January

I'm going to accuse January as being the most deceptive month of the year. You think that you've finally earned a break after the chaos of the holidays and look forward to getting back to "normal". Maybe even "recovering" or taking it easy. But it's not true!! Instead, you have to make up for lost time and attend to EVERYTHING that got neglected while Christmas was on the table. It's daunting. All month long I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. Now that I'm writing this at the beginning of February, I see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. 

My MIL had a birthday on Dec. 28, but I missed the bunco party because my Lindblom family party was the same night. Then I had to miss all the girls taking her out for dinner. So Trav and I finally nailed down a night that we could take her out for dinner. They don't normally pick anything on the fancier side so I thought it would be fun to treat them a little more than usual. We went to The Arrogant Butcher in Phoenix. It's part of the Fox restaurant group. I have to say, I was let down. I enjoyed the experience at Culinary Drop Out much more. It was far away and you have to park in a parking garage. It had some cool interior design, but it felt dark, cramped and not fancy at all. The highlight was the pretzel fondue... at least it had that going for it! Trav and I split the crab stuffed chicken and fish and chips. I didn't really like either. I felt really bad that I picked a lame place... sigh.

 My Grandmother turned 91 on Jan. 15, which was a Friday. We planned to celebrate with her on the following Monday. She lives on the other side of town from us and it took quite a bit of planning to get the dinner (Chick-fil-a) and cake, flowers and game from Wal-mart (with ALL the kids) and meet Trav there after work. It doesn't help that I hate driving on the freeway. I was feeling really stressed out, but once we started eating with her I was so glad I had made the effort! She was so happy we were there and wouldn't stop telling us what a beautiful family we had and to please help her drink her lemonade.. she couldn't possibly finish all of it. ;) Then we moved into the living room and had FHE together. We focused it on her and asked her all sorts of questions about her life. I had prepped the boys about this so they would be ready with questions. I was afraid she wouldn't be having a "with it" night, but she was great. She remembered a lot and we learned a few new things. She will often repeat herself and that night it was about how her mother wanted them to move from Texas so badly that after she died, her father did just that... to honor her mother's request. We played a game called Headbanz that turned out fun! I love that she was willing to play too.

 After the song and prayer, we headed back to the kitchen for cake and to sing Happy Birthday and Greg and Colby's family walked in the door! Perfect timing! We wouldn't have been able to finish off the cake otherwise. It was a wonderful night with her. I love how sweet and happy she is, even though I know she is tired and wishes she could be with Granddad.

 For a different FHE, Travis helped Collin prepare a lesson on faith. The kids planted pinto beans as their "seeds" and we watched them GROW! Oh boy, you better believe this plant was the highlight of the month! Watering it and exclaiming over the plants was a daily thing. And pretty darn cute to hear the boys shriek, "Mom! Look! My faith GREW!!!"

 OK, where do I even start? The thing is, I can't even realistically "start". Documenting this night will have to go somewhere that isn't public. It was too special. Too sacred. I wondered how I'd even be able to share it with Trav and do it justice. I guess I'll just say, I had the extreme privilege of meeting this girl in the middle... Natalie Norton. And it was all thanks to that chica on the right, Josie. We spent several hours together and I will go on record as saying it was one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life... if not THE most incredible. I am a changed person because of it. 

 On the fourth weekend of the month we got to visit Gallup! Megan invited us to come and we were so excited to take her up on it! The boys are always begging to see their friends, plus we owed them a snow trip this winter. We drove up Friday afternoon with a car load of Rosas burritos and chips and salsa to share! Shelley and Casey did that for us when we lived there and it was my favorite. We hugged and feasted and the kids played while we ate ice cream and visited into the night. It was SO FUN. I don't have to tell you how we feel about the Shaheens, but being with friends that you just click with, is so rejuvenating. I was in my happy place. :)

The next morning, Megan made us breakfast and watched our kids for an hour so we could go visit our friend, Terry. So nice of her! Then, we connected with Pres. Haws who had painted us this picture as a going away gift. Isn't it beautiful? A scene of the red rocks in Gallup with a train passing through. We had been driving home from the Albuquerque temple when I saw this and took a picture..

He used it as an idea to paint from. It's such a special gift that we'll always treasure.

