Lindsey's Birthday and other Tid Bits

The simple purpose of this blog is to fill in all of the little happenings that make up our daily life. It would be easy to gloss over and forget these events, but there is permanence and magic that comes with journaling.

The blog has been a little bit hit or miss recently, but we are now back on track! 

Lindsey's Birthday

Lindsey turned 12 this month, and that is a milestone that we simply can not miss with this girl. Come with me on a walk down memory lane. Lindsey has always been energetic, happy, chatty, and fun to be around. Here are some highlights:

We must begin with Lindsey's head. It is legitimately the perfect round shape. No joke, I think this is Logan's favorite part of her. He will often be heard saying, even today, "Lindsey, I like your head." This may sound extremely weird, but it has an affection to it that can't be matched. It is a thing that just is. Lindsey has a nice head.

I love Lindsey's smile. It lights up EVERYthing and it always has. 

Since L could walk, she has been outside. Often she can be found out in the snow, or on the trampoline. She doesn't like to sit still, and outside is her happy place. I remember being very happy when she could put her snow clothes on by herself because her constant need to be outside necessitated a lot of outfit changes.

At two years old I would always have a list of words the kids could say because the doctor would inevitably ask how many words were spoken by the age of two (50 was the benchmark). All of the kids hit this mark just right, and I estimated over 600 words for our sweet Lindz at her two year check up.

Lindz was extremely mischievous and always up to something. This is one of our many Hiawatha trail rides, and Lindsey had just thrown her shoe 250 feet down the ravine. Logan was able to retrieve it, but these shenanigans were pretty par for the course!

Look Dad! I am a burrito! Linsey has always had a 'thing' for her blanket. The blanket has changed over the years... but the 'thing' has not.

This girl is a fish. She could live in the water full time. She misses our boat more than anyone else and will still occasionally bring up boating memories.

Lindsey full accepted the challenge of keeping up with her siblings. She was climbing around the time she first started to walk. I found these shoes recently and they are tinier than the palm of my hand. 

This picture fully shows who is the little boss in our family. Lindsey would run everything if she could. She is also, to this day, one of the most responsible kids.

This girlie marches to her own drum. Base layers? What are those? I have seen everything from crop tops to tutus under this girls ski gear! 

 

Don't let this cuteness fool you. It must be said that this girl could be nicknamed 'dropsy' for the absentminded craziness that is Lindsey. She leaves a lovely trail wherever she goes. On the bright side, She is never hard to find!

Lindz has been doing Irish for a while now. This picture shows her poise and confidence that she carries with her everywhere she goes, and I am excited to sit back and watch her grow and rock this thing called life.

Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me. We love you Lindz!

Lindsey had a fun sleepover birthday party in Wallace. She had a rainbow theme that incorporated painting on canvases, and creating their own birthday cakes. These girls have all been friends forever, and it is a good time when they are together.

Recently, Lindsey told me that she hates the sound of silence, and whenever it is quiet she will talk. This totally tracks! Remember how she used over 600 words by the age of two? She uses her words often, and if I ever want someone to talk to, she is a good 'go to!'

Maren came up with the perfect present for Lindsey! She took her to the mall for the afternoon and they got their nails done together and went out for ice cream. This picture of Maren and Lindsey makes my heart happy!

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Adalie kept me company while the girls had their Wallace sleepover. I introduced Addy to The Fainting Goat. It did not disappoint. 

While we were in Wallace, Jackson took the opportunity to invite Aurora, Jocelyn, and Seth over for an epic Dungeon and Dragons sleepover. No pictures were taken, but plenty of sweet and salty snacks were consumed, and D and D reigned. 

Huckleberries!

Huckleberries are finally here! We have ventured into the mountains multiple times so far, and we have yet to be disappointed. Huckleberries are scarce this year, but the excitement of the hunt is wonderful!

Climbing

It is still fun having Marissa and her family living close by! We climb together as often as we can manage to get away! I recently went indoor climbing with Adalie and Maren. We have a blast, but didn't get any pictures. Drat!

Theater

We have seen a few plays in the last two weeks:

On a whim, we decided to go see Next to Normal: In Concert at Stage Left Theater. I have had this one on my radar for a long time since this play has stuck with me. We didn't know what to expect with the in concert part, but Stage Left did not disappoint. They never do!

