A Lovely March

March in Houston this year was actually quite lovely. Some days were chilly and it felt like winter was not quite ready to let go, but other days it felt like spring was on its way. I started the month with my annual Utah weekend with Tara at BYU's National DanceSport event. It was definitely still winter in Provo, but Tara and I had a great time together, and besides all of the fun dance competition going on we got to visit with all three of my brothers and sisters-in-law, Aunt Pearl and Aunt Viv, and everyone in the cemetery.

March is rodeo month in Houston and Lee got a big surprise when his financial guy gave him tickets for seats in the JPMorgan box on opening night to see Garth Brooks! (Another check on Lee's bucket list!) I joined the Vernon family and Amy, Belle, & Livi another day for all of the carnival and livestock show fun. After a full day of it, the Vernons opted out of the rodeo and concert, but Ben and Lee joined us for the rodeo and Zac Brown Band concert.
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Tara has been working the past couple of years on AMI's World Dance-O-Rama event to be held in Times Square on the weekend of Isabelle's 12th birthday, and Belle has been anticipating and counting down to being there for a huge birthday celebration. We have our tickets, Tara is there and has a suite at the Marriott Marquis, we are ready to go.....nor'easter storm Toby closes all of the airports in the NYC area!! After every attempt to re-route the trip or find some way, any way to get there, we were finally forced to give up on our weekend in the Big Apple. We were all disappointed, but Isabelle was devastated. Of course it was a beautiful weekend in Houston, so we decide on a day at the Houston Zoo instead. Belle loves animals and the zoo, and was a good sport at making the best of a disappointing situation. We had a great day together, even having lunch with the giraffes.

Tara had a busy and successful World Dance-O-Rama in NYC without us. She passed the GMA studio every morning when she went out to exercise, and on one particularly cold morning Robin Roberts told the security guard to bring her in to watch the live taping!

I wanted to get Isabelle a new ballet bag for her 12th birthday so for our birthday date we went shopping at a cute new dance shop in Cypress. Belle LOVES cheese and we had planned to try a gourmet cheese sandwich at MELT, but unfortunately it was closed, so her second choice was Chipotle. Afterwards we decided to pick up Amy and Olivia to share dessert with us at Baskin-Robbins. It is so easy to love spending time with Isabelle. She is such a charming young lady -- very smart and funny, sensitive and kind, sweet and forgiving, talented and adventurous, loving and friendly, and can talk forever!

Meanwhile...Lee decided to make a trip to Montana to check on things at Sigh-Bar. When he arrived he found the snow so deep that it was impossible to drive past the gate. He parked the rental car at the gate and snow-shoed in for the entire week that he was there! But everything inside was fine, and he was able to visit the horses at the Bar W Ranch every day. He was happy to get back to Texas and get warm again!

Easter Sunday was on April 1st this year so the last few days of March were filled with Easter traditions. We colored eggs and had a picnic on Friday before going to the airport to pick up Tara. Saturday was full of Easter egg hunts and surprises, our traditional hot dog picnic, and Easter presents for everyone. General Conference was also on Easter weekend, so after the afternoon session we enjoyed a yummy ham dinner out on the patio. Olivia had baked a special Easter bunny cake for dessert, and the kids also presented an original Easter play they had rehearsed. The weather was absolutely perfect for the weekend and we filled it with wonderful family memories.


Yes, from beginning to end March was lovely this year!