Can you believe January is almost over?! I'm sure surprised at how fast this month has flown by. Here are some of the highlights:

- Job - Most of you know Jeff got laid off about two weeks after Thanksgiving, and he's still looking...it's been fun having him around so much though, especially after having him gone so often all summer and fall. My job is still keeping me busy, and we're grateful to have something to fall back on in times like these.

- School - It's been nice to get the kids back into a routine again after the holidays. Report cards just came home last week and they're both doing great. Stephen's been working on a couple of major projects at GATE - (1) they are putting on a musical production of 101 Dalmations at the end of the year, and he's got the part of Roger so we're practicing his lines and singing the songs; and (2) he's working on an invention for the "invention convention" they are doing in February...it's still a secret for now, but I'll post pictures and info when it all comes together. Hayden has decided that school is so boring and every school day is the longest day of his life. Luckily he has a fantastic teacher with a sense of humor - she welcomes him to class sometimes with "Hayden, welcome to the longest day of your life"...he thinks she's pretty funny. Since Jeff got laid off he's had some time on his hands, and this week started volunteering in Hayden's class at school. He's really enjoying that.

- Church - I got put into Young Women's the second week in December as the 1st Counselor and it's been a lot of fun. We only have two active girls (one is 16, the other is 12)...sometimes a third one comes to class on Sunday (she's 17, almost 18). So we're all combined for everything, and that makes it interesting, trying to make things apply to the laurel and the beehive perspectives. Anyway, even just having two girls, things are still very busy. We just did New Beginnings this past Sunday - and I have to say our YW President did an amazing job putting that together. Then there's mutual every Tuesday, teach a lesson every third week, camp planning's just getting started, we had a "Best of EFY" thing a couple Saturdays ago, and we're speaking in Sacrament Meeting in a couple of weeks...but it's all good stuff. I was in YW way back when Jeff and I first got married, and it's one of my favorite callings.

- Scouts - Pinewood Derby is tonight! The boys have been feverishly shaving, sanding, and painting...I'll get some pics tonight and post them.

- Weather - We hadn't had any snow since Christmas, and everything had been melted. Then Friday morning we woke up to 6 inches! Then another couple inches on top of that Saturday, then another inch today. So we're back into winter wonderland mode. :) Would be much more fun if it wasn't so blasted cold...yesterday we had a high of 7 degrees. And when the kids went to school yesterday morning it was -8...yes, that's 8 below. :( And this is why I'm such a hermit in the winter!

So that's what's been going on, or at least the parts I can think of right now...