My dancer

Reina's dance year culminated in her recital earlier in the month.  This year, she took ballet, pointe, hoop and a ballet conditioning class.  It's been so fun to watch her skills develop.  I never thought I'd give birth to a ballerina.   

I asked her for a nice selfie on the way to the recital.  This is what I got.  

Reina on pointe.  Look at those feet!  Those graceful arms!  Where did she come from?  

I loved this pose too.  She was a flamenco dancer. 

The ballet performance.  I recorded part of this on my phone and she looks so sweet.  

Hoop!  This is Reina's second year and she made a lot of strides this year.  She makes it look so easy.  

Look at that flexibility!  

 We love to watch our girl dance.  

Spring Break 2023

A million years ago, well actually three weeks ago, we packed our suitcases and headed to Los Angelos for a long spring break weekend. All four of us hadn't traveled together in a long while (pre-Covid?) but we found a great house/dog/cat/chicken sitter, rearranged work schedules and hopped on a plane. 

A few months prior, we decided that we should take a family vacation because our time all together is getting shorter (Will graduates in two years!) and we also needed some sun.  It's been a long winter.  We debated which coast, locations, etc., and then I found cheap airfair and hotel in LA so the decision was made.  Glenn was skeptical until I mentioned the La Brea tarpits - which were also what Reina was most excited about oddly.  Long story short, we had a lovely time.  It wasn't without hiccups, teen angst and crowded sleeping arrangements but we made it work.  

Look at these happy faces on the airport shuttle.  Smile for mom!  

Our first stop was the La Brea Tarpits.  It was even cooler than we thought it would be.  Highly recommend if you are in the LA area.  

We set aside the next day for exploring.  Lots of google maps and Glenn serving as the navigator (DIRECTIONS!), we found Dodger Staduim, the Coliseum, another museum and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

At a park overlooking Dodger Stadium.  Will gave Glenn a piggy back ride because he can. 

Glenn & Reina

2 out of 3 smiles.  

The ceiling outside of the LA Natural History Museum

The fastest walk through the Hollywood Walk of Fame known to man. I was the only one who was into it so it was a short trip.  

 

Our last full day was designated as Universal Studios Day.  We had a blast.  

Hogsmeade! 

Hogwarts!  We rode a ride inside the castle and it was pretty cool.  I mean, I had my eyes closed for most of it but everybody else seemed to love it.  

The car from Magnum PI!  This was the Studio tour and it was a lot more fun than I expected.  Plus it wasn't a roller coaster.  

Glenn loves the Simpsons! 

Next year's Christmas Card.  Sums up the day in a nutshell.  

On the last day, our flight didn't leave until the evening so we packed up the hotel and headed to the beach.  We picked Venice and it did not disappoint.  It wasn't quite sunbathing weather for the general public but Wyoming teens were quick to strip down and get some UV rays.  

Yes, Glenn is wearing long pants.  As was I.  We were comfy.  But look at that ocean.  

So that was our trip.  It was nice to come home and have the rest of the week to hang out, get driver's licenses, make cake pops and watch movies.  Then it was back to the grind.  Can't wait for the next one.  

A letter to the birthday girl

Dear Reina:  

Yesterday, you had your 14th birthday.  FOURTEEN?!  Unfortunately, you spent the evening before your birthday barfing your guts out so your actual birthday was kind of a bummer.  You stayed home from school but Dad and I took turns keeping an eye on you.  We had to reschedule your birthday party trampoline park extravaganza but we are going to do that next weekend so you get an extended birthday celebration.  

For your birthday, you finally got your own TV.  You also got a lot of generous checks and giftcards, your own fitbit, some earrings and an outfit from Forever 21 but don't forget that Will gets to pick it out.  That should be fun.  

Reina, you are a delight.  I probably say that every year but this year its just the best way to describe you.  You have a wicked sense of humor, interesting insights and interests in a wide variety of topics, highly effective sarcasm and a big, big heart.  You are working your way through eighth grade with good grades and a big group of friends.  You are still taking dance classes and getting better and better at hoop and pointe.  I can't believe you'll be in high school in the fall but you will be more than ready.  

You have discovered the joy that is movies from the 80's and 90's and you love to critique the fashion.  You are picking up more babysitting jobs which is nice because you love taking care of kids and you also love money so it's a good combination.  You like to draw in your downtime and I'm amazed at your talent.  It clearly skipped a generation from my mom straight to you.  

Lest anyone reading this in the future thinks that every day is rainbows and unicorns over here, you do have a delightful temper, too.  (I also know which side of the family that comes from.)  I hope you always stand up for yourself kiddo and make your opinions known.  

Yesterday when you were still feeling rotten, you and I sat together and looked at all of my blog posts from your first year of life.  The last fourteen years have passed in the blink of an eye but when I look at your face, I still see that beautiful little baby girl who wore a giant flower on the her head and sat on her brother's train tracks just so she wouldn't miss a minute of the action.  We love you so much, Reina.  Happy, happy birthday teen girl.  

For posterity's sake - I let you know that I didn't love the idea of selfies being taken while someone is lying down so you immediately sent me my phone buzzing with many, MANY incoming pics like these.  Artful staging by the way.  

This is not your favorite picture but this face is so very you.  "MOM!  Take the dang picture!"  

 

Reina's Confirmation

 

Reina was confirmed at our church on Sunday.  She's had a different confirmation experience than most.  She started the process during the Covid shutdown, had a lot of zoom classes, then in-person classes and finally confirmation.  We are proud of her and can't believe that she's growing up so fast.  To wrap up their classes, each confirmand was asked to write a statement of faith.  Here's Reina's (sharing with her permission). 

