What January Looked Like

The Greensboro Science Center hosted a new Christmas event this year. They decorated the outdoor part of the science center with TONS of lights. Tickets were expensive and the kids weren't really interested, but I wanted to go. So Andrew and I went for a date night.

I think we were the only people there that didn't have kids with us.

It was so pretty.

This light tunnel was my favorite part.

Peppermint Way was sponsored by Chick-fil-A,

two of Whitney's loves!

We bought our own pack of Trump cards to play

Up and Down the River.

The silver ones aren't as fun as the gold ones Grandma got at the beach.

I loved having so many fun moments with these three together.

They were making us sushi. Yum.

Date night at Poblano's.

Andrew's heel has really been bothering him.

Enough that he feels like he can't play tennis with me.

Boo.

So, with the weather being cold, we have started venturing out to more

restaurants for date nights. I've missed eating out!

B made chicken nuggets for us one night.

While B was in town I REALLY wanted to get an updated family photo.

I talked with Destinee and arranged for us to come to Asheville and have

pics taken there. I was SOOOO excited!

But then there was an ice storm.

And the roads were supposed to be bad.

And we've become true North Carolinians who are afraid of icy roads.

So we cancelled our photo shoot.

And it was the only day that would before B flew back to Utah.

So I had to take matters into my own hands...

Yikes.

We went downtown to the top of a parking garage,

set up the camera on a tripod,

and shot away!

They aren't great.

But at least they're current.

Then we came home and roasted marshmallows in the backyard.

B got his wisdom teeth out while he was home.

His dentist recommended it.

And he didn't want to do it, mostly because he didn't want to

waste precious time that he could be climbing and spending

with friends. Instead he'd be in bed recovering from surgery...

But I talked him into it.

And I'm glad I did.

The first two days were pretty rough.

Then he was back to himself on Day 3.

He only had three wisdom teeth, just like me! :)

He never got too swollen.

I think this was on Day 2, enjoying our annual

Sonic gift cards from Aunt Irene and Uncle Bill.

We had a really fun stake youth activity this month!

In person!

What???

We talked about the theme for the year,

A Great Work.

The verse that it comes from talks about how we are 

laying the foundation for a great work and out of 

small things proceedeth that which is great.

Our youth were spread out in three different 

buildings across the stake.

We met in our building.

We started off with a talk by Ember, sharing the

building blocks for a foundation of a testimony.

Then we got to lay a foundation of colored paper to

cover as much of the gym as we could.

The kids did awesome.

Look how cool it is!

The kids seemed to have a great time.

Then we broke up into two teams and had a box-

building competition.

They got them to go pretty high!

Such a fun activity.

Really fun to actually SEE people.

It was time to say good-bye to our boy.

We had so much fun with him for the month 

that he visited.

He's taking this semester off school, but will

continue to work at Dixie's climbing wall and got

a second job at Contact, a brand new climbing gym opening

at the end of Jan in St George. He's excited!

Every January, we try to do a service project in memory of

Wyatt, whose birthday is in January.

This year we volunteered with GUFI, the 

Greensboro Urban Farming Initiative.

We met them at a greenhouse near Burlington.

And we planted seedlings.

The seedlings we planted will have two purposes.

Some will be sold as a fundraiser for the non-profit.

Others will be planted at different urban farms

to help address food insecurities and bring

fresh produce to neighborhoods where it is lacking.

We all had a great time and hope to volunteer with them again.

Look at all the seedlings we planted!

As a group, we planted 8000!

Amazing.

One of the neighboring greenhouses is growing

hydroponic plants. The owner was around and gave us

a tour. It was fascinating!

The girls and I went for a walk/hoverboard

ride on one of the trails in Greensboro.

Caroline was chosen as 7th grade student

of the month for January!

So proud of her.

Her teachers stopped by to congratulate her and 

deliver goodies. So fun.

Andrew got me this Greensboro puzzle for Christmas.

It was HARD, but I love it.

Another date night out for dinner.

This time Andrew let me choose,

and I picked Mad Greek Grill.

Love that place. 

Spotlight 2021: Andrew

Andrew, mid-40's

Highlights from 2020: 

Going to the beach with my parents. BYU basketball and football were both top-20 teams. Day trip getaways with Andrea and the girls. Playing USTA mixed doubles with Andrea. Going flounder gigging in Florida with Brandon and Andrea.

