January

January was intentionally low-key. My goals for the year all revolve around slowing down a bit, getting back to some of the basics to keep my life and our home life organized, steady and a bit less hectic. While it will take some time to make the changes I'm hoping to make, our first month was a step forward (with many more steps to go).

It continually baffles me how different our lives are in this apartment in Salt Lake relative to our lives in Auburn, California. Back then Geoff wasn't working, the girls were homeschooled so there weren't any school time commitments or demands, and we didn't have cell phones. Adding those elements back into our lives, with the addition of kids growing and having independent interests and commitments, has caused some upheaval in our family life. I'm not sure it is possible to recreate the pace of the girl's childhood in this urban environment, but I'm trying to see how close I can take it.

First, we're trying to eat more healthy. I used to spend at least five hours a day in the kitchen back then. Not only do I not want to spend that much time in the kitchen anymore, but I'm not even home for that much time these days. So one goal is to eat simply and well. This is the thing that gets knocked off first in our busy lives, and we all can feel the difference. Not only do we not feel as good, but we're getting sick more often.  We've tried a few breakfast bowls and smoothies:

Due to a nasty cold that inflicted us all (some still fighting it) I have been making a strong lemon tea at least once a day. It has lemon, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper, apple cider vinegar, honey and warm water. We all love it.

Geoff got me a membership to a nearby yoga studio, which I LOVE. It feels so good to be doing yoga again. All of us feel cooped up with the nasty air outside, but when we can we get out and move our bodies. We all need to be more active get outside more. One step at a time...

Tennie has her first official job at Zuppas. A friend of hers works there and told her boss, who was looking for new hires, she knew someone who would be great. They invited her in for an interview over dinner and offered her a job on the spot. She works two shifts a week and is learning to balance this new responsibility.

Tennie also joined her first protest for women's rights. Geoff walked with her to the capitol in the snow. It is an interesting political climate right now, and I admire Tennie's desire to be involved and to form her own ideas and opinions. Simultaneously, Geoff and I are trying to teach the girls how to discern truth and acknowledge the adversary's role in deception, confusion and chaos.

Speaking of marches and protests, there sure are a lot of them passing by our apartment building these days...

Adele turned 15! She opted to keep the $100 birthday party budget in hopes of a humanitarian trip in her near future, and asked for cash birthday presents for the same goal. This girl has her heart, might and mind on doing good in the world, and she wants to start today! She is always looking up Mother Theresa volunteer trips, Global Leadership trips and family service opportunities. There is a recently-formed Rotary Club at her school and she is so excited for the local community service opportunities. 

I picked her up from school and we went to a tea house near Ceci's school, before picking her up. Adele loves her warm beverages and coffee cups! And I love having her all to myself.

We went to Aubergine for her birthday dinner. Thumbs up all around.

We pulled out her baby book and looked up old photos of her childhood. Here are a few that surfaced.

We had Geoff's dad and Nikki over for everything-free cupcakes the following Sunday. 

One morning Adele was frustrated with her hair. Geoff and I tried to lighten things up by putting on some wigs while she was in the bathroom, hoping that she would come out and laugh. Turns out we thought we were more funny than she did.

We met our friends, the Serafins, in Park City to go sledding one Saturday. The kids lasted about 30 minutes before wanting to head home to hang out. It was a nice effort to get fresh air and exercise!

Geoff, Tennie and Ceci went skiing one day.

Ceci learned how to bake bread at YWs. (I think I actually ate most of the loaf...)

Geoff took a week-long trip to the Dominican Republic for business and then came home in time to co-host a YGL event in Salt Lake City during the Sundance Festival with fellow YGL and friend, Dave Hanley. Eight guests came and stayed in a friend's mountain home; they skied and snowshoed and saw a few Sundance screenings.

Meanwhile Ceci had a sleepover at school, which she talked about for hours/days. Have I mentioned how much I love Waldorf? Unfortunately, the cold she had fought off a few days before came back and turned into mono. As of me writing this she has missed two weeks of school and isn't showing any sign of improvement. Poor thing is so bored of laying on the couch. Amazing that this little ball of energy has no energy! Thank goodness for the Harry Potter audio series!

