2009-What's on the agenda

Wow, already January 10th (Happy Birthday, MOM!). It's like the last month went past at fast-forward speed. We spent a great Christmas in Bountiful/Centerville Utah, catching up with both families, and doing Christmassy things, which was great. The next week, Steve's brother and his family came to our place for a fun wintery New Year's fun time and we spent the days sledding, cross-country skiing, playing games, eating food, and even snowmobiling. We had gotten an extra 26 inches of snow in Ashton while we were in SLC, for a total of 5 feet, or so. It was REALLY fun, and winter weather is just getting started. Abbee turned 7 on the 2nd (MY BABY IS GROWING UP TOO FAST!), so we also had a birthday party while the cousins were here, along with apple pie. (we aren't cake eaters around here, if pie is an option).

So--what's on the proposed agenda for 2009?

Continue with our homeschool lifestyle; Evan is reading up a storm and can't wait to get his reading trophy, he also can't seem to get enough of LEGOs, wrestling, reading, robots, motors, wheels etc...; Abbee wants more history and science projects and books to read. We'll continue with our CO-OP, looking ahead to finishing out the Middle Ages, age of exploration and the Renaissance along with continuing study of earth and space, weather, natural disasters and emergency preparedness. We'll head back to our BYU-Idaho gym class, with Evan possibly trying out Ashton Little League Wrestling and both of them learning more jump-roping at home. Then there will be soccer, swimming, hiking, biking, camping and gardening this summer. (Only 5 more months of winter to go!)

Something fun: we won a vacation for (indirectly-it's a long story) donating our old car to the kidney foundation last year; So we'll be taking Steve's parents with us to SO-CAL hopefully in March for Disneyland, etc...!

Steve's looking ahead to being relieved to get through a checkride with the FAA sometime in the next few months, and for the weather to clear out for better work opportunities. (Hard to fly in snowstorms!) In the meantime, I may be working an extra half-day a week at the outpatient orthopedic clinic in Rexburg. It will make for more busy-ness but it will be a good boost to get back to some professional physical therapy that doesn't involve crawling around on a dirty school floor with kids! Plus, I'll get to work with other PT's again, and that's a great way to hone up the assessment/treatment skills. And of course, there's always the $$$$$, which will be helpful for the skinny winter budget outlook.

We'll be busy this spring planning our annual Roberts Family Reunion for later this summer. (It's our turn this year, the first for us. We'll be going to the Teton Peaks Lodge in Driggs, Idaho, hopefully we'll be able to plan it well enough so everyone will have a great time). Any suggestions would be helpful--what does everyone like to to at their reunions?

Any further ahead than that, and I don't know what's on the agenda. One thing is for sure, since it's us we're talking about, pretty much everything is unpredictable. We never seem to know what's ahead, even if we think we've planned it out. But, it makes for excitement and lots of learning opportunities, which is what we like and probably just what we need!