not much happening still

Alex got to sign up for next year's classes on Thursday. They give the students a printout of their record to help them know what they need. This is how we learned that Alex is ranked #1 out of 253 in his class. Of course, this doesn't tell us how many others might have tied him for first place, but it doesn't matter how many there might be, it's an awesome achievement. Congratulations Alex! Keep up the good work.

In other school news, I was subbing at the high school on Friday when they had an assembly where the National Guard's BMX team performed. This is a photo of Mr. Johnson, beloved chemistry teacher, sitting in a chair at the top of the ramp where the rider not only jumped over Mr. Johnson, but did a flip in the air while doing it. It's a bit hard to see Mr. J as his dark suit makes him blend in with the crowd, but he's there. Amazing stuff.

It was another slow news week, so that does it for now. Until I can figure out how to upload some of my old videos...

family photos through the years

It was a good week. Just not an exciting news week. I'm OK with "dull" weeks as sometimes excitement means trouble.

I went to the dentist and have 2 small cavities. I started taking medicine for hypothyroidism. It was pay day this week. Alex had fun camping in the snow for the Klondike Derby. Yep, that just about covers it.

Since I love posting photos and I don't have anything new for this week, these are a few "blasts from the past." I didn't get my digital camera until 2008, so the first photos were ones that I had already had scanned into my computer or that I had to take a photo of to post here, so the quality isn't the best.

Camp Conery at Lake Almanor, California summer 2001

2002

2003

2004

We didn't go to Conery in 2005, but went to Camp Little Bear in Utah. We did not get a family photo while camping, but we did take one while we were visiting Salt Lake.

2005

2006

2007

 We didn't go to Camp Conery in 2008, so here is a photo from our trip to Oregon

Brookings, Oregon 2008

2009--Andrew had just left on his mission 

2010--Andrew is still on his mission

family photo by Heidi Higley 4 July 2011--Andrew had just gotten off his mission

2011

2012--Hannah had to leave before we did and we forgot to get a photo before she left :(

Andrew and Heather's wedding--Elder Eric Perazzo was able to join us for a minute

25 April 2013 Salt Lake City, Utah

2013--Eric and Ryan were on their missions

2014--Eric and Ryan were on missions and Andrew and Heather couldn't come

2015--4 generations

2015--Henry is almost 3 months old

visitors for the weekend

A great way to spend a 3-day weekend is with company. Our niece, Haley, her husband, Matt, and their 8 week old baby girl, Chloe, came to visit. They especially came so my in-laws could see their newest great-grand. Only mom got sick and only got to see Chloe from a distance for a few minutes. :(  Hope you feel better soon, Mom.

We had a family dinner yesterday where most everyone got to meet Chloe. Our family, of course, got to spend the most time with Haley, Matt, and Chloe. It was a short visit, but we got to teach them two new games (7 Wonders and Kingsburg) and we had a great time talking. Chloe was on her best behavior, too. They were also able to tour the dairy as well. I hope they visit again soon.

totally precious

Glen and I usually don't do anything for Valentine's Day, but this year I broke the bank and paid $1.19 for a package of tic tacs to which I taped on a new label that I had printed from off the internet and gave him this:

Other happenings this week included a great Relief Society meeting on Thursday night. Drops of Awesome. Sometimes, we don't recognize all the good we do. We focus on what we didn't do. This is to help us recognize our awesomenss.

Check out what it was based on, if you are interested:
http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/

I saw a podiatrist this week. I'm learning the importance of good, supportive shoes. They should take care of my neuroma in my left foot (irritation and thickening of the nerves).

Glen and Alex put some of our Christmas decorations over into storage. Our trees are still up, however. Whenever I mention taking them down, Hannah vehemently opposes the idea. I kind of like them up, too. So they are still up.

Alex and I also played some games. I only won one (7 Wonders against Haley and Matt as well as Alex), but it's always fun.

ready to start playing Five Tribes...he beat me 262 to 211

DNA testing for family history and Mock Disaster Drill

My DNA results came back this week. Best Christmas gift. Thanks Deni.

Anyway, at first glance, some of the results were surprising. But then looking into it more deeply, there were no real surprises, though I was expecting higher than a 5% for Great Britain.

http://dna.ancestry.com/public/ethnicity/e5a34c0a-7afe-48d8-b431-39e2f0dc18b7/b7c8d9ae-fdba-4d98-aa8b-0ee7bd01b7fe







 100% European. The surprising part was "Ireland" as I am not aware of any Irish roots. But, when you look at the area covered by "Ireland," it includes Wales and Scotland. And I do have Welsh and Scottish roots on my dad's maternal side.

So, on my dad's side, I am aware of England, Wales, Scotland, Germany, Netherlands, with a touch of Norway.

On my mom's side it's Germany, France, and Switzerland.

The breakdown goes like this (with countries that I have known ancestors underlined):

Europe West 66%

Primarily located in: Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein

Also found in: England, Denmark, Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic

 Ireland 13%

Primarily located in: Ireland, Wales, Scotland

Also found in: France, England

  

Scandinavia 10%

Primarily located in: Sweden, Norway, Denmark

Also found in: Great Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, the Baltic States, Finland

  

Great Britain 5%

Primarily located in: England, Scotland, Wales

Also found in: Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy

  

Iberian Peninsula 5%

Primarily located in: Spain, Portugal

Also found in: France, Morocco, Algeria, Italy

  

European Jewish 1%

Primarily located in: Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Israel

Also found in: Germany, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Bosnia, Serbia, Estonia

 The report from Ancestry also gives you a list of DNA matches in their database. It gives it to you as who might be your 1st cousin, 2nd cousin, etc. They gave me 2 people who may be 1st or 2nd cousins and 2 who may be 2nd or 3rd cousins, and a bunch that may be 4th or more cousins. Of course the closest match to me has a private tree and I will have to send a message to see if they will open their tree to me. It's possible I already know this person. I have had contact with one of my 2nd-3rd cousins they list.

Anyway, I don't know what it really means or how it helps me in my family history yet, but it's great fun and I am enjoying looking around at my report.

In other news, on Wednesday, Glen and some of his students participated in the emergency mock disaster again. This time they were held hostage at the Fallon Municipal Airport until they were rescued by the combined Churchill County and City of Fallon SWAT team. Some years they post lots of photos with Glen's students in it. This year they only posted 2.

the freed hostages are walking toward the rescuers

And congratulations to my brother, Kyle, who will graduate summa cum laude on the 25th from a medical program back east. He will be an operating room technician (yikes! I actually don't know the exact title of his new career). Awesome.