Adalie went to see Tuck Everlasting with her friend, Faith. "It was pretty great and better than I expected. I had a wonderful night out." -Adalie

Come From Away has been a favorite since Logan and I first saw it on Broadway. We shared it with our family when it came to Spokane, and It was Adalie's top play for a long time. It has a special place in our hearts, and last Sunday, I had the opportunity to interpret for the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater's version with a great team. The cast did a great job, and I loved every minute of prepping for this one. It was a fun challenge due to the quick dialogue and song/speaking style. CDA Summer Theater provides an interpreted performance for every show they do. It is wonderful having them in our community! Titanic: the Musical is coming up soon!

Out with Jack

Jack took ME out! he wanted to say thank you for everything that I do for him. He is a pretty cool guy. Thanks Jack!

Leavenworth

Evelyn's Trip in her own words:

Hey, this is Evelyn. Josh and I went on a trip to Leavenworth this last weekend. We slept at the trailhead of Colchuck Lake, and then got up in the morning to hike the five miles to the lake. It was gorgeous, as usual, but about halfway up, Josh saw a bear ahead of us, with red in its mouth, looking right at him. We backed away slowly, and it paralleled the trail following us. It eventually passed by us and was on its way, but it was definitely pretty scary. Part of it was really cool though. The lake was so much prettier than I remember, and we had lunch before coming down again. After the hike we went to Leavenworth to walk around some shops, and then we had a Bavarian Pretzel in an outside restaurant that looked on to Main Street. It was a very fun trip, and hard to summarize into just one paragraph, and we had a ton of fun, and I really loved getting to show him one of the coolest areas I have been in!

Have a good week!

Hey everyone,

So, I've been SUPER busy lately. I feel like I'm keeping about ten balls in the air at the same time, and some things had to give, and I made the conscious decision to step away a little from the blog. Thing is, I look up every day at our bookshelf that has our past yearbooks all printed out, and a part of me just can't let that go. It's too important. So Rachel is going to help, and some of the kids will help, and I might poke in from time to time. Things will probably resume their normal cadence again sometime in September.

As far as exactly what the "busy" has been, I'll save for a different post. It's kind of a lot of things all at once- good things, but things that deserve more space. For now, I want to focus on our last few weeks, because we've been out enjoying a beautiful North Idaho Summer.

Let's start with last Saturday. Rach and I woke up well before the sun and made a quick breakfast of coffee and oatmeal. We then grabbed some stuff out of the car where we had been sleeping and started up the trail. A few hours later, we were roped up and climbing the beautiful granite of Chimney Rock.

Oh, granite, how I love you! Climbers will get this, but the rest of you are just going to have to bear with me. Climbing on granite- especially in the alpine- requires almost an emotional connection with the rock. To start with, there is the movement- big movements requiring the full body. None of this little grab-and-pull nonsense. No- we're gonna push and pull and squeeze and hug our full body around and then delicately tiptoe into the next bit. It's full-on vertical yoga. And then there is the commitment. Much of granite is featureless, with nothing really to stand on or pull up on. It's more an execution of position- of leaning all of your body weight in one direction, while pushing the other half a different way. It can be scary at times, because it requires total confidence in the rock in order to work. If you hesitate or try and hold something back, then you quickly find yourself some air time. But if you give it everything then it accepts your offering and gives back to you tenfold in the form of security and an amazing experience above the ground. It's an exercise in trust that feels, at times, like the rock itself has a personality. I. Love. Granite.

After the climb we hiked back to the car and made our way to a brewery in Sandpoint in time for lunch. It was a great little overnighter with Rach and we held a continuous conversation throughout the entire time.  What a climb- what a day!

Next, I'll talk about the river trip we did the weekend before. We did this one as a family and I have to say that spending three days on the river with no internet or cell coverage was extremely refreshing. With the exception of one class II rapid in the beginning (which was actually pretty intense in a canoe filled with gear) the river was calm, the weather was perfect, and the vibes were chill. We camped along the shoreline and saw lots of wildlife and for the most part all cooperated well in just spending time together. As our family grows up and people get busier these "together times" become more precious, and this trip was just really good for that.

