The Leake's Week-April 10, 2022

 Hello!

Two weeks have zoomed by me, so I have much to catch up on.  I started writing this on Sunday and am just barely getting it out today, on Wednesday!  Sheesh!  I am going to start with this most recent week because it was our spring break and it was grand.  

It actually didn't start too grand.  At 4:00 am last Sunday morning, April  3, Marshall came into my room saying he had just thrown up, and he actually didn't quite make it to the toilet, so that was a wonderful mess to clean up in the wee hours of the morning.  After I got things cleaned up, I went back to my bed a nervous wreck.  Richard, Marshall and I had a flight the next morning and in just a few short hours the girls would be off to Vernal.  I hoped against all hope that this was Marshall's nervous stomach rearing its ugly head before a trip.  But, the next several hours made it very apparent he was actually sick.  4:00 am to 11:00 am was no good for him, which meant it was no good for me either!  I said about one hundred prayers throughout the morning and hugged the girls goodbye at 11:00 am and tried not to cry.  Richard left with the girls at 11:00 and met his parents in Fruitland at 12:30.  He tells me the girls were great travelers and they finished listening to the morning session of General Conference while they drove.  He said when they met his parents, the girls just hopped out of our van and into their van and didn't even hug Richard good-bye, they were just ready to go!  Thankfully, they made it to Vernal safely that afternoon and Richard made it back home to us safe and sound.  By 4:00 pm, life had started to creep back into Marshall.  I was able to calm myself a bit knowing that it was relatively short lived for him, so if anyone else got it, we could handle it.  I am SO happy to report that no one else in our family got sick the entire week and I count it as nothing short of a miracle.  

The girls had the time of their life in Vernal Sunday through Thursday afternoon, which we knew they would.  We are so thankful to Bob and Becky for taking such excellent care of them and giving them such a fun spring break.  Bob and Becky were so great to send a video or two each day, along with some texts, and each one just made my heart soar.  The girls loved meeting the Leake's new cat, who goes by many names.  They are still talking about her, three days later.  Of course, the cat was the main highlight for Gretchen, the cat and the Barbies...that is all she needs!  Bridget was in heaven with the horses.  She rode Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday-and Thursday was a trail ride.  She loved it.  She loved trotting and cantering on Fred around the yard, and she told me he started into a gallop on the trail on Thursday!  She is far braver than me!  The girls also had fun flying kites, playing in the yard, playing with cousins, playing Barbies and watching Ella Enchanted several times and The Princess Diaries.  They are obsessed!  Bob and Becky were so kind to bring them all the way home to us on Thursday.  They arrived about 5:00, and we were so happy to be reunited.  

During all of this fun, Ziggy was being taken care of by our friends, the Dances.  They have a dog, just a bit older than Ziggy.  We actually took care of their dog Thursday to Sunday the week prior.  They picked up Leo last Sunday afternoon and then two hours later we took Ziggy to their house!  I think Ziggy was equal parts happy about having another doggy playmate around and exhausted from all the playing!  We picked Ziggy up on Thursday at 4:00 and he was beside himself with joy..and Leo was too!  Haha!  I've said it before, and I will say it again, there is absolutely nothing better than a dog greeting.  Talk about love and exuberance.  

Okay, onto our trip with Marshall!  A few years ago, Richard and I decided that the year when our kids turn 12, they get to pick a trip to go on with Richard and I, anywhere in the 48 states.  Marshall's year was 2020, and he picked Boston, which we had booked for June 2020.  He loves history and was so excited to go visit that city.  Well, obviously, due to Covid, that trip did not happen.  Marshall has been SO patient as we have waited out this pandemic and Richard changing jobs and schedule changes.  He changed his mind on location a few times at the beginning of this year before settling on San Antonio in order to see the Alamo.  Once he settled on San Antonio, we booked a hotel and plane tickets and told him we were doing it!  Monday morning finally came!  Marshall did most the research for this trip.  None of us had ever been there before, so he took it upon himself to research and figure out what he wanted to do!  I was so proud of him.  Richard and I just made the reservations for things and looked up some restaurants-he planned the rest!  

We left our house at 7:30 am on Monday morning and had a nice, calm, uneventful direct flight to San Antonio.  We got our suitcases, and took a Lyft to our hotel, just a 15 minute drive, right on the Riverwalk.  We grabbed a very light and late lunch from the hotel and just relaxed in our room for a bit.  We were on the 25th floor.  Sadly, the view right below us was a parking lot, but we did have a nice view looking out over San Antonio, including a bit of the river.  One funny thing I don't want to forget, while we were eating lunch in our hotel room, Marshall kept talking about how fancy the hotel was and was asking why it was so fancy and why we hadn't ever stayed in such a nice hotel.  I kept looking around our hotel room so confused because it looked like a pretty basic hotel room to me.  Two queen beds, a small bathroom, a desk, tv, windows, etc.  After a few minutes, we realized he was actually talking about the hotel lobby!  The lobby was huge, and all week long there was a convention there so it was always full of people and the restaurants and bar were always hopping.  There were fancy chandeliers and lots of cool chairs.  Apparently, the lobby really made an impression!  At 5:30, we changed into nicer clothes and walked to our first meal, and the one Marshall was most excited about.  We ate at Chart House, which is at the top of The Tower of the Americas, 750 feet high!  Once Marshall saw the tower in person, he became way more nervous than he thought he would be!  The elevator is on the outside, so you have a great view for 750 feet up and 750 feet down!  Both he and Richard did a great job.  :)  The restaurant slowly rotates, so you get an incredible view and we had an awesome booth.  It was perfect for us.  It was a u-shaped booth, facing out towards the windows, but there was one row of tables in front of ours and also down a step.  So, we had an amazing view while not sitting right next to the windows.  It was fun to take in so much of San Antonio from all the way up there.  Marshall had his first filet mignon and loved it.  It was a true success and such a fun, calm, quiet dinner with the three of us.  We made our way back to our hotel along the Riverwalk and it was beautiful and so fun to see.  Despite it being later in the day, it was still pretty hot and very humid.  The air on Monday just about killed Marshall.  It was hilarious.  He kept saying that he couldn't breathe and that the air was so oppressive!  It was cracking us up.  We kept trying to remind him he used to live in a humid place for almost eight years of his life, but I will say, the heat was next level!  He finally seemed to adjust to the humidity by Wednesday, but up until then, he had many comments on the humidity in the air!  We got back to our hotel just in time to watch the NCAA championship game.  Marshall had picked Kansas to win on his bracket and could not wait for the game.  The game did not disappoint, and Kansas emerged victorious!  It was actually a whole lot of fun to watch it with him.  After the game ended, Marshall got on ESPN to check his bracket and exclaimed, "No way!  I'm in the top 1 million in the world!"  His reaction was priceless, just full of sheer exuberance!  It was so fun.  To be more exact, he placed 646,000 and is in the 96%.  He is beyond impressed with his success and is already counting down to next year!  After celebrating with Marshall, and then subsequently calming him down, we all fell asleep, and slept great!  

