{Heart} Day



{Markus finished signing all his Valentine's yesterday ~ with a little help from his brother}



{They counted them all out exactly and figured out that they could each eat one of the left overs}

Happy Love Day Happy Love Day Happy Love Day Happy Love Day

My love day included:

7:00 am...crepes for breakfast{woke up at 6 am...(to make the batter)}



{Chocolate Raspberry and creme crepes}

8:30 am...drop off the boys to school (Morgen has late start on Mondays)

9:00 am...came home, took a shower, morning clean-up

9:30 am...back up to school to pick up Markus

10:10 am...Markus has cracked tooth extracted at the dentist office -
I was helping him floss his teeth last night when I heard a crack - and out came part of his tooth. It was a tooth that had a filling in it and the pressure from the new tooth coming in from underneath caused it to crack. My great dentist - Dr. G - was so nice to fit us in today. Thanks to him Markus was not in pain today {not for too long anyways!} and was able to eat all his Love Day treats. 

 



{Trip to the treasure chest before heading back to school}

11:40 am...back to school - just in time for his VIP poster too! He is the VIP in his class this week because his birthday is tomorrow, remember? Mrs. Wetsky {student teacher} helped him hold his poster while he described what he was doing in each photo. Then she opened the floor up for questions. Markus called on all of his friends in turn to answer. 

 




12:30 pm...lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in Old Mill.

{Looks too good to eat}

1:30 pm...back to school {again!} for Markus' Love Day party!

{Sugar Cookie Decorating}



{Muah!}



Markus' mouth was still a little numb even after 4 hours

{Mrs. D reading 'Froggy's First Kiss'}


2:05 pm...text from Morgen asking me to "Pick up some chocolates for Brittani"

{He picked up the flower when we stopped at Dan's for a drink}


3:30 pm...pick up Max and Markus from school and go to the rink to teach

5:30 pm...make pesto tortellini for dinner

6:00 pm...Sheri came over to to pick me up for the
Paul Cardall Concert 
She asked me last month if I would like to go to the "Celebration of Life" Concert with her and I thought it was the perfect thing to do on Heart Day! So she bought us a pair of tickets and brought all her kids over to my house so her daughter Tori could babysit. Thanks Tori for giving up your Valentines night with Dillon so we could go - you are such a sweetheart! <3

{My sister and I before the concert at the silent auction}



{An inspirational concert}



*******************************

Every single penny generously donated has the power to directly affect the lives of families associated with congenital heart disease. Our foundation, which my wife Lynnette and I started after I received a heart transplant and an overwhelming embrace of community support, has no paid employees and is devoted to provide education, fund research, and assist fellow organizations and individuals associated with congenital heart disease and other related congenital disorders. Funds acquired go directly to the following:

1. Scholarships
2. Public and private awareness and general education to help bring greater attention to congenital heart disease patients in an effort to prevent premature death, prolong the health and well-being of congenital patients.
3. Seed money for Federal grants associated with selective research projects making a difference in the lives of patients.
4. Financial aid to organized support groups dedicated to strengthening the emotional, mental, and spiritual lives of patients and families.

Again, our foundation greatly appreciates your support and all of those who worked so hard to make a difference. - From Paul Cardall's blog; Living For Eden.

Paul Cardall gave an amazing concert to Celebrate Life tonight. After the concert Sheri, her friend Ashley and I went to buy a c.d. of his songs and his new book "Before My Heart Stops".

After hearing his story, I am pondering the question, "What do I need to do with my life...before my heart stops?"

{Ashley won the princess basket for Josslyn that she bid on at the silent auction}

Third Times The Charm

Max's game yesterday up against the Falcons

The Sioux tried so hard to defend their net

For the third time this season Max's team played his friend Killian's team, the Falcons. Only this time the Falcons won.

Enjoy the Journey

Before

during

and after his game.

It is hard to tell when Markus is having more fun. Before his game practicing shooting pucks in the garage. During, when he actually gets on the ice and plays hockey. Or after, when he runs around with all his little friends from his team. He wears a grin on his face for all of them.



{A Snuggie for two}



 The third annual Love Olympics were held tonight at the home of Aaron's parents. And the winner's were...

Jeff & Nicole!!!

They won a snuggie made for two, which Nicole was very excited about. This was their second time taking home the title of Love Olympians!

Naomi & her friend Ben
Even though have only been dating for 3 days, they still came away with a lot of points

Kelli & Rob won the last place prize of conversation heart plates and some Twilight edition Sweetarts

Justin & Carol took home a prize as well, a C.D. by Stephen Kellogg and the Sk6ers.

I was so excited to win, "Some Kind of Wonderful", I just checked the movie out from the library a few weeks ago.

