Happy Memorial Day

It's a beautiful evening here with filtered sun coming through the blue clouds and green leaves. The unofficial start to summer wasn't very summery on our hike today though. We had a thunderstorm with with some pretty heavy snow/hail. We hiked up to Devil's Head, but the lightening was too close to walk up the metal fire tower. (So we'll just have to go back and do it again!) The views probably wouldn't have been that great anyway with the low-hanging clouds. The sun did come back out at the end of the hike though and dried us out before we had to get back in the car.

My daughter, son, and nephew at the "half way point." This was before the weather moved in.

One of the pretty views along the trail. Here you can see the weather that was on the way.

Yesterday we got our garden planted and our whiskey barrels filled with flowers. This daisy is one of my favorites this year.

I hope all my readers have a nice start to the summer!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my readers out there who celebrate the holiday! We're enjoying a quiet, nuclear family holiday this year. My kids are both playing on electronics right now, and my husband is cooking our Christmas goose. We've never had goose before, but my husband loves to try cooking traditional items so we're going to give it a shot. He's also made Christmas pudding in the past, which was good but too rich for most of us. The biggest success has been sugar plums. We all love those and they're practically health food with all the nuts and dried fruit so he makes those every year.

Evolution of the Celebration
My parents moved to Colorado when I was 9 months old (so I'm not an actual native, but pretty darn close). Christmas for me growing up was always just the four of us (my parents, my brother, and me) and we always spent time relaxing and reading our new books.

My husband always lived near all of his family, so Christmas Eve was always with his mother's Italian parents celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Christmas day was always with his dad's parents, and when they lived in the area, his dad's sister's family.

After we first got married and had children, we continued to celebrate Christmas Eve each year with my husband's maternal grandparents. Before they had to quit hosting it, the event got pretty huge with all the grandchildren married and with kids of their own. My mother-in-law took over the event several years ago, and we actually broke into two celebrations with my husband's cousins starting their own.

Every Christmas day we'd go and see my parents and my husband's family. I finally put a stop to this one year when my brother-in-law was hosting Christmas and took his time with the meal so we didn't eat lunch until almost 4:00 in the afternoon, and I was practically screaming at my children to open their gifts faster after the meal since we were supposed to be at my parent's house at 5:00.

After that infamous year, we starting celebrating with only one family on Christmas, and the other family the weekend after, alternating years. Then my brother-in-law converted to Messianic Judaism a few years ago and stopped celebrating most holidays. They don't celebrate Hanukkah either, only the Jewish festivals found in the old testament. Once that change happened, we stopped seeing my husband's family on Christmas day and always see them the weekend after to celebrate with his paternal grandparents.

Since my brother and his wife still alternate Christmas celebrations with our family and his wife's family, that left Christmas every year other open with no family commitments or celebrations. My husband wasn't sure how he felt about that since he'd never celebrated Christmas that way, but I convinced him to give it a shot because that was how I had always celebrated it growing up. I think he was very skeptical about it until we tried it, and now I think even he enjoys the restful Christmas day every other year.

Christmas Eve at my in-laws

Christmas tree at my in-laws

Grilled grouper that my husband prepared for the feast.

Sibling love on Christmas Eve!

I hope that however you celebrate the day you are with people whose company you enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this Thanksgiving holiday, I am thankful...

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who has been my best friend and my partner for nearly 20 years, through good times and bad.
I'm thankful for our two beautiful, bright, healthy children who provide so much joy and light in our lives.
I'm thankful for all of our extended family who are always supportive and never overbearing.
I'm thankful for all my friends, near and far. Both the friends who I get to spend time with on a regular basis, and those who I keep up with on social media.
I'm thankful that we such an abundance of love and wonderful people in our lives.
I'm thankful for my new job which fits me like a glove, and all of my wonderful co-workers.
I'm thankful for our cozy home in a quiet neighborhood that keeps us warm and safe.
I'm thankful that my complaints fall into two categories: fairly inconsequential annoyances, or sadness for blessings that are no longer a part of my life. I am very fortunate that I rarely have to worry about life or death issues, unlike so many others in the world.
I'm thankful for the soft, beautiful snow that's falling on this Thanksgiving morning.
I'm thankful that I get to see my mom and my brother with his family today. I will still miss my dad at the holiday table, but that falls into the category of blessings that are no longer a part of my life; I'm grateful for the 40 years I had with him.
I'm thankful that I get to see my in-laws and my brother-in-law with his family tomorrow.
I'm thankful that my life is so full of blessings that I could make this list much, much longer.

I hope all of my readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are feeling as blessed as I am today!

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the morning at Brainard Lake with my family, kind of hiking. It's hard to get a real hike in with little kiddos running around!

