2023, February 27-March 5

Signs of spring have started in the garden in spite of recent snows. The boys took a trip up north while the girls tooled around near home. 

After school on Monday, Eliza hopped on the computer for some free time. Fergus took it as his invitation to sit on a warm body. 

Here she is at Yates Places doing art inspired by the Ottoman Sultans. Eliza's nickname at school is Squeakie.

We got some pretty alpenglow off Buckley Mountain. 

Landon has moved on to geometry, which he seems to like more than algebra (just wait, boy).

At BUH, the wildlife was out for a visit on Wednesday evening. Hallie was over the moon at seeing the deer so close to the car.

Something sus was on display for our local snow sculpture. 

Landon graduated to his next level (yellow belt) in TKD, this despite resting his injured back. Good job! 

Eliza sure loves her brother. She drew this symbol from the cartoon Naruto on the driveway for him.

Grandma O. sent some photos of snow visible from Simi. 

Here's another image from Santa Monica looking inland. Apparently it's chilly down there by California standards. 

The Utah State Legislature passed the bill for the new flag. People are making some funny memes, but Mike thinks the design is nice and will be positive overall. 

Landon got his Herbst device removed and braces put back on. Hallie was trying to get a smile before, but he was not having it.

He and Mike went up to Ogden that night in preparation to volunteer at a state-wide LEGO competition Hallie found out about online. The boys went to a local sushi restaurant named Hanamaru that they quite enjoyed. Landon chose to eat through the pain. 

They stayed at a local Hampton Inn that was once the historic Eccles Building. It was near several local attractions and restaurants. 

The girls looked after the kitty at home. Doesn't he look content? Hallie thinks Fergus was really saying, Where is Mike?

Landon enjoyed an extravagant breakfast of blueberry waffles with whipped cream and chocolate sauce along with other soft cool foods. We also had a couple of servings of Menchie's frozen yogurt. When we have waffles, Landon doesn't eat much. But every time we stay at a hotel, he goes nuts on the waffles. Funny kid.

Unfortunately, the volunteer experience was kind of a bust. We were pretty much redundant because we really didn't know what we were doing so couldn't really contribute. Thus, we learned a good lesson: volunteer for things you know about or for things you can get better at as you volunteer over a period of time. Maybe we can help out earlier next year. 

Despite there being snow the driveway was clear enough after the sun came out that Eliza drew a chalk tulip on the driveway.

Hallie got her hair done on Saturday morning while the boys were out. Eliza tagged along and had a lot of fun on Hallie's phone during Hallie's pampering time. 

Eliza attends Bridle Up Hope on Wednesday nights during Young Women. This last week the young women made 72-hour kits, and someone was kind enough to make Eliza one. Eliza had a lot of fun going through it, and Hallie wrote everything down so we know what is in it.

We woke up Sunday morning to this. 

Mike kept working on his A-Frame set. 

We got some signs of spring in the garden beds. The tulips are starting to sprout! The little red dots are the tulips, and Hallie is over the moon! We planted close to 100 bulbs and are excited to see what happens.

By the afternoon, a lot of the snow had melted (and Mike had shoveled the walk). By the evening, cloudy skies had reappeared. We think snow is coming again tonight. Some in the family are doing well with all the snow (cough! Mike). Some in the family are not so fond (cough! Hallie). Spring can't come soon enough.