And lastly, Tennie had to have another oral surgery. The attachment on the tooth they are trying to pull down into place came off, which required another surgery, AND it has delayed her braces coming off by about six months! Seriously, this kid has some trials! She is tough, though, and maintains a pretty darn good attitude.

And that's a wrap!

December 2016

We kicked off the Light of the World challenge to do acts of service 25 ways in 25 days. We did pretty well, although some days were more effective than others.

Our favorite was the service with song. With some friends we took over 100 cookies and caroled to The Other Side Academy. They enthusiastically joined in to Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer and felt the light we brought that evening. We love that place.

We got our tree early since we only had a few weeks at home before leaving for McCall, but it took us a full week before we actually got around to decorating it.

Tennie drove 'er home!

We went to the Christkindlmarkt at This is the Place Heritage Market. This gets better every year and is the perfect way to get in the Christmas spirit. Ceci and I met Em and Bailey and had a great time.

Bailey and Ceci acquired some new hats...

I acquired this little guy...

Our building had a Christmas Carol night with a readers theater version was read. It was really festive and merry. 

In addition to this year's ornament, the girls got their own elf (ours hides each day with occasional surprises).

The Waldorf Winter Festival was a huge success with everything going as planned. There were well over 1000 people in attendance and we learned a lot about how we can improve for future events. I didn't get many pictures, but we had soup and breads, activities including candle decorating, candle base decorating, paper snowflakes and tissue stars; there was a lantern walk through the woods with creative paper lanterns the students had made in their classes; the choir and orchestra performance was at the same time (which was a little crazy), and we had three bonfire drums outdoors where people could gather and get warm. Delightful, and I was glad it was over.

We had a ward Night in Bethlehem party (which was amazing) where Tennie sang a Christmas carol in a lovely quartet and a family party where we made ableskiver and exchanged gifts. I got to chaperone on Ceci's field trip to see Oliver, which was so fun. I forgot how loud school buses and sixth graders are!

My friend, Heather Staker, who is a leading educational reformer, came to film Tennie's math class for a video to accompany her new book. She sent me a quick clip from the day:

We made sugar cookies and chocolate, ginger cookies, and got Christmas cards out (barely). We planned and prepped and packed for a two week holiday. All of the food, ski equipment and bags wouldn't fit in one car so we took two (and we were still filled to the brim.) Sometimes I wish we stayed HOME for Christmas, but it has turned out to be the tradition in our little family to go elsewhere to celebrate Jesus' birth. The wonderful part is we are always with family.  With skiing as a new hobby for the girls, and a resurrected hobby for Geoff, ski trips may become the new norm. We'll see.

Geoff has been looking forward to this two-week ski trip for months. He got a season pass and planned to go every day, but the day before we planned to leave he got the worst of a series of recent bad headaches, only this one left him moaning in bed, nauseous and wanting quiet and darkness. A migraine? Why so many headaches lately? Because of a soft area on the top of his head that has been extremely tender since he had a concussion a year and a half ago, I suggested we go to the ER. I didn't want to rack up a huge bill, but I also wanted to rule out a tumor or other more serious condition. I told them not to hook up the IV and refused any unnecessary tests. The doctor pulled up the CAT SCAN from the last concussion and showed that Geoff's soft tissues existed then, but he didn't feel they were concerning. He really had nothing more to offer.

Geoff was put in contact with the best concussion specialist at the U, by a friend's connection, who suggested Geoff not take any risk of bumping his head for the next six months to limit brain scarring and damage. He has an appointment to see him in the new year. To say Geoff was disappointed to not be able to ski is a huge understatement. Luckily Brundage refunded his pass. He also saw a practitioner in Salt Lake that I heard of through a mom who was a fellow chaperone on the field trip. This guy thinks he can realign misaligned aspects of Geoff's head, spine and overall body and help his headaches, overall breathing, sleeping and more. We are excited to continue exploring this possibility as well. 

