The Junk Drawer.

Our church has a section in their e-newsletter called the junk drawer.  It is where they tuck any announcement that has no other specific home.  Well, that is what this post is all about.  Here goes.

Sidney volunteered at the Boise Basin Quilt Show last fall.  One of the ladies had sent her a beautiful piece of horse fabric afterward.  We had it turned into a quilt.  She found a beautiful spot in her bedroom to hang it.

My friend Kristin had gifted us a very special family photo session right after Kevin had been diagnosed.  Looking through the pictures brings us great joy.  So, when we had a few pieces of the old pallet left, I snagged them and made this sign that we hung in our kitchen.

I just love flowers.  They ALL remind me of Kevin, especially the wild ones.  The girls and Terrell brought me this beautiful bouquet for Valentine's day.

My dad rocks, and I am a craft nerd.  When I showed him what I needed to organize my stamp pads, he used a board he had in his garage to whip this up.  Awesomeness!

I ran into one of Kevin's old colleagues.  Deb told me about a plaque that they had hung in the school to honor Kevin.  Here is a picture that she sent me of it.  Love.

Sidney is a sweetie.  Sometimes I wish I possessed a fraction of the compassion she has.  Here is a sweet picture that she texted me.

Kendall turned 13 this year.  We discussed the ups and downs of social media, and with much trepidation, I let her set up an Instagram account.  She has been using it judiciously.  The other day, she put an awesome post together to encourage her sister.  I just had to take a screenshot and capture it here to be forever stored in the blog archives.

Acts of Kindness.

The girls have been on fire with fun, community oriented activities.  In January, they did Case for Smiles.  Grandma Karen went with them to help.  They made these awesome pillowcases for kids that have cancer.  They get a bright fun pillowcase to make their stay just a little bit brighter.

Last Saturday, we had a double service day.  Their 4H group made pet beds for the Idaho Humane Society.  Now they want to take a trip over there to see the dogs enjoying them.  I am not certain that is a good idea, since we always have a hard time leaving without a dog.

In the afternoon, I took Kendall and a classmate to the thrift store to volunteer for a few hours.  Kendall is taking a class in school called 'Life Skills'.  She has told me on more than one occasion that this had been the best, most informative class she has ever taken.  They have learned about community service, organization, mindfulness, substance abuse and many other relevant topics.  Sidney and I stayed to help as well.  We started with organizing and shelving books.  I was almost giddy with excitement.  Then Sid and I color sorted the purses.  It was downright therapeutic!

This has nothing to do with community service, but I thought I would stick it here.  I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and came across this post.  Kendall and her friend had done the morning video announcements.  I tell you what, if announcements would have been that engaging and funny when I was in school, I probably would have been a cinematographer.

Foot Loose and Fancy Free...Or Something Like That.

I travel quite a bit for work, or typically.  This past year, I have stepped back a bit to help myself and the girls regroup.  With Terrell here and my parents moving down, it feels like we have a lot of family support.  The girls, Sid in particular, seem to be doing much better, especially when it comes to me traveling for work.  

For the past few years, work travel has terrified me.  I have left for each trip with much worry and trepidation.  Will everything be okay?  Will something happen to Kevin and the girls find him after a fall or something scary like that?  I know much of my worry was irrational, but much of it was based in reality as well.  

Now that things are settling and the girls have family here to help, I have left for my trips with a lighter feeling.  I would not quite say I feel 'foot loose and fancy free' as the title of the post might imply, but I definitely feel like things are much more settled.  In fact, I joked with my friend last week, "I'm going to San Diego."  Picture me saying that while half dancing and singing.  

This is what it looked like when I checked into the hotel.  B-E-A-U-TIFUL!

I woke up to a thick morning fog that burned off by 10 am.  I was so excited that I forgot to take the sunny picture.  We ate our meals outside by the water and had a conference room with not just one window, but at least five, that overlooked the bay.  It was one of the most productive meetings we have had!  Seriously though, it was gorgeous and our spirits and energy were on fire!

A Dog's Best Friend.

The week Kevin passed away, he asked me to make sure I take good care of Bailey.  Ha!  It made me kind of laugh.  Really though, they had a pretty tight bond.  Last weekend the girls and I decided to go through some of Kevin's clothes.  When we pulled the t-shirts out, Bailey went nuts.  He began to make crazy noises and roll around in them.  He dragged off a few of them and just kept rolling around with them. He was careful not to chew them.  We decided to let him keep the three that he seemed partial to.  

Bailey spends a lot of time at the circle window watching the passersby.  One morning last week, I peeked out of my office to see this.  He had brought the red t-shirt to the window and was resting his chin on it.  I think he misses his friend.  I think we all do!  I am not sure why I was so surprised by Bailey's reaction.

Awana Grand Prix 2020

I am super proud of these girls, as they have carried on the tradition of entering cars in the Awana Grand Prix.  This is something that they used to do with Kevin.  My Dad has helped them with cutting the cars and putting on the axles, but beyond that, these cars are all them!

I love the level of detail that Kendall put into her car.  The sheet music is even titled Fur Elise.

Sidney decided to do a watermelon car.  It turned out awesome!

The Time Has Come.

The days of 3 dogs, 2 parents and the girls and I under one roof are gone.  It was sad to see my parents go, but super exciting to see them get settled.  These past six months have been quite a healing time for all of us.  Bailey misses his buddies.

We had taken a poll at the beginning of this journey to see who would guess the closing date.  Sidney won, as the actual date was January 24th.  She was the proud winner of $7.

Here are a number of pictures of my parents and their new home.  They are almost settled in just in time for spring yard work!

Small Changes - Huge Meaning.

The girls have not been interested in changing anything this past year.  I think there has been such monumental change that even changing something as small as the kitchen canisters is too much.  So, I was shocked that they suggested turning Kevin's man cave into a yoga studio.  We checked out different flooring materials and decided on engineered vinyl planking for its' durability.  They insisted that 'George' the deer head must stay.  I though I had forgotten to take before pictures, but then found these on my phone.

Here are the after pictures.  It turned out really nice and is a room that brings us great joy.  We kept much of Kevin's decorations (and George).

We even found this great fishing picture at the bottom of his gun cabinet that I framed.

We turned his gun cabinet into a locker for yoga mats, bands and other random exercise items.