Thursday, February 19, 2026

What March 2025 Looked Like

 

Temple date night!

Duolingo is adding some crazy graphics

Caroline has started her indoor plants

The Khats often serve me yummy fresh fruit when
I come to practice English with them.
I got fresh jackfruit this time, which is a treat!

Quiz Bowl Regionals!
It has been so fun to watch this team improve!

They are GOOD and did an awesome job at regionals!

We went to Dewey's and introduced
Andrew to the deliciousness of the Dewzy. Yum!

We got to hold our favorite babies at church!

I rocked that Wingspan game!
Might be the highest score ever!
At least for us.

"Relief Society" temple trip--
Jacquelyn and I were the only ones who
signed up. It was such a lovely evening with her!

Caroline and I went to a really interesting
event in Raleigh at the NC Museum of Art
called Art in Bloom.
They have floral artist put together magnificent
pieces of floral artwork. Some of them were
inspired by pieces on the museum. Maybe all
of them were supposed to be, but some of them
I couldn't see the inspiration. Anyway, it was
a beautiful event. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
But I think for us it was a one-time thing.
Not sure we need to go back again.

You can peruse through the pics and 
enjoy people's creativity and artistry.











We also just spent some time walking around the museum.
They have some great pieces!



Fun night with my girl!

March was a busy month for the Quiz Bowl team.
They also had States!
We're so lucky that both events were in Greensboro!
These four were the only four that could make it to States.
Coach Hartsell, Henry, Caroline, Daniel, Finley.

They took fifth place in the state!

What the heck???
Last year they got their butts kicked.
So cool to see the turnaround.
And none of these four are graduating,
so hoping for more wins next year!

Stopped by Homeland Creamery afterward to celebrate.

Look at these cultured women!
Sabrina was invited to perform with the Greensboro
Symphony. She offered discount tickets to her students,
so Caroline and I jumped on that opportunity.

I couldn't take pics during the performance.
But here's the symphony.

And here's lovely Sabrina taking her applause.

All of these aeralists performed. So fun!
Sabrina did awesome, but her piece seemed too short.
She left us wanting more!

STUNNING sunrise on my drive to work.


One of my tulips actually bloomed!

Spring is springing!

Date night at the Carolina Cobras
arena football game.

Always a fun time!

It's super entertaining and we love it.

A&T's drumline was the halftime show.
They are SO GOOD!
Loved it.
And apparently we made it to a game just in time,
because I read soon afterward that the team was in 
financial trouble and had to shut down mid-season! :0

I had an amazing opportunity to volunteer with
Missions of Mercy--a dental nonprofit that offers
dental services to patients that can't otherwise afford it.
It is an impressive system that they've got set up!
I volunteered for half a day and cleaned 4-5 people's teeth.
It was so fun to combine two of my favorite things:
dental hygiene and volunteering!
I hope to do it again.

We had perfect March weather to go birding.

Look at the big ol' snapping turtle that we saw!

I've never seen one that big in the wild!
We didn't see many birds, though:
Killdeer, downy and hairy woodpeckers,
titmouse, golden-crowned kinglet, swamp sparrow.

We're getting ready for Easter season!
Caroline and I love to put together
floral arrangements for the holiday.
We bought all our flowers from Trader Joe's.

And also grabbed some plants for our
ministering sisters. :)

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Whitney's Spring Break March 2025

Whitney came home for her spring break. Yippee! We had such a good visit with her and loved our time together!

One day the girls had a day
to their selves in the mountains. 

It's one of their happy places.



It makes me happy that these two have stayed
close despite living thousands of miles apart.
They're so cute together.

Waterfall hikes. Yay!

And a stuffed racoon!

And Dubs is always excited to spend time with the piggies.

One night she made dinner for us--
Taco Bell Crunchwrap copycats
Didn't they turn out great?
We loved them!

We had tried the game Poetry for Neanderthals at
a board game cafe and Whit is SO good at it and loves
it, so we bought it while she was here. Whatever team
Whit was on would be the winning team. ha!

The girls and I took a day to go antiquing
and picnicking.
First stop: Replacements.
I had been there a LONG time ago,
but the girls had never been.

We had a great time.

So fancy.

We even found a couple cheap things to buy!

We stopped at Trader Joe's to buy lunch food
and then went to Country Park to have a little picnic.
It was lovely.

Look at that spectacular condiment tower!

C doesn't love to play games with us,
but she's more likely to agree when W is in town.
Lucky me!

We killed Just One!

And played some Toil and Troublez.

Fun backyard fire pit.
The girls started the fire with
flint and steel. (Or at least a ferro rod).


We were just missing B!

On Friday, Andrew took the day off work and
we went up to Grayson Highlands.
Another one of our favorites!!
It was a perfect day for hiking.

And playing in a tiny mountain stream.

Do you see the pony behind us?

You're not supposed to touch the ponies,
but they were SO in our face this time!

Right there!

Hi, pony!




They're so fun!

Except when you're trying to eat a snack and
the pony is trying to steal it.
You're not supposed to feed them!
I had to elbow the pony!
What the heck?!


Yippee!


We had a yummy picnic lunch when we were done hiking.

On our way home, we stopped in Ashe County.
They have a giant cheese store where you
can see how cheese is made and tour around a bit.

It was "Free Art Friday" and we found a
couple little packets hidden around town.
What a cute idea!

They had a yarn store.
Whitney was in heaven.
We also toured a salt spa.
It was interesting.
And I didn't take any pics.

One more dinner together before Whit flew home.
Papa Johns. Perfect.

Then it was time to drive up to Raleigh to drop of Whit.
We found out that FiberFest was going on that day,
so we stopped by.
Whit got to work a mechanical knitting machine.
Pretty fancy!

Also got to do some weaving on a loom.

Look how pretty!

Even though C and I aren't into fiber arts,
we had a great time looking around with Miss Whit.

Then we stopped for lunch at Parker and Otis,
one of my faves.

I love how they've revitalized the old run-down mills.

And then a quick stop at the Nasher Museum of Art
on Duke's campus, which was fun to walk around.

And then it was time to say good-bye to our girl.
I am SO proud of how hard she's working.
She's amazing.
And I'm glad we got some time with her here at home.