Moving Right Along. . .

Now that I'm officially retired from working on events, I got to sit in the cabin for two days while Rob and Sergio set up a big event in Garden Valley.  I don't think Rob really believed that I wouldn't help out but Sergio knows what he's doing and I didn't even feel guilty.  Not even a little bit.  I napped, I snacked, I snuggled Lulu and flipped through all of the 800 channels that Direct TV offers.
I also admired the wildlife. . .

I did end up going to the event and even helped take it down but only because Sergio had to drive back to Boise afterwards. . .

All things considered, it was relatively painless....

Early Snow...

We were warned the snow was coming.  October was pretty warm for October so I didn't believe it.  But they were right.  It started snowing on Thursday and just kept snowing and snowing and snowing.  We knew by Thursday evening that it would have to be a snow day on Friday so we picked up Aspen for a sleepover.  





The Spokesman Review:
November 14, 2014   At 3 p.m., the National Weather Service reports that Boise’s snowfall total for the storm reached 7.6 inches – a new November record. That surpassed the previous record snowfall for Boise in November of 7.4 inches in 1935.

 

We had a LOT of snow.  I wasn't the least bit surprised that it was a record snowfall.  The crazy girls decided to put on swim suits and toss up the snow. 

Just a couple of weeks ago they were tossing up leaves!!

Gloria and Jesse took advantage of the snow later that weekend although I still haven't seen a snowman. . .

Apparently, it's way more fun to pose in the snow than to actually play in it. . .

And this is a picture I borrowed from my sister's FB page just for fun.  Spencer is at BSU this year and these are his buddies.  He's the one in the flap eared hat up front.  I'm guessing they actually played in the snow but it's quite possible they posed and ran right back inside. . .

Cousins. . .

Photo by Marr

End of an Era...

It's over. Documents are signed, contributions are dispersed. Bills are paid. Time to put on my big girl panties and move on. But not today. Today I'm going to cry. Tomorrow is a new day and there are many, many things to be thankful for. Tomorrow.

Zach's Halloween...

Zach loves Halloween.  As he's gotten older, he's just made it more elaborate.  I already posted about the making of the costume in this post from August. but I didn't get to be there for the finishing touches so, once again, I rely on someone else to send me pictures.  This first one was posted to Face Book by GFU.  I didn't know he was planning on wearing two costumes that day but I'm not surprised.  Here he is a Anakin Skywalker:

He sent me this picture of the horns he created several days before Halloween:

On the evening of the 31st I started getting costume updates.  First time I've seen him without a beard for a very long time.  Plus, I think he looks pretty good as a bald man!!

I like the wicked grin. . .

After the costume was complete, he wasn't sure what he was going to do.  I didn't hear from him until a couple of days later but he was tagged on FB so I knew he was having fun:

When he sent me this picture he said it was an interesting story and it was taken by a campus security guard.  It sounds like all of the effort he put into the costume was totally worth it!!

Matthew's Birthday...

I miss Matt.  I'm glad we choose to celebrate his birthday each year at DQ.  It's a good tradition.  An important tradition for someone who was very important in our lives. . .

This was the first year that we actually talked about him and shared memories.  His kids deserve to know how wonderful their dad was. . .

He has amazing kids - he would be so proud of his little family. . .

Lazy Weekend. . .

I accomplished absolutely nothing this weekend.  Unless you count catching up on my blog, chauffeuring the girls around and hanging out at The Village.

For too many years I let life drag me around, skewing my priorities, telling me to do this and do that so my world doesn't implode.  And then it all kind of imploded and nothing really bad happened. In fact, I'm starting to believe things are going to be so much better than they've ever been because I'm learning to let go.  (I've sung the chorus of the Frozen theme song plenty of times in my head!)

I also have daily FB reminders like this one that mostly just go in one ear and out the other but sometimes stick with me and make me think:

So this weekend we watched a cute toddler, had Street Tacos at The Village (twice!) and went bowling at Big Als.  It was lovely.  And at the end of the day Gloria told me I'm the best mom ever.  And I think she meant it.  And I love that I have this relationship with my teenage daughter. 

New Chapter. . . New Book??

So. . . things are changing.  Things have changed.  Mostly past tense.  I'm working on taking the crazy out of my beautiful life.  I'm almost at the end of a very long, somewhat painful chapter. Maybe even at the end of the book.  I'm tired but not defeated.  I'm slowly working through the regrets and finding the blessings.  I know I have plenty of them but I haven't been able to see them very clearly.  And since you have to start somewhere, I started with my front yard.  All things considered, it's not too bad.  It's just been neglected for years and years and years.  Like so many other things in my life.  So I hired a landscaper.  Here are the after and before pictures (I put the after picture first because it's so much prettier!):

 

It really is time to stop looking back and move into the future.  I think it's going to be a whole new book.