When I was a freshman, I went out for track.  I couldn't even imagine running a mile so I thought that I would do the 100 sprint.  I couldn't do that either but the meets were fun and I liked to cheer on my teammates. The next year, my track coach suggested I try golf.  Now my daughter has decided to go out for track. She's running the mile. Her PR is 6:08, which is fast but she doesn't think so. John took her to the store to buy shoes, really expensive shoes. The next day she came home and said she had decided to try pole vaulting. Yes, right after buying the shoes. She tried for a week and I ordered pole vaulting shorts because pole vaulters have special shorts. The next day she decided to go back to running the mile. (A pattern?)  However, there is the issue of clothing since they run in the sun and the rain. Looking at all the girls lined up on the starting line, I realized only Lona was wearing her "track issued" shorts.  They are ugly and way to big and well all the other girls are wearing spandex shorts or leggings.  She was a good sport about it but it needed to change. We bought her leggings and spandex shorts for running and biking. I didn't think I was going to cave on that, but I had to.

There is this place that is so calming, inviting, beautiful, full of life, so special.  I discovered it by accident one spring as I was exploring the tulip fields in the neighboring county. It had this unassuming sign out front and I just had to pull into the parking lot. As soon as I stepped out, I was hooked.  It had been three years since stumbling upon this place and I've wanted to take my "plant-guy" husband here. Finally, one snowy winter weekend day, we had time. Time for that drive to this beautiful nursery. We walked onto the nursery property and started to look around. They had just moved all their Hellebores into one of their main greenhouse.  The greenhouse has cobblestone flooring, cement tables, huge glass ceilings, and doors on sliding hardware.  Many of the greenhouses there have been restored with salvaged materials. I could wander all day on this little 7 acre nursery. It isn't just the plants, but it is the whole experience. In fact, I want to design my kitchen cupboards based upon the counters of the garden store. It feels timeless and comfortable.

John and I have put down roots here and things like finding a dentist or doctor can be hard and stressful.  There were doctors and dentists that we loved in Montana. It took a while here, but we found some. Then they retired or moved to different offices to provide different kinds of care and we've had to start over.  Sometimes, they've sold their practice to others and the feel and the relationship has changed which is what happened with our dentist. We have tried repeatedly to get his teeth fixed.  For the past 2 years, he's had a retainer that has a tooth set in it. We aren't ready for a permanent solution and on a recommendation from an awesome orthodontist, (Dr. Shoff), we decided to have a bonded tooth put in. We tried at Thanksgiving, but our dentist at the time, hadn't really listened to me. The office kept trying to reschedule his appointment to a different date, he was only at home for a week. There multiple calls like that even though I explained that the kid was away at college. Oh, yes they remembered and then I would get another call can he come in the week before or that day.  "No, he lives in Pullman, Oh, yes, that 's right." When Isaac finally went in at his scheduled time, the dentist was preparing to put in bridges.  We didn't want that, we were still thinking about an implant. I had personally talked to the dentist on two different occasions to discuss exactly what we were trying to accomplish and yet he wanted to grind down his teeth for the bridge. So we made a switch to a different dentist (Dr. Miller).  I made the appointment for a teeth cleaning, an exam, and to have a bonded tooth placed in the gap. This all had to happen in a week.  The kid was home only for that one week of Spring Break.  I went in to the office to explained what needed to be done. No problem. Spring break came, Isaac went in and they took care of it.  He spent the whole morning in the office but his teeth were cleaned, he had a check up and the best part, they put the tooth in!  Then the dentist made him a new retainer for the night since he tends to grind his teeth a bit. There was no confusion, no additional work, no repeated calls to come in a week early or to move the appointment, no prep to grind down his teeth.  He came out of the dentist office with a beautiful smile! He always had a beautiful smile but now with confidence.  I couldn't have been more pleased. There is something to be said about having a health care professional you can trust and I felt like we were listened to, not as a patient that provided income.

Well they were officially out of school for another day with nothing on the agenda.  Everything was cancelled: schools, activities, and even some businesses. It was time to just hunker down, eat cake and have multiple movie marathons.  Movie of choice:  Twilight Series.  Not just once either. Oh to be a teenager.