Tuesday morning we were up and out of the hotel at 8:00 am.  We walked for a few short blocks to get breakfast at La Panaderia-a Mexican bakery that had a line out the door.  Always a good sign!  We stuffed ourselves silly with pastries and other breakfast foods.  I would have loved to make it back there, but alas!  We ate as much as we possibly could and practically rolled ourselves away from breakfast!  At 9:30 we did a tour of the Alamo.  It was fascinating.  Our tour guide was great and we learned so much of the history of the area leading up to the battle at The Alamo.  We were able to go into the church and see original architecture, painting and carving on the walls.  After the guided tour was over, we walked around the grounds, the museum, and of course, the gift shop.  We also sat by a fountain under the shade of an amazing tree and Richard and Marshall gave me a history lesson on questions I had!  Those two, their minds absorb so much information, I can't keep up!  After spending the entire morning at The Alamo, we decided to try Whataburger, and were sadly disappointed!  But, it did offer us a cool reprieve as the temperatures that day were in the 90s!  It was nuts!  After lunch, we decided to keep braving the heat, because the day was only going to keep getting hotter and we went and did a boat tour on the river.  It was so fun, despite the heat!  One perk of doing the boat tour that day, is that the boat was not that full!  It was about 45 minutes, and there were some good shaded areas, so we had bits of cooler air.  Our tour guide was so fun and it was just great to take in the beautiful scenery of the Riverwalk while continuing to learn about the history of San Antonio.  After that, we went back to our hotel for cool air and we forced Marshall to take a nap!  This kid!  When will he learn that naps are one of the highlights of a day?!  Haha!  We closed the drapes in our room, put on a sleep story, and he honestly fell asleep telling us he didn't want to take a nap!  Haha!  It reminded me completely of his toddler years.  It was so funny.  But, just as we expected, he fell asleep, and woke up completely refreshed!  If only this proved to him he should listen to us more often.  :)  For dinner, we walked to Pinkerton's Barbecue and had quite possibly my favorite meal of the trip.  We got ribs, prime rib, and pulled pork, along with coleslaw, smoked mac and cheese, beans, and smoked bread pudding.  My word.  It was divine.  Everything was delicious.  The meat was so tender.  We almost didn't have to chew it!  And that bread pudding.  Yum.  After dinner, the temperature finally dropped.  There was a big grass area with tables and chairs outside the restaurant and we sat and enjoyed the evening Texas air and dreamed about what it would be like to live in Texas.  It was so lovely.  We went back to our hotel for just a bit before leaving for our ghost tour at 8:00 pm.  Marshall found this tour and could not wait.  A 2 1/2 hour bus tour that talks all about ghosts.  Marshall has believed in ghosts his entire life, and I have never believed in them until this tour, and now I am convinced.  It was actually so fun, and never really scary, but fascinating!  It was basically 2 1/2 hours of continuing to learn about the history of San Antonio, and ghosts!  Our first stop was the Manger Hotel, right downtown, the most haunted hotel in San Antonio with 38 ghosts!  Our tour guide was so fun and had great stories and just a great way of telling them.  We also visited a huge cemetery where we heard ghost stories as well as historical stories and saw the gravestone of the man who designed Mount Rushmore and his grave marker is a slab of stone from Mount Rushmore!  We made two other stops along the way, including a Sheraton Hotel with quite a story.  The whole thing was fascinating.  I was very nervous leading up to it, but it was so well done, I would recommend it to anyone!  Marshall also loved it.  Before we booked this weeks ago, we made him promise us he would sleep in his bedroom upon our return home.  Shockingly, he has kept his word!  So while it solidified his belief in ghosts, he is handling it well!  

Wednesday morning we let ourselves sleep in after our very late evening, and sleep in we did!  I woke up at 8:45!  It was glorious.  We quickly got ready, grabbed a quick breakfast from the hotel, and then walked 1.5 miles to pick up some rental bikes.  Fortunately, the weather was cooler, and windy, and it sure felt nice.  We walked through some real charming neighborhoods in the city and Marshall also saw a Google car drive by us and he has checked Google Maps daily at the intersection we were at to see if we pop up on there.  :)  He has been real committed to this!  We got our bikes and headed to the Mission Trail right about 11:00.  There are four more missions in San Antonio and you can reach each one by walking/biking this trail.  We went into the day with high hopes that we would make it to all four, but we only made it to two, but we had a really, really wonderful time.  We biked through all sorts of scenery, over bridges, almost always close to the San Antonio River, what felt like a jungle, and it was all just so beautiful.  There were some downhills and uphills, but all totally doable, and it really was just so fun.  The first mission was about 3 miles away and is called Mission Concepcion and it is the most intact of all the missions.  It was big and beautiful and mass is still held there on a regular basis!  It was fun to walk around and see it all.  After that mission, we rode about 4 more miles and came to Mission San Jose.  It was another beautiful church and the fort itself was huge.  The walls all looked completely intact and took up so much area!  Mass is also still held at this church and the chapel was lovely.  We spent quite a while there and just enjoyed the setting.  By this point, it was almost 2:00 in the afternoon and we were getting pretty tired and hungry, we had packed zero snacks!  We each grabbed a small snack and cold drink from the gift shop and Marshall said he wanted to try and make it to the last two missions, but by the time we walked back to our bikes, he said he just wanted to bike back to the bike shop.  All in all, we biked 14 miles, and it really was so much fun.  Quite possibly the highlight for me.  We decided to take a Lyft to a restaurant on the Riverwalk close to our hotel.  That driver, who made me nervous on two occasions during that very short drive, managed to get us in an accident right in front of our hotel!  Fortunately, we are all just fine, and so were both drivers.  We were just driving down the city street and a car on our right tried to change lanes, but we were right there.  We were in a Honda Odyssey and the passenger side, where I was sitting, took the impact.  It was loud more than anything, but definitely jarring.  The other car lost his entire bumper.  We are just so thankful we walked away from that uninjured, although a bit shaken up.  Fortunately though, we had a wonderful lunch at Casa Rio.  We ate outside, right on the river and it was delightful and delicious.  I think that was Marshall's favorite meal.  He and I both got delicious tacos  and we shared sopapillas for dessert.  After our very late lunch, we made our way back to the Alamo.  We walked around some more and made one last stop in the gift shop.  When we walked back to our hotel, our Lyft driver and the other driver were still pulled over and on their phones figuring things out, so nuts!  The accident had happened two hours earlier.  What a crummy way to spend an afternoon for those guys.  Back at our hotel, we took short naps, and played games.  That evening, we walked to a movie theater close by and watched a movie and ate popcorn and candy for dinner.  :)  We were the only ones in the theater, and while that is not at all something unique to San Antonio, it is something we have never done with just Marshall, and in that way it was definitely memorable.  When we got back to the hotel, we played more games, even though it was late.  You can do things like this when you are just traveling with a 13 year old!  

Thursday morning we got to sleep in a bit.  We had a quick breakfast at the hotel, and then took a Lyft (accident free this time!) to the airport.  We had another uneventful flight home.  Marshall loved every minute of this trip, and I am so, so glad.  He is begging for all of us to go to San Antonio now!  I know he loved the one-on-one attention, and so did we.  We did a lot, but also relaxed a lot.  We took card games, and spent time doing that in the hotel room.  We talked and laughed and made wonderful. memories.  Marshall called a lot of the shots, and it was fun to let him do that.  

One other memory I want to record is after dinner on Tuesday, when we were walking back to the hotel, I saw some snapdragon flowers.  Those flowers remind me of my Grandma Yancey because she had them in her yard when they lived in Bountiful when I was very young.  I noticed them and immediately had Marshall come see what this flower called a snapdragon does.  I pinched it just so, the exact same way my Grandma Yancey would do, and told him to put his finger in.  He was legitimately scared and incredibly hesitant to do this!  He asked me if it was going to hurt and I kindly pointed out that the flower does not have teeth.  :)  After inspecting it closer, he timidly put his finger in and I let go of the flower and it closed on his finger.  He didn't quite get the thrill out of it that I did as a four year old, but it was such a happy memory for me to relive.  :)  

Okay well this is a novel already, but I do want to get down just a few more memories...

