And a Happy New Year

It's 8:08 on New Year's Eve.  We just finished up a dinner of homemade curry with chicken that Reina made for a class assignment.   It received rave reviews from Glenn, Will ate a big bowl and Reina even had some.  We also had a (mostly) homemade creme brulee for dessert.  Mostly because I found a mix for creme brulee at the store last week and thought it would be fun to try.  Man, we are exciting around here. 

I had hoped to write an eloquent post wrapping up the year but I just don't have it in me tonight.  Life feels a little bleak with covid still ever present, fires in Colorado, division in our country, drought and to top it all off - football teams that I dislike keep winning big games.  I know I need a dose of perspective but that's where I'm at.  I want this blog to reflect our real lives and it's not always goofy pictures of kids and chaos.  But I think for now, I'll try to focus on some of the good stuff.  We're all here. The house is nice and warm on a night that is supposed to be the super cold (negative wind chills expected).  We have more pets than we can probably handle but one of them is serving as a heating pad right now and it feels delicious.  We are still having a fun holiday break and it's only Friday night!  

There are some good things to look forward to and maybe that will be my New Year's Resolution - look for the light instead of paying attention to so much darkness. 

We'll give it a try.  

Merry Christmas 2022

 It's Christmas Day 2022 and we had a lovely time.  I was just reading my post from last Christmas and it's nice to have most of us back together although Covid still casts a shadow over our plans.  But let's talk about Christmas. 

Reina's favorite Christmas present is without a doubt her VR thing.  VR headset?  I don't know how exactly to refer to it but she loves it, it was #1 on her list and we might have lost her to the void.  We've all tried it out and it's actually really cool.  She can't wait to save up some money to get more games because her only game right now involves her working different jobs in the VR world and that sounds too much like real life for me.  

Glenn's favorite present his bipod which is a fancy way to describe this two-legged thing that he attaches to his hunting rifle blah blah blah.  Lucy also got him an ancestry DNA kit so that we can see if we are related and some sardines from World Market.  

Lucy's favorite present is a lens cap for her camera that is super sturdy.  (For the record, this was one of those years where I didn't really need anything and I bought myself some stuff on sale before the holidays so I said let's just call it good.)  Glenn did an excellent job filling up my stocking with candy so that was awesome.  

Will's favorite present is his airpods - which are noise cancelling so I think that's his answer from his room with the door closed.  He also got a massage gun to help with his training and some Wyo clothes.  And a stocking filled with authentic ramen from World Market (guess where Lucy did some last minute shopping?)   

We spent Christmas morning with the Fry family and Grandma and Pop-pop and it was sweet.  It's still fun to see Christmas through the eyes of the younger family members and especially sweet to have us all back together.  We got a surprising white Christmas too - we woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground and had fluffy white snowflakes coming down during the morning.  After everyone left, we napped, walked dogs, ate a bunch of delicious leftovers, watched football and played with our new toys.  What a nice Christmas.  

Traditions!

 A few nights ago, we all braved some chilly weather and took a trolley ride around town to look at Christmas lights.  It's a tradition we've had for the last few years, 2020 excepted.  The younger cousins picked a spot between the two older cousins naturally.  We saw some crazy light displays which is always just a little more fun watching it through the eyes of the 5 and 8 year olds.  The Christmas spirit is in full force!  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

With five days until the 25th, it better be looking a lot like Christmas!  Today was the first day of holiday break for the monsters.  Glenn and I are at work most of the week - well Glenn's at work more than me - but we were both very jealous of all of the sleeping in that was happening at the house this morning.  

We are in the homestretch of the holiday preparations.  Most of the presents have been purchased, but not wrapped.  The house is so decorated that it's almost over-decorated.  The baking is mostly done.  The Christmas cards... well those are still on the to-do list.  But we are just about ready.  

Coco can't stay away from my very precious Lego village.  

At the beginning of the month, I had to make some cookies for the Tea Room at Christmas House. I made an error in trying a new recipe for the first time.  I found a recipe for rocky road cookies and it called for adding just one marshmallow to the dough before cooking.  I didn't think that was enough so I added two marshmallows and then popped the cookies in the oven.  When they came out, I realized that I had created some cute aliens.  They still tasted delicious.  

Finally, it's German Christmas cookie time. This is the batch of lepkugen fresh from the oven. 

 

Reina's 2nd big game hunt

Glenn and Reina zipped over to location-redacted-by-Glenn-because-hunters-are-weird-about-sharing-spots for a quick hunting trip on Friday.  They had planned to be gone all weekend but our little sharp shooter got her first elk that morning and they were home by dinnertime!  

