2023, January 9-15

We're fully back into the rhythms of school and work, just in time for a long weekend!

Mike caught this brilliant sunrise to start our day and week. 

Speaking of beautiful skies, Eliza and Mike had a sad but interesting experience taking Landon to school last week that we forgot to mention. As they were driving away from the school, Mike noticed a person lying on the street holding a cell phone. He thought it was strange, but he also thought maybe the person was a student lying on the road on purpose. Eliza saw the sun shining off the mountains out to the west and wanted Mike to stop so she could take a photo. As he turned back around, he rolled down the car window and called out to the person in the road. Good thing too, because it turned out the person was a parent who had slipped on the ice and was trying to call 911 because she had hurt her shoulder. Mike got on the phone with the dispatcher (who sent an ambulance), while he had Eliza run in to the office to get a nurse. Things sorted themselves pretty quickly from there, with the ambulance, the nurse, other school personnel, and the woman's father all showing up pretty quickly. She was in a lot of pain, and we hope everything worked out for her. 

Mike took some of his Christmas presents up to school, including this cool bee-themed thinking putty Hallie got for him. It has hexagonal glitter along with bees. Pretty wild! 

Landon went to the doctor for a follow up on his MRI. Fortunately, the injury isn't so severe that he needs more than to take it easy while the vertebra heals. 

Mike added a few more paper flakes to frames. Now to figure out the best time and place to sell them. He's thinking (due to booth rental costs) that going in with more than one winter-themed crafter with various offerings might be a better option than stockpiling a huge number of these. It's a hobby, not a money-making venture, after all. 

Landon returned to the dojang this week, taking it easy (relatively) and not sparring. 

Someone made Mike a banner of his arms in Minecraft. So many creative people out there! 

Eliza and Hallie drove up to Salt Lake so they could get the results of Eliza's sleep study. Unfortunately, we didn't learn anything beyond what we already know about her sleep habits and hygiene.

Fergus loves laps, as we know. Sometimes those laps have computer keyboards. He doesn't care. 

Here are Hallie's holiday nails. 

Hallie won a prize from a drawing at the Big Bratt Boutique: this tumbler with an embossed leather sleeve. 

Eliza enjoys caring for Nugget at Guide 'N' Gallop. The silly pony had gotten into some burrs which Eliza had to comb out. Nugget is a miniature horse that Eliza has been training. Eliza has really enjoyed training him.

Landon continues to draw just because now that the term is over. He's also decided that he wants to go by the nickname "Ace", which we had actually considered naming him (after his great grandfather Acel) before going for Acel and Lula's last name (Landon).  

Hallie and friends celebrated their friend Denise's birthday with sushi and ice cream. Those are some rather large sushi rolls! 

The kids at Hallie's preschool made snowflakes in keeping with the time of year. Cute, eh? This is Hallie's sad example. Hallie asked a high schooler to make an example that turned out a lot better.

Landon and his friends. So cool. He had four term finals on Thursday leading into the long weekend. He does not want to have to repeat that experience. 

More Eliza riding. It was cold out, but thank heavens the ground had hardened enough so that riding could happen. 

More Landon being cool. Like his hair? Mom thinks it needs a trim. Landon does not think he needs a haircut.

Landon decides every so often to be cuddly. His bony butt is painful though. Hallie is happy to be quick with the camera.

And his feet are stinky. The boys have quite a bit of fun that frequently centers on Landon finding ways to cause Mike discomfort and embarrassment. Almost like he's testing to see who's the alpha, eh? Teenagers. Good thing Mike is a benevolent paterfamilias. 

Ferg got caught blepping. Also, he knows his place (the real king lol). Hallie finds this picture to be so scary!

Here are Eliza's school pictures. Took a while for them to arrive, but isn't she adorable? She and Hallie went to visit Grandpa M. after he had some surgery. He's recovering well. 

Eliza started at Bridle Up Hope on Friday with an orientation and class. She'll be quite busy next week with yoga and other classes. Eliza got this neat denim bag from them that she personalized with iron-on patches. Eliza is great at getting Hallie to take her to the store when she is bored on the weekend.