Sun 2/1/15: We headed over to Murray to celebrate Grandpa Whitcomb's birthday with my mom and the missionaries. One of the elders was from Texas, and the other one was from Germany. We enjoyed talking about family history and all of the neat discoveries we have uncovered about Scott's and Emma's German ancestors. Scott made the birthday cake for Grandpa. He impressed the elders with his baking skills. The cake was made from scratch, since we ran out of all our boxes of cake mix. It was very delicious, and Scott received lots of compliments.
Mon 2/2/15: Cake for breakfast. YUM!
Tue 2/3/15: Tonight was Brad's and my Stake Temple Recommend interviews. We were interviewed by President Sarmiento. President Sarmiento promised us that if we are worthy, and attend the temple frequently, that we will blessed and taken care of in all aspects of our lives. I am excited about going to the temple with Brad! We haven't gone in such a long time.
Wed 2/4/15: I thoroughly enjoyed watching Bradley dance with Lizzy and David in our living room tonight. Gosh, I love them!
Thu 2/5/15: Scott got accepted to go to Japan! He received his acceptance letter while we were having our dinner tonight, which turned out to be a perfect meal for the occasion. I made an Asian stir-fry with bok choy, chow-mien noodles, and beef.
Fri 2/6/15: Brad stayed home from work today. We took the little ones over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to go to the park, and to have lunch together. While Brad and I were talking to my parents about family history work, and that Brad and I were going to the temple tonight, my dad told me that he has a couple of names for us to do. He gave us the names Venetia Wise and Joseph Willard Whitcomb to do endowments for. Brad and I learned a few things about them on Family Search before we went to the temple. It made for a very special, spiritual night at the temple. After we left the temple, Brad and I had a late night meal with the Sandersons at Applebees restaurant. We went to the same Applebees in Jordan Landing where I used to go with my mother-in-law every Wednesday.
Sat 2/7/15: Brad and I took Emma and the little ones to Michael's and Barnes and Noble today. Walking into those stores always makes me wish I had a lot more money than I do. Scott came back from winter camp with the scouts in the early afternoon. He was just in time for Marilyn and James to come. They were here helping Brad and I with family history work. In the evening, Scott and I hung out for a couple of hours, making a fundraiser page for his trip to Japan. We also spent a lot of time talking about our dream houses, and looking at fun pictures on Pinterest. Scott and I have a lot of the same interests. It's fun hanging out together.
Sun 2/8/15: My highlight of the day was watching Downton Abbey, Season 5, Episode 6 with Bradley tonight. So relieved that Bates didn't kill Green! I wish Edith would tell her family the truth about little Marigold. Nice to see Mary getting on well with Charles Blake. Love Rose's new romance, too, especially when Violet found out he was Jewish. Violet always has the best lines.
Mon 2/9/15: I made something new for dinner tonight. Yummy cajun stew. It was delicious! I am definitely going to add it to my regular dinner recipe menu.
Tue 2/10/15: I colored my mother's hair today. It was my first time doing it, and I thought it turned out very well. My mom is going to look so pretty on her Caribbean cruise. She leaves on Thursday.
Wed 2/11/15: I am starting a new afghan for my sister, Rachel and her husband, Craig. It's going to be a Christmas present for them later this year. It's the same colors as their favorite soccer team: LA Galaxy. The colors are navy blue, gold, and white.
Thu 2/12/15: I was thrilled when Scott came home with my new Studio Ghibli tin-pins! Scott made the tin-pins for me in his graphics class at school. They looked so awesome! I immediately decorated my new purse with them and took pictures. Afterwards, Brad and I took Scott to an open house event at Paradigm High School. Scott has been wanting to go to Paradigm for over a year now, but an agreement about how that would happen had not been reached until recently. We had expected Scott to be enrolled while we were there, but it became clear during the orientation that Paradigm was not the right school for Scott. Scott wants to continue going to Hunter, due to the number of art classes, and now Japanese classes, that Hunter has to offer. Later in the evening, Brad and I took Scott to his first Japan trip meeting at Matheson Jr. High. Scott is so excited about the opportunity he has to go to Japan. He would have never been able to go to Japan if he was attending Paradigm.
Fri 2/13/15: Tonight was our stake's annual Valentine's Day dance at the stake center. Brad and I went there, and ended up hanging out with the Hydes and Bekins from our ward. I had a very enjoyable time dancing on the dance floor. I had forgotten how much fun dances can be. I went to so many when I was a young single adult It's particularly more fun being married and dancing with my husband. No stress-- no pressure-- no one to try to impress. I can just head out on the dance floor with the man I love and dance the night away.
Sat 2/14/15: Brad, Scott, Emma and I were thrilled to receive tickets from Brother Goodwin to attend RootsTech at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. We conveniently bumped into the Bruce Clan while we were walking there, so we ended up spending the afternoon with them. We attended seminars and classes. We heard inspiring messages from Al Fox Carraway, Noelle Pikus Pace, Elder Neil L. Anderson, and Elder Quentin L. Cook. We also got to watch Studio C and David Archuleta perform live. It was definitely a Valentine's Day worth remembering. It left us with a desire to do more family history work and keep better records. So glad we went!
