2022, January 31-February 6

More insanity from us. The week started chilly and with glowing red skies.  

Eliza has been learning about how-to writing for the past couple of weeks. This week, she chose to write about how to fry an egg. 

She also thought Ferg would look cute in a bra. 

All he wants to do is sleep (or occasionally administer blessings). 

We got snow and cold on Wednesday. 

This Wednesday was notable. Remember, Twos-day, February 22, is coming up!

Mike took Eliza riding on Wednesday. This photo was taken not long after she fell off. Fortunately, the only thing injured was her pride.  

On the way home, we drove through traffic. Also, Dad was not pleased with the behavior of the driver immediately in front of him. 

Hallie has to remind kids not to disturb their classmates in ISS. It doesn't help that she gets along well with the students. Hallie can't take credit for this sign. One of the students she knows free handed this sign. Somehow it took on a bit of an Italian theme, so Hallie is going to try and imagine Italy while they are working in a classroom with no windows.

On Friday, the girls and Grandma M. went up to Salt Lake. Part of their trip included a visit to a boutique at This Is The Place. A gentle reminder. . . .  

In the meantime, the boys ran some errands, including getting Landon his university ID card. Maybe we should have waited for him to get his hair cut. 

Mike continues to practice making linocut stamps. 

Hallie is practicing home organization. 

Ferg has found his warm place, yet again. "You want to study, do you? Good luck with that."

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.