Week ending 12-8-19

This was a great week! Nothing out of the ordinary, but it's in the day-to-day moments of life that I find the most joy. I just love being a stay-at-home mom and enjoying all of my responsibilities that come with that calling.

Monday: We went to the library and a librarian walking by said, "Wow! That is adorable! I wish I had a camera." So I got mine out and snapped it. 

Then we ran across the bridge. 

Tuesday: Talea putting snow clothes on. 

I took this to thank Kristin for giving us bags of onions. I dried them day and night all week and also chopped and froze them. 

I texted this to Kylie and Madalyn and said, "If anyone comes in we're going to dump the lettuce on the popcorn and pretend we're eating a bowlful of lettuce. " Haha. Really, we like to eat popcorn, lettuce, juice shake, and my homemade granola bars. Almost every night we snack and chat together as we write in our journals and read books. Spencer usually studies with his girlfriend or hangs out at another friend's house so it's just the two of us from 10-11pm. It's been a really fun fall. 

Wednesday: We raked, edged, blew, organized the garage, and hung up Christmas lights. We got it all done really fast and it felt good to be outside working since the snow melted. 

Then Spencer had a friend over, Naomi, who did a puzzle with the kids, ate dinner with us, and went to a neighborhood piano recital. 

None of our kids were in it b/c we don't take lessons, but we went to support our friends.

Actually, Spencer did do a duet with Kristin, the teacher, as prelude that was amazing. 

Thursday: We made a bird feeder and stopped at Lowes to get some bird food when we found all the bird stuff 75% off so we ended up getting a nice bird feeder as well for only $5. 

A friend dropped off her Christmas card and fancy pretzels which Talea quickly said were hers. I took these and sent them to her to show how much Tilly loved them. 

Decorating the stake center for the ward party. 

Friday: During breakfast we noticed we already had visitors to our feeder! 

Thomas and Alexis love the black capped chickadee most. 

Kaitlyn took all these pictures and loved this one where the bird is diving. 

At 4:00 I went to Kylie's harp concert at BYU with Talea while Spencer and Alexis were at a rehearsal and Nathan took the rest of the kids to the ward party. 

After the recital I wasn't ready to go home so we went to Kylie's apartment with her and her ward party. It was so relaxing not having lots of littles to tote around and nowhere to be. I loved the quiet drive there and back and having my youngest and oldest to myself. I can't believe Kylie will leave for a new country in one month. I'm not ready! 

A friend took these of the kids at the ward party. 

Saturday afternoon Kaitlyn and I went on a short hike to spend time together and restore our spirits from something that had just happened. It was just what we needed and we had a great time together.

She ran through the snow in worn out tennis shoes without a second thought. She leapt over rocks, and whooped and sang or chatted the whole time. She's a perfect hiking companion and I'm so glad I felt impressed to take her even though it was getting dark. We had a great time and came home happy.

We sat on a cold wet log and ate our snacks and talked for a little bit. 

The cold log we sat on. 

Sam and Andy helping me start our first load in a dryer we found in the classifieds for $50 after ours died this week. Our old one we found in the classifieds when we moved to NC 12.5 years ago so we got our money's worth.  

Today: I meant to take a picture of my nursery class because they were all wearing cute Christmas clothes but Kaitlyn and I never got them assembled. But here's Talea anyway.