Snow Days Galore

We're having another harsh winter! Or at least it has been rough by NC standards. We have had a couple of little snowstorms and supposedly have a big one on the way tonight. Yikes!

School has been cancelled for five of the last seven school days. We've had LOTS of quality time at home.

We had exactly one day of good sledding weather.

AND I finally bought sleds this year! 

(One of them already got broken.)

No hands! 

Street luge 

That looks like it hurts. 

Every year I forget how fun sledding is.

I love the wind in my face!

We spent a lot of time reading, 

watching TV,

and playing board games.

On some of the days, the roads were pretty bad, so we just

hunkered down here at home.

One day we had a science lesson where we made

hovering bumper cars with these balloons. 

The girls were crafty.

And one day they gave each other makeovers,

massages, and manicures.

When the roads cleared up,

we ventured out to Spare Time for laser tag and video games.

B was Legend--second place and the highest accuracy!

I was Inferno (7th), Whit was Elite (8th), 

and Care Bear was Pulsar (still beat 3 or 4 people).

 Three days after the storm.

There's this one section of our road that never sees the sun.

It was a huge ice patch.

 Five days after the storm.

Our back deck doesn't get much sun, either.

Still an icy mess back there.

I'm anxiously waiting for the school to call and cancel. Yesterday they called at 5:30 am. I'm hoping they decide BEFORE I head to bed tonight.

Valentine's Day

I hate it when two fun things are scheduled at the same time and you have to choose between them. That happened this Valentine's Day. Our stake planned the adult Valentine's dance at the same time as the girls' school Daddy-Daughter dance. Noooo! The PTA was very slow in advertising the school dance, and we had already committed to the adult dance. Whit, especially, was SOOO sad that she would miss out on the tradition this year. (Andrew is planning alternate daddy-daughter dates with the girls.)

So, other than feeling bad for the girls, the Valentine's Dance was AWESOME! We had such a fun time. I'm so glad Andrew is willing to get out on the dance floor with me. We danced and danced and danced. Loved it. Chris and Tiffany (our dancing friends) were there, which added to the fun.

Our selfie in the dark with the cute LOVE sign in the back.

We had both a live band and a DJ. The band played mostly country music. We used to know how to country swing, but have lost some of our moves. The group dances were fun--electric slide, YMCA, Stand.

Oh, and they had an awesome photo booth, too.

They had a photo printer and would hand you this within minutes.

Sweet!

Here are our close-ups:

Our attempt at a dramatic pose.

My serious face looks so angry! 

Such a fun night!

That was Fri night and Valentine's Day was actually on Saturday. That night we went out to the dollar movies. The boys watched Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day. The girls watched Annie. Then out to dinner at our second-favorite Japanese place (Ginza) since our favorite (Bonsai) closed. (Boo!)

All my Valentine's!

Spotlight 2015: Andrea

Something in 2014 that...

*you saw or did that was awesome: Ziplining for the first time

*you'll remember: Visiting White Sands

*you want to forget: All of our trees that fell down in the big ice storm last winter.

*scared you: Ebola. Is that silly? I don't watch the news because it's too depressing, but I heard enough things about the Ebola epidemic to scare me. Thankful that it didn't spread across the US like I was afraid it would.

*you're good at:  Being happy.

*you're proud of:  Going 8-1 in my tennis matches with Diane this past fall. Woo hoo!

*made you happy: Andrew's back pain relief. Spending at week at the beach. My parents coming out to watch our kids. Surprising Andrew with a cruise.

*you learned:  That some argue there is no scriptural basis for self-esteem. I learned that in my LDS Perspectives on Psychology class. Interesting. 

*made you laugh:  Brian Regan. Oh, and Andrew and Brandon both make me laugh just about every day. 

*was silly:  Our family dance at church. I love being silly!

*was exciting:  Carowinds with the kids during spring break.

*you earned, won, or accomplished:  Yahtzee bowling on the cruise

Any other notable changes/events for 2014: Got called to be the Relief Society president at church. Got released from RS president. (When Andrew got called into the Stake Presidency.) Got called to teach Gospel Doctrine Sunday school class.

Follow-up from last year's hopes:
*Finish three BYU classes. (I know, I say that every year. But I MEAN it this year.)
Yes! I actually did it this year! I finished Psychology of Gender, Personality, and LDS Perspectives on Psych. Yippee!

*Take the annual summer road trip
Yes! Hugely successful and so much fun.

*Beach trip with Andrew's parents and Angie's family this summer
Yes! We had never spent a week at the beach and we absolutely loved it.

Hobbies: Tennis, reading, playing Words with Friends and Trivia Crack against my brothers, board games with my family.

