I recently heard a saying, "January warm, the Lord have mercy," indicating that if January comes without snow, it will make for a difficult summer later on. And unfortunately, that is exactly what our January has been: not a snowflake in sight. My photo taking has also been almost non-existent, at least of the daily variety, so we'll see what I can dig up for this month. Some things worth mentioning are . . .
Throwing . . . out his back. Mike started off the new year by sneezing in such a way that he totally messed up his back. When it first happened, he couldn't move much at all because he was in so much pain. But little by little, day by day, things relaxed and his motion was restored. Now if he would only stop doing dangerous things like sneezing!
Becoming . . . a sunbeam. Silas was so nervous and sad to leave nursery and go to primary with all the big kids, but he loves it. His three teachers are the sweetest. Silas told me, "My teachers love me so much," and I know every child in their class feels that way. One day, he asked me if I wanted to hear the patience song. I had no idea what song that was, but I said yes, and he proceeded to sing the cutest song that his teachers had taught him in class: "Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry . . . " There were changes for the big boys too: Clark graduated primary, received the priesthood, was ordained a deacon, passed the sacrament for the first time, and went to the temple. Maxwell was ordained a priest, blessed the sacrament, and performed proxy baptisms at the temple. Four of our kids are now in Young Men's, which is kind of crazy to me.
Turning . . . another year older. I had a good cry about my birthday a few days before, which meant that I actually had a great birthday on the actual day. It was on a busy Wednesday, but both Ian and Silas were sick, which meant I was "stuck" at home (my favorite place) and got to just spend the morning knitting and reading. I got a flower delivery, which felt so fancy and special. Mike brought me lunch. And then in the evening, I hosted my knitting group, and they were kind enough to sing to me and eat cheesecake. A couple of days later, Mike made me the best chocolate cake and we had a little family celebration. So really, a very nice day, and I'm trying to be okay with the passage of time.
Playing . . . basketball. Both Aaron and Clark are on rec basketball teams this winter. Aaron's team is composed of his very best friends, and it makes me so happy to watch these senior boys playing together. It's purely for fun, and they are having a blast. (Clark, on the other hand, isn't enjoying playing quite as much, but he is loving every single rehearsal of the junior high play . . . more on that next month.)
Listening . . . to such a good podcast episode. I listened to "A Deeper Look at the Creation Story" on the Faith Matters podcast, and it was beautiful and enlightening and even a little bit mind blowing. Highly recommend. As far as books were concerned, I also visited an old favorite (What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty), escaped with a little mindless chick lit (My Phony Valentine by Courtney Walsh), and felt so much anxiety every time I listened to Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (book club for January).
Working . . . on a STEM fair project. Ian's project had something to do with water in vegetables and electricity . . . and this is why I shouldn't be the sole person in charge of writing these updates because clearly some details are lost on me. Grateful to Mike for always spearheading the science projects. In other Ian news, he was also star of the week in his class, so he got to share his favorite picture book, bring items from home for show and tell, do a science demonstration (thanks again, Mike!), and fill up the estimation jar.
Saying . . . goodbye to our favorite Addie. She's off to Hong Kong to serve a mission for our church. My kids said this has been the hardest goodbye they've had yet, and I'd have to agree. She's always been a big part of our lives: piano lessons, babysitting, game nights, dinners, school, band, seminary, holidays, hikes, hanging out. She is such a light, and we are already missing her.
Knitting . . . a little orange jacket. When Silas was one, I knit him a light blue jacket, which he wore all the time for a couple of years until he completely outgrew it. I wanted to knit him a replacement jacket, but now he has much stronger opinions about color than he did when he was one. He loves orange. He loves it so much. So when Mike, Bradley, and I were in Tennessee, I picked up a couple of skeins of very orange yarn for a new jacket. It was pretty bright for me, so I decided to add navy blue as a contrast color. (Growing up in Colorado meant that this color combo screamed Broncos to me, but I did it anyway.) It's a good thing I added the contrast color because I used up every last bit of the orange. (Oh, and not to go on too much about this jacket, but the zipper took me about five hours to install, but it looks so nice, it was definitely worth it.) Silas loves it and has worn it pretty much every day since I finished it. In other knitting news, I started two sweaters, a blanket, and a pair of socks. One of the sweaters is for a class that I'm teaching at Handwork over the next three months.
Wrapping . . . up another season of the Great British Bakeoff. We are behind the rest of the world and just finished Season 15. I think it took us almost a year, which is kind of embarrassing, but we like to savor the episodes (pun intended). For the finale, Mike and the Gardners made several of the bakes from throughout the season, and we feasted and watched and feasted some more, and it was perfect.
Remembering . . . Alisa on her birthday. We had a tailgate party at the cemetery. There were over fifty of us there. We ate and colored rocks to decorate her gravestone. The little kids chased each other through the grass. We talked in little groups and got a big group picture and tried to stay warm. I don't know if there's ever been so much life in a cemetery in the middle of winter on a January day. The next day, some of the adults went to Olive Garden so we could continue chatting and remembering. Mike's dad told some favorite stories about memorable vehicles they owned over the years and what happened to them in the hands of inexperienced drivers. It was so nice to be together.
Engaging . . . in a friendly little baking competition. Our friends invited us to participate in a bakeoff, and we readily accepted. We divided into four teams comprised of members of both families. Each team was randomly assigned two ingredients to be used in a dessert. These were very traditional ingredients, like honey or sweetened condensed milk, nothing weird or wild. We had two teams working at each house. My team decided to make seven layer bars (the ingredients we had to use were coconut and graham crackers). We all convened at the end to sample each dessert and vote on our favorites. It was a good time.
