What is miserable, dreary, and bitter cold? We know!

This has been our worst winter here.  We haven't even had that much snow.  But I can’t tell you how many days we have cancelled or delayed due to to bitter cold and ice.  I have literally lost track.  And by bitter, I don’t mean, “Oh hey, its cold out here!”  I mean dangerous wind chills that literally chill you to the bone, freeze your nose airs, and really hurts.  Tomorrow we are going down to –40 again with 45 mph winds.  I’d kill to be on a cruise in the Caribbean right now.  I mean that literally too!

I have found though, that you must combat the winter blues with something fun to keep your mind of the misery and the fact that you may die every time you leave the house.  I’ll only give you a hint…

Alayna had a choir concert this week and she did such a great job.  She is looking so grown up.

She also had another basketball game and made a basket.  She is improving and getting more aggressive.  She got several rebounds and even got an assist.  We have lost her team shirt and she is the only kid that plays in yoga pants…

Rosie is fitting right in and everyone loves her.  She makes these cute squeaky noises when she is happy which is most of the time.  She loves to cuddle up on your neck- especially with Alayna.

I have some unsolicited advice for all of you out there.  Never try to cut a guinea pigs nails. We looked it up online and I followed the directions oh so carefully.  What they don’t tell you is that the pig will scream (its scary), try to bite you, and cover you in an endless stream of poop droplets.  It was traumatizing for us all.  So on Monday we are taking her to the vet to get them done.

Tyler participated in the annual Java and Jazz concert.  We didn’t get to go last year since we were ON A CRUISE!  Anyway, the jazz bands have a clinic during the day.  This time they got to work with a sax player whose group just recorded the new theme song for the Seth Meyer Late Show!

Then that night they have tables set up with chocolate, cheesecake and hot chocolate to enjoy while you watch the show, which was awesome.  Also, not only did Tyler tell me he had a solo, but I actually got to see it.  Whoo hoo for communication!  It was such a nice evening.

Well, we are surviving. Barely.  Kayla was down with the flu for 3 days.  Bob has another festering cold.  Alayna missed a couple days of school due to a migraine and stomach ache.  We heard Marisa was really sick last week too- we hope you are doing better! 

Here is our new Slideshow recapping 2013

Quick Update

Ok I was really bad at taking pics this week.  It was another busy one.

Tyler had Supernova all day yesterday.

Alayna made two baskets at the game Saturday.

Its cold, windy, icey and keeps snowing.  Its yucky but makes us anxious for Spring.

More show choir pictures

In Step, Intruder Training, and BYU-I

Tyler was gone all day yesterday up to Wisconsin for a huge show choir competition. His group placed 5^th, ended up in the finals, and even beat out some varsity teams!!!  Way to go, Tyler!

(Sorry I didn’t have one with him in it)

Kayla got her acceptance letter to BYU-I!  She was very excited to get it! Now she is waiting to hear back from BYU-Provo and will then make her decision on where she will go.  Congrats to Kayla!!

Well,  I am sad to say I called it.  Paige, the fish, died after a couple of days.  Surprisingly, Alayna didn’t seem to sad and promptly flushed her down the toilet.  Cole, the other fish, is nearing death.  Did I mention we don’t do well with pets?  But Rosie, the guinea pig, is doing great and getting bigger.  She makes these cute squeaky noises. 

On Friday at work, we had professional development.  In all my years of teaching, almost every professional development day has been a royal waste of time.  I thought this one would be the same.  But, I was wrong.  This was probably the most informative, useful training I have ever received.  Our entire afternoon was spent in A.L.I.C.E. training for intruders.  Every school I have ever taught in has run us through lockdown drills for when there is an intruder in the building.  Guess what?  All of that is being thrown out the window.  Its all wrong.

The class was taught by 2 police officers and an investigator with the Sheriff’s department.  First they pulled out 4 different types up weapons.  2 handguns, a rifle, and an AK47 automatic.  I had NO IDEA how heavy those are in real life.  I mean really heavy.  There is no way I could shoot that AK with one arm.

(This is just the rifle)

It comes down to this.  Get the kids out immediately!!  If you lockdown you are waiting to hunted down and killed.  You get.those.kids.out!  We watched several videos including the 9 minutes of Columbine from a students call to a dispatcher.  I cried.  The whole idea of this training is to become so familiar with it, that you quickly react, get the kids out, and be PRO-active.  You don’t wait to die.

We had to go through simulations where we were in classrooms and the cops came in with pellet guns shooting us.  It was one of the most terrifying things I have ever done.  But now I know what its like. We were taught how to run, how to barricade, and how to disarm a gunman.  Even after getting shot, most of the time you will have a chance to take the gunman out.  It was scary but empowering.  This program also trains the children so they know exactly what to do.  I was impressed.

