Happy February everyone!

Well, Kara's told you all about my recent honor. I thought I'd share this closeup of my award with you. It does look really nice on my desk at work.

Needless to say, it was an exciting evening. I was really perplexed when James, Shawnee, and Kara showed up at the Chamber Banquet. They told me some story about being in Tulsa and just deciding to run on down to McAlester and see us.

Of course, after the evening was over, I was so glad that they could be here and share in this event.

I have lots of really nice compliments since that evening, but one of the best occurred last Monday evening. Kathy and I went to the Boys & Girls Club to see Devin Chin play basketball. (Devin is the chinese boy that our friends Buddy and Jeneice are raising. He's 6 years old) When we got to the game, it had already started, so we sat down and began watching the game. Well, as soon as Devin saw us, he ran over to the edge of the court, pointed at me and said, "Man of the Year". I told everyone that he really made my day.

Kara mentioned the video that I recorded. It was used to announce that I was the winner. I'm getting a copy of it, so I'll share with all of you at the Reunion. You know, kind of like home movies.

It's been a busy month (as they all are -- it seems.) Kathy and I are already looking forward to Spring Break in just two weeks. Maybe I can get caught up on some of my paperwork. Well, it's getting late and I want to get this posted before midnight, so I can have it submitted in the month of February. We love you all and hope everyone is doing ok. Have a great March!

Hey! This is Kara! We had such an exciting thing happen a couple weeks ago and I thought I'd share it on the blog.

About a month ago, I got a text message from my mom and she said to hurry and call her because she had some exciting news about dad she wanted to tell me. As soon as I got out of class, because my curiousity was killing me, I gave her a call. She told me that Dad had been selected as McAlester's Man of the Year. It's too bad I didn't wait to call her when I got to my car, because my immediate reaction was bursting into tears. I was so, so proud of him and couldn't wait to be part of the surprise. (She went on to tell me that he wasn't going to know until the banquet so I had to keep it a secret for a little while.)

James, Shawnee and I drove down the day of the banquet to surprise Dad, then watch him be surprised again when he received the honor. When we got to the banquet, we were quickly met at the door by people hurrying us along and hiding us and telling us that he could not see us just yet. So we hid out in the hallway for about 45 minutes. When we walked into the banquet as Mom and Dad were sitting down the look on my Dad's face when he saw his three kids was priceless. (And a little teary-eyed.) I thought, uh-oh, wait until he finds out he's been selected as Man of the Year.

The Banquet was the McAlester Chamber of Commerce banquet. They gave out four awards that night. Each award was announced by showing a video of the winner talking a little about themselves, what they are involved in, and why they love McAlester. When Dad saw the second video, he knew something was up because he had been interviewed and asked the same questions. He was excited and his video was great! He started it off by talking about Mom and his kiddos. Then he talked about all the different things he's involved in in McAlester. Then he talked about his pride and love for McAlester-and boy does he love it!

It was a fantastic evening! James, Shawnee, and I are so glad we were able to drive down for a short little trip and be part of Dad's special evening. I knew my dad was Man of the Year, without him getting a beautiful plaque to remind us. When we got in the car, I said "Wow, Dad, you were involved in so much last year -and you took really good care of your injured daughter on top of everything else!" See, I already knew he was Man of the Year. But it was awesome that he was recognized for all of the time and service he gives to our community!

I guess while I'm here I can talk a little bit about myself. I'm doing great! I'm really busy with school but I remind myself how nice it is to be busy in contrast with life last semester. I have had a fun year so far. I'm taking a Children's Literacy class and I tutor a student once a week in reading for that. I'm also taking a primary math class - I am learning about teaching mathematics to the primary grades. I'm also taking a visual art class. Besides learning about teaching art to children, we have a lab once a week where we actually are learning drawing and how to paint with watercolors and more. It's a great place to relax and let some of my creativity come out. I enjoy that class. My favorite class is my Middle Level class- we observe a classroom in a middle school once a week. I am really enjoying this class because I am wanting to teach middle school. Ask me again at the end of the semester! I went to the middle school dance for extra credit a couple weeks ago, and a fight almost broke out on my watch. Yikes! I'm also taking a geometry class. If all continues to work as planned-I know life does not always agree with plans-I will graduate May of next year with my degree in Elementary Education. I am so excited about the coming year and finishing my college career.

In between school, work, and church I try to save time to have a little fun, play a few board games, or see a movie every now and then. I work in the Interlibrary Services office at the OSU library. I have worked here for two years. This semester at work we decided to have a weight loss challenge. I joined-hoping to have some good motivation to work off a few extra pounds as a result of my accident last semester. My school newspaper ended up doing a story about our weight loss challenge and my picture, along with three coworkers, made the front page. Talk about putting myself out there! I never thought I would make the front page of the paper- and especially not for wanting to lose weight! But it's been fun. A few early mornings a week at the gym, some sessions with a trainer, and eating better is already showing some results! I feel better too. Even though I have been healed for four months now, I have still felt very weak and old-lady like for the past few months. Working out has changed everything and I'm finally starting to feel like myself again.

Looking forward to spring break in a couple weeks and some warmer weather to start creeping its way into Oklahoma! Hope all is well with you all! I'm also counting down the days to the reunion!

