With Covid behind us, we were free to let the birthday celebrations begin. We already have a party filled month with Valentine's Day, Brenna's birth month as well as Grant's birthday, but we had to add in my get away for my delayed 40th.
Grant turned 16 this month-kind of a HUGE deal.
He went snowboarding with Michael for his "party" but the real celebration was just getting his license.
He hadn't quite finished up his driving with the Driver's Ed class, so it 12 days past his actual birthday, but it ended up being closer than we thought it would be. We got a steal of a deal on Dave's previous work car (almost too good to be true-the tried to go back on the agreement-good thing papers had already been signed). So, Grant is the luckiest child of all because he has a nice car to drive provided by his parents who love him dearly. One of his gifts included a little car kit-lanyard for keys, air freshner, scraper, gum...all the real vehicle necessities. He is loving his automotive freedom and I must say he has come a long way. Being our first driver, I was so scared to teach him how to drive. Maybe I should say that I have come a long way! I maybe rode with him on his first excursion, gripped the handles above the window tightly and squealed multiple times. The "you are really bad" expression as I jumped out of the vehicle probably didn't build confidence...but I am <less> scared to ride as he drives now. Poor Grant, gets to be the guinea pig child-I am going to attempt more calm when Katelee's turn comes around.
Of course, he requested a new pair of fancy shoes and the dessert of choice was a pan of cinnamon rolls.
We are so proud of Grant and how much he is growing. In the past year, he has really shown some amazing dedication and responsibility (particularly with swimming and work). It is nice to have conversations with him that while we may disagree, he listens and explains how he sees life and what's going down. He has a bright future and we hope he always remembers that.
Just 5 days later we celebrated number 11 for this little lady!!
Brenna continues to be a little energizer bunny-with her organizing, her talking, her cleaning up, pretty much everything in life. She has a lot of plans...a LOT. We have to remind her that not everyone has her plans, but we appreciate her goals and direction! She got to skip school and ski with her dad on her very birthday-doesn't get much better than that!
Dave said she is so good. She took a little refresher lesson and just took off like a little ski bunny should. It is not surprising-Brenna is so balanced and coordinated. She continues to spend hours and hours at the dance studio every week. In fact, for her birthday gift this year, she begged and pleaded that she could sign up to do a solo performance at competitions this year. So, she has been learning a jazz routine with her teacher Morgan and loving every minute of it. We can't wait to see it live!
Brenna continues to be creative and productive. Not every decision is endorsed by her loving parents though- take for instance, the time we told her she needed to do the dishes before we got home. Her cousin Kloee was over and they thought it would be time efficient to just carry all the dishes up to the shower in the master bathroom and do them in the shower, in swimsuits. We are going to stick to the kitchen dishwasher from now on. She definitely makes life exciting and we love her! I got to substitute her school class one day and it was such a treat. The older two children have expressed that I never step foot in their classes (rude) and Brenna was over the moon to have me there. She was a big helper and it was so nice to be able to see what is going on behind those locked doors this year! We can't step foot in the building...safety issues. It has been so frustrating, so I loved spending the day in her class.
Harrison and Katelee have been busy with school and fun as well. Harrison wrapped up his junior jazz season and was a laid back baller this go around. We loved watching every game.
The rec centers near us weren't holding a season this year because of, you know, a world wide pandemic. We found a league though and signed him up. We are trying to balance safety and normalcy in life right now.
Spectators were limited and we were asked to mask and spread out, but we were so grateful the game could continue!
We had our annual fancy family dinner and dance for Valentine's Day...don't know where my pictures went for that. But, the food was exquisite and the company exceptional.
And then, it was finally the moment/days I had personally been waiting for! My fortieth birthday trip of dreams! I checked in to the posh St Regis hotel in Deer Valley and invited my mom and sisters up the first night. We had gourmet hot chocolate in the lobby, went out to dinner and had swag bags Shannon made us. I had a night all to myself and woke up to join my kids and Dave for lunch and tubing at Soldier Hollow. That was serious good times.
We are expert tubers. Harrison was a bit hesitant at first, but then he was zipping a long without a care, right across the bumps and ice patches like the rest of us. Dave took the kids home and joined me the next morning after I indulged in a massage. We went swimming in the snow, sat in the hot tub and sauna and went to the Seafood Buffet for dinner. Oh wowza. I had really high expectations for this trip-partly because I picked it, also because I needed it and finally due to the postponement. It was worth every waited moment. One good thing about church being streamed for all home bodied people is that we were able to join in our stake conference watching from our hotel. Pretty cool to hear inspirational messages about God from this kind of view...
I am so grateful that Dave pampers me and made sure my birthday was memorable-between the January stop and drops and this dreamy getaway, it was one for the books. Every year as I evaluate getting older, I think how interesting it is that people celebrate my birth when I am looking at each guest feeling honored that they have been a part of my journey. Forty years on this year flies by and what makes in meaningful are the people and experiences I have had. I hope I am contributing to the memory bank of others as well. Those fond feelings and influential exchanges do carry with us, through the years and beyond. Yay for birthdays and yay for people!
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