Whose at BYU?

Back in November, Jayd applied to BYU in Idaho and Provo.  We heard back from the Idaho campus a few weeks later, but Provo takes a little longer.  After an agonizing 4 months of waiting, we have finally heard back from BYU Provo Campus.  Jayd was accepted!!!  We are so excited that he will be attending school in Provo where he will be close to his sister, Maddie, who is currently a student there, and his grandparents.  He is excited because there is volleyball there.  He is already looking forward to attending the games in the Smith Fieldhouse.  He watches so many of the games on TV, he feels like he has already been there!

My True Love

I spent Valentine's Day with my true love this year.....volleyball.  One of the tournaments where I regularly play happened to be on Valentine's Day.  Since we don't normally do much to celebrate valentine's day, Jeff was willing to let me go, and even willing to fly back from Connecticut to be with the kids while I was gone (luckily, his testing was delayed, so he was in town over the weekend).  Is that true love or what?  My friends and I had a great weekend.  We played board games and laughed until we were crying.  We played hard in the tournament, and wound up getting 3rd place, complete with bronze medals and all.  It was a really fun weekend, and I am grateful that my sweetheart let me go.

Soaking In Style

Ever since we have moved into this house, more than 10 years ago, there has been a beautiful jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom.  The previous owners added the tub, but never completed the construction.  The area surrounding the tub was just drywall.  After many years of pleading from our children to use the bathtub, we have finally done the work to tile around it and make it functional!  We hand selected travertine tiles to place around the tub.  It was a lot of work, mostly because of the shape, we could not use a single intact tile, every tile had to be cut.  But it was worth it.  The bathtub looks great.  The kids aren't really that thrilled though, they are way past the age of playing in the tub....maybe some nieces and nephews will enjoy it some day.

Cars Land

About two years ago, California Adventure opened Cars Land, a new section of the park that was entirely dedicated to the Cars movie.  Since we had season passes during most of the construction, but not during the grand opening, I was very interested in seeing the new area.  I happened to have some tickets, so we went in December, of 2013, to go on the new ride, Radiator Springs Racers.  We went straight there upon entering the park, only to discover that it wasn't working!!  I was sorely disappointed, so I complained to customer service.  Since the park had only been open 10 minutes, they gave us free passes to come back on a day of our choice.  I was quite impressed by their generosity.  We went back last week, and were thrilled to find that the racers were up and running.  We went on the ride 3 times.  First, we went on a tour of Radiator Springs and shared in Lightening McQueen's adventures.  Then we raced with another car around the track (by the way, the car on the right always wins!).  It was great fun.
Also, since we waited to come back, we were able to attend Frozen Fun!  There were a variety of activities.  We met the princesses, Ana and Elsa.  Gabe decided to be the photographer so he wasn't in the picture, but he was willing to take a picture with Olaf.  We went to the Snow Fest where they had real snow for playing, and even a sled run.  Despite Gabe's protests, we even went to the Frozen Sing-A-Long for a quick rendition of the plot along with all of the songs.  I even caught Gabe singing during Olaf's song.
We went on nearly every ride in the park, including California Screaming and Hollywood Tower of Terror twice.  We had a great day together reliving old memories and making a few new ones.

Volleyball....again?

Yes, it is another volleyball article.  I hate to say it, but there really isn't that much going on in our lives during January except volleyball.  All of the winter concerts have been performed, Christmas and New Years Celebrations have come and been cleaned up, and life has returned to normal which for us is...volleyball day in and out.  Jayd has just ended playing another club season with a local club formed by his highschool coach.  It is largely for the highschool team to get some extra exposure to some high level play.  It has been a really great opportunity as Jayd has been able to participate in the club scene at a greatly reduced price.  During the first week of January, they went to a 3 day tournament in Anaheim.  This one was played at the Convention Center (very nice for us as it is free admission).  They played against many very talented and experienced teams.  They lost nearly all of their games, but they did keep a few of the games close and nearly won.  Considering the level of competition and the unique strategy of our coach (every one gets equal playing time), I actually felt that the team did very well.  He has enjoyed playing with his friends and it has been a good experience for him and us.  We are trying to savor every minute of his last year playing......and you can sigh in relief.  The end of the volleyball articles may come soon...then again, Gabe is trying out for the middle school team.

No more stained glass window

About 8 months ago, something shattered the outside pane of our sliding glass door.  We immediately put a layer of packing tape on the door to prevent the glass from cascading out.  Then we left it alone until we determined our course of action.  It looked like a clear stained glass window in our living room.  It was actually a little decorative and fun, but lately the chickens have been trying to eat the glass shards and pecking them out of the glass.  We determined that it was time to fix the door.  So on Saturday, Jeff picked up a very large pane of glass and installed it with help from various family members.  It is nice to have the window be solid and strong, (and more insulating), but I have to admit, I miss my stained glass window.

California Science Center

For a family activity, we went to the California Science Center.  We have been there a couple of times before, but I guess it has been a while because none of the kids remembered going there, until we arrived.  Then the memories came flooding back and they all remembered being there before.  We enjoyed playing with all of the science exhibits, old and new.  We also enjoyed exploring the new exhibit, the space shuttle.  The space shuttle Endeavor has been permanently retired at the California Space Center.  The exhibit was close up and personal as we walked directly under the space shuttle.  Jeff was constantly pointing out interesting facts about the shuttle and telling us stories.  We had a great time at the science center.