not a grandma yet

But maybe next weekend. We are trying to wait patiently...

ESPN Challenge--Alex was in 1st place for a short while today. He's now in a 3-way tie for 4th. I would be in 29th place. Only 6 brackets below mine. This was surely a lot more fun the year I was near the top. Good luck Alex. I hope Michigan State goes all the way.

No Sugar Challenge--we are all still in the running, though I had 2 dreams this week that I ate something that I wasn't supposed to. And in one of the dreams I decided I didn't need to tell anyone. Glen has also had a dream this week that he ate something he wasn't supposed to. Alex managed to stick to his guns during a camp out--no s'mores, no hot chocolate, and no doughnuts. I think he's starting to doubt that he made the right choice in joining the challenge. Andrew says he's not joining. Ryan says he might after his mission.

Hannah made this chart on the fridge-I guess we can remove the "R"

Glen and I each lost 3 pounds this week. Since I was already pretty much off sugar when we started this challenge, I find it hard to believe, but I'll take it.

One more week till Spring Break. And General Conference week-end. And I'm a grandma.

Have a great week everyone.

DWTS, a runaway, no sugar, 40 years, Madness, wedding and mission call

Saturday was a busy day. And the rest of the week, too.

Dancing with the Stars (DWTS)

Last night was Fallon's 8th Annual Dancing with the Stars. Glen, who came in 2nd in the 2nd Annual Dancing with the Stars, was one of the 3 judges. His area to judge was artistic showmanship.

The local dance teams performed routines in between the competing couples' numbers. Eight couples danced in the competition--they pair a CCHS Competition Dance Team member with an adult from the community--the Fallon NAS Commander danced with his daughter, local business owners, and 4 educators (which included 2 school teachers who are married to each other) were some of the participants. My zumba instructor and her partner did a Charleston and blew the competition away. It was an awesome evening.

Alex the fugitive ("Never let the facts get in the way of telling a good story"--Glen)

When we got home from DWTS, Glen and I were entertained by the story-telling of Alex's run-in with the law.

The basics: while we were gone, Alex had gone to the cousin's house to play--barefooted and in pajama bottoms (because that's how he usually is when he's at home). After playing basketball for a while, he decided that he needed sneakers on, so he headed home--just when 2 sheriff's cars were passing by. Alex "jumped into the weeds" to get out of the way...it seems this caught one of the officer's attention. He stopped and asked Alex about being barefoot. Alex explained, but maybe he wasn't believed, so Alex was asked if his parents were home. No, they were at Dancing with the Stars.

The officer winds up in our driveway and goes to the door to talk to Eric. He asked Eric for his name, how to spell it, his age, his birthday, Alex's age (and writing this all down)... while Alex went in to get his shoes. Alex comes back out and goes back to cousins. The officer is still there questioning Eric.

At this point, grandma and grandpa drive by, see the sheriff's car, and come over. So Eric goes back into the house. So now the officer is questioning grandma. Apparently he really didn't think it was normal for people to go barefooted. Grandma said it was normal. He didn't believe her. And grandma asked the officer if Eric answered his questions because of Eric's autism. The way the story was told to me, the officer might have wondered if grandma really was who she said she was since the officer had met autistic people before and he didn't think Eric was autistic.

When grandma later stated that the officer thought that Alex was a runaway...

Too funny. Maybe now I can convince Alex to wear shoes at least, even if I can't convince him to wait until bedtime to put on his pajamas.

Family challenge

So, somehow, Hannah comes up with this challenge that we are not going to eat treats. She first mentioned it on Friday and did not eat carrot cake at work yesterday. I had forgotten. But our challenge is now on our fridge and Glen, Eric, Alex, Geoff, and I have taken up the challenge:

We'll see how this goes. Anyone want to join us? There is a prize to he/she who holds out the longest. But seeing as how Hannah was a vegetarian for years, I don't know that anyone can outlast her.

And Saturday March 21st marked 40 years since I had been baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What a great decision that has totally blessed my life. I wouldn't want my life any other way.

March Madness

March Madness is upon us. I made a bracket, thought I had added it to the family group, but was mistaken. This morning I was tied for 19th place...though the others didn't know it since my name isn't showing up in the "Drink Milk" group. Eric and Alex also made brackets. Eric was with me in the 19th place with a few others and Alex was tied for first! That was this morning, however, and things have changed. Alex has 3 different brackets and placed at 2nd, tied for 3rd, and tied for 9th. Eric is now tied for 13th and I am still tied for 19th place. Oh, well.

