A lot of time has slipped away and a lot of water floated under that proverbial bridge since I last spent much time updating the blog. It is one of those things I love to do, but the more time passes the more overwhelming it sounds to hop back on and catch y'all up. We traveled a lot last year, in case I didn't make that point clear in my Christmas post, and often I would meet people who knew me as "that one mom who has the blog." Often I feel like I'm just rambling on about our lives, but it is encouraging to find other women who express that they've been encouraged or blessed to see us go through the trenches of young parenthood.
If there was a blog post for each post that I've started and just not gotten around to finishing, this would be quite a vibrant blog.
Rather than a run-down of all that's gone on since last March, I'll just pick up after the Christmas letter was written.
First off, I went to LA, alone, for Alice's wedding the weekend after Thanksgiving. The most independent thing I've ever done, let me tell you. It was a fun getaway, and I learned that there is truly just something special about traveling with someone else to share the memories with (and also a husband who can take care of all the technical things like driving and car rentals)! Saturday I filled with traveling, an afternoon at Newport Beach, a long nap, and an early bedtime. Sunday was a lot of fun because I was surrounded by friendly people all day - church in Altadena and Alice's wedding in the afternoon/evening. Monday was my day to travel home, arriving by 9:30pm.
 |
| How does one figure out how to spend a solo day in Los Angeles? 1. Make a bucket list of things that sound super fun + doable. 2. Ask your husband which one sounds the most boring. 3. Do that thing. I ended up going on a successful whale watching tour and had a blast. |
Alice's Wedding - a few pics:
 |
| These four attendees (Alice is in the middle next to me) all were in the same program together at the University of Iowa in the 2012-2013 school year (direct admit business degrees). We did not remember each other, but Alice and the other two worked together after college, I believe. It was fun to get to know them throughout the evening with this common connection. |
 |
| Me and the bride and groom...the venue was so beautiful! |
 |
| The entire wedding guests and party (don't even try to find me - I'm all the way at the back!) |
 |
| Alice and her parents. This was the first time I got to meet her parents, which was such an honor! |
Travels and rentals and hotel stays all went smoothly, and the weather out there was beautiful. City life definitely ain't my belonging place. When a woman tells a stranger in LA that she has five children, she might as well have said she walks on a tightrope over Niagara Falls every day, carrying a backpack full of poisonous tarantulas that she fished out of the Gulf of America.
On second thought, I suppose that does sound easier than being a mom some days.
Matt seemed to get along well holding down the fort without me (thanks to Zach for staying for the weekend to help out). He certainly didn't let my absence slow him down - they stayed quite busy keeping up with holiday outings over the weekend!
The holidays arrived in full force... caroling, Christmas programs, parties, etc. Our main Christmas celebrations were with the Chuck Massner, Gary Schulz, and Matthew Schulz family. We also had a couple extra outings/gatherings with Matt's family while Julie's were here.
 |
| A few pics from our family Christmas... |
 |
| Triplet lambs born Christmas Eve! |
 |
| The kids put on a nativity play for us later on in the week...I assume you can figure out who is Mary. Also, we've got Joseph, the donkey, and King Herod. |
 |
| Perhaps anyone else who watched the live nativity in Washington, IA would appreciate this pose at the end. |
 |
| One lamb, Cottontail, became a pet and bottle lamb. He is technically Joanna's project, and the others are enjoying him too. |
 |
| Pulled out one of my old dresses (I think my mom made it for me) and even found a picture of me wearing it! |
 |
| We got a lot of skating out of our pond in January when it stayed cold without snowing for a long time! |
 |
| Also, Levi turned 9! |
 |
| And Micah turned 8! |
Otherwise, we haven't been up to too much since 2025 arrived. It took me the whole month of January to physically + mentally recover from Christmas. We're in a decent routine now trying to knock out our school year before the weather gets too nice! I love the first couple months of the year when life seems to slow down just a wee bit. I don't like to make too many plans in the winter because they generally get canceled due to sickness anyway...and if there's anything worse than too many plans, it's too many canceled plans. ;)
I had all kinds of profound things to say, but, well, if I try to write anything that is well thought-out, the blog posts never get finished because I just don't have time. Thus, I shall leave you all in peace with the simple ramblings of my outermost thoughts. Happiest of Valentine's Days to you.