*Gretchen is becoming a little social butterfly and it is so fun to see.  The last week of March she had Harper and Genevieve over to play, at the same time, and she was in heaven.  I loved just watching her interact with those two girls.  As soon as they left, she was begging for them to come over another day.  Last Saturday she also went to her first friend birthday party.  It was for a girl in her primary class who is already in kindergarten (all the girls in her primary class are a year ahead of her in school).  It was just at a park, so I decided to stay for the whole time.  I honestly thought Gretchen would stick pretty close to me, especially since outside of church, she does not know Maddie well.  I could not have been more wrong!  Gretchen was so excited!  We got out of the car, with Gretchen carrying the present, and as soon as we got out of the parking lot, Maddie and another girl in our ward ran to Gretchen, Gretchen handed me the present, and never looked back.  I was so proud of her!  She seemed so grown up as I watched her move from activity to activity and also sitting at a picnic table having lunch with a bunch of kids.  My little bear cub!

On Friday, April 1st I had a most delightful evening.  Months ago my Mom and I bought tickets to go to Ballet West that evening.  We decided to get dinner from Cubby's and my Dad also joined us for dinner.  It was so fun to share a meal with them, without being interrupted by my kids!  It was wonderful to catch up with them.  After dinner, my Dad drove home and my Mom and I drove to the Capitol Theater.  Ballet West was performing Carmina Burana and Glass Pieces.  Glass Pieces was first, and though it was different than I was expecting, it was truly beautiful.  During intermission, before Carmina Burana, my Mom said she thought we saw them perform Carmina Burana in 2018...as soon as the dance started, I realized she was right!  Haha!  It is an athletic and stunning masterpiece though, and we very much enjoyed it.  Now we just have to try and remember to choose a different ballet next time!  

Alright, that is all I am writing today!  Thanks for reading another novel by Jenny!  

Love,

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-March 28, 2022

 Hello!

We had a pretty good week last week, nothing too out of the ordinary it seemed.  Here's a recap!

Last Monday the kids all had an early-out school day.  They all loved it.  And honestly, it was kind of nice to have everyone get home between 1:10 and 1:45!  Just gave us a bit of extra time to get regular afternoon things done!  Richard also worked from home that day.  He still put in a very full work day, but it was so nice that he was just upstairs and had zero commute.  Late that afternoon, after seven days of hard work, from very very capable men, our deck was finished!  They asked Richard and I to come out and look at it before they left and it looks SO good!  We are thrilled with the end result, and honestly thrilled that we just paid someone to finish the last 2/3!  It is so nice to have it done, done, done!  On Thursday evening, Richard power washed the entire deck, on Friday evening, we moved all of our deck furniture out from the garage, and on Saturday evening we grilled and ate dinner outside!  It has been wonderful!  I got a real treat on Monday morning and went to my mom's house to help assemble refugee kits.  The other people who helped were people I have known and loved my entire life and had such an influence on my growing up years.  It was really a complete treasure to spend an hour with those wonderful souls and my mom.  That afternoon, I took Bridget to Barnes and Noble.  She received two gift cards for her birthday and was so eager to spend them.  She would have bought the entire store, so the hardest part was helping her narrow her choices down to $35 of books.  :)  It was a fun little outing with her.  

On Tuesday we baby-sat Jax, Cal and Chase from 4:00 until about 7:30.  My kids LOVED having their cousins over.  When I took Rachel to dance at 5:00, we took Chase with us and Rachel talked to him the entire time in the car.  It was so cute to listen to her.  The kids played laser tag, air hockey, and after our dinner of Little Caesar's pizza, the kids all played outside.  One tender moment that I want to remember...while playing outside, Marshall made Gretchen cry and she got pretty worked up, as she is known to do.  After we got her calmed down, she came inside to get nose chargers for her sad, runny nose and also to put on a jacket.  Cal stuck right with her and as she was heading out the door with two nose chargers (aka dental gauze) sticking out of her nose, Cal said to her, "You look beautiful Gretchen."  It was the sweetest thing!  Those two cute cousins, they are such good little friends.  

Wednesday morning after getting all the kids off to school, I was able to go up to the temple and do an endowment session.  It was a good way to spend a morning.  After school, life kicked into high gear.  Marshall went to Get Air trampoline park with the YM and YW.  He had a great time and came home a sweaty boy.  Bridget had horseback riding and was so happy to be back.  She had missed her last lesson because she was sick.  And Rachel had dance class.  Thankfully, she has managed class well this last week without Sara.  Here's hoping it can stay that way for a few more weeks!  

Thursday was slow during the school day and I sure appreciated the down time.  After lunch, Gretchen and I went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.  Charlie came out too, and those two played and imagined, and I did some light yard work and talked to my neighbor.  It was such a lovely day!  The kids and I had an earlier dinner before I took Marshall to soccer practice.  Richard got home just as Marshall and I were leaving, and he was kind and told me I could linger after I dropped Marshall off.  I took him up on it, grabbed Ziggy and my airpods and we left!  While Marshall practiced, I enjoyed walking around the park with the dog and listening to a book.  It was lovely.  The girls had fun playing outside at home and we are all loving this warmer weather!  

After school on Friday, Bridget went to the cast party for the musical and had the best time.  Each cast member got to come home with a prop, and she brought home a cake on a platter used by one of the chefs.  :)  She had such a fun time with the musical, and of course, the party, and we are just so proud of her.  Once everyone was home, by some miracle of miracle all the kids got their jobs done.  It might have something to do with the fact that I have said I am no longer paying for jobs that get done on Saturday; regardless though, it was so nice to have everything done by 4:30!  Bridget had two friends over, Avery and Claire, for late nights and those girls had a blast and left Richard very worried about his next 13 years of parenting.  :)  Bridget and her friends played games, laughed, talked, giggled, and acted out the entire Little Mermaid play, singing and all!  I loved listening to them, Richard wasn't so sure!  Ha!  

Saturday we got a bit of a lazy, sleeping-in morning and that felt great!  Saturday was Richard's first day off in 12 days and he sure was thankful for it.  Marshall was supposed to have three indoor soccer games that day, but only two ended up happening.  I was happy Richard was home to take him, and I just stayed home and prayed that the ball would not find Marshall's head!  Prayers were answered and all was well.  Marshall had so much fun playing on Saturday.  The last game his two teams just played each other and Marshall was goalie for the last few minutes.  He had an awesome save, which Richard happened to get on video.  Both of Marshall's teams won that day and he came home with the biggest smile and all his stories as goalie.  Later that afternoon, I took the girls to the park and we met one of Gretchen's preschool friends there.  Gretchen has been begging to have a playdate with Harper, and it finally worked out.  Gretchen was delighted.  Rachel and Bridget were also so nice to play hide-and-go-seek with them.  :)  Sisters.  :)  The best.  After dinner, Bridget and I went to the farm, and we also took her best friend, Cambria.  Cambria is giving the farm a run with Bridget, and if all goes well, I think she will also start working there.  Cambria didn't shy away from any of the work, and it was fun for me to step back and just watch Bridget teach.  The only thing I did was screw on the water hose and haul those disgusting and heavy chicken waters around.  Seriously, the freshness of eggs from your own yard is not worth the filth of the hen house.  When we got home, I immediately got in the shower.  After my shower, Richard said, "How was the farm?  I am guessing by the way you went straight to the shower, it was not great?"  Haha!  Everything was great until I spilled chicken poop water down my left leg trying to lift the water container into the wheelbarrow!  I am tempted to buy myself coveralls to just keep at the Garlick's!  I cannot believe I have a daughter who works on a farm and LOVES it and I cannot believe I am going with her!  I like to think that one day when Bridget is an adult she will speak eloquently and lovingly about how I made this huge sacrifice for her.  

