Tuesday, July 21, 2026

February 2024

 Valentine's Season! We made sugar cookies and invited the bacon family over to decorate them with us, made punny valentines, had our fancy dinner, etc. This was the year that Miles got an extra special valentine from a young girl at co-op :) Complete with a picture of them getting married and kissing. :) 










My first born officially has a driver's permit!


Gwen went all out for a presentation at co-op, including buying herself this authentic wig. :) She has that dramatic flair for acting!

Just one of those ordinary Saturday mornings, eating waffles, that I don't want to forget.

Homeschool: I was teaching art history to Lindy's class this year. Richie and I also taught the youth activity this month- we taught them how to swing dance! 


Co-op field trip to the Boise Reptile Museum! 




        Little Women party! Lots of soap making! Grandma and Grandpa leading exercise classes when they come to science and history!



Davy turns 5!! Honestly, I was feeling overwhelmed and wasn't planning on throwing Davy a friend birthday party. However, last minute, I panicked a little when I did some thinking and realized I was running out of kids to throw basic, kid, cute parties for. So we called up a few friends, blew up some balloons, did some dance party videos off youtube, bought little cesar's pizza and a store made cake! (gasp!) It was so last minute, Davy had no idea it was happening, so it was fun for him to get a surprise party. Some favorite memories: We had him playing in the backyard with Dad while his friends arrived and hid. Once he realized his friends were there, he snuck off to the bathroom to style his hair :) We played "Pass the Parcel" from Bluey- I specifically tried to make it so that Davy didn't get the prize at the end, seeing as he was going to get presents from friends. Instead his friend Mandee got it, and he was heartbroken- ran to his room and cried. He still talks about how that almost ruined his birthday. He asked for Pavlova for his birthday dessert when we celebrated with family- a la Bluey. :) 





They had a free homeschool tubing day at Eagle Island! Lucky us!! It was such a fun day. 


January 2024

 

Miles had a fun top golf day with co-op friends as a reward for something in class. We invited friends over for a winter hot dog roast! 



Lindy got invited to go sledding with her friend Nellie!


My memory is fuzzy, but I think it was around this time that we realized our partnership with Shine Guys wasn't going to work out. That was a hard season. But one bright spot was that Richie was home a lot more and we took advantage of that! We don't get big snow days all the time, so we were excited for this one where the snow covered the road really well. Richie hooked up a line to the truck and we pulled the kids on sleds behind the truck for hours. It was a blast. 





Gwen and Lindy cashed in their Christmas present and we had a day at the salon. They both got pedicures, and then they both chopped their hair to donate! 



Gwen started doing Ballroom! My friend Chantal from co-op told us about their ballroom company, and I was so thrilled that Gwen could continue dancing without things getting unnecessarily mature. At her last dance place, we would watch the recitals and notice the older girls costumes, song choices, and moves were very mature. Gwen loved dancing, but we weren't thrilled about the future. Ballroom, specifically with this group, has been amazing!!


I can't remember now if Grandma and Grandpa Garner started doing school with the kids in January, or if they started at the beginning of the school year....either way, they decided to start coming over on Tuesdays and doing science and history with the kids. This was a blessing in many ways. I loved the idea of the relationship building going on, and it freed up not only brain space for me, but mainly freed up my time so that I had one full, uninterrupted day where I could work on my side hustles. I could make soap and deliver baskets without interruption, and it was wonderful. 

                                                        Homeschool ice skating day!

This cutie pie turned 15! He obviously got his number pancake and looks like we went to Costco for lunch. :) I'm not sure which birthday he started requesting it, but by now, most birthday dinners look the same for Miles; pulled pork sandwiches and german chocolate cake. He got a few presents, one being the online driver's ed course, so he could start preparing for that.  We had a party with friends this year, and the plan had been for them to play night games and roast hot dogs, but it ended up being extremely cold that year. I was worried and wondering how I was going to entertain all these teens inside. Turns out, they all loved playing out in the cold for hours! He's got such a good group of friends! 






Friday, July 17, 2026

Family Pictures 2023

While we were down in SG, I asked my niece Ilah to take family pictures for us! We decided to do them in Snow Canyon since it's one of the most beautiful places on earth and we come here frequently on our trips down to SG. As of these pictures, ages are:
Rich:38
Rach:37
Miles: Almost 14
Gwen: 12
Lindy: 9
Benson:7
Davy:5






















 

February 2024

 Valentine's Season! We made sugar cookies and invited the bacon family over to decorate them with us, made punny valentines, had our fa...