January Blahs Part 2

Hey Michael,

Hope you are doing well! I miss your detailed emails and calls home. Hope to hear from you soon!

News from home:

!.  We had another slow January week.  Even slower than usual because the kids were home from school this week. The jr high and high school moved to remote learning because of high covid case counts. I decided to keep the younger kids home as well, but will probably send them back this week. The kids got new schedules for second semester. Ty needed another PE credit, so he’s taking Yoga (from the good teacher apparently). He also got into a ceramics class. Decided to drop his math class. Hopefully ACT prep will give him the math practice he needs. He will have one home release period so he can go up skiing after lunch, but will not have the entire day of home release. Blake will be taking another art class and is taking current events for the third time! I think he secretly likes talking to me about the news, but just won’t admit it!

2. Ty got some new ski boots this week. They are 2 sizes smaller than the ones he had been using! He’s really pleased with the change. The ski place also re-repaired his damaged skis. Hopefully those last the rest of the season! Brook tested positive for covid this week. She’s been sick on and off since before Christmas. Ty was so excited when she finally tested negative and he was able to go see her again on Friday night. Ty applied to do a humanitarian trip this summer. He really wanted to go to Columbia, but got assigned to The Dominican Republic.  He’s disappointed, but I’m so excited for him. It’s going to be a really great opportunity for him. 

3. Ethan has been cooking up a storm. He broke out our new waffle maker this week, and this morning he made muffins for breakfast. This afternoon he made chocolate chip cookies. My New Year’s goal of eating healthy has not been met with success so far.  

4. We finally got around to opening one of Jett’s Christmas presents this week. It’s called Gravitrax, and there are a bunch of pieces you use to build a marble track. The kids have been having a good time with it. We’ve also played a bunch of games. Jett absolutely destroyed me in Splendor this week. Jett and Ethan are excited to play Cities and Knights tonight for the first time. They are impressive little gamers!

5.  The boys are all getting ready for Federation and the piano recital coming up. Things are sounding good around here! I even spent some time on the piano myself this week. Part of their recital requirement is to create a work of art that goes along with their music. The boys are super excited to get to work on that!

6. I spent the week puttering around the house. Changing light bulbs, cleaning vents. I wiped out and organized all of the kitchen cabinets, and got Jett’s closet and dresser organized. Real exciting stuff! Oh! And we finally got the Christmas tree taken down. We’ve decided we might need to rearrange the garage a bit to fit the truck in a little easier, so I’m having fantasies of a garage makeover with all new matching cabinets and bins. We’ll see if it ever happens. We saw the storage setup at Andrew and Giannina’s house, and it was quite impressive! They’ve got a million Costco bins all labeled and organized. Beautiful! I called and talked to Grandpa for a few minutes this week, but need to call back for a longer chat. He seems to be doing well, and much improved.

7. I also worked on my puzzle, started a new audiobook, and tried out a new online word game called Worldle. All of my nerdy online friends are playing wordle and sharing their scores every day and it’s kinda fun. I went into the library and checked out a million books for the kids, and got cards for Ethan, Jett, and Tate. Not that they really need their own cards, but now I can use their cards for and extra 15 title holds on audiobooks, which is super convenient. I might try to start going back to book club this year. This week we are having a “meet the author night” at Melissa Parr’s house on Tuesday. I want to go, but feeling iffy because of covid. I also spent time following the news of course. I’ll spare you the details today, but the Utah legislature is corrupt. Oh! And we watched WandaVision this weekend. Definitely a highlight. 

8. More exciting news—I’m struggling with my Cpap still. My nose is getting so sore. This week I had a ton of tiny blisters on the bridge of my nose because it’s so irritated. So I bought a bunch of things on amazon to try and fix the problem. Wish me luck!

9. Your uncle Robby had eye surgery this week, and I’m sure he’s very excited about not having to wear glasses anymore! Uncle Tanner has received job offers in Reno and Coeur d’Alene, and they are trying to decided where to move after his residency.

10. One of my Twitter friends died today. Kris (they/them) was non-binary, and had a lot of really difficult struggles. But they were quirky and fun and loving. I feel like Kris really expanded my perspective and empathy for others. I’m really sad about the news and will miss them in my twitter community. I’m not really sure how Kris died. Kris has been having health problems and seizures. They were found unresponsive in their car a few days ago, and taken to the ICU with likely brain damage. They remained unresponsive and the family decided to remove life support today. All very sudden and sad.

And so I think for my spiritual thought today I’d just like to remind you to be kind to everyone you meet. Everyone is facing their own struggles and needs grace from others. And tell those you love what they mean to you. Dad was putting Tate to bed while I was at soccer practice with Jett this week. So he called me on the phone to say goodnight. He said, “I love you Mommy!” And I said, “I love you more!’ He just giggled.

Of course, I love you. And I’m so proud of you. I think of you often and hope you are well.

Love, Mom