Wedding

One of our nephews got engaged this week. Congratulations Tyler and Coral! We hope you will be very happy together!

Mission Call

And in other family news--our niece Sarah opened her mission call of Friday. She will be serving in the Alabama Birmingham mission and reports May 13th--just a week or so after the wedding, 2 weeks after Ryan gets home from Louisiana, and less than a month after Sarah graduates from BYU. Congratulations Sarah! We are so excited for you!

And...our first grandchild is due 2 weeks from today... wow...

various and sundry things

Andrew just got hired as a substitute teacher in the Provo school district! They even called to ask him to sub the next day but he was already scheduled for a shift at Subway, so he couldn't accept. His shifts at Subway will now be in the evenings, so he'll be available to sub. Good luck Andrew!!!

Hannah and I recently had a test in our health class. I made an 82 and Hannah an 88. I wasn't too happy about my grade (but the test was hard and covered 4 looong chapters) until I discovered that Hannah made the highest grade in the class (yea Hannah!). I was only 6 points behind, so I guess that isn't too bad.

Hannah helped with the high school's Academic Olympic's team this year by being the adminstrator for the team which included her cousin Joseph. I'm not sure exactly what being an administrator entails other than she attended the meets, but they came in second! Way to go team!

I started a marathon of the first four Star Trek movies yesterday. Eric joined me. He made it about 30 minutes into the first movie before he fell asleep. Admittedly, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the slowest-paced movie ever made next to 2001: A Space Odyssey. So that kind of ended the marathon. That and the fact that we attended a Pi Day party last night given by Glen's brother. Games were played, pies were eaten (lots of delicious pies), and a good time was had by all.

Alex has found a new favorite game. It is a complicated game, of course. Alex seems to really prefer games that have many ways to earn points so that you don't know until the very end who the winner is. Terra Mystica is the new game of choice. I have finally learned not to stress when learning one of these games (too many rules freak me out) and I just ask Alex, quite often, what move he would suggest. I do like the game.

Alex enjoyed a little bonfire tonight. He had this holey shirt he loved to wear that I finally said it needed to go in to the trash. He then proceeded to tear it into shreads and then asked if he could burn the pieces. Glen supervised. Our lives are just full of exciting activities.

count down

Last week I forgot to mention something else Eric does with his time. Writing and posting to his two blogs:

http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/

http://thingsthatdontevencomebackaround.blogspot.com/

School work keeps him from writing as much as he would like, but he still posts occasionally.'

It may be this week when our niece will receive her mission call! Can't wait to see where and when she's going. Good luck Sarah! You'll do great wherever you are sent.

So, 2 weeks till the end of the quarter. Mentally, this is good. I'm almost to the half-way point. This is what I needed when I was in labor with Andrew--just tell me when the contraction if half-way done and I will survive.

More importantly, it's 5 weeks till our grandson is due. My feelings about this event is--I'm excited, but it still doesn't feel real, so I will wait till he's born to talk more about him. I just don't feel like a grandma.

Plus 6 weeks until Spring Break. Will I be here relaxing, working on lesson plans, or meeting my grandson? Don't know yet. But I'm looking forward to Spring Break.

Then 8 1/2 weeks until Ryan comes home (April 30th).  Wow. We have so enjoyed having Eric home again. I can only guess what it will be like to have 6 under our roof again. And that will only last a few weeks until Hannah heads to Oregon to be with my folks for the summer.

Then there's 10 weeks before my sister-in-law and her husband start their 2 year mission for the church! We are so excited for them. They will be in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission and serving in Iceland--in the town of Gullfoss where there is a branch of the church. Gullfoss is about 60 miles east of Reykjavik. Iceland is a fascinating place. Look it up. The hot water never runs out. Everybody has heated swimming pools. Northern lights. Waterfalls. Geysers. Beautiful wilderness. And they get to speak English. With a cool accent.

And right after that, in about 10 1/2 weeks, Eric should graduate with an AS degree from WNC--if we can get his application, which is due tomorrow, in on time.

And, lastly, it's 12 1/2 weeks until summer vacation...