2024, December 9-15

We are coming into the home stretch of the year. Christmastime is in full swing at home and at work. 

At Starbucks, this means festive samples season. Here is Hallie's coworker Nevaeh spreading holiday cheer!

We're going to have Kai all the way through and past Christmas. Woot! 

Two of Hallie's insulated cups got stuck together. The boys tried all sorts of approaches to get the cups apart, to no avail. 

Mike finally came up with a way to separate the cups, and it worked! Unfortunately, when the cups separated, the inner one went flying and tumbled to the floor. Cue sad trumpet. 

Landon came to visit Hallie at work. He had samples. 

Eliza and Mom went over to Dutch Bros for one of their promotions and got keychains. 

The girls had done this activity prior to Eliza going to TKD and leveling up to her blue-brown belt. 

As there are issues with getting belts, Eliza is borrowing the belt of one of her instructors until her own belt comes in. 

Jocie invited Landon to see her in concert at the high school, so he and Hallie attended. L's friend Sonny (along with several others we don't know by name) played as well. 

In his after-teaching/AI work/job search time, Mike has taken advantage of the new MacBook to do some drawing (tracing?) this week. He digitized the little bee mascot he drew over the summer, 

used generative AI to create an image of his arms, 

and created digital versions of various paper snowflakes old and new.

The original of this image is some 25 years old, 

while the original of this one was cut early this year.

We had snow at the school Mike taught at this Friday. During recess, he showed some students how to cut their own paper snowflakes. 

Anyway, it's been interesting to get back to using tools that he would like being able to apply to some other context or bring in some needed revenue. That said, sometimes hobbies have value on their own. 

Some of the snowflake work involves tracing existing images. The below is based on a real snowflake Wilson Bentley photographed back over a century ago. Clearly Mother Nature has a lock on intricate ice work and we humans are merely poor imitators.  

He also did some updated logo work. 

On Friday, Eliza went riding at BUH. This is how the snow looked over there. It was all very beautiful, but most of the morning's snow had melted by the end of the day. 

Eliza's horse was a little feisty, but Eliza kept her cool and impressed her coach with her poise under stress. 

Hallie has discovered a better version of one of the holiday-themed drinks she makes: add Sprite!

Mike and Eliza did some Christmas shopping while Mom was at work on Saturday, during which time he also got his shingles vaccine. Better that than the illness itself, eh? 

Eliza must have had a long night, because she spent a lot of time Sunday asleep. With cold weather's return, we're bundling up and getting cozy, all in the spirit of befriending winter. Even so, both kids dress as if it's still summertime. Anti-freeze for blood, the both of them, and their So Cal parents freeze just looking at them. 

2024, December 2-8

We had an exciting week and are feeling hopeful for good things to come. 

Eliza and Hallie (with a little help from Mike) looked after our neighbor's pets for the week. We mostly didn't see the cats, but we did spend a bit of time with the dogs. 

Hallie generally gets her drinks made with love from her fellow baristas. Sometimes that love is shown more visibly. Thank you, Ty!

Tucker and Val (the dogs we looked after) enjoyed getting out when they did. We had some chilly weather off and on with frost lingering on the ground most mornings. We had a fairly nasty inversion for most of the week. Fortunately, at the schools where Mike worked, this did not mean indoor recess. 

Mike had an onsite job interview this week. He thinks it went well. He prepared as well as he could for it. This happens to be the same week the Norte-Dame de Paris cathedral reopened after the fire it suffered five years ago. Of the then-audacious commitment President Emmanuel Macron made to rebuild the edifice, he made a statement from which Mike drew inspiration: "If you have a doubt, it's already over." Mike appreciates all the support he has received from former colleagues and students!  

Migratory birds occasionally land in the field to our west. The girls caught sight of these cranes. 

Eliza made these Mickey Mouse earrings for Hallie. 

Hallie also got her nails done in a holiday theme. 

Kai left us for a couple of days and then came back. We're always glad to have him around and miss him when he's away. 

Hallie made this snowman art at preschool. Then she took it to Starbucks as part of holiday decor. 

One of Hallie's friends with whom she works at the high school ball games posted about enjoying the red cup Hallie gave her. It's small things like these that bring joy. 

Something that brings a chuckle is when the high school students come up with creative ideas for teaching the preschoolers. The class has an elf-on-the-shelf who at least one day this week ran a hot cocoa and pretzel stand for the preschoolers' snack.

When Kai came back on Friday morning, Eliza gave him a once over with the detangling brush. He likes the attention but dislikes getting brushed. 

She had a riding lesson at BUH. She rode Rome bareback for part of the time, and it shows. 

She and Hallie took Kai along with Val and Tucker afterwards. 

It must have been a long day, because later on she fell asleep a couple of hours before her normal bedtime. Ferg took advantage to have a warm body for his own nap. 

Saturday morning, Fergus found another warm body in Mike's. Hallie was amused by how the kitty stretched himself out and made it impossible for Mike to move. 

The baristas have gone all out this year to decorate the store. Ty is a great artist and made our favorite drinks look amazing!

Mike volunteered the use of some of paper snowflakes he had on file, and the baristas went all out. 

They also made yummy grilled cheese sandwiches. Look at this stringiness! This picture was before they added guacamole and turkey to their sandwich. Ty and Hallie enjoyed their shared sandwich.

While Hallie worked, Mike and Eliza went to Christmas at the Barn at BUH. They dressed up the ponies, we decorated cookies and painted a snowman ornament, and E got her nails done. 

A little bit later in the evening Mike took Eliza, Landon, and Jocie (Landon's girlfriend) to the Christmas Festival at our Civic Center. It is a bummer Hallie has to miss out, but she is always excited that Mike has taken lots of pictures.

We try to buy an ornament each year that represents something about our lives. This ornament stands for the Springville Red Devils, the high school where Hallie works and Landon is a student. The alumni group had a booth. All money earned goes to scholarships to students at the high school. Really we have not ventured far from home this year. With all the ticket taking, preschool teaching, and Landon working at the high school it is safe to say this ornament and the BUH one represent what we've done and where we've gone this year.

Some new ponies have taken residence in the field where Jack and Raunchy used to live. We may have to get to know them. 

While Hallie worked, Mike took the kids to run a couple of errands. He also took advantage of the time to take the kids out to eat at Tamashi Ramen in Orem, where they had ramen, gyoza, avocado rolls, and (thanks to a spilled beverage) some sticky balls for Landon. 

The waitress kindly made up for the spill by giving the kids a couple of bottles of Ramune (a soda with a marble in the bottle). 

Thus ends another eventful week for the crew. More madness is sure to follow next week.