Rough spots from 2020: Dealing with the challenges of COVID in a global HR role and as stake president. Going to the emergency room with shortness of breath. Having heart surgery to finally fix my arrhythmia. And my sweet Grandma Hiatt passing away. Being diagnosed with sleep apnea.

Something you're good at: Fantasy basketball. Writing about the Panthers and Hornets. 

Something you're proud of: That we have a loving family.

Anything you earned, won, or accomplished: Won my fantasy basketball league. Received a Leadership Excellence Award at work.

Any other notable changes/events for 2020: Sleeping with a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. I stopped watching the NBA and I don't miss it.

If you could sum up the year in one phrase, what would it be? A great learning experience

Hopes for 2021: BYU basketball and football both finish in the top-25. The Carolina Panthers make the play-offs. I win my fantasy basketball league. We can return to full church worship without restrictions. To reach my goal weight. That the treatments on my heel are successful.

Follow-up on hopes for 2020:

*Good health--No. I thought I was having a heart attack in July. Followed by heart surgery in December. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. And my heel hurts bad enough to limit me playing tennis. I gained too much weight.

*Panthers make the playoffs--No, but the future looks bright.

*Lakers win the title--Yes. But I really didn't care because I no longer watch the NBA. I didn't watch a single playoff game and was pretty apathetic about the Lakers winning the title.

Something you like about your job: The amount of autonomy that I have.

Something you don't like about your job: Working on a global clock with global teams makes it hard to disconnect.

A job you might want in the future: Sports writer 

Hobbies: Playing tennis with Andrea when my heel feels good enough, being an advantage gamer with Andrea, fantasy hoops, writing about the Panthers and Hornets. I'm hoping to take up fishing this year.

A compliment you receive on a regular basis: People expressing gratitude for the service I give in the church.

What can usually make you smile? Family home evenings when Brandon is home with us and we sing in Sweat Family Harmony.

What do you most enjoy doing when you're alone? Watching TV and doing my sports writing.

If you could have a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go? Australia

FAVORITES:

Restaurant:  The Deck House

Sport:  Football

Candy or other treat:  It was ice cream before I went on my diet, so now I'll say Lindy's Italian Ice

Color:  Blue

Movie: A Christmas Story

Animal:  Cougar

Snack:  It was any type of M&M before my diet, but now I'll have to say almonds and pistachios.

TV show: Survivor

Place:  Home, Carolina Beach, the Caribbean

Season:  Fall

Meal: Christmas Eve dinner with crab legs, artichokes, and shrimp

App: Google Drive?

Game:  Pandemic, Up and Down the River

RANDOM FACT: In another life, I would've been the Panthers General Manager.

January Getaway

 At Avery, this is the way vacation hours work. You accrue a certain number of hours every pay period. But your vacation bank has a max. So, if you don't use enough hours, you stop accruing them until you use some vacation time. I try to make sure Andrew never gets to that max. Ha! But, when we looked at his pay stub this month, we saw that he was there. Unacceptable! So, he took a random Friday off of work and we decided to take a little overnight getaway. We wanted to stay close by so we could come home quickly if the girls had an emergency. We had the best time!

First stop: Lexington, NC.

Lexington is only about half an hour from home, but we hadn't ever been there. It is a great town and we'd love to go back when it's not so cold.

We stopped at the Davidson County Historical Museum,

which is housed in the old pillared courthouse behind us.

It is a GREAT museum. We had the place to ourselves

and learned a lot about the history of the area.

(But didn't take a lot of pictures.)

There is a photographer who is from the area that had

a lot of displays up, but photos were off-limits in his galleries.

Andrew is bigger than the old-timey jail cells. :)

Main St in Lexington has some really cute stores.

We only stopped in two.

First, the River House Emporium,

which was super cute.

We mostly window-shopped there,

but I did find a great hand-made pottery bowl

to replace one that broke recently.

Their displays were super cute.

The other store we stopped at was The Candy Factory.

It is the CUTEST old fashioned candy store.

We did more than window shop there. Ha!

In fact, when we checked out, the nice woman asked us,

"Is that bag going to be too heavy?"

THAT'S what you want to hear when you're leaving a candy store. :)

They had some old records in the back 

that made me think of B-train.

Lexington is known for their barbeque,

so there are pig statues all over town.

