February

Time for a report on February. We started off with a great FHE lesson from Chloe. She planned an egg drop, and then likened it to how we need to spiritually protect ourselves. She did a great job. She and Brandon worked as a team, and Sophie and I were a team. We were given the same materials to work with. I didn't catch the first drop on video (didn't have my camera ready), but you can see Brandon cleaning it up at the beginning :) And you'll hear Sophie very concerned that we are about out of eggs. She did not like wasting them. Luckily the second one didn't go to waste.

After FHE, my parents showed up. They needed a bed for the night. They were able to take Chloe with them on a quick trip to St. George and back. Sophie wasn't able to go because of an orthodontist appointment :( so she and I took our own holiday. After her appointment we went out to lunch and then went bowling. Just as we were leaving the bowling alley I got a phone call from my mom. She had texted me this picture (see below) to let me know that they stopped off in Fillmore to tour the territorial statehouse. They wanted to make sure I knew that Chloe was learning some stuff, so to be fair Chloe wanted to make sure Sophie didn't get an entire day off. Their original plan was to only go to Cedar City, but my grandma who was meeting them there wasn't able to make it in time, so they went on to St. George. That set them back a couple hours, so they weren't able to take us out to dinner that night as planned -- so Brandon and I took Sophie to The Olive Garden. She got completely spoiled that day -- and so did Chloe.

Chloe accompanied me to RootsTech (a huge genealogy conference). They had a special youth track, but those tickets were all gone by the time we signed up. The only advantage to it (from Chloe's perspective) was that they got into a special session with the cast of Studio C. We were still able to stop by the Studio C booth and get this photo. I felt so bad for the Granite Flats guy who was right next door, and basically ignored. Plus, Granite Flats is a much better show! Anyway, we learned some family history stuff, but mostly just had a good time hanging out together. We were getting ready to leave near the end of the Studio C session, so we stopped by the room and peeked in. We just stood in the back for a while, so she still got to watch them a little.

But then we really got an awesome opportunity. They have been filming season 4 over the last several weeks. You have to enter a lottery to get tickets to their tapings, but with 19,000 entries each time we haven't had any luck. They did invite us to come to a technical rehearsal, though. So, I hauled the girls to Provo, we had to stand in line for an hour before they came and distributed wristbands to those in line, and then after another hour they let us in to take our seats. I think this was way better than going to a taping. Sophie was able to come (you have to be 12 to go to a taping), it was very relaxed, the cast members would come into the audience, they'd take questions whenever they weren't needed on stage, and we got to see like 14 skits! If you go to a taping they break it up into 2 sessions, and you can only get into one of them. I know they girls had a great time, and hopefully they learned something as well so we can call it an educational day. We had to make a stop at the creamery before heading home. I just grabbed a carton so we could bring it home and share with Brandon, who had been so patient waiting for us to come get him.

For Valentine's Day I took Sophie to a little party. They had a poetry recital, so I thought it would be a fun reward if she would work on a poem. She did great, and she and I had a good time working on our valentines for several days in advance. Our kitchen table was overrun with them, so we were grateful when we got it back, but we survived.

Saturday Brandon went out to work on the car again. He's tried a few times with no success, but it decided to be kind to him. It just started on the first try. We think it just finally warmed up enough. My car hates the cold as much as I do. We'll see how long this lasts. I don't think my dream of being a one-car family is going to happen, because Brandon needs a large vehicle for hauling things and camping trips when we take so much gear. Oh well, it's been fun while it lasted. But on a positive note, Brandon went and looked at bikes on Saturday. It's getting to a point where he can start riding his bike to work! Today he is off helping a neighbor with some programming, but when he gets home maybe we can enjoy our holiday.