A Little of This and That in January

We broke up the long days of January with a couple of trips, but when we were home, it felt like a lot of hibernating, which I don't mind at all.  Slow, cozy happenings from the month included . . . 

Kicking . . . off 2025 in sunny Arizona. I already wrote all about our trip in this post, but it was a great way to spend the first few days of the new year.

Entering . . . a new decade. I turned 40 at the beginning of the month. I've been gearing up for this milestone birthday. I spent the last year attempting to connect with 40 friends or family members in a meaningful way. I got close to that number but still have a few more that are in the works. The real 40th  celebration is happening later this year when Mike and I go on a bucket-list trip, which I'm very excited about. But my actual birthday was nicer than I could have hoped for. Mike took me out to breakfast. Then my sister and her baby came over for a few hours, and we watched several episodes of Gilmore Girls. In the evening, Mike made dinner and cake, and most of my gifts had a 40th birthday theme to them. 

Paying . . . for guitar lessons. Starting this month, Aaron paid for his own guitar lessons. He had been doing very little practicing, so we told him we were done paying for lessons. I thought he wouldn't care since he clearly hadn't been giving it much attention, but he was actually very disappointed and said that playing the guitar was one of his favorite things. We told him he'd have to pay for his own lessons if he wanted to continue, but we would pay him back for every hour of practicing (or performing) he did. His practicing dramatically increased once the money disappeared from his bank account, and he got a large percentage (but not quite all of it) back at the end of the month. (He usually practices pretty late at night, and most of us are already in bed, but one of my favorite things is listening to him play Blackbird as I drift off to sleep.)

Eating . . . out with friends. We tried a new-to-us sushi place with Mike's cousin, Rachel, and her husband, Micah. It was called Sukiya, and it was amazing. We got the all-you-can-eat buffet, but on top of a traditional type of buffet, you also could order any sushi rolls from the menu and they would bring them freshly made to your table. Highly recommend. A couple of weeks later, we went to Sara Thai Kitchen with our friends, Ashley and Tim. We are always trying new Thai places, but I honestly don't know if I need to try any more after this because this one was pretty amazing and next to my other favorite Thai place (Top It Frozen Yogurt--yes, it really does have Thai food), I think all my Thai needs might be met. Besides the food, it was also so great to catch up with these two couples that we love spending time with. 

Losing . . . a beloved pair of mittens. In 2018, I knitted a pair of cabled mittens for my grandma. When she passed away in 2023, my mom gave the mittens to me, and I have loved wearing them ever since. Not only are they the perfect fit and density to keep my hands nicely warm, but I thought of my grandma every time I wore them. Maybe I was being overly sentimental, but I loved thinking of her hands inside them as my hands were inside them now. But sometime during the month, I realized they were missing. At first, I was sure I had just misplaced them somewhere and they would turn up, but when that didn't happen, I went on an intensive search for them. I looked in every coat pocket, turned the van upside down, searched in every bag I own, looked under beds and chairs and couches. The last place I remember having them was on a hike I went on with my sister-in-law and niece. But I had them look in their car, and I even went back and hiked the same trail a few weeks later. I am so sad to lose these mittens because they feel irreplaceable. I could make the same pattern with the same yarn but they wouldn't be the same because they wouldn't have belonged to my grandma. 

Spending . . . three days at Disneyland. We took Clark, Ian, and Silas to Disneyland for their Christmas present. I hope to write about all of the highlights in a separate post, but we loved (almost) every minute. They were definitely some long days, and we might have reached our limit of fun sometimes. The three older boys stayed home alone (with a few check-ins from family members), and the most noteworthy thing was that they watched too many Marvel movies. 

