We have been trying to have a family game night once a week or so. It is a little tricky because all of us have to much going on but we do what we can. Sometimes it is a board game or card game but one night Emilee requested we play hide-n-seek. The last time we played it took all of us almost an hour to find Matthew. He was still small enough to fit under the sink in a bathroom and none of us even thought to look. So he was our current hide-n-seek champion. Allison claimed the thrown this time though. After a few rounds, it was dads turn to find everyone. Allison, requested a little assistance to get up in her spot. She was the last to be found and it took a little clue for dad to see her. Can you see her?
Matthew kept himself busy with the Stake basketball tournament on the weekends in February. The first week we went to our new ward they announced it then were moving on because they assumed no one wanted to play since they had passed on participating the year before. Matthew looks forward to this every year though so he boldly raised his hand and said he wanted to play. The bishopric said they would find another ward or two to combine with so they could have a full team so he could play. He immediately wished he had kept his mouth shut and just played with Heritage Park Ward again. Despite combining with two other wards, when he went to the first game, there was only three of the required five minimum players needed for a team. They borrowed a few people from other teams and had a game. After that Matt just brought his own friends from school to play. They won a few games but usually lost. Ryan coached them when he was home otherwise it was just them, I was usually the only person that came to cheer them on. Not the greatest year of Stake basketball but they had fun. He likes playing basketball for fun not competitively so he has a good time. This picture is the score when they played Heritage Park. They actually held their own pretty good up to half time. Then they got smoked.
Emilee was excited the weather was warmer than usual for February because she got to start her riding lessons back up sooner. She still loves it and looks forward to her lesson every week. There is a new horse called Artemis that is a bit of a stinker to most riders but he and Emilee get along really well so she is always happy when she gets to ride him.
This was our last year with a kiddo in elementary school. That means it was the last year we had to make a valentine box (at the very last minute because they changed their mind and do want to bring one) to take to school to collect all your valentines. Emilee made her own box out of a clothes box and other items she found in the wrapping paper drawer.
It was a low key day. Ryan was actually out of town for work so he took me on a Valentine’s date later that week. We got a few treats for breakfast for the kids valentine gift. I also told them they could all request as many hugs and kisses and they wanted all day long (lets be honest, they can do that everyday) but they didn’t take me up on it as much as I wanted.
The Chief’s were in the Super Bowl AGAIN this year! They have made it twice in a row before but never won it twice in a row. There were some very excited people in our family to watch the Super Bowl.
The day of the game Allison had a gymnastic meet. She was first thing in the morning but they had meets that went all day…into Super Bowl time. Ryan was just flabbergasted that anyone would schedule something on Super Bowl day that would conflict with the game. I told him they scheduled these meets months if not a year or more in advance. He maintained that everyone knows the day of the Super Bowl and they scheduled it to be stinkers. I suggested not everyone is into football as him and might not plan their life around it. I don’t think I convinced him that some people don’t know when the Super Bowl is let alone not watch it. He said, “Its basically a national holiday.”
Anyway, we cheered Allison on at her meet and she did great. Here is a video of her floor routine.
The day before Allison and Leah made lots of yummy treats for the Super Bowl. After her meet we went home and got the food and everything ready. Grandma and Grandpa and Ross and Lauren’s family came over to watch. We all made some food and had some good eating options. There was a list of who was bringing what and Matthew added a few of his own contributions to it. I thought is was funny so I took a picture.
It was a great game and spoiler alert- The CHIEFS WON! BACK TO BACK SUPER BOWL WINS! It was very exciting. I took a video of the last play right before they won in overtime. There was lots of cheering, lots of fireworks going off, and a city parade a few days later that they called off school so everyone could celebrate. They actually tried not to cancel school but they have done it in the past for other parades and the precedent had been set. They had so many teachers/staff calling in for subs they ended up just having to cancel school all together. We didn’t go to the parade but we enjoyed the day off!
So, buying a house is pretty expensive. We new this. It is still a bit overwhelming sometimes though. Everything in our lives right now is expensive. So we have been trying to stick to a budget and watch our finances pretty close. Ryan and I both like to go on vacations. It is something we both look forward too and having a trip planned is a big motivational carrot for us. Vacations are expensive too. So we decided that for the next little bit while we are getting everything settled and taken care of with the new house and other life expenses since we need to put a pin in bigger trips that we want to go on someday we are going to do mini trips. Then we still have something to look forward to without breaking the bank.