Yesterday seemed like a full Sunday, even though it wasn't really!  I was the chorister in primary, and I had a blast.  On the rare occasion that I am a sub in that calling, I love it.  We had Toney FHE at my parents' last night and had a great time.  We were missing Danny's family, and for a while, Gretchen seemed quite displaced without Cal there.  But later that night, I found her playing with one of the twins (I don't know which one!) and she seemed to be having a jolly time.  It was great catching up with my brothers and their wives and we also celebrated birthdays for Bridget, Jordan and Ben.  It was a real treat of an evening.  Today is actually Jordan's birthday and I was thinking of the day he was born.  I was 12 when he was born, and by that point in my life, I was no longer disappointed about being the only girl in my family.  I remember being so excited at school that day, and my friends being just as excited with me.  I was so happy to go to the hospital and meet this new baby brother.  We got to watch him have his first bath-I'm sure he loves that I am typing this!  Ha!  I was just elated that my mom had another baby and I don't think that I ever minded baby-sitting him, but my mom might remember differently!  Anyway, time flies.  I remember that day in 1996 like it was yesterday, and now here we are, 26 years later.  Yikes!  

Alright!  That is it!  Thanks for reading.  Love each one of you dearly!

Love,

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-March 20, 2022

 We have made it through a busy week!  I am so relieved and happy to be on the other side of it.  Well, actually, Richard is still very much in it.  Twelve straight days of work for that guy, but he is finally on the downhill side of it.  Baptism by fire with this new job.  

This week we have tackled four school musical performances for Bridget, one dance competition for Rachel, two soccer games for Marshall, as well as every other thing that keeps us busy.  Before I jump into our week though, I just want to write down a few thoughts I have had as we have moved through this week.  

First, the school musical, in particular, has made my mind swirl with memories of my own growing up years.  I chaperoned two performances for the musical this week, one for Bridget's cast, and one for the other cast.  I was the mom in a dressing room (aka hallway) keeping the kids quiet and helping with hair, costumes, props, and doing lots of shushing.  This took me right back to the Nutcracker performances that my mom would chaperone and help with make-up.  I remember specifically helping with this when I was a red soldier, this required an entire face full of make-up!.  I cannot believe that I am old enough to be doing this type of thing with my own kids!  

Second, as I literally fell into bed Thursday night after attending Bridget's performance and then chaperoning the other cast, all while Richard was doing the music class and soccer carpools and making dinner and cleaning up the kitchen, I told him this.  When a child in the family is involved in something for consecutive nights, it really does stretch the parents!  And not necessarily in a bad way, just in a different way.  A dance recital or soccer game happening one night out of the week is one thing, but plays or musicals or dance concerts or sports tournaments multiple nights in a row, that is something else!  It's like running a marathon of sorts!  This week I have remembered four years of Nutcracker performances that spanned the entire week, and two years of high school dance concert weeks.  I was busy during those weeks, but I just focused on me and did my thing and had a whole lot of fun in the process.  But, when you are the parent, it takes it to a whole other level, as you help and support your child involved, but you still have to take care of everyone else!  Gosh, it has given me a lot of appreciation for my own parents.  One thing my parents did so well at, is they were at almost every single thing we ever participated in.  When I was performing in a dance performance that lasted multiple nights, I am pretty sure I had a parent in the audience every single night.  When I decided to run track in junior high and was awful, I had a parent in the stands.  It wasn't until I got to high school, and had even more of these performances, that I realized how lucky I was when I started to notice I had friends who didn't have parents there every night.  And so as I sat on a metal chair in the hot elementary school gym for three straight nights, I was SO happy to be there, but also so grateful for parents who did the same for me all those years ago.  

And this brings me to my last point.  As we have been so busy with our three oldest kids and all their activities, I have been so grateful for each of them.  As our family gets older, I see so clearly the talents and interests of each of them, Richard and myself included.  We are really six individuals, living in the same family, under the same roof, but we each have different things we are good at, and things we want to do, and we all get to be supporters of each other.  My kids are genuinely interested in what their siblings are doing, and are quick to ask how things went for them.  For that, I am so grateful.  

Okay, well, that could have been a recap in and of itself!  I still need to document our days!  

Monday was pi day!  For the first time ever, we celebrated it with pie!  I made an apple pie that morning, and used time lapse on my phone to record it!  Haha!  It actually made it more fun, and now I just wish I could do everything at the speed of a time lapse video.  :)  The apple pie turned out delicious though and Richard, Marshall and myself enjoyed it throughout the week.  I also bought a store bought pie crust and made a chicken pot pie for dinner.  When I assembled it all, I thought it was going to be a huge failure, but it actually worked!  Our Monday evening was chaotic though, so while there was no official commemoration of pi day, we at least ate well.  :)  Monday was an insane day of work at our house.  The deck workers were here all day Monday, we hired an electrical company to snake internet cables through our walls to our bedroom and the family room, and we had a washer/dryer repairman here.  It was nuts.  Nuts.  But, everyone was so kind to each other and very willing to work around each other's big work trucks and around each other and everyone made it through!  Ziggy was a wreck of a dog that day though, hello doggy anxiety.  :)  

Tuesday morning, Gretchen got to go have a playdate at Genevieve's house.  She was over the moon about it and so happy to go.  While she was gone, I met Stacie for a jaunt through a craft boutique in Farmington.  Neither of us bought much, but still so fun to see everything.  After I picked up Gretchen, she and I had a quick lunch, and then ran down to the elementary school to chaperone Bridget's cast for their performance for the school.  We were in the hallway next to Bridget's dressing room, so while we didn't get to see any of the play on stage, we still got to see her backstage.  She was so nervous!  But she still had  a great time and was just beaming when it was over.  Gretchen has since told me that she doesn't ever want to be in the school musical because "it is too many kids".  :)  She chaperoned a previous rehearsal with me, and then this, and I think the size and volume of these kids is just overwhelming to her!  Marshall woke up not feeling very well on Monday, just cold symptoms.  But by Tuesday, he hit a wall.  I picked him up from school just after lunch and he pretty much just laid on the couch, or the kitchen floor, all day.  :)  I have no doubt he felt quite miserable, but as he was wrapped in a blanket, laying by the fridge, and moaning while the rest of us ate dinner, I asked him if he had ever heard of a man cold.  :)  That night Richard went to an Elder's Quorum activity.  He had a great time!  They ate pie and mingled and I am glad he got some time to socialize!  

