March, A Distant Memory

During the wintertime life in our household slows down quite a bit because we like to hibernate a little and spend our time inside where it's warm and cozy. In March we wake up from our long winter's nap and life starts to starts to get busier and busier as we move toward the end of the school year. I sent my mom an email with a bulleted list of the things that were going on in March and thought it would make the perfect starting point for a long overdue blog post. 

Abigail and Emily had tryouts for their school's varsity soccer team. The sports teams at our high school are in a constant state of rebuilding because there are so many students and even teachers and coaches moving in and out each school year. The soccer team is no exception as this year they had an all-new coaching staff and almost half of the players were new to the team. They both made the team, which is awesome because it would have been really tough for a while at our house if only one of them was chosen! Natalie and Samantha played soccer this spring as well, with practices starting in March and games for all of April and May. They were much less excited to be playing than Emily and Abigail were, but overall the two youngest Moran soccer stars had a good season as well. Samantha held her own on a team where she was probably the smallest player and Natalie learned that goalie is a fun position, and not just because it means you don't have to run as much. 

March was a big month for Emily because that's when her final college admission decision was released. Almost all of the schools she applied to had rolling admissions policies, meaning that in most cases she was able to find out if she was accepted to a school or not within a couple of weeks of applying. The only school that didn't have a policy like this was Brigham Young University, which was the one school out that she wasn't super confident she'd be admitted to. The big day finally arrived and we waited for the email with the admission decision. It was so exciting when she opened the email and found out that she was in! BYU was kind of a reach school in Emily's mind, even though Jared and I had no doubt she'd be accepted. In the end, it didn't really matter if she got into BYU or not because she's decided to go to Utah State University in Logan, Utah for the Fall 2018 semester before leaving to serve a mission. 

Jared was given two weeks of R&R after returning from deployment but he eventually had to go back to work. It ended up being a very gradual return to regular work here thanks to the arrival of a snowstorm. He ended up working at his new job, as the superintendent of logistics and resources for the squadron here, for a day and a half before staying home for three and a half days because the whole area pretty much shut down because of a winter storm. For us, it wasn't too much snow but for England, it was a lot of snow! People here aren't used to driving in snow and there aren't enough plows to really keep the roads clear anyway so we enjoyed a few days together playing in the snow. 

In August of last year, almost a year ago now, I applied to work as a substitute teacher at the schools here. The process was finalized in March and I had my first day working as a sub that same month. So far I've only worked at Natalie's school even though I'm technically assigned to work at the high school. I've enjoyed it and making a little extra money has been pretty nice too. I figure if I can work one day a week in the schools I'll earn enough money to pay for Emily's mission each month. 

Abigail traveled to Germany in March to sing with the DODEA European Honors Choir. She tried out even though she isn't part of the choir at her school and ended up being selected as a soprano; not bad for a girl who insists she can't really sing! She had a great time and still, four months later, is sometimes humming the songs she learned during her week in Germany. Here's a little video with some snippets of their rehearsals and, thanks to Abigail's beautiful red hair, she's easy to spot. 

Jared and I flew out to watch her performance and spent a couple of nights in Germany. It was a perfect little post-deployment getaway! We explored the area around Oberwesel (where Honors Choir was held), got molten chocolate cake at Chilis and wandered around the big BX at Ramstein, went to Abigail's wonderful concert and ran into old friends while we were there, and even found time to eat Doner Kebabs. It was a great forty eight hours in Deutschland!

Our rental car was an OPEL! 

Abigail and Jayden, a friend from our ward here. There was a large contingent of Lakenheath musicians at Honors Band and Chorus!

Emily received her first real grown-up calling in March! She's now a Relief Society instructor and teaches one Sunday a month in Relief Society. The transition from Young Women to Relief Society can be tricky but we're hoping that this will help her along a little bit. Emily is a great teacher and the women in our ward really enjoy her lessons. She'll be missed when she leaves for school next month and won't be teaching each month anymore. 

Jared started courses toward earning a Master's Degree when he deployed and, as of March, was just four classes shy of completing a degree in Organizational Leadership which is pretty exciting. I've gotta say though, after editing and proofreading all of his papers I feel as if I should get some college credit too! 

The high school finally held their winter dance! I say finally because Emily and Abigail bought their dresses for this dance, which is traditionally held in February, in November and the winter formal dance didn't happen until it was technically spring. They'd been waiting a long time to wear those dresses and go to the dance.  At kind of the last minute, it was changed from a winter formal dance to a much more informal St. Patrick's Day dance but the girls decided to wear their dresses anyway.  There weren't a ton of students at the dance that night but they still had a lot of fun. 

And that's March! It went by in a flash and it was way more fun than a busy month with no scheduled days off of school really has a right to be. But when you've got snow days, a mini vacation, dancing, and sports filling your calendar life is bound to be fun.