The first one we took was in February. We took a long weekend and went to see my sister Sherri and Kenny in their new house in Dallas Texas. The bonus was my Grandma June was flying in to see her too, on the way to spend a month with my mom in Florida. Double bonus- my mom came to meet my grandma and stay with Sherri for a bit too. So the kids took Friday off of school and we left Thursday evening after all the kids activities were done. We drove about half way and then stayed the night at a hotel. After breakfast the next morning we finished the last few hours and were enjoying Casa De French by early afternoon.
My mom was already there so the 5 of us went to dinner that night and did an Escape Room together. It was pretty fun. Allison supervised the girls and kept a close eye on KJ for us while we were gone. Occasionally she let Matthew watch KJ. She is a pretty awesome babysitter.
The next day we went on a little drive to see Fort Worth. There were lots of long horned steer to see and shops and even a few shows to watch. Emilee and Sherri road a mechanical bull, and the kids and a few adults raced to see who could finish a maze first. It was a cool place to check out. It was early February and the weather was pretty nice.
My grandma flew in about mid afternoon so my mom, Sherri and I went to the airport to pick her up and everyone else went home. My grandma was a little nervous because she has never flown anywhere by herself. We had is set up like when a kids flies alone. Someone walked her to her gate and got her on the plane and then Sherri was going to meet her at the gate in Dallas when she got off the plane so she wouldn’t be by herself. She is starting to have a little bit of dementia as well so we didn’t want her to be alone navigating an airport for the first time in her life anymore than she did. We got to the airport and my mom and I went to wait in baggage claim. Sherri went to get a gate pass to wait at the gate for her. Things went downhill from there. Sherri got a gate pass but then security wouldn’t accept it. By the time she got back to the airline and called to have them bring Grandma to us in baggage claim, Grandma was no longer there and ‘someone’ had already taken her to baggage. My mom and I were in baggage claim though and Grandma was no where to be seen. The airport just lost her! We got to see a little bit of the Sherri fire that is always exciting to witness. It used to be free and often out of control when she was younger. Now as an adult she has harnessed the rage and controls it quite well. If she chooses to use it, it is something to witness. She let them know how she felt about them loosing her sweet 85 year old grandma with dementia in a GIANT airport. Meanwhile, we kept calling her cell phone and she finally answered and told us she was watching the traffic drive by. Someone had put her in a wheelchair, gotten her luggage (without going to baggage claim somehow?!?!?) and wheeled her outside to the curb and deposited her on a bench by the pickup lanes. It was a little stressful but we were very glad to find her, she was very glad we found her, and we all went back to Sherri’s. We spent the night visiting and made tacos for dinner and watched a movie together.
We had to leave the next morning to get back for work and school. My mom and grandma stayed with Sherri for another week then went back to Florida. It was a fast but fun get away.
I like traveling with our kids. For the most part we chat a little, read, nap, do our own thing but we like eating together. So it is fun to decide on a place to eat and then visit together while we eat and travel. It is wonderful to have a third driver now too. Matthew drove almost half the way there and it is awesome.
It was a successful mini-cation!
Allison is happier then she looks. 🙂Escape Room- we won!Aubry and EmiFour Generations in this picture!
My moms dad was not feeling well and went to the doctors to figure out what was going on towards the end of November last year. It wasn’t good news. He had a very aggressive form of leukemia. They said he probably had 4-6 months left. They had a few options for treatment but the doctors said that none of them would prolong his life more than a few months. To make the treatments even harder my grandpa was starting to have some dementia and would often forget he had cancer and not want to cooperate with tests and other things he needed to do.
They decided to choose the treatment option that was by were they lived so he could stay at home. They did the first treatment right around Christmas and he seemed to respond really well. The doctors said they would keep giving him the treatments every four weeks until they weren’t effective anymore. He had a good Christmas and New Years. All of his kids and other friends and family came to see him. When he went in for the second treatment they checked the cancer and it was exponentially worse. His symptoms had been getting worse quickly as well as his dementia. They doctors said there wasn’t any point in doing more treatments. So they went home and got hospice set up at the house and kept him as comfortable as they could.
Grandpa Brent (wearing a hat with his Brand on it) and Grandma June.
I talked with him on the phone a few times. He seemed to know me most of the time. He was more talkative if I talked about things 10-15 years ago that we did. So he would tell me about going out to check on the cows and tell me how the farm was doing. On January 31, 2023 he passed away.