Celebrating . . . Silas. The person who was much more excited for his birthday than I was for mine was Silas. He turned three, and anyone who remember all the fake birthday parties we had over the past year will know what a big deal it was to him to finally have the real thing. (Although, interestingly, just like me, he didn't want to turn another year older. He enjoys being little so much and is quite anxious about being old enough to go to school someday.) In spite of having a birthday on the busiest day of the week (Wednesday), he was thrilled with absolutely everything: his birthday bucket, doughnuts for breakfast, being sung to at music class, getting french fries at Mike's work, opening presents, his crocodile cake, and ice cream. Three-year-olds are so easy to please. His favorite present was probably a drum pad. Now he can beat out rhythms until we all go crazy My dad and Angela and Blaine came over for a little birthday party, and my favorite part was when everyone was playing Let's Go Fishing and Crocodile Dentist like they were the best games ever.

Continuing . . . to celebrate. Silas and I continued to get spoiled for our birthdays as the month went on. We had a little mini-party for Silas at my parents' house on one of our Thursday visits when we had another cake with candles. On another Thursday, my mom and I went out for pedicures, and Silas got a marching drum that he can wear around. Mike's mom also came over one morning to give Silas a few puzzles, which they then put together. My friend, Sarah, stopped by and gave me a few curly hair tools to try out, which was so thoughtful. 

Giving . . . curly hair another go. Speaking of curly hair, my hair has some natural wave/curl, and occasionally I will go through a phase where I try to embrace that texture instead of straightening it away. The most recent of these endeavors was in 2020 when I thought I didn't have anything to lose since no one was going to see me anyway. I gave up after a few months because I couldn't ever get it to behave past the day that I washed it. However, in the last few weeks, I noticed that the daily heat was really damaging my hair, and it seemed kind of silly to straighten it every day instead of just encouraging its natural texture. So I'm giving it another try. And so far, I've had more success, especially with second and third day hair, than I did last time. I'm also letting myself go back and forth between curly and straight because it feels like a lot to commit to 100% of the time. 

Playing . . . basketball. Clark was on such a fun basketball team this winter with a bunch of school friends and two really great coaches. Clark started out the season fairly timid, afraid to get any fouls called on him. And by the end, he was shooting and making baskets. They had a winning season, and the only team they lost to, they ended up beating in the final game. 

Arriving . . . late to the Wicked party. We finally saw the new Wicked movie. Aaron, Max, and Clark saw it one afternoon, and Mike and I saw it that same evening (why we saw it in two shifts is a long, uninteresting story). I have seen the broadway show twice and love the story and the music, so I was excited about the movie. Overall, it was stellar, and I loved the casting, cinematography, choreography, and costuming. My one and only gripe is that it was too long. No one else seems to be saying this, but I think it could have easily been cut down by twenty minutes just by trimming a few of the slow, very drawn-out, dramatic scenes. Don't hate me. 

Failing . . . to cut out sugar. With the start of 2025, I vowed, "We are purging this house of all candy and treats!" I felt like we needed to do something drastic to get Silas' eating habits under control. He loves sweets and hates regular meals, and I know this is our fault . . . particularly the big boys who love to share candy with him. But honestly, this ended up being so much more difficult than I thought it would be. Never have I been more aware of how much sugar comes into our home without any help from me: grandparents, neighbors, school, brothers, church. I realized that without becoming absolutely rigid and making everyone afraid of me and my rules, it would not happen, and I wasn't willing to do that. And then I was talking to our pediatrician at Silas' three-year well-check, and he surprised me by saying that he was actually fine with sugar; it was actually the food dyes he was more concerned with. So I guess I'm just going to try harder to limit snacks and focus on healthy meals (not as easy as it sounds with this very opinionated child). 

Buying . . . a "new" sewing machine. This was a long time coming. I have wanted to upgrade my sewing machine for years, but I was so overwhelmed with all the brands and choices. I asked many of my sewist friends for their recommendations (including reaching out to my sewing teacher from when I was a teenager). I searched ebay and the classifieds and finally decided to go with a Pfaff Creative 7530 that I found on ebay. This was almost identical to the machine my sewing teacher had. There was a bit of drama when it originally arrived and the pedal didn't work. But luckily, my resident mechanical engineer got things working properly. The very first thing I sewed was a superhero cape for Silas. I made one for each of my boys when they were about Silas' age. Amazingly, they were all still able to find their capes, so we had to get a photo. The sewing machine worked great--so smooth and easy to control. After the cape, I made a sweatshirt for myself and currently have more projects cut out and ready to go. (As far as knitting, I finished my pair of Jo socks at the very beginning of the month, I shortened the very first sweater I ever made so that it fits me better, and I made a lot of progress on a lot of other projects but didn't actually finish anything else.)