Marshall stayed home from school on Wednesday, but he was very diligent about working on school assignments and communicating with his teachers.  The term ended on Thursday, and he did not want his sick day to ruin his 4.0.  I was so proud of him for being proactive about it.  His math teacher was so kind and let him take his math test at home, with me proctoring it.  I felt so official!  Gretchen had preschool that morning and the girls had early out that day, which I was actually so thankful for.  A little more breathing room in our day to get homework and other things done before the madness of the evening!  Rachel and I went down to her friend Sara's house so we could practice doing make-up together for the upcoming dance competition.  I am clueless when it comes to eye shadow and eye liner .  We followed the tutorial step by step, and by the time we were done, these two girls looked like they were 20.  Rachel opted to stay and play with Sara after we were done, and her mom was so kind to feed her dinner and get her to and from dance for me that night.  Richard worked in Orem that day, so he did not get home until later that evening.  Marshall was supposed to go to a YM/YW activity that evening, but still wasn't feeling great, so he stayed home.  Gretchen and I had a date that night to go see opening night of The Little Mermaid!  We lucked out, and our neighbors ended up with two extra seats on the front row so they gave them to us.  I was SO glad that Gretchen could sit on the front row, next to Charlie, and watch the whole show with a completely unobstructed view.  She was captivated by it, and also loved her three dum-dum suckers I bought her at the concession stand.  :)  This was my first time seeing the show in its entirety from the audience and I was honestly blown away!  Yes, it was still very much an elementary school production, and the microphones went in and out sometimes, but by golly, it was fantastic.  The costumes were so great!  And all of the leads did a fabulous job!  They all knew their lines so well and had great rapport with each other up on stage.  I was so impressed.  I have a feeling we will be watching many of these kids perform through the years and I cannot wait to witness their talents grow.  Bridget was a darling mermaid in the sea chorus during the first act.  She was singing and moving big and I was just so proud of her.  In the second act, she played Carlotta, the head maid in Prince Eric's palace who takes care of Ariel.  Bridget knocked it out of the park every single night.  She said her lines flawlessly, and with inflection, and with so much care and gentleness toward Ariel (who also happens to be a great friend of hers).  It was a true joy to watch her shine on Wednesday night.  She and I both came home on Cloud 9 that night.  

Thursday morning I took Marshall into school early so he could wrap up a few things he had missed the day before.  After getting the girls off to school, I left Gretchen home with Richard, who was working from home that day and I took the van in for a service appointment.  2 1/2 hours later I was finally headed out of there!  Crazy!  I felt bad leaving Gretchen home alone that long fairly unsupervised, but was also so glad I wasn't having to entertain her at the dealership for 2 1/2 hours!  Bob and Becky arrived at our house shortly after the girls got home from school.  It was fun to spend some time with them before going to see Bridget's play at 4:00.  Richard stayed home to finish working, but then he did the music class and soccer runs, took care of Gretchen, and made dinner.  I went to the play with Bob and Becky and we cheered Bridget on once again.  Another great performance!  After the play, she and I came home for a quick dinner, and then we were off again.  She and some of her friends really wanted to see the other cast perform at 7:00, so I picked up the other three girls and they enjoyed the show from the audience while I chaperoned some very energetic mersisters in the hallway.  Bridget and her friends loved seeing the other cast perform.  They all looked so grown up with their little Loungefly Disney backpacks and I got a kick out of listening to their conversations in the car.  They all brought their own money for concessions and just seemed like they were having the time of their lives.  Cute little tweens.  I came home exhausted that night and was so glad I was done chaperoning!  

Friday was a much needed day of rest for me and the kids.  No school!  Hooray!  We all slept in, and it was glorious.  Gretchen and I were the first ones up at 7:30, and everyone else slept until 8:30 or later!  It was so lovely.  And clearly needed!  The kids played Lego City all morning together after breakfast.  After lunch, I forced everyone to finish jobs, and then the girls and I took Ziggy to the park.  It was great weather and it was so nice to spend an hour there.  I walked Ziggy and we let him off the leash and threw toys for him.  He came home completely exhausted, which was exactly what he needed.  The girls played and imagined and it was so fun to watch them.  We got home from the park just in time for me and Bridget to head to the farm.  We were both delighted to see five brand new baby goats, probably 10-14 days old.  Oh my gosh.  They are darling.  If I could get a baby goat to stay a baby goat, I would not hesitate to get one!  After the farm and a quick shower, we had a fast dinner and got Bridget ready for closing night of the play.  Friday was finally the night our whole family could go to the play and my parents were also able to join us.  The kids all performed so well, and you could tell they were all just giving it their all and many of the nerves from previous nights had melted away.  It was stellar.  It was quite the week for Bridget and we are just so proud of her!  It will be fun to see if more plays/musicals are in her future.  After the show, my parents invited us over for ice cream and cookies.  The kids talked their ear off for an hour, and my parents seemed to love it.  

Saturday was a day for the books.  Richard worked all day down in Orem and left bright and early.  Sweet Rachel woke up in quite an emotional state.  She had her first dance competition that afternoon, and late Friday night we received word that her best friend, Sara, possibly broke her leg skiing that day.  They got an x-ray on Saturday, and indeed, it was broken.  Definitely no dance for her for the next few weeks.  Rachel was distraught at the thought of dancing without Sara and oscillated between being happy and playing with her sisters throughout the day, and crying and whining and finding anything to be upset about.   I knew exactly why she was being so emotional, so I kept my patience with her, but gosh, it was an emotionally exhausting day with her!  And just when I thought I would get a bit of a rest by going to Marshall's two indoor soccer games, he took a futsal (heavier than a soccer ball) right to the left side of his face/head.  Oh gosh.  I cannot handle this stuff with him!  It didn't knock him down, but he looked pretty stunned.  His coach immediately pulled him out and I saw him checking him for a concussion.  I just sat there, across the field, trying to stay calm myself!  After a minute, I saw his coach and Marshall leave the box so I jumped up to meet them.  Tyler told me Marshall wasn't currently showing any signs of a concussion, but he said he wasn't going to play him anymore and told us to go home.  Initially, Marshall looked pretty pale, and on the verge of tears.  But, once we collected his things and started walking to the car, I felt more calm.  He was very talkative, and could describe everything to me.  He said his face hurt, but he didn't have a headache.  I was so relieved.  We iced his face for the next few hours and we really thought he would wake up with a black eye or bruised cheekbone, but so far, nothing!  I told him he must have a face made of steel...if only his brain was that resilient!  Anyway, that whole thing was a bit emotional, but we are so glad he is okay!  Once we got settled down from that, it was time to get Rachel ready.  That poor girl cried and cried the entire time I did her hair.  It was ripping my heart out.  Gretchen was so kind, and brought Rachel her blanket and Bridget wrote Rachel the sweetest note and slipped it in her dance bag.  Sisters.  They can be the absolute best.  At 3:30, I left with a crying Rachel and nervous Marshall.  We dropped Marshall off at the frontrunner station and he caught the train to Orem.  He was terrified out of mind to do this, but he desperately wanted to go to the BYU basketball game last night and the only way we could make that happen was to put him on the frontrunner and Richard would pick him up after work!  It was a complete success for Marshall and he hasn't stopped bragging about it all day today!  Back to Rachel, thankfully, Rachel ended up falling asleep soon after I got on the freeway and slept all the way to Riverton High School.  She woke up in much better spirits, and a dry face, so I was finally able to do her make-up!  We walked into Riverton High School and experienced the sheer madness of the dance competition world.  It was actually really well run and organized, but there were people everywhere and it was diva central.  We found the dressing room for her dance studio, put on some finishing touches, and then I gave her a hug and left her with her team.  I found a spot to sit in the auditorium, and Audrey also joined me.  Before long, Rachel was on stage and she killed it.  I am beyond proud of her.  Her team learned this dance in August and have rehearsed it weekly since then.  Rachel danced with complete confidence, even parts where she was supposed to be dancing with Sara, she didn't let that throw her at all.  I hadn't seen this dance before and Rachel completely impressed me with her flexibility, her confidence, and just all the fun she was having.  When they finished, Audrey and I went to meet her and just gave her huge hugs.  She was so happy and was so glad she did it, and I was just so happy for her.  She could have stayed for a master class and awards, but she didn't want to, and without Sara, I didn't push it.  Instead, she and I went out to dinner, where she talked non-stop, and then on our way home, we stopped to visit Sara.  Sara was already a pro at crutches and Rachel was so happy to see her.  Here's hoping she heals up fast!  Richard and Marshall had a blast at the BYU basketball game, which BYU won.  Bridget did an excellent job as Gretchen's baby-sitter.  We all finally made it to bed entirely too late last night, but happy.  