Glenn texted me this picture on Friday.  He said he has about 40 others but I like this one even though the hunter's eyes are closed.  

Glenn butchered the entire elk today (Saturday) and I helped by wrapping the steaks and stew meat.  We'll tackle the burger another day. I've probably posted a similar picture every year but whenever I label the packages, I think back to my first year - writing '04 on those packages. I was the girlfriend at the time and only had an inkling that wrapping elk steaks would become an annual tradition.  

 

Oops I missed Thanksgiving

I was so full of turkey and pie last night that I couldn't summon the strength to blog.  So much for my one post a day streak.  We had a really nice day.  Vicky hosted a bunch of us at her house.  I brought pies, green bean casserole, rolls (store-bought, naturally) and salad. I also tried out a new mushroom casserole that was yummy but probably too rich.  Other folks brought turkey, pork roast, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, more pie, and Matt made brisket and ribs.  It was all delicious.  My sister is a great hostess and I'm not just saying that because she'll probably read this later.  The little(r) kids had a great time playing and even got Will and Reina to play along.  Through the floor vent, I could hear Will yelling "don't shoot me, help me Reina!" 

The only picture I took - boy cousins watching football. 

   

Pictures of pets

Our house is still full of pets.  They've all adapted to having the house to themselves all day since I'm back at my office and the kids are in school. The dogs still love a trip to the field and the cats still try to sneak outside unless it's super cold.  Last month, Reina and I had to take both cats and one of the dogs to the vet for their annual appointment.  That trip was as chaotic as it sounds.  But they are all as cute as ever and we humans fight over who gets to sit next to the snuggly dog when it's cold in the evening.  

Reina would love to help me with chores but she's stuck on the sofa until Coco decides to change venues. 

Charlie loves to snuggle even if he's snuggling the back of my neck.  

Coco helping me with my latest sewing project.  So helpful!  

A tale of three pets at the vet. Pet 1 -  Coco preferred to sit on my shoulder facing the wall and (I can only assume) imagine herself in an alternative location.  

Pet 2 insisted on sitting in my lap in the waiting room and darting for the door anytime it looked like the appointment might be wrapping up.  

Pet 3 sat on the examining table and purred.  

Trigger helping me have a lazy Sunday.

 

Football pictures part 1

Will's freshman football season was delightful.  Is it okay to call a football season delightful?  Don't tell Will I used that word.  Let's just say we had a lot of fun watching him play.  He played both sides of the ball - linebacker on defense and running back/full back on offense.  He was also on the kick return team.  He made it through the season injury free but had a lot of bruises and one really good turf burn on his bicep.  He grew a lot as a player.  At the beginning of the season, he had a goal to get 40 tackles and frankly we lost track of his tackles after a few games in.  I know I sound like a braggy mom but it was just a pleasure watching him play a sport that he loves.  These pictures are from a handful of freshman games.  He got to play JV as the season progressed and I'll save those pics for another post.  

Standing for the national anthem, our #33. 

Team huddle pre-game

Chasing the quarterback

Lining up in the backfield on offense 

Sacking the quarterback!  

Taking down the runner 

Leaping through a pack of players to do something 

The first JV game of his career in Gillette.  He's #44 in the middle of the pack on the sideline.  I thought it was fun to grab a pic of the five freshman that got to travel with JV standing in a little herd.  

Getting some JV playing time!  

 

Catching Up

Goodness. It's been more than a month since I last posted and I'm chock full of excuses but none of them are good. We've been busy with school stuff, hunting season, work, all of the pets that have taken over this house and chores, chores, chores. It's the week of Thanksgiving and the kids have a half day tomorrow, I'm taking off the rest off the week starting Wednesday and baking my buns off and Glenn and Reina are going hunting after turkey time. So there's a lot going on. My personal goal is to write something every day for the rest of November which I realize is only 9 days - 8 days? but it will help me get caught up on all of our Fall 2021 shenanigans.

Here's a preview:  
 

Reina got pointe shoes for ballet.  She's been counting down the days until our appointment in Laramie for her fitting.  She's super excited and I'm resisting the urge to squeeze my feet into them because that will probably result in a mom broken ankle.  

Will's football season was a dandy and that will be it's own post but here's the lawn sign that we proudly got to display.  Even those his actual number was 33.  

