2022, January 24-30

We had a girl who walked the halls by night and a boy who broke a bone in his hand. And so it goes. 

Sometimes after a night of sneaking downstairs for a snack or TV, Eliza will wander into Mom and Dad's room and then fall asleep. It's a bit of a challenge the next day to get her going for school. 

We caught a bleppy Fergus, again. 

And again! 

Hallie's new earring started giving her problems over the weekend which got worse into the week. Heat, pain killers, and antibiotics helped things improve. 

Mike's teaching a couple of qualitative methods classes this semester. He hit on the idea of having students study his office to see what they could learn about the individual using it based on the stuff in it. So, what kind of person is Dr. Owens anyway? 

Later on Wednesday, Mike took Landon to the doctor to get his hand cast fitted. It's quite the process! 

Hallie and Eliza went to a fancy new ice cream shop in Spanish Fork before riding. 

The meals kept coming on Friday as the girls went to a crepe store on the way home from Eliza's therapy appointment. 

Ferg endlessly fascinates us, even with simple things like cleaning hi. 

 

2022, January 17-23

We had a week of injury recovery and sunny if cold weather. Plus we had our anniversary! 

Fergus seems to know which one of us is ailing, and he will lie down with them (maybe because they're lying down and are warm?). Eliza was in pain from her injured toe on Monday, and Fergus was there for her. Hallie found him laying above her like this two mornings in a row. 

We had the day off Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, and after Mom came home from a blood donation, Ferg found her too. It has been a long time since Hallie donated blood. The last time she tried to donate blood, the workers could not find a vein and she stopped donating blood for a bit.

Mike found that some houses in the neighborhood have the most interesting (intentional and not) art installations. 

Due to an upswing in COVID cases, Hallie had the week off from work while her school's students did at-home instruction. This meant she got to work as Eliza's main teacher for the week! Hallie took Eliza to some school testing in the morning, then the girls ran by Grandpa and Grandma M's to run a load of laundry which kept getting stuck in our machine. While doing the laundry, Eliza had a Zoom meeting. After everything was finished, the girls drove to Park City to get Landon a new sweatshirt. The boy is growing so fast that the last one we bought him less than a year ago is now too small. On the way home, they went to the library and learned how to make woven parachute cord bracelets (Mike helped once they got home. It was a little complicated). 

On Wednesday Eliza enjoyed some time on horseback. 

Landon learned about the framing of the Constitution. 

Landon keeps letting the top of his hair grow long, so he had to get it braided for his meet. 

Despite an injured hand, he participated in two events. 

As part of celebrating our anniversary and supporting a local business, we went out to the birthday party for Feminessence. 

Hallie got a new piercing in her ear. Mike declined the opportunity for himself. We love "Coach" Megan who let Hallie hold her hand in the process. Megan is a great sport!

The lady who did the piercings could still see where Halie had her cartilage pierced over 23 years ago and pierced it in the same spot. This time it was pierced with a hollow needle. Then she puts the earring in and the backing. It did hurt a bit more than getting it pierced with a gun, but Hallie has toughened up in her old age and made it through.

For our anniversary proper, we went to TRUreligion Pancake and Steakhouse. Our server even brought us a cinnamon roll. Many thanks! Mike got a mixed berry Dutch baby and some incredible bacon, and Hallie got a breakfast burrito the size of a small car. 

In the evening, Eliza made a blanket bed as we watched A Wrinkle in Time. Hallie went to our neighbor's Shelly's for dinner, and then they watched the quite exciting Rams vs Buccaneers NFL game.

Landon decided to style his hair. We told him he looked like Ed Grimley of SCTV fame.  

2022, January 10-16

We had a little COVID scare, but it all worked out. Landon stayed home from school on Monday as he still felt ill and we weren't sure if it was COVID. We played Mandalorian Monopoly. The way these kids talk smack. . . .  

Wednesday was the last day for make-up work, so Landon kind of had to scramble to get some late work done. Here's a sample of his drawings for his art class this term. He really likes drawing but complains that it takes a long time. 

Eliza went riding three days this week making up for lessons missed over the holidays. She rode Juneau on Tuesday, Jett on Wednesday, and Juneau again on Thursday. 

Hallie and friends from the neighborhood celebrated a birthday at Red 8 Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar in Spanish Fork. 

Here's Eliza back at it again. She's learning to jump while trotting and cantering. 

Mike went up to work early enough on Friday that he caught a beautiful sunrise. One of his doctoral students successfully defended her dissertation. Congratulations!

Although a rapid test Landon took earlier in the week came back negative, the slow COVID test he took Sunday came back positive, so (because they had both felt under the weather this week) Hallie and Eliza jumped in the car and got tested too. Results came back negative. Mike has felt fine all week, and he wears a mask for work. Strange times. 

After work, Mike set to work on installing some overhead storage in the garage so we can get our floorspace back and Hallie can park the van again. He finished installing the second one Saturday morning. They turned out pretty well! 

Hallie had bought Mike a linocut stamp set for Christmas, and he finally got a chance on Sunday to start playin around with it. Challenging and fun! Also, they need to provide a left-handed straight knife.