As a family, we've had a few projects in the works for a while now, and this week two of them finally came to fruition. First of all, there are these two:

"Macy's Employee" and "New Yorker" (Maren) standing next to another "New Yorker" and "Charlotte Dennon," the news anchor (Lindsey)

Elf Jr. is a one-hour musical that Maren and Lindsey both played parts in. They have worked SO HARD on this- giving up virtually every weekend for practices, and going mid-week for skill development. It's been kind of a fun journey. This weekend they did three full productions- every one of which was completely sold out. And they both did great. It was fun watching them.

The other project that we finished was the "reflection garden" that Rachel has been working on at the church. At least she was kind-of the quarterback on this one for a committee that also includes me and Ev and a bunch of other people. We were really hoping to get things started before the snow came, and on Saturday morning a bunch of people showed up and we got it done. Phase two will be in the spring, and I think it's going to be very nice.

This used to all be grass. We have some benches and planters that will be installed in the spring, along with more landscaping.

Celebrations all around. It's been a big month for us. The garden, the play, college acceptances, jazz concerts, and lots of beautiful fall weather. Have a good week!

Halloween gets differenter and differenter as we grow up. This year we all spent about an hour hanging out together downtown. Then Evelyn went off to two different parties and was home at 2:00 in the morning. Adalie, Jack, and Lindsey went to different neighborhoods with friends. Maren hosted her own party at our house (well...in our gym) where she was in and out all night. Rach and I sort of had the night to ourselves, where we sat in the living room and talked while handing out candy when the doorbell rang.

Evelyn and her friends were clowns

Addy, the sheet ghost

Jackson was an airplane. He conceived of this costume all on his own, and then made it out of cardboard boxes on Halloween night. It even has flashing red and blue lights on the wings.

Maren and her friends were "old people." A little offensive? But in a funny way, so it's all good? My favorite was when we were walking downtown and there was a person passing out candy next to a skeleton, and she pointed to the skeleton and said "How did my Ex end up down here with you?!" That got a lot of laughs. She has a quick wit.

Lindsey- forever and always the princess

Also, readers of the blog will likely notice that we have been staying pretty close to home lately. That's a little off-brand for us, but I have actually really enjoyed it. Maren and Lindsey are in a play and they have practice every weekend, but it's kind of nice to have that excuse to remove the pressure on myself (imposed by myself) to do other things. Life has been quiet, and that has been good.

The play is coming up this weekend and we are looking forward to seeing them both perform. They had a little "showcase" thing last night where Lindsey was in a Wizard of Oz skit (Munchkin), and Maren was in a vocal ensemble and had a solo part. It's fun to see them doing these things.

Quick little update:

For the last time ever, Ev played on the drumline at her high school. Drums have been a defining part of her life since elementary school when she joined a group of kids banging on plastic buckets. To be clear- it wasn't her last high school performance- just the last football game. Still. We'll miss hearing her cadences when we go to these.

The colors are amazing right now!

I posted this same picture last week, but it is worth noting that Maren is raking in over $100/week with her little earring stand. The manager over at Top This in CDA is so nice to be helping her with this.

This is terrifying. We have another driver in the family. Our car insurance premiums are approaching the cost of our home mortgage.

Maren had a little visit at the ER. All is well, but she's a little banged up after falling on a skateboard at nearly 30mph. Dr: "Do you have any questions?" Maren: "Yes. Has anyone ever died in the bed that I'm laying in?"  Dr: "...  ..."

That might be all for this week. The weather really is beautiful in the fall, and we've loved going on little walks in the mountains around here. Tonight is Halloween and some of our kids are dressing in costume so I'll post those photos next week. 

Have a good week!

 It's been a little bit since I wrote a post, and this deserves some explanation. If you are reading the printed version of this blog, then the prologue in the beginning of the book will fill in some details. In short, we've been very busy and active, but our normal range of travel has been cut down a little bit lately. A big part of this is the role that Maren and Lindsey got in a play that is coming up in November. Rehearsals are on Saturdays, and that keeps us in town. Also, Rachel and I (but mostly Rachel) are in the middle of a landscaping project at our church that requires some meetings on Sundays. To top it off, it turns out that my wrist is actually broken from that little bike thing that happened way back in June (finally confirmed it with an MRI), which is keeping me a little bit sidelined for the sake of recovery. So, yeah- it makes sense that things might seem a little quiet.

