MP Variety Show 2020

So last year it occurred to me that it would be fun to have a Meridian Park Student Council Variety Show number.  But last year, as you may remember, was a very difficult time.  So this year, I thought we'd give it a go.  It turned out AWESOME!  I put a committee together to write a script.  I took their basic idea and turned it into something that would be high energy, include everyone, showcase MP talent & clubs, be easy to learn (we only had 1 rehearsal), and look like we spent more time on it.  Nailed it.
And the superintendent got to the show just before our number.  She tweeted us.  No Big Deal.  (Just kidding, BIG DEAL!)

Gangnam style became MP CHEETAH STYLE. 

Sarah also sang.  She did a great job.  I wasn't nearly as nervous as I was for Libby's song last year.  It wasn't quite as difficult, she started practicing sooner, and she's just calm about it herself.  Which helps.

When she first tried on my dress--I was like WHAT!??!  Who is this grown up girl??

 Sarah singing Wonderful Life with Brittain Barber on piano.  When she came out on stage, the people behind me were like "Ooohhhh, wow!  So beautiful!  That Dress!"  It was fun.

I also danced in the staff "mystery talent."  Thankfully there is no video of that impromptu performance of me dancing in Derek's huge cowboy boots.  It was such a fun night.

I'm 43!

When I turned 40, I gathered with my Ragnar sisters and my real sisters for a celebration in Vegas.  It was so amazing and lifted up my spirits so much.  The next year, Emmi and I went to Minnesota to give Jen a baby shower.  In 2019, Emmi had moved to DC, so Jen and I went to see her new home.  This year, we chose somewhere warmer, San Diego.  It was amazing!  It was a weekend of good food, beautiful scenery, a nice warm hot tub, and mostly just time to talk!  Moms have so so much to process!  We talked about everything.  It was so good.  Jen's parents were amazing hosts!  Talking with her parents and brother and sister-in-law only added to the weekend fun.
I posted a lot while I was there, but I just wanted to jot down my favorite thing that we all loved.  After lunch, our first stop was the Mormon Battalion Museum.  There was a quote in the video that Jen wrote down.  "God gave us what we wanted most in the way that we expected it least."
Yes.  Life.  Looking back and realizing that we are learning what we need to learn--and sometimes in the ways that we least expect.  Ways that are sometimes so much harder than we wish.
Last year we were all struggling in various ways.  This year we were all able to look back and see how much we had learned.  Beautiful.

Everyone pitched in and made me a delicious birthday dinner while I took a Sunday nap and then hung out and watched! 

Birthday mint brownies

My feet on the beach

Seal Selfie--from a distance

Strong Mama Yoga

Me as a Mormon Battalion Soldier.  I'm glad my trials don't include lugging a heavy rifle around. 

It was such a good birthday!

Sarah is in YW!

My phone was choosing that moment to freeze up a bit, and without a coat she was freezing too.  So weird pics.

But isn't she adorable!  So grown up.  She measured in at officially 5'1" after church (when Derek was sure she was still under 5'.)

First Week Back

I am so happy to be back in my routine!  This week flew by.  Teaching, wrestling, normal life!
I did have an easy breezy week with several nights just at home with nothing.  It was awesome.
I am also proud of my progress with my 20 for 20.  I got Geneva on Venmo!
I am 3 chapters into How to Talk so Your Kids Will Listen and it is working.  We had a great kid/parent relations week around here. 
I did my first online grocery order through Costco. 
It was great!
I went to a Book Club meeting :)
Homerun week!
Shorewood beat 2 teams at a double dual too.
I got Sarah's curtains up, so she has official privacy.  And it doesn't seem to wake her up when we are up and about in the morning, so that's good.  She wants yellow for her room color when we do the official room decor in the summer.  I like yellow, so I'm excited!

And now, the threat of snow and school closure.  But I am going to stay upbeat.  If we have days off of school this week, which will take away days of summer, I am going to work on summer projects.  I might even start painting out Sarah's built in!  Yikes!

A good friend from Harbor Square captured this pic of the Norton Ladies in the SW Wrestling fan club.  Go Nortons! 

 We also got a new cable/internet provider and are saving $60 a month.  That's not too shabby.  Derek did have to give up the BigTen Network, but he can get that through his phone.
It was a very productive week!

19 in Review and my 20 for 20

A Review of My 19 for 2019

This year, I have chosen the 1 word theme: Emerge.  I want to come out from under the pain and headaches I have been experiencing.  I want to be the person and wife and mother that isn't weighed down.  I'm working on this.  I'm excited. Hmmm...I didn't even remember that I had a word for the year in 2019.  Guess I didn't really focus on it.  But I did really try to emerge out of the headaches.  I think I have made some significant progress.  

I wrote a 19 for 2019 list to help me move forward toward my goal and created an accountability group with some friends that I love to help me do it.

