January and February

Let's go person by person this time, just to get myself a bit focused.

Geoff has fit in skiing in every nook and cranny of his weeks. He's taken 523 pictures of all of that skiing. He took advantage of Adele being home during January, he takes advantage of Saturdays with Ceci, and he has had some recreational "work meetings" with colleagues. Despite our low snow season, he is making the most of it. This year, skiing is at his new favorite resort: Powder Mountain.

He's working from home and has remained pretty isolated to stay healthy, so all that outdoor slope time has saved him.

After a couple years of furniture that was falling apart, and then holding off because we wanted to move, then realizing housing prices just keep getting higher, we decided to just refresh our space. Then everything takes forever, so we waited SEVEN months to get our couch and chairs refinished. It feels really nice to have the space feel whole again.

I have started a daily yoga practice, and have been consistent with my goal to write everyday. Aside from reflections in my journal, I am writing about what I have learned in my mothering years and would like to pass on. Who knows if anyone will ever read it or care, but it has been a great way to reminisce and close up this chapter in my life.

Tennie has her head down and is working hard with some challenging classes this semester. She has applied for a study abroad in Jordan this fall, which is very exciting and motivating. She loves Arabic most of all. On one of our art nights in January, she wrote a poem about a cat in Arabic. She is really making a lot of progress!

Speaking of cats, she and her roommate got adopted a cat named Goat who is very affectionate and likes to hitch a ride around the house as Tennie gets ready in the morning.

Tennie, Adele and Ceci took a spontaneous and quick trip to California to soak in the beach and waves. They stayed with Geoff's dad and his wife, Robin and had an amazing sisters adventure. With Ceci potentially starting college this fall, these little windows will be harder to come by.

Adele was home for the entire month of January. The first two weeks of school were online due to spikes of Omnicron, so she chose to stay home longer, skiing a few more days, as well as eating a bit better than her student budget allows. We all loved having her around. She spent a good portion of that time creating art for her room, knitting her first sweater, knitting a scarf for Tennie, writing creatively, looking for summer opportunities and work opportunities back in NY, and other creative projects, such as screen-printing this t-shirt.

Adele is anything but idle! She got together with childhood friend Nina a few times. Here they are at Nina's house with her sister Sela too. I love that they are all still friends after all these years. (Thanks to their mom Ashley for the picture!)

One time when Nina was over, they were jokingly talking about wanting to build up their skills, and next thing I knew they were all becoming certified to perform marriages. Ha! A short time later they emerged all dressed in sleek black clothing with their hair and makeup done. They wanted to dress up to go out on the town. The next morning they recounted how they went to some kind of cafe that is well-known for its specialty drinks and told the worker, in their very authentic Australian accents, that they were actresses from Australia and here in Utah for their film at the Sundance Film Festival. Soon everyone in the cafe knew about them. One guy even came up to their table saying he was a missionary in Australia and wondered what part of Sydney they were from. At this point in the story, Ceci and Adele explained that they always have a back story planned and have never had the opportunity to use it, until this moment. They told this former missionary they were from some affluent neighborhood he recognized, to which he oohed and aahed. He brought his kids over to meet these real-live Aussies. They called Tennie while at their table, in the middle of this great ruse, and talked to Tennie in their Australian accents the whole time. Tennie didn't even flinch. They are so funny, and I had to tell it and capture how fun these friends are.

We celebrated Adele's 20th birthday. Britt threw her a party with the older girl cousins (cute Taeya came from Idaho to celebrate) where Adele made everyone dinner and decorated her own cake with live flowers. We celebrated at home where Adele made her own cake again.

We had a big art night with new paints and large swaths of canvas.

Adele returned to NYC in early February and has jumped in to a new semester with gusto. She is always hustling to make things happen, venturing out on her own to poetry readings or small concerts, and filling her days and nights, determined to make the most of her life.

Ceci was asked to be an assistant (kind of like a TA) to the teacher at SpyHop for the next Filmmaking class, so she is doing that a few nights a week and getting paid for it. She is the producer of film projects for real clients and is gaining valuable experience. She also took a prerequisite film skills class in preparation to get jobs with the production studio affiliated with SpyHop, even though it was mostly a review. She has been on the ethics team and competed in her first ethics competition, loving the challenge to prepare, work with teammates and feel the pressure in the actual experience. With college applications in, she is now in that waiting period to find out what her options are for the next phase of her life. She has started working on scholarships while continually working hard in school. She is one of the most diligent people I know. It is really amazing to watch her handle school and her days with such effectiveness. She was so sad to bid goodbye to Adele. She has been visiting Tennie weekly, as well as seeking out opportunities to be with Geoff and me, knowing she will be leaving soon. We're soaking up all of her we can get.

We celebrated Valentine's Day all together before Adele left, making and decorating sugar cookies, and then leaving daily texts of love and admiration for each other the week before. We have also started a new Sabbath lunch tradition with a charcuterie board-like spread, trying out all kinds of new vegan cheeses.

And that about sums up these cold months of winter. We're grateful for our abundant and healthy lives.