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Friday, December 31, 2021

Snow: Friend or Foe?

I am starting to understand why my parents always hated when it snowed!  Over these past few years, snow has really been a pain in my butt!  Between closing schools, to causing accidents, to cancelling parties, to not being able to leave my house...to THIS YEAR, WHEN IT CANCELLED MY TRIP TO CANADA😢.  That's right, after finally finding a place to get a covid test on Christmas Eve, then spending 3 hours driving and waiting in line for covid tests, then waiting and checking for results, we couldn't even go because of all the snow.  Snow is on my last nerve! 

But it still is beautiful...and a little fun.





And look how cute the kitties are when they share Summer's snow pants:)

Who stole the trampoline?

I woke up one Saturday morning and our trampoline was gone!!!! 


Then I went upstairs and looked a little closer.  
Can you see it?  Over the fence and across the street?!  I guess it was a little windy--yikes!


I called Mike and he rushed home with a friend (and a guy walking by) and we hurried it back across the street and heaved it over the fence and into our yard.  I still can't believe the wind was strong enough to carry it all the way over!  AND that it didn't get run over...or hurt anyone! 

Our Christmas was Complete

The kitties were adorable



The decorating was delightful



The baking was delicious





The gifts were cherished





The festivities were enjoyed




The family was together




The blessings were immeasurable


Merry Christmas!

Sweet Tooth?

You can't force this kid to do anything she doesn't want to do!  Her tooth was hanging by a thread, but she would not let anyone pull it.  After weeks, even months of wiggling, she said "um....mom" and I looked over and she was holding her tooth in her hand!  All it took was a bite into a chocolate covered marshmallow:)





Zoo Lanterns

 It's rare that I say something is "better than I expected"(usually I am disappointed-haha), but the zoo lanterns were definitely better than I expected!  Unfortunately, Mike couldn't join us because of his knee injury...although I did suggest he let us push him in a wheel chair but he wouldn't go for it.  









Thursday, December 30, 2021

Gaffigan for our 22nd

 January 2020, I planned a fun group outing to see our favorite comedian Jim Gaffigan.  I got a bunch of friends on board (10 couples) and we all bought tickets for the show the following June.  So fun right?!  Well, Covid hit and the show got postponed, then postponed again, and again.  I actually stopped keeping track until I realized it was rescheduled for just a few weeks away...December 17th...our anniversary!

I was shocked to find out that almost all my friends who had tickets still wanted to go....well, except the 2 couples that moved away:(


What a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary.  Laughing with good friends.

After the show we squeezed in a delicious dinner at The Keg.

College Kya

A car accident (resulting in a trip to the ER)...a scooter accident (resulting in a chipped tooth and an emergency trip to the dentist...followed by a 3 hour root canal)...a break up...some roommate drama......an apartment switch...and spending her first Thanksgiving away from home. Even with all that going on, I think Kya would still say, she had a great first semester at college:)  Hopefully next semester will be a little less eventful.  I'm not sure my mama heart can take much more!

The car accident

The scooter accident

Thanksgiving without Kya;(

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Silver Lining

 When Jordan registered for classes this past fall, there was one class she NEEDED to take that was only offered in-person AND on one of her work days!  Her teacher was completely inflexible with attendance.  After stewing over what to do for weeks...we had an idea:)  

I got to watch the kids during Jordan's class on Mondays!  What fun it was to have two little cuties visit for a couple hours.  Is this what it's going to be like to be a grandma?!  I hope so.


Picking up Summer from the bus

UW January 2022

 BYUH → Cascadia → UW

Jordan has gone from majoring in Psychology at BYU Hawaii, to studying Business at Cascadia, to majoring in Communications (hopefully) at The University of Washington!  It's been a bit of a crazy ride, but we are super excited for Jordan to start at UW in January.  She wasn't able to get into the the UW business school (Fosters--it's intensely competitive) and has to take one more class before she can apply for the communications major, but we are pretty confident she will get it!  

With everything the world has been going through these past few years (Covid), it's been hard for Jordan to not have the typical college experience.  Hopefully things will calm down, and she'll be able to enjoy the next few years.  Either way, we are so proud of her and all she has been able to accomplish!



Monday, November 22, 2021

The Story of Duck Dynasty

Down a quiet private drive in suburban America lives a nice normal family.  They have 4 well-behaved children, two adorable tabby cats, 4 well maintained (and safely driven) cars, and kind, respectful friends.  They bought their brand new home in the spring of 2017.  The family shared this private drive with two other houses.  In the 4 years since living in their home, the family rarely saw more than 2 of the occupants of the other houses (there were 5 people living in those houses, they were told).  One of the houses nobody was ever seen entering or leaving...suspicious to say the least.  But there was one man, always watching, always lurking and always angry.  The family called him Duck Dynasty (because he looked like that guy from that Duck Dynasty show).

As the family moved into their house, Duck Dynasty put up signs: "No parking" "Speed limit 5mph" "Slow Down" "Private Property" "Do Not Enter."

When the family had company, Duck Dynasty would come out yelling at their friends:  "Slow Down" "Don't park there" "Move your car" "Get off my property."

When the family would go outside they would get lectures: "You drive too fast" "You need to tell your kids to slow down" "Your cars are too loud coming down the street at night and it wakes us up" "You need to tell your friends they can't park here" "You're parking is causing the concrete to break down."

As days went by, more signs would appear.  Then tree branches, pots, and orange cones were placed to block the family from parking.  

When a storm hit the town, a few trees from Duck Dynasty's yard fell down making a huge mess of branches and debris.  Nobody cleaned it up.  When the Father of the family asked if he could help clean it up, Duck Dynasty replied that he wanted to leave it so the family would stop parking there.

Every time the Mom would drive down that potentially peaceful private drive, she would feel anything but peaceful.  She would feel sorrow and sadness, frustration and anger.  She avoided Duck Dynasty, afraid that if she was left to confront him, she would lose her cool.

Then one day a sign appeared at the end of the private drive.  A sign that was not put there by Duck Dynasty.  A sign with a proposed development of Duck Dynasty's property.  He was leaving!  And, as he made it very clear to the father, he was leaving "because he couldn't stand living next to the family."  

Well, the family finally had peace.  There was glorious peace for at least 6 months.   

Look how many friends they could have over!

Then the family watched with slight satisfaction as the two houses were smashed into heaps of rubble on the ground...all while in the back of their mind, they knew 20+ new neighbors were headed their way.  But none could be as bad as Duck Dynasty...right?!  

Demolition Day



All cleared out!  Peace at last:)