March 2025

 

The month of March has been busy with many good things.

 In track - Sheri ran the 100 m and 300 m hurdles. I am proud of Sheri for pushing herself to do things that are quite challenging!

Above photo credit to Ty Boyett.

Sheri's band also participated in a UIL Band Competition and earned excellent marks.

At Bushland Jr High Christian played solos for a judge along with the other percussionists in his grade. He got all superior ratings.

He also earned the "Best Mallet Solo Award".

Christian is enjoying basketball and really improving his skills!  He has been able to be a great asset to his team!

Matt and I participated in the Stake Leadership Conference and the kids attended a youth meeting in Lubbock.

For Matthew's birthday this year I got him a hammock.  This one is easy to roll up and store to prevent weathering and dirt.  Matt is a hammock guy. I love that he will have a place to relax in the beautiful yard he has created.

I also made a chocolate cake to celebrate!

The biggest highlight of March was Spring Break. We decided to travel southeast through Dallas, Arkansas, New Orleans, to Pensacola Florida and back.

First we stopped in Dallas to visit our friends, the Corless family (from our Illinois Days). We enjoyed a seafood boil and then fun games at their house that evening. They are such great people! We loved catching up! We also went to church with them the next day.

Then we drove to Hot Springs, Arkansas and were invited to have dinner and games with Ty's Grandparents, Mom, and sisters. We had a lovely time getting to know them and playing games and ultimately took them up on their offer to stay the night. It was nice not to have to set up camp in the dark! The next day we visited the town of Hot Springs but were unable to enjoy the actual springs. It was still a fun town,

Then we headed to our camp site in the Mississippi bayou where we had foil dinners and s'mores.

The next day we headed to New Orleans where we enjoyed some local cuisine including fried alligator, beignets, and etouffee. We also enjoyed the cathedral, shops, street musicians,  historic homes, and above ground graveyards.

We then headed to Florida where we camped at Pensacola Beach. We stayed for a couple of nights. We enjoyed a hike and saw an egret's nest the first morning.

 The beaches were beautiful with white, fine sand. Matt and the kids enjoyed boogie boarding. 

After that we drove north and west to head home. 

We camped in Arkansas and were able to see a very active lightning storm on the horizon above the city as well as a very bright moon.

We drove the rest of the way home the next day. We were very happy that we could get a break, away from the routines of normal life. We feel very grateful to have family time together and to have so many natural beauties to enjoy.

Meanwhile, Eve continues to learn and enjoy life at BYU. Here are some pictures from her March.

She was able to attend a water conference at Utah State.

She has been studying aquatic animals in one of her classes.

Here are some pictures of Provo. It can be so beautiful!

Sterling has been serving in Iguape. I certainly can't summarize all his experiences here on this blog. However, I will share a few photos.

He got a new companion, Elder Gonzales (see below),

visited a cathedral,

and was happy to help bring Gino into the waters of baptism! 

March has been a wonderful month! We feel very blessed! We look forward to warmer weather while Sterling looks forward to cooler weather! :)

February 2025

Happy February!

Here's what we've been up to.

Eve has stayed busy with her classes and friends. She and Matt also went to Ballet West to see Cinderella and had a lovely time! 

Here she is rock climbing with her friends.

Eve loves buying fun new plants

Here she was making diamond art bookmarks with Allison from my Valentine's care package,

Looking cute in the bathroom,

and at home.

She has been dissecting sea creatures in class

She bought some beautiful flowers for Valentine's Day,

 

and has been enjoying making delicious and healthy meals more this year.

Sterling continues to grow and teach in Brasil. He has officially passed his 6 month mark.

Sheri is doing well in school. This month she was honored for being a Superintendent Scholar for the last two semesters (all A's). She also found out she was ranked 2nd in her class.  I am proud of her for all she does to be a good student. 

She also auditioned for UIL Solo and Ensemble with a flute solo that was very difficult. She had it memorized and practiced for months. She has some performance anxiety but earned the high score of a "1" and will advance to State in May. I am proud of her for working so hard on it!

This month our stake held a dinner and dance for the youth with a 50s theme. It turned out to be a great night with many of the youth dressing with the theme and fun music to give variety to traditional songs that are often played. I helped to make and serve dinner and enjoyed watching the kids.

For Valentine's Day this year Sheri and I both got flowers.  We felt a little spoiled by our guys!

I made chocolate waffles for breakfast and we also had fondue that evening.

Christian continues to be happy and active. He was able to go to Amp'd a few times with friends.

He wrapped up his indoor soccer season.

He started basketball right as soccer was wrapping up.  He has been able to play with a team of boys that go to his school which is great for making closer friendships at school. Christian has really grown this season. He makes more of his shots and is more confident on the court. It is really fun to watch his team! They won most of their games and that makes it more fun as well. :)

This month Matt and I were able to participate in a service day where we helped build cabins for the homeless. The church sponsored 30 cabins for Transformation Park and we had over 85 volunteers that came out in 4 hour blocks to help put them all together.  It was quite an amazing thing to build that many in one day. I was grateful to so many of our members who came out to support the project. Actually, the signups filled within a week or 2 of posting them and many more wanted to help.

It was a cold blustery day with wet snow but we got it done!

Here are a few last photos of the month for fun.

Wearing my fun Valentine's jewelry.

Fun with friends and rabbits

I spy a boy reading, can you find him?

Although February is cold and we can't wait for spring, we acknowledge how very blessed we are! We are grateful for warm homes, friends, good community, opportunities to develop our talents, our loved ones, especially our family, and our Savior!