Wearing . . . glasses. Aaron had an ophthalmologist appointment and ended up needing a small prescription. So glasses it is. He doesn't wear them all the time, but they've been especially helpful at school and when he's driving.
Donating . . . platelets. Mike used to do it somewhat regularly a few years ago, but hadn't done it in awhile. It's a commitment because it takes about two hours, and it's not the most pleasant experience. Aaron had so many platelets and blood transfusions when he was sick, and so we definitely feel like we owe it to the medical world to give back, but we got out of the habit. I admit, it's a bit of a mental block for me because needles make me squeamish (and I've never braved platelets, although I know I should because my blood type is a universal donor for platelets). All that to say, when the blood bank called Mike and asked him to donate, he made an appointment and did it. Now if I could just do the same.
Cheering . . . at so many basketball games. Aaron and his friends have been to so many Jazz games this season; I'm not quite sure how they managed it but between tickets for Christmas gifts and cheap or free tickets through junior Jazz and jersey swaps, it seems like a week doesn't go by without another Jazz game. And besides that, Aaron also got to go to a BYU basketball game with one of his friends, as well as a VIP game with Grandpa Paul. So all in all, a very good basketball season (at least as far as attendance goes--maybe not in terms of wins).
Initiating . . . the Great Vehicle Swap of 2026. So . . . where to start? We had three vehicles: our family van, Mike's truck, and a little electric car. In December, Aaron and a few friends went downtown to trade in their Jazz jerseys. Aaron was driving our van and scraped the side of it in the parking garage. He was in the van because the electric car has such a short range and the truck is expensive to drive and difficult to park. We realized it would be nice to have another vehicle that the teenagers could drive that had a longer range but that I wouldn't be sad about if it got some little bumps and scrapes (because, I admit, I was sad about the van). The truck just really wasn't pulling its weight. Yes, we loved having it when we needed to haul something, but other than that, it just sat in the driveway with all of us avoiding it. So Mike decided to sell the truck and replace it with an inexpensive, older Nissan Pathfinder. Mike is not precious when it comes to vehicles: yes, he loved having a truck but he wasn't sad about letting it go for now. Plus, he loves nothing more than searching the vehicle section of the classifieds.
Celebrating . . . a new four-year-old! Silas had been excitedly anticipating this day for so long. Most of his friends and cousins are older than him, which meant he had watched each one turn four and had felt thoroughly left behind still being three. He had the best day, even though it was so busy for everyone else in the family that we were all home at the same time for only five minutes. But it's easy to have a good birthday when you're four, regardless: donuts for breakfast, a near-constant stream of little presents throughout the day, a visit to the zoo (and a ride on the carousel), french fries for lunch at Five Guys, a trip to the toy store with Bamboo, and an awesome orange dragon cake (with candles and singing). He was a happy guy, and it was a joy to celebrate him.
Trying . . . out a couple of new places. We went out to dinner with Rachel and Micah in Provo, and now I can highly recommend Fancy Burger (it's been a food truck for awhile but they just opened a sit down place, and we loved it) and Vinci's (gelato at its finest--don't skip the pistachio drizzle). It was so nice to catch up with them, and we even spent conversation time on harder topics (not always my favorite, but it felt helpful this time).
Singing . . . along to Neil Diamond. Mike and I went to the movie theater to see Song Sung Blue. Mike loved it. I thought the middle was so depressing and bawled my eyes out, but I can appreciate the redemption and hopefulness that came at the end (while still being so sad! Just prepare yourself if you watch it). However, Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson were absolute magic together, and I loved it for that. And watching that movie kicked off a Neil Diamond obsession for us, and we listened to both the soundtrack from the movie and Neil Diamond himself. Kind of a fun way to break up the monotony of January.
Losing . . . a tooth. One of Ian's front teeth finally started to wiggle. He worked at it for days. I was sure it was going to come out one night as he wiggled and twisted it while he was reading in bed, but it was still hanging on by a thread the next morning. When he got home from school that afternoon, the tooth was in a little box in his hand and he had the perfect gap toothed smile I've been waiting to see. "When did you lose your tooth," I asked, wondering how far into the school day he'd made it before it came out. "At 9:47!!" he exclaimed, and I had to laugh that, like a baby being born, he'd had the wherewithal to look at the clock and note the exact time he'd pulled it out.
Purchasing . . . a new sewing machine. It feels a little deja vu to be saying this because I wrote the exact same thing last January. However, over the past year of sewing quite a lot on my Pfaff 7530, I recognized that it still wasn't exactly what I wanted, mostly because it was an older machine that was not as common in the US, so it was really difficult to service, buy new parts for, learn how to do new things on it, etc. For my birthday, Mike offered to sell the Pfaff and go sewing machine shopping with me, and that's exactly what we did. Before we walked into the store, I told him, "I'm not going to buy anything yet. I'm just going to try a bunch of machines, do some research, and think about it." Famous last words. I walked out of the store with a Bernina 435. In my defense, they were having their annual floor model sale, so it was priced lower than I would be able to get it the rest of the year. And honestly, it was kind of love at first sight. I tried several sewing machines while I was there, but as soon as I sewed a buttonhole on the Bernina, I knew it was the one for me. (Plus, as it turned out, even though it was a floor model, it was replaced in December, so it was basically a brand new machine for the floor model price.) I immediately did a little trial run project and made a skirt, and I have zero regrets.
I think that covers all the important, and at least some of the trivial, stuff in January. Happy to have made it through the darkest month of the year. The light is coming back!
