March 7, 2018

This week was a crazy, busy one.  I'm so happy that we are blessed with so many wonderful things that keep life fun!

I have been working as a special education aide at Cedar Middle School for the past two school years.  I kind of liked my job last year, but was really frustrated with a lot of things because the teacher I worked with was not very good.  This year we have a new teacher and she is so awesome.  I love my job, the students, and the other adults I work with.  I actually look forward to going to work most days...so happy to be doing what I love.  This week I was also able to learn about something new-water polo.  I went to a tourney at SUU and it was fun trying to figure out all the rules and what the heck was even going on!

I mentioned before that Makayla decided to try water polo for the first time.  She had two weeks of practices to learn as much as she could about it before they had their first tournament at SUU last weekend.  Makayla was nervous- a few of the varsity players were out of town so they wanted some of the "newbies" to move up and play.  Without having ever even watching a game before, guess who started varsity all weekend!  Makayla was awesome and she survived!  If you've never watched a water polo game before, let me just tell you what a brutal sport it is.  I thought soccer was pretty physical, but it's nothing compared to water polo.  There is so much pushing and shoving, not to mention practically drowning each other.  And that's just what you can see happening above the water (in water that is 12 feet deep)!  Despite all that, Makayla held her ground (err...water) just fine and even scored a goal.  The coach originally told her he would have her play for about 2 minutes then rotate her out.  She played almost all of all 4 games because she was doing so well.  Part of the time she played in water as whatever position it's called (I haven't learned that much yet).  Then she rotated in as a goalie.  She rocked both positions.  Way to be awesome!

(Makayla is the goalie in the red cap)

Last Monday Kelli got to go on a fieldtrip for school.  It was a "Cougar Pride" activity, just for kids who had good grades and citizenship.  She went down to St. George and was able to go hiking in Snow Canyon.  She also went to the most awesome park ever- Cottonwood Cove Park.  Kelli only has about 2 more months until she turns 12 and moves up from Primary to Young Women's.  She has been working hard on finishing up her Faith in God award.  Kelli only has a couple more things to pass off and she will be finished.  Kelli and Laney also decided they wanted to go "camping" this weekend.  They set up a tent, all by themselves, and had a girls night in the living room.  I sure was impressed with how fast they set the tent up- and it didn't even fall down on them!

Kelli and Laney on their "campout"

Laney was super excited this week.  We bought her a new softball helmet and bat bag-both of which are bright pink-her favorite.  We played catch and she had to have her helmet on so she could test it out.  Crazy girl.  Roxie, one of our puppies, decided to "play" with us.  She ran back and forth between us as we played catch.  Any time Laney dropped it, Roxie would hurry and pick it up, then bring it back to me (she will only play fetch with me, and sometimes Makayla).  This went on for a while, then I think she was mad because I kept taking it from her and throwing it to Laney.  Then whenever Roxie, got it, she would take off running so Laney would chase her.  What a nut!  Laney has also been busy working on her Patriots award for school.  She is getting close to earning it!

Jacob is still super busy with work.  The Barbershop is going well and he has been super busy.  He has been contacting old clients to let them know the shop has new owners (so time consuming) and has started doing some other advertising.  It's starting to pay off though, because he's gotten so busy, he's almost ready to hire a third employee.  We hope it keeps getting more and more busy!  Jacob is also still working on remodeling the rental house.  It's amazing how much better the house looks with the work he is doing.  We're hoping to have it done by the 15th of March so our renters can move in.  Crossing our fingers!

It snowed again this week.  The weather has been so Bi-polar the past several months.  Super warm one day, windy the next, then nice and warm.  Spring time in Cedar, isn't it great?