 After that, we got all ready to go sledding at McGaffey! They had gotten quite a bit of snow the previous couple of weeks and it was all packed down and slick for a good slide! The Kings and Hatches met us there too and the Butlers happened to be there as well which was perfect! It really is a miracle no one got hurt with how fast some of the kids were going down. Collin hit a bump once and the sled broke in two! Thank goodness it was the sled and not his back! I tried with Olive but had to drag my feet to slow us down which just piled ice in her face. She was done after that. ;) The most glorious part was we were prepared for frigid temperatures but the sun came out and baked us!! We were all shedding coats and hats and some even got sunburned. Megan and Brinn packed hot chocolate and snacks and we stayed on the hill all afternoon. We couldn't have asked for a better time!

I'm not sure who's idea it was, but all of us mom's decided to pile on the big sled for a ride. We joked about the news headlines the next morning. "17 Children Left Motherless After a Sledding Trip Goes Terribly Wrong." "4 Women, 4 Broken Backs From Unforgiving Ice-capade." You get the idea. We laughed, then gradually walked downhill til we felt we were at an injury-free point of starting. ;) We were fancy free and screaming the entire time!

I dare say the men had an even better time when it was their turn. Only, they were perfectionists and gave it several runs! I LOVE the looks on their faces. Yay for not having to use any disability insurance!!

We got back in enough time to check out the Shaheens new house in the daylight! It is a beaut!! Can't wait to see it when it's done!

 Then, Olive and I got to jet over to Jane's birthday party! Olive's first. Tania has such cute ideas and decorations. 

I had just enough time for the world's quickest shower before the babysitter's came and us parent's got to convene at Fratelli's for the usual wings, alfredo fries, salad and pizza! In true Gallup fashion, we were greeted by a drunk Native American asking for money and telling his tale. I will always remember Brinn's face as she eagerly looked into his eyes, ready to listen and offer her support. Followed up with a hysterical group text message entailing his woes and that she'd invited him to have dessert with us. ;) 

We ate pizookis at Megan's and talked while the kids fell asleep all snuggled in close. :)

Megan spoiled us with homemade, wheat waffles for breakfast before we all went to church at 11am. This. This was possibly my favorite and least favorite part. You see, there's the love. The happy, familiar, welcoming faces that light up when they see you. All the hugs from the YW during the third hour. The kids cheerfully picking up where they left off. The friends. The semi-catching up conversations.. because really we haven't been gone that long. Then there's the aching. The sadness that accompanies the remembering that this is still the past. This isn't our present. This comfortableness will only last 3 hours and then it will be gone. A wonderful band-aid that almost does more damage when it's ripped off than when it was holding you all together. As we drove away, Brinn called me. We had missed goodbye hugs from the Kings. I felt like crying as we talked about how fast it all went but how good it all felt. Still not absorbing that we weren't driving back down Boggio to get Olive down for her nap. I'm tearing up just writing about it. I really missed Megan. Really missed her. We console ourselves by looking forward to the next visit. The next time we'll see each other. It's a hollow consolation prize. 

Ok, shake it off, Steph! As for the rest of the month. Our ward is doing a family history competition between the men, women and youth. You get a point for every family name you find, family name you do a temple ordinance for or 10 batches of indexing. I'm scared of trying to find a family name. Seriously. So I tried indexing. Oi!! I spent an hour on one batch and didn't even finish! (Then when I tried to finish it a couple weeks later, the batch was gone! I guess they go back on the server after a week. That really bugged my OCD brain that needs to finish things. Ugh, it's like an itch you can't scratch. Lesson learned.) Anyway, there are a whole lotta Williams in England, people! Not much originality. THEN, I found out I could do a temple ordinance for a family name and get a point even if I didn't find it myself. So thanks to my Grandma, I'm set! Go Grandma Ann.

I surely hope it's OK that I'm posting this. It's a long story, but when you're in a hurry, don't put delicate,   pleated things in the dryer even if it's on low. Just don't. Over an hour of ironing later, and the tragic mistake was righted. Never again.

*Not Pictured*
*My sweet friend, Anjane, having surgery and spending time with her at the hospital. In the small ways I'm able to help others, I am sooo grateful for a husband who is always supporting me, encouraging me and picking up the slack at home.
*Collin getting strep throat. This happened to be on the day I was supposed to give a class at our Relief Society's activity on self reliance. Travis took him to Urgent Care the second I got home. It was a long night. 
*I spoke in church on the Light of Christ. I was soooo apprehensive about this topic. Turned out to be a wonderful learning experience and very well timed as problems with our old land lord came to a head the same week. Things I wouldn't have been able to let go or forgive, became necessary to do in order to prepare this talk with the Spirit. At first I was frustrated, then I realized how divine the timing was. The Lord is good! :)