The Bionic Man and Other News.

Yep, my dad had one of his hips replaced.  It turns out it was scheduled for the same weekend that Kendall had her dance convention, so my sister flew down to help.  My dad is such a weirdo.  It is a wonder that we ever get any normal pictures of him.

He made it through the surgery like a champ and is about two weeks into his recovery.  He is doing amazing.  He strategically timed the surgery in hopes of being healed for golf season.  I think he is on track to accomplish that goal.

Also that weekend, Sidney had a jump show.  It was a bit of a crazy weekend, as the trainer that she goes with was not able to go to the show.  Noel's mom had been in the hospital and ended up passing away the morning of the show.  However Jayde and Sidney loaded up the horses and made Noel proud.  They each walked away with a few ribbons in their respective events.

Sidney and I managed to sneak away to away with clay one evening.  I had not been there in forever.  They expanded the place and it is as beautiful and relaxing as ever.

I ordered our blog books for the year.  I love getting these in the mail each year.  It is so fun to flip through them.  This is truly one of the best things I have ever done.

The girls spoiled me for Christmas this year.  Kendall got me two pairs of cozy pants.  I love these!!!

Hollywood Vibe - Denver.

 Kendall had her first dance convention of the season this month.  I had a slight conundrum.  Our flight left super early on Friday morning and came back at 1am on Monday.  In my experience, it is crazy hard to get an uber in Boise at that hour.  So, I was planning to park in the airport garage.  I had been keeping an eye on it in the days leading up to the trip.  It always seemed like there were 50ish spots open.  The evening before our trip, my sister flew into town for my dad's hip surgery (more on that later).  She offered to drive us to and from.  After much deliberation, I agreed to take her up on the offer, and she vowed to regret her decision:).  It is a good thing I did, because the morning of the trip I checked the app and sure enough the garage was full.  That would have definitely been inconvenient.  

We got through security just fine.  Except for some reason, I was randomly selected for an in depth search.  Lucky me!

Our room at the hotel had the most beautiful view of the fountains.  

We got checked in early and grabbed lunch with some friends.  

It was a fun weekend, and the weather was amazing.  Paula and I went for a long walk in the 60 degree temperatures one of the days.  I also met one of my co-workers for coffee one day.  The girls had fun staying up late, waking up early and working hard.  They were all exhausted by the end of the weekend.

We went to delicious Mexican food one of the nights for dinner.

My dad had just been telling me about these nachos he saw on the food network, in which they used oversized chips and topped each chip individually.  Well, I was fortunate to find such a delicious thing!

Kendall won a raffle for a $100 lululemon card while we were there.  Yay, she can buy half a pant leg:).

This picture is just a glimpse of the crazy at these conventions.  There is loud music, crazy lights and wall to wall people at any given hour.  I love them though.  I have found my solace amongst these trips.  

This is Kendall (16).

I gave Kendall the option to opt out of the birthday interview this year, but she did not want to.  I think they enjoy reading these over the years.  Here goes...

1. Describe yourself.  

kind, empathetic, intelligent, responsible, athletic

2. What are you thankful for?  
my family, my friends, my sport

3. What makes you happy?  
dancing - letting everything go and jist flowing, being with my friends and family

4. What makes you sad or angry?  
people being disrespectful and insensitive to anyone, especially my family and friends

5. What do you want to be when you grow up?  
I'm not sure, but I want to impact other people's lives in a positive manner

6. What’s important to you?  
taking care of myself and those I love, my education, dance

7. What do you love most about yourself?  
I love my work ethic and commitment to myself and dance

8. What do you love most about your mom?  
I love how she loves taking care of us and wants us to be successful- she gives everything to help us succeed

9. What do you love most about your sister?  
how she fun loving and outgoing she is, is always there to try something new or go on an adventure

10. If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?  
Rome, it just seems like such a humbling experience

11. Who do you admire? Why?  
my mom, because she is always working hard, she knows who she is and what she wants to be, and stands strong in her beliefs

12. What do you want to learn more about?  
I want to learn more about myself, my passions, what I want to be and do, who and how I love

13. What’s something you’d like to do to help someone else?  
anything that they need. I want to be helpful to people in the moment. premeditated kindness is important, but so is impulsive compassion

14. What are you afraid of? 
losing the people I love

15. If you could only keep one thing, what would you keep? 
the dogs

16. What’s your favorite memory? 
going camping at Holland Lake and hiking to the waterfall for the first time

17. What are you proud of yourself for?  
working hard and taking charge or myself and my learning, whether its in school or dance

18. What are you looking forward to this year?    
taking more classes at CWI, dancing more often and improving technique, spending time and forming connections with new people

19. What do you dream about?  
having meaningful connections with family as I grow older

20. What else do you want to say?
we've got flaws in all of us, but that's what makes us GLORIOUS!

Sweet 16.

Kendall turned the big 16 this year.  When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday this year, she did not hesitate.  She wanted to spend it up in McCall with her friends.  McCall never dissapoints.  We played countless games of Yahtzee and Uno.

The deer were out in full force.  At one point they were trying to climb into the truck.  That kind of freaked me out a bit.

For her birthday, she wanted everyone to get dressed up, and we went out to a nice dinner at the golf course.  Kendall got Sidney one of these funny hair curlers for Christmas.  

It really seemed to work!

I was really just along for the ride, as the weekend really belonged to Kendall and her friends.  They made the most of every minute.

We enjoyed a nice dinner out and a toast to the birthday girl.

I love that Kendall wore this funky jean jacket my mom passed down to her with her gorgeous little black dress.  

After dinner, we went back to the cabin and opened a bottle of sparkling cider and had dessert and presents.

Kendall received some very special gifts from her 'ride or die' friends.  There were lots of tears and laughs.

The girls played countless games of billiards, messed around in the pool and hot tub and even went sledding one day.

Me?  I worked on this incredibly hard puzzle.  I had to take a break after this one!

It was a beautiful trip with lots of special memories made!

Until We Meet Again.

This year started out on a sad note.  My beautiful grandma passed away at the age of 96 years old.  She lived a long and full life and was sharp as a tack.  Kevin used to love bantering with her, as she was always up on the latest news or politics.  Kevin and I used to travel with her a lot when we lived in California.  There were a couple of funny moments that will forever be etched in my memory.  She lived in Stockton, which is a very rough town.  She was not immune to the crazy.  On one particular car trip, we were traveling at a high elevation and a bottle of sunny d must have over pressurized and the lid came flying off.  I remember her ducking and yelling, "we've been shot".  Oh my goodness!

Then there was the night we were driving back to California from Christmas up North.  The fog was crazy thick, and she kept telling Kevin that he was going the wrong way.  He finally had enough and turned to me and said, "Can you make her be quiet?"  Um, no!  

She was a force to be reckoned with.  She was super sweet, but super fierce.  She was my first example of what a strong, independent woman looks like.  She will be forever missed!

My mom and sister found this beautiful lamp in her home and brought it back for me.  She was always the keeper of beautiful things.  I remember her letting my sister and I put makeup on her as little kids.  She gave the most amazing back rubs.  She even let me die her hair jet black one time.  Oh grandma, you were really the best!