Behind the scenes however, we have been more active than ever. I built an office area in my gym and have been taking some online classes just because I'm a nerd like that. We went to a play- White Rabbit Red Rabbit- that is a theatrical experience unlike anything we have ever seen and was really cool. We will be thinking about that one for some time. Rach and I have both spent significant time on the trail (she did a 65 mile ride today). We've done a lot of beautiful hikes in the area (6 miles yesterday on a new trail) and the autumn colors are in full bloom. The Wallace house has seen a lot of use recently, both with Marissa and Wesley's family, as well as with my parents.

Oh yeah! my parents came and visited for several days. Lots of games, walks, window shopping, and good conversations. It's been over a year since they visited and it was nice to have them up for a little bit. We went to the high school football game and watched our team lose miserably to the wonderful soundtrack provided by our kids in the pep band. They were able to see a bit of the play rehearsal, we went out to eat, and, as mentioned, we spent a fun day up in the Silver Valley. It was mostly a pretty good visit. To top it off, as we speak, they are watching Better Off Dead. This movie has become Hazard Family lore, and our kids convinced them to check it out. I consider this a win.

Also- the  most important and exciting news of the week...

Drumroll please....

Evelyn was accepted into Boise State University! 

Not just accepted though. She was accepted in the very first round, on the very first day of acceptances. With scholarships. She's cool like that. For now, she wants to be a CRNA and is going to start down that road with an open mind. She will be applying to other schools, but Boise has the best program for this educational track. Also, Boise is seriously one of my favorite cities and has a really cool vibe and I'm excited to have a reason to go there more often. 

Go Ev! You're pretty cool. 

Ok. That's about it. Have a good week!

Oh- wait. We also bought a couch for the gym and it is apparently the same couch on Full House (remember that show) and our kids are all super excited about it. That is all.

Have a good week!

A hike we went on with Marissa and Wesley's family after an overnight together
 in Wallace

I love the colors and sunsets during the shoulder seasons. This is after a fun evening of pickleball.

Addy took this photo during a class field trip and it totally brought me back in time. When I was in high school I was in a program where we were out in the field 2-3 days/week testing various parameters of Idaho waterways. It was an important time for me. It's neat to see Adalie doing the same things.

It's happening! We are all so excited. :)

Grandma (my mom) and Maren made an apple pie together that was seriously like, one of the best things I have eaten in a long time.

We went on a hike and at the trailhead there was a random piece of exercise equipment. Art? Junk? A nice warmup? Who knows?

Maren made earrings, purchased cardboard backings for them and a rotating stand, and spoke with a local business to get them on the front counter to be sold. This is all so she can earn money to go to NYC and Washington DC at the end of the school year. So far she has made like $60 this week, so it's working pretty well. I think it's neat that she did all of this. Kathy, the owner from Top This, is amazing and you should get all of your fro-yo goodness from her.

Rachel has been a "cyclist" for like ten years now, and this was her favorite ride. Ever. That says something. It is seriously a beautiful time of year up here in North Idaho.

This week we bring you a smorgasbord of little things going on in our family- some more significant than others. Also, though it's not tangible at the moment, I feel an air of momentum starting to build around here. Whispers of...something? Maybe it's the fresh autumn air. Maybe it's that kids are seriously looking into the next stages of life. Maybe it's just that we've had a lot of social opportunities lately, or that the Seahawks seem to be doing okay, or that ski season is just around the corner. I'm not entirely sure, but I like it.

Enjoy some photos:

On Sunday, Maren was involved with the AV stuff at church and the web-cast for services. At the same time, Ev and I played in the band. I think it's neat that we are able to do this stuff.

This guy. Ugh. The trail has been beautiful lately, and I've been going on long skates in the morning (somewhere between 30-50 miles). It's invigorating and the fall air is seriously inviting and I love it. But this last weekend I was stopped in my tracks by this moose. He was standing right in the middle of the trail, and it was at a part where the lake was on both sides, so there was no going around him. It's almost like he planned the move strategically. This photos represents the closest I was able to get, where I then started yelling and throwing rocks to try to get him to move. Nothing. I sat down and ate a snack. I yelled some more. I tried saying please. I did everything. Twenty minutes later he was still standing there. Moose: 1. Logan: 0   I turned around and went back to the car. My morning skate was cut a little short that day (24 miles).

Ev surprised us last week when she invited us to watch her get baptized. This was one hundred percent her own initiative, as we haven't really discussed it at all. She had been in conversation with the pastor though, and planned this whole thing at the lake. Our family all went to support her, and a few people from the church were invited as well. She said she felt like this was an important step for her before she left for college. It was a small, private thing, and honestly, I think kinda neat. I have come to think of things like this as "Grandpa Hazard moves-" unilateral decisions that seem significant, and speak a lot about the self-confidence and integrity of the individual. He did a lot of that kind of thing, and apparently it has been passed down. I respect that.

