January 2020
The most exciting thing we did in January was go on a trip to Costa Rica, but that will get its own post. Here’s what we did the rest of the month.
January 2018
January was a fairly quiet month for us as we got back into a school and work groove. At the beginning of the month, we fit in a snowshoeing trip. It’s been a dry winter, so we had to drive to Rocky Mountain National Park to find an area with enough snow. It was a gorgeous, cold day. It had been two years since we’d taken the kids snowshoeing. The last time we went, the kids were crying before we…
Pictures on a Snowy Day
Six weeks ago, we went on a camping trip where I re-sprained the ankle I injured in the spring. I wasn’t doing anything exciting, just taking a step down on a hike. It caught me off guard. There I lay on the ground writhing in pain with my family, equally surprised, staring at me. The injury sent me down a 4-6 week path of limited exercise. I spent two weeks in a boot and two weeks in an intense brace….
End of School, Beginning of Summer
I was mostly excited for school to end. I’ll miss the few hours of freedom I get during the school year, but I love the lazy, low-key lifestyle of summer. I love not having to rush my kids out the door every morning or having to remember what assortment of things I need to pack for them that day. I love the absence of homework and how low pressure our activities are. Most of all, I love warm weather and vacations. Summer…
Miss E at Five
Miss Ellen turned five this last week. I was really worried that in the midst of all our preparation and travels for the funeral she would feel overlooked, but instead she basically got to celebrate her birthday for an entire week. She had a party in Cedar City, UT with my family a few days before her birthday. We all rented a condo together through VRBO and had a party after Glenna’s funeral. She also got several gifts from Noel’s…
1st Day of School, Etcetera
This year, the first day of school was completely bananas. There was such an overload of emotions that I was pretty much numb. (And for most of the day Noel literally was numb.) But, let’s back up a minute. The Tuesday before school started, Noel had an appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon. We knew there was a strong possibility that his arm would need to be reset since the bones didn’t look like they matched up in the x-rays from…
A Rule of Threes Day
Yesterday, Noel and I ended a date in the ER. You could say it had been “one of those days.” There’s that saying that bad things come in threes and if I count only the major offenses of yesterday, that seems fairly accurate to me. The day started out innocuous enough. We slept in and were lazily making breakfast. (Oh, summer, we will miss this part of you!) One of the kids wanted to let the cat out and I…
Is Trouble Making Genetic?
Back when I was roughly Ellen’s age, I decided it was time to leave my mark on the world in a very literal way. My mother had previously been an Avon representative and had a good supply of nail polish. When she was occupied (I think gardening) a friend and I got into her stash and proceeded to paint everything – our bodies, my toys and books, the kitchen table – EVERYTHING. I don’t have any photographic evidence of my…
Ellen Turns Four
Ellen has been looking forward to her birthday since Christmas. (Admittedly, I felt very much the same way four years ago about her birth day, but with a lot more hormonal angst.) For months she would frequently tell us, “My birthday’s next!” This year, her birthday fell on a Monday which is a pretty busy (and very Cooper-centric) day for us and I was really worried about how to make the day feel special. The Saturday before her birthday we took…
Goodbye Diapers!
Potty training ranks pretty high up on my worst things about being a parent list. Potty training Cooper was a long process that had it’s own set of challenges and by the time we finally got things acceptably under control I was completely and utterly exhausted on the potty training front. Everyone told me girls are so much easier to potty train and several of my friends have little girls that are potty training prodigies so I was really, really hopeful….