A Little of This and That in January

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!

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.