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.
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:(
After the show we squeezed in a delicious dinner at The Keg.
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.
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!
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.
Burgers, cake, and his driver's license...what more does a 16 year old boy need?!
Nothing...unless you want to count a worried mom who has no idea how her little baby grew up so fast.
It's always a little sad for me when summer comes to an end.
Thank goodness for fall festivities to keep my spirits lifted!
The Pumpkin Patch is one of my very favorites:) We lucked out with a beautiful sunny day and Dad even got to join us! We were just missing our Kya (and Summer's fingers got closed in the van door when we were getting ready to head home--poor baby).
And not much can compare to the beauty of fall in the Pacific Northwest.