 

Now we're sitting here listening to the thunder roll through, I'm hoping that the storms will clear out before this evening so we can walk over the city park to watch tonight's fireworks with my in-laws. I hope that you have a great holiday and get to spend it with the people you enjoy!

Memorial Day

We've got sunshine again! Yesterday morning and this morning the sun has been out consistently for the first time in about three weeks. Because Denver is normally so sunny, we were seeing stories in the news that people were suffering from seasonal affective disorder. I did read in the news this morning that while we aren't done with the rain (which is actually a good thing), we're going to be heading into a more typical pattern where we have sun in the morning and rain in the afternoon. I like a rainy day, or even a couple of rainy days every once in awhile, but I was starting to feel claustrophobic under constantly gray skies. I'm pleased with the change in the weather pattern.

The end of the school year continues to be busy, but we're in the home stretch now. My daughter's middle school continuation was last Friday. She is such a hard-working and conscientious student and was recognized for that with several academic awards.

My son's elementary school continuation is coming up this Wednesday. I'm taking the day off so I can walk him to school one last time, then spend the day with him after the ceremony. Oh, and so I can deal with my emotions at home rather than at work. I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but I'm still struggling to deal emotionally with the fact that this part of our lives is drawing to a close.

Today is Memorial Day here in the U.S. which is the day we're supposed to remember all of the service men and women who died in battle for our country. I'm remembering my dad today. He didn't die in battle, although I think it's safe to say that he did die younger than he otherwise might have partially due to physical and emotional injuries he suffered in battle.

Not everyone in the picture above survived battle though. My dad is in the top row on the left end.

This afternoon while we're having out dinner over at my in-laws (hopefully on the porch, but we'll have to see if the weather is amenable), I'll be thinking of my dad and the sacrifice he, and countless others made.

Weekly Progress Report #14

Happy Easter!

The Easter bunny brought my kids Reester bunnies this year. Luckily he also brought small Reese's peanut butter cups so mom doesn't have to sneak nibbles off the big bunnies.

Weight: 141.5

Weight Change:  0.0

I had to extend my time to lose weight since I've stalled the last couple of weeks. But at least I'm not going back up too much right now.

I haven't written much lately because I've been feeling very melancholy. I was struggling to understand what the problem was when I had a duh moment this morning. The 1-year anniversary of my father's death is next Saturday, and we celebrated Easter one week after he died last year. Of course I'm struggling right now and not feeling very cheerful. I need to give myself a little leeway for the time to experience whatever emotions I need to experience.

I hope all of you who celebrate Easter have a nice day today with family and friends.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I wore my green today. My mom got me this sweater for Christmas and I remember when I opened it thinking I'd be set for March 17th. My husband is making our traditional St. Patrick's day meal of cheddar scones and corned beef. I was really careful with my food earlier today so I'd have the 687 calories left that I needed for this dinner because it's so yummy I didn't want to miss it.

I finally figured out looking at this picture of myself why I don't like pictures of myself. My left eye opens wider than my right eye (this is something lots of people in my family have), and the right side of my mouth lifts higher than the left when I smile. I don't think I would judge anyone else on this, but I certainly do judge myself.  The other part of the problem is that I'm not used to seeing myself this way, I'm used to a mirror image, so I always just think I look weird in pictures. While losing weight won't help with any of this, I'll feel better overall so maybe I won't mind the pictures so much.

It wasn't quite as warm today as it has been the last couple of days. Today's high was only 58. Though it was still mostly sunny and spring is definitely here to stay now, even though it doesn't officially start until Friday (which is also my daughter's 14th birthday).

Enjoy your day, however you choose to celebrate or not!

Favorite Holiday Decorations

I have a couple of holiday decorations that I just love, and I like having them out every year, so I thought I'd share some photos.

This is a ceramic gingerbread house candle that my sister-in-law got for me back when they still celebrated Christmas.  She also got me my favorite Halloween decoration, back when they still celebrated Halloween.  Sigh...
Anyway, I love the way this looks like a real little bakery with the light inside.

This is our Celtic advent wreath, with 2 of the candles lit since we're in the second week of Advent.

This is tonight's sunset from the creek behind our house.  We've been having some beautiful colors in the sky lately, almost like nature is getting into the holiday spirit!

Festive and Relaxing

I love long weekends.  All day yesterday I kept thinking that the next day was Sunday, so when I finally realized that the next day was only Saturday, I was elated.  There's just something so wonderful about having extra time at home with my family.  I'm really enjoying relaxing in our now festive home, this is just what I've needed!

