February Happenings

I think Instagram is slowly starting to take over my blogging... It's an easy way to post pictures for friends and family to see what you're up to, but I need to catch up with our blog because I'm going to make another blog book for our family soon.

February 1st I turned 29. Happy birthday to me! Crazy that I've entered the last year of my 20's... I went and hung out with some of my Utah pals in SLC. We had breakfast, went shopping, gabbed, and laughed. I'm lucky to have such good friends.

Finn has been enjoying preschool and playing with his cousins. He likes to make "inventions" which are basically tape, paper, straws, and anything else taped together. He has made engines, remotes, and fans. I love to see his little imagination work! He misses Dennen and likes to facetime with him and show him the inventions he's come up with. He also likes to play in my parent's back yard (yes, it has been warm enough) in the dirt and with Eddie. My parents and I recently took Finn alpine skiing for his first time at Park City. I was so proud and am excited to start taking him more. I love skiing and have missed it a ton since having kiddos. But I guess parenting is about sacrifice. Finn is so good with Margo now and gives her hugs, kisses, and makes her smile a lot. I love to see their relationship developing!

Skiing and Lunch in a Box

I'll admit something... I'm a lover of winter! That is, as long as there is snow to do fun winter sports. And for our family that's skiing. Yesterday we got a huge snow storm that dropped about a foot of snow. I knew we had to take advantage of it, so I decided that Finn and I would go x-country skiing today.

I was a little worried because Finn didn't really like just scooting around on his skis in the snow the past couple times I've taken him. Also, I took him sledding with his cousin's and he was kind of scared of the whole idea of shooting down a hill at light speed (in his mind) on something that seems to have little, to no control.

Today I decided to combine the two. I took him down a "teeny, tiny, little, baby hill," as Finn would say it. He loved it!!! And actually kept saying that he wanted to do it again. Goal accomplished. For some reason, going down a hill on skis isn't terrifying, like going down on a sled is. It probably didn't hurt that I told him if he did really good and was happy, I would buy him a Reese's (this kid's favorite candy).

After skiing, we had lunch in a box. Literally. We got a whole bunch of paper towels and toilet paper shipped to us from my mom and dad (they wanted to help us out with some essentials), and the box it all came in was huge. Finn likes to share his food with Dennen and me, as well as with his animals. He was feeding his puppy some cashews because, "Finn loves puppies". And he also told me today, "mommy loves lambs". Yep, kind of random.

It's Been Awhile

I've needed to take a break with a lot of things in my life lately (everything "internet" was included in this). I've had some people tell me that they miss my blog posts. Even a blogger friend wrote me an email to see how I am doing, and to let me know she likes reading our blog and misses it. Thanks :).

I have been doing pretty good, although with the 1 year anniversary of Rowan's death coming up I have had a lot on my mind... I've decided to actually come up with some New Year's Goals this year (I never usually do) to help me through some stress I've been dealing with lately. I think it should help. When Rowan passed away, I was always open to the idea of going to therapy if I felt like I truly needed it. But for me, the best therapy I can give myself is writing. When I was a kid/adolescent, I filled up 5 journals. It has really helped me throughout my life. I'm going to continue to post on our blog as well as in my journal (which is one of my goals).

Well, I guess I'll catch everyone up with our recent going-on's. I never got around to posting the pictures from our Thanksgiving (I know that's forever ago...). Anyway, we had 20 people over to our 2 bedroom apartment. It was so much fun!! My brother and his now fiance, Emily, and her two boys, Mason and Milo, even came from New York and stayed with us. After Thanksgiving, we even had a lobster dinner with them. We're so excited for them to join our family!

During the first week of December, Dennen's mom came out and flew back to Utah with Finn and me. Dennen wasn't able to come until his final's were over on the 22nd. Dennen's mom works for JetBlue, so it was a better deal for us to go with her. Thanks Gundi!

It sure was nice to see both of our families over the holidays. We were able to see some of our long-time Utah friends as well. Finn had an overabundance of people and cousins to play with. And Dennen and I were able to go skiing at Alta. It was a good time!

New Skis

We got Finn some x-country skis to try out this year. Even though alpine is the end goal, we figured it would be easier to start him out on these. They have snowmen on them, which Finn is pretty stoked about. I love the cute little matching poles! Although, the poles may not be of much use to him yet (just more to get in the way).

Grandma Marci sent him those cute "Hanna Andersson" pj's and antlers. Someone is getting excited for Christmas... Now we just need some snow!

Rachel's birthday and skiing

This past weekend I went skiing with my parents at Solitude (Dennen had to work). We had a grand ol' time! It was also chocolate day, which is where they hand out free chocolate treats at the resort. So that was an added perk as well!! I love all the different seasons of skiing within ski season. I'm sure those of you who ski know what I'm talking about... There's the beginning of the ski season where everyone is so excited to whip those skis out and head to the mountain. Then there's the middle of the season with the usually (not this year) good storms that bring lots of powder. And then there's Spring skiing which is way laid back, warm, with slushy snow. I enjoy each of the different times for their unique reasons.

It was also my youngest sister Rachel's birthday. She is 22 and argues that she isn't an adult yet. I beg to differ Rach. Anyway, we had a fun time with family this weekend! You can probably tell by the pictures below.

Dad enjoying a Creamie, and mom a chocolate strawberry. Yum!

Yeah, we're dorks pretending to blow the candles out :)

Spring time fun

I am so blessed to have such thoughtful friends that have invited me to do things or even just hang out. Even the phone calls and texts mean a lot. Thanks you guys. The week after Rowan died was hard for me to not feel guilty about going out and doing stuff. It all just felt so pointless... I've talked to other people who have lost loved ones suddenly and said that they felt the same way, but that continuing to do things that anchor your life (even if they are kind of pointless in the scheme of things) are helpful.

We've been to the park, Hogle zoo, Thanksgiving Point farm, hiking, and skiing at Sundance. We are grateful that we have been able to do some fun activities with friends before we move to Maine.

Winter fun

While I'm pregnant I'm not allowed to ski. This makes me sad. It is the first winter that I haven't skied since I was about 10 years old. I love the winter because of skiing.

But, some fun activities that have helped remedy this sorrow have been cross country skiing (my uncle refers to this type of skiing as skiing for bed-wetters), and snowshoeing (thanks Kali and Mark for letting us buy those snowshoes from you). All in all, this winter has still been pretty fun.