Care taker of stuff.

A few weeks ago my cousin did an Instagram post quoting "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."  I'm not sure who originally said it, but I've thought about this quote daily sine I read it.  She went on saying how she does not want to be the "care taker of stuff", but rather the "care taker of her people" (she has 7 kids).  I love that!  

The past week or so I've been reanalyzing my life and what's important to me.  As you know, I've been on the depressed side lately with my knee situation (still no news to report).  It's interesting how when we're depressed we have the most self reflection...at least for me anyway.  

I want to simplify my life more...get rid of all the "stuff" so I have more time to do things that bring me joy.  I need to remember to surround myself with positive people (you would not believe how many people I have stopped following of Instagram!)  Simplify!!  Get rid of the excess "stuff"...starting with my phone.  Do I really need to see the latest vacation a famous YouTuber has gone on?  Do I really want to read about the reasons I need to order some special energy drink and the benefits from joining their Pyramid scheme?  Do I really need to follow people I don't even know?  Is it necessary to be scrolling through my phone while my kids are talking to me?  How can I be an example to my kids when I'm doing all the things I'm telling them not to do!  A phone is useful, but I don't need all the extra "stuff" on it that steals my time.

I want to start doing more of the things I enjoy...more reading, baking, journaling, being with my kids, laughing more, date nights, and exercising...and the process to simplifying my home.  I want to be the care taker of my family, not stuff.

Anyway, it's all baby steps.  

I won't have everything complete on this journey to simplification overnight, but I'm trying.

So enough of my rambling.

Here's a few pictures of the past week or so.

 Morgan had her first Science Fair project.

 We celebrated Jeffy's birthday!!

 Piper celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing up like a 100 year old.

She was so thrilled to put baby powder in her hair to make it white.

Our garbage disposal crapped out last week and I replaced it...ME!!  I did it all by myself!

And I only swore a few times doing it.

And you can see, that when I replaced it the pipe no longer matched up to the other side (in the above picture).  

So I found this pipe that you can bend...problem solved!

And so far everything is working with no leaks.  Fingers crossed.

Happy Hump Day.

So much snow!

It's been unbelievable how much snow we've been getting this season so far!

Sundance has just hit 100 inch base...which is pretty spectacular for our little local resort.  However, don't ask me how the skiing is, I wouldn't know. (grumble, grumble)  Since I haven't been able to ski, I've been given hours in other departments...won't lie, I'm not a fan.  But I guess the extra money is nice.  I've been going to my weekly physical therapy and I will say that it helped quite a bit!  However, I seem to have plateaued.  I can walk fine, but deep movements I still can't do.  I miss sitting cross legged, or being able squat down to tie my kids' shoes or digging around in low cabinets.  Or not having pain getting in and out of a car.  The doctor's have put in another request for an MRI this week and I'm still waiting for the reply.  We'll see.

Some pictures from the last few weeks.

 The girls had a delayed start to school one morning because of the snow.

I cannot remember them doing that ever.

And to cancel school?!  As if.  Hardy folks out here in Utah.

 Shenanigans.

Last November PBS came out with a remake of Anne of Green Gables.  We watched it on Thanksgiving...it was horrible!!  I was so disappointed and it made me long for the original.  We only have it in VHS and I don't have a VHS player anymore...so I immediately made an order for the DVD's.

 And then we watched it to rid ourselves of the awful memories of that PBS one.

 Haley is in Ballroom dance at her school and she had her first performance this month!

After I did her makeup I couldn't stop staring at her!  It just made her look so much older...what happened to my baby?!!!  It was such a joy to watch her dance!

So I haven't skied, but Ryan has been taking the kiddos at least once a week and they have been loving it!

Also, Morgan has started her ski school program so she gets to go an additional day as well!

 For the record Haley is wearing all of my old ski stuff (boots, pants, jacket, helmet)...and she's growing out of them quickly!  My baby is passing me by.  *sniff, sniff.

