Z and I got brand new rain boots. His first pair. I felt so proud. A right of passage for my northwest boy. What better way to embrace the rainy fall weather than breaking in new rain boots. Even in this spontaneous moment I had to let go of the ever constant stream of…
September hit me like a brick wall. We celebrated the last long summer weekend at my parent’s house. But during the unpacking and laundry I turned over the calendar and it hit me-It’s September. I got excited, anxious, and overwhelmed at once-wham! It’s a wonderful time of year. I love the crisp air, the colorful…
It has been ten years since I started blogging. I started a temporary project to keep my family updated on my adventures through the Middle East. I put a pause on blogging when I moved back to my home state of California to work on my Masters where I met my husband L. We got…
Last Christmas we started talking about the meaning and significance of our families' holiday traditions. We thought about which traditions were important to our family, which ones we wanted to practice with Z. One tradition we started is marking the advent season. I grew up with an advent calendar that look like this: The Christmas…
"Having kids changes everything". I don't know how many times I heard this before we had a kid but as much as I'd like to roll my eyes: it is very true. L's family owned a Christmas tree farm for several years when he was a child. The past six or so winters I have…
This Fall has been full of fun festivities. To start off, we bought Z a red wagon in September. This is an ATW red wagon: it's got big wheels so we can use it out on the property. Z loves it. He enjoys being helpful, collecting sticks for kindling out in the front yard and…
I love that this time of year, fall is by far my favorite season, it represent change and reflection: time to cozy up and rest. During November, I see many people doing a daily post on social media of what they are thankful for. I think this is awesome, and if you can keep it…
In August we went camping. It was not only Z’s first time but also our dog K’s. Nap and bed time routine was a bit rough. But Z loved spending so much time outside in the dirt, playing with sticks and climbing in and out of the tent. K enjoyed being outside with all of…
This year we spent the fourth of July with my parents drinking coffee, eating cookies, staring at the lake, and catching up. On the fourth of July we walked around downtown Florence to see festivities but after a wet walk we went to Moe's for chowder. That night back at the house we had hot…
That's right. I am now in my third decade. I didn't think much of turning 20, but 30 hits a little harder. You look back on the past ten years and see how far you have come and consider all the next ten have in store (with a little more clarity then that of 20).…
