The Cannon Fab 5: February 2019

The month of February started off with a trip to Delks. Steve and Nick had a great father son bonding day while Naomi and I stayed at home and played.

You can buy a kit to build one of these.

Both Nick and Naomi made the Honor Roll. They are working so hard to keep their grades up.

Naomi was home sick for a couple of days at the beginning of the month. We all tried to stay away from the gunk that was going around, but Naomi got the sore throat and fever that everyone loved to trade around. On the up side, we had a few days of relative warm and sun. It then went back to sunless and bitter cold.

Normally I put all the pictures of Jeremy at the end of the email in "Jeremy's Mission Corner", but these had to go in right here. Jeremy sent this picture of the metal spoon he broke while attempting to clean out their freezer. His caption was "This reminds me of another picture where something got broken." Well, below it is the picture to which he was referring. It was a really funny day and a great memory.

Nick turned 17! We had sushi for dinner and he finally got the RC truck he has been eyeing for quite some time.

Nick, the Sushi Master

He finally got his RC truck.

Testing out how fast it can go! It was a lot faster than I thought it would be.

Car wash at the end of the trial run. FYI - it can go in the little creek. Nick was excited about that bonus.

On Nick's birthday, I was subbing at the middle school when the fire alarm went off. I wasn't aware of a planned fire drill but went with it. Once outside the kids started panicking because they heard fire engines in the distance. Sure enough, the fire trucks turned into our parking lot. The kids were panicking not because they thought their beloved school was on fire, but because they left their cell phones in the school. It ended up being some faulty wiring in combination with some burnt popcorn in the microwave. Nothing like a good adventure.

February 13th was a busy day. Steve and Naomi left for the band trip to Disney and Nick had Day 1 of track tryouts.

Wednesday, February 13

It's 4 am, but they are still excited.

Thursday, February 14

Animal Kingdom

Lots of walking and they are tired.

Cool tree in Animal Kingdom. They sent me this Proof of Life selfie.

After a full day at Animal Kingdom, they went to Planet Hollywood for dinner...

...and enjoy watching a balloon to end their day.

Friday, February 15

Their day started with a class is in a recording studio. After the class they made a recording of what they had learned.

They spent the rest of the day exploring Universal Studios.

Another fun but exhausting day. Refueling for the second part of the day.

Toy Story was one of the favorite parts of the park.

More yumminess and energy to continue the fun

They sent this picture to me to rub in the fact that they were warm and we were freezing. I am glad they had good weather. Disney in the cold and rain is not nearly as magical.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT HOME

The kids tub wasn't draining so I did some "surgery" to find out why. YUCK!!!

Lunch at the local sushi joint. Nick loved it.

I finally had time to finish this project for the school media center. It turned out better than I thought it would.

Saturday, February 16th

DISNEY WORLD!!!

They found massage chairs halfway through the day and massaged their sore muscles.

There were lots of pictures of the castle. I think they really enjoyed their time in Disney World.

While they were exploring Disney World in the 80 degree weather, Nick was running in a 5K in 48 degree weather that felt much colder because of the wind and rain. He did really well and placed in the top ten in his age bracket. That is saying something because his age bracket was the most competitive.

Finishing strong.

We went home and spent a couple of hours thawing, then made some homemade mac-n-cheese and played some Mario Kart. He totally smoked me but I did eventually finish one race. It was a fun day.

February 17th, Steve and Naomi made it home safe and sound from their Disney adventure.

February 18th, was a day off of school so Naomi and I spent a good chunk of the day shopping for a dress for the Daddy Daughter dance. She had a very specific look in mind and we eventually found everything she wanted to complete her perfect look. That afternoon Nick and I attended a CPCC orientation in order to get his ready to take college courses next year. Jeremy also got his birthday package!!!! I wasn't expecting that little miracle. Getting mail into Brazil has been challenging the last little while. I am so glad he got some love from home in time for his birthday.

February 19th I got a picture from one of the members in Brasilia. They had found out it was Jeremy's birthday and had a little celebration for him. (Pictures are below).

February 21, Nick found out that he made the track team. Way to go! That night was the Daddy Daughter Dance. Naomi and Steve doubled with Bella and Tess (who stood in as "Dad" since he got called on a business trip at the last minute). They went to Freddie's for dinner and then had a blast at the dance.

She is looking so grown up.

Steve and his three dates.

Naomi and her buddies from school at the dance.

The seminary kids had fun this week getting creative. We talked about a healthy tree with a good source of nutrients and a sad tree. It was part of the lesson (which I can't remember right now). One student drew the happy tree and another drew the sad tree. Notice the dead bird and fish. They were so proud of their art work and asked me to display it on my blog. I have great seminary kids.

This display of creativity was part of our lesson on the building of the temple in Kirtland. I had them build their own temples out of Legos. My favorite is the one below - it is the baptistry. So creative and fun.

February 23 I spent the morning having breakfast and shopping with my friend, Jill. She is always so much fun to hang out with. We feed into each other's silliness. We both need that every once in a while. That night Steve and I had a date. We went to PF Chang's for dinner and then saw "Gypsy" on the CPCC campus. It was amazing. I see season tickets to their productions in our future.

February 24th marked the seventh straight day of rain. This is not the little spring showers here. We are talking downpours and flooding rain.

February 25th we got to talk to Jeremy!!! I love this new rule that they can call home on P-day. The emails are nice but getting to see their face and talk to them in real time is amazing and makes it easier to have them so far away.

February 26th, after waiting for 5 hours at the DMV Nick was told that he didn't pass the test and would have to come back again. This is ridiculous. The things they said he did during his driving test were nit picky and he was very discouraged. Did you know that you are supposed to use your signal when making a three point turn? You need to signal right and left throughout the whole process. WHAT!!!!????!!!???!! Oh well. Maybe there is a silver lining somewhere. He has to wait a week before he can try again.

For science, Naomi had to make a Body shirt complete with all the internal organs on the front. The muscles were extra credit.

The back was the skeletal structure. The teacher was so impressed he asked her if he could keep it as an example of what the students SHOULD be doing for this assignment. He thought it was an iron-on at first because it was so good.

We also got our taxes done on February 26th. It was weird having Jeremy's taxed done while he is away, but he got some money back which will be waiting for him when he gets back.

February 27th I got to meet Al Conklin, local weatherman. He was giving a presentation to the 5th grade since they were just finishing their unit on weather. He was very nice and the kids enjoyed asking him all sorts of questions.

February 28th was the Eagle dinner where all the scouts who attained the rank of Eagle during 2018 were honored for their achievement. It was a fun night with a dinner and a speaker as well as Nick getting to stand when his name was called.