Another month has come to a close and it was a long, slow moving month- for the most part. I like those! Really nice to have a full week in January with no school after Christmas! Typically we take the last two weeks of December off and go back directly after New Year's but this year the kids went back January 8th. Loved celebrating New Year's Day with a beautiful walk along the boardwalk at Mission Beach. We were babysitting Sophie, so with our family, plus Sophie, Coco and Ruby in tow.... it was a lively outing. We are so lucky to live in the most beautiful place on earth where within 20 minutes we can be at the coast, enjoying the sunset. Dane made us steak and cheesy potatoes for dinner with sparkling cider and chocolate cake for dessert. The start of the new year brings with it hope for new beginnings and goals and dreams to accomplish. I decided not to set a goal, nor come up with a word for the year... but rather an intention! I want to practice discipline this year- to a greater degree. Discipline in how I take care of myself, how I spend my time and where I choose to put my focus. This has been a struggle for me recently and I want to improve!
Highlights for the month included an incredible visit from Jamie and Katie. We had the BEST time spending the night up at Universal Studios, doing the City walk and dinner out, touring the Warner Brothers Studio to see the Friends set and Big Bang Theory set! The Harry Potter and DC staging areas and we even met the actor who plays Young Sheldon! It was seriously SO SO fun and something we had never done before. For dinner, Grant ordered the Rachel's triffle and Anna tried Phoebe's cookies and cream milk shake. We loved walking around Encinitas on a rainy Saturday for taco stand and thrift shopping. We DID NOT make it out of our escape room experience but we had fun trying! Ha! Grant made his famous cookies and salmon with potatoes. We watched the final episode of The Hunger Games and loved it. Dane and Grant took Katie to a stake dance. All in all, an amazing weekend and so much fun with the Paces. Lucky they would spend their time and money to come visit us.
And.... that was the big highlight! Ha! I mean, we did other things, but that was the most fun part of January for SURE. The rest of the month we enjoyed inviting friends over- especially Grant and Anna. These two are always surrounded by a big group of people everywhere they go. Grant is so good at planning weekend activities with the gang. First they come to our house and I try to make a fun dinner (last week was a delicious tomato soup with Hawaiian slider grilled cheese) and then they go off to a soccer game and finish at the Poway High basketball game. And the fun doesn't end there. They usually end up back around to our house by 9 or 10 for a movie. I love it. And Anna half the time will tag along with her friends too... it's been so fun having the two kiddos at Twin Peaks Middle.
We've enjoyed big game nights with friends and yummy nacho bars after church. It was "nacho average" Sunday when we decided to do a quick nacho linger longer after church and everyone came up with all the puns you could imagine for this event. But it weirdly felt bonding to make fun of it all. Grandma came down a couple times for movies and lunch and shopping! She's always here to save the day and make our life more fun. And to rescue pre-teens who don't necessarily deserve her love and affection after throwing tantrums (ahem... Anna). But we always have a good time when she comes down to be with us. Loved celebrating Jen's birthday with a fun girl brunch, even if in preparation for said girls brunch I might've fallen off a high stool in my attempt to hang a birthday banner and land DIRECTLY on my tailbone. Haha... still recovering from that one. Decorated for Valentine's Day, began watching the Bachelor. All of us! Because we needed something to help the time pass more quickly. As previously stated, January is a long month! Spent lots and lots of time potty training Coco. And during the rainy days, decided to put her in diapers because she was having nothing to do with the wet side yard.
This past weekend, Anna went with the Judds to Disneyland, Grant went with the Matters to Seaworld, Dane went with Rowan to Big Bear to snowboard, Ev went to visit Amaya and see a Cody Johnson concert up past LA, and Blake went to Houston, TX for a conference. Everyone had an amazing time including me.... all by myself! I had time to catch up on work, play pickleball with friends, plan out lessons for our middle school morning skills meetings- which continue every Wednesday morning, clean out closets, walk and sleep in. It was wonderful.
This month Grant and his buddy Tucker spent their money at Outback Steak House enjoying a yummy steak dinner together and it was pretty cute. They learned how to pay the bill and calculate the tip; I told them- now you know what to do on a date! Grant made cream puffs for the first time and they turned out delectable. Evelyn started her nursing program and has kept up nicely with all the school work. She spends most of her time outside of school hiking with me and Reha, or going to Stampede to country line dance. Anna performed with the Poway High Dance team at the basketball game this month and it was so fun to see her dance again. I miss that! Dane received a manicure from Anna and dyed his hair light brown. His business is picking up and he is busy thrifting and sending off packages most weekends.
Let's see.... Elizabeth became a GRANDMA this month! Kinley gave birth to beautiful little Brooklyn! That's been so fun and so exciting. Blake and I are FULLY involved in the youth program at church.... every week it's something or other! Dodgeball, video game night, hair hacks (with guest teacher: Evelyn Marston), chair soccer, A YOU BELONG pajama tea party to welcome the new girls (including Anna) into the young women program, song rehearsals and girls camp meetings! It's a major part of our life now and we love it especially because all of our kids are involved! Love that Anna is a young women.... the girls welcomed her in with a spot light and a yellow rose. She meshed right in and is just a part of the group in every way and loves every second of it! That is one of her superpowers- joining in and having fun. So great that Kate is in the program too even though she's a year behind in school. Anna supports all the girls- going with me to rugby games and college signing announcements and theatrical productions! It's truly so fun to have such a good-time-girl by my side.
But that being said, it's not all fun and games.... Anna's been in the middle of a pretty intensive educational/neurological evaluation this month to help discover her cognitive strengths and weaknesses and see how we can better support her at school. She was diagnosed this month with dyslexia and a written language disability along with attentive deficit disorder. So- we are in the process of getting her the services she needs at school so she can feel confident and happy again about her life! In the meantime, Anna has poured her energy into all sorts of things included but not limited to: a nail business, clay art projects, creating obstacle courses for Coco, rock climbing, making blueberry crumble, and teaching Coco tricks. This is what has kept her busy and I'm so proud of her for the incredible attitude she has clung to despite her learning difficulties. I'm grateful to understand better what she is going through and how to help her. Love that she is slowly but surely learning to be responsible (like packing her lunch....even if she did pack a sleeve of thin mints- ha!)
I think that just about covers it. A good month with a lot of downtime and lot of moments to pause and feel so very grateful for the beautiful people in our lives and all the little things that make life big.
