Satin Strings, Ramp Build

I so enjoyed chaperoning the Permian Satin Strings/Symphony UIL Contest trip (to Midland). Both Satin Strings and the Symphony (Jake is in both) earned Sweepstakes.

Jake and Lane participated in another wheelchair ramp build Saturday. It was very cold and windy, but they had fun. Some other members of the youth group joined them, which made it extra special for Jake!

Lane took these pictures during the build. I love this one of the boys just enjoying each other. We are blessed with a wonderful youth group.

The Last of Winter

 Below- this is part of the last Face Time session I had with Hannah.....the girl cracks me up!!

Happy 20th Birthday, Luke

A wonderful weekend celebrating Luke's 20th birthday. It was like the "old days" with his friends hanging out in the playroom, then snacking, laughing and playing cards around the kitchen table.

Luke was determined NOT to get any germs on the pie by just barely blowing out each candle.

One of his friends got him this lovely T-shirt for his birthday.

Wonderful to have him home. Can't wait until Spring Break!

 

Deer Valley

Tim and Mason are having a great time skiing in Deer Valley, Utah.  I really wanted some fantastic pictures of their great father/son trip.  I guess I can just be thankful that I got any pictures at all.  This first one was after a lengthy discussion as to whether or not guys should ever take "selfies."  Mallory has some very strict guidelines for guys regarding this.  Feel free to ask her what they are.  This one fit into the acceptable range since it was just for family, not to be posted on social media (oops!), showing something specific that they are doing, does not show an arm holding the phone, and isn't trying to say "look how cool we are."

 God has blessed the guys with amazing weather.  It has snowed 29 inches since they got there!  Each day they get to ski on new, fresh snow.  The weather is in the 30s, so they are not cold at all.  Tim accidentally left his ski jacket at home.  Wow.  If you are going to remember one thing on a ski trip...But he has not missed it at all.

 Deer Valley has a very famous seafood buffet that the guys really enjoyed.

 Mason had a hard time climbing out of 4 feet of powder here.  It also took him a while to find his buried ski.

 There you have it...the only pictures I will be getting from the trip.  Maybe we should have relaxed those selfie rules…

More.....

 Okay, when we were at the Dallas Aquarium last week, this sloth was brought out of its cage and was in a tree, out in the open....here it is at the bottom of the tree, so we could get so close, I could have reached out and touched it!!!!! soooo cool!

 I think it's the males that have this marking...again- soo cool, it got done eating and slowly climbed up the tree- amazing to see so close up!!!!!

Nienstadt stuff

 Trudy made these dresses for the girls for our church Father Daughter dance.

 After the dance, when they got home.

 We went to the Dallas Aquarium on a field trip- we love these Japanese Garden Eels!  They go in and out of the sand...so cute!

 Happy Birthday Faith!!!

More Nienstadt Cruise

 people were tossing food from their balconies for the birds - they would come so close!