Car Rides and Sunsets

We are still getting into the groove after the holidays and we seem to be getting some routines going. Celia got a digital art tablet from school which is pretty fancy and nice. She can draw original characters and its seems so fun for her. We have been riding around town with Spence and Celia to different places. One week we did go to Ikea for a walk. It may not be our kind of furntinture, but it was a people watching experience. We gave Spencer our couch in the our bedroom so we found a replacement piece that can hold my extra down comforters I like to have around. We've been raiding a lot in Pokemon go and its been fun to connect over the phone with our family in Idaho and Utah to play together. We've gotten a lot of rain this month, but we've been grateful for family time and the great sunsets we get as the clouds move out. Valentine's day was great at the grandparents. We brought Tri Tip and it was an encore time from having made trip tip for our friends the Jones' to come over for dinner. Celia has been having fun connecting with an old friend and they are on the phone ten hours a day and its kind of cute. I feel sadness for the earthquakes and devestation that happened in Turkey this month. We pray for them and I'm so great ful our strucutres are buit low and with better strength against earthquakes. I'm grateful for our heat and home and the love we have with our family. We went to ward Temple night and enjoyed that and look forward to going again in March. There are ebbs and flows and times when things are slow and when they are busy, so I'm trying to enjoy each season and prepare for the next big thing grateful for it all.

Beginning of a year, end of a semester.

After the Holidays, I packed up Christmas and Celia and I worked on her semester end. It was so much work and Celia worked like a trooper. We had an extension of time. This was a godsend, a tendy mercy, or relief. many great gains were made. Because of the extra time, moving back to in person school wasn't made a viable option to the disdain of Celiabear. She wants friends and daily interaction with kids her age. She earned getting her hair cut and colored. I felt like her extra time working hard paved the way for success with so many B's and and A. I was glad the boys (Joseph and Patrick) were coming around, even to the house. Celia had some other friends from Westpark High School over here as well. With the big push to finish and all the excitement with friends, there has been a little bit of burnout. During this busy tme, Im still writing for the Auburn Journal and going to Admin meetings for the Demonstration Garden at Loomis Library. I attended book group and have been doing so much for Master Gardeners that I've logged 100 total hours, which should earn me a busy bee pin. All these busy days are a shift in things we do, but I feel there is significant growth in Celia and I. I can't forget Spencer. There were two spcialize dentist appointments and a Quartely meeting for him in January. He has quite a few changes going on in his world, but is supported and is so smart. He finds ways to get himself more groceries and popsicles by demanding a second ride to the store and refusing to eat the normal Little Ceasars Pizza we order for him. January did not fly by, but much was accomplished. We also had three weeks of significant weather. Raining and flooding were abounding. I feel fortunate that our home and property remained in tact. Im hoping for a wonderful February getting into the groove of things and healing up any wounds that needs to be bound, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Full of Family and their friends

It was fun to see Joseph's friend David come home from his mission. He came over and it was like he hadn't been gone. It was the beginning of a month full of games and Pokemon Go runs. We then saw Ethan. The buddies were back together again. Earlier in December we visited the remotw island of Kauai. Our Trip there was so tropical and beautiful and full of figuring out coopertaion with the whole extended family. When I got back, it seemed all about Spencer's teeth and continues to be so. However, we started getting the plus ones coming to town. First Emmy and Laura, then Jordon made a surprise appearance of of Joseph's trunk. Celia had a few trip to the mall with Patrick and Joseph and spent time over at Joseph's house. They talked a lot over discord as well. I love visitng the giving tree at our mall to donate help with water and toilets in other country's. We had a cold snap here and I ran a bunch of coats to Deseret Industries in hopes ofhaving coats for those that need it. I sent Christmas cards as a hopre to say Hi to all I could and let them know I was thinking about them. We had Christmas Eve dinner here and It was fun to host and the ham was so yummy. We did Christmas Brunch at my Mom's and visited Spence for our yearly family picture out in front of his house. He is in a good spot where he is at and we are very grateful. For New year's we had 12 people for posole and Just Dance gamming. It was a blast. I can't believe how blessed we are to have so many friends that came to visit our kids and all the things they did with those friends even not at our house. We are truly blessed with great relationships which are so important in life.