We went and saw the play "Some Like it Hot-" a fun, jaunty, musical comedy that kept you on your toes. Theater always makes for a good afternoon/evening.

Ev had a photo shoot for senior pictures. We haven't quite decided which one to use yet, but this is in the running.

This is kind of a big deal. Rachel has been going all-in lately with Deaf/Blind interpreting. She'll geek out on it if you let her- it is basically a whole new language that she has learned, and receiving this certificate is rewarding both on a personal level as well as a professional one. And if you ask her, this is only the beginning. That's pretty neat!

The theme for this week was homecoming at the high school, and for some people it got pretty involved. Lots of sports and assemblies. A parade. A dance. Different themes every day. And then the football game, where our team got creamed, but it was fun anyway. As for Maren and Lindsey, they stayed busy as well- not so much with homecoming, but with preparing for auditions for a play that is coming up. They practiced all week, had the audition on Friday, and both of them got parts, so I guess the hard work paid off. Rach and I each had quiet weeks, which wasn't a bad thing. We both got some good trail time on Saturday and watched a lot of football on Sunday. I've also been building out an office space in my gym that's been taking up my time, and I finished that up this week. It's been a good one. Here are some photos:

Every day was a different theme at school. Evelyn's friends are taking a picture of the senior percussionists every day, and this one had Addy in it. 

Drumline at the football game, plus Lindsey who somehow joined them for a little while.

All of the high school kids went to the dance, but none of them had specific dates. That doesn't really seem to be a thing. They each went with different groups of friends, and they all danced and had a great time, and Addy even got a few pictures.

Have a good week!

Three years ago we bought the Wallace House. Since then it has become, in many ways, our home away from home. I can't even count the number of nights we have spent up there. How often it has been used as a jumping off place for hiking, backpacking, bike rides, huckleberry picking, or ski trips. How many movies we have watched, or sleepovers we have hosted. How many walks down the stairs to the swimming pool, local restaurants, or events hosted in town. Our family has come to know several of the store owners on a first-name basis. 

And the crazy thing is that, even though it is all so familiar by now, it still feels like a vacation every single time we go.  Like Narnia, or Terabithia, it's like there is some kind of magic portal at the top of the pass, and once through it, all the rules have changed. Time slows down. You feel lighter, more nimble. The air seems fresher. This is Wallace- a little town that hardly even registers on the map. But it has come to be OUR Wallace. 

We love it.

*****

It has been a slow process, but Rachel and I went up last weekend to put the final touches on our bonus room that we have built. It's nice that it's close enough that we can do this- quick overnighters with just the two of us. The kids are old enough to get themselves off to school in the morning, and Rach and I have flexible enough schedules that we are afforded this luxury on a pretty regular basis. In fact, "Let's go to Wallace" has almost become a code- a way of saying "Life is really busy, and that is good and exciting, but I miss you and we should take some time away from it all." And so we do. These trips are almost guaranteed to yield good conversations and have become an important point of connection in our relationship.

Ok. Here's some before and after photos of the bonus room. It has been a multi-year process, where we put up like one board each time we were there. There are a lot of little stories in those boards and nails. A lot of sweat, and dirt, and a little bit of blood, in carrying a bunch of heavy things up the steep scary stairs. Of plans and compromises and more plans and trips to the hardware store and learning new skills and putting in hours of quality time together. I think it has become the favorite room in the house and will be used a lot, but even if it isn't, it will have been worth it. Sometimes it's not the destination that matters. But for this one, I think the destination looks pretty good.

This is how we started. We did new subfloors and carpet, walls, ceilings, windows, lights, and furniture. Basically, everything.

This was taken from the same place as the above photo. Ceilings are 7.5 feet high and it feels cozy.

We added the electric fireplace heater for warmth in the winter, and I think it adds a lot to the feel of the room. Like a little log cabin. Also, we tried to maintain some sense of history by keeping as much of the original wood as possible.

As for furnishings, we have two full sized beds, and two queen beds (one is a sleeper sofa), making the area super practical when hosting large groups of people.

*****

In other news, these two turned 16. It seems like an important birthday, but I can't really say how it is different than 15 or 17. But yeah- they've been alive for that long now. So...cool. 

*****

In other, other news, Rach and I went and saw the play Julius Caesar. It was done in the original Shakespearian English with a few very minor changes to accommodate the change of setting from Ancient Rome to a modern Women's Penitentiary. I don't know if it was this change, or if it was just exceptionally acted, but this was the best Shakespearian play I have ever seen.