Welcome to our World

While Kate, Emma, Shelly and I were in Orlando my wonderful in-laws came out for a visit. I was so sad to know I would be missing their trip but happy to hear Hubby would have excellent company while I was gone. 3 grown ups and 5 cousins are much easier and more fun than 1 grown up and 3 siblings!  I enjoyed hearing their stories and looking at the pictures and am so grateful Mark and Kendra made the drive out. ❤️ 

Years ago I had the idea our family should head back to Disney World in 2021 to help celebrate the 50th anniversary. Long story short, here Kate and I are with Emma and Shelly!  It is the perfect time to take a long break and we lucked out in so many ways. Friday: Our flight was delayed but we still made it on Disney’s Magical Express with half an hour to spare. Today we are relaxing at our hotel before the Halloween party tonight. Turns out my favorite kind of pool has a 50s theme! I love all the songs on the playlist. Right now they are playing “Charlie Brown” and I can’t help but bop my head and sing along as I type. We totally got our money’s worth out of Boo Bash!  Short wait times for everything from Jungle Cruise to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which we road twice) to the Tomorrowland Speedway (where we got to see the progress on the Tron coaster).  Space Mountain did go down for a little while while we were in line but it was still probably half the wait time as...

I love summer.  I have a feeling I am going to love summer even more now that I am working in the schools too.  However, there is something about the crisper air that me feel even more grateful than usual. For instance, while outdoors helping students golf during PE, I noticed how easy it was to see the mountains clearly.  I felt intensely grateful that I could stand on the property of where I worked with three of my children attending here, could see the elementary school where my youngest child was, and could see my neighborhood all at the same time on such a beautiful fall morning. Other beautiful fall days I have felt grateful to escort Natalie and A. to the park or watch double header baseball games.  Last weekend my parents had perfect timing.  As soon as they sat down Danny was up to bat and hit a triple, then was able to run home on an error and there was A LOT of cheering!  Sure looked and felt like a home run to us!  Danny is growing up so fa...

If you look closely you will find my mom helping assemble hygiene kits for Afghan refugees. These last fews weeks of watching the horrid attempt of our government to leave a country she loved living in as a child has been very difficult (to say the least).  I am grateful for her love and perspective and am deeply saddened that my nation didn’t do a better job reacting to 9/11 (which we just marked the 20th anniversary of this month).  Revenge is never worth it, even if you call it patriotism. And that hope we had of helping the Afghans against Taliban rule totally and completely backfired. We are mourning opportunities lost, lives lost, and lives permanently changed for the worse. On a more personal note for yours truly dealing with loss, I had the opportunity to attend the funeral of Rachel B. It was evident much time and thought went into the planning. Listening to a father eulogize and sing Mad World to his daughter will touch your heart.  How heartbreaking it is say ...

 This year’s family reunion took my family to Bear Lake, in Utah/Idaho. Since I have only been working a couple weeks I didn't feel like it was appropriate for me to take time off work so Hubby ended up taking our children out of school and driving his truck to meet up with family.  His family reunions are the best! From all accounts the lake was wonderful and our paddles boards, tubes, and volleyball net came in handy but that the best part was when they rented wave runners and a water trampoline.  I experienced some major FOMO as I talked to Hubby but was so happy they got to have a good time.  It was pretty boring without my favorite people around.  With days that I could technically do whatever I wanted, I ended up cleaning the house, doing laundry and yard work (including putting down new mulch that included three trips to Home Depot), taking long walks with the dog, completing some required online training for my job, spending hours on my neglected inbox, ...

  Well, that time of year came and went when I have to say I'm a year older once again.  I am so grateful to family who went out of their way to make my day special and friends who took the time to wish me a happy birthday.  Over Labor Day weekend my parents took me out to eat at Red Robin and my in-laws paid for my new pedicure.  I am truly fortunate that my entire life I have been surrounded by wonderful humans.  And Weezer and Fall Out Boy and Green Day helped me celebrate as well!  The tickets I purchased back in January of 2020 finally came in handy when the Hella Mega Tour arrived in Denver and I loved it.  My favorite part was singing Good Riddance with Billie Joe Armstrong.  I have had that song memorized for over half my life and felt like it was the best way to end a wonderful concert with my handsome Hubby.  After posting online we discovered that friends of ours were there too.  So fun!  I was a little worried about gett...