Chad and Kace have had some major spring fever! They decided they were going to clear the driveway of all the snow so that they could ride their bikes. Chad came up with this redneck snowplow with his bike and the snow shovel. I don't know how well it worked, but he had fun with it and it kept him entertained for hours!

This was Morgan hitting the ball over during her first volleyball tournament in Ashton last week. She had a great time. They ended up third.

Jeff and the boys are enjoying wrestling practice at the new high school. They had their first wrestling tournament last night. Both boys ended up with a second place medal. It was fun to watch - and hard as a mom at the same time. It's a hard sport to watch as a mom. I don't like to see my boys cry and it seems like every wrestler leaves the mat crying. I'm trying to tell myself that it builds character. Jeff attributes a lot of the way he is to wrestling - that's not a bad thing. So I try to keep telling myself that. The medal seems to dry up all the tears.

Mataia has had a couple of lessons with her pole vault coach in Pocatello. He went to Nationals last weekend and got 6th place. That's pretty good. He graduates from ISU in May and then he's training to try and make it to the Olympics. That's exciting! She's doing really well. Her track meet in Burley got cancelled this week due to the weather. We weren't too sad about that because she has been fighting a cough and I didn't want her to be running and standing around in the rain and wind. That also gives her another week to practice. They finally got on the track at the old high school today for the first time. It was a sprint day, so they didn't vault. Hopefully Monday.

What a crazy life we lead. I haven't had the time or energy to make a new post since my last. I know I choose to live this life, so I'm not complaining - just stating a fact. We figure we need to squeeze every last drop out of every day! We do a pretty good job of that, most days.

My grandparents' house is under going a full cleaning and restoration process right now from the smoke damage done in their house fire 10 days ago. So they have been staying with my parents in the mean time. They all decided to take a little time and get away this week. My grandparent's are visiting my aunts and some other relatives in northern Utah. My parent's went to St. George just to relax and search for some decent weather. I hope they are all getting some much needed R&R.

Mataia started driving for Driver's Ed yesterday. I have mixed emotions about all of that. On one hand I'm ready for her to be able to drive and help ease my road time. On the other hand, it scares me to death. I talked to her driving instructor yesterday after the first drive and he said he could tell she had been doing some driving because she knew what she was doing. (That's the benefit of living out in the country!) Some students don't even know which is the gas and which is the brake. So she's been telling me all day what a good driver she is. She tried to get me to let her drive home from Rexburg. Didn't happen. So I just trust that the she'll be watched over when she does get to start driving for real.

I have put the Periodic Table in the back of my mind! We finally finished that unit in my class. I took the test and got my butt kicked. I even tried to re-take the test and did worse the second time around. So I will move on the next unit and hope that I never have to go back to that again. Other than that, school is going well. I still enjoy my classes. I registered yesterday for two online classes for the Spring semester. Since I'm off-track, I can't take on campus classes. I'm on the Fall/Winter track. So I'll take a few more classes this fall and then I'll be real close to having my Associate's Degree. I'm seriously considering making Spanish my Minor when I start on my Bachelor's degree. I'm still gnawing over that, but leaning that direction. There are many times in our office that Jeff wishes he could speak Spanish. I know it would be an asset in many areas of my life. I just have to find the courage to tackle it.

I have seen the hand of God in my life many times the past few weeks. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the temple with my cousin for her first time. She has been working hard for this day for a long time and it was really neat. She in marrying her eternal companion in the Rexburg temple tomorrow morning and Jeff and I are going to go to their sealing. I love going to sealings in the temple. It reminds me of the covenants Jeff and I made (almost 17 years ago.)

17 Years?! I cannot believe that it's been 17 years. That's crazy! It's been a fun ride and the time has flown by. We have done a lot of things in that time! We are a perfect match for each other! He's fearless and that helps me stretch myself sometimes. I'm very conservative and I help reign his lack of fear. It's a good balance. We heard some good advice recently....when you get frustrated with your spouse you need to remember the 80/20 rule. You are going to love about 80% of what your spouse does, the other 20% you just overlook. I tell Jeff our rule is more like 60/40. (He needs to over look about 40% of what I do. He does a pretty good job of that.)

After a super busy week of school, tests, volleyball practices, pole vault lessons in Pocatello, wrestling practice and tournaments, piano, guitar and violin lessons, birthday parties, scouts, canning chicken, laundry, work, etc. etc. we are going to sit down and watch a movie and then go to bed early. The girls both have volleyball tourney's tomorrow. Here's to another insanely busy week in the Roderick house. Gotta love life!