The Keene Family

Last week, I filled in for one of our trainers and flew to LA to help with a FlipGrid training. I've had the chance to use FlipGrid with JT's class at school, and I have a pod and a shirt... so it felt like a good opportunity to log some training hours! Plus, it's my account to manage, and more face time with our biggest customer is always a good thing. So off I went, pod on my backpack! I chose a window seat on the right side of the plane on purpose - water view the whole way down. I ignored it most of the time as I was busy finishing the book Educated and I was riveted! My rental car had Apple Car Play. Okay, now I'm hooked. This will be something I hope to have in my next vehicle! I stopped at The Grove, an upscale outdoor shopping center, to attend my quarterly book club, HookEd. When I parked, I could see the Hollywood hill from the car. That's always fun! Then I met Ali and Madi for dinner at The Henry's. We had such a nice t...

The end of one season of basketball is upon us. We closed up SKYAA winter league with Coach Gary (an amazing experience and one we hope to repeat) with a team bowling party! But basketball continues... all three boys (JT, Sawyer, and Ryder) are signed up for spring basketball on not one but TWO teams! SKYAA Spring League and a tournament team through Compete Athletics. The boys continue practicing on our court when the weather is decent, and they have twice weekly skills practices with kids 8-12 at the high school. JT is loving it, and so are we!

Haley has gymnastics for two hours twice a week, and sometimes I stay and work and watch, and other times I hit up Costco, and last week it was 76 degrees and JT stayed home with friends and I was itching to get out and ride! So I planned to bike a trail nearby, and then suddenly (already pedaling), I realized that I could bike the Tacoma Narrows bridge, which was only a few miles away. I had plenty of time! I've walked the bridge once, but it was so much fun to bike across. And it's harder than it looks - that hill coming off the bridge is no joke! What a beautiful use of my time!

Two years ago, Kristin, Cacee, and I (and our friend Cynthia, who has since moved) went to the Christ the Rock Community Church women's retreat at Alderbrook Resort. It was so fun, and we were excited to go again this year... even though none of us attend church there, it's a great weekend and a nice local getaway of encouragement! We arrived on Friday afternoon and got settled in. The weekend theme was "Under Construction." We hit up the pool and hot tub after our evening session... robes and all. Saturday we had a morning and afternoon session, as well as a short break to walk around the grounds. It was sunny and we all set our activity trackers (we all have Apple watches) in sync as we started so no one would get more points. Ha! I love this photo of us! These two ladies fill my heart. We share life, kids, and addresses... as well as a love for Jesus. What an amazing blessing for us all. :) I joked to Kristin that, when I ...

Haley was so excited for her speaking part in her second grade assembly! At first, after working very hard practicing for a tryout, she was told she would not get a part because she had a speaking part last year. We were disappointed that information wasn't communicated before tryouts... but then she told us she had one last chance - if the learning goal she had written was selected, she would get to read that. She came home the next day bouncing for joy that her goal was selected! She was Goal Sharer #2. :) Haley has such a wonderful group of girlfriends (and some nice boy friends) at school this year. We are so thankful for her sweet crew! Jim had a presentation of his own at work that morning, but JT skipped the beginning of school to attend, and Grandpa and Grandma Cole came too.

When my dear friend Kristin left for Hawaii for a week to visit her husband (who is on temporary station there for months), she asked if we could possibly have Sawyer and Jozie stay with us for the week. Of course, we said yes! Sawyer and Jozie play at our house allllll the time, and our families are friends, and we go on trips together, and we all know each other really well. But living with people is different. And we were so impressed with how well everyone acted. They were patient and kind and cheerful and helpful and everyone got along, save for one incident over the weekend - and that's nothing outside of the normal weekend drama for a bunch of kids playing outside all day. We were so impressed and would totally host them again! Picked up the kids from the bus and went straight to gymnastics on the first day. JT set up a Minecraft party behind the bleachers! I packed four lunches, all week long. Five, counting Jim's. I told Kristin that was my biggest act of...

We enjoyed supporting our nephew Preston's pinning ceremony as he completed Warrant Officer Basic School. We joined him at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Saturday. On Sunday, the kids and I went to see The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane at Seattle Children's Theater. ...and then we dropped the kids off with a baby sitter and went to the South Kitsap Young Life banquet with our friends Kristin and Cacee. It was a whirlwind weekend and we're back in the swing of things this week.