I liked the idea! We've had them adorning everyone's plate for the past 2 years.)

Christmas Crackers are short, cardboard tubes wrapped in colorful paper. You and the person next to you pull on either end, and it makes a "crack" or pop noise, and out falls candy, or a paper, or a joke or quote, or all of the above.

This year we had crackers with little musical horns, and we played some music with them! It was a funny end to the meal.

SAND AND SUN. We also had one Beach Day: digging and walking on the beach and soaking up sun, for these Vitamin-D-deprived Massachusetts residents!

We WERE going to go diving but it was too windy. Like, 6-foot waves so they weren't taking boats out that day. Ugh.

BACK TO ROUTINE. Now, Teresa and David are back at BYU; classes started 2 weeks ago. Let the fun begin! (and studying...and time-management...and part-time jobs)

Kara has been juggling 3 part-time jobs the past few months...
*The Local, a restaurant where she hostesses/gets tips for carry-out
*Interim nanny, afternoons for 2 little girls
*Chauffeur, driving a student home from middle school each day

She's hoping to get started soon with an internship with a cyber security company in downtown Boston. I think it will be with the sales/marketing department... or maybe I'm making that part up.

She'll go in this Friday to meet with some key people, and hopefully get more details on timing, and knowing the kind of work and projects she can help with.

There's the summary :) I'm still in denial about winter, although now we have snow AND frigid temps. It's here with a vengeance, whether I deny it or not...(waaaaah, sad face, thumbs down)

Hope your week is starting out well!
Love, Kari

Mom's Birthday gathering!

Clearly we are not moving fast enough
to entertain Kris...

Hello, Family--
It just dawned on me that I did not post anything about Mom's birthday, when all her kids descended on her house in Tucson and celebrated for the weekend!

I really like this one of Mom:
Happy Birthday! :)

Mostly I want to share the pics. Our activities were not grandiose, but it was really cool to see each other and chat, and Kathi/Kim/Kari took a couple of walks on the golf courses in the mornings.

(If you click on these pics, they will show up bigger...on your computer, )

Mom n all 4 kids

in one line

sitting in cactus in the backyard

family temple trip!

birds in the backyard

tiny baby quail, camouflaged but so cute!

backyard visitor

uninvited guest Sunday

fire dept came and took him away
(no fires in Saddlebrooke this afternoon)

the coyote's after you...

2 javelinas on the hill

eating bird seed? really?

The weather was HEAVENLY, in the 80s and 90s while I was there, quite unseasonably cool for June. It even rained one evening! About 12 hours of a cool, steady rain.

Before I left, Mom said I must have seen almost all the animals that frequent her backyard: deer, rabbits, quail, hummingbirds, roadrunner, coyote...just not a javelina or bobcat.

We had a rattlesnake visitor, too, which the fire department came and took away.

THEN, on the last morning about 5:30, I looked out and there was a javelina pig-creature, eating the bird seed in the backyard :0 Who knew they liked birdseed, right!

So I only missed the bobcat. Next time, right!

feeder outside on the back porch

Avery and Grandma Kay

Highlights of the trip included all of us going to the Tucson temple, for the first time for me. They have some artwork on the walls that I have never seen before...like, ALL the artwork except maybe 2 or 3, was new to me! It was so nice. And to be in the temple with siblings and Mom...it was a good day!

Jessica and Avery came the next day, after Kris went home. Again, fun to hang out and we caught the new Incredibles movie, too!

The Girls before The Incredibles 2

Graduation At Last!

Hi and happy June!

Hats off to the new HS grads!

Amazing that we are into the 6th month of the year. It's been a whirlwind of activity, the end-of-school-year events for Kara as she approached the end of her high school experience :)

Last Sunday was Wayland High School's graduation, though, which was a pretty big deal! Kara was up on the stage for the whole event, so we saw a lot of her.

ok the wind...was an issue!
Kara's grad cap flew off mid-speech :/
but she did get a few laughs when
she caught it

As class president, Kara gave one of the student speeches at the ceremony. Of all the student speeches, Kara's was the best. (And even people who are NOT her parents were saying that!) So maybe it's not just my own bias, haha!

The administration also informed her, just 2 hours before it started, that she would be giving the welcome, and introducing all the program participants.

The senior class presidency split the names of the graduates, so they all read off about 55 names as they walked across the stage. Kara was practicing until 3:30 the night before, a little stressed about mispronouncing someone's name.

Just wanted to share some pics of graduation.

at the end the wind wasn't so bad

Family flies in to support! So cool!

senior class presidency
Jeff VP, Kara Pres,
Janelle Secretary
Zack Treasurer

We were so happy that Mom and Frank's parents, David n Diane, could be here! And OUR David, working in Provo this summer, also flew out for the weekend. BEST!

Buddies Lilly, Amanda, Masha

After graduation, we had a dinner next door at the Steneris. Their daughter Isabel also graduated--Kara and Isabel have been buddies since the 3rd grade. They haven't been in the same sports for a few years now, and have had limited classes together, but they still wanted to do a joint grad dinner. All of the Steneris really are the best neighbors EVER.