1.  Call my mom daily/weekly (daily right now--I just love hearing her voice) I should probably have called more.  But I did see her more in 2019 that I have in the past several years!  Seeing her return to health was the best part of 2019. 
2.  Read The Case Against Sugar.  Yes, but it didn't help me give up sugar.  
3.  Read a finance book (haven't decided which one yet). I read The Year of Less. I loved it.  It gave me some good perspective. I think it helped me spend less for at least a few months.  I need to cue up another finance book. 
4.  Do physical therapy to help my neck, shoulder, and hip. I tried.  Many appointments, and add chiropractor to the list after my PT threw up her hands and sent me back to a surgeon.  Who cancelled on me several times.  I'm still debating next steps for my hip (the main dysfunction that is causing problems all along the chain leading to headaches and shoulder pain.) 
5. Get a mammogram (which I have already checked off!)
6. Underreact to problems (less swearing, staying more calm)  Hmmmm...don't know what to say here.
7. Weekly budget for expenditures (monitor every Sunday)  I gave this up after a few months.  But it did help me get back into check. 
8.  Hand off Rhinos.  YES! 
9.  Renew Teaching Cert (need all Clock Hours by June)  YES! 
10.  Get ACE CECs (for fitness cert--need 20 hours by Feb. 2020) YES!
11.  Improve family nutrition.  Hmmm...I read Helping Without Harming and it was a great help in thinking about how I feed my family.  Watching Sarah eat after I read it helped me to realize that her body wasn't regulating right.  So I took her to a metabolic specialist and we found out she is insulin resistant.  The meds are helping SO much.  She has lost (I would say, we aren't monitoring) at least 15 pounds, and she has shot up at least an inch since August. 
12.  Monthly time with each kid--YES!  And it was really fun. 
13. Go to the temple monthly (January--check!)  So I came close.  Not quite every month.  But close. 
14.  Drink more water (1 bottle before lunch, 1 before after school snack.)  Still working on this.  I set hydration alarms on my fitbit.  It helps.  But I need to reschedule the alarms so they are when my students are at recess, etc.  
15. Monthly Budget Review.  NO. 
16. Finish Adult Piano Book. NO.  The songs got harder and started taking me longer.  I got discouraged and stopped playing all together.  :(
17.  Write in gratitude journal most days.  YES!  
18. Say morning family prayers (alert in calendar to help) YES! 
19. Create an accountability group of friends to encourage progress :) and YES! 

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of growth created by these goals.  So, here are my goals for 2020.  I actually have 21. (And a few more on my back burner too.)

I have a word for this year too....SPACE.  I want to create more space in my life, so it isn't all crammed together.  More space in my clothes (by taking off the weight I have picked up with my headaches, not buying bigger clothes).  More space for my family.  More space on my calendar.  It's going to be a good year. 

Okay 2020.  Let's do this! 

Libby's Outing!

One of Libby's Christmas gifts was tickets to Mrs. Doubtfire the Musical.  I looped Maren in on the fun, not even realizing that the 5th Ave Theater is right next to her building.  Amazing! So Libby got to see Maren's office.  Libby said, "Wow!  Maren is so lucky!"  I said, "I think she is luck, but mostly she's worked really hard!"  We picked up Maren and went to the lobby for Mod Pizza, one of Libby's favorites.  Then on to the show.  We ran into a few people we knew.  Anne and Carol were first.  So fun to chat with them before the show.  Then we saw my MTHS principal.  It was great to chat with him and his wife.  The show was AWESOME.  There was even some tap dancing.  I loved it.  I even came home and watched the movie (because somehow I'd never seen it.)  This is a 5th Avenue Debut that is going to Broadway.  Kind of exciting to have been in on the ground floor!

Pretty impressive view from this gal's office. 

In the Theater

We ran into some awesome friends, Anne and Carol! 

Waiting for Maren.  She was doing some important lawyering.  

Happy New Year!

We had a fun time ringing in the New Year.  We had friends for dinner on Sunday night and Monday night...so actually by Tuesday night I was ready for quiet night at home.   I had spent a bunch of the day doing the office swap, so I was pretty beat. But, tradition! Derek was working (also a normal tradition) but thankfully Maren brought Jed and Rory and we had a few friends from church coming too to help me get motivated.  So I pulled out the fondue pot and the chocolate fountain. This year I bought a pre-made cheese fondue from Costco.  It was pretty good.  But the focus was definitely on the chocolate.  I had forgotten to buy more actual chocolate fountain wafers.  but I read on the internet that I could use chocolate chips if I thinned them with coconut oil.  It worked out pretty well. Lots was consumed! 

Maren helped me move the desk into the new office.  Then we got the kids playing games (so they would stop running around screaming...I had limited tolerance for the yelling.)

Uno Dare was a big hit.  It's really fun! This is Maren accepting a Dare to avoid drawing cards.  Hold your card against the wall with your nose until your next turn. Ha!  Wish I would have taken a pic of her holding her foot above her head for a round.  

 Then we started watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve.  Lots of artists from earlier in the decades.  So even I knew a bunch of the music.  Maren's "Party Pack" was a big hit.  When we found footage of the ball dropping live (9 pm our time) the kids threw streamers, blew their blowers.  And we clinked glasses full of sparkling cider.  Yum!

The ball drop on Maren's phone. 

 I am looking forward to a new year, a fresh start.  I've got some goals on my mind.  See my 20 for 20 post.
Here we go!