Richard worked again today.  Bless his heart.  Aside from church, the kids have spent almost all day down in Lego City.  I love their imaginations!  

Here's hoping for an earlier bedtime tonight!

Love each of you!

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-March 13, 2022

 Hello!

The biggest news of our week is that Bridget turned 11 on Friday, her golden birthday on March 11th.  Bridget is a true light in our lives.  She remains our calm, happy, and content child.  She is flexible and easy-going, but she plans ahead and uses her time well with school work and jobs around the house.  Most nights during dinner, we ask the kids to tell us one good thing and one bad or hard thing about their day.  Bridget rarely has anything negative to say.  She loves life and all that it brings her each day.  She loves going to school.  She has loved musical practices.  She likes going to piano lessons.  And of course, she loves the farm.  She continues to amaze me at the farm.  There are a couple of things she does not really enjoy doing there like watering the chickens (the grossest job) and feeding hissing geese in a dark shed (who can blame her?!), but she doesn't complain about it!  She just buckles down and does it.  Bridget remains a wonderful sister to all her siblings and they all love playing with her.  She sometimes finds herself in the middle with Marshall begging to play with her and Rachel and Gretchen begging her to play with them.  She lives life in a seemingly effortless state.  So content.  On Thursday morning I was in line to buy tickets for the school musical and a 6th grade girl was in line behind me.  We struck up a conversation and I found out she was in Bridget's same cast.  She asked who my daughter was and when I said Bridget, her eyes lit up and she said, "Oh I love Bridget!  She is so sweet and always happy and kind."  My heart wanted to burst.  Bridget is all those things to me, and it made me so happy to know that her peers see that in her too.  When Richard and I went to bed after midnight on Friday night he said to me, "We officially have a tween daughter."  Oh gosh, I am just praying that all these good qualities of her's carry her through her teenage years.  

Bridget had a wonderful birthday.  We made sure everyone was up and ready to open presents at 7:00 am!  She got two Lego sets, two goat blankets, and a couple of new shirts.  She was delighted with each one.  She has put both Lego sets together already and as I type this, all the kids are downstairs playing Lego City with the new additions.  Bridget requested donuts and baked eggs for breakfast, but it was just a girls breakfast because Richard left for work at 7:15 and Marshall left for school at 7:30.  It was still a lot of fun though!  She was so happy to go to school that day.  She got to take five objects that would tell her class a bit more about herself.  She took a Harry Potter book, a pencil because she loves to draw, a little horse, her grand prize ribbon from the State Fair, and of course, a picture of her and Luv Bug, the goat.  :)  She also took rice krispy treats to pass out to her class.  After school, she had dress rehearsal for the musical.  She loved it!  She got home at 4:15 and her party started at 5:00.  She helped me with some of the prep work and then her friends started arriving.  She invited six girls and they all just had a really great night together.  She didn't want me to plan any games, which I was thankful for, but also a bit nervous about!  The party was from 5:00-9:30, so we had 4 1/2 hours to fill, but it went great!  The girls played games, made up games, had dinner, opened presents (she got 10 squishmellows!), had cake, watched some of a movie, and then just played and played and laughed and laughed.  It is a really, really good group of girls, and I am so thankful for that.  My parents stopped by yesterday to see her birthday haul, visit with her, and give her their gift.  I think it is safe to say she felt very loved all weekend long.  We sure love her.  

The rest of our week was not too exciting.  Here are some highlights...

On Tuesday, Richard worked from home, 5:00 pm to midnight.  Earlier that day, he had to go pick up his new home work station.  When he walked in with the biggest monitor he asked me to guess how much the monitor cost, I guessed $5000.  Wrong!  $18,000!  Yikes!  Thankfully, we did not pay for it!  He never had anything this fancy at the U!  Anyway, his workstation is in our bedroom, but I opted to try sleeping in there while he worked.  I figured if I can fall asleep at night while Richard is talking to me in bed, surely I could fall asleep with him on the other side of the room talking in a dictaphone!  Wrong again! I definitely dozed, but did not fall into a good sleep until 12:15 am!  I don't think he will have many of these shifts, but when he does, I will definitely be sleeping elsewhere!  

On Wednesday, Gretchen had Charlie over after preschool.  They were so happy to play together and had a great time imagining all sorts of things.  Marshall helped with a YM/YW service project that night.  Our ward partnered with the Bountiful Food Pantry and the YM/YW gathered the food donations from people's porches.  The bishop said today they collected 1500 lbs. of food.  

Bridget had a big day on Thursday.  School, musical practice, and then the farm.  She and I were working in the dark that night on the farm, and while I was out with her in the dark I thought to myself this is the only good thing about daylight savings time!  Hopefully our last time there in the dark for the next while!  

Aside from Bridget's birthday highlights on Friday, I worked in the Charger Store at the junior high, and as always, had a ball there!  It really is so fun.  Cooper's family was kind and had Marshall over for the afternoon and evening so Marshall wouldn't be stuck in a house full of girls.  He had so much fun with Cooper, and I am so glad they have been able to keep up this friendship.  I told Richard to go see Batman Friday night after work.  He loved it.  Oh, one other huge highlight from Friday is we have decided to fork out the big bucks and hire a company to finish our deck.  Richard and Bob have done an amazing job with the entire retaining wall and the 1/3 of the deck they replaced, but it takes SO much time, and with Richard's new job, we just didn't know how we could fit it in.  Initially, they weren't going to begin until April, but called us this week and asked if they could start.  Of course we said yes!  They will build the 1/3 of the deck Bob and Richard ripped out last spring, and then tear down and rebuild the covered portion.  We cannot wait to finally have a finished deck for this spring and summer!

Yesterday Bridget had Cambria over for most of the day.  All the girls had fun playing with her.  Marshall had an indoor game and then went straight to a birthday party at the trampoline park.  Last night, Richard and I went out to dinner with the Pitts.  I have written about them before, but it has been so long since we have seen them.  We met them in Milwaukee and then they moved out here shortly after us.  They live in the same condo complex my grandparents used to live in.  We haven't seen them in about three years and we LOVED our dinner out with them.  The kids did okay at home.  :)  Gretchen and Rachel were not thrilled with Marshall as the baby-sitter last night!  

Today the big highlight was Richard sang in church and I played the piano.  Haha!  I have not played the piano in a sacrament meeting since December 2007, so this was big.  The bishopric was asked to sing and with Richard being the ward clerk, I was recruited to play the piano.  The bishop was so kind and let me pick the hymn.  :)  They sang Where Can I Turn for Peace and despite all their grumbling at both our practices, they all did a really great job!  The bishop, Richard, and another clerk sang the second verse acapella and now the secret is out that Richard has a great singing voice, much to his dismay!  

We are headed into a crazy week.  Bridget has four musical performances.  Rachel has her first dance competition next weekend.  Anyone want to give me a make-up tutorial?!?!  Marshall has soccer.  And Richard works all weekend!  Hopefully we survive!  

