Ben's Joy School went to the Fire Station on Thursday!  We were talking about the joy of order and goal striving and we went to the fire station to see some adults who have goals that keep us safe!  The kids were pretty excited to see the fire jackets and helmets and to climb into the engine.  Ben liked it, too.  He curled up next to me playing on the ipad while I read my book this week.  It was one of my favorite moments.

Bethany enjoyed being back at school, seeing her teachers and friends again, and speaking Chinese.  She says she'd like to visit China when she's in third grade because then she'll "know all the words."  We shall see about that!  I signed her up for a ballet class at the studio where she's taking jazz so now she dances two times a week and she loves it.  She's really enjoyed being back with her friends in the neighborhood, too.

Cali and Cheyenne went sledding three times this week!  They came home from school, grabbed their hats and gloves, friends and sleds, and were gone until dusk sledding at the softball fields which are just a short walk from our home.  None of my other kids have ever really taken the initiative like that.  I'm glad they've been enjoying the out of doors!  Of course, we did have a problem when they went sledding in their tennis shoes and came home with them sopping wet when we had a basketball game to play in one hour.  Luckily, we have other shoes their size lying around the house from their sisters!  They played in games on Monday and Wednesday and are having great fun with basketball, too!

Mariah played two basketball games this week--one for Springville and the other for Bantam--and had practice for Bantam, too.  She also tried out for the school play this week!  And guess what?  She gets to be one of the townspeople in The Music Man!  Pretty exciting, huh?  I think she will have a great time with this new thing in her life.

Megan spoke in church today.  She put a lot of time in on Saturday working on it, so it's no wonder that she did great!  She has started early-morning orchestra rehearsals which are every other day and doesn't seem to mind the early hours.  I think she enjoys it at a different level than driver's ed.  You think?  She also started indoor track and went to a few workouts there this week!

Sarah went to MORP last night which you may already know is PROM backwards!  She took a fun guy from the basketball team named Mitch and they went with two other couples.  They went out to eat, to the dance, and then ended with games at WalMart and at one of the girl's houses.  Sarah said it was "fantastic!"  Yay!  She had to work Monday through Wednesday this week because of inventory at work, but she had the rest of the week off.

Savannah started her first week of winter semester at BYU this week.  She's taking 2 1/2 less credit hours than last semester and hoping things will be a little less hectic.  She managed to get 20 hours in at work this week so that is a good sign!  We saw her on Thursday night and she could barely walk because of the exercises they had been doing in her new Jujitsu class!  I think she might like that class best of all.

I've been glad to get settled back into home but I have not enjoyed the white stuff outside nearly as much as Cali and Cheyenne!    I taught Joy School and was happy to have a washer and dryer right in my very own home to use whenever I wanted but I did not take down the Christmas decorations.  I like them still.

Kevin coached three basketball games this week and two practices in addition to a crazy amount of client hours at work.  He got his Christmas/Birthday gift as soon as it came out--the new fitbit watch.  He is not sure whether he likes it better than his small fitbit or not.  There are quirks that he likes (and quirks he doesn't like)!  He is still assiduously getting in his 11,000 steps a day.  It's a lot of steps, but he never gives up.  That's my guy.