No valid excuse...

I don't know why I can't just sit down and blog... I am too O.C.D. for one... I hate having any mistakes and am afraid of sounding like a blithering idiot! (okay, I hear you out there, ..."she ought not to blog at all then" ) I mean I try hard to NOT sound like an idiot. Of course, when I don't blog for a long while I miss commenting on some things around here...which isn't necessarily a bad thing for you who might read this. Ah yes, so much for my blog "doubling" as a journal; well, I have always been more than adequately bad at that too. Okay, maybe I will just hit high points and (maybe) add pics to fill it out. (I heard that too, ..."her epithet will read 'Her life was only high points'...") Anyhoo...

December: Had a great time with all the family that we were able to see. Royal and Jason and their families didn't come this Christmas and we missed them lots. It was nice to have everyone else though. One day everyone came over and the grown-up "kids" fixed a big brunch for everyone. For those who've never seen my kitchen, 3 or 4 adults in its little space is nigh on impossible if they are all cooking! I didn't have to do anything but visit and take pictures. The day was warm and the kids played (and fought) outside for the most part. The funniest thing was Wayne teaching the others to throw "bombs" off their "fort"; complete with sound effects. The fort is a kind of plastic jungle-gym thing we got for Miles and Jotty 15 years ago (and is still in good condition) and the "bombs" were empty 10 gallon water barrels. It was such a hoot! I'll be sure to post a picture on Wayne's return visit when the water barrels will be full :) I kind of hate to spoil his fun but it will be fun to watch the first reaction.

Though our home is akin to a sardine can when the crowd is here, it is always nice to have them and we had a delightful time!

We also had a ward talent show/Christmas party and both boys participated. Miles did a rifle drill, Jotty played 3 piano pieces (he memorizes them) and both sang a song with the Elders. Here's a link to the latter if you're interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx81Xqk71DE

December also saw JaNae in the hospital for a few days getting 4 (FOUR) pints of blood. She had surgery last week. She scared us and it was, I think, only her inspiration that had her come over and then have me take her to the ER. I shudder to think what might have happened if she hadn't come over because she wasn't "feeling right". She is recuperating well; her Dr even commented to me that she was "tough as nails".

January:Jason, Michelle and Mila came for a visit and to pack up their stuff in storage for their permanent move to Sacramento. We had a nice, but too short, visit. We scheduled Miles' Eagle Court of Honor to coincide with their visit so he'd have both Jason and Jacob in the "Eagle's Nest". It was a nice ceremony and far more people came than I'd expected. We kept having to put out more chairs and ended up with about 90 attending. I was certain that we wouldn't have enough refreshments. Don't people eat dinner before they come to these things? (Oh, a friend of ours made some crackers (well, seasoned some crackers) that were divine! I'll get the recipe and post it) We should have had the court of honor when in October, but then I was looking at up-coming holidays, calendaring, etc and we decided to wait. Also in January, I turned 56 (whoopee), Miles got his license (had to have his Eagle first) and Miles & Jotty took their favorite girls to the annual Military Ball. They sure looked sharp! I can't believe these are my "babies"- where did the time go?

February, Miles had another JROTC drill competition this month. They've done fairly well this year but he hadn't much to work with as there were mostly first-year cadets. February, they won first place in Demilitarized Exhibition (that's the fancy drill-work with their rifles), 1st place in color guard and 1st place of the Army JROTC teams. They got 2 or 3 other awards but not 1st places and I don't remember which categories. Jotty and I drove up to Montgomery to watch and were amazed at all the schools there; lots from out of state too. This competition was the largest one-day invitational competition. The team probably won't go to Daytona for the "mama of all competitions" because they just aren't as polished as they need to be...and so Sgt Major said they aren't going. They probably have just one more competition.

Jotty was chosen as 1 of only four from the rifle team who went to the Army Regional JROTC National Rifle Competition in Ohio this month. He was excited just to be going and did well but didn't place. He did score a perfect 200 in his second prone set. He also got to experience snow for the first time! In '93 it snowed here (stay-on-the-ground type snow) but he was too young to enjoy it. They have one rifle match left this year.

Maybe I will update in another week or so. Don't hold your breath.