It seems that every time I sit down to edit the blog, the same thing has happened again in a new location. Namely, more time spent in a gymnasium far away from home watching the girls shake, rattle and roll. It's nice spending time with Cari and the girls, but we have yet to find a gym with comfortable seating. I may have to become a competitor so I can lay down occasionally on the soft mats.

Last weekends meet was in Park City, Utah. We found out too late, that Johnny and his team were there practicing between Olympic events, but we got to hear about Jack Harris' exploits with the Johnny's medal. I can only assume Johnny was willing to let Jack hand his medal to a total stranger in hopes of furthering Jack's social agenda. (However, I'm pretty sure it's the medal winner the girls are swooning for, not his sidekick.) Both girls performed well in at least one event. Abby tied for first on the floor, but apparently sticking 3 separate landings during your beam routine is not impressive to anyone but your father. Ashlyn finished 4th overall for her age group, just missing the podium, but feeling good about herself. Gymnastics meets amidst the 2 weeks of Winter Gymnastics helped me to appreciate the agony of the competition for some, and the joy of victory for others. Congratulations to Abby, Ashlyn, Johnny and team USA Nordic Combined. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Mandi seems to have settled back into her life in Carbondale. She and Kempton are missed here in Rexburg by all. Addison misses his homework mentor. (She derives way too much joy from studying other peoples homework.) The girls are suffering withdrawals from the daily activities she coordinated. Cari misses the live in TV gossip partner among other things, and I miss watching someone with apparent bottomless patience deal with Kempton, Addison and me. (It seems the less fair the gender, the less responsible the individual.)

Alex continues to thrive in the mission field. He is fairly certain that he will be leaving LaPlace this week, and is excited to start a new adventure in another area. He is also starting to contemplate the "after life" and has requested specific information about getting into BYU-Idaho starting next January. I'm impressed that I have a son that is thinking more than a few days into the future.

Addison continues to be happy with his very simple life. School, cartoon network, video games and the occasional snowboarding adventure. He seems to be doing fine in school, knows every show on the CN and conquers the new games he buys in 48 hours. (Straight through if it happens to be the weekend.) He is a little down about the fact that all of his friends have been getting their mission calls, and he is still months away, but then since there is nothing he can do but wait, he watches another episode of Family Guy and moves on. What a great life and attitude.

As previously stated, the girls still spend any spare time at the gym. Ashlyn did manage to celebrate her 10th birthday over the course of the last two weeks. The actual day was February 19, so we had cupcakes with David and Anna and their family after the Park City meet. Then we celebrated with immediate family, and finished it all off with a "friends" party at the inflated bouncing room at the arcade. I am suspicious that the multiple party plan was an effort to maximize her return on getting older, but she has a way of manipulating her mother and me. Both girls are doing well in school and at least for now, the department of family services hasn't questioned us about all the scrapes and bruises they show up with at school.

Life is generally good in the Zollinger home, and the past few weeks have been made better by our friends and family.

Unlike Mandi, we still have a camera and memory card, I'm just too lazy to run back to the car and get it most of the time. There will be pictures next time.