On the way to McCall we stopped at the Boise Temple to do family baptisms, a new monthly tradition since Ceci turned 12. We take turns deciding where we'll go out to dinner and then do baptisms. December was tricky to fit in, but we did it!

Here are a few outings since September:

McCall was magical and a winter wonderland. The girls went skiing most days. Adele gets the most-improved award, although Tennie gets a close second. It was powdery and amazing. Ceci misses Geoff as a ski partner, but she enjoyed skiing with everyone else. Geoff did easy hills a few times to help the girls improve, and to satisfy his craving a little bit, but the rest of the time he went to the library to try to work on the final phase of finishing a book on healing he started in France eight years ago.

(Yeah, that is Geoff on the hill. He skied "gently" with the girls a few days.)

A few of the cousins thought it would be fun to jump off the balcony into the snow, "like you guys used to do as kids!" Lots of thrills.

Geoff bought me snowshoes and warm clothing for my birthday and I loved getting out in the snow and feeling the silence of the world only fresh snow can create. I got out almost every day. The rest of the time I stayed at home in the quiet and read and got through a to-do list of things I could do away from home, including catching up on the past few months here. It felt good to slow down and to be productive.

On my 46th birthday we went sledding on a newly discovered hill. As always it was so much fun, and possibly a new birthday tradition when there is snow. The girls made gingerbread houses, we went out for some Mexican food, and watched a movie with snow lightly falling outside and the lights on the tree sparkling. It was a perfect day.

Adele's:

And Tennie's:

A night out in McCall!

Geoff admitted that he wanted Christmas presents on Christmas. We typically don't give gifts to each other. I don't know why, maybe because in our early marriage money was tight and it was a way to save money. But this year Geoff made it clear that he wanted to be unwrapping things on Christmas morning. He told the girls they couldn't ski if they didn't give him a present, and other such threats and manipulations to have lots of surprises under the tree. This was amusing to us girls, and we made sure to shower him with more gifts than the rest of us got combined. He tried to say he was 70% joking all along, but as Nikki observed, he was "100% serious."

Christmas Eve was quiet and cozy. We made ableskiver again, acted out a not-so-reverent nativity and shared some learnings from the year. The girls have had a tradition since they were little to stay up all night together. This has never been a mom-approved tradition. This year, however, they decided they wanted their sleep and our Christmas day was much more pleasant as a result.

After the stockings were explored and the presents opened everyone settled in to a nice, calm day. Ceci and Nikki got into some intense chess games. Both are highly competitive!

Just before Christmas dinner Britt and her boyfriend Hunter came home beaming. Hunter had just proposed! Looks like a wedding in May! It was really fun to get to know Hunter better during our stay in McCall. His calm, kind and patient demeanor will be a great addition to the Davis family. 

Ceci and Taeya went snowshoeing along the golf course. There were puzzles, games, movies and making of movies too.

Because we had two cars I decided to drive home on the 28th to have a few days at home to clean up the pieces of the past months neglect. I ran a lot of errands and cleaned up lots of piles and got to a place of maintenance instead of going into the new year trying to catch up. It was nice, although I missed being with everyone in McCall.

Adele skiied a black diamond hill! She was so proud of herself, and we continue to marvel how that girl is unstoppable when she wants something. Tennie had made it to the black diamond hills too, which was her goal. She, too, has an incredible determination to overcome her fears. It is admirable. And Miss Ceci wins the best supporter this year. She cheered and encouraged her sisters every step of the way. She had improved more than they had last year when she and Geoff went skiing twice a week, so she has been great at helping them improve. You can see her at the bottom waiting for Adele.

Part of Adele's determination this year was to be able to ski with the cousins. They are all now skiing the whole mountain together.

On New Year's Eve Brundage has fireworks, so these skiers stayed for the show.

Once home they did a polar bear roll in the snow with their swim suits on! Crazies.

Thanks to the Wells for a great holiday in McCall! And on to 2017!