The Wilcox Family

I want to share a couple of poems Chris wrote for school. My Halloween Eyes Behold Ebony wings on the back of a leathery dragon. The white gown of a Banshee who's scream waits behind the door. Warm, red, blood dripping off Dracula's teeth. A jet black cat hunched on a doorstep. A pale ghost floating across the street. A green lifeless Zombie waiting to feast on flesh. The unlucky trick-or-treaters who stumble upon the Zombie. The kids who think a prank on Dracula's house will be fun. A boy who trick-or-treats at the Banshee's door. My Autumn Eyes Behold Crisp leaves falling from the treetops. Red robins flying south for the winter. A golden field with kids in football uniforms. Glistening snow falling in the night and melting as it hits the ground. Children raking crimson, gold and brown leaves on their lawns. People jumping into piles of dead leaves. Red cars crushing leaves on the road. Orange pumpkins sitting in a patch. Black trucks load...

We finished the basement!  It is so nice.  We are really spending a lot of time down there as a family.  We especially enjoyed watching the Utes defeat Pittsburgh on Thursday.  It was an exciting OT game and we enjoyed every big screen moment! Emily and Mary are home this weekend!  All the little chickadees are back in the nest.  (insert great big happy face here.)  Chris had seven friends over on Saturday with their swords and shields.  I took them to the park and they played capture the flag and had wars and such for a couple of hours followed by brownies at our house.  I think every boy had a great time. Life is good.

We've finished most of the work in the basement.  Here are a few pictures.  Thanks to Gordon who came and worked hard supervising Mike in making the beautiful cabinets, trim and crown molding. We still need to decide on carpet and paint the ante rooms, then we will have a completely finished basement! 

We just returned from the reunion in Branson, MO.  We had so much fun, it is 12:08 p.m. and Chris is still in bed on the first day home!  We stayed at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, MO.  I highly recommend it.  There were so many things to do, we could have stayed for a whole week and not left the premises and kept busy.  It was really great to see the whole family.  There were only a few members who couldn't make it, they were missed.  We played, toured, ate, visited and had a whole mess of fun.  I'd post pictures, but I didn't take any, that's how much fun we had.  We swam, water skied, tubed, canoed, paddleboated, played shuffleboard, swam, and played games.  Great family.  Glad I found it. PS  Emily and Mary are having fun in London.  They arrived safely.  (Yay!)

I really planned to fully blog May.  There were so many events and I was going to stay on top of each one and post diligently.  I was very overwhelmed, and blogging was way at the bottom of the list. I finished my Math class.  Hooray!  I got an 82% on the final and finished with a C.  I am thankful for that C and it is the only C I've ever gotten in my life.  Ugh.  I thought I was going to hate it, but it turns out that I love it!  :0) Mary and Ann played Tennis through the month of May and did well.  Mary ended the season with a new partner, Kim Zimmer, who was playing singles, but got sick and couldn't finish strongly in singles so she and Mary, both Seniors, played doubles at the end.  Ann got paired with a Freshman and they played a few key matches and did well.  Both girls lettered.  Though they may not have won every match, they played well and I am proud of them! Mary had her Senior Solo performance in May.  I...

I picked up my prescription sun glasses yesterday.  They are in a huge case and they are in my purse.  When I was a little girl, I remember going to Logan with my mother.  It was, I don't know, was it even 30 miles?  Anyway, 1960's rural Utah, pre seat belt laws.  So, I'd stand on the seat next to her so I could see out the front window and we'd go to Logan, just the two of us.  Betsy and Quita were in school.  She'd say, "Alice, get in my purse and get me my colored glasses, please."  There are a couple of things really cool about this request.  First, I get to get in her purse.  Oooh aaah.  Second, she always called them colored glasses.  They were cat eyes with green lenses.  Very hip.  I'd hand her the colored glasses and she'd switch and then I'd very carefully put the regular glasses in the case.  Sigh.  What a great memory.  Sometimes we'd stop in Richmond and get a chocolate milk shake....

