March 2024

 March sure was a fun one!  We were able to take a family trip to Arizona during spring break.  We had a blast and made some amazing memories together.  Also, baseball has begun and being new to high school, it has been a new experience.  Looking forward to this new journey and what the future holds!

Arizona for spring break 2024!  I have always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, so we were able to find a place with our membership in Flagstaff, AZ.  It was the perfect location to fit in the Grand Canyon, see the city of Flagstaff, hike in Sedona, ski at Snowbowl, and an go on an adventure course.  We had such a great time!

The Grand Canyon was gorgeous!  God's creation is surreal!

Sedona was beautiful!!  We enjoyed hiking up to a cave and back down:)

Skiing was pretty good. Kind of slushy because it is the end of the season, but overall we had a pretty good time.  Reeve was a tad whiny, but we survived.  Adventure course was fun.  There were five courses.  Reeve did three, Mike and I did four, and Joden did all five.  

We drove back on a Friday because Joden's 15th birthday was Saturday.  He had a blast with his buddies at Axe Holes and then hanging out at our house.  

At my six month checkup I found out I had a cyst eating away at the bone in my jaw.  So, I had to get it scraped out and luckily the biopsy shows that it is not cancer.  It was just some sort of fibrous tissue that my body decided to create.  So, all is good and my mouth is back to normal!

High school baseball has begun.  Joden did make the team so we are grateful for that!  It has been such a new experience so far, but excited to see what God has in store for Joden and baseball.  Also, it has been not the best weather!  

Sunset on our way home from volleyball.  It was a beaut!

Got to watch some of my students in a play.  They did great!

Date night with my man.  We just hit up the horse races quick.  Sometimes our dates aren't anything over the top, but making time for each other is definitely important to us!

Joden got an academic award for wrestling!  Super proud of him:)

Got to observe one of my students at practicum!  I love this opportunity for them and it was fun to hear the 8th grade band.  They were doing great!

Easter break!  I wanted to have some one on one time with each of my kiddos.  Joden and I went and saw Arthur the King and he drove us home from Hastings.  He did pretty good!  

Reeve and I went shopping for an Easter dress, got a coffee, and then saw Fungi: The Web of Life at the iMax in Hastings.  We had a great time.

Easter in GI with the Schumacher crew!  We had a great time.  We dyed some eggs, went to the races, went to church, ate Easter dinner at our house, and did an egg hunt.  Grateful for the time we got with our family! 

I even ran into my sister at the races.  We kind of look alike:)

February 2024

 February has been an interesting month!  Had some highs and lows.  Through it all though, God is great!  

Joden spent the winter working on improving the speed at which he throws the baseball.  He saw some great growth and we are proud of him for getting up three days a week in the 5am hour!

Due to a kid being sick Joden got to finish his freshman season of wrestling, wrestling the JV 1 spot.  So, it means he was at a varsity meet for class c, but it was JV kids for GISH since we are class a.  He kicked butt and got first place.  What we loved about it is that his whole team got to watch him pull out the win.  Not that I want him to be better than his teammates--it just is fun when others can see your hard work paying off.  You were the only one who placed and you were a JV 2 kid technically.  Keep working hard and stay humble!

Slumber party with the Schumachers :). We love having the girls stay with us!

A few of our Ed Rising kids came for an ice cream social!  This is a new group I am leading this year and we are easing into it all.  So far so good!

Reeve's team got a medal!  

Reeve went to a murder mystery birthday party.  She ended up getting murdered-ha :) She had a blast!

Gave chicken pot pie with a sourdough discard crust a try.  It was pretty good!

Cheered on some of my students who made the podium at state.  It was fun to watch.  This was the first time I watched state wrestling!  Praying that Joden can make it to state some day:)

Dinner group meant I got to snuggle Tatum!

Reeve has worked hard all year on show choir and had her first performance this month!  They did great::)

My niece got 5th in her relay at state.  We watched it on the computer while my mom was in the hospital.  Way to go Delayna!

Basketball has ended so we are now on to volleyball.  Reeve is setting.  It is going pretty well so far!

It has been quite the whirlwind with my mom this month.  She gave us a scare.  She has a bad case of diverticulitis.  It led to an abscess forming in her liver, but we thought maybe it was cancer.  If it would have been cancer it would have been inoperable.  She has pulled through and this was the first time my dad had seen my mom in five days because she was on a vent.  He did not want to see her that way!  We are so grateful she is okay.