Reina's first big-game hunt

Today's guest post is from our very own Reina who went on her first big-game hunt with Glenn this weekend and shot her first antelope! The comments in parantheses are from the Mom and Dad but the story is Reina's. My hunting trip, this weekend (October 1-2). I went hunting with my father (long time readers of the blog will remember his name is Glenn). We were out in the dry prarie (south-central Wyoming with more sage brush than actual prairie but its semantics) hunting antelope. My dad heard of this area where many antelope lived (according to Glenn - a hunter management area). It was also an area with cattle. We drove at least four hours (maybe a little longer than necessary because SOMEONE left the guns at the house and SOMEONE else called their cell phones a few times but no one answered so SOMEONE thought those must be extra guns that they left out but no. So SOMEONE met them on the interstate so that they wouldn't have to drive all of the way back). Back to Reina: Half of which were getting lost. After hours of driving we found a place to camp and settled for the night. We had seen many antelope but didn't go after any that first night. The stars were very pretty and bright as I tinkled on th,e shoes I borrowed from my dad when I got up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break. (Editor's note, Lucy insisted that this part of the story be added). After a cold, rough night we woke up and went out again for a long hunt, seeing and missing two antelope. I was pretty mad that I missed those shots. After a long time of driving around on a dirt road, we saw another antelope. I wasn't really up for trying to go after one, but my dad convinced me. We had to sneak through the sagebrush and we flushed a flock of sage grouse which my parents think was cool. We got into a spot where we could see the antelope. My dad set up the gun on his backpack. I was worried I was going to miss again but it took one shot and we had a antelope down. I was very happy, but was also ready to go home. We butchered the antelope and loaded up the truck. I helped with the butchering even though it was a little yucky. We got back in the truck and headed back towards home. prepared for a long trip back. In the end I'm glad my dad made me go after the antelope and I was also glad how quickly we got home. I had a great time hunting but I was ready for a nice warm shower. (Glenn wants me to say that he'll remember this trip forever and Reina is a great hunting pal.)

September

All of my posts could be titled something along the line of "what happened to insert month here" or "how is it possible that it's almost the end of insert another month here" but that's getting boring so now I'll just label the post for the month that it is. So here we go with SEPTEMBER. Glenn arrived home last week from his third once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska. He brought back gorgeous photos and dirty clothes and thankfully, a bunch of moose meat that's on it's way back to us because it was a successful hunt! Will is about halfway through his football season. His game last week was canceled because the other team didn't have players but so far his team has been able to keep just about everybody healthy and no one has had to quarantine. Will's also knee-deep in homework but we are proud of the way he's working hard to get everything done. I'm brushing up on my 9th grade algebra and biology knowledge (thanks Google!) so that I can help with homework. By 'helping with homework,' I mean that Will and I yell at each other until we figure it out or he gives up and decides to just ask his teacher the next day. Here's what's crazy about this kid's brain - as we are sitting down to tackle math tonight, Will glances up at the muted tv where I have the Rockies game on. He points to the visiting team's pitcher and says something like, that guy has the worst ERA in the National League. Can the ability to remember random facts about every athlete in sports be turned into gainful employment? We might find out. Reina is busy with dance classes and comfirmation classes so she has something every weeknight. She's handling the busy schedule well but she's one tired kiddo by the end of the week. She and Glenn are going hunting this weekend for Reina's first big-game hunt. She's ready to go! I know this bordering on the world's most boring update but that's September for you. Sports, school, hunting, work stuff. I've canned a bunch of jam and more applesauce than we can eat/give away in a year. The house still smells like an apple-scented bomb went off but it could smell worse? Sports and kid pictures next time.

First week of school

Shoot! I'm having trouble formatting my pictures and the page is a little messed up so the first day of school post will have to be sans captions. The kids have been in school for a week and besides Covid craziness, everyone is doing well. None of us have Covid right now but there isn't a mask mandate in the schools (right now also) and almost every day I'll get a message from one of the two schools about positive cases and students in quarantine. Both kids are vaxxed so we have that sense of protection but the whole system seems so much more chaotic than last year. But again - I"m not turning this into a Covid rant. Both kiddos had mostly positive reports from their first week of school. Reina is adapting to Jr High wait Middle School pretty well and besides being crankily tired on Friday night, had a good week. She says she likes her English class the most but she's also really liking art. And science. And French/Spanish. Etc. Will is pretty busy with football after school and more homework than last year at night but he's doing well too. This post will include a picture of Coco looking beautiful (naturally), a picture of Charlie looking concerned on the first day of school, Will and Reina in first day of school outfits looking too grown-up (hey I made it through the first day of school without crying!). There are several pictures of Will's first football game. He's #33. One picture shows him getting ready to sack the quarterback and if I'd had my wits about me, I would've kept taking pics instead of dropping the camera to scream "GETTTTTT HIMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!" which he did. There's also a pic of Will trying to get by a kid who's several sizes bigger than him and another pic of Will getting a great block for his teammate to run down the sidelines. Will's team won their first game 38-9 and we just love watching that kid play. We end the photo roll with our beautiful girl looking way to ready to conquer 7th grade.