So, in others news, I've been riding a bit here and there.  On rollers.  There's no way I'm going out in this Arctic tundra!!  I can only do 30 minutes before I crack.  But it feels good to sweat and get a little work out in, even if it is sporadically.  I've been a bit on the depressed side with this whole knee situation so it's nice to be able to do something that I know...back to my roots.

Happy weekend ya'll.

Ski Day Fail

Trying to make a knee brace look good.

This year I made a switch from Ski Instructor to Ski Team Coach.  You may think there isn't much difference between the two, however, you would be so wrong!  Although the fundamentals of skiing is the same, ski racing is a whole new ballgame!  Now, I have had a lot of competitive experience throughout my life, but nothing I've done compares to ski racing!  Slalom, GS, whatever...it's all intense!  Basically you throw all fundamentals to the wind and it's all about getting down that mountain as fast as you possibly can!  The kids on ski team are amazing!  So much talent and so little fear (at least they don't show it).  Instead of spending the day on the mountain on Greens (sometimes blues) and teaching how to wedge or parallel ski like previous years...I'm spending the day running the kids through gates or skiing crud on black diamonds (hoping that I look like I know what I'm doing, ha!)  I was hoping that switching to Ski Team Coach it would push me a little more and challenge me with teaching higher level skiing.

Unfortunately, it all came to a halt when I ate sh#t while doing a warm up run with my group.

Yes, a warm up run!  So lame.  I wish I had some epic story to tell...but alas, I don't.  Just skiing down (it was a groomed run and everything) making some GS turns with my group following along behind me when I caught an edge and down I went.  I felt my knee twist and it hurt like the dickens.  I sucked it up and tried to shake it off by skiing a couple more hours with my group...but by lunch I had to throw in the towel and accept the fact that it wasn't getting better.  

The next day I got it checked out, x-ray showed fluid/blood around the joint and I was referred to a orthopedic specialist.  He suspects a meniscus tear.  However, an MRI would tell us for sure.  I'm under workers comp. and instead of an MRI they have decided I should do a few weeks of physical therapy.  So, in the meantime I get to accessorize with a sweet knee brace.  And no work.  No ski team.  No nothing.  

 (warning: a lot of complaining coming)

I feel old and helpless.  I hate not being able to move like I normally would and do the things I normally would do.  Not only is my knee an issue but my hip is starting to pay the price as well.  I'm not sure if it's because I'm of how I'm walking or what, but I think my hip is hurting worse than my knee at this point!  I wake up with it aching soooooo bad!!!

I feel like such an old lady!  (wait, did I say that already?)

Anyway, this has been a difficult stretch for me.

I've been pretty down and out...I hate that.

How am I supposed to survive the winter if I can't ski?!

I'm hoping that nothing is actually torn and with a little time off it will heal up in no time and I'll be back to my normal self...instead of bitchy mom, who is about ready to just chop my leg off completely because it's pretty much useless to me at this point.

Tomorrow I meet with a physical therapist.

Wish me luck.

Christmas 2016

What a magical Christmas we had!

However, always leading up to it I feel a bit frazzled and think there is NO WAY I'm ever going to pull everything off in time...but in the end it all falls into place.  

I try to make sure I remember the true meaning of Christmas and partake in all the Christmas-y  things leading up to the big day...and I do say, I think I'm getting better at it every year!

We spent Christmas Eve at my brother Matt and his family's home (as per tradition).

We got home that evening and got the kiddos into bed...I don't think the older girls actually fell asleep until maybe 1:00 in the morning!  Which made for a late night for us!!

But around midnight the snow starting falling and we all knew we were going to wake up to a Winter Wonderland!

 Christmas is my favorite!  Honestly, it's just the absolute best when I have children to share it with!  Growing up my mom always made Christmas morning magical, truly she did.

As a mom now, there is nothing better than seeing my children come down the stairs to find out that Santa actually came!!

 The little ones fell in love with their American Girl dolls.

I cherished my own growing up and I hope they do the same with theirs.

Piper wanted Mary Ellen and Rory, Samantha (which is the one I had growing up).

