Surprise!

I thought I would surprise you all by adding a new post. Things are pretty good at our house.

Mark just started his last semester of high school. He is still mourning the fact that life is changing for him, but he is handling it well. He still has to get some college applications finished but he will not go to college until after his mission. He is Allie's best friend (just ask her) and is as cute and sweet with her as any uncle ever. Even Preston still loves Mark and pretends to talk to him on the phone all the time.

David and Ya-ping have a working car again! The people in their ward have been so good to them while they needed rides. Preston made me both happy and sad the other day. We were talking on MSN and having a great time. When it was time to go Preston went up to the computer screen and asked for a hug! You can't imagine how badly I wanted to be able to reach thorough these wires to give him that hug. It made me sad that he might not realize how much I would love to hug him if I could. We are going to Tenn. for spring break this year because we can't stand not having them around. Rick and I are driving (so we hope Tammy will put us up the night of April 1). Mark will go there with us and fly back so he doesn't have to miss any school. He would only have to miss two days if he drove back with us, but he is worried about AP tests, so wants to be back. Susanne will come for a couple of days but not for the whole time. She and Allie will fly.

Susanne only lives at home part time now, or at least it feels that way. She has been dating a cute boy named Darren Whittwer. They are almost inseparable. Allie loves Darren and he loves her, so that is nice. He has a son who is 13 that Allie also loves. Over New Years Allie had the choice of going to Fillmore with me and Rick or staying with Darren while her mom worked. I am sad to admit that she chose Darren. OK, I know that is both good and bad, but it hurt my ego just the same. Darren is a finishing carpenter in Park City. I figure that I could get a pretty nice mantel and new stair railing if they end up getting married.

School has been a bit crazy. It has been so cold that we have had a lot of indoor recesses. That only makes the kids stir crazy. I had a girl tell me that her brain was fuzzy and she just couldn't think. She said it very seriously and expected me to let her not work for a bit. She was pretty offended when I did the professional thing -- laughed! I am already worrying about going full time next year. I know it will be both good and bad. It will be so nice to be able to make all of my own decisions and not have to worry about a partner, but I will miss my down time.
I should add a bit about Rick, since I wrote about everyone else. He is still working too hard. He has had to take a little break from his daily jog up and down the hill because of the cold and the inversion. He still jogs most days but sometimes he just exercises inside because it gets too hard to breathe out there.
This has been a long post, congratulations for having made it all the way through.