We have been up since 4:15 a.m. so the girls could catch the bus to Bozeman for a tennis match. We followed at 6:30 a.m. and watched them in the freezing cold. Mary and Ann are slated as "The Wilcox Sisters." Sounds formidible. :0) They played well, but lost to Bozeman. There wasn't a doubles team for them to play from Butte. We left Bozeman around 1:00 p.m. with the girls in tow so Mary could make it home for her violin lesson. Mary has her district solo on Monday, April 12 at 1:00 p.m. at Sky View High School. If you are in town, it is open to the public. She has a duet shortly after. To stay awake, I had Chris wash the van. He did a most excellent job. I also had him do some yard work--rake the ponderosa pine needles out from under the ponderosa pines. It was TOO hard for him. He was TOO tired. I made beef soup for dinner, biscuits and chocolate cake. The point is, if you keep moving you won't fall asleep. Mike went to get a hair cut and I'll bet he fell asleep...

Mary, Chris, Beth Ann and Ann after the Easter Egg Hunt. This is such a cute picture! Find Chris! Cute Eggs! Chris and Ruff playing tug. We had a nice Easter and really enjoyed General Conference. Mike almost finished the electrical work in the basement. I think he only has about 2 hours of work left. Maybe next post will include a picture of the inspector!

Annie got her driver's license today! Then she drove me to Home Depot and dropped me off so I could return some nails with Mike. Ann drove home from Home Dep ot by herself!!!! She made it home alive!!!! Yay! Mary, be warned, Ann will never be late to Seminary again! :0) We are finishing the last part of the basement this week. Mike is working hard. Click on the picture to see it bigger. The kids are off school because of Spring Break. Mike took the week off to work. It is nice to have a task, but not be too busy. We have enjoyed having Beth Ann Baker join our family this winter. She is from Idaho Falls and came up to play tennis with the MSU-B tennis team. Coach Peach figured out we were Mormon, and asked me to help her feel at home. It has been a true pleasure. She's pretty and fun and fits right in with the family. I'll take a pic of her today when she comes over so I can post on e of her, also. We will be super sad when she finishes the semester. A funny Beth Ann'ism...

I'm proud to announce that Mary will be a returning Varsity Tennis player and that Ann will join her on the Varsity team! Yay for Mary and Ann! Woo Hoo! Hooray! Way to go!

We, I hope that includes Mary, are all off Facebook now. We got slammed with a virus that infiltrated through Facebook. $200 later and 3 days and the computer is still at Geek Squad getting fixed. February was snowy and rather uneventful. Mike is training for the Logan to Jackson bike race in September so he's getting up early every day to ride for a couple of hours in the basement. I am plodding through a math class and an English class. The math class was killing me, but now I'm doing linear equations and matrices and they are so logical that it is fun! Mary is still waiting to hear from a couple of colleges before she makes her final decision. Go Utes! No pressure Mary. Emily is working hard through her last semester at the U and then it's off to the real world. I wonder where she'll land. Ann has been helping me with my math. She's really patient and calm when she explains things to me and I totally get it. She's a genius! Christopher was in the...

We received report cards this weekend. Chris, all A's with two B's. Not bad. Mary, all A's with one B. Ann, all A's. Woo hoo!

Me, Mike and Chris on California Screamin'. Obviously, I'm less than thrilled, Mike and Chris had fun though! We really had a great time on Splash Mountain! This is everyone's favorite picture! Chris made the Tower of Terror seem like an easy ride. Emily and I fell for it and here we are screaming our heads off! Below is the picture of Chris, eyes closed, having a "terror-ible" time himself! :0)

Fifth Grade may prove to cause my demise! Honestly how did I do it three times before? The girls did it effortlessly, Ann most effortlessly of all. Chris has turned it in to the worst grade of my life, (I thought Mary had done that with homeschooling 7th grade!) Homework isn't really assigned homework, it is the classwork he didn't get done. Wednesday night and Thursday night we suffered through four hours of Chris not staying on task. Honestly, Mrs. Hutton, his teacher, will deserve a two week child-free vacation at the end of the year and I'm afraid Mike and I are going to have to pay her expenses! Yeesh!