What a fun filled, busy month

Emmy came to town and all the fun started. It was beautiful weather out, so we took a lot of walks, mainly doing Pokemon Go. Her and Jordon came for nearly two weeks and during that time, Joe and Laura came. It was a lot of family meals,games and going out. We went to Denios Auction and to San Franscico for a Summer set concert, and we had Birthday fun with Joe. Despite Jordon's denial that they are engaged, we bought a wedding dress and they took enagement photos. They turned out beautiful! Talk of waiting for the ring did not keep up from full wedding preparations or at least planning mode. I was sure proud of Emmy's maturity with it all and we all liked being together. It was proposed that Joe move to Utah and stay with Jordon in his new townhome and it turned into a real plan. So many changes and new beginnings are coming a long and its exciting. Easter was nice celebrating at my folks house and we had fun going to San Diego for Celia's Birthday week. We celebrated Spencer's Birthday in a rental SUV that was pretty snazzy. I was pleased with how everyone got a long and jsut went with the flow and mishaps of the days together. Joe and I went to the Crocker Museum and it was so nice. We were rear ened on the way home, but are doing okay. Joe left for Lehi today, but it was great having him hear for a few weeks after the others went home. He has such a great laugh and it a caring person. There we are switching gears agian for the year and settling into a quiet few weeks before more plans for travel happen. Celia is getitng her permit soon and will be done with Junior year within the month. Nice times, I hope we can all be open to change and be blessed for all our effort. I love Emmy's pizazz and energy and it will be good to have and emulate as we move forward with the next few months!

Field Trips

It has been such a wet winter, and homeschooling online only became a little isolating, so we decided to take some field trips. I know Celia loves animals, so we went to the Sacramento Zoo. The snow leopard there was a big hit. His paws were still so furry and it was such a beautiful animal.The lion and Lioness were sunbathing in the sun, looking so stately. Celia and I walked around and she wanned to go on the carosuel. She was welcomed with smiles of the workers and had a great time riding the eagle which she had had her on on in a previous visit to the zoo. We liked field tripping so much that on a different day we went to the Sea Quest aquarium in the Palladio. It was cool. The highlights were being under the fish tank and the machines that could give small prizes. We will go back again as we have a year long pass. Our routines were distrupted alittle when Dad's eliptical broke, but he ran outside and we adjusted our routines. Celia did have a fun chance to go to Mormon Prom with Patrick. She wore a beautiul long navy dress that Emmy had with a plush over thehead zipper top she gotfrom Laura for her Birthday. Celia had fun at Patrick birthday party before that and after all of this, they seem to be meeting up quite often and talking a lot. It has made me so happy to see her firendshipping again with friend from John Adams even though she doesn't go there anymore. I've been busy with deciding what to write my article for on Auburn Journal for this month. I was blessed wto get it done right before the deadline. It was well recieved and google news picked it up. I felt the Lord's hand in my sucess for sure. We have plans now ot go to more field trips in San Diego next month and we can visit Crocker Art Museum nearby as well.

Car Rides and Sunsets

We are still getting into the groove after the holidays and we seem to be getting some routines going. Celia got a digital art tablet from school which is pretty fancy and nice. She can draw original characters and its seems so fun for her. We have been riding around town with Spence and Celia to different places. One week we did go to Ikea for a walk. It may not be our kind of furntinture, but it was a people watching experience. We gave Spencer our couch in the our bedroom so we found a replacement piece that can hold my extra down comforters I like to have around. We've been raiding a lot in Pokemon go and its been fun to connect over the phone with our family in Idaho and Utah to play together. We've gotten a lot of rain this month, but we've been grateful for family time and the great sunsets we get as the clouds move out. Valentine's day was great at the grandparents. We brought Tri Tip and it was an encore time from having made trip tip for our friends the Jones' to come over for dinner. Celia has been having fun connecting with an old friend and they are on the phone ten hours a day and its kind of cute. I feel sadness for the earthquakes and devestation that happened in Turkey this month. We pray for them and I'm so great ful our strucutres are buit low and with better strength against earthquakes. I'm grateful for our heat and home and the love we have with our family. We went to ward Temple night and enjoyed that and look forward to going again in March. There are ebbs and flows and times when things are slow and when they are busy, so I'm trying to enjoy each season and prepare for the next big thing grateful for it all.

Beginning of a year, end of a semester.

After the Holidays, I packed up Christmas and Celia and I worked on her semester end. It was so much work and Celia worked like a trooper. We had an extension of time. This was a godsend, a tendy mercy, or relief. many great gains were made. Because of the extra time, moving back to in person school wasn't made a viable option to the disdain of Celiabear. She wants friends and daily interaction with kids her age. She earned getting her hair cut and colored. I felt like her extra time working hard paved the way for success with so many B's and and A. I was glad the boys (Joseph and Patrick) were coming around, even to the house. Celia had some other friends from Westpark High School over here as well. With the big push to finish and all the excitement with friends, there has been a little bit of burnout. During this busy tme, Im still writing for the Auburn Journal and going to Admin meetings for the Demonstration Garden at Loomis Library. I attended book group and have been doing so much for Master Gardeners that I've logged 100 total hours, which should earn me a busy bee pin. All these busy days are a shift in things we do, but I feel there is significant growth in Celia and I. I can't forget Spencer. There were two spcialize dentist appointments and a Quartely meeting for him in January. He has quite a few changes going on in his world, but is supported and is so smart. He finds ways to get himself more groceries and popsicles by demanding a second ride to the store and refusing to eat the normal Little Ceasars Pizza we order for him. January did not fly by, but much was accomplished. We also had three weeks of significant weather. Raining and flooding were abounding. I feel fortunate that our home and property remained in tact. Im hoping for a wonderful February getting into the groove of things and healing up any wounds that needs to be bound, physically, mentally, and spiritually.