I was able to go out for his funeral. Everyone was there except the rest of my family, and my brother John and his family. Most of them live there already or no more than three hours away. Sherri and her family and my parents and I had the farthest to travel. I stayed at my grandmas house with my parents and my aunt Peggy and her daughter Sam. My sweet grandma can probably count the number of nights she has been without my grandpa since they got married on one hand. She seemed pretty lost. She spent as much time as she could at the funeral home sitting with my grandpa’s body. My sister DeAnna and I were talking and we both said we remember grandma saying since we were tiny that if Grandpa died first she was just going to crawl in the casket with him and let them bury them both. Since he passed away she hasn’t been sleeping more than 1-3 hours a night. She told Sherri she doesn’t know how to think on her own without him. It will take a bit for her to get used to her new normal.
My Granparents house and a few other pictures from their house that remind me of them.Grandma is ALWAYS knitting, crocheting, quilting, or sewing something.It is not uncommon for Grandma and Grandpa to leave their Christmas tree up all year long.I can hear this clock chiming just looking at this picture.Me and my Grandma June.This would be a great picture if my eyes were open.‘Sharing’ a chair.On our way to help set up the pictures for the funeral.
There is a lot of drama in my moms family. The Call’s are a strong willed, determined, opinionated, sometimes prideful bunch. The last 15 years or so has had a lot of family drama and divisions in it. There were a few people that were pretty worried about how things would go at the funeral. There was some stupid petty stuff that happened but for the most part it was ‘behind the scenes’ and other than unnecessary stress on my Grandma the preparations and funeral went pretty smoothly.
When the viewing started the night before the funeral my Grandma could barely keep herself composed and sometimes didn’t. Before it even officially started there was a line of people out the room down the hall and to the exit door of the church. It stayed like that until 30 minutes after it officially ended. I think it really helped my Grandma to realize how many people loved her and my Grandpa and came to share their grief with her. They lived in Grant Idaho for over 50 years. My grandpa was pretty active in the community and church so he was a part of a lot of peoples lives. I saw several people that I remembered or new from visiting there in the Summers when I was growing up. Other than one of my uncles showing up high as a kite on something with his obnoxious ‘friend’ it was uneventful. There were several people there with the potential to cause a scene so it was a relief to just have the one.
Grandma looking at Grandpa.Mom and her best friend Brenda
The next day at the funeral there was another long line waiting to talk with her that even with the funeral home people ending it so they could start the funeral on time went 20 minutes over. It was a nice funeral. My grandma kept her head down and couldn’t look at anyone but she said she liked what was said and thought it went well. I learned a lot of things that my grandpa did and participated in that I didn’t know. It was also fun to hear the things people shared that I remembered or new he loved or did. He tried to be a good example and leader for his family and community. He was a doer and a go getter. He had an amazing drive and work ethic.
At the gravesite after it was dedicated my Grandma requested that The Rose be played. It was one of my grandpa’s favorite songs. It was very sweet and touching. I think my Grandma would have sat there all day if they would let her. Eventually everyone left and my Grandma was taken back to the church for lunch. After the lunch everyone dispersed to their own homes. My sisters and I were at my Grandmas a bit before they left. She slept a lot in her chair which was good. She needed any sleep she could get. She doesn’t like to be alone but doesn’t want to move out of her home or have someone move in with her. She decided to go with my mom to Florida for awhile for a change of scenery and to think about what she wants to do going forward. I hope it is good for her and she can start to heal and rally a little while she is there.
Told my dad he needs one of these hats.My Uncle Duane branded the coffin with my Grandpa’s brand per my Grandma’s request.
After the viewing my cousin Jarom offered his office for all the cousins to get together and hangout for a while. I was back and forth on going but ended up going. I feel a little bit out of place in the family as to were I fit. I was the oldest grandchild by several years. When I had other cousins come along they were my siblings age so I didn’t really play with them. I babysat them sometimes but I didn’t have a cousin I hung out with. Since I was the only grandchild for a while I hung out with my aunts most of the time. The two youngest are 9 and 11 years older than me. So that is who I spent most of my time with but as everyone has gotten older I have been reminded by some of them that I am a grandchild not a sibling…in case I forgot I guess. So I ended up having that realization while I was at the cousin dinner and was able to verbalize to myself what I was feeling all weekend. It was still a good time and now that most of them are older and have families the gap is a little smaller and we have more in common now. My Great Grandpa had a pocket watch that he wanted passed down from Grandfather to the oldest Grandson that would be carrying on the Call name. My cousin Jarom had been holding the watch for his son Levi that will some day pass it onto his Grandson. They brought the watch and passed it around and let everyone see it. It still works, and has a elk etched on the back and the chain has the two (one has been lost) ivory elk teeth (I also learned that elk have two teeth that are ivory) from an elk my great grandpa shot.
