a party in two minutes

slideshow done

She's 16. Clarence. Where have all of the years gone? I love the giggle our sweet Clarence breaks out into on the spur of the moment. She has gorgeous hair---it has a sheen to it like spun taffy. She's our social butterfly--really friendly and flitting from one flower to the next. She genuinely cares about others. I am so glad she's in our family!!! Happy Birthday Sweetie!

ps--Happy 15th birthday to my niece Emmeline. She was a terrific 1 year Birthday present for Clarence!

Finalist!

YAHOOOOOO!!!! He's a finalist from "South Region"! Yesterday he went to Mountainview High School and they gave him a room. He set up his display. The judges came in to the room after having read his Sterling Scholar Portfolio and asked him questions and looked at his artwork. He is such a good kid! We're so happy for him! Next interviews are two weeks from yesterday- March 3rd, at Brighton High School. Here's the link to the Sterling Scholar Awards page. Pretty Cool! Congrats son!!!!!

Colby is in the Deseret News....well his name is. He's our Provo High School Sterling Scholar in Visual Arts. There are 56 others in his category from the High Schools from Wasatch to Utah County. We're proud of him and his accomplishments!!!! This afternoon he'll go through yet another interview. The 56 Art Scholars will be whittled down considerably. Those "standing" after today go again in a few weeks, and then a few weeks later. It's a major stress-filled time. We love our Colby and are so happy for him and proud of him!!!! He's OUR pick for overall winner, no matter what!

Yesterday Colby received his acceptance letter from BYU. YEEEEHAW!!! (He'll defer until after his mission.) His best friend Shannon got her happy BYU letter, too. :)

He also was accepted into the 38th Annual All-State High School Show at the Springville Art Museum. He submitted two entries, both received Awards (Award of Excellence and Award of Merit). We're so happy for him!

Well, it is the day after Valentine's day. Maybe I should try to change my background although I do like the Gingerbread folks.

Last Thursday most of the classes at school had Valentine's Day Parties. I work one hour a day with the Special Ed class. I really enjoy them. They are a good bunch of kids. The Special Ed teacher put my name on their Valentine's lists. I ended up with treats and cards from most of them. One was quite a surprise! It was a cellophane wrapped silk rose. I thought--"How sweet."

When Googs saw the rose she asked if she could play with it. I said she could have it. She was thrilled. After a while she removed the cone shaped cellophane. She said "Hey, there's something in here." She removed a tiny rubber band that was securing the petals, she reached inside the rose bud, and pulled out a shiny red thong. She was shocked and confused. ( I'm sure she was thinking: "Why would anyone put "underwear" in a rose?") I took one look at it laughed and threw it in the fire. I can only imagine the mother who bought this for her son to give to his teachers...I would have been mortified had I given that gift in error. I'm guessing they didn't know the rose was "loaded". It'll be fun to hear the discovery stories from the other two ladies who teach the Special Ed. students.

It was a fine weekend! We had no school on Friday and no school today. (WooHoo!!) I've gotten a lot of reading in. I LOVE it! The book I'm almost done with now is "The Quilter's Apprentice", another book by Jennifer Chiaverini.

On Saturday evening we went to the Stake Valentine's Day Dance. They had a room for Karaoke. The girls (Sasha & Wacki) kept singing. It was fun to watch. We danced too. Fun!

Jeff and the Boys made DIVINE candy for us. The children lovingly refer to it as "Angel Poop". It's smashed oreo cookies mixed with cream cheese, rolled into a ball and dipped in melted chocolate. YUUUUMMMMYY! They sprinkled choco powder, coconut, powdered sugar on them. They even put some craisins in some. So tasty! Nice sweet guys!!!!

I got new red or pink shirts for everyone. I didn't pay more than $7 per shirt and most were on a better sale than that in early January when I went to get them. I tried to decorate the table like Momma always used to...pink and red...white tissue wrapped presents at every plate...red curly ribbon... When they unwrapped their shirts most of the kids wore them as turbans. Silly! I also got the 7th Season of Monk---hey the box is red & white I couldn't resist it. All of that was a whole lot of fun for not very much money. :) I love my family!

Hurrah for Valentine's Day. It gives us another fun holiday, breaks-up the winter blahs and makes it that much closer to spring!!!!