Love you all!
Kara

Good day everyone. Welcome Aunt Jan, it was good to read your blog. The Beechgrovians are doing well. We took our first out of town trip in about 6 years last week. We went to Oxford Mississippi to visit some friends, the Lifferths. It was about a 6 hour trip. About 100 miles were spent on the Natchez Trace. It is a beautiful drive. For the first time in my life I really took the time to enjoy the drive. I think it is a symptom of getting older. I'll have to see the doctor about that. Of course that visit will be my first visit to a doctor in about 6 years. But I digress... In Oxford we visited Henry David Thoreau's home, took a tour of the Ole Miss campus, and hiked around a beautiful lake.

Other McKee news; Sarah was baptized two weeks ago. We had a very nice meeting for her. Papa spoke on the Holy Ghost and Grandma (Jenny's mom) spoke on baptism.

Sam is playing his first season of basketball with the YMCA league. He loves it. He is doing great at school.

Erin has been working hard to save up money for her 6th grade trip to Fall Creek Falls. They have a 3 day trip planned the end of May. The next week we are going to Disneyland. She is doing extra cleaning around the house to save up. Erin has many talents. One of these days, I'm going to post a book that she wrote. She did pictures and all. Her latest work has been a comic strip type story. She uses pictures to depict a conversation two girls are having.

Jenny is doing great. My work is as busy as it's ever been. Ever since the beginning of the year I have been busier than at any other time. We are in the beginning stages of being purchased by another company. I don't foresee any layoffs for me or my teams as a result. If anything, I think things will be better.

Until next time...

I think most of you heard about our Logandale Chapel burning down. It's a total loss and was a very sad day in the valley. It was the first LDS building here. We had 3 units meeting there, and have been reassigned to 3 different buildings. We have been assigned to the stake center. After Sacrament meeting, then the first hour of primary our first week there, we were going to leave to go to a cousins homecoming report at another building. When I found Whitney, she said, "Mommy, where's Daddy? I can't find him." She seems to think he should still be in the building since that is the last place she saw his body. So it will be interesting to meet in that building for awhile.

Some of you have seen this pic of my first denim rag quilt. For those of you who haven't, this is a project I've been working on for the kids since summer. This one is Jessica's. Haydn's is almost done. His is not a rag quilt, but will just be a tied quilt. He is VERY excited to have me finish it, so I've been working on it today. The cool thing about all of the quilts is all of the denim is from Scott's jeans. I've been saving his jeans since we got married! The kids knew I was going to make a quilt from his jeans, and saw me cutting and sewing. I had to be sneaky so they wouldn't figure it out. Christmas Eve, after we opened our pajamas, I had a box wrapped and marked 'girls' and one 'boys'. Inside was what I had so far of Jessica's and Haydn's, both about half completed. I told them everyone, including me, is going to have our very own quilt. The other side is flannel with blue and gold (Moapa Valley High School colors), pirate (MVHS mascot) designs, and BYU designs. I figured the back should be some of Scott's favorite things. I also cut up one of his referee shirts and everyone will have a square of that in their quilt.

Anyway, I have had alot of fun. Last fall, some girls in our ward started a quilting class. I made matching quilts for Amy and Whitney. I have never done anything like that before, and I had sooo much fun. It also made me think alot of Grandma while I was doing it.

As far as our news, alot of the same. Jessica's and Jeremy's basketball games keep me running. I haven't gone to alot of Jeremy's away games. The coach pretty much plays the 8th graders, and will put Jeremy and the other 7th graders in if we are either winning or losing by alot. So I haven't gotten to see him play very much. He is kind of frustrated to just sit, he's never had to do that before! Now he is seeing why Haydn and I told him last year that his concussion keeping him from trying out for the team was a blessing in a way. Jessica's doing well in her ball games. League tournament is this week, Thursday and Saturday in Vegas. If they do well, I think 1st or 2nd, they will go to the state tournament. Currently, they are 3rd in the league, and will play the 2nd place team, Boulder City. We beat them 2 weeks ago, so hope for a repeat of that. Haydn is enjoying his drivers license and can't wait until March 21st when the girl he likes turns 16. I enjoy him having his license, he is a big help with errands and things. Amy and Nathan have opted to not do any sports at all this year. I was a bit surprised when Nathan said no to baseball this year. We'll see if he misses it. I know being the smallest/shortest, esp in basketball wasn't fun last year. They are both great students in school. Whitney is just Whitney. She keeps me on my toes. She has enjoyed the quilts, too, clipping the thread for me! She 'quit' preschool, so just wants to constantly have someone over to play. She doesn't understand why mom sometimes would just like to have a break! I have done a little subbing here and there. I have had all the kids except for Nathan now. Well, I did have Nathan for music one day, for 45 minutes, so that doesn't count! I had Haydn a few weeks ago. He texted me the class before, and said all his friends were excited to have me as the sub! Yes, that made me feel really good! When I came out the door to go to the bathroom, Jessica was standing there waiting for me! She wasn't even upset or embarrassed when I had her class. They both come by my classroom to say hi when I am at the high school. Haydn will come to whatever school I am at and visit me. That has been fun.

Sorry this is getting long. Guess I am just making up for not contributing all those other months! But my goal was to get a picture on the next time, so I kept procrastinating. Now I know it is easy! Love you all...............Susan and the kids