These are the Days!: Before Spring has Sprung...

I'm a little behind on my posts and wanted to finish this one up before Spring has Sprung. But honestly, most of the pictures on my phone right now are of the grandbaby and basketball. Basketball will be featured on my next post, and I'll keep the grandbaby pics to a minimum as I catch everyone up.

For starters, we are just as crazy as ever around here. Having three teenagers, plus a Rosie, means our calendar fills up pretty quick.

My version of babyproofing the house.

She likes the blanket I made, partly because she can suck her thumb through it.

Aunt Rosie is a great honorary Big Sister.

Halloween. Rosie wanted to be Cinderella again as long as she could carry a rose (for Rosie).

Luked loves Studio C and wanted to be the Awkward Avoidance Viking, but I don't think he took a club to school. The beard was pretty fun on its own.

We weren't sure what would happen when we put Ellie in the pumpkin. It's kinda cold and slimy. (We warmed it up a little with a blow dryer first.) She loved it and that everyone was smiling at her. Super smiley kiddo!

Mark got himself a Christmas present of BYU basketball season tickets. He was going to use them for clients and realtors, but the seats aren't very comfy since we aren't allowed to bring in stadium chairs, so our poor children have been accompanying him for almost all of the games.

These are my young charges, for now! Soon we'll be down to three. Mark wants to take the leaf out of the table but I'm not convinced.

This handsome guy is also on a banner on the high school gym wall.

Definitely Cooper's cutest fan. She tolerated the noise pretty well.

Here's another one of Cooper's fans. My Aunt Patti and Uncle Gib are big sports fans and came to all of Cooper's St. George tournament games. So fun to get to be with them.

It was nice to be in the sunshine in December. What a fun weekend getaway to go to the games.

Meanwhile, in Sunny Spain, Boston finally dons a sweater. Here he is with his comp from New Zealand, Elder Maile.

Someone in the mission office made Boston an honorary "Elder Dia" nametag. Mark has one from France that says "Elder Jour".

Meanwhile, back in High School, Cooper had a great time at the Sadie's dance.

Then December rolled around. I finally got to hear Luke play the trombone--he'd missed his first concert from a migraine. His school band sounds really advanced and I was impressed.

I don't know how many more years Rosie is going to get to ride on Mark's shoulders to put the star on the Christmas tree.

Macy's choir got to sing their Christmas concert in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. I've always wanted to perform on Temple Square so I'm totally living vicariously here. It was a beautiful evening.

It was definitely a music filled Christmas. I decided to push myself a little and accomplish one of my bucket list items: to sing in a Handel's Messiah choral concert. I was unfamiliar with most of the music and loved getting to learn a bunch of really challenging stuff. Our directors were awesome, and it was a really spiritual experience for me to be focused so much on Christ and His mission at Christmastime. Most practices I was both laughing and crying and just singing my heart out along with all these other dedicated vocalists. Macy says maybe next year she'll do it with me.

Mark has spent a lot of time and effort the last several months taking care of his Dad and Frances, getting them ready to move into a Senior Care facility. Finally, it was the big moving day. His brother Paul is working out of state right now, so he sent Mark this Cincinnatti hat to wear in his place.

Grandpa and Grandma's new apartment is really nice. They are just a few yards down the hall from the complimentary ice cream parlor. Does it get any better than that?

Ellie's first Christmas Eve!

I think this has been the favorite present. Luke wanted his own mini-fridge and instead got his own microwave for down in the basement. Perfect for his extreme popcorn addiction, or a late night frozen pastry out of the basement freezer.

My Mom painted Boston in his suit & tie as a missionary figurine for Christmas and will give it to him when he gets back. Someone made one for my Dad in the seventies and we always loved seeing it on the shelf, so this is a super fun tradition. Great job mom! Last year she made them for Leslie and Cole.

I love that my girls like pink.

On Christmas Day, after opening presents, we drove down to our honorary Papa Seamons' house in St. George to be with my brother Jake's family, along with his fun and generous inlaws. It was quite the spread, and we all enjoyed the sunshine. The poinsettias on the picnic table are kind of ironic.