I had checked with a friend from Lexington to ask for recommendations

of where to eat. She gave a long list, but we ended up

choosing Yarborough's. 

It's an older mom-and-pop place that is nothing to look at,

but had GREAT food at reasonable prices. We loved our lunch there.

After lunch, we snagged a quick geocache.

Then out to Boone Cave Park for a little hike.

The cave was on the side of a hill where the sun doesn't

shine, so there were lots of icicles around.

It looked so cool!

It was a good-sized cave inside. Fun to explore for a minute.

Next, we were off to Winston-Salem, where we stayed for the night.

I booked a room at Graylyn estate.

It's a GORGEOUS old estate right in the heart of Winston.

Isn't it awesome?

We LOVED it.

Every estate should have...

an ice cream room!

With cool tile work.

A BUTLER showed us to the ice cream room.

What????

I don't think a butler has shown me anywhere before!

Except, this wasn't quite what I was picturing

for the Ice Cream Room...

It was a mini freezer with ice cream bars in it. Ha!

But they had Choco Tacos!

Which we hadn't tasted in years.

And we could take as much as we wanted.

So we helped ourselves.

And the Choco Tacos were yummy.

There are several buildings on the estate where you can book a room.

I decided to book a room in the Gardener's Cottage.

It was cute, but if we go back, I'll choose a room in the main estate instead.

It just feels more regal there.

But our room was cute and cozy.

And we didn't cross paths with any other guests,

which is a nice perk during a pandemic.

The bathroom was really cute.

We explored the grounds a bit before the sun went down.

The walking paths are busy. Graylyn is right next to Wake Forest University's campus, so there were lots of college students who go for walks on the beautiful grounds. We came to the rescue of a woman who's dog had gotten off his leash. That was an adventure.

Went out for Mexican dinner at Xcaret.

It was actually my third choice of Mexican restaurants.

I LOVE Alma Mexicana, but it is closed temporarily for COVID.

So I chose Crafted: The Art of the Taco, but I was mistaken

about their closing time and we missed it by twenty minutes... oops.

So, I'm glad Xcaret was nearby and open late!

AND they had vegetable tamales, which are one of my favorites.

Yum, yum, yum.

The next morning, we slept in.

And Andrew did church e-mails for a while.

(He spends HOURS every week on church email.)

I read and played word games on my phone.

Then we explored more of the inside of the big house.

Cool spirally staircase

Intricate doorways

This dining room was completely wall-papered

with tiles from a mosque in Constantinople.

So cool!

The dining room

I loved these flower arrangements.

Fancy windows

One of my favorite rooms:

the indoor swimming pool,

which has been converted to a 

socially distanced dining area.

Cool arched door

I think this was an altar from a Hindu temple in India

This is a portrait of the woman of the house,

Mrs. Gray. She's holding tobacco blossoms, 

which is how her family made their money.

The library

With a really cool chess set

And some cute miniature tea sets

And I thought this little kids' chair and sofa were adorable.

When we left the lap of luxury behind us,

we stopped at a nearby museum, SECCA,

Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.

There were some beautiful pieces,

some disturbing ones,

and others that left us scratching our heads.

This kite was amazing.

I liked the depth in these pieces.

This was one of my favorites.

I love the way the words spill over

like a waterfall.

Shark teeth art.

They had an old vending machine that used to sell packs of cigarettes.

It has been converted into an "Art-o-mat" machines.

you can purchase small pieces of art for five bucks.

What a great idea!

We got two and I love them both.

Our last stop was in Thomasville.

The city website has three different self-guided

walking tours you can do through town:

A commerce one, a historical homes one, and one for historical churches.

I downloaded all three of them.

We started with the commerce one, but it was super boring.

We gave up after reading about the brick work on the third business...

But the tour of historic homes was great!

These were a couple of my favorites.

The churches weren't quite what I expected, but they were ok.

They also have some fun murals around town.

Pepsi is "Very Healthful"???

Gremlins???

And, of course we had to get our picture taken by the iconic giant chair.

Having older kids is awesome. So glad we can leave them at home for little getaways like this. I love having time with Andrew. And we both love exploring this part of the state. It's awesome that we've been here for over 17 years and there's still lots of places where we've never been. Many of the places we visited were in our stake, so it's fun for Andrew to have a better idea where they are, too. Hooray for random days off!