My faith statement, what God means to me.

                To me, God is faith, God is someone that will always be by you in sadness, anger, fear, grief in any emotional state you might be in. God is a friend, a friend you know is there, a friend that you can talk to, a friend you can trust. He understands you, understands when your angry, sad he understands you always. God knows when your hurt, he knows what you’re feeling and is always with you when you are in pain.

God wants me to live my life with no fear, he wants me to be always happy, sadly he can’t always control that, so when I am suffering he wants me to know that he is always by my side no matter what I am going through.

To those who struggle to believe in God, he isn’t mad, he understands, and he is there to lead you through every step until you find the mindset to believe in him, and if you still don’t, he is always there never mad, never sad, he will love you always. He forgives your sins; he accepts your apologies without any doubt because he knows you love him, and he loves you.

When you are under God’s wings you will never fear death you will never fear pain or grief because you know he is always there for you. Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be that dismayed, for the lord thy god is with thee wheresoever you go.” The verse from the bible is exactly what I’m trying to say.

September

We are in the whirlwind of school, sports, dance, work, gardening, hunting and everything else that can be accomplished in the month of September.  The kids are settling into their schedules.  Glenn and I count down the days until the weekend.  We have a lot of football happening at this house - much to Reina's dismay but she's being a good sport about it.  Will is playing JV and Varsity.  On Friday he got his first varsity start against Laramie and it was very exciting.  These pictures are out of order but here are a few memorable moments:  

Will sacked the quarterback on 4th down and this picture would be less blurry if I hadn't been simultaneously screaming and taking photos.  

Will's first start - he's #28.  He actually got the first defensive tackle of the game but that picture did not turn out at all.  

#28 under the lights.  

Reina's dance season has started and she had to get fitted for new pointe shoes today.  Thanks to technology we were able to do a fitting virtually so she put on her dance clothes and we went down to the basement/gym/taxidermy room and zoomed with a store in Colorado.  I'm so amazed at what she can do in those shoes - look at that balance!  I don't think she inherited that from my side of the family.  

All is well.  Stay tuned for more football/dance/hunting/gardening/pet pictures.  

Dance fever

Last month, Reina had her dance recital.  She danced in pointe, ballet, hip hop and hoop.  Both pointe and hoop were new classes for her this year.  I didn't get a picture of her hip hop performance and I could kick myself because it was super fun.  

Reina had her own fan club at the recital. 

Look at my girl on pointe!  This is so much harder than it looks.  She's been working on this since September and has made awesome progress.  

Ballet time.  This was her favorite costume.  

Hoop!  I was blown away by this dance.  Reina made it all look so effortless. 

 Reina isn't sure what dance classes she'll sign up for in the fall.  She talks about wanting more time to do clubs and activities at school, but she also loves dance.  We'll see what she decides.  Reina we just love watching you have fun.  

Spring Break

We've been back from Spring Break for a few weeks but it feels a lot longer than that.  The kiddos and I zipped down to Cabo for a few days with my sister and family and my parents.  Glenn stayed home to hold down the fort and save up his vacation days with his new job.  We missed him and we'll make sure he goes with us next time!  We arrived in Mexico on a Monday and flew home Saturday but we packed in a lot during our time there.  

Reina left her mark on the wall of a restaurant where we celebrated (early) my parents' 50th wedding anniversary!  An amazing accomplishment!  And this is a weird way to acknowledge it but I'll make sure to dedicate a whole post around their actual anniversary.  

This cat showed up at our resort every night around dinnertime and sauntered through the outside dining area to see what was happening.  We may have shared a tiny bite of cheeseburger.  

Down at the marina, tourists pay these guys for the opportunity to feed a sea lion.  It's a pretty sweet deal for salesperson and sea lion if you ask me.  The pelicans don't seem to mind either.  I just observed even though I was tempted to fork over a few bucks.  That sea lion is definitely not starving.  

These four cousins.  Time feels like it's flying by when all of these kiddos just keep growing year after year.  They had a fun time swimming with each other 

A letter to the birthday girl

 Dear Reina: 

Today you are 13.  THIRTEEN.  (We have two teens in the house but that's a post for another day.) You were sad last night that you weren't going to be twelve anymore but I reminded you that you've been sad about that just about every other year of your life - "but I don't want to be eight!"  You woke us up early and you unwrapped presents before school - just like every other year.  This year, you asked for and received art supplies, clothes and money for clothes. 

Reina, you are such a cool girl.  I'm sure I say that every year too but it's the truth.  You are making your way through your first year of junior high. You wouldn't say it's been fun but you are making some friends and finding new classes that you enjoy.  You are also taking a bunch of dance classes at night and your schedule is busy.  But you still find time to play your computer games and read books in your free time.  

You have a delightful sense of humor that's getting more um... adult every year.  You love to watch old Saturday Night Live clips on Youtube and cackle at Will Ferrell movies.  You still love a good chick flick.  Your favorite book genre is what I call YA Gothic but I don't know if that's really a category. But you love a good story about a house that's haunted by a disgruntled ghost and the tween/teen has to figure out why.  

You are still our social justice warrior and you have a champion of the underdog.  You are a good friend and you are doing your best to get through this tough time in life (COVID, jr high, social unrest, etc. etc. etc.).  We love you kiddo.  Happiest of birthdays and we can't wait to see what the next year brings you.   

Birthday outfit 

Grandma H's birthday card to you, Queenie.  

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.  

 

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.)

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.