I flew home the day after the funeral. I arrived just in time to see the fireworks go off from the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl. It was good to see my family and spend some time with my Grandma, I am glad to be home.
One of my cousins spouses put a book together for my Grandma with memories from the grandkids about Grandpa. Here is what I put in it;
Over the past few days I have seen some happy memories posted of Grandpa on Facebook. Several of them mentioned things that I have memories of too. Checking cows. Summer and Winter days at the cabin. Burnt cookies, and watching movies (The Man From Snowy River most of the time). I also remember the dairy barn, milking cows, checking baby calves, ‘short’ drives to the farm that turned into spending the whole day at the farm. Checking and changing water. Helping with potato harvest. Water skiing, family reunions, The Playmill, snowmobiling. Driving to the store and getting ‘lost’ in Yellowstone for hours on end.
I learned to never get in a vehicle with Grandpa without a few snacks because it was never ‘just a quick’ drive. From the time I was a teenager one of the things he would often tell me on our drives was to always keep a quarter with me so I could always call him if I needed to. About the time I was going to college he was telling me again and I told him I hadn’t seen a pay phone for years. He just looked at me and said, “Well, figure it out.” I laughed and told him I will always think of him when I see a quarter, and I do.
One of the earliest memories I have of Grandpa Brent is ‘hide the beanies.’ I am not going to explain more. If you know you know. (To further explain this. When I was little 3 maybe 4 I was often taking a bath before bed about the time that Grandpa would come home from working) If he heard us splashing around in the tub he would make a big deal about covering his eyes as he walked by to his bedroom so he didn’t have to see any naked beanies in the bathtub. He would say, “I’m walking by hide all the beanies. I don’t want to see any beanies!!” It always made my sisters and I giggle.)
I have pictures opening up Christmas presents at Grandpa’s house when I am way to young to remember. We lived close for a short time when I was young and then it was anywhere from 4-20 hour car rides to come visit depending on where we lived. When we would arrive Grandma would come running from the garden or wherever she was at to give us all hugs. If it wasn’t dark Grandpa would still be working out at the farm and we would see him when he got home. He loved to give me a hug in his dirty coveralls. Sometimes I would help him take his boots off. I still remember the smell of dirt and grease on him. I would always tell him he cleaned up pretty nice when we would go to church. I remember the smell of his cologne and leather boots and belt.
I remember a light blue car, maybe a Buick. The interior was covered in matching light blue velvet. There was an ABBA cassette in it and he and Grandma would play Chiquitita over and over for me when we were driving. It is still one of my favorite songs.
Sometimes Grandpa would try to convince you to do something by betting you that you couldn’t. Sometimes I took the bait, other times we would just agree to disagree. One of my visits he brought home a Big Judd’s burger and challenged me that I couldn’t eat the whole thing. I did and topped it off with an ice cream sandwich. For the next 10 years he introduced me as the grandchild that could eat a whole Big Judd Cheeseburger.
It was nice to go to college at Ricks/BYUI for a few years and get to see both Grandma and Grandpa more often. I would come do my laundry and spend the day at Grandma’s and usually stay long enough to eat dinner if I didn’t get there early enough to see him before he left. One year he took me to get new tires on my car for winter. He teased me about how often I had to eat (apparently 3-4 times a day is high maintenance) but I was always welcome to join them for dinner whenever I wanted.
I remember dancing with Grandpa at my wedding reception. Shortly after I was married and living in Kansas I came home from work for a lunch break and heard a knock at the door. Grandma and Grandpa were standing at our front door, driving around the country to who knows where and decided to stop by for a minute. It was a pretty awesome surprise.
I have four generation pictures with each of my kids and Grandma and Grandpa. I will always treasure them. I love you Grandpa Brent. I’m glad I got to talk with you one last time a few weeks ago. Thank you for all the memories and talks. I didn’t always do what you said but I liked to listen and spend time with you. I will miss you and miss giving you a hug and kissing your scruffy cheek.
Like January, February seemed to stick to the tradition schedule. There is more days off of school between teacher conferences, snow days, holidays, and this year we added another day off for the Super Bowl Parade since the Chiefs won.
Emilee made her Valentines box to take to school for her Valentines Party. After this year she had one year left before there will be no more kids making Valentine’s Boxes in our house.😢 She did a great job and did everything on her own including coming up with the idea, gathering supplies and creating it. When she was all done she had an adorable Valentine’s Day Fox Box.