When days start before the sun rises and the kids come home after the sun has set, I curl into myself with the grey and the dark pushing me down. Though with this snow, it glistened outside with a frozen layer covered by the sparkling white. There was just something so restorative about the snowfall. It made me happy, deep, inside, to see the world sparkling, clean, almost pure.  I was compelled to get outside and breathe that air that almost hurt my lungs but was refreshing at the same time. Everywhere I looked there was something that caught my attention, something that struck me. It made me pause in this season of go-go, this time of tiredness that tends to be a slog with no festivities in sight.  I came back from these snowy walks invigorated and able to deal with cooped up teenagers, dirty dishes, laundry, and the need for groceries and meals. I had reset and felt the lightness of the day instead of the dark.

I thought we were done with winter. I had noticed the tulips starting to sprout in the garden. Then it hit.  At first it was just rain, very cold rain then freezing rain. It coated the outside world with ice. The car windows and doors were under a layer of ice so thick that we had to chisel to get into it.  Job rolled his window down and pushed on the layer of ice to clear his side window. It was beautiful though. After the freezing rain came the snow. It snowed and it snowed and school was cancelled.  Day after day, I waited to see if the kids were going back to school. Activities around town were cancelled as well as John's work. Essential personnel only, he wasn't essential.  He went any way, at least four hours a day. It was quiet there. I let the kids sleep in here.  It was hard enough getting work done with all of them home so I only did it in the mornings while they slept and if it was quiet work. With them sleeping, it gave me quiet time, time to think and work without interruption, without trying to put out different fires, without trying to fit all my stuff to do into their schedules. They enjoyed the week off, I'm trying to put everything back in order from it.

Are we crazy? We decided to host our youth group Super Bowl party at our house.  We put the game on, set out snacks, anwered the door and had kids over. We played indoor games, ate, and then it was half time.  Something that has been a tradition at our house was to play football during half time.  This year it was snowy and cold and I could only stay out for a little bit.  The girls stayed in but the boys came back snowy and ready to watch the rest of the game.  Oh, and who was playing in the game anyway?

The snow fell gently outside the house. Another rare winter day for us. I placed my mug under the Keurig spout and brewed another cup of coffee. The house was quiet for now but I knew if the flakes kept falling the kids would be out of school again. Picking up some left over yarn from the hat I made Isaac, I decided to make socks to go along with it.  I thought about mittens, but college boys do NOT wear mittens. They wear gloves, and performance gloves at that. A scarf was also out of the question. So I settled on socks. I found a pair on Ravelry and casted on. Part way through I realized that it wasn't going to work so I unraveled the yarn and wound it back into a ball.  Yarn is a funny thing. When the color is plain and has no variation it works great to pair it with a contrasting color. However when there is variation to it, pairing it is more difficult since the contrasting yarn color shouldn't be in the ball of yarn with variation. I can't seem to be able to keep the pattern when the yarn colors are too similar.  I find myself loving the plain monocolored yarns being knitted together.  There is just something satisfying about weaving the colors in and around each other while watching the pattern appear. I had made socks like this for Job a while back using similar colors only grey socks with red circles instead of the maroon color. As my needles and yarn dance, my mind goes to the person I'm knitting for. Sometimes I pray as I knit, sometimes I reminisce of times gone by with that person. This day I sat in my sanctuary, my living room, and I knitted as the snow started to pile up and it felt just right to be still and watch and enjoy the quiet.

She's been playing soccer since she was 5. One year she was encouraged by a couple of older gals to try out for a developmental league.  She did and she made it. Then she tried out for a select soccer league and she made it. For the last three years she was on a C team for that soccer league. She's had friends that moved onto the B team then onto the A team. She's played positions all over the field. She was always hoping to move up but it seemed as though she was stuck on the C team. And then it happened, the B team coach asked her to play a game and she was excited. It wasn't her regular team but she loved it. She loved the girls, she loved the coach. The team lost and she still loved it. She practiced with them a couple of times and was asked again to play.  She did and continued to love it. She didn't play her regular position and still loved it. Sometimes she looked lost on the field, sometimes she looked dialed in and ready. She played more games with them, practiced more and then her season with her team ended. They had the end of year party. They said goodbye to their regular coach and that was that, except it wasn't.  She was asked along with 6 of her other team mates to join this B team for a "mini" season. A tournament season and she was thrilled. It was what she wanted. She wanted to be able to say that she made it to the B team. She wants to make it to her senior year in this league.  She's having fun again and excited. We will see where this chance takes her. Maybe it will take her to the B team for the next year. Maybe it won't.  We will have to see, but for right now, she's excited and happy.