Love each of you,

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-March 6, 2022

 Well, February basically flew by for us in a flash.  I have a full three weeks to recap.  I think I will go person by person, starting with Richard!

Richard!  Richard's last day of work at the University of Utah was Friday, February 25th.  He took the 28th as a vacation day and started with Summit Physician Specialists on March 1st.  As February was winding down, it was a roller coaster of emotion for him as there were so many lasts for him.  Working with this person for the last time, and working with that person for the last time, last MSK section meeting (that one he was real happy about!).  The department was very kind and hosted a good-bye party for him one afternoon the week before his last.  He honestly wasn't very thrilled about this, but I told him to just soak it up and be grateful for the acknowledgement and for everyone who took time out of their day to come and talk to him and say good-bye.  In the end, I think he was happy with how it turned out and lots of fellows and residents came, which did make him so happy.  The U did put the pressure on him until the very end, and multiple people let him know, including his two bosses, that he can come back at any time.  We are pretty certain that things with SPS will work out very well, but it is nice to know if they don't, no bridges were burned at the U and they would welcome him back with open arms.  Last Friday, he had to turn in his work station and his badge.  That was hard for him.  He has worked at the U either as a fellow or as an attending for almost six years!  Richard and I planned a couple of fun things for last weekend, and those definitely helped to boost his spirits.  On Saturday, we left our kids at 3:30 and drove to Provo!  I was a tad nervous to be so far away from the kids, but I talked to my parents in advance to make sure they were going to be around and could rush to the house in case disaster struck and someone needed stitches or had a broken bone!  Thankfully, there were no injuries and the kids did GREAT, again!  Anyway, Richard and I drove down to Provo, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went to the last home BYU basketball game, which they actually won!  It was really so much fun.  We had great seats, and I was so happy to see that they have put all new seats in the Marriott Center and they are cushioned and spaced further apart so your knees aren't hitting the chair in front of you!  I was so comfortable!  It was a fun atmosphere, and fun to be at a sporting event, with Richard, kid-free.  The kids did great at home.  I wrote them out a schedule and when we got home at 9:20, we were so happy that they had eaten dinner, showered, and the girls had all gone to bed!  Bridget and Gretchen were sound asleep and Rachel was just laying in bed.  This independence we have reached is very lovely!  On Monday morning, after we got all the kids off to school, I took Richard out to brunch at The Coffee Shop at the Little America.  I love that place, but have never been there with Richard!  It was a fun little event for us.  The only thing Richard had to do for work on Tuesday, March 1st, was meet with the scheduler for an hour just to go over some things.  Wednesday was finally the day to be in the hospital!  He felt, in his words, horribly inefficient, that day.  He has to learn a whole new pacs system, and he also read body imaging that day, something he hasn't done much of since he finished his first fellowship.  He still had a good day though, and knows that he will get faster and better.  Thursday he had a great day.  He worked at Intermountain's orthopedic center with Chris (who used to work at the U) and he got to read MSK, his beloved speciality.  Richard loved it.  The night before Richard's first day, he asked Gretchen to pick out his clothes for his first day of work.  She took this responsibility very seriously, including his socks, Hufflepuff socks from Harry Potter.  Throughout the day on his first day of work, Gretchen would ask me, "How do you think Daddy is doing at his new job?  Do you think he is okay?"  It was so sweet.  When Marshall and Bridget got home from school, they asked me repeatedly when Richard was going to be home and how I thought his day was going.  We were all cheering for him!  

Marshall!  Marshall has had a very busy three weeks.  One of his biggest events was a soccer tournament in St. George over President's Day weekend.  He was rostered on two teams for this tournament, and actually, the two teams were playing in different tournaments.  There was so much going on in St. George that weekend, it was just absolutely nuts.  For almost every meal we got, we had to wait at least an hour!  The kids were always good sports about it though, and we sure appreciated that!  Anyway, back to soccer, we drove down on Friday morning and got to our hotel just before 3:00.  We had time to unload the car and settle in and then it was off to the soccer field.  Marshall played with his coach's higher level team that night.  He played well and the team won.  On Saturday morning, Richard and Marshall went to the first game with Marshall's regular team.  Towards the end of the game, Marshall took a ball to the face, and the team lost.  Double whammy.  Marshall immediately complained of a headache and felt a bit dizzy, so we immediately became worried about a concussion.  It was major PTSD for all of us.  Marshall's coach, thankfully, had him sit out the next two games of the day, which ended up as losses for both teams.  But, Marshall did feel well enough to sit on the bench and watch the games with the teams.  We also went to a team lunch that afternoon.  The girls had so much fun running around with their soccer friends and the weather was just warm and wonderful.  As the day went on, we could tell that Marshall was just fine.  He had a small headache, which we eventually just attributed to taking a ball to the face.  He didn't show any other of his classic concussion symptoms and every time he talked, laughed, and joked around with his teammates, Richard and I breathed a little easier.  While Marshall and Richard watched the last soccer game of the day, the girls and I went back to the hotel and went swimming for over two hours.  Sunday morning we slept in, watched our sacrament meeting on YouTube, went to lunch, and then went to the cemetery to see where Richard's grandparents are buried.  When we got back to the hotel, we went swimming again, but didn't last nearly as long because the pool was so crowded!  Monday morning Marshall and I went to his main team's last game of the tournament.  I prayed and prayed that entire game that the ball would never find Marshall's head!  And even though he did a header, much to my chagrin, that was his only encounter.  Marshall played absolutely great and his team won, but it was not enough to keep them in the tournament.  Marshall felt good during that game, and decided that he wanted to stay and finish out the tournament with the other team.  He and Richard had a quick turnaround to get to that game and they won, which is exactly what they needed to do to make it to the championship game.  After that game, we had lunch at the hotel, packed up, loaded the car, and checked out of the hotel.  We got to the field almost an hour before warm-ups, but the girls were able to play on the playground before the storm rolled in and they had a great time.  The team ended up losing, but it was still fun to be there and cheer them on.  We got on the road at 6:00 pm, and due to bad weather earlier in the day and a mass exodus of people leaving St. George, we made it home just after 1:00 am.  It was miserable.  We stopped in Beaver to make everyone go to the bathroom and fill up with gas because we knew we were going to hit the worst of it, and we were exactly right.  After getting back on I-15, it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to go 13 miles.  So, so slow.  It took us five hours to get home from Beaver.  What a night.  The kids all fell asleep right about 10:00, slept the rest of the way home and then just fell into their beds as soon as we got home.  Richard and I just unloaded the suitcases and then fell into bed ourselves about 1:30 am.  Poor Richard had to wake up at 5:30 am to go to work.  What a weekend.  So nuts.  

In other Marshall news, he has enjoyed going swimming with the deacons and teachers in the ward.  He and Richard also went to the symphony to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  They loved it.  On February 25th, Marshall competed in the District STEM Fair.  He missed school that day and was just up in Layton at the fair.  I dropped him off at 8:30 that morning and throughout the day he presented to three different judges.  He was finally excused at about 2:00, but he was invited to come back that evening at 6:00 pm for the award ceremony.  Marshall and I drove back up to Layton that night for that.  In his category of engineering, he placed 2nd in the entire district!  It was so fun to be there and cheer for him.  He has the option to go on to the region STEM fair.  We checked into it a few days ago, and he has decided to pass, which is completely fine by me!  It is 100% virtual, which is lame, and he would have to completely re-do his powerpoint and make a video.  No thanks.  We sure are proud of him though.  With both the school and district competitions he had to navigate new and stressful situations, and he has handled it well.  Marshall's last two Saturdays have been filled with indoor soccer games with his main team, and he's having a lot of fun with that.  

