Puerto Rico

I had the amazing opportunity to go to Puerto Rico with my mom, my Aunt Donalyn, and my sister-in-law Stephanie. Stephanie had been there twice before, and it was hers and Michael's raves about it that made my mom pick it for the location of this girl's trip. Stephanie was an amazing tour guide, my mom was so generous to pay for the trip, and my husband and kids were supportive enough to encourage me to go self-sufficient enough to not need me (too much) for a week. 

Our first day, we all arrived in San Juan, explored the beach for a bit, ate a yummy dinner, and then had an early night (they had all flown overnight to get there).  

The next day, we took the ferry to Vieques. We rented a golf cart to get around, which was hilarious, especially when we had all of our luggage! We ate a delicious dinner and then spent about an hour walking along the beach and waiting for it to get dark, because then we could do the main event: our tour of the bioluminescent bay.

 Mosquito Bay in Puerto Rico is the world's brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. In this bay, when the water is disturbed (by your hand, a boat oar, a fish swimming, or rain), microscopic organisms in the water emit a bright pale blue. We were in clear-bottomed kayaks, and it looked like we were boating over thousands of diamonds. If you cupped water in your hand and let the water run down, it looked like diamonds were falling from your fingertips. It was hard to catch it in a picture, but it was an amazing experience. 

Buds

Theo is one of Jake's best buds, and Theo has a super fun mom. When he goes over there, he usually comes home with some sort of craft or little toy. The last time Jake was at Theo's, they were trying to make a dinosaur mask, but it was too hard. Theo's mom said she would work on it and send it with Theo the next time he came over. When we invited Theo, Jake asked me to remind her...I did not (no way was I going to hold her to that promise!). But, sure enough, Theo came with the mask! Lucky Jake to have such a great friend who has such an amazing mom!

Winter Camping

These two had a winter campout-better them than me I always say! They had a great time.

Proud Mom

Jake's teacher called me the other day simply to tell me how much she enjoys having Jake in her class and to compliment me on raising such wonderful young men (she also taught Logan). It was very sweet of her to take the time to do that, and I was so proud of my boys for being the kind of people who inspire such praise. (And she's right, they- and their siblings - are wonderful humans!)

BYU here they come!

We have been anxiously awaiting BYU admittance letters since Ali and Logan submitted their applications in early November. We had heard they would probably come out the evening of February 13th - a night Logan was going to be at work, and Ali and I were going to be in the temple with the youth. No emails came on the drive up, so unusually for me, I decided to keep my phone in my pocket...I kept it on silent and focused on being there doing temple work, but I wanted to be able to check in with Logan when we were done! Well, after we were finished and just waiting for a few kids to finish in confirmations, my phone started to vibrate. It was on silent, so I knew the only one it could be calling me was Logan. I quickly excused myself and went to the waiting room to answer. He'd gotten in! I was glad he was with his coworkers, who were almost as excited as he was! 

I celebrated with him for a minute and then slipped back into the baptistry, where I asked Ali if she wanted to slip out and check her email- she got up so fast! We went back into the waiting room, where it took her a minute to figure out how to log in, and...she got in too!!! We Facetimed Jason and told him they both got in, and Logan too, so they could celebrate together. 

We are so proud of these two and so grateful that they both got into such a good school. It will be so nice having them both in one place, and knowing they have each other if they need each other. We're excited for this next stage of life for them!

 

Fishing

Eli's latest hobby is fishing. He has been doing a ton of research and has bought quite a lot of gear, including a second pole, which means Ali tags along on fishing excursions now sometimes. 

Board Game

Maybe you remember Jake's writing buddy, Ella. She is the other creative mind behind Jake's Max and Rueben book series. The two of them are in the same English class this year and have shifted their love of writing into an online slideshow version. So when they got the assignment to make a boardgame, they used Reuben and Max's many (MANY) adventures as inspiration. It turned out amazing!

So much food

I am at the stage of motherhood where keeping enough food in the house for three teenagers is honestly a full-time job (I have to go to the store for a significant amount of food every 2-3 days). I feed my kids a lot of good, healthy food, but Logan is protein packing and eating 5-6 meals a day to gain muscle weight. Some of the food he wants is beyond my budget (and beyond what I feel is strictly needed and goes into the want category), so he actually buys his own protein powder and chicken drumsticks. He then cooks and freezes about 15 chicken/rice/veggie meal portions every couple of weeks for himself.

Seminary Treats

Our kids were asked to bring seminary treats, and these two made these super cute, super yummy heart sugar cookies (a nod to Valentine's Day).

New Library Route

We have been going to a different library branch because they are doing a huge remodel project on our branch. It is further away, but we do pass several cool murals in Downtown Aurora along our route. Jake wanted to stop and pose at this one- and can you blame him?!

More Bulls Games

Jason and Logan went to their second and third Bulls games this season. Once, a friend gave them some tickets they weren't going to use, and once Logan paid for 5th-row seats behind the basket for him and his dad because he wanted the experience of sitting so close.

Can you see them less than halfway up in the middle? Look at how close they are to that player!

Logan bemoans the fact that he wasn't alive during the Michael Jordan era, and Jason (who became a fan during that era) loves the fact that his son loves the Bulls so much.

Working Man

Eli decided that he wanted a job and that he wanted it to be somewhere he could walk or bike to, since he can't drive yet. That gave him about three options within walking distance, and about a dozen more within biking distance. He called a few of the places, and they were either not hiring or not hiring 15-year-olds. But one place, 3Chefs (a Persian restaurant right by our house) seemed very interested. Eli went in for an interview, and the owner/chef flat-out told him that he was thrilled he was a white guy who spoke English because he didn't have any other employees who fit that description! He spent the first few weeks helping him update his menu, app, and website (I think he wanted native English eyes on all of those things), and then they taught him to work the register. It has been a great challenge, and Eli has really enjoyed it!

Jason and I had never been because we thought it was just takeout (and we like to dine in), but of course, we wanted to go once they hired our boy! Turns out they do have a few tables, and when the chef came out to meet us, he gifted us with another couple of platters of food (enough to take home and feed our whole family for dinner the next night)! It was delicious!

Band Concerts

We've enjoyed a couple of band concerts this winter.  Ali has grown so much as a musician over the last seven years!