Hello one and all!
I feel like I have been tripping over myself trying to keep up with the pace of life these days! Thanksgiving certainly snuck up on me and now it is December and we are in the thick of all the holiday cheer and activities.
Thanksgiving was such a treat this year. We left our trip down to Mom and Dad's open-ended, not sure if we were going to want leave on Friday but we just couldn't bring ourselves to end the trip, we were all having so much fun so we stayed until the last possible minute. Some highlight for us included, hearing Joe and Thomas recount their marathon experience (I laughed so much), the ping-pong tournament (fun to have some of the kids take part this year!), the Cousin's Christmas Concert (what a great tradition), everyone using Garrett's cards to try to figure themselves out and map a course for the future, and, of course, the Turkey Bowl. Much fun was had by all the Harts visiting, eating good food, and just spending time together.
We have had a lot of snow recently which really puts us in the Christmas mood! This week we enjoyed setting up all our Christmas decorations, a field trip to the local museum exhibit about rainforest animals, a tour of a local post office (the guide was hilarious), and attending our ward Christmas breakfast.
Ian has been teaching the Broadway Academy class at the local theater and directing rehearsals for the kids' production of Moana that will happen in January. He has also been submitting lots of college applications. He loved talking to a lot the aunts and uncles during Thanksgiving about college and life plans. We made a transcript for him and it has been exciting for the acceptance letters to arrive and receive some scholarship offers as well. He is still working at one of the local drink shops and had an interview with the owner of a printing shop here in town who is looking for a graphic designer. He got hired to act in a commercial and spent the day yesterday traveling to Boise and filming. It was very exciting.
Jack has an exciting new early morning practice and workout schedule for his soccer team so we get to wake up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at 5:30 a.m. to take him either to the gym or to the indoor practice facility. What joy! He wrapped up the high school fall soccer season where he scored the most goals of any player on his team and was recognized for that at the end of the season banquet. He has also been honing his racketball skills and likes playing with Alex a few times a week. He is working his way through an online driver's ed class and is getting close to wrapping that up. Another driver in the house!
Peter has decided to take over Jack's lathe and spent a couple of hours cleaning up the workshop yesterday and messing around on the lathe making wands. His first one turned out so great! He is still super interested in animals and was thrilled to go the museum exhibit and see a real live sloth as well as some tortoises and all kinds of other rainforest reptiles. He also got to go with friends to see a new place that just opened up in Rexburg called Yellowstone Safari Park. They spent a couple of hours looking at the huge elk, Eurasian bears, fallow deer, wolves, and red foxes that they have on a preserve up there. He was amazed to see them up close and talked about it non-stop for the next few days. He is still taking tumbling classes and loves to flip more than anything.
Alex has been trying a new workout regimen and is seeing some great results. He went off sugar in the spring and is loving how he feels. The Spikeball Playoffs event that he organizes and hosts is in the works and takes up a lot time. He also has a lot of businesses that are in different phases of negotiations for his brokering business. He loves being in the student ward and has been having some really great experiences with the kids up at BYU-I.
I have been busy planning and carrying out our holiday Relief Society activity and also the end of year activity for the teens in our homeschool community. So fun! But I am partied out, to be honest, and glad to check those things off my list for a while. I have had a wonderful time lately diving back into my reading life. So many books, so little time! One of my favorites that I picked up serendipitously and have loved SO much is a little collection of poems called "The Wonder of Small Things". It is perfectly lovely. Here is a sample:
Can you Hear It?
There are days when,
although I try to open myself
to wonder, wonder just
won't be found. Or perhaps,
it is more accurate to say
on those days I am simply
blind to what the world
has to offer
until I look down, and there,
beside the sidewalk,
are blades of grass completely
enrobed in ice, shimmering
in the glow of the setting sun,
and as they sway and move
into each other, if I listen,
really listen,
even they are singing
faint little bell-notes of joy.
Hope you are finding joy and magic in all your holiday preparations. Stay warm and well!
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