the Wright place

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Best friends visit

Eliza, Alyssa, Julia, Katelyn, Mikayla, & Anna

Over spring break, my girls were so excited to have the Nance girls spend the night. They rarely get to see each other since we moved to our new house, so their reunions are always special! In this photo they were having an Uno tournament. Later that day we also visited the Herr's Chip Factory.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Braces & Projects

In the picture above you can see the new braces Anna is sporting. The week after she had her braces put on, she had oral surgery to put a chain on a tooth that is still up in her gums. She was suppose to have the oral surgery 6 months ago and things looked pretty bleak. She had one tooth going sideways and crossing over the roots of the other tooth possibly killing it. After talking to the oral surgeon, she suggested we don't do anything for a few months to see what would happen. Without us even noticing, the sideways tooth came in and the other tooth was still intact and easier to get to. I was so happy for that news to spare Anna a lot more pain and oral work! Hopefully by next year, all her teeth will be in!

Anna has been busy the past couple of months doing projects for her personal progress. She has become quite the knitter and made this wool hat. Another project she worked on was to paint a picture of the Savior. She did an excellent job on the clouds.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Eliza's birthday & baptism

Eliza turned 8 yesterday and it was so fun. She was so cute to watch as she beamed from ear to ear on her special day. Eliza has brought Austin and I much joy during her short life. She has an infectious smile and a very quick wit. She knows how to stir things up and doesn't let anything get by her. She has been a true blessing!!

On Saturday, her cousins Justin and Logan came to visit and join us for a family celebration. The dynamics of the house definitely change when there are boys present. There was non stop squealing and entertainment.

Justin and Logan come to celebrate

Loving her presents

Blowing out the candles

Last night being "7"

Sunday, was Eliza's baptism. One of Eliza's best friends, Bryn, who is just a couple of days older than Eliza, was also baptized. Austin did the baptism and confirmation and Christie and Chris were able to come and be part of it. My mom and Dad couldn't be there, but they sent Eliza a beautiful necklace to wear. Julia, Anna and I sang a special song and many people joined us to celebrate the special event.

Eliza and Bryn with there "bear" reminders of baptism

The cake eaten after the baptism

Christie, Eliza & Chris

Eliza & Daddy in white

Eliza and Bryn in their baptismal clothes

Thursday, February 11, 2010

BLIZZARDS!

We have sadly participated in a historic moment for Philadelphia...it has been the snowiest winter ever. Even sadder, because we are only half way through winter.

In one week we have had two blizzards. The first one dropped 23" and this last one 17". The first one wasn't too bad because it happened Friday and gave everyone the weekend to dig out. The second one, though, occurred Tuesday night and has wreaked havoc. The girls and I have gotten the rest of the week off. Austin braved going in to work today but said some of the roads were horrible. On the bright side, the electricity never went off and the girls are now having lots of fun playing in the snow.

Eliza building a snow fort

...and being goofy

Anna having fun in the tree

Building a "Snow Hotel"

Snow up higher than the deck

Ronny stepping carefully

No swinging today

Shoveling out the driveway

During the storm

Official measure of the first storm

Sunday, January 24, 2010

A Wicked Good Time

I love when you can fulfill one of your child's dreams.

Anna has been wanting to see Wicked for the past 3 years. I saw that it was coming to Philly, but the outrageous prices for decent seats didn't quite fit in our budget. I saw though that two hours before each show they have a lottery to win 2 tickets for $25 each. I called up my niece and her husband who live just 15 minutes from the theater and they were kind enough to put their names in and got picked!! We had to make a mad dash to get to Philly and I kept it a secret from Anna the whole drive over. When we got to the theater she was in delighted shock and disbelief that her dream was coming true. The show from second row seats was fabulous and it was fun to have a special activity with Anna.

We hoped over the next two weeks we could repeat the fun for Julia and Austin, but six lotteries later our luck did not fare so well. Oh well, we hope it will return to Philly next year for another chance.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009

Two thousand nine was a good year to end the decade on. We reached many new milestones in this life’s journey and have been very blessed along the way. Here are just a few highlights:

Julia – Now 14 and in HIGH SCHOOL. I put high school in capital letters because that truly doubled the busyness of all our lives. Julia’s extracurricular activities include the marching band, literary club, and (very) early morning seminary. In addition to playing flute, she has decided to learn the French horn to add to her repertoire. She earned her Girl Scout Silver Award this summer when she taught a Spanish class at the local library for a week. She also had a little make over this summer in preparation for high school with hair straightening, ear piercing and contact lenses. She has blossomed into a beautiful young woman!

Anna – Now 12 and in middle school. She is having a wonderful time! She is loving being in Young Women’s at church and is working diligently on her goals for their program. She is also very busy in school with orchestra and writing for the school newspaper. She still is very content to read a book for hours, type a new story, knit, or draw Imagiana characters in her journal.

Eliza – Is 7 and in the 2^nd grade. She is full of life and can talk a mile a minute about anything and everything. She is taking on a leadership role in her school classroom which is giving her extra confidence (not that she was lacking) and she has shown a great interest in math (hooray – one child got my genes). She is also in the great books club during school to keep her more occupied. She did a great job with soccer this past Fall, just finished being a Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz, and is doing well with learning to play the piano.

Mom and Dad – We are now 40 J. Austin has been super busy working his regular job as well as teaching two Spanish courses at night. He is doing finals this week and is looking forward to his 3 week break! He and I are still heavily involved with the Spanish members of our church and just got an additional calling to be directors over the Youth Trek next summer (yikes!). If anyone has any past experiences of Trek, please share!! I’m still working part-time at the community college behind our house and spend the rest of my time running someone, somewhere, for something. There is never a dull moment.

This summer we were able to enjoy going to Maine, New York and out West to visit with many friends and family members. The girls loved their cousin reunions! Our highlights included Yellowstone, tubing, visiting local gardens, Mercer Castle, and touring the BYU campus. My niece moved up to Philly this summer and the girls have loved having a cousin close by for once. It has been fun to have her visit on the weekends. It’s hard to believe another year has gone by so quickly!! It makes me realize how much we need to treasure the time we have here on this earth and make the most of it. Having fun with your family is the best gift you can get!