A week early

 Gator is guaranteed one shopping day a year.  I hate shopping and the only time I willingly go shopping is for her birthday.  She gets to pick some new spring clothes at the stores she wants to go and a place to eat dinner.  I can't complain, it is her day.  I worked today, but hanging out with Gator is what got me through the day at work.  Farmington Station was the destination this year.  She wanted a new pair of shoes for her birthday so that was the first stop.  Rachelle and Millie joined us for dinner, and a trip to everyone's favorite store Bath and Body Works.  It smells so good in there.  It was a week before her birthday, but as everyone knows, Gator loves her birthday and we will celebrate it every day from now until next Saturday.  She deserves all the celebration!  

Kanab

 Last June I went to the balloon festival with Davis and Kin while Gator was on Trek.  I wanted to go to another one and take Gator, so I looked up festivals for 2023.  I planned right then to go to this one in Kanab.  I've had the hotel booked since November, and although it wasn't a fabulous hotel, we still had a great time.  We scheduled a time to go to the temple in Cedar.  I love how most of our trips now involve a stop at a nearby temple.  We decided against going over the pass and instead drove to Toquerville, visited for a bit, and went that way.  Like the rest of the state, Kanab is having a cold and snowy winter.  The balloons didn't launch on Friday morning, but by time we got into town, we grabbed some pizza and went to the hotel to relax.  I was hopeful the weather would cooperate for the launch on Saturday morning.  I think it was barely barely alright conditions for the balloons to fly, and it was beautiful.  The back drop was so pretty with the bright blue sky, red rock, and some fresh snow.  It warmed up a little bit during the day and dad & Dianne drove to Kanab to spend the afternoon with us at the street fair.  We had fun looking at the vendors and eating food from the different food trucks.  There were some live bands, and while a few were definitely better than others, it was an enjoyable day.  They had to postpone the lantern launch from Friday night to this afternoon.  It wasn't dark yet, but it was still fun to participate in that.  We have tickets to a lantern festival thing in May, and I'm excited for that.  Gator was singing Tangled songs the rest of the evening after she saw the "floating lights".  Our crumby hotel was in a great location though.  When it was dark and the balloons lined main street, we started at the top and walked all the way to our hotel with the balloons lighting the way.  They are like big street lanterns.  I love the balloon glow, it is so cool to see how massive the balloons are and feel the heat from the flames.  We stumbled into our room exhausted from the day, and fell asleep early.  Sunday we woke up and drove back to Toquerville to go to church with dad & Dianne before driving home.  The next balloon festival on my bucket list is in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  That one will take more than a few months to plan for and save.  But one day I would love to go in October to see that one.  

She brought a hat and sweatshirt, but no shoes, she is lucky I brought blankets to warm her toes.  

 

Valentines

 My grinch of a boss wasn't at school today, so I planned a little Valentines fun for the kids.  She is a nice lady, just very different and very against anything fun.  But the students all had fun today, Gator included.  

Tried snowboarding

 Carrie took Davis, Kin, and Gator skiing this weekend.  For some reason Davis and Gator wanted to try snowboarding.  Davis switched to his skis, and Gator spent the evening in the lodge after visiting the first aid.  I am not so sure either will have that desire to trade their skis in for a snowboard again any time soon.  Davis didn't send me any pictures, but I did get one of Gator from Carrie.  

Happy 20th Birthday Davis

 We celebrated Davis's birthday this afternoon by going to Top Golf.  He loves Top Golf.  I just love hanging out with my kids, so I'll go golfing if that is what they want to do.  We had fun with some of Kin's family and their friend.  We all ate too much, but that is what birthday celebrations are for.  Davis loves tools and that is what he got for his birthday, some tools and a new tool belt for work. It is funny how giddy he gets with tools.  Even though he thinks 20 is a dumb age, I hope 20 is good to you Davis and you have a good time being 20.  

We still celebrate

 We used to do so many of the funny little holiday celebrations, but one we will always celebrate (and not just on the designated day) is Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.  The first Saturday of February it is okay to have ice cream for breakfast. 

 

Lots of snow

 This has been a good winter snow wise.  It's been cold, but we definitely need the snow for water.  Gator, Brady, and Zoie have talked about going sledding for a couple of weeks now, so tonight we picked up Zoie, and met Brady and his parents up at Pineview.  They went down the hill and out onto the frozen lake.  I think they would've kept going all night, but it was getting dark.  We met Davis at 7-11 for a warm drink and Zoie sang happy birthday to him and let everyone know he was the birthday boy.  

Brrrr.....

It is cold!!  Like -24 degrees where Davis is working and -21 degrees in Pocatello.  It was almost warm here I guess, it was only -2 degrees this morning going to work.  

 

Flat

 I am scared of blowing a tire, especially on the freeway.  Last night on the way home from Kaysville, I was in the left lane and my tire alert went off.  I panicked, but somehow I was able to get to the right side and pull over.  By the time I got to the side of the freeway, it was completely flat.  Not knowing what I had ran over, I called PJ.  He came and tried to put some air in it, but it wasn't holding any air at all.  I called roadside assistance and we had to wait over an hour in the dark until someone came to change the tire.  That is a scary place to sit and wait, but an even scarier place to stand outside the car with a light trying to make cars aware.  The shop patched my tire today, but I've got an appointment to get new tires next month. 

A good weekend

 Weekends like this make it so hard to go back to work on Monday morning.  But here we are Monday morning and it's back to work and homework.  Friday after school, Gator and I grabbed Willow and went to Pocatello.  I just dropped her off at Owen's because I had an appointment at the temple.  I was walking in and saw an old friend that used to work at Rocky, but moved up north to be a principal at a elementary in Lava.  After I got dressed and was in the chapel, I saw an old friend from 30 years ago.  That was crazy.  Teresa and I were best friends when I lived in Pocatello.  She came to my wedding and I was in her wedding years ago.  We've seen each other randomly, but not for years.  We sat in the celestial room and talked for a bit, but I knew Gator would be getting nervous since her appointment for baptisms was at 6:30.  Afterwards we went back to Owen & Kylee's to have pizza and we spent the night.  Saturday morning, I took Gator up to Pebble Creek to meet Davis and Kin for a day of skiing.  They said it was a blast, and a great ski resort.  Owen had to push our cars out of the snow (one handed), but that was the only mishap of the day.  While they were skiing, Owen helped me set up my new laptop.  I am completely illiterate when it comes to technology, and he was frustrated with me a few times, but we got it done.  We went out for ice cream before picking up Gator.  We all spent the evening together.  I made dinner, and we just hung out.  Nothing big, but just spending time with my favorite people, makes for a great weekend.  

Birthday Dinner

This year for our birthday dinner, we went to Red Robyn.  Not enough time to sit and talk and enjoy being together, but a great time none the less.  

 

She still loves going

 Last year, Gator did awesome with her every temple in Utah goal.  She really has a love for going to the temple, and she continues to make appointments for whenever she can.  Today was Bethany's first time going to do baptisms.  Gator was excited, Bethany was nervous, but she had lots of supporters.  After the temple we went to ice cream for Carries birthday.  Not knowing the lobby would be closed, we planned to meet at Nielsens.  Well, we all just stood outside in the middle of the winter and ate ice cream. 

Everyone scattered after we got out of the temple so I couldn't get a picture, but Rachelle and Millie rode in my car with us, so they were trapped.  

I still got one of the group of kids, just down at the ice cream place.  I didn't get any with Carrie or everyone else, I didn't dare ask, everyone was freezing and wouldn't have stayed longer for a picture.