I guess I will just start in January, 2011. I will start with Mikah. She is currently at BYUI, majoring in art but is home now because she is on the Summer/Fall track and Winter is her off track. She couldn't wait to get out of the house last Fall and had a good semester at school and even got good grades! When she came home for Christmas, she had such a great time that she decided to stay here and work instead of going back to Idaho to work. She is having an absolute blast with all her friends from the Branch, is working at Target and babysitting, and we rarely see her because she is either off with her great friends or they are over here. She couldn't be happier and will be very sad to leave, I think. She has really matured and cleaned up her act. Her 20th birthday was a few days ago. No more teenagers! Kind of sad because that is just another indicator that life is moving on whether I want it to or not!
Abe is at BYU. Mario and I went out to see him in Peter Pan last month and he did a great job! He made the decision not to do Young Ambassadors this year, which was very hard for him. He realized that he needed to build his resume by being in other shows and having other experiences. He may join again next year when they go to South Africa but may not. He auditioned for Tuhechan (sp?) in St. George for Grease and The Little Mermaid and will find out if he made it next week. If he does, it runs until October, so he would have to quit school for a semester, which would mean he couldn't be in YA's again. He also auditioned for Jackson Hole and will be auditioning for several other theatres as well. I hope he ends up in a place that will help him the most. It is very hard for his dad that he isn't in YA's anymore. I think Mario wishes he could do it! Abe had gotten so much joy from the two years he was blessed to be in the group. You couldn't ask for a better group of kids for your child to associate with! He is on full scholarship for his grades and talent, which was a huge blessing for us since we had no income for the last year. We had so much fun with him over Christmas, he is a great kid! He is currently working for an insurance company, going door to door and getting leads for them. It pays well for not much time spent and he can fit it around all his shows, etc. He is loving life and BYU!
Alixa is such a great little mom and Jarom is a doting dad! Her family has settled in Richmond, VA and Jarom has a great computer job helping a huge hospital system to go paperless. What does that have to do with his Masters degree in Sports Administration? Oh well, it helped him to get his job because he needed a Masters! He will just "administer" his kids in all their many future activities! Alixa is having a little boy around April 22! I'm hoping he is a few days late and waits for my birthday on the 25th! Jenna, their little girl, is an absolutely amazing child! I tease them that she is like a little dog and performs on command! She is very smart and it is so hard to be serious around her because she does the cutest, funniest things! I think she knows every kiddie song there is! I spent a few days with them for Alixa's birthday and a baby shower a nice lady did for her in the ward. She is the girl's basketball coach and Jarom was working with the Cub Scouts but got released while I was there. Alixa has worked to make their house a home and has a little business she started with McKenzie, her sister-in-law, selling baby items. You might want to check it out at babybabblesboutique.com.
Zak, Sam and Eva have settled in Lehi, UT for now. Zak graduated in chemistry from BYUI last August and now works for a company in Salt Lake City. We are very proud of him. We tease him because he has a UNION job! Very nice and cushy! I hope he will be able to work on a Masters and his company pay for it since he gets off at 3:30 pm! I stayed a week with them while I was in Utah last month and it was nice just seeing how they lived. Sam and Zak are fantastic parents and Eva is a little doll. She was rolling all over the house but hadn't quite gotten crawling down yet! She is a very curious baby and doesn't stay still! Sam is happy to be by her sister's family and Zak has reconnected with his high school buddy, Matt Lukens. They hang out with Matt and Jerrie a lot. While I was there, their car broke down several times and Matt came to the rescue and saved them a bunch of money because he is so good with cars. One night they worked on the radiator until midnight! They are living in Zak's Uncle Andy's very nice house until Andy sells it.
Mario is happy as a clam with his new job and has realized that he doesn't like corporate life too much and that consulting is a much better fit for him. We learned a lot the past year being unemployed and with my health issues. The Lord has blessed us and made us stronger people. He continues to love being the Branch President of the Cleveland Single's Branch and I love being with them as well. We are way too successful marrying off these incredible young single adults and it is hard to keep the numbers up! He is busy planning his fifth Zion's Camp, a young single adult conference that is held for three days over Memorial Day in May. If anyone knows of a young single adult looking for a fantastic time, send them to Cleveland for Zion's Camp! He continues to play tennis, walleyball and golf whenever he can squeeze them in! He spent a week in Germany last month for one of his consulting gigs on the side and enjoyed it very much.
I am just happily plugging along. I still enjoy my women's club where I play canasta once a month, am with a fun group of ladies once a month where we cook different foods, and do a lot of service for causes around Cleveland. I am putting together a service project for next month for Shoes and Clothes for Kids where I hope to get around 20 people from my ward to help. Mario and I had a crazy night last month playing a giant Family Fued game at our local rec center. We didn't do very well but it was fun! You could tell that the people we played against watched a lot of TV! Mario and I enjoyed our time in Utah seeing our family and also Mario's family. I went to the temple twice while there. I always go when I can since I have about 10 to choose from that are within 30 minutes, unlike the entire day you need to do here in Ohio! Spoiled Utahns! I'm playing tennis several times a week but have slowed down a bit since my operation. I feel like everyone is trying to shove me to the next "season" of my life and I don't want to go there! I was exercising fairly well last year to get my core strength back but quit over the holidays and turned instantly to flab again! It is a never ending fight! I tried water aerobics last week and it is ok and want to try yoga as well. I'm trying to start weight training again but it is hard to get back into the routine! Waa waa waa, I'm such a cry baby! I am seriously thinking of going on a diet for the first time in my life and am not looking forward to it but I need to!
Well, I have said more than enough and hope I haven't bored everyone to death! I don't know how to upload pictures on the blog yet but Alixa is helping me to do it tomorrow, I hope, so you can see how we all look these days. Yay, I'm done!
I guess I did ok on the pics even though they are all in the middle of the page and I don't have a clue what to do on the right column. Hopefully, by my next blog, I will have it all figured out!
