NYU It is!

Well, NYU it is! Trisha ended up with the AnBryce scholarship and is thrilled about that and I think it is actually the best choice. The AnBryce scholarship not only covers her tuition for 3 years, but it's a program of mentoring. It's given to students who "have overcome significant economic hardship."

Anyway, I'm very thrilled for her and while I didn't see this coming, she hasn't talked much about NYU previously (she applied to many schools and was accepted to many so we'd talked about other ones, but this one only maybe briefly), she shared with me so thoughts she'd held close to the vest so I know this was the right fit for her and am so happy for her.

It's a long ways from "home", but Trisha has also always had a yearning for NYC. She went to a summer program once while in high school and tried to go to NY for her undergrad and I just couldn't see her being that far from home (we lived in No Cal at the time). So this really does feel like the right place for her. The AnBryce scholarship is so awesome, too, it almost seems like the BEST part of going to NYU!

Bone Marrow Donation

I did it.

Thanks to the connection in the blogosphere, something that's been on my mind many times in the past finally became a reality.

I've always had thoughts of being a bone marrow donor, but having had chronic pain (c-spine and various random arthritis spots), I couldn't bear the thought of doing something that would mess with my hip area, but the random spots of pain have lessened in frequency. I tried to look into being a donor a few years ago, I can't recall what site I went to for info, but there wasn't a center that serviced the Las Vegas area so that was that.

But, in reading blogs recently, there was one with a link to the National Marrow Donor Program and you don't have to be near a center, they send a kit to you to return back with a mouth swab. So, I did it. The cost is $52 if you're not part of a screening drive that has a sponsor like you often see in communities. I didn't want to wait for that.

Eagle of the Month

On Friday, Philip (4th grade) received the Eagle of the Month award at school. The theme for this month was "courage" and each teacher can nominate a child. The P.E. teacher nominated Philip for being "always respectful" to his classmates and for giving 100% all the time. I think the fact Philip's a tenacious athlete and is one of only apparently a few kids that the PE teacher gives A's to had something to do with it, but we'll take it! Sheridan got Eagle of the Month from her 4th grade teacher the first month of school, but I wasn't blogging then so giving her equal time now. :-)

Happy Birthday, Trisha!

Make your own Glitter Graphics

Today is Trisha's birthday. Happy birthday, Trisha! Should be a GREAT year!

Frozen Yogurt Bar -- YUM!

So there's a frozen yogurt bar right down the hill from us and I had no idea it was there! DH and I went on a date tonight to Johnny Mac's then off to do some shopping, then went to go to Coldstone on the way home and it was CLOSED! That's what we get for never frequenting the place in the 2 years we've lived in this home! So we went to head down to a smoothie place and ran into this frozen yogurt bar. This isn't it (pic below), but similar set up. ~12 flavors of yogurt, serve yourself, pay by the ounce. I got banana, raspberry, cake batter, and pistachio. Oh.my.gosh -- that place is going to get hit up often by this family!

Harvard Student Speaks on Mormonism

This was interesting to me both because I'm a Mormon (who knew?!) and my daughter is most likely going to be attending Harvard Law school in the fall. This Harvard junior and Mormon did a great job answering questions at a "day of faith" event with journalist Sally Quin.

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

Silent Majority Gets Chance to Speak Out

If you feel like part of the silent majority or even just part of the silent, here's your chance to let your opinions be known about your disagreement with the size of our government and the burden it's placed on individuals.

Information on Tea Party revolts in Nevada can be found here.

Information on Tea Party revolts in other states can be found here.

And, information on the Tea Party movement can be found here and here.

Did I do that??

Not really a laughing matter at all, but this made me giggle anyway. I knew Obama reminded me of someone and now I realize who. (and this part I'm quite serious about!)

Lloyd is Going to be a Grandpa

So Lloyd's already been a wonderful kind and patient grandfather, but really he's been a "step" grandfather (ugh, labels). So now he's going to be a, hmm, "real" grandfather? "Biological" grandfather? His daughter stopped by last night at the end of his teenager daughter's weekend time with us to let him know. Lloyd already knew. He just knew. He's had issues with post traumatic post-post-post-divorce conflicts making the kids choose sides and that sort of thing (those that know us know the sordid details, won't rehash here), so it was a little awkward for him and his ex looked on from steps away (no privacy!), but he was glad his daughter came out to tell him and he was very happy for her. He's been dreading this day a little because he figures it'll be the source for more conflicts and tug of war, but that all went out of his head while he was talking to his daughter (then resurfaced later, of course -- LOL). So please keep fingers and toes crossed that all turns out well on all fronts. His daughter looked very good, though, hasn't had a day of sickness (is already a few months along) so lucky her!

Lloyd was born to be a grandpa. He tells the corniest jokes and stories and has no end of them to tell. He still believes in the value of hard work, sweat equity, and knowing how to be handy, fix things, and do the things men used to do before they got all wimpy. Just what the young generation needs to be grounded in the "olden" days!

Planning Spring Break

I am the vacation planner. And, I like to go places. So, I am frequently planning or planning to plan a trip. The twins (almost 10) are the roadblocks. They like to :::cough cough::: express their opinions -- in such a way it's gotten to the point we don't even like to tell them where we're going or what we're doing because that just prolongs the torture. Isn't that really dumb? LOL. Here we are building family memories and taking them places to fun (!) things and it's become a dreaded chore. So the bright idea came to me to give the kids (the almost 10 year old twins and almost 14yo) several options for a spring break vacation. Now, a point they can't appreciate, but I sure do is that originally I thought we'd be doing our backyard putting in during that time, but we seem to be on track to get that done so we don't need to work the whole week. But, why should they care about that? Putting the back yard in isn't their problem in the first place. ;-)

So I had the options, nothing exotic, we're driving, and I passed sheets with options out during dinner after the masses were mostly fed and the discussion started. Luckily, there was something each one liked so it was just a matter of picking the one that was best. I was a little crafty in how I did the options, but miracle of miracles ... I think it may have worked. So now I get to focus in the coming weeks on picking out the hotel, something I often have to wait to do because I'm not sure if there's going to be a mutiny and the plans will have to be cancelled.

Gee, I wonder if our stake will be holding another parenting class series any time soon. :::wink:::