Madness

For quite a few years, our family has done a NCAA Tournament Pick-Em contest. At first, it involved copying a bracket from the paper and filling it out. Nowdays, we do it all online. I don't really enjoy it and here's why:

1. It's stupid and counterintuitive that a team from Utah has to play in the East bracket (or any bracket besides the West.) I know, I know...it's all about seeding and about not playing teams you've met before, blah, blah, blah... I still think it's stupid.

2. To win, you have to pick a team you really hate. For me that includes any team from North Carolina or Kentucky. (Sorry, NC fans...you know who you are.)

3. Why can't officials call fouls? These guys have been playing basketball all their lives. They know how to not travel. But they do it all the time because no one calls it. The same goes for reaching in.

4. To allow me to make really informed choices, brackets should include pictures of the teams so that I can make wise selections based on how their uniforms and hair look.

I will readily admit that I have never won the family pick-em. I won't this year either. I believe I'm on the bottom. Or maybe Preston's lower than I am. But I feel better now that I've

complained.

I'm not really a sports fan, although I've watched considerable basketball, soccer and tennis over the years. But I do have a favorite basketball player, of whom I fully approve. Here are some pics:

how Janet defends

How to defend Janet

The past three weeks have flown by. Here's a summary of what's happened.

My mom came over to stay for a week while Rene was out of town. She's amazing! As a teen, I felt closer to my Dad, but after I went away to school, I definitely began to appreciate Mom more. I remember following her around while she worked so that we could talk. She drove the 8 hours from her house to ours all by herself, including navigating the Twin Cities. While she was here, she cooked fabulous meals, cleaned, did a few loads of laundry, played with her great-grandkids, and waited on me hand and foot. It's always fun to talk with her--we reminisced about days long gone by, she caught me up on everybody's exciting lives, and I enjoyed hearing stories of her youth and beyond. She hasn't had an easy life, but she is always an inspiration to me. She and Dad are my heroes! Thanks, Mom! I love you.

Emily, Preston and Lauren were here for some of the same time period. Unless you're a parent, you can't fully appreciate how nice it is to have the kids and grandkids come visit. We had our biggest snowstorm of the year while they were here and Preston did a great job moving snow. It was so fun to see Macey and Lauren having fun together. One of the highlights of their visit for me was sitting on the piano bench with Emily and Lauren while Emily played and Lauren and I sang "Beauty and the Beast." It makes me so happy that our grandkids love music.

Janet came home for a long weekend. You may wonder why Janet came home in the middle of the semester. Her longtime roommate, Candace, got married in the St. Paul Temple and Janet came home to be there. We drove over with her, spent the day with Emily and Lauren, met Joanna and Ben at the reception and then brought Janet and her friend Cammie home. Janet has become quite the jetsetter. It was great to have her here.

My Favorite Month

Here's why:

The other day, I was looking for something in my closet. Underneath a pile of sweaters and sweat pants, I found this:

It's cute. (Do you want it, Janet?) I don't remember using it at all. In recent years, I have gone to a bigger purse so that I can cram a bunch of junk in there when I fly. I do remember, however, stories of people finding all kinds of money and exciting stuff in pockets of old purses, so I thought that before I put it in the box for Goodwill, I should check it out. It was empty--except for one zippered pocket that contained these:

I took them downstairs to Rene and he reminded me of what they are and we both had to smile. These keys are to the outside door and library of the church in Mt. Vernon.

We spent a lot of time in that building. Rene was the branch president twice and the bishop once. I was the RS President twice, played the piano/was the chorister in Primary for 10 years (sometimes both at the same time!) and either played the organ or was the ward chorister for most of the twenty years we lived there. There was a break when Emily played and the Zieglers lived there.

But most of my time there and my favorite and very best memories are of the 15 years I taught early morning seminary, almost all in that building. The young people I taught are adults now--I even briefly taught a second generation. Among those students are all six of my own children. I think I only taught two or three of them for all four years (my 15 years were broken up a few times) but driving to seminary and home again with them are very precious memories to me. There was a lot of driving practice on those trips, too.

My favorite memories include the awesome scripture mastery games we played, the breakfasts cooked by the bishoprics (and their wives!), putting our coats on and going outside to look at a comet followed by reading in the Book of Mormon that "all things denote that there is a God" and of the thrill when a light bulb went on in their heads and they suddenly understood. Over the years, I had as few as three students and as many as twelve. One year, I had seven boys, some of them pretty tough, and one beautiful, sweet girl. I loved that year! The singing was heavenly and I enjoyed seeing Jenny handle those boys with poise and aplomb. I remember standing in that warm, empty room before the students arrived and feeling the Savior's great love for them and for all they sacrificed to attend each day.

I'm still in touch, sort of, with many of those kids. Life is hard and many of them, including my own precious children, have struggled with some pretty tough things. Some of them are not active in the church. They have not always made good choices. But my certainty remains--the Lord loves them! They are very special, both to me and to Him. I can see His hand in their lives, even if they can't. I am so thankful to them, for the things I have learned from them over the years and for their friendship.

Scoresby Scamper

The 2011 Scoresby Scamper (our own family 5K) included a fun run for the little girls. Lauren won the age 2 division, Macey won the almost 3 division and Afton won the almost 4 division. There were ribbons and door prizes for the three little girls.

In the adult division, Preston placed first (someone needs to train and beat him--just not me!), Janet came in 2nd and Rene, 3rd. The walkers (me and the pregnant girls) only make it about 2 blocks with the strollers. Afton was highly affronted when the adults ran off and left her and took off after them. Tanner was not happy, as in screaming his head off, so after corralling and consoling Afton, we turned around and went home. It was darn cold anyway!

What a fun family tradition! Janet did an awesome job putting it together, including professionally printed shirts.

And I don't know why Sarah is wearing this stupid fish hat.

Reindeer Games

I'll do a longer post later about our activities this week, but we got a good laugh out of this last night.

The little girls were playing Hide and Seek with Preston at Ben and Shannon's. Preston hid in the pantry all hunched over on the floor. The little girls opened the doors and looked in and didn't see or recognize him. He stayed totally still and they continued their search. After awhile, they went back to the pantry and just stood there staring at him. Nobody said anything for quite awhile, then Lauren piped up "Daddy, are you stuck?" (Okay, maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. And I don't know what's up with Lauren's jeans--she doesn't usually wear them this low.)

Ring Around the Rosie, London Bridge and Duck, Duck, Goose have all been popular this week, too.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

Grandpa with Tanner and Sadie

Happy Birthday, Tracy!

Smiling Uncle Ben and Tanner

Tanner, 3 months old

Silly Afton and Macey playing Pretty, Pretty Princesses

Great Grandma Allred reading to Macey

Wausau Christmas Parade....brrr!