27 March 2011 - A Funeral and a Hockey Game

On Monday afternoon I received a call that a baby girl had been born to a couple in our ward.  The mother had been in a womens' hospital in Pittsburgh for three weeks because there were multiple concerns regarding the pregnancy, and the doctors had detected some developmental issues with the baby.  She was born about five weeks premature, and the birth defects were more numerous and more severe than expected.  I drove to the hospital and arrived as the doctor was explaining the prognosis to the baby's father and the outlook was grim.  With the help of a ventilator, the baby lived until Wednesday afternoon, but unfortunately passed away.  We planned a brief funeral, which was held at the church on Friday afternoon.  Many people in the ward helped out to make it a nice service, including Joanne, who sang a duet of Teach Me to Walk in the Light with our Relief Society president.

On Friday evening, after the funeral was over, a benefactor in our ward had arranged for our youth group to use a corporate suite for a Pittsburgh Penguins game.  Here are two of our young women and one of the young men from the ward, checking out the food selection (all of which was included).

Though the suite was cool enough by itself, there was also a hockey game going on, so we watched some of it.  The Penguins played the New Jersey Devils.  After regulation and overtime, the score was still 0-0, and the Penguins ended up winning 1-0 in a shoot out.

The building where the Penguins play is called Consol Energy Center.  It is a brand new arena that just opened this year and was designed specifically for hockey.  It was awesome and the kids all had a blast.

Here are three of our young men, enjoying the leather box seats.

The two young women who came with us were busy taking pictures of Mario Lemieux, widely considered the best player to ever play for the Penguins, and now the team's owner.  You can't really tell which one he is due to the angle I took in this picture, but he is the black-haired guy in the suite next to ours, in front of the flat screen TV with his head turned.

Here are five of our young men who took a break from eating free pizza to watch a little of the game.

20 March 2011 - Spring?

We're cautiously beginning to get excited for spring.  The weather's been warmer, but the forecast warns that we might still have some winter before we're officially done.  

I came home the other day and the girls were making paper mache' Easter eggs.  Easter is still a month away, but what do I know?  I guess they're optimistic.

 

 

Here are some of the finished products.

We had the missionaries over for dinner the other night and the girls had made butterfly cupcakes for us.  This one is mine.

13 March 2011 - While Mommy's in Utah

Mommy went to Utah this week, so we got to have some daddy/daughter time. We made some peanut butter cookies.On Saturday, the weather got really nice for a few hours. By about 4 pm, the sun had come out, it was about 57 degrees, and Madeline and I decided to take the motorcycle for a ride.
Madeline's school class has been learning about robots, so we decided to try to build one. We went to Radio Shack and got some parts. This is us testing some voltages and currents to make a line following robot. We're not done yet, but we're working on it.
Despite all the fun, the girls are all excited to have mommy coming back home soon.

6 March 2011 - Brandon's Visit

Jessica's school choir finally got to have a concert. The Christmas one was canceled due to weather, but this week we got to see her for the first time this year. The lighting was bad for a photo, this was the best I could do.This week our nephew Brandon came to visit us and to check out Washington & Jefferson College. He's already been accepted and received a scholarship offer, but he had the opportunity to interview for additional scholarship money. This picture is actually at Carnegie Mellon University, not W&J. We forgot to take one at W&J, but when we drove through the city before heading to the airport on the way home, we got this one.
The weather was beginning to get a little more spring-like, until Sunday when we woke up and found several inches of snow had fallen. I took this picture right after church.
Why I love our little town. I'm so excited, I just can't wait!