Falling . . . in love with the Disney classics. While we were in California, we watched The Little Mermaid in the hotel one night. Silas loved the Little Mermaid ride and really wanted to see the movie, and it was a winner. (To our question, "Who's your favorite character," he usually answered, "Ursula.") When we got home, we watched Robin Hood. He watched that one at least four times in a row (it also coincided with him being sick.) And since those two movies, he's watched a plethora of the old Disney classics, and most of them still hold up.

Reading . . . a few fun books:

The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon (I started this book a few months ago but had to stop partway through to prioritize some other reads. I finally finished it this month and enjoyed it a lot. I love a good historical retelling. The audio grated on me a little (even though I know it has received high praise), so I kind of wish I'd read instead of listened.) 

Invisible Inkling by Emily Jenkins (a cute readaloud with Ian)

It Happened One Road Trip by Becky Lamb Jensen (My friend's debut novel, and the cutest rom-com you'll ever read.)

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (Such a delight, made even more delightful by Mike reading (and loving) it too.)

Singing . . . during Family Home Evening. As part of our family nights on Mondays, we have seven assignments that get rotated through. One of these assignments is to share a talent or skill. Maxwell joined the tenor/bass choir this semester, and one day, he had to sing a short solo. So when it was his turn to share a talent, we said, "Sing your solo for us!" He had found a karaoke version of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" that he used at school, so that's what he sang for us as well. First of all, I just have to say that I was kind of shocked when he started singing: he was on pitch and had good volume and tone. It seems he became a good singer without me even realizing it! But then Aaron was like, "I want to sing it too!" So he also did his own little solo. The karaoke arrangement had five verses of the hymn, so we just kept going: Bradley took a turn, then Clark, then Ian and me, and finally Mike. This was so fun for me to hear each of my kids' voices, one by one. 

Continuing . . . with Let's Play Music and choir. Speaking of singing, Silas and I kicked off another semester of Let's Play Music (Pink Piggies). It is so much fun doing these classes together, especially with Ms. Liz always working her magic. Clark, Ian, and I are continuing to do the elementary school choir twice a week. As I already mentioned, Max joined the tenor/bass choir at school, and Aaron is still in Troubadours. And Mike, Aaron, Max, and Bradley all participate in the youth choir at church. So there's a lot of singing going on at our house.  

And I guess that wraps up this month. Kind of a shorter recap, but that's how January goes.

A Winter Getaway to Sunny Arizona

The kids had a long break from school during Christmas, and we decided to put it to good use and visit the most magical place in the world in January: Arizona. It had been four years since we'd been, and the sun and the Langstraats were calling to us. 

We left a couple days after Christmas and stayed over the new year, and we got home with a couple of days left before school began again. It was such a nice way to spend the break, and we bottled up all the fun and warmth and memories to help us get through the rest of winter.

I've written about previous vacations to Arizona here and here.  Because we did this most recent trip over winter break instead of a long weekend like we have in the past, we were able to stay for a full week and just settle in and and enjoy our time. Even so, it was still over too quickly. 

One activity that is sadly not going on the highlights is Tombstone. In spite of us doing our homework and watching Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and driving two-and-a-half hours each way to get there, it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. I won't get into all the reasons why, but the two things we ended up being happy we did there were the gunfight show and Boot Hill. 

But now, onto the actual highlights, of which there were many:

The Langstraats

Top of the list for sure was spending time with these dear friends. We met Curtis and Alicia in 2006 when we were all newlyweds. Not only have we stayed friends but our kids are all friends, too, and it's just the best. (We've grown to sixteen in number now!) Curtis is an airline pilot and had a pretty flexible schedule the week we were there, which was so nice because it meant they were available to hang out, play games, and go on most of our adventures with us. (We made sure to give them some space from us too so they didn't get sick of us too quickly.) 