Well just a few pics! Angela came to the dinner too, but I forgot to take a picture of her and Kara.

Seminary graduation (a scripture class the high school students in our congregation attend, 6:10 each morning before school) is coming up this Sunday. That will ALSO be worth celebrating--early-morning seminary is a lot of hard work, too :)

Let's see, FYI, Kara just landed an internship (yes it's also paid, yippee!) at Angela's company for 7 or 8 weeks. It's in the Sales/Marketing department (Angela is in Marketing), of a small company (50 employees) that makes and sells dental equipment. They'll give Kara projects to work on kind of at her own pace. The hours are flexible, so maybe she can arrange NOT to be in rush-hour traffic twice every day. She hasn't figured out those details yet. Anyway, YAY Kara!

David just finished training to be in the call center for NuSkin, in Provo. He's not selling, but he takes calls on people's orders or other concerns. That's the part-time summer job, and he can actually arrange his class schedule this fall to continue the job and take afternoon classes. Nice!

Have a great rest of the week!
Kari

Memorial Day and Prom

Hello, Family--

Just thinking about Memorial Day, as we have a relaxing day of catch-up and no stringent time schedules today. Yesterday in church, the Bishop had Veterans, and those currently serving in the armed forces to stand and be acknowledged. I am so grateful for them and their families, and their willingness to serve our country!

Teresa on the flute!

At different times, Teresa and Kara have participated in the Memorial Day parade they have here on Memorial Day. They have the Middle School band march and play. Teresa played the flute for a little while, and Kara played clarinet, then saxophone in the parade.

Kara on the saxophone --
btw it's MY saxophone, that I played
in Middle School!

Here are some old pics, from Middle School for both of them.

Now, we're getting ready for Kara's graduation from High School! Her last day of school was Friday. I have many mixed emotions right now! (Admittedly, part of me was happy and relieved, Friday: I said to myself, "We have just completed 9 years at Wayland High School! Yessssssss!!!!") I also look back at pictures, and find myself teary-eyed.

The graduation ceremony will be this coming Sunday, 3 June. Kara's grandparents can come, we are so happy about that! David will come from Provo for the weekend, too. Then a celebratory dinner at the neighbor's house. Isabel and Kara have been buddies since we moved in, when they were in 3rd grade. Recently (the last few years) they've been involved in different sports, classes, and activities, but they still wanted to do a graduation dinner together.

Oh, and we also had Prom a couple of weeks ago. It's a Junior Prom, so one member of the couple has to be a junior. Jeremy, Kara's date, was a junior in Kara's math class.

It rained that afternoon, so Frank and I wore our raincoats :) We got a break in the storm for about 20 minutes, and we got in some cute pictures.

Well that's the time I have for the blog :) -- Just wanted to share some pics.

Love, Kari

February Break

Hello, Family—

I haven’t updated the family blog in forever, it seems ☹

So many of my projects/church jobs/household responsibilities have me focused on the computer, I actually try to cut down my screen time! But here are a few sentences for you.

Internet photo but here's the
front of the restaurant where
Kara works now

We just finished our February Break, which is a week. We stayed in town and Kara got in a few shifts being a hostess at The Local. It’s a restaurant less than a mile from here. She is at the front, and she seats people, answers the phone and fills carryout orders. When she turns 18 next month, she can train to be a waitress. She still plans on playing tennis starting late March, though, so we’ll see how many shifts she can do then.

She also took care of “Paige” here at the house, our friend’s dog, while they went on vacation. Paige is about 8, a little bigger than Macho (our dog, growing up, little black Peekapoo) but Paige is white. Nicer for Paige to be at a house instead of the kennel, and Kara got the same money they would have paid the kennel. Since Paige is pretty mellow, it worked out well.

Dog-sitting during the break
(Internet photo but this is a Paige-clone)

Frank is on the train to NYC at this moment, just for a couple of days. This Saturday is his birthday, and that night we’ll have a few couples over for a Games Night. Kara’s working but she can say happy birthday during the day! Ha.

David is about 1/2 way through his semester at BYU. He's still learning Chinese and working at the stadium on Saturdays, whenever there is a home game.

I’m teaching Primary now, on Sundays at church. I have the 8 and 9 year olds, who are in 2^nd and 3^rd grade. There are 7 of them on the roll, and our room feels like this tiny closet space. I don’t even have a table in there, because my chair plus 7 other normal-sized chairs barely fit! Ha, but I’m not exaggerating. I’m getting the routine down in spite of the claustrophobic room. We're studying the Old Testament this year. This week we talked about Noah's Ark.

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner Sunday, and we took pictures and I texted them to one’s mom in Utah. The other sister missionary is from Portugal so I put the pics into a facebook message for her mom. Technology can be so much fun! (When it works…other times you want to bang your head against the wall?!?)

I have to share this youtube link, you’ll laugh! This morning after exercising, I caught 3 minutes of the Today Show. They showed this video, and it made me chuckle. It’s a quick clip, but they replay it about 4 times, so you can watch this little toddler closely, haha 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drYR58wlMFI

Have a good week!

Kari