"The rafting trip was super fun and will be remembered for going through the rapid on a paddleboard with Maren. We were very quick to flip over, and clutching onto the board for dear life was quite enjoyable. The peaceful mornings were also nice, and gave me time to read and relax in the beautiful nature." -Adalie

"The river trip was really fun and my favorite parts were the rapids and reading in the morning with Addy. I also hung out with friends this week and went to the mall and a show. I also played pool with some friends and then got Taco Bell. We've all been really into pool recently apparently and we like the vibe of Sunset Bowling. We also surprised Anthony for his birthday. I also went to a barbeque with Josh, Zoe, Ben, and Crystal, which was fun" -Evelyn  

"I had a birthday party and I got some rally cool presents. The river trip was really fun and I got to just sit in the back of the canoe and didn't have to paddle too much. I also found a ton of raspberries (they weren't completely ripe yet though), and got my nails done professionally with Maren" -Lindsey

There is a bunch of other stuff that we could put on here. Maren went to NYC and Washington DC and hopefully she'll get on here are write about that. Sometime soon I'll update my own crazy situation when I get some time. Lindsey had a birthday and Rach brought her and some friends up to the Wallace house for a sleepover and I think they had fun. I'm sure there is other stuff as well. Hopefully we're able to record some of this stuff before it goes down the memory hole.

For now though...


Have a good week!

There are very few times in life where you go through a shift and everything changes. Graduating high school and moving to college is one of those times. Right now, everything Evelyn knows and is used to will soon change. This is definitely an exciting and scary time! As her mom, this is a bit of an exciting and scary time for me as well! As I watch her prepare, I can't help but wonder what she is going to learn, how she is going to change, and how family dynamics will shift. 

Last weekend, Logan, Ev and I went down to Boise for her school orientation. The more I get to know the school and the area, the more I feel that it is a PERFECT fit for Evelyn. Starting with the campus- there is a thriving outdoor club with multiple weekly trips, an active climbing club, a daily bus to Bogus Basin for skiing during winter, an awesome dorm with a great roommate, and a river that runs right through campus. Zoom out to a fifteen minute radius of the school and you will find a thriving music scene, Black Cliffs climbing area, and multiple hikes. Take another zoom out and you can easily make a day trip to City of Rocks, the Sawtooth Range, and Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles. Knowing Evelyn, she is already making plans!

When we were on campus, I couldn't help but feel freaking excited for Evelyn!

As any good parents would do, we naturally had to try out some of the Boise offerings while we were all out together...

We checked out Black Cliffs, the local crag. We approve!

I can totally picture Ev living here!

I had to throw this in there. If you know, you know!

We discovered this gem of a street! Live music in the evening, a variety of restaurants with patio seating, and a pizza eatery dive for college students. It doesn't get much better!

We visited Freak Alley. I chose artwork that reminded me of each of the kids. This was Evelyn's, and it is a perfect fit for this stage of life.

This picture is for Maren. If you know, you know.

Not pictured- During orientation we had lunch at Buster's kitchen. Let me just say that we did NOT eat like that when we were in college(ramen and pancakes). It was a pretty sweet set up with a lot of great options. We also had to try Lime scooters to see if that was a viable option, and Logan and I checked out Hemlock, a downtown restaurant with a smoky vibe, which was offering some Monday night live Jazz. We will definitely be back!

This is Evelyn now, and I wanted to share what I got out of this weekend. First of all, this entire trip has made me much more excited to move to Boise and experience the campus and city. That being said, I am still just as scared to move away from everyone. I will miss having "my people," especially my family, friends, and boyfriend, but I am happy that I get to live in such an amazing area. I get to enjoy the duality of having a cute campus and living in the biggest city in Idaho. The campus itself is amazing, and there are a ton of useful resources. The city is really cool, and there is so much life in it. There is an awesome music scene, as well as a ton of cool restaurants and shops to explore. Outside of the city, there are a ton of options for my outdoor hobbies, and I am really excited for that. This is an amazing place for me to live, and I believe it will be a really awesome part of my life, even if my current chapter is just as cool. 

These were some of the sights and sounds of Boise from Ev.

Jackson's photo highlight this week. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for Maren's NY/DC writeup. 

Have a great week!