Mark - Blue and Gold

Mark is loving cub scouts...although there are usually only 2 boys at den meeting. He only has two more requirements to finish his Wolf and in July, will move on to Bear. At the Cub Scout birthday dinner - known as the Blue and Gold for those not familiar with scouting...his den did two little skits.

10th Anniversary/Valentine's Cruise

For our 10th anniversary (and Valentine's), Steve and I went on a 7 day cruise. It was a western Carribean cruise so we left out of New Orleans. We stopped twice in Mexico, and once each in Belize and Guatemala. We joined a tour group and it was a "Book of Mormon" Cruise so at all our stops, we visited Mayan Ruins. We also stopped at a local school and donated much needed school supplies. It was fun to see their cheery faces when we stopped by. It was a nice get-away. Steve only had to deal with work once (thanks to our employee Geoy!) and Hannah and Rebecca took charge at home and texted a daily report at bedtime. Steve did get food poisoning on the last day so he was pretty much bedridden (along with about 12 others from our group). But other than that...the weather was great, the sites beautiful and the quiet...ever so welcoming (not that I don't love the happy noice of 6 kids at home...). The picture on the left is at Tulom (near Cozumel, Mexico) and the one of the right is at Lamanai in Belize. The video is also in Lamanai. After seeing the temple above, we walked a short distance through the jungle and came upon the High Temple which we got to climb. The video is taken from the top.

Hannah - soccer

Hannah played soccer again for the high school. She played on the JV team. The first half of the season she was forward then played sweeper (last defender) for most of the rest of the season, rotating into forward sometimes. A friend has a daughter on JV for another school...who beat us all the time...our teams may not be very good but the positive side is that my kids are generally good enough to get a lot of playing time. When we played this friend, she got about 15 minutes of play time where as Hannah never rotated out. So...in the long run, I think it will have more impact on the kids to be on the field with a loosing team than on the bench with a winning team. Hannah was thrilled when it rained the day before their last game...she got to play in the mud!

Christmas

Somehow I have lost all my pictures from Christmas. So, a quick run down...spent Christmas Eve day at Steve's mom's house with his family. It was a great afternoon/evening. This was her first holiday season since Steve's dad passed away. Then we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Gentry's for the night. It was a little crowded with all nine of us (Robert and Raechel came home for Christmas) but we had a great time. Adam and Uncle Dean joined us on Christmas day. Very bummed I can't find my pictures. My computer was on the verge of dying a little bit ago so I may have lost them when we restored it.

Sports

Hannah and Rebecca both played volleyball for the high school. I coached the freshman team so didn't get a lot of pictures. Rebecca played on the JV team...usually played outside hitter the first game and setter in the second game. They had a rough season but she enjoyed playing, especially when she got to hit. Hannah started on JV and after the first game, several varsity players were sick so the coach pulled her up to fill in for a tournament and the next game. She had a great game and he asked her stay up. It was a tough decision because she knew she would get more playing time on JV but Varsity was definately more challenging and would provide more growth. She decided to stay up...played just a litte the next couple of games but eventually earned her spot as a starter as outside hitter. (Her pictures are courtesy of another parent). The same time that they were playing and I was coaching, Emily was playing soccer. Her team had an amazing season...94 goals for and only 8 against. They won a tournament they entered and won the league playoffs. Emily generally played a defensive mid position, sometimes offensive mid. Thankfully Mark took the year off from soccer or I would have really gone insane!