Favorable February

We started the month off by cheering on our Utah State Men's basketball team. They played against Colorado State, and won. Then they played New Mexico State at home who are also tied for 1st place in the Mountain West Conference and ended up losing big, but it was a hard-fought battle. They played them again in New Mexico and lost a close one, again! San Jose State was the next home game, and they killed it 105-57! I guess they wanted to redeem themselves after that away game against New Mexico. All that played on the court made points for the team. 

At the last of the month, it was the USU vs San Diego game and they won! Their ranking is now 14=3, but this team has grit and doesn't give up.

They're fun to watch. Our local boy, Mason Falsev has his ups and downs, but he's sure fun to watch and has the record for the most steals in the conference. 

Dale took me out for an early Valentines date. We went and heard the American Festival Chorus, with special guests Casey Elliott and Adrien Swenson, put on "ENCORE! The Music of Broadway & Hollywood", which was really entertaining and made for a nice evening out. We met up with Dale's sister, Susan & Reed McGregor for the show.

I was asked to help with our wards Empty Nesters Valentines Dinner/Activity and the gal I was going to work with ended up needing to have knee surgery two days before the event, so I put it all together with the help of Dale and some friends in the group, and we pulled it off.

There were 13 couples that came. Each couple helped with the food, set-up and take-down. I had a Valentine themed game that we played (guys verses gals), we visited, ate and just had a nice evening getting to know new people. The food was great and so was the company. 

I ushered for the show "New Orleans Songbook - Jazz from the Lincoln Center" at the Eccles. This group had some awesome musicians, and their lead singer was amazing as well. It wasn't as well attended as it should have been, because they were VERY good. I was glad I got to be there to hear them preform. 

Then later in the month I ushered for "The Bee Story" that was mainly for children and families. It had a circus feel with acrobatics, dance and live music. It tells the story of a Queen Bee and Worker Bee who must work together to rebuild their hive after being destroyed by a bushfire.

 As you can see it was a packed crowd, anything free always fills up. What a great place to serve and help the community have these cultural experiences.

On Valentines Day, Dale and I went to South Weber and Mountain Green to give the kids and grandkids the Valentines we had for them. It was good to visit for a bit with all the kids when we dropped them off at their houses. 

After doing that we went to the Brigham City Temple and did an endowment session and then went to dinner at Maddox for our Valentines experience. It was a nice day and evening. I'm so glad that Dale and I have each other to love and cherish forever.

We were both spiritually and physically fed this Valentines. (Those Maddox rolls are my favorite, and our server treated us to a whole another bowl of these to take home).

We had a pretty good snowstorm come through the day before Valentines Day that left us with the most snow we've had all winter. It snowed a reasonable amount up in the canyons as well. 

Dale had gone skiing at Beaver earlier in the month and ended up getting his skis caught in a slush pile that caught his skis and made him lunge forward and take a couple of rolls down the hill. He got up to go back up and get his skis and had a sharp pain in his calf muscle. It took him a while to recover and get the muscle back to normal, but with a recent snowstorm he headed back up the canyon and clipped on his skis to see if his calf would hold out, and it did. He had a great time back on the slopes about 2 1/2 weeks later. 

This was from the Beaver Mt. Ski report four days after the storm: We received 5 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours.  One of those inches fell overnight.  It’s been a week of snow up here.  We’ve had 37 inches of great Utah powder.  A little wind last night should have filled in the cracks.  Plenty of soft turns out there.  Today there’s a 50% chance of new snow.  1-3 inches possible.  The high temperature will be around 26 degrees. Avalanche danger remains high.  Make smart decisions and be prepared if going into the backcountry.

We got another 6-8 inches of snow towards the end of the month. It looks like a winter wonderland. I posted this on my Instagram & Facebook accounts:

Woke up to 6+ in. of a winter wonderland, and it’s still lightly snowing. Even though I’m more of a warm weather person I sure can’t deny the beauty of a fresh snowfall.