Matthew and Campbell went to the school dance. Matthew called it Winter Homecoming but I think that is not the right name. It is probably Sweethearts or something like that since it is in February. That is what all the other schools called it. I was in Idaho when he went to the dance but Campbell’s mom Lisa sent me some pictures. Between Matthew and Ryan they were able to pull an outfit together. They had a fun time. They went with a group of Campbell’s friends, and ate dinner at Sake Lounge before the dance. Campbell is a Sweetheart because she does not like sushi but she agreed to go there for dinner because Matthew loves it. Those are the same pants he wore to the dance in October and he has already outgrown them. He loves that he is obviously taller than her now and she can wear heals if she wants.
The day after the dance was the Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs were in it so everyone was pretty excited. Ross and Lauren and Roger and Rhonda came over to our house. There was lots of yummy food and it was a really close game. It came down to a field goal the last few seconds of the game that won it for us. I was driving home from the airport at the time. I had seen some of the game on the airplane. Lots of people would cheer whenever we scored. There was tons of decorations and a balloon tunnel at the airport set up for when the players came home. I was trying to hurry home in time to catch the last few minutes but as I was getting off the freeway at my exit a bunch of red, gold, and white fireworks started going off. I knew we had won. As I pulled into my driveway about five minutes later there were still fireworks going off everywhere and people running all over cheering that the Chiefs had won. Kansas City has some good fans.
It was recently the fun time of year when all (now most in a post COVID world) elementary students carry on the decades old tradition of decorating a box with as much hearts, glitter, pink and frilly decorations as they can and make a Valentine’s for each class member to exchange and put in each others box. For some brief back ground- Matthew made his first box in kindergarten and after that year decided a plastic grocery sack was good enough for his remaining elementary years. Allison let me help her make her box in kindergarten and then told me my help was no longer needed in the following years. She came up with a bigger and more elaborate design each year for her box. It never resembled a box or anything to do with Valentine’s other than having a slot to put the Valentine’s cards in. By third grade her reputation preceded her and the teachers gave her specific size limits on her box. Emilee has always gone the more traditional route and decorated a shoe box in the before mentioned way. She is the last kiddo that still makes a Valentine’s box for school in our house.
This year during one of our many days off of school in February she had a burst of creativity and brought me a drawing of what she wanted to do for her box the next week. We gathered the supplies she needed and she was excited and thrilled to make her picture come to life by making her box all by herself. She did a great job. She was very proud of it and it sat on the side table in the kitchen for the few days before it was time to take it to school.
Emilee’s awesome Valentine’s Box
They were told to bring it in sometime in the two days before the party. She had a bunch of other things to take the school the first day they could bring them in so she planned to take it the second day. The morning she was supposed to take it I reminded her not to forget it. She said, “No, I think I will just have people set the Valentine on my desk.” I of course asked her what she meant and she started to tear up. Come to find out, almost everyone else had brought their boxes in the day before and after seeing them Emilee thought hers wasn’t good enough. She said that most of the other boxes were, “more neat looking” than hers. Meaning-they were made by adults not kids, or ordered on the internet and ‘professionally’ made. Grrr, I was pretty annoyed. This isn’t the first time one of my kids has been embarrassed of something they did on their own because other kids parents do the assignments for them. It is a soap box of mine. Stupid parents. We talked about how her box was perfect the way it was and how awesome it was that she did it all by herself (because 1-she wanted to and had a great time doing it and 2- THOSE ARE THE DIRECTIONS-not have your parents make your box). I told her I loved her box and she should be proud of it. She told me,” You are just saying that because you are my mom so you have to like it.” Allison then chimed in and said that one of the reasons she made her boxes the way she did is so they would be unique and represent something she liked and told Emilee, “I love the way you did your box. The see through part is cool.” Allison’s words carried a lot more weight than mine. The silver lining of having sisters that fight more than it seems like they get along is that when one of them gives you a compliment you believe it because you know they have no problem insulting you. It was a sweet moment. I appreciated Allison helping her sister.
She took her box to school and was happy to report that her friend Millie told her is was an awesome box. I was helping at the party the next day and had the chance to see all the boxes myself. There were many boxes there that were clearly made by an adult or straight up bought on some bougie valentine website. It was ridiculous. I was happy to see the few that were home made by kids and made sure to tell each of them I loved their creativity. She still has her box sitting on her dresser and I will leave it there as long as she wants to instead of chucking it after a few weeks like I normally would.
