January 2021

 

WEEK 1 (January 1st - 9th) - 2021 started off with a bang.  Josh and Georgia were married at the Loft.  This was the 3rd marriage for both of them.  Because of Covid and the difficulty of so many people traveling they decided to have a zoom wedding.  They had their good friends that were their neighbors from Houston as their only guests.  The guy got his pastor's license so he officiated the wedding.  I was asked to do some wedding photography so I got to go as well.  It was pretty special even though it was definitely not a traditional wedding.

Later that day we took the kids out into the pasture for some sledding.  There wasn't a ton of snow, but enough that they thought it was fun.  We had two plastic sleds in the barn and Kasen managed to demolish both of them.

 

I had an idea to start an instagram account focused on growing a business.  I had been toying the idea around of starting a blog and trying to monetize it to the point I could create a course and then market that.  Right before Christmas I found a photography site that ran contests for posting 1 photo per day around certain themes.  I thought this sounded fun and decided to make my handle @justsayyesmom and focus on being more in the moment with my kids and offer tips/tricks for other moms to do the same.  I knew I'd have to really go outside my comfort zone and it seemed somewhat exciting.  These were some of the posts I did on my new account.  My new found "let's start a business on instagram" didn't last long.  I think I did it for 3 weeks and then stopped.  I just realized I don't have the energy to be on social media that much.  The more I'm on it the less I like it and the less I feel happy.  So it didn't last long, but I did get some good pictures on there while it lasted!

John's 80th birthday was cold and snowy and due to the virus no one could come to visit or celebrate.  We decided to take him some treats from the grocery store and drop them off, but Coleen insisted we come in.  Jed's siblings have been very vocal about not putting John and Coleen in virus' way so I was worried we would get an earful if we went in, but Coleen doesn't usually take no for an answer.  We tried to distance and keep our masks on and didn't stay too long.  John seemed pretty bored so it was nice to see him and hopefully make him feel special.

WEEK 2 (January 10th - 16th) -  Jed and I had to go to Utah for a few days so the kids stayed with Jordan and Abby.  They loved it and had so much fun.  We were able to Facetime with them and it was hard for anyone to get a word in with Dallin.  That kid has so much energy.  When we got back I wasn't quite feeling great so I spent the week in bed and Ava and Kasen missed a few more days of school to help out while I rested.  They are such good kids.  Kinsley donated her sleeping mask to me and made me signs and hung them throughout my room.  Dallin was content to leave me alone since he had so many friends to play with during the day but he would run in occasionally and yell "Mom I love you!" and scare the life out of me.

The week was pretty low key but in the few moments I was awake and moving around I captured the fun, creative spirits of my kids playing or taking some tv breaks.

WEEK 3 (January 17th - 23rd) - Another pretty slow week.  The kids went back to school and entertained themselves in various ways - shooting stuffed animals off the railing, making fake worms, being loud, and Kasen even made his own playing cards.

I was finally feeling better at the end of the week to go to Kasen's basketball tournament.  It was fun to watch him play.  Jed is the coach and for the most part it has been a good thing! lol  He does get a little animated.  Kasen has improved a lot and his confidence has also improved.  I love watching him and the other kids develop their talents. Kasen has so much talent.

WEEK 4 (January 24th - 31st) - While we were in Hawaii over Thanksgiving, Josh tore his achilles tendon so when we got back Jed did surgery on him.  He had been healing nicely and it was time to remove his cast.  We went over to their house while Jed cut it off and it was pretty funny and disgusting.  Jed is doing awesome at work and we are so appreciative of all the time and talent he puts into his job.  We are really blessed to have been able to move into a job with great people and it really is a blessing that Jed was able to build up his patient base so quickly and have a full schedule. 

The snow just won't stop which isn't too unusual for January in Idaho.  These two made the most of it.  It has been really fun having Kinsley home all day with Dallin.  For the most part they are good friends and get along and have fun playing together.  There are definitely a few fights daily which I knew how to eliminate.  This week we learned how to paint with watercolor as well.

One big difference between Boise winters and Rigby winters is that here in Rigby we still get the sun.  We get much colder temperatures, but I don't miss the inversions that make you feel like you are living in a gray snowglobe over in Boise.

Along with snow exploration and watercolors, Kinsley and Dallin made some great forts and fun costumes for their stuffed animals this week.  One day we had to run some errands so I took the kids for a treat.  Kinsley begged "Mom can we please go do something fun today?!  I don't want to go home!"  I'm starting to realize that winters are long and everyone in the house gets stir crazy.  Unfortunately there are not the same things here that we've grown accustomed to (i.e. museums, indoor activities, music centers, etc.) in other bigger cities we've lived in.  Without school we will have to develop some winter hobbies.  Speaking of school, Ava and Kasen had parent teacher conferences and Ava's grades never cease to amaze me.  Kasen was also a straight A student!

One night Ava was making some origami cranes and she taught everyone how to do it.  She is such a sweetheart and a great big sister.  One of the most exciting events this week was Kinsley's dance performance.  She finally had one!  Raleigh was too weak to go, but Kinsley didn't want to miss it.  There were pretty strict rules so only one spectator per dancer could go and we could only go in during our dancer's performance but it was still awesome!  Kinsley did amazing and she is so talented.  She danced with her group to a song called "Humble & Kind" and I couldn't help get tears in my eyes watching her.  Afterward we went and had a mom/daughter lunch date of Mexican food.  She is turning out to be my only child who loves it so I take advantage of the opportunity.  I love my girls so much.  They are both such sweet and kind and beautiful daughters of God.