(Sherry and I getting ready for the simulation.)

One interesting thing they did was tell a group of teachers to stay still so they could shoot them.  The guy went by with an empty  gun and clicked the gun at every head and said , “You are dead”.  After the 10th one he asked them what their 1st instinct was and they said to run.  He said, “Why the hell didn’t you???”  His point hit home.  We have to do something.  Just sitting there seals our fate.  Did you know at Sandy Hook when they locked down a little kindergartener grabbed her 2 friends and said lets get out of the building.  They are the only 3 that survived out of their classroom.  Another little boy took the dead body of his classmate and out it over him to look like he was dead too.  The instinct is to survive.  A very powerful and moving afternoon for me.

3 New members of the family….?

So, the kids were given money for Christmas this year and could use it for whatever they would like.  Alayna had her mind set on a pet.  Now if you know anything about us whatsoever, you know we don’t do pets.  They end up dead.  Its like we don’t have a green thumb, but for pets.  I tried to talk her out of it, but she has a point- we had the pets when she was a baby so she never got a chance to have one.  So, this week we did a lot of research and a lot of shopping.

On Thursday, we got 2 fish.  She named them Cole and Paige.  They seem pretty happy, but please note we are only on day 4…

Then, she finally decided on a guinea pig.  We went to Petco and she very carefully analyzed every single pig there.  She finally decided on this black female.  When we asked to get it, the lady working there said she had a new baby in the back that Alayna might like.  As soon as she saw it, she just KNEW that was the one.  She has loved her from the minute she saw her.  She named her Rosie and I have barely seen Alayna since she spends every waking moment with her 3 new friends.  She is doing a great job taking care of them.  Its so darn cute!

I started back to work.  School is cancelled tomorrow already as record cold temps will hit with a possible low with wind chills around –40 to –50.  What the heck??

Worst. New Year’s Day. Ever.

I realize as I am writing this that this only concerns 1^st world problems and I am being a baby for complaining, but I can’t help but share our story, especially so Marisa can have a good laugh.

So, the plan was to travel home on New Year’s Day. It all started out around 2:30 when Alayna woke me up to tell me her stomach hurt, followed by a burst of vomit full of partially digested noodles. Hey, at least you didn’t have to smell it. I had to rifle through all the luggage for some stomach meds. She finally fell back to sleep. I never did.

We got up at 4:30 and left for the airport at 5:30. We were told a few minutes before we boarded that NO food or even DRINKS would be served on our flight. What?! So we had to sell Tyler to be able to afford a couple of drinks.

As we boarded our plane, we saw that they had changed aircrafts so the seating wasn’t the same. What a freakin mess. We paid for certain seats and didn’t get them. We weren’t the only passengers ticked. We sat on the runway for an extra 30 minutes while they tried to figure it all out. Alayna had a fever, aches, and awful chills. I had no meds. I asked everyone around me and no one had any, including the rude stewardess who I wanted to punch.

For over an hour in the air, Alayna was shaking horribly and in tears because she was so sick. Good thing we had air sick bags close by. She must have shaken herself to sleep and slept for a good hour. Then, they started passing out waters and snack packets (probably to make up for the changing aircraft thing) but I was really ticked that they told us there was no food or drinks on the plane. Grrrr.

When we finally landed, I cheered for joy (silently, of course), for I was so grateful to finally be home and able to get some meds for Alayna. Premature celebrations are never a good thing. They told us that the airport didn’t have a gate for us and we would have to wait 30 minutes. Joy. Then a plane landed and took our gate!!! They said it would be another 30 minute wait. I had to deep breathe and I did Tai Chi in my seat. I am not kidding, ask Kayla. After 1 hour and 20 minutes sitting on the tarmac, we finally got off the plane!

We got our luggage and since our car was so far away, the boys went to go get it and drive it to the baggage door. The car didn’t start. Lovely. We had to go to the info desk and get skycab to come jump it, for $25 I might add. As they picked us up, we noticed we were out of gas. Lovely. Got to as gas station and guess what? The car died AGAIN! Did I mention is was literally freezing outside? Bob found a nice guy who was willing to help us jump the car again. I call him Slow McDraggy Pants. No, beggars can’t be choosers, but this guy was the slowest, most carefullest (yes I am making that a word) and even called his dad for careful instructions (even though Bob has done this a million times before and knows what he is doing. But we were grateful for the help.

We finally made it home. We got Alayna meds, a hot bath, and some good food. Bob left to go get groceries and guess what? No, I mean it, guess! BOTH cars were dead! Both! So, Bob had to use our little machine to charge my car and take it in for a new battery. Yesterday we took in the van for a new battery.

We are all home safe and sound. I am exhausted since the others are still on break. Life isn’t fair, but I sure am grateful for a great vacation and a wonderful home to come back to!