March 2017

March brought a disparate mix of events: a funeral (for Kressyda), a student of the month award, and wrestling. Lots of wrestling.
Parker, Rhece, and Corben were all signed up for wrestling and had practices three days a week, and tournaments on Saturdays. 
Rhece surprised us with how much he enjoyed wrestling.  He was intense and focused and learned some great maneuvers.  He brought home a number of wins and had a great season.

 Corben, on the other hand, may not be cut out for the wrestling life.  This is how he looked BEFORE his first match started, and things went downhill from there.  For as feisty as he is, we were surprised that he wasn't more aggressive and competitive out on the mat. He learned some good lessons about seeing a thing through, even when it's not your favorite, and he wasn't sad when the season ended!

 In March Rhece received the student of the month award for outstanding citizenship in his class at school.  He was so excited to be recognized in this way, although he tried to be nonchalant and hide his pleased smile.  We are so glad to have Rhece in our family and for the good example he is of being kind and looking out for others!

One final view of March is Declan as Cucumber Man, because isn't this what cucumber slices make you want to do too?!

February 25, 2017 A Very Difficult Goodbye . . .

The day started out like most other Saturdays this past winter: base layers, ski gear, and an early morning trip to Purgatory Ski Resort.  I had stayed home with Madelyn, Meredith and Declan as we were all recovering from illness.  Adam and the other boys headed up around 7 am.  The ski day went as it normally did, meeting up with friends from the ward with lots of runs and great skiing. Kressyda had taken her four oldest children up to ski while Cameron (who had been ill) and Poppy stayed home.

Towards the end of the ski day (around 3 pm) Adam called.  I assumed he was calling to tell me that he was heading home.  Instead he told me that Kressyda had hit a tree and was unresponsive.  I could hear urgency and seriousness in his voice.  Within the hour he called to tell me that she had passed away.  

The word "stunned"fails to convey the depth of emotion we all felt.  I had texted with her just the day before.  She had just been skiing with everyone, like every other Saturday.  How could she possibly be gone, in an instant?

What followed for all of us was sacred and painful as we tried our best to love and offer some sort of consolation to her family that she loved fiercely.  

Her life changed me, and honestly, it changed everyone she knew.  Although we know our goodbye is temporary, we still miss her and her friendship deeply.

February 2017

February began much the same as January ended: lots of snow and skiing and winter fun.

Adam took Meredith and Parker to the Roots Tech conference in Provo, UT this month too.  They spent two days learning more about family history and how to further this great work of seeking out our ancestors.  

They also stopped by to visit Granny in the Jamestown retirement facility where she currently lives.

 On the 14th, we also had our traditional family Valentine's Day fancy dinner.  We've done this for quite a while now and it's a tradition that we thoroughly enjoy. I pull out our fancy stem glasses and fill them with sparkling cider and we always have salmon, some type of potato and a steamed vegetable on the side and we eat by candlelight.  Of course, there is always a decadent dessert to round out the meal too.  Some years we dress up, some years we don't, but we always enjoy this dinner!

January 2017

January brought plenty of cold, snow, skiing, and a birthday. 

We received a storm int he early part of the month that brought a few inches of snow.  Of course, this is like a cloud-sneeze in Michigan where we lived for eight years, but is nevertheless quite exciting and makes for some fun snow play.

Declan was happy to play outside for the 20 minutes that it took them to build the snowman and then walked his frozen, soggy jeans back inside for some hot chocolate.

Yes, that's a Halloween mixing bowl they're using to scoop the snow.

The masterpiece is complete!

During this month we went to the Purgatory Ski Resort every Saturday.  Meredith, Rhece and Corben were in ski school every Saturday morning and we spent the day there skiing with friends from the ward, especially the Mings.  We kind of have our ski routine down so it doesn't seem quite so cumbersome as it did when we first started.  Between getting everyone in their snow gear and loading up the equipment as well as packing food, it is quite the process!  Now that we've got it figured out, we have come to enjoy this activity as a family quite a bit.  

It is so incredibly beautiful skiing through these mountains and seeing the beauty that surrounds us!

Here is Corben at ski school. He has done great!

Corben turned five on the 13th of January.  I always take the kids to lunch for their birthday, and Corben chose the illustrious Burger King joint here in town (primarily for the crown, I'm assuming).  Declan was clearly pleased about the event.

Our festivities at home that evening included Corben's choice of cake, which was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  The candles were especially fun because the flames were the color of the candles.

Parker had a Scout camp out in January also and his Scout leader sent us these pictures of the boys having a great time.

Parker flying off a homemade ski jump.

In a snow cave that they constructed.

Taking turns catching air off of the aforementioned jump.

It's a great start to 2017!

The Year in Review: 2017

Well, that was a bit of a break. Since I last posted we have moved twice (to a rental home in Farmington, NM, and subsequently to a home that we purchased here in town); Adam finished all of his medical training (!!!) and bought into a practice here in town; we've added two more kids to the family (Corben and Declan); we now have kids in high school, middle school, and elementary school.  We are happy and well and the kids have said on multiple occasions that they wish I were still writing the blog because they love seeing the pictures and reading about our family. I will try to devote a post or two to each month for 2017 and start fresh on 2018.  If I get really ambitious, I may try to fill in the other years too, but I'm not making any promises yet. In the meantime, welcome back!