The week of Valentine’s is upon us. It was a pretty normal week. The weather was not normal. About a week ago we were apparently transported to the South Pole and have been in sub zero temperatures or single digit at the most all week and have another week of it coming. Luckily we haven’t had any frozen pipes yet…several of our neighbors and friends have. Grandma and Grandpa Terry have as well.
Ryan and I debate on if you can ‘see’ cold. When I look out my window and see this I must insist it appears to look pretty cold to me. But to his point, you can’t see how cold it is. The answer is 1. One. Degree. Cold. Gross.
Emilee had a really fun basketball game this week. Both teams were made up of kids from her school so they all new each other and wanted to have bragging rights on Monday. Emilee’s team ended up winning in double over time 16 to 14. She has fun and does well when she plays but it is still a fight to get her to go. There is always whining and crying and wailing pre-game to see if she can get out of going. I hope some of the excitement from this game will carry over long enough to keep her excited to play again next week.
As far as Valentine Festivities, this year my efforts were in the mid to lower range. I did find some tiny little notes decorated for valentines that fold up into an envelope that I left with little chocolate candy hearts in several places for my family. It made me laugh that each individual came to me separately and asked where my stash of chocolate candy hearts were.
Emilee made me a few glitter soaked heart valentine’s that were adorable. Allison and Leah hung decorated hearts all over in our room. They are very whimsical and I like seeing them float above me when I am in bed. They also made a giant cute card for Lauren and I that said ‘To the Bomb Momz’ it made us chuckle. Matthew let me hug him more than usual this week. So all the kids put some effort into showing a little extra love which made me happy.
Ryan took me out to dinner and let me pick the sappy romance movie we watched. I picked TheAge of Adeline. It is one of my favorites. He stayed awake the whole time and said it was not to bad for a romance. We each got each other a small gift and it was pretty funny because we got each other the same thing. We both picked some fancy chocolates that look like they are hand painted. They are called Christopher Elbow chocolates. Neither one of us ever talked to each other about it or had tried them but we both got them for each other.
We went to dinner with Ross and Lauren one night this week too. Afterwards we tried a new cookie place that opened up called Crumbl Cookies. It was delicious. I am glad it isn’t to convenient of a location to my house so I won’t visit all the time.
The kids had parent teachers conference this week, which just means they didn’t have school for 4 days so the teachers can do a 5 minute zoom conference with half the parents. I was working one of the days they were off and Allison decided to entertain herself with various crafts. She has made almost everyone she know a book mark. She has a list of weekly goals and plans to achieve them. While she was entertaining herself she came across some googly eyes in the craft drawer. When I came home there were eyeballs all over the place.
Here are a few of the eyeballs I found watching me this week.
The Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row. Last year they won, this year they did not. It seems like whenever I get excited about a game and sit down and actually watch it, it ends up being a pretty boring game.
We had a plethora of snacks and food to eat while we watched. Matthew’s baseball team sold Chief shirts for a fundraiser so we all had those on. We stuffed ourselves and got comfy to sit and watch and awesome game and were all thoroughly disappointed. It was probably the worst game they have had all season and post season. Bummer. There has been an overlying grumpy sadness to Kansas City today. I was over it yesterday about 5 minutes after the game but Ryan is going to need a day or two. Hopefully next year. They were talking on the radio today about how it will be kicking the team while they are down leaving Tampa Florida and its 75 degree weather and coming home to Kansas City blizzard with a high of 7 degrees all week. A few of those days are supposed to be below zero for the high.
We get sent a lot of treats at our dental office from other offices that we refer to, someone sent us this Patrick Mahomes cake. It is his hair and head band that he always wears. It was pretty cute.
Allison had her first of three meets this past weekend. Each gymnast is only allowed to bring two people so she invited me and Grandpa. It was in Blue Springs which is about 50 minutes away and it was snowing so it was an exciting drive to and from. Grandpa wanted to drive but I insisted so his blood pressure was a little high while we were in the car but we all survived. It was nice to have his company while we watched Allison do her events.
She took 10th in the whole meet overall, 6th on the floor routine. She did really good on the Vault and Uneven bars as well. The beam was a bit of a struggle for her this time, she fell off twice but she has another meet in a few weeks and is looking forward to getting a better score on that.
We went to dinner afterwards at Culver’s and Grandpa got us all a yummy bacon cheeseburger.
but I liked to listen and spend time with you. I will miss you and miss giving you a hug and kissing your scruffy cheek. 