Dave & Heidi were the winners last year but now they will have to try to win back the title next year.

Todd & Olivia

Our Hosts - Laurie & Aaron

Justin has a torn achilles tendon and is on crutches but he didn't let that stop him from going for the gold!



We ate pizza and salad, with pie and ice cream for dessert and played four different games for points to see who would be the champion couple this year. The first game was a romantic movie line matching game. Then the second was a game with chips for betting called Wits & Wagers. Third, a game of Name that Tune, including the number one songs since 1985. Last, we played a couples version of the Newlywed Game. What a fun evening, thanks for planning Aaron & Laurie!

Blue & Gold Banquet

Markus was invited to attend the Blue & Gold Banquet tonight, even though he won't be 8 'til Tuesday. He was introduced as the newest Wolf in the den by cub master Chad.  

 After I finished teaching tonight, I hurried home to sew his patches on his new scout shirt and accidentally sewed the back of his shirt to one of the patches. When I was using the seam ripper to unstitch it I cut a hole in the afore said newly purchased shirt. Ahh- that is what I get for trying to hurry and do a sewing job. I just stitched it up and no one will probably ever notice, except for me.

 After dinner and the skits, the boys all went in the Tiger to jump. Each group of five children were allowed to jump for about 3-4 minutes. And then they would hop right back in line again. It was a pretty fun event for the boys in attendance.

Glide into Life



{Skating Family Glides into Life with the Follies}

I have been scanning in some old newspaper articles that my cousin Vickie sent me when my Grandma Jo passed away. She sent me some photos a few years ago and this latest batch of photos and clippings just a few months ago. I came across them again when I was cleaning out my laundry room closet - which by the way is almost finished now, phew! - and thought I would scan a few of them into the computer before I give them to my mom. It was kind of fun to read about my life before I could really remember. I vaguely remember some things about different places that we visited but for the most part it is all kind of blurred together. You can see all of the articles and photos that I scanned in here. Or here. But in case you don't have time to sit at the computer all day, wasting your life reading about mine, I thought I would post one from when I was younger for your viewing pleasure. ;)

Give a little of your heart

Since Valentine's day is just around the corner, please consider giving a little from your heart to the heart foundation. My sister Sheri is asking for help with donations to fund children's heart defect research. You can Go here... or here to donate. Connor thanks you from the bottom of his heart, and so do I. <3.

Plants

{what a difference a month can make}

Remember my newly planted Amaryllis last month? Well, just look at it now! I keep thinking about all the unrest in Egypt and wonder if it was all peaceful and easy for the people over there last month, or if it was already starting to be a difficult time for them a month ago.

“If unmistakable personal revelation comes that we need to go on the road, I’ll do it,” my mom told my dad thirty five and a half years ago. Well, the revelation came and so did we. I began the slow process of un-planting roots here in the heat of the desert.

I really didn't know any different I guess, since I was so young at the time of my families escapades with the Ice Follies. The first time I remember living in a house was when we lived in California when I was about ten years old. 

That first spring, I began the literal planting of my small garden plot. It was in a rain ditch that had a lot of dirt in it since it hardly ever rained that year. Much like my brother, sister, and me, the radishes, carrots and beans we planted seemed to barely survive that first long summer. In the fall (and I use that term loosely!), we pulled up our plants with discouragement, and decided to try again the next spring. Once again, the plants slugged through that second summer, barely producing much for our efforts. But that fall found us too busy to pull up the plants, so they stayed in the rocky soil, and to my amazement, come Thanksgiving, they were overflowing.

Those same plants are still in my memory, years later. They weren’t the prettiest looking, and some times, they sat dormant, looking half-dead, but I know now that if I just waited a while, gave them some time and some water, they produced again.


I’ve been thinking of the plants lately as I’ve both struggled and loved the last 4 months with a lot of stuff going on at my house. Most days I am like those plants in the summer—not the prettiest looking and definitely not the most “productive.” I am trying to have patience that my fruitful days will return.

Tell me about the different seasons of your life, and the ebb and flow of productivity in your life. What helps you have patience with the challenges of different seasons? I am learning that there are times of great productivity in my life and times of hanging on by my fingernails where I measure progress by how recently I showered or by the height of the Mt. Laundry in my room. I have found that the life of young motherhood cannot be measured by to-do lists, but that end-of-the-day have-done lists can boost my mood.

Mostly, I have learned that taking my days one at a time and learning to see what is, shows me which plants are truly flowering, and which are dormant for a season. The pruning can be painful, but there is so much love in every step of the cultivation process. I try to tap into that love, to whisper “baby steps” when things seem at a stand still, to learn something every day that periods of stillness, of apparent dormancy can often belie growth of the most amazing kind.

“Be still and know that I am God.” 

