Basketball Luce & Lucy Stars in Annie

Lucy has been extra busy lately. In January, she started playing junior jazz basketball for the first time. Her head coach, Mrs. Peternal, is an elementary school teacher and the Jr. High girls basketball coach also and was so good with the kids! I was the assistant coach and it was fun being with Lucy and the team. They worked really hard and had a great season, Her team mates were so sweet and very encouraging to each other. We ended up winning or tying every game except one which they lost by two. At the last game, we gave out awards and Lucy got the Daring Defender award, because she always stayed with the person she was defending and brought some tight defense! She improved a lot and is excited to play more. Swoosh!

Lucy also got to practice all of January and most of February for a play her school put on, Annie! We have always loved Annie (and many musicals for that matter). When they annouced last fall they'd be doing this, Lucy was so excited! She auditioned and landed the role of the orphan July. She had a few singing solos and several speaking parts. They worked really hard for their three performances. She even helped make her costume!  We used some scrap fabric Grandma Di had and she wore a shirt from my old Dorothy costume. She did her own hair and someone did their stage makeup to make them look a little dirty. She looked so cute! Her favorite was singing "Hard Knock Life" with the rest of the orphans, and getting into a "fight" with her good friend Saige who was also an orphan and telling her "How bout i make a pancake outta you" It was super cute and the kids and music teacher, Mrs. Slater, did amazing! Our favorite was when Annie forgot to put her wig on in one scene and then someone from backstage threw it out to her. Lucy also got to sing a solo and say some parts from on top of a desk and fall backwards into the arms of the other orphans. Lucy had lots of awesome family come support her - Grandma & Grandpa Stoddard, Erin & Randy, Amy & Kolby and boys, and Grandma and Grandpa Ryerse. We also got her some red roses, because red seems to be the Annie color. She thought it was a great experience and was grinning afterwards a lot because "You're never fully dressed without a smile"! Bravo, Lucy!

Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

What could be better than the olympics? Two olympics in less then a year! We got to see the postponed summer olympics last summer because of the pandemic, and now we get to see the winter olympics in Beijing!  I just love it. We got really busy so we didn't have lots of time to watch, but I caught up late at night and watched the highlights and interviews. It was eventful because of the diplomatic boycott of the US and many other countries, no leaders or representatives went, but there were still athletes present. Then there was the doping scandal from Russia, oh geez!  Despite these things, it was a great olympics! We watched the opening ceremonies, and made traditional Chinese food for dinner, and had some various Chinese candy to snack on during the games. Sydnie made a torch, something she enjoyed playing with throughout the week. We also made a little "ice rink" for her to play on with her toys, which she loved. I smiled, laughed, and even cried. The US came in 4th in medal counts, but had plenty to be proud of! I loved watching Salt Lake City native Nathan Chen skate, he was perfect and dominated the competition! And he even landed a rare backflip during his last performance. WOW! Chole Kim was amazing at skateboarding and puts a smile on your face. Then when Shaun White, the Flying Tomato, was up, I was going crazy and cheering. He put it all out there and got 4th place, just out of medal range and I may or may not have cried. Our kids have grown up watching him and I was sad but proud all at the same time! There are so many other great events and athletes that elicit all the feels. These daring, gritty, brave, hard working athletes are such good examples! Go Team USA, go world! (These images of the Olympics are from Getty images).