Even though we went and did a lot of fun things, some of the best times were just hanging out at the nearby park or playing games. (And Clark and Ian were quite smitten with their cockatiel, Willow.) The Airbnb we stayed at also had a pool and hot tub, and we took full advantage of that as well. 

And I must briefly give a shoutout to the weather, which was so perfect, we forgot how perfect it was. There wasn't anything to comment on: it wasn't too hot or too cold or too windy or too sunny or too rainy. It just was. Day after day, it was absolutely, completely comfortable. 

Mesa Temple Lights

Our first night we went to the Mesa temple lights. I've heard these compared to the Lights on Temple Square, and I see why the comparison is made. However, it didn't feel at all like they were trying to copy Temple Square. They put their own desert spin on everything, and the lights felt completely unique. For example, many of the trees are not really conducive to stringing lights around, and I was quite enamored with the wound up balls of lights that were instead placed in the trees.

 

One of our favorite parts was the large display of nativities from all over the world. Some of these were quite large and elaborate, while some were so tiny the figures were literally made out of grains of rice. Unfortunately, Silas was feeling quite done by this point, and waiting in line to get to the exhibit was not in his plans, so Mike pulled out with him just as we were entering the room.  

Musical Instrument Museum

This museum was recommended by one of my friends just a few weeks before our trip, so it was at the front of my mind. Our family doesn't typically prioritize museums, especially when we have the younger kids with us, but we decided to give this one a try, and we're so glad we did!

One of my issues with museums is that it can be hard to take in all there is to see in a memorable way. But MIM made everything so easy and accessible. All of the exhibits are accompanied by audio and visual pieces. So you not only get to see the instrument but watch it being played and hear what it sounds like.

Each person gets a set of headphones upon arrival, and these headphones require no technical help from the user. All you have to do is put them on and then they can tell where you are in the museum. So if you stand in front of an exhibit, the audio for the accompanying video will begin playing. No starting or stopping or finding the correct track. So genius.

We went to the special Stradivarius exhibit first followed by the Geographic Galleries, which take you through instruments in each continent. The thing I wish I'd known going in was how extensive these international galleries were going to be. We started with Africa and went through it exhibit by exhibit. But Africa alone was as large as some entire museums. The number of instruments was staggering. I realized there was no way we were going to be able to see (and hear) it all. 

By the time we got to Asia, we were moving quickly, and once we were to Europe and America, we were practically running because closing time was rapidly approaching. But at every turn, we were distracted by something: the recycled instruments! the collection of saxophones! the trumpet with two sets of valves! the 360-degree drums! I was bummed because I could see that Europe and the United States were the areas that I personally had the most interest in, but we were out of time. 

The other cool area we explored was the Experience Gallery, which, as you can probably guess, is filled with instruments you can touch and play and try out. Silas and Ian loved this area, but so did the rest of us. I mean, who hasn't wanted to beat a huge gong before?! 

All in all, this museum was well-worth a visit. We were there for three hours and definitely could have spent three more, although I will say that after three hours, our senses felt completely saturated, so it's probably best to split it into two or more visits.

Organ Stop Pizza

This place was so fun! Talk about a unique, original, one-of-a-kind place--try combining concerts on a Wurlitzer pipe organ with eating pizza. You kind of have to see it to believe it.  

When we arrived, the line was winding out the door, and our kids were so hungry (we had just come, rather fittingly, from the Musical Instrument Museum). Luckily, we heard rumors that the line usually moved very quickly, and that proved to be true. 

The organ is located in a large dining hall with two levels. Long tables and benches fill the space, and you just have to wait at the doors for a place to open up and then snag it before someone else does (easier said than done when you're trying to seat sixteen people together). Fortunately, the organ concerts are only about twenty minutes long followed by a ten-minute break, and it's during these breaks that customers tend to clear out and make way for new people.

