We made it through another week! We are still not to the end of January but we are getting closer... 

The best part of this week was that Mariah came home for a visit! She didn't have anything happening in St. George--no races or anything. She has also officially given up on finding romance in St. George. She is, instead, feeling really good about her long-time friend, Kolby, and one of the reasons she came home was so she could see him, too. It's been great to have her with us again!

Bethany had good moments and bad moments this week. She is trying to figure out life with constant fatigue. She has days where she doesn't believe that it will ever get any better. Those are the hardest. Hope has been as slippery as a bar of soap in a bathtub. She wants to hold on to it but it keeps slipping out of her hands and only shows itself occasionally. But, she has done some fun things. Megan and Ammon have been having Beth and Ben over every Monday for dinner and fun. On Wednesday she went to the church activity. On Thursday, the neighborhood group got together at Max's house. Friday night she went to a friend's house for a movie and Saturday night she went to a friend's 16th birthday party. Saturday during the day she went to pizza with her sisters and then to do baptisms with Kevin, Ben, and Mariah. She enjoyed all those things even though they were draining.

Benjamin went to indoor track some more this week after losing his interest in it for a few days. He also did tennis and karate and guitar. When we bought him his nice guitar a couple years ago, I bought the protection plan offered by the store. That sure paid off! He fell on his guitar while playing VR and the repair shop decided it was unfixable. So instead they gave us a gift certificate for the value of the guitar. McKay took Ben to the store and they got a haul! Ben got a nice new guitar, a case, a stand, a music stand, a tuner, and a cord for hookups. He is set!

Savannah worked all this week. She also hung out with her friend Joana and her baby on Saturday and went to a painting night with some of her coworkers.

Kevin spoke in church this Sunday and he did great! He also said how much joy this calling has brought him already. The cough he contracted around Christmas time is still plaguing him especially in the evenings and that is causing him a lot of grief.

I went on some walks in the mist this week but I did find some color, too. I did school and work but also had time to spend with Avery and Lyla which I love.

There was no school on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Kevin and I used the day to catch up on some work, and Beth and Ben had the neighborhood friends come over to play some games and hang out. Tuesday and school was back before we knew it!

Beth had a pretty good week. She did take a day off on Wednesday after an exhausting day on Tuesday. She had swing dancing in the morning and karate in the evening and looming dread over math homework yet to be done. She rested up and helped Sarah with Avery and even managed to go sledding with the YM/YW that evening. She barely made it to the door afterward, but she was glad she went because she had a great time. The math homework still isn't done, but she went to school on Thursday and Friday! I think homework might be her Kryptonite. Not that she isn't legitimately tired and feeling yucky all the time, because she is. I admire her ability to keep facing each day when she knows how exhausting and hard it is going to be.

Ben had a pretty good week. He is liking school better and may come around to enjoying PE. I will keep you posted. A day after his team lost every match in badminton, they won every game. Ben says it's because he figured out an unreturnable spike serve. He's not sure if it is legal but I guess he will keep using it until someone tells him otherwise! He also had tennis this week and karate. He and Beth continue to play the VR game together that they bought. He's studied so much chess online that he played Kevin on Saturday and beat him in less than ten minutes. That father-son activity doesn't take much time anymore!

Savannah had paid time off on Monday! She worked the rest of the week and has gotten her energy back! We are so glad! She even went to karate with Beth and Ben on Thursday for "Bring a Friend to Karate Day." She is pretty sore from that this weekend!

I'm doing school and work. Kevin's doing work and church. Sometimes in the evenings we all watch a show together. It's cold outside and everything is still covered in snow. It's pretty. We've seen deer and elk and the winter birds. Our heater works and we've even seen the sun a couple of times this week so we'll call that a win.

The kids went back to school this week! Beth was dreading it, but ended up pleasantly surprised that it wasn't so bad and she really liked her classes. Ben was looking forward to it, but ended up disappointed by the changes to his schedule and the friends that were no longer in his classes. I really wish our schools were more open to changing classes for the reason of a teacher change or to be with friends. It seems to me that their goal should be to have kids like school. Aren't happy kids easier to teach? Anyway, Ben says he's getting used to it and it's not so bad, but I miss hearing him say he loves school.

Ben had guitar again this week. He also continued with tennis and karate. He had his friend Kyler over on Saturday and they hung out for most of the day. He's still managing to play gorilla tag on the VR a bunch. It looks like good exercise!

