February

Once we got Avery home from her mission, it feels like time has slowed down a little.  I'm really grateful for that!  February is the shortest month, but it felt reeeaallly long to me!  Dustin and I went for a getaway in Logan at the beginning of the month.  It was snowy and beautiful!  We stopped at Cox's Honeyland and Gossner Cheese on our way.  We had plans to stop at all the random factories in Cache Valley, but we ran out of time because we took so long tasting all the samples at those two factories!

We stopped by Dustin's dad's house to change for the temple.  The Logan Temple was beautiful!

We stayed at the Anniversary Inn and our room was a biker room, since we are pretty tough people.

The pinball machine didn't work. :(

Dustin in his church clothes, riding a Harley.

We had yummy Indian food for dinner and then creme brulee for dessert from another restaurant.

The next day we drove up to Hardware Ranch to see the Elk.  The line was so long to take a hay ride, so we ended up just looking at the elk from afar and then hurrying home in time to take pictures of Ryan before the Sweetheart's Dance.

This was how he answered his date.

He looked handsome in his new suit!  A girl named Mylee took him.  She is from Farmington, so he didn't know her (she was a friend of a friend), but he had fun.

Ryan also won 2nd place in the Science Fair at the High School!  He was mostly excited for the 

Chik-Fil-A gift card that he won.

It was Valentine's Day!

The Valentine's Lady tricked us by photo bombing all over the house and in Ryan's car.  She left candy everywhere we saw her face though, so we were rewarded.  What a crazy, generous lady!

Grant and Ryan did Solo and Ensemble for band and choir.  Grant is going on to District's for his bass clarinet duet.

We took a trip to Cedar City for President's Day weekend.  Maren had plans with her roommates to go to Boise, so we left her behind.  We went to the Red Cliffs Temple open house in St. George with my parents.  It was beautiful!

We also toured the Jacob Hamblin Home.

And did some fancy hiking.  (No Ryan for the hike because his friends were also in St. George, so he connected with them while we went hiking.  My parents also went home instead of hiking.)

We decided to climb that tall cliff and hike along the top.  We found a pretty safe spot to climb and even the weak link (me) made it safely.

Pepper enjoying the sun at my parent's house.

On Monday, we went to Three Peaks, near my parent's house, and went four wheeling.  It was chilly, but sunny, and so fun!  We drove home later that day.  It was a lovely, relaxing weekend!

While we were out there, I took Grant driving for the first time.  He will be getting his learner's permit in a month!

This month, we did a youth activity where we had to bring a food from the country of our ancestor's birth.  I made Scottish Tablet (basically vanilla fudge).  It was my first time making it, or even hearing of it, and it turned out pretty good!  (On the second try--I had to throw out the first try...)

We had lots of yummy food from different countries.  What a fun activity!

Since Avery has been home this month, we have been trying fun foods that she loved on her mission.  We made papusas one night and pasole, another.  So fun to have her home!

We went to a BYU men's volleyball game one night.  Maren and her roommate joined us and that was fun! 

We ran into one of Avery's mission friends after the game.  She was the floor MC for the broadcasting department.  Basically, she did all the games with the crowd.

We got ice cream after.

Dustin and I were invited to a one year old birthday party for one of our Marshallese friends.  It was so fun!  They go all out for their one year parties.  There was so much delicious food!  There was dancing!  They have a tradition where everyone who is there dances in a line and circles the baby and drops money at her feet.  It helps the family pay for all the food and decorations.  They are always so kind to us and treat us like the guests of honor when we attend these things.  We love our Marshallese friends!

I went snowshoeing with the Relief Society women in my ward.  It was fun!

Avery and Grant got lunch one day and ate it in the sun.

The big news of this last week...Maren got her mission call!!!  She is going to the California, Roseville mission, speaking English.  She leaves on August 5th.  We are so excited for her!  We had a big crowd come over when she opened it (she technically opened it on her own, before anyone came.  But none of us knew where she was going, so it was a surprise for us).  We love her and are so grateful that she wants to teach people about Jesus Christ!

Another big thing this week...Avery moved back to Provo!  We moved her in the middle of a snowstorm.  She is living in the apartments that my mom lived in in 1970!  Her and Dustin have spent the last couple of weeks car shopping for her, and she finally found one and they finalized everything on the night before she moved!  

Because it was snowing so hard, we left her car home and then her and Maren rode the train back up to our house that night because they wanted to be in our church meeting today because Dustin was getting released as Bishop of our ward!  It has been a little over five years since he was called and we found out this week that he was going to be released.  I'm really grateful he had the opportunity to serve and grow, and now I will be really grateful to sit by him in Sacrament Meeting again!  It was fun to have all our kids home this afternoon, and Dustin's parents both came to support, as well.

I found out this morning, right before church, that my Grandpa Montgomery passed away in the night.  He fell a couple of months ago and broke his ankle and has been living in an Assisted Living Center since then.  They discovered that his gallbladder was infected and gave him 2-14 days to live, but he has been doing great for 2 months, up until this last week, when he started slowing down.  We are sad, but also feel very comforted, knowing the Plan of Salvation, and trusting that he had a great reunion with Grandma and many other loved ones.  He was ready for that.

It has been a very emotional week for me this week!  We had a lot of really big things going on: Maren getting her mission call, knowing we would be getting released as Bishop, and then that happening, Avery moving out, probably for the last time, and then my Grandpa passing away.  I was asked to bear my testimony today, and I was really worried I wouldn't even be able to talk, as my emotions have been very close to the surface this week.  But, I felt so much peace and was able to testify that God loves all of His children and strengthens them in hard things, and for any sacrifice we make, He blesses us 10 fold.  And, I really believe that.