I find that the more I am able to give necessary time to stillness, the better I am able to be patient at the seasons before me and the direction of the winds.

Double Game Weekend

Max played the Bruins yesterday

It was a tied game 1-1, up until the last 13 seconds, when the Bruins scored and won

Max played great and still had fun. Since his friend Killian was with us we all had lunch afterwards. Markus' friend Garrett and Killian can eat Max and Markus under the table, I guess they were really hungry!!! After we dropped Killian off for his game Max came home to get his stuff ready to spend the night at his friend Cody's house. His dad, coach Volker, invited a bunch of kids from the team to go up to their house in Kamas and play hockey at the rink in their backyard. Max was excited to go and after meeting up with them at the hockey store to get their skates sharpened, they were on their way. Max said that he had a great time, and that they went out after having pizza for dinner to play hockey at 7:00 and Volker came back out to get them at what seemed like a few minutes later and said that it was midnight! Time flies when you are having fun.

Cody also gave Max one of his sticks, since Cody has 10 of them, and it is the perfect size for him. They got up early this morning and had homemade muffins for breakfast (he owns a bakery) and came back down here to the rink for the game versus the Idaho Falls team.

When I got there, they were just going out to warm up and Max couldn't skate at all, his edges kept slipping like he didn't have an edge. So I ran down to see what was up and he told me that his skates were slipping. I told him to go ask his coaches what he should do and ran over to the bench. He was just taking his skates off as his coaches confirmed that indeed his edges were completely gone. I am not sure if it was all the skating on the hard outdoor ice, or if he hit some cement, or what, but he needed them sharpened, and fast! Luckily the nice manager of the rink was there and was able to sharpen them within a few minutes. I ran them back out to him and tied them up just in time for his first shift. But his friend Jack, who had also spent the night at Cody's and skated on the outdoor ice, was having the same problem, so I ran his skates over to be sharpened as well and he was back out on the ice by the middle of the first period. Volker told me afterwards that Cody has an extra pair of skates for skating outside just in case. So that is why his skates weren't slipping, he had on his real pair for the game. Good to know. Anyways, it all worked out and the Lightning ended up winning 3-1.

"D" in Defense

Markus put the "D" in defense today

In his game versus the Knights

His coach Derek was telling him exactly what to do and he did it

He skated backwards faster than Luke did forward, the fastest skater on the Knights team...

Final Score: Falcons 7 - Knights 4

Thanks to Owen playing Goalie, McKay scoring a hat trick and Markus playing his best defense yet!

One of the most exciting Mite games that I have seen in a long time! Cute little sweaty headed Markus was all smiles afterwards with all of his coaches messing up his curly hair and telling him good job. Coach Jeff told him that he played better defense than anyone on his pee-wee team. Markus invited his friend Garrett to come with us to Max's game afterwards and then to our house to play. Fun day!

Bronze Medalist

This afternoon, one of my students, Toni skated a great program to Happy Feet at the Winter Games Competition in Logan and took home the bronze medal. Her parents were so kind to invite me out to dinner afterwards and I called my sister Sheri, since she doesn't live too far from there to join us. It was a fun evening and I enjoyed seeing my little nephew Connor. He wasn't feeling too well and was not very happy to be there but still such a cute little guy.

Toni and her mom Lisa

Toni at the Winter Games Competition

45



My sister Lara's 45th birthday was yesterday, on Groundhog's Day



Her party was tonight however, at the Rio Grande Cafe

Todd, Lara, Tanner, Monet, Dad

Lara's daughter Sierra came as well. She told me tonight that she got a "4.0" last semester at the U! Way to go!

Lara had her party tonight and even though we got there kind of late - Markus and Max both had hockey practice after I finished teaching tonight - everyone was just barely getting their food. 

I show-up, listen and try to laugh.



School Night

{Max at his Jr. High School orientation tonight}

"School Night" took on a whole new meaning tonight. As Max had his school on parade night, which is basically an orientation for the next school year when he will officially be a Jr. High scholar. Followed by Patron Night at Salt City Burger Company. Where they donate 30% of all sales directly to the schools art program. It was sponsored by the Booster Club and was very well attended, we got there kind of late and the teachers that were serving said that it had been packed all evening. Fun way to raise funds for a school, don't you think? Even better buying burgers than Happenings books or Sally Foster gift wrap?

Morgen & Brittani even came along

 

Silly boys!

sharing a strawberry shake

Double Hockey Sticks

Tonight after Max's hockey practice his Lightning coach, Volker was telling me that Max needs a new stick. He said that his is too short. I told him that last week Markus' coach Matt sent me this link about how important it is to have the right stick length and how I cut off 4". H.E. double hockey sticks! Looks like Max will be getting another stick soon.