One Day More

A few years ago, a friend from high school posted that she always sang "One Day More" from Les Miserables on the last day before school started and since I read that, I've always giggled and of course I've had that song in my head all day. (I might even be trying to rewrite some of the lyrics to fit... Tomorrow is the judgment day...... tomorrow is the first day of ninth grade and seventh grade..... one more dawn, one more day ONE DAY MOOOOOOOOOOOORE.) So yes, tomorrow is the first day of high school and the first day of junior high for Will and Reina.  The kids are ready. Glenn's ready. I'm mostly ready.  I drove by the elementary school last week on the way home from work and noticed all of the cars and people streaming in for open house night.  I was struck by the fact that none of my monsters spend their days there anymore.  The days are long but the years are short, right?  So I'm getting in a few extra hugs, going over schedules, making sure first day outfits are ready and let's do this!  I'm also making pro and con lists.  Pro's for going back to school?  The house will stay cleaner, the snacks will take slightly longer to be emptied out, and people will be tired enough at night that bedtime won't be (as much of an argument).  Con's?  The pets will miss them, I will miss seeing them at lunch or getting texts during the day about what snacks can and can't be eaten, and people will be too tired at night to behave reasonably. 

I don't need to spend another five paragraphs bemoaning time and aging and giant teenagers who empty the cupboards on a weekly basis so here's a quick note about the week before last.  Long story short, we were exposed to covid-19 and coincidentally came down with summer colds that we convinced ourselves were covid breakthroughs. I took a mail-in test but while we were waiting for results, Glenn started feeling poorly enough that we took him for a rapid test.  He tested negative, I tested negative and it was just a poorly timed summer cold.  We are back to masking in public places, doubling down on hand sanitizer and hoping that everybody stays healthy and school and school activities (FOOTBALL!!) stay on schedule.  

This time last year, I told myself that I'd take the first day of school off and spend the day looking at pictures and crying but instead, I'm hosting a workshop this week which will probably keep me to busy to cry (hopefully for the workshop participants sake anyway).  We're off to a new adventures and I can't wait to see what the school year has in store.  

Kids at Water World and pet pics

It's been a super weird week but I'm saving that story for another post.  In the meantime, a few weeks ago we took the little monsters, the big monsters, the grandparents, and some friends to Water World for our Official Last Fun Event of the summer.  Well not the Last Fun Event, but maybe the last fun event in Denver?  Anyway, we piled everyone into the car and headed south.  The little monster cousins hadn't been to WW before and none of us had been there since the summer of 2019 because of Covid so we had a great time!  

E talking to his juice box - or talking to me to say 'stop taking my picture'

Where did this grown up girl come from?  

E is not a huge fan of the water and the fact that he walked in up to his knees was very big news. 

Reina and the lazy river 

I didn't get any pictures of Will, or at least any pictures that I'm allowed to post but he was there too and he did a great job with his younger cousins.  He sat in the little wave pool with them and even convinced E to go on a giant inner tube on the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" complete with dinosaurs and lava.  E announced to everyone after the ride that Aunt Lucy had ruined his life by encouraging him to go.  Oh well, I had a nice run as Cool Aunt Lucy but all good things come to an end. 

We recently bought Will a new bed to match is taller physique and a new bed meant new bedding which resulted in a weeks-long search for the perfect comforter and sheet set.  One night while perusing TJ Maxx and sending 10 (TEN!!) pictures to Will of navy and white comforters in all shades and patterns, I stumbled across this welcome mat that had to come with me. I left without a comforter too but later that weekend, Glenn and Will went shopping and came back with the manliest of manly bedding in the form of black and dark gray and I'm just happy that he found one that he likes.  

Since I'm back at the office, the pets and I don't get to hang out like we used to.  We still find time to go to the F I E L D (can't say it out loud where they can hear you) on the weekends.  

A happy bunch post run at their favorite place.

I came upstairs on one particularly hot evening last week to find Coco sleeping in our sink.  While it was a nice cool place to nap, it was also convenient for reminding me that she'd like a refreshing drink 
directly from the tap.  

