Time with Grandpa Bills

I have been blessed to spend at least one day a week with Grandpa.

We talk, clean, work on projects, and go shopping together.

I also do his laundry, dishes, and empty his garbages.

I love being able to share this time with him. 💙💙💙

My sweet sister-in-law gave me this great shirt.
Good Vibes!💗

I enjoy cooking lunch for Grandpa too.

Yummy food warms and comforts the body.

Chapter Math Counts Competition

We went with the Middle School to Idaho State University for a mathcounts chapter competition.

Jaden took 5th in the school competition about a month ago.

After 3 separate math tests, Jaden ended up 11th place out of 140 students.

The top 14 get to go compete in State.

So Jaden will be off to Boise for the State competition.

Here's the team from Jaden's school.

Games

Roped jumped up into the blanket box and snuggled in.
I told these 2 boys to jump in the picture.
They happily complied.
This was right before James and Grant headed off to school on this snowy, foggy day.

Grant, Roper and James

We ended the evening playing some card games, "Cover Your Assets" and Jaden introduced us to "Trash".

Geography Bee and Writer

James participated in a geography bee today.

He didn't win, but tied for 4th place.

He enjoyed the experience.

James did win the pirate story and poem competition at school.

They read his story and poem in front of the whole school.

Way to go, James!

BYU Piano Audition

On January 31st Joyanne auditioned for the Piano Performance Program at BYU in Provo.

She sent in a video in December for the first part of her audition.

Out of many applicants, they picked 100 to make it to the live audition.

Joyanne was one of them!

We never heard back from BYU about Joyanne's audition time.

On Wednesday, the 29th, she called them and found out auditions had already happened the previous Saturday, and that she had missed them.

They had tried to send Joyanne e-mails, but she didn't receive them.

Scott Holden, the Keyboard Division Coordinator, agreed to audition Joyanne on the 31st in his office.

Thankfully Joyanne had called just in time.

They were going to submit the names for those who made it, the next day, but postponed it for Joyanne's audition.

Joyanne had an hour before her audition to practice in Dr. Holden's office.

She enjoyed the audition because it was only in front of one professor and no other students.

Dr. Holden recorded Joyanne so the other professors could hear her.

Now we wait until February 17th before we know.

Arrow of Light

On Saturday, January 25th, our neighbors, the Prescotts, came over and we lit off chinese lanterns for Chinese New Year.

The lanterns looked beautiful in the night sky as they floated higher and higher.

On Sunday, January 26th, James and his best friend, Daren, were awarded their Arrow of Light.

They had their faces painted by their dads.

I think these dads had a little too much fun with the paint.

James walked across the bridge showing he was going from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts now.

Daren and James after they crossed the bridge.

We have fully embraced the new youth program for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and are loving it.

We appreciated scouting while we had the opportunity.

Pirate Reading Night

January 19 and 22nd

Roper and Cozette love to chase each other around and play fight.

They usually do this at least once a day.

They are sure cute together.

This blur of excitement is Roper and Cozette running around and play fighting!

Cozette will sleep anywhere that is soft, even on top of my sewing stuff.

"Can we have Pop Tarts for snack?"

The kids always love to have an after school snack.

Usually they have fruits or veggies, sometimes crackers or granola bars.

But our next door neighbors gave us Pop Tarts for Christmas, so they became our rare treat for snack time.

Grant with his favorite blue blanket, after it was freshly hemmed.

Grant loves his blue blanket that he has had since he was a baby.

We have tried sewing up the sides as much as we could, but it was time to use a serger and go around all the edges, making the blanket just a tiny bit smaller.

He loves it and is glad to have it look like new.

James and Grant had a Pirate Reading Night at their elementary.

They wrote sentences and stories about pirates.

Out of donuts, they made pirate ships. Yum!

Grant at Pirate Reading Night.

 

James at the Pirate Reading Night at his elementary.

January 18th, Sledding with Grandpa

January 18th was the perfect day for sledding at the Sand Dunes.
We had just had snow all week, but that Saturday was a clear day.
Grandpa Bills let us use some of his sleds since we only had two.
How exhilarating it was to fly down the hills in the crisp, crunching snow!

James, Jaden, Grant and Hiram at the top of the hill, ready to slide down.

After sledding we went to Grandpa's for some tuna sandwhiches and apples.

The boys were so entertained with Grandpa's dog, Daisy.

She would wildly run around and chase the ball the kids would throw.

They would play keep away from Daisy with the ball, but anytime they accidently dropped the ball, Daisy would grab it, and then everyone would pile on top of Daisy to get the ball from her.

Surprisingly she didn't mind the boys piling on top of her, as her tail kept wagging.

I think she was excited to have so many playmates.

Everyone piling on Daisy to get the ball from her.

Math Counts

Jaden was in a mouth counts competition on January 3rd.

Out of about 23 kids, Jaden took 5th place!

He is going on in the competition to Chapter in Pocatello.

Jaden just started with Math Counts in December while everyone else started at least in September, and some have been doing Math Counts for 2 years.

Jaden loves math and enjoys stretching his mind as he learns to solve High School and College math problems.

Jaden with his Math Counts team.

One of the many poses Joyanne, James and Grant did.

When we came home from the Math Counts competition, Joyanne, James and Grant were having fun doing different balancing poses.

Creative, funny kids!

Saying Goodbye to Family Moving Away (June 1 and 2nd) 2019

Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike moved to Ohio from Texas in June 2019.

We gathered as a family at David and Susan's to party it on and say goodbye.

Joyanne playing on Susan's new grand piano.

Don't you love the backdrop of the mountains from behind?!

Maren and Mom smiling it up for our goodbye.

See the fat lip?  Ouch!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Root Canal

Mom ended up needing a root canal on her cracked tooth at the end of December 2019.

They also put a crown on it.

She had lived with the pain for about a year and finally the winter cold drove her to the Endodontist to clear up all her pain.

They had to shave off more than half the tooth to be able to fit the crown on it.

You can see the tiny tooth of what is left.

Don't you love it when you have to get numb at the dentist?!

It took hours for the numbing to wear off.