Nate and Diana found themselves getting out of the office at a good time. They had a conference that Nate attended at Park City and had some down time, so they were able to get on the slopes at Deer Valley. It was their first time out on their skis this winter. They haven't had much snow in Washington either. We've had a few storms that have made for a somewhat decent ride, but still pretty icy due to lack of snow and colder temperatures. They were all smiles to be on the hill though. 

They're getting closer to getting their new place move in ready. They canceled a trip to Patagonia due to Diana having some stomach issues so Nate's pounding nails and determined to be moved in by the end of the month. 

Langston got Dale out fishing at the Wellsville Pond. The water wasn't frozen, so they fished from the shore. Langston caught a fish with his hands that was by the shore and Dale caught a couple of pretty nice fish with his pole. The smile on Langston's face says it all though. He had fun, and it wasn't freezing cold!

Dale and I went to watch Kennlyn play in her last home games for basketball at Ridgeline. They won and they lost, but she gave it her all. 

Soccer will start up next. She's staying busy.

The Mallory's headed south for another soccer tournament that Kennlyn, Langston, and Mazin will be playing in. This time in St. George, and this time the drive down was during our big snowstorm. It took them 7 1/2 hours to get to St. George. There were a lot of pile ups and so they took a back route which took off some travel time. I'm just glad they got there safe.

They stayed at the house of their friends that let them just take over the house without them there. Nice friends huh?

The kids played hard, and Kennlyn and Langston got into the semi-finals, but they ended up not moving on. Amie said they all played great in their games though, and that's what really matters, right?

Elder Mallory got transferred to a new area. He is now serving in Gutierrez Zamora and loves it. He loves his companion and loves being by the beach. He said luckily it's not the "hot season", so he's doing great with the temperature. They also do a sports night where they invite people to come that aren't members so they can meet people. They usually have around 20 people show up that aren't members. He's realizing he's a bit rusty playing volleyball. 

They are working with a guy and hope to make progress with him. 

While Andrew was on his work tour back east, Dale and I were able to help Lindsay get the kids to some of their activities. We took Titan to his Church ball games and got to stay and watch him play. He's getting the ball more and seems to like playing. It was fun seeing him out there on the court.

I also got to go to a USU women's gymnastics event with Lindsay, Titan, Eloise, and Arwyn at the Spectrum on USU's campus. The girls are taking gymnastics, and their company was doing a showcase at the end of the meet. Arwyn was wanting to get a closer picture with Big Blue but we got what we could, and Eloise was dreaming of someday being out on the mat competing. It was a nice out for all of us. USU beat San Jose in the meet. GO AGGIES! . 

Dale watched Nora and Lindsay's nephew Calin (who they've been watching to help out her brother) at our house.

Eloise also celebrated her 12th birthday with a family dinner. Those that could got together and we ate and visited. Then dad and I stayed a bit later and played "Sleeping Queens" with Titan, Eloise and Arwyn. Happy Birthday Eloise!! We love you!!

Garrett and Zandra took advantage of the sunshine and new snow, on their backyard sledding hill. Fun times for all. Penny also got out and braved the chill. 

Danica threw another party at their house this month. This one was for Jason who turned 33yrs old!! Happy Birthday Jason!! Here's to many more!

They also got to cheer on Kennlyn, Langston, and Mazin at their soccer games, as well as spent some time on the golf course, checked out the Parade of Homes, went on a couple's bike ride, and took advantage of the sun by taking the kids to the park.

Brooks is walking alone more and more. With June around, she'll have him running around before we know it. 

Danica also pulled Danica and I together for a Girls Trip to Las Vegas to celebrate Amie turning 40yrs. old. We couldn't make it work last month, so it happened at the end of this month. 

We stayed at the Excalibur Resort and went to a show called "WOW" which lived up to it's name. It was pretty amazing to see all the dare devil acts and the talent that people have. We saw everything from juggling to cross-bow antics where an apple was on top of the archers head! We saw roller skating, ariel acts, and a spinning wheel act to name a few. It definitely was WOW!

It was a great way to make February Favorable because we were in Vegas with the temps in the 70's while it was in the 40's back home. Life is good.