A rare sighting, a tuxedo cat and a tuxedo dog sharing the same bed.  Soxy still doesn't prefer the dogs be in her direct orbit but for some reason she tolerated it yesterday. 

 

What happened to July?!

 Good grief.  I went an entire month without blogging about this crazy family?   What a difference a year makes, huh?  I have good intentions every night but then 9:00 pm rolls around and I'm soooo tired.  But here we are with an feeble attempt to get caught back up.  

Will's baseball season wrapped up a few weeks ago but that has to be its own post this week because I have so many pictures!  And we're still not completely over the tough ending to the season.  Spoiler alert, Will's team lost to the #1 seed and then lost again the next day and Reina (suddenly a superfan) cried.  

Reina participated in a week-long theater camp and the cast put together a fun little play about a 1940's radio show and a murder!  Gasp!  More pictures of that next time too. 

What else have we done with our July?  Glenn fished a few times, we took some hikes.  Our garden is growing lots and lots of zucchini.  One of the chickens is broody again.  Charlie is still a hot little mess but also still cute.  Trigger got so many weeds stuck in his hair that I borrowed dog clippers from Vicky and shaved him.  No pictures right now but needless to say, I won't be considering dog grooming as a post-retirement profession.  He looked like he'd been attacked but only in certain places.  I started to shave Tootsie's hind end but then Glenn suggested that I put the clippers down so the other dogs were spared the haircut humiliation. 

We laid pretty low for Frontier Days this year.  CFD was celebrating their 125 anniversary and there were a lot of big names for the concerts but we stayed home.  Reina went to the carnival for one night with some friends.  Between the large crowds and the covid variant, we kept our distance.  If this blog serves as a time capsule, we are entering another weird moment in this pandemic.  The Delta variant is racing across the US and case numbers are climbing again.  We know a few people who have been vaccinated but still tested positive.  Their symptoms haven't been bad but they've felt pretty rotten for a few days and have had to quarantine again.  All four of us are vaccinated but at this point, I'm worried about unvaccinated little kiddos and the immunocompromised adults in our life.  And I don't want to get it after all of this careful time!  So it looks like we'll be back to masking in public places and sanitizing our hands every few minutes.  (I want to write a long political diatribe but this is a family blog so I'll just sum it up with ARGGGGGHHHHHHH)

Happy pictures coming soon.  

The rest of June

I've been too tired at night to write but we are having a fun and busy June.  Lots of baseball, a dance recital, gardens in bloom and work have been filling up our time. We've had a roller coaster of weather too - super hot days at baseball and then at the end of the week we are wearing sweatshirts and closing the windows at night. So here's the rest of our month in pictures.  

Baseball!  Will's team has had games a few nights a week with a few weekend tournaments.  The season ends on July 18 so we have some hectic schedules coming up but boy do we love watching this kid play.

Dance recital time!  I have enough pictures for a whole post but here's a picture of our girl in her ballet costume.  She also danced modern and hip-hop this year and more pictures of that coming soon!

Cousin time ! We had a summer kick-off bbq at Fry Farm with the cousins and Hansen grandparents.  Baby cousin doesn't want to snuggle like he used to but he's still pretty darn cute.  

It wouldn't be a summer picture without hail in the backyard.  We had a heckuva storm a few Fridays ago.  The good news is that our hail tent did it's job even though it collapsed in the middle.  Surprisingly, the fabric held and even with the center collapsed, the plants underneath survived.  The flowers and veggies that weren't protected took a beating but, as always, it could have been worse.  We also need a new roof and paint on the house.  Yah for insurance?!

Pauley men!!  Will is about two inches taller than me and as you can see, is creeping up on Will.  They wear the same size shoe now and I wear Will's shoes when I go out into the backyard and don't want to get mine dirty.  Shhh, don't tell him.  

First jam of 2021!  The weather was delightfully cool enough this weekend that I fired up the stove and made some strawberry jam.  Supplies are much easier to find this summer compared to last year so I hope to have a bunch of batches in the cupboard soon.  

Hail from the earlier picture.  Some of those pieces were annoyingly gigantic. 

Will headed off to football camp with the high school team (gasp).  Will traveled to Nebraska with his teammates for a few days.  He had a great time and informed me that he's practically ready for college now because he's stayed in the dorms and gone to practice without us there.  He might be ready but I am most certainly not.  

Charlie and his very favorite bunny slipper chew toy.  It's hard to be a tough guy when you really love chewing on a squeaky fake slipper.