Sun, snot, & swim

It was sunny every single day this week--a pure anomaly for January in Sunnyside. The sun was COLD, though, with temps in the teens every night and frost on the ground every morning. It would warm up to the mid-30s by afternoon though, so the ice on the canal never got firm enough for skating--much to mine and Amber's dismay. The words sun, snot, and swim pretty much sum up the week, but I'll add in a few journal entries to round it out. 

Piano Joy

Almost 20 years ago, my parents upgraded the Baldwin upright piano of my childhood to a gorgeous glossy Steinway grand piano. At the time, I was in my piano draught era between the end of college and the end of childbearing, where I played the piano like once a year at most. Jeff and I didn't even own a piano for 7 of those years. In 2015, a kind friend gave us her old piano--a much-loved beat up old Gulbransen spinet. That piano was an enormous blessing. I had been wanting a piano for years, but pianos are expensive--even low quality pianos. Once we had a piano of our own, I was able to put Jay and Rose in piano lessons! I played the piano a bit more at that time, but never enough to really learn any songs. This was during Amber's intense early childhood, so sitting down to play the piano without the house blowing up behind me felt like too great a risk.

Jaylene's Baptism

While I was sitting in church a few months ago, I glanced to my left and thought I saw a familiar face sitting a few rows over. It took me a few minutes to place the face in my memory, and then I side-eyed her profile and second guessed myself for the rest of the meeting. After the closing prayer, I gathered my courage and went over to see if this was the person I thought it was. 

"Is that you, Jaylene?" I asked. 

"Yes, Mrs. White, how are you?" she replied, and gave me a big hug.

A Visit from Mom

Usually the first week of January is my least favorite week out of the entire year. Christmas lights and joy are over, my entire family leaves early in the morning for school, and I am left alone in a rumpled house to find my rhythm again under dark gloomy cold skies. The first week of 2025 was different because my Mom came to visit! She and my Dad both came last weekend for Jay's priesthood ordination, but my Mom stayed all week after that. Mundane tasks like driving, cooking, and cleaning were magically transformed into fun quality time. 

Happy New Year!

2024 is somehow over, and 2025 has begun. We enjoyed a peaceful second week off of school to welcome the new year. We didn't go anywhere or do anything drastic; we just stayed home, relaxed, and enjoyed the glow of our Christmas tree for the entire week. On New Year's Eve, we had our traditional crackers, dips, and special drinks for dinner and then stayed up till midnight. Jeff played a computer game with the kids. I watched a k-drama. The kids watched a movie. Jeff played a different computer game. I watched a k-drama. I was so tired, I wanted to go to bed at 10:30pm, but there were random fireworks popping and echoing across the fields and my whole family was awake. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep in a house full of AWAKE people, so I propped my eyelids open and watched another k-drama episode. We reconvened at 11:57pm to watch the new year begin. We counted down the last five seconds, said "Happy New Year!", had a family hug, and then crashed into bed. Sometimes staying up late watching shows or talking is super tempting and fun, but when I am actually trying to stay up till midnight, it is murderous!