Bridget!  Bridget's afternoons and evenings have consisted of school musical practice, piano, horseback riding, and working on the farm, solo!  The musical is in two weeks, she has her lines down perfectly, loves her costume, and cannot wait to perform.  Their first full dress rehearsal in costume is this Friday, on her birthday, and she is honestly SO excited this is how she gets to spend the afternoon of her birthday.  She has really been loving horseback riding the last couple of weeks.  She is working on doing figure 8s around barrels and has loved that.  Two weeks ago she rode bareback and said that the horse kept her so warm with its body heat and thick winter coat.  And speaking of animals, she has had a few more nights at the farm milking and feeding the animals.  I always go with her, but she does almost all the work.  She is just in heaven there.  More baby goats are expected on the farm this week, so that will be fun.  She is getting better at milking all on her own, she doesn't leave quite as exhausted!  She continues to amaze me with how committed she is to the farm, she does not shy away from the hard and gross work, and she just does such a good job.  I have been able to have some fun moments with her these last couple of weeks.  I helped with her class Valentine party and did a few minute-to-win-it games with the kids.  Bridget was in the most darling group of girls.  I cannot say the same for the other group of girls that rotated through-mean ones!  Gretchen wanted to come with me for the party instead of staying home with Richard and I think she instantly regretted her choice!  I think she was quite overwhelmed with the volume and energy of a bunch of 5th graders!  Bridget's teacher, who was also Marshall's 5th grade teacher, and I absolutely adore her, was so attentive to Gretchen while I was running the games.  Mrs. Crowley and I are both crossing our fingers she gets to teach Rachel and Gretchen.  She is a gem of a teacher.  Anyway, the party was great, but we all agreed it felt so weird to have a holiday party at school on a Monday, it kind of threw my girls off for the rest of the day!  Last week I put on my big girl pants and went on a field trip with the 5th grade.  They were visiting the capital and the only reason I agreed to go is because they said they didn't have room for parents on the bus so we would have to drive ourselves to the capital and meet the kids there.  Well, two days before the field trip I was informed that they decided to use two buses and so they wanted all the parents on the bus!  Ahhh!!!  25 minutes of straight singing, screaming, laughing and yelling from 5th graders on a bus is not how I would ever choose to spend my afternoon!  The capital itself was really neat though, and almost made the bus ride worth it.  :)  Once we arrived, they put all the 5th graders from our school in the old supreme court justice room and we were able to hear from three representatives.  They each did a great job with the kids and it was actually really neat to listen to them.  After that, they divided us into three groups for a tour and then within our smaller chaperoned groups, we went on a scavenger hunt.  That was really fun to be with Bridget and her friends; it is such a good group of girls.  Bridget and her friend, Avery, decided ahead of time to wear the exact same outfit (thank you Old Navy).  They were two cute girls strolling through the capital.  Bridget participated in the school spelling bee last week as well.  She was so nervous, afterward she told me she was shaking like Ziggy when he is scared, full body shakes!  Because of Covid, they only allowed parents to watch on Zoom, which was so lame.  When she got out, I just wanted to run down to the school and give her a huge hug.  It just about killed me.  She told me she was relieved to be out and very much enjoyed just sitting and watching all the other spellers!  The day after we got home from St. George at 1:00 am, she was the only child in our family to go to school.  She set her alarm for 7:30, and got herself already to go.  Bless her soul!  

Rachel!  Rachel is currently composing her own song for the last semester of her Let's Play Music class.  For the last several weeks, she has been working on little assignments that lead up to her creating her own composition.  It has made it all seem very doable!  Two weeks ago, she met with her teacher one-on-one, and Rachel played some little motifs for her that she had composed, and her teacher helped her string it together in a song!  She has LOVED playing it at home.  I think she has some more to add, and then she is done!  Other than that, she is our dancing queen.  She had a dress rehearsal for her competition dance last week.  She was so excited to get to take her costume to dance.  I bought all the make-up this week that she needs for that, and survived that stressful trip, now I just need a serious make-up tutorial because I have NO idea how to do eye make-up!  Rachel, of course, is enamored by all of this.  She is currently reading a book on Michelle Obama for a school report and it has been fun reading that with her in the evenings.  

Gretchen!  Gretchen's biggest highlight of the last few weeks happened just yesterday.  One thing we gave her for Christmas was tickets to Disney on Ice with Richard.  She was SO excited about this on Christmas, but as the event got closer, she was adamant she would only go with me!  We made the conscious choice to not bring up Disney on Ice for the last three weeks.  Marshall, being Marshall, spilled the beans to her on Friday night, so we almost made it before she fell apart all over again!  She has been funny lately.  She gets fixated on something, and it could be anything, and if it is not going how she wants she has a huge breakdown.  Youngest child, maybe???  Anyway, you just kind of have to ride her emotions with her, and eventually, the problem resolves and she goes back to being happy and delightful and that is exactly what happened yesterday.  I got her ready to go yesterday morning all while she was sobbing, just sobbing.  I snuggled with her, sang songs, she snuggled Ziggy, and then I put her in the car crying and off they went.  But just as we suspected, she calmed down and had a great time with Richard and LOVED Disney on Ice.  She has been telling me all about it since she got home and can't wait to go again!  She loved Tinkerbell, Aurora, and of course, Elsa, Anna, and Olap, as she says it.  Other highlights for the little bear cub:  playdates with Charlie, Genevieve, Cal and Chase.  In St. George, Bridget reluctantly shared a bed with Gretchen on our first night and then discovered that she loved it because Gretchen is a snuggly bear cub.  For the next two nights Bridget and Rachel fought over who got to sleep with Gretchen.  :)  

Me!  A couple of weeks ago, I had lunch with my dear friend Mary.  We have been friends since 5th grade, and even though she only lives 20 minutes away, it has been far too long since we have seen each other.  We had a great lunch visit catching up with each other, and while it was not nearly long enough, it was still wonderful.  A week ago Saturday, I went to brunch with Shannon and Tamra for their birthdays.  It was so fun to celebrate them and I am so grateful for friendships that span decades.  We went to a place I had never been called Roots and it was completely delicious.  Thursday night I went to our RS birthday party.  It was a wonderful evening and we did a favorite things gift exchange.  I lucked out and walked away with some of my favorite things, a notebook and two pens!  Yay!  On Friday night I went to book club-the neighborhood book club that I organized!  It was a huge success and it just made me so happy.  I love the women in my neighborhood and I am so glad this book club has been so well received.  My biggest hope is that it will just continue to strengthen friendships, and so far, it seems to be doing just that!  Marshall said a funny thing to me yesterday and it just cracked me up.  As I was driving him to soccer he asked how book club went.  He then told me he thought I should commission an oil painting of myself, frame it, and insist it be displayed at every book club meeting with a plaque under it that says, "Our Founder".  Oh, I was dying of laughter, while also really liking this idea!  Haha!  I have been missing Richard this week.  His last few months working at the U were so laid back because he had zero academic responsibilities.  We were just coasting along!  This new schedule is nothing we can't handle, and still an improvement over the years of training, but just different from the last few months.  

Okay, well, that was a long, long email.  Bless any of you who made it this far.  Here's to March!

Love each of you.

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)

Oh, I can't forget, Bridget and Rachel have taught Ziggy how to shake.  It makes us laugh every single day.