Something you like about your job:  Flexibility to volunteer at the school, run kids to appointments, go on lunch dates, and take care of errands during the day.

Something you don't like about your job: Dishes. And socks.

A job you might want when you're older:  Cruise ship performer.

FAVORITES:

Restaurant: Qdoba's Mexican Gumbo or vegetable tamales at Mi Pueblo

Sport:  Football to watch, tennis to play

Recent reads:  I've mostly been reading textbooks and academic articles. I did read The Brothers by Chris Stewart, Letters in the Jade Dragon Box, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and The Last Lecture.

Candy or other treat: Right now I'm on a popcorn with M&M's kick.

Color:  Black, gray, red, purple.

Animal: Baby monkeys

Snack:  Does the popcorn and M&M's answer work here, too? 

TV show: Downton Abbey, Survivor, SYTYCD, Amazing Race

Place:  The beach

Season: Spring

Meal:  Grandma Cuca's chicken and rice and tortillas

Song:  Say Something, All of Me

Game:  7 Wonders

RANDOM FACT:  I love cleaning the lint screen in my dryer.

Spotlight 2015: Andrew

Something in 2014 that...

*you saw or did that was awesome: Going to the Panthers/Saints Monday Night Football game with Brandon.

*you'll remember:  Realizing my back surgery was a success.

*you want to forget:  The lame seasons for BYU football and the Lakers.

*scared you:  Getting called into the stake presidency.

*you're good at:  Fantasy basketball.

*you're proud of:  Making diving one-handed catches at the turkey bowl.

*made you happy:  My surprise 40th birthday cruise from my hot wife.

*was exciting:  Going to Utah to surprise my dad for his birthday and retirement party.

*you earned, won, or accomplished:  Being asked to support part of the European side of the sales and marketing group at work.

Any other notable changes/events for 2014:  Living without constant nerve pain in my back. Turning forty. Going to the Outer Banks with my parents, Angie and Forrest. 

Follow-up from last year's hopes:
To fully recover from back surgery so I can start dunking again.
Fully recovered, but I've retired from basketball.

That I can join a competitive old man's basketball league.
I've retired from basketball, but signed up for a competitive tennis league in 2015.

That I can start writing another new book. (I'm kicking one around right now called The Nerd Vortex of Hunter Junior High that Saved the Universe)
I haven't written anything this year, but right now I'm kicking around one called How Mormons Won the Apocalypse

That the Honda dies and I can finally buy a midlife crisis sports car.
We sold the Honda and I bought my midlife crisis car--a 2010 Honda Element. I bought it for the awesome headroom. It is the only vehicle that I can sit up straight with good posture, which is great for my back. I had a very practical midlife crisis.

Hopes for 2015:
Win my fantasy basketball league.
Watch Andrea graduate from BYU.
Enjoy having one child in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school.
Have good health.
Have the Panthers win the super bowl.
Find out that I really enjoy competitive tennis leagues.

Something you like about your job:  The variety of opportunities and issues and the amount of freedom I have.

Something you don't like about your job:  Dealing with lawyers far too often.

A job you might want when you're older:  Fantasy basketball blogger

FAVORITES:

Restaurant: The Deck House

Sport:  Football

Recent reads:  Orson Scott Card's The First Formic War series

Candy or other treat:  Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream

Color:  Blue

Movie:  Napoleon Dynamite

Animal:  Cat

Snack:  Cats  Nuts in general--BBQ sunflower seeds, salted peanuts, and pistachios

TV show:  Survivor

Place:  Home

Season:  Fall

Meal:  Christmas Eve dinner

Game:  7 Wonders

RANDOM FACT:  When Andrea cuts my hair, she also trims my eyebrows.

What January Looked Like

Spelling Bee time!

3rd place in the school spelling bee!

("Debilitate" got her.)

Belated girls' night at Shani's

Using their gift cards from Aunt Irene--yum!

Talked about writing in our journals for FHE.

I read the kids snippets from my 6th grade journal.

Hilarious.

Christmas couples massage.

Heavenly.

W putting her sewing machine to work!

B's Jordan's arrived.

He's in love.

Drew and I went out to lunch and he got an EMPTY fortune cookie.

It was creepy.

Went to the temple with Brandon for the first time.

LOVED it.

Stopped by later with the girls for a family selfie.

Met our cousins in Charlotte on MLK day.

IKEA!

Whit forgot her scriptures, so said she

needed to take my phone with her to Sunday school.

hmmmmmm....

Her teacher.

Andrew and I volunteered with Partners Ending Homelessness

to do a homeless census. We counted exactly ZERO homeless

people in our assigned area. Felt useless.

Middle School Math Day

B's team got 4th place!