Bethany went to a full week of school. We think it's her first since surgery so that's a big deal! A tender mercy was the social dance teacher and the counselor working together to get Bethany into social dance. She loves it and it keeps her moving. Another tender mercy was being able to get Bethany into the women's choir mid year. She is really loving that, as well. She made it to karate two days this week, too! She took breaks and was exhausted when she got home (like was going to pass out and could barely make it to her room kind of exhausted) but she is trying and all these things will help her build her strength.

Savannah was able to go back to work this week! At first she was still tired and struggling with the last of her illness but by the end of the week, she was cheerful and telling us stories again. We have our Savannah back!

We got to see Mariah this weekend! She and her team came up to Provo for their first indoor track meet. We got to see her Friday night and then again on Saturday when we watched her race the mile and the 1K. On the mile, she ran ten seconds faster than this same race last year! She is zooming! It's amazing to see her hard work paying off so well. But mostly it's just fun to be with her!

Avery thought it was much too loud in there!

Kevin is recovering from his illness sometimes and other times not. He's still coughing and has patches when he feels terrible. Still, he soldiers on. He's working on providing new classes online and also keeping up with the YSA ward, work, and all our family doings. He's a busy guy.

I had a good time working at my internship this week as well as completing assignments for my class. I went to WalMart to do some grocery shopping in one of the only time blocks I had available for it, and guess what? The power went out and they made us all leave! I was almost done, too. Funny. I went the next day and retraced my steps. I guess that's just the same as usual except instead of doing the same thing a week or two later, I did it all a day later!

Avery's birthday is today!! Sarah had a party for her at her house and it was so cute! There were decorations and we sang and opened presents! Megan even made her a Mickey Mouse cake and cupcakes. We are all crazy about that little girl!

Also today, Ben was ordained a Teacher in the Aaronic priesthood! A member of our bishopric came over this evening while we knew Cali and Chey would be on their weekly call with us. Then Kevin ordained Ben, and McKay and Ammon were in the circle. It was pretty cool. He's making good choices that kid and we love him to pieces!

Sunday night was New Year's Eve! Since Kevin and Savannah and Ben were sick, the Grosland's opted out this year. Since I was still feeling healthy and wanted to party, I asked our neighbors if they wanted to come . . . and they did! The Koger's came for games all night and the Mill's came for the last hour. We played party games and had great fun!

My birthday was on Monday! To celebrate, we all went to the movies! We saw The Shift and liked it. I got to talk to Cali and Cheyenne each separately on my birthday and I loved that! The whole family came over for dinner and Sarah and McKay cooked! We had fajitas and they were super yummy! Megan made me a double-layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting--just like the kind my mom used to make for me when we were kids. I loved it! It was a great day.

Tuesday was Mariah's last day home. She needed to get back to St. George for track practices and for work planning St. George races. She spent the day with Megan, Sarah, and Beth getting lunch, eyebrow threading, and haircuts! Fun times! After dinner she headed back south! We miss her like crazy!

Savannah would have gone back to work this week but she has still been really sick! She needed to finish her independent study class this week with two recorded presentations. Presentations are normally pretty easy for her but not when she has lost her voice! So it was a challenge. But . . . she did it! She pushed through the pain in her voicebox and the mental voices telling her to give up. Her class is now finished! Yay! Way to go, Savannah!

Ben's tennis group started up again this week and he was so happy to be able to go! He has coughed all week long but in other ways seems to be feeling his usual self. He has connected with some of his friends through his VR headset playing Gorilla Tag and it seems to be his new favorite game. He and Bethany also bought a game together. It's a scary game where they have to make it through a haunted house without getting killed. They get killed a lot. There's a lot of screaming.

Beth and Ben were both able to go to karate this week! Beth said it felt really good to be back. She wasn't able to do everything but she is ready to start working her way back. She had a pretty good week. She's done some things with friends and was able to do a few English assignments. She is nervous about school starting next week but we have worked some things out with her before-sleep routine that we are both feeling hopeful about.

I was able to get back into school and work this week. I'm really loving the things I'm learning about helping people and love the opportunities I'm getting to help people. We've gotten a bunch of snow the last couple of days and it's really pretty. I made a fire today and it reminded me of how our dad used to make fires on Sundays. It was always a treat!

I also got to babysit a couple of times!

Kevin continues to keep busy creating online content, being bishop, and working on his health. He performed a wedding this week for a couple in our ward. He played tennis on Saturday and said he was able to push through the pain in his knee. He is still having house-shaking coughing fits and feels sickish quite often. Poor guy.