beach trip

We made our annual trek down to Destin in February.

Mom flew out to join us this time.

We drove down on a Friday afternoon.

Saturday was a lovely, lovely day and we spent so many hours out playing.

Sunday morning we awoke to rain.

It was a good day for that though, as I seemed to miss right around all the kids eyes when applying sunscreen so they were red eyed racoons who could use the break.

We went to church and then drove an hour to Curt's brother's to meet our newest little niece.

 {we had brought the crib down to pass along}

Monday was not sunny, but we still got some good beach time in.

Tuesday we started the day off with a Waffle House breakfast, then drove home.

 

right now...

It's been a while since I've done one of these 'right now' snapshots...like more than a year and a half.

So here we go.

Curt:

-About a year ago he got promoted again to be a GM (general manager) in IT finance.

-He loves his team there and is doing good work.

-At church he served as Young Men's president until the church reorganized things last fall. 

-He's still a ward organist/choir pianist/primary pianist.

-He read 120 books last year and is on track to do that again this year.

Carmen:

 -Taking the GRE on the 20th of this month and plan on applying to a masters program at Georgia Tech.

-Going to be demoing our master bathroom to the studs within the next month, it'll be my project of the year to get it put back together from there.

-At church I teach a teenage sunday school class.

Des:

-Just competed in the science olympiad

-Is picking up more complex piano music in the inconsistent and far between lessons we remember to give him 

-Is an amazing reader and math do-er, doesn't enjoy writing

-Can wear the same size shoe as me and is catching up in height (is up to my lips)

Evie:

-Won the county poetry recitation

-Is blowing all the school milestones out of the water

-Is a cheerful and caring sister

-Lost a bunch of teeth in between the last update and now

-Is not a morning person. Daylight savings is a doozie.

McKay:

-Is a crazy talented reader. He doesn't start kindergarten till this fall, but can read anything including large chapter books and scriptures.

-Is obsessed with crossword puzzles and work books.

-Is still so tiny and petite.

Edison:

-Just turned 3.

-Is a tank. Definitely overtakes his older brother in heftiness.

-Has learned all the letters, their sounds, all the colors, and can count into the teens.

-Talks up a storm.

We've reached a big milestone. In February we were able to pay off the house.

We had wanted it to be an effort that the whole family was involved in/cared about, so we had jars with 'gems' that the kids got to move every month as we paid. (Each represented $1000... we had to take a bunch out as the 'left to be paid' jar emptied and overflowed the 'paid' jar).