The organ itself is a feast for the ears and eyes. It has control over a variety of percussion instruments, special effects, and lights besides the more traditional stops you'd expect to find on an organ. The organ descends into the stage between sets and then rises up again when the next set begins. We heard everything from classical to show tunes to Disney to pop songs. The organist takes requests during each set and always plays happy birthday for celebrating guests. 

The pizza wasn't anything to write home about, but the music and production definitely made up for that. (And bonus, Mike happened to run into his cousin, Ashley, while we were there!)

Cross Cut Loop

We went on a fun hike one morning. It was just the right length and level of intensity for our crew. As we hiked, the pairings and groups of kids and adults naturally shifted and rotated so that, for example, these six were talking together and then two and two and two, etc. The outcropping of mountainous rocks stood out in striking contrast against the brilliant blue sky, and we saw many varieties of cacti that we never get to see at home. And the weather, as already mentioned, was just about as nice as you could ask for.

Gilbert Temple

Alicia scheduled a time for the teenagers to do baptisms at the temple in Gilbert. Even though some of our kids are too young to go inside, we all ended up going. Mike, Curtis, and Alicia went with the teenagers, and I stayed outside with Clark, Ian, and Silas. 

We had the nicest time walking laps around the temple, stopping at the fountains for a bit of a break, and then resuming walking again. The teenagers also had a really nice time performing baptisms and being confirmed. It was Ryan's very first time.

Afterwards, we all went to Bahama Bucks (a shaved ice place), which is a tradition for us when we come to Arizona because, up until recently, Alicia's parents owned several locations. 

Cash on Delivery at Hale Center Theater

We went on a fun double date one evening with Alicia and Curtis. We went out to eat at Joe's Real BBQ. I ended up getting all sides and no meat because I'd had a lot of meat by that point in the trip, and I was kind of over it. But the thing we really loved was the prickly pear soft serve ice cream we got from Topo right after. The perfect sweet and tart combination.

We love going to plays at Hale Center Theater here in Utah, so we were thrilled we could check out their location in Arizona. We saw Cash on Delivery, which was just the funniest, wackiest story of deception, misunderstanding, and people not being who they say they are. We laughed until our cheeks hurt, and we continued to make references and have little inside jokes about it for the rest of our trip. We kind of felt like we were two newly married couples all over again, and it was so fun. 

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

When we went to Arizona in 2018 and then again in 2021, we went to Rooster Cogburn's, and, even though it was a favorite those times, I really didn't think we needed to do it again. But Mike insisted that it was a classic and we couldn't pass up an opportunity to go.

So we went, and he was right. It didn't matter that we had done it before--the kids still loved it just as much. 

We got our cups of animal food and went around to all the different stations: the donkeys, deer, parakeets, ostriches, sheep, rabbits, ducks, stingrays, and chickens. Most of our group "kissed" the goats (not me). And the rainbow lorikeets were the most eager and friendly we've ever seen them. Additionally, there were desert tortoises that we fed little pieces of asparagus to, which we'd never seen before. It felt almost like feeding a dinosaur, the way they opened their jaws so wide to chomp down on the asparagus. It was maybe my favorite animal of the day.

We also did something we'd never done before and that was the Monster Truck Tour. We sped through the Sonoran Desert in a large vehicle with an entertaining tour guide who told us all kinds of interesting things about ostriches as well as the ranch itself. We got to hold a real ostrich egg and feel ostrich feathers. We stopped at one point to "fish" for ostriches (we lowered oranges attached to fishing rods, and the ostriches came over and gobbled them up). Rooster Coburn prides itself on bringing the unusual to its ranch, so when I tell you that the Monster Truck stopped in the middle of nowhere so we could watch a dog and duck show, that shouldn't surprise you at all. 

The saddest part about our trip coming to an end was just saying goodbye to the Langstraats. It's hard to think about the inevitable changes that are coming for both our families in the next few years as our kids grow up and leave home. It kind of feels like things won't ever be the same as they were this time (but hopefully better, right?).

The other sad thing about coming home was the snow that awaited us. The days of perfect temps and temperate sunshine were over.