Sun 2/15/15: After church this afternoon, Brad, Scott, Emma, and I telephoned Wisconsin to talk to Marlene Duvall about Scott's and Emma's family history. We spoke to her for almost an hour, and received lots of helpful information from her. Brad and Scott took notes throughout the entire conversation. It was neat listening to her talk about her childhood, living in the woods near Ironwood, Michigan, with her stepfather, mother, and siblings.
Mon 2/16/15: For dinner tonight, Brad took the girls on a Valentine's date to Culver's while I took the boys to a Japanese restaurant called Banzai Teppan Yaki. Scott ordered beef ramen for himself and David to share. I wish I had brought my camera, because David looked so cute slurping up the noodles. I ordered some shrimp tempura, which was also very delicious. It was fun talking to Scott about Japan, and how much he's looking forward to it. For dessert, we ordered tempura ice cream, which was also extremely tasty.
Tue 2/17/15: We went to the library as a family tonight. Brad and I have cut back on the amount of TV Lizzy and David watch during the day, so they were only allowed to check out two movies from the library. After we came home, I helped Lizzy with her homework, then Brad, Scott, and I watched Marvel's Agent Carter together.
Wed 2/18/15: Scott took a date to his YM activity tonight. He borrowed the Toyota car to pick up his friend, Amber, and stopped by our house on the way to church so we could meet her. She was super nice. I both love and hate how quickly Scott is growing up.
Thu 2/19/15: Lizzy is obsessed with bacon. We had breakfast-for-dinner tonight, and Lizzy, as usual, went nuts over the bacon. I lost track how many slices she ate. Lizzy does not care if it's real pork bacon, or low-fat turkey bacon. She's a huge fan either way.
Fri 2/20/15: David and I spent the morning shopping at Walmart and visiting Petsmart while we waited for Lizzy to get out of Kindergarten early. We bought Lizzy a new Batgirl shirt.
Sat 2/21/15: Brad and I took the little ones to the Salt Lake City airport tonight, to pick up Grandma and Grandpa Whitcomb. They had just returned from their week-long Caribbean cruise with the Montgomerys. Lizzy and David were thrilled to see their grandparents again.
Sun 2/22/15: It was lovely having dinner with my parents tonight. I invited them over, since I knew they did not have much food at their house after their trip. I made chicken with Jamaican seasonings, sweet rice, and black beans. It was fun hearing all of their stories from their Caribbean cruise.
Mon 2/23/15: We picked up some fun movies from the library tonight. One of which was Maze Runner, which Brad and I had not seen yet. We watched it after the kids went to bed. It was good! I want to read the books now.
Tue 2/24/15: Brad and I enjoyed watching the season finale of Agent Carter. Lizzy and David ended up watching it with us, too. We ate chocolate revel ice cream while watching it. We are looking forward to season 2 now!
Wed 2/25/15: I decided to have Lizzy ditch school today, so that we could go to the Hogle zoo's last free Wacky Wednesday of the season. I invited Valeen and my parents to come with us. The kids loved seeing all the different animals at the zoo, especially some of the bigger animals, like the giraffes, elephants, zebras, and lions. David surprised me by taking a great interest in some of the smaller animals, too. He really had a great time looking at the little burrowing owls in the reptile house. He thought they were so funny, turning their heads back and forth. He would watch and wait and laugh at them whenever they moved their heads. I think he thought they were playing with him.
Thu 2/26/15: I brought my mother with me to the Stake Relief Society dinner at my stake center tonight. We sat with Loralee and the Bailey family. Mom loved talking to people about her cruise. I can tell she was very impressed by the ship's accommodations. The dinner and program was very well thought out. After our haystacks dinner, we broke off into three groups. Our group had our photos taken first, then we went to a self-affirmations workshop, and then we danced in the cultural hall (which was my favorite part). It was a fun evening, but not my favorite part of the day. My highlight of the day was coming home to my family. Lizzy was very grumpy when I arrived, but I was able to coax her out of it. She, David, and I sang "Do You Want to Build a Snowman," and then "Let it Go" at the top of our lungs. My kids are so good at remembering lyrics. I ended the night with a lot of husband snuggling. That was the icing on the cake of my happy day.
Fri 2/27/15: Emma, Lizzy, David, and I all had breakfast at Entheos this morning, in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday. Donuts and colorful sweet rolls were served. Lizzy and I read Dr. Seuss books while we were waiting for Lizzy's class to start. "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."
Sat 2/28/15: Brad and I took the little ones to Sam's Club today, and had pizza for lunch. Lizzy wasn't feeling very well, but she did enjoy riding around in the Sam's Club cart.