 Haley and Morgan scored big with new bikes this year!  (It's kinda nice having a husband in the industry!)  Morgan has been talking about racing road for a while now, and of course you say those words in this household Ryan is ALL over it!  Ha!  And Haley, has been dreaming of her own beach cruiser.  We've ALWAYS told her no way...complete with a list of reasons why; they're too big and don't fit well in the garage, way too heavy and we can't take it anywhere, yadda yadda.  So you can imagine her total shock when she came down the stairs.  In fact, we told her "no" so many times she didn't believe the bike was actually for her!

 The girls have always participated with gift giving growing up, whether it's artwork or a craft they've made or cards, they seem to always have something under the tree for other family members.  But as Haley and Morgan get older its been fun to see them actually shop for others with money they've earned here and there.  

It was the most relaxing morning!

Later that day we cleaned up and my family came over to celebrate.

I served up a ham feast and we did more gift exchanging.

 And of course the day wouldn't be complete without Rory falling asleep somewhere...she found a good spot with grandpa.

 Morgan had been wanting a trapper hat with matching flannel shirt...her wish came true!

I think she wore that shirt for a week straight!  And she wears that hat every day!

 Jeff and Jess.

My mom with my little niece, Rowan.

What a wonderful weekend!

Thanksgiving Break Part II

Well, I kinda dropped the ball with blogging about the second half of our Thanksgiving break.

Yes, I know Thanksgiving was over a month ago.

But, I've said it before and I'll say it again...better late than never.

A trip to Sedona is never complete without some mountain biking!

This year, all the girls got a chance to give it a go at least once...except for Rory, but we'll get her out there next year!

For Thanksgiving the girls made little ornaments for everyone's place setting...a nice touch.

Always after we feast we take a walk around the neighborhood and then feast again on dessert.

Haley held my hand.  I know these days are limited that she'll hold her mom's hand, so I'm glad it was documented!

We ended the week at Talaqapaque to feed the ducks.

We were lucky the weather was so nice for the entire visit!

And luckily, no snow on the drive home!

Win!

Thanksgiving Break Part I

I know we're inching up to Christmas already (how is that possible?!) but I need to post about our Thanksgiving break!

As always, we set out for Sedona!

 Road trip!

 It was raining when we left, and it wasn't long before we hit snow.

For the entire drive it was either raining or white knuckle driving in the snow.  Two different occasions cars slid out coming the opposite direction nearly hitting us.  White knuckle indeed!

Luckily, we made it safely.

One of the biggest hits of the week was going to "Out of Africa", a wildlife preserve only about 30 minutes away from Sedona.  Here they have an assortment of African animals as well as some Northern American animals (wolves and bears and such).  One of the attractions is taking a bus ride to feed the giraffes...the girls loved it!

 We walked all over the park seeing all different kinda of animals.

Another hit were the tigers...and we each got to feed them!

So yeah, the trip started off with a bang for sure!

More to come on the rest of the week!

Happy Birthday!!

Yesterday was Rory's 5th birthday!!  I can't believe my youngest is already five!

My parents had been in town but had to leave a couple of days before her birthday, so we threw an impromptu party the night before they headed back home.

This girl had been taking about having a pinata for her birthday since summer, but the days leading up to her birthday she never mentioned it, and I didn't either to be honest.  I figured a pinata in the winter wouldn't work.  But, when we were walking through Target and she saw this Olaf, she was in love!  How could I deny her?!  But it was a win because this was the type of pinata that you pull the strings at the bottom...no beating required...perfect for indoors!

My brother texted me later in the evening, saying he was bringing over a surprise for Rory.

What do you know, he brought a pinata!! He knows my kids too well!   Except this one you beat...and with frigid temperatures outside and snow on the ground, doing it out doors wasn't going to work.

We improvised!

We all took turns whaling on it...and I'm proud to say, nothing was broken in the process and no one got whacked.

Success!

And since her actual birthday was two days later we got to celebrate again with just our little family.

We went out for burgers and ate more cake!

And the day also marked our first fire of the season!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Rory!!

Love you bunches!