These three amigos were soaking up as much time together as possible before Cooper leaves on his mission.

We got to attend the Red Cliffs Temple. There were two beautiful redtail hawks perched on the steeple like guardians.

This is what Luke thought would be an appropriate early morning breakfast before church.

Our friends the Grays sent us some Giordanos pizza from Chicago. Perfect for a stay-at-home party!

I liked the wingspan on this box of Ding Dongs for my long & skinny senior.

Cooper submitted his mission papers! Luke, at one point when losing an argument to Cooper, said, "Oh yeah? Well...you're probably going to the Dominican Condo!" Coop's was the earliest mission call in his whole class, along with another boy who got his call the same evening. More on that in a minute.

Ellie Ro is almost walking and nicely moved into her new, larger apartment. She even gets her own bathroom.

Cooper opened his mission call in front of family, friends, and almost the entire basketball team, late one night after an away game. He is called to serve in the Guatemala Antigua mission, Spanish speaking, starting June 23. He will be headed to the Mexico MTC for training.

He was relieved and happy about his call. He said there were more places that he didn't want to go than he did want to go (mostly worried about potentially needing to learn an Asian language). Since he has two years of French under his belt, we were all guessing wrong locations (Africa? Belgium? Canada?), except for his cousin Jaxon. Boston was also super excited to have another Spanish speaker in the family--also because his current companion is from Honduras. The two boys' missions will overlap a year and about ten days, which is about as short of a time apart as we could get.

We have been told many great things about Guatemala Antigua, such as "It's the sweet spot of Guatemala," or "It's the most beautiful place in the world," or "The weather is milder there in the highlands and it's not as dangerous," and that the people are wonderful. There are a handful of missions in little Guatemala, so the area is relatively small, with already many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are six temples either finished or in various stages of construction (but none in his exact mission). There are also several volcanoes in his mission, and a large, beautiful crater lake, Lago de Atitlan. Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Antigua, Guatemala. See the volcano past the archway?

Missions are just the coolest thing ever. A young lifetime of preparation and the story, flavor, trajectory of your life changes in the opening of one letter. Goes the same for the mama, except if she's lucky, she'll have a whole bunch of missionaries serving all over the world in places she never dreamed of having a connection to. West Virginia? Madrid? Guatemala? That's my story so far. Not to mention visiting my husband's mission in Paris. The best part, though, is that these missionaries grow up SOO much and become even more awesome as they help people change their lives to let in the light of Jesus Christ.

Ellie says, "Yay for Uncle Coop!"

I love the example that Cooper is setting for his siblings, his friends, and even his little cousins like Crew, here.

We'll finish up the basketball season this week, so this picture is just a teaser for my next post. I think this is a great picture of a timeout after Coop has been in for awhile.

This is a screenshot of the video call between Boston and Cooper, later that week. Boston was cracking us up, using the expanse of his black El Jefe (the Boss) apron as a map while cooking a late nite dinner, trying to explain on his stomach where he had been that week, or how close Cooper's mission is to his companion's home.

I do occasionally spend time and attention on my other children, although it feels like all we do is basketball. One day I pulled Macy and Luke out of school to take them skiing. It was Luke's first time. We went to Nordic Valley, which was a ways away (but super affordable), partly so Macy could finish up her driving hours before she gets her license.

I'm happy to report that the Old Gray Mare was not even stiff or sore the next day, and only had one bruise.

Boston was transferred to a new city, Caceres--pronounced Cathadis because in Espana you lisp the second c--I keep saying it but can't wrap my brain around it. Caceres is very close to the Portuguese border. His best friend Ty is in Portugal right now.

This was a crazy day of working in the rain because they forgot to bring umbrellas. Here he is with his companion Elder Salmaron.

Boston loves to do the driving and usually does because not everyone has a license. He and his comp get a car every other week, trading with some elders in Barajoz.