Here is the car on the lot. 2022 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid. "If I were a car, this would be me." -Rachel |
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Monday, March 4, 2024
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
We don't have any pictures this week, so I'm just going to share a few things and my thoughts about them:
1) Evelyn played drums in church again. They did some of the oldies, including "Get Together" by the Yougbloods. That was fun. She really does do a great job and always gets lots of good feedback from the people who are there. I am also impressed at her preparation. She does a lot of things, and puts in the time that it takes to do them well. It's pretty cool.
2) We are picking up the Durango from the shop today. We got new tires on it and got everything fixed up to turn the keys over to Ev. It's a little bit scary. I've been driving with her to school every day and she does a pretty good job, but there have been a few minor incidents that make me worried about turning her lose on the world. I guess we all have to learn though.
3) Remember when Maren got rats a couple of weeks ago? Well, it turns out that unbeknownst to Rachel, she bought a pregnant rat. Now we have 13 of them. I try my best not to think about it, but when I do I find myself a little bit put out. Also, Maren possibly has an allergy to the rats and can't sleep in the same room as them or else she breaks out in a rash. This whole thing is turning into quite the saga. I'm not sure what a happy ending would even look like at this point. Happy or not, the status quo can't last much longer though.
4) A lot of people in our family have been dealing with a little bug with cold-like symptoms. It's been sort of yucky, but I think it's pretty much behind us now. This has also led to a confounding factor in trying to figure out what is going on with Maren (see above).
5) We had a storm come through our area, which led to some of the best skiing of the year. I was at Schweitzer with a friend on Sunday, and then Rachel and I headed up on Monday for more silky smooth turns. I know it is pretty much every week, but I honestly can't think of a much more joyful activity than skiing. It fulfills something deep.
6) Jackson has committed himself to learning how to snowboard. This means that he gets left far behind everyone else, and he has already taken some pretty nasty falls, but so far he has stuck with it. He has two whole days under his belt.
7) On Saturday night, Rach and I went out to dinner with some friends, and then they invited us to a club afterwards. I feel pretty comfortable in a lot of different settings. This club was not one of them. The dinner and the company were nice though.
8) I find myself feeling very grateful right now for the life we get to live. We are all healthy, and able to do things that we like and that fill our lives with meaning. We spend a lot of time together as a family- usually on the weekends- but we each also have our own friends and interests to pursue. I love having teenage kids, and coming home from a ski trip the other day to a house full of friends and activity led to a feeling of deep satisfaction.
Well, that's about it for this week. No pictures. That happens sometimes.
Have a good week!
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Everything about this day was just joyful. Jubilant. Euphoric. |
Maren is actually much sweeter than she looks with her ski mask on |
Shannon did a nice birthday party with family for Maren and Evelyn. |
This is the cake she had made. Pictures of Ev and Mare are printed onto the frosting, and the cake decorator custom designed a bunny (for Maren) playing the drums (Ev, obviously). How neat is that? |
Family, travel, skiing, food. What a great weekend! |
Monday, February 12, 2024
This is one of those weekends that already feel like a dream. Yesterday at this time I was sipping coffee, looking out the window at snow-covered peaks, and getting ready for an epic day of skiing. This was day three in our little condo and had served perfectly as a home base for our adventures, sitting just minutes away from the lift. We had already explored most of the mountain, and since this would be the last day out there, we each had a few specific objectives. Maren and Rachel raced the steep groomers that were used for world cup training. Addy had her best runs- maybe of her life- on the moguls. And Evelyn hit the steeps with the cool headed composure that can only come from years of experience. Lindsey and Jackson...made a snowman...maybe? Panorama is one of those "perfect" resorts with something for everyone, including big mountain terrain formerly only accessible via helicopter. We loved it, and I think it is unanimous that this was the best ski weekend of the winter so far.
And then this morning I dropped Ev off at the high school and just drove into work as if nothing had happened. We'll catch up on some super-bowl stuff tonight, and celebrate Maren's 12th birthday. I'll pick up some groceries, and maybe go to the gym. Life goes on- but for a little while it will feel different as we come off the high that was the weekend.
We had space to spread out a little compared to our normal hotel rooms. Here we are getting ready for the day. |
The condo was next to a big frozen lake |
Speed queens |
I spent most of my time with Ev and Addy in steeper terrain |
Movie nights are a pretty normal part of these weekend trips. |
Getting ready to drop. A little bit lower coverage than normal made these runs extra spicy. |
The view out our window. The mountains up here are unreal. |
Have a good week!
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
It has been such a fabulous, refreshing week. I don't even know that I could fully explain why. Just, a lot of good things all adding up together. Here are some photos:
These two little girls have joined our family. Tito and Daisy. They belong to Maren. She loves them so much. And they are much more manageable than rabbits. |
The obligatory Silver Mountain picture. |
Ev and Josh |
I didn't take any photos during our little local getaway, but I sure like hanging out with Rach and I made her take this selfie with me to signify the time we had spent together. |
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
When the only choices you packed are either ski clothes or a swimming suit. It's okay- the whole evening was sort of silly so it fit the mood. |
Getting this wood up to the attic was stupid. And we only have to do it about a hundred more times. We may have "edited" the ceiling to make this job easier for ourselves. |
Success! Now let's do it again. And again. And again... |
Sometimes you find yourself in the air without understanding why. Lindsey learned this the hard way. |