"Stormin' Mormon!!"

This is one of the phrases that the student section would chant out when Hyrum would go up for his free throws. It was definitely a compliment, as Hyrum has had a wonderful senior season. He earned Valley district player of the year and led his team to the state championship. More on that in a future post.

 

Michael celebrating with Hyrum after their last undefeated district game.

 Hyrum with his good friend, Seth Hinkle.

The team.

 Woohoo!

 What is it with guys kissing trophies? I shudder to think of the germs on that thing.

For senior night, they had the seniors escort their parents onto the court to be recognized. I felt proud to be on Hyrum's arm but wished it could have been his own mom. I know she wishes that, too (and Hyrum as well!).

 Here Hyrum is being congratulated by his coach, Coach Edwards.

One of the other moms made those neat scarves for the senior moms. While a lot of people know that Hyrum is living with us, I imagine there were some people in the crowd thinking, "Who are those people with Hyrum??"

Hyrum using his mad ball skillz.

 One of thousands of awesome shots Hyrum has made. (The previous four pictures were taken by the mom of one of Hyrum's friends, fyi.)

 For the first state game at James Madison University (quarter-finals), Michael had the ingenious idea of making "fatheads" of the players' faces. He emailed the other parents and they were all for it.

 Michael also had Staples make a fathead for Coach Edwards. Awesome.

 The student section loved them, and a girl who has a crush on Hyrum (not a mutual crush) was seen holding his for quite a while.

 When we feel lonely for this guy after he leaves, we can try to comfort ourselves by holding on to his face.

 His parents came up for the state games.

I could try to come up with some witty "big head" comment, but as Hyrum's head hasn't gotten too big in real life, I'll abstain.

Winter wonderland

After lots of silly (in my opinion) school cancellations this winter, we finally got some weather that justified school closings.

 It looks like I doctored this photo to make it black and white. Nope.

Our snow angel.

 I haven't made a snow angel in probably a decade. It was liberating.

 I was pleased that this snow justified my "risky" purchase of a used snowsuit for Robbie.

 We really need to get a wagon with skis.

 Fortunately, Michael remembered doing this with Clara back in December 2010 when we first moved here, so he improvised.

Crazy that Clara could fit in there two years ago.

Ahhh, nothing like a backyard barbecue with eighteen inches of snow.

Ro-BEAR and Clara-bear

Clara never calls her little brother, "Robbie." She always calls him "Ro-BEAR," like Robert with a French accent. It is pretty cute and I confess I can't decide which I like better.

 Trying to go off-roading. (Yoga mats are multi-purpose around here--not useful only for exercise but also for chewing and protecting noggins from painful bonks.)

 Photo op attempt #1: Uncertain and disdainful.

 #2: Distressed and jovial.

 #3: Stunned and serious.

 #4: Distracted and smirking.

 Robbie is a pretty tolerant kid, I have to say.

 In our efforts to help Rob become mobile (he still isn't crawling but can move around a bit on his tummy), trying to reach the laptop was a motivator for him on this particular day.

 Just had to show these pics of Clara around this same age.

 Oh the hair. The amazing hair.

 Miss this but love the present.

Clara + Robbie = male and female versions of Brittanichael.

House update #4

 Hey, we have a front door! Too bad it's sitting in between the master bedroom and the living room.

 The backyard--from left to right: screened-in porch, breakfast area, living room, master. Window above: guest room (hint hint).

 The living room--windows ready to go.

The view from the front. Only six more months to go.

Valentine's Day

This is, so far as I can recall, the tenth year of Michael making a heart-shaped pizza for Valentine's Day.

 Ever striving for improvement, Michael made the mozzarella-stuffed balls as well but then discovered that the heart wouldn't fit onto the pizza stone, so he assembled it in two pieces and put part on a regular pan.

Unfortunately, even the two halves were too big, so he cut it even further and then re-assembled it at the end. It tasted as awesome in pieces as it would have whole, as you can imagine.

 A broken heart pizza and the fact that I broke one of the "champagne" glasses from our wedding reception makes for an auspicious beginning, don't you think?

 Lucky Blessed in love. (picture courtesy of Clara--first time ever!)

 The next evening, Michael took Clara to the daddy-daughter dance at her school. Michael informed me afterwards that Clara has some sweet moves. It's really true.

 Daddy's little girl.

Sorry girlfriend, he's mine.

Random shtuff

The weather here has been pretty bizarre--70 one day, then in the 20s with flurries and ice and school closings/delays (not welcome for Clara or me, eagerly awaited by Hyrum), and then just plain rain, too. That's all right--the variety keeps me from never getting bored with days of the same.

 Even a quarter inch is better than nothing. I think.

 Robbie loves being outside, no matter the weather.

 So technically this is a garden wagon and shouldn't be hauling around little chiddlers, but we like to be flexible around here.

A friendly game of checkers between mother and son.

 Ooh, prunes! Thanks for trying to keep the plumbing working, Mom.

The eyelashes. They kill me. As does the deer in headlights expression every time the camera light comes on.

Clara's baptism

Clara was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, January 26th. We are so proud of her decision. She had been looking forward to this day for several weeks now and nearly every night has requested the song, "When I Am Baptized" as part of our nightly devotional.

We were nervous about how it would go. Would it be like her ballet recital, where she had no qualms about being up on that stage in front of everyone? Or would it be like the church Sacrament Primary program, where she left crying? We were prepared with contingency plans.

Fortunately, minus a few tense moments right before when she didn't want to go down into the water with everyone staring at her (so we had them close the doors and then re-open them when she was in the water and we said a prayer in the hall for her), she did awesome. After she came up out of the water, she waved at everyone and then said, "I need to get outta here!" as she walked up the stairs.

 She was so excited to wear her jumpsuit (we had taken it home to try it on and get used to it). Michael and Clara also went down into the font a couple of weeks previously to practice.

We were just a few of Clara's fans.

 Michael's parents made the long drive up for the special occasion.

 We invited several friends to come--here is Clara with her schoolmate, Ashley Landes.

 Our sweet neighbor, Hazel Shirk, came to support Clara as well.

 What kind of principal goes to the baptism of one of his students? An amazing one, like Mr. Kenny Boyers, that's who.

 Roses for the day.

 Diane Hebdon is one of Clara's favorites at church--she even embroidered Clara a white towel with her name on it to dry off with after the baptism.

 Our big girl!

 The program--Michael and I regaled everyone with a duet.

Clara wanted to go out to Chick-fil-A afterwards to celebrate. She really was hoping the Chick-fil-A cow was there (we were hoping he wasn't), and when she saw him she was over the moon. She went over to him and pulled him along to introduce him to each of us. Awesome.

 Clara wanted to wear her dress (courtesy of her cousin, Ali) to church today, so I let her. She is wearing a CTR (Choose the Right) necklace in honor of the day.

This beautiful girl is on the right track. We just love her so much and are so glad she's our daughter. Way to go, Clara.