February

 Nathan turns 18!

It took several days to celebrate Nathan's 18th birthday. No larger gatherings though, which suited him just fine. The Sunday before his birthday we had a yummy family dinner. He chose Dr. Pepper roast, garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies with hot fudge brownie sundaes for dessert.  Very delicious.  Then we played the game of his choice-Poker --with beans because we had no chips to use. 

On Monday night Matt and I took Nathan to Fashion Place Mall so he could go to the Lego store to pick out his birthday present. Yep, for his 18th birthday he still just wanted Legos for a gift.  Then, on Wednesday night, his actual birthday, Jacob and Miranda met up with us and we went out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.  I think Nathan has had this same birthday dinner now for three years. He still loves a good steak.  This time though instead of bringing out a small scoop of ice cream for his birthday, they brought out this huge plate of chocolate cake and ice cream. Yummy! 

Waiting in the car for our table to be ready.

The birthday boy and his car

This month the Draper Journal did a piece on Michael Clark and me being new administrators at Summit Academy. Kind of embarrassing, but also kind of fun.

Just a few days after his birthday Nathan got really sick. We feared it was COVID, but two tests came back negative and he never lost his sense of smell or taste so it most likely wasn't.  Still no fun for him, however Stanford did his best to take care of the sick one.

Brooklyn in the cute Valentine's dress I sent her

Stanford in his happy place...being cuddled like a baby

I officially got glasses. Having trouble remembering to wear them, but I have have them none the less

Miranda and Sarah working hard at becoming skiers this season

I got my second dose of the vaccine!  Woot! Woot! It knocked me out for a full day afterwards, but it was totally worth it.  Matt and Miranda were able to get there first doses this month too.

OK so we had the weirdest storm. It kinda looked like snow as it was coming down, but it was mud. Snowing mud. CRAZY!  This is what Nathan's car looked like just from being parked in front of our house during the storm. Of course he had just taken the time to detail it too to get ready to sell it. The weather reporters said that it was just snow mixed with dust/dirt in the air that caused it. Crazy stuff. 

VEGAS!!!!

After waiting for well  over a year I was finally able to make a trip down to Vegas to visit Dennis! So happy to finally have both shots down and for Dennis to have both shots complete as well. I have missed getting to visit him.  Thanks to parent teacher conferences, I had a Friday off and decided to take advantage of it. When I told my family, Nathan was eager to go, but with him not being vaccinated yet, he couldn't stay at Dennis's house. He quickly gathered up cousins to go with him (Logan, James, and Jaxon) and recruited Jacob to drive him and be chaperone. They declared it a boys weekend and got a hotel room at the Luxor.  I recruited my fully vaccinated bestie, Ann-Marie to join me. It was such a great visit. So wonderful to see and visit with Dennis again.  So wonderful to be in the sun and have tons of time to hang with Ann-Marie. She really is a great travel companion.  The weekend flew by way too quickly. 

Dennis and Boggie

It didn't take long for Ann-Marie to love Dennis like I do.  It was great to see how well he was doing. He is mobile!  He has learned to drive his car with his prosthetic and he has a great lift that allows him to put his scooter in the back of his Escalade. The boys spent a lot of time on their own, but they did come over a few times and played poker with Dennis and SkipBo with Ann-Marie and me.

One of the nights we were there we were lucky enough to have Dennis treat us all to a meal at Lucille's BBQ in his favorite hang out-Red Rock Casino. Of course the boys joined us for the free and fancy meal. It was such a great night. Ann Marie and I were able to get our pina coladas in after all.

All too soon the weekend was over and it was time to drive back home.  On the way out of town Ann-Marie and I stopped by the new Raiders stadium we just walked around the outside a bit and went into the team store, but it was pretty impressive. It made me think of Chris. He will love it when he can finally come for a visit.  This weekend get away was such a needed break. 

It was a great way to end February.