To the grocery store and back

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I’m sitting here finishing off a jar of peanut butter, resting my legs, and laughing (kind of incredulously) at myself and how I thought strollering my baby over five miles and across town to the grocery store and back while Ava rides her little bike alongside us was a good idea. Not my smartest move there. I guess I got carried away with all this good weather! Now I know. Sometimes being cooped up all winter makes you think you can do crazy things when the weather is nice. I’ve got the tan lines and pink cheeks to prove it. 😂😬🙈

About a quarter of a mile to the store, Ava said that her legs were tired and she wanted a break. I thought, “Oh man, we are not going to make it all the way there,” so I told her we should turn around and go back home. To which she replied, “I can do it mom, I know I can!” For this girl who lies sprawled out on the floor explaining that she’s too tired to walk upstairs to bed, this was a pretty big statement. And she stuck to it! A few times along the way I told her, “Maybe we should go back, are you sure you can go all that way?” Then Ava would say, “Mom we can make it! We can do this!”

And we did. ☺️

…ALSO as you can probably tell from the pictures… I joined snapchat. 😁 my username is tamaraelises (I think). It’s a strange kind of thing. I feel so awkward at it and the swiping is so confusing to me. But it’s kind of fun to just post random unpolished moments.

This walk just happened to be the first thing I posted about and I just laugh thinking how foolish I must seem! We’ll see if I can keep up this thing.

Feel the Summer!

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We went on a walk today. Hyrum sat squished in the stroller with his puffy orange coat while I pushed him along with my dry-skinned, cold stiffened fingers and my aching ears. Meanwhile, our bright eyed four year old pedaled behind with her gold sequined boots and her freshly pumped tires yelling, “Feel the summer!”

Clearly while I was thinking about the relentless cold seeping through my clothes, she was rejoicing in the kiss of the sun on our backs and the clear sky above.

Thank you Ava, for reminding me to feel the summer in the midst of the cold. The sun is always there, even when we may not feel it.

*On that note… Jake and I have been watching the series “Human Planet” on Netflix and I never want it to end. It is FASCINATING. I could go on, but let’s just leave it as “highly recommended.” Anyway, in one of the episodes, it shows the way people live at high altitudes in the mountains. This one older lady lived blind for a few years, fetching her water barefoot along the cliffs of her village (along with all her other daily duties.) She received the gift of her sight after a charitable doctor performed a cataract surgery. Upon removing her bandages and walking the many miles back to her humble home she remarked, “This is the end of my problems.” I was impressed by her comment. I don’t think she was naive in her optimism, I think she was simply grateful, simply focusing on her great blessing. I’m sure life was still hard, but to her anything else that could be considered problem material was nothing more than daily living. She was feeling the summer regardless of any cold, and I thought that was really neat.

#mamanotes

Making Traditions

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Every year at Christmastime we have watched It’s a Wonderful Life. We didn’t decide to make it a tradition, it just happened that way because we enjoy doing it every year. I like it when traditions happen naturally, not because everyone else is doing it, or because we feel like we should, or even because our families did it when we were young (and there are still many of those we love to continue.)

So for now, we have made a tradition of watching that movie every year because we love it and we just do it every year anyway. And we may just watch the 1938 Christmas Carol next year too because we really loved that one! (And I usually don’t care for other A Christmas Carol versions.)

And we loved having pomegranates! We had those in our stockings last year and it was such a special treat (I don’t usually like to take the time to peel them, but Christmas makes it worth it… And Jake peeled them, so that made a difference. 🙂

All is merry and bright

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We finally decorated for Christmas!

And what I loved most about it was the phone in Jake’s pocket playing Christmas music and following him all day. And how excited Ava was unwrapping every ornament like it was already Christmas. And how Hyrum stuffed his mouth with the little purple bell and carried it around in his cheeks with the same excitement as his sister.

And now I’m just glad it’s all done. 🙂

Also, we just recently watched the LDS Christmas devotional–it was amazing. And so festive and uplifting as always. If you are looking for a great way to feel the Spirit of Christmas, check it out here.

And… there’s a gap (I know)

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Why the big gap in posts?? I actually started this blog last year. And then I let it go while I figured out exactly what kind of direction I wanted to take with it. But no worries, friends. I’m back at it, and we’re going strong from here on out!