I tried to sleep in this morning, especially since I went to bed late (well, for me) last night and had a headache that lasted well into the night.  When I awoke around 1:00 it was still going strong.  But my head is mostly back to normal this morning, and I got to watch the most beautiful sunrise.  It started off as just a little color, but got more intense as I sat here.  Now it's faded again, but it was a pleasure to watch.

We got our house all decorated for the holidays yesterday.  We don't have our tree yet since we're going to get one from a local nursery, so we have to wait until closer to Christmas, but everything else is ready for the season.

I've said this before, so forgive me for repeating myself.  2014 has been a hard year for my family.  My brother and his wife lost a baby half way through the pregnancy, far enough in that she had to go through labor and delivery.  She delivered a beautiful, perfectly formed baby boy who had died because his umbilical cord got twisted and pinched off.  Then less than a month later, my dad died unexpectedly.  My son's ADHD has become more difficult to manage, we assume because he's just starting puberty which changes his brain chemistry.  My husband and I hit 40 this year, and I know this doesn't seem like a huge deal, but my eyebrows have started to disappear.  It makes me look weird.  I've never really worn makeup before, but this year I've had to start filling in my brows every day.  It's just all added up to a great deal of stress, and a very trying time.  So I'm really looking forward to the holiday season and just being able to focus on my family and enjoying special time together.  I'm hoping that this will reset things for us and we can start to create a new normal, and that 2015 will be a better year.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I haven't been posting much lately because I just haven't felt like it, hopefully I'll start feeling more like posting again soon.  I've just really been focusing on spending time with and enjoying my family.  We had a very nice Thanksgiving today, and I hope you all did too.

I had to share this picture of the waxing Thanksgiving moon behind the bare trees that looks so much like a Cheshire Cat grin.

It's now officially time to start anticipating Christmas (for those of us who celebrate it).  We're going to do our decorating tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to a festive home!

Happy 4th of July!

Independence Day has always been one of my favorite holidays.  There's something magical about sitting outside under the night sky and watching colorful explosions.  We've always spent time with family on the holiday.  July 4, 1997 was the first time my husband met my parents.  I have lots of wonderful memories of the holiday and enjoy it even more now with my kiddos.

We're having some inclement weather this year, so there's a chance that we may not get to watch the fireworks tonight.  I'm hoping that even if it's pouring rain we can walk down to the open space and watch the fireworks at the city center.  We normally walk over the city park and sit on the hillside, but it may be standing under a tree at the bottom of the creek this year.  We'll just have to see.

This morning we went hiking with my mom, aunt, and my brother and his family.  It was a nice hike, but my nephew (he's 4 years old) and the dogs were having problems with the hike and the heat, so we had to cut it short and didn't get to go for as long as we'd planned.  I think we'll have to go back again and complete this hike, because it was beautiful.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed here in Colorado because there are just so many people.  But then I have views like this and know that I don't want to leave.  Plus, although it was very hot today, at least we never have to deal with humidity!

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

Memorial Day was kind of hard this year, as I assume every holiday that reminds me of my dad will be for awhile.  My dad was a veteran and he passed away this past April, so of course he was heavy on our minds today.  But we made the most of the day, spending it with my mom, aunt, and my brother and his family down in Castle Rock.  We hiked up to "the rock" and then scrambled up "the rock", something I hadn't done since I was in my early twenties.  It was actually fun and kind of exhilarating.  My brother used to technical climb, so I don't know if it's sensible that I trust him to find a good way up, or foolish because he's so much better at it than I am.  But regardless, there was just enough challenge with an edge of danger to make it a great way to spend the day.

My heart just about stopped at one point when my son saw a lizard in a rock crevice and leaned over to get a good look.  I calmly told him to lean back, because I thought screaming it would scare him and send him tumbling over the edge.  After that I was adamant that he needed to move back from the edge of the rock.

The area is very pretty with scrub oak and little lizards climbing around the rocks.

Scrub Oak Leaves

Castle Rock, we were up next to that star

My brother, nephew, and son

Pikes Peak with fresh snow from this weekend

My brother, nephew, and daughter

Lizard poking up through the rock crevice

Me and my family

Lizard sunbathing

Wildflower

We spent yesterday afternoon with my mother- and father-in-law and had brats to eat.  I love bratwurst but only eat it about once a year because I know it's not very good for me.  I like to make sure that mine has lots of horseradish mustard on it!

Flowering shrub in my mother-in-law's back yard

My mother-in-law's flowers (she has a degree in horticulture)

Last night my daughter and I did one of the 5K races we're participating in this year.  She hadn't been very willing to run much of the other two races we've participated in, but last night she did agree to run part of the time, so we completed the 5K together in 41 minutes.

So like life, our weekend had its ups and downs, but overall was very nice.