We had such unusual weather this winter and spring. So much rain, mostly. Also, we had snow in Livermore! Just a little down in the valley, but enough on the hills and Mt Diablo that it lasted for several days.
We hosted the ward young women's group up at our cabin overnight. The trip almost got canceled because of a snowstorm, but luckily, we were able to stay overnight and just leave after breakfast Saturday morning before the snow really came in. We wish we could have had all day Saturday like originally planned, but at least we had the majority of the day Friday since we planned the trip for a weekend when there was no school on Friday.
We wore the girls out breaking a trail from the road to the cabin, and I spent a good portion of the afternoon shoveling off the deck while everyone played, inside and out. We pulled kids on tubes behind the snowmobiles, had snowball fights and built snowpeople, and played plenty of games indoors while people guzzled hot chocolate and lemonade. The younger girls slept in the Kid Cave, and we managed to fit everyone else into the loft overnight, so there was good opportunity for bonding to occur. Todd and I slept in our room, and the other three adult leaders - Katie, Karrie, and Tracy - slept in the guest room. They stayed up laughing later than anyone else.
I wore pants to church for the first time. It felt wonderful to break that glass ceiling and be warm in the church building; not one person said anything to me about it, either to compliment or question me. It was a much bigger issue in my head than it was in actuality.
Jack crocheted this adorable bunny for his friend Juno's birthday in under a day. He has got mad skillz with yarn.
Every spring and fall, I travel on the trail between our house and the elementary school as much as I possibly can because I pass this tree that makes me so happy. In the fall, the leaves are a bright red (which excites me, because we sadly get so little fall color out here). And in the spring, it blossoms with these pretty pink flowers, but the best part is that it smells utterly amazing. Like, I take the deepest breath I can as I pass it, and often get off my bike or scooter and stuck my face right in the blossoms and just suck up about three lung-fulls of the scent. It is that good.
We found out Jack had a baby tooth that was causing some trouble and needed to be pulled. We've never experienced that before! It wasn't a big deal, but is interesting to note.
We had an open Saturday and made a stop at TJ Maxx to pick out wild outfits for each other to fashion show. I found Todd a sweet Whitney Houston t-shirt that ended up coming home with us. The girls discovered that pretty shoes are not always easy to walk in.
After another wet week, the creek was super full. Some of the houses around us have gotten accustomed to flood-watching with sandbags. We are grateful our house is up on a bit of a hill so our yard hasn't even really gotten too soggy, but we have definitely watched with interest as the water levels around us have gone up and down.
After one wet weekend, we had an incredibly windy Monday which resulted in dozens of downed trees all over town. This picture is the only one I took, and it's hard to see, but there's a tree blocking half the road. There were giant fallen branches and entire trees all over the place. I probably should have stayed home, but I ran errands that afternoon and had to reroute myself three times just in Springtown because roads were blocked by fallen trees. It was nuts. Trees fell at both my kids' schools, too, and some of our favorite trees the kids used to climb and play in at nearby Pound Park all fell as well.
We had an enjoyable St Patrick's Day. The leprechauns tied the kids' doorknobs together so they had a hard time getting out of their rooms when they woke up, but that didn't stop them from donning green, jigging to Irish music, or tasting the rainbow all before school. The girls let me style their hair into shamrocks, too!
It was a gorgeous afternoon, and a Friday to boot, so with lots of sunshine and no homework, we headed to Brushy Peak to have our traditional leprechaun-hunting hike. We didn't make it as far as we had hoped, however; we gave up when the muddy trail started to look more like a stream and we saw other hikers slip and fall. Although it was sunny, it was not dry!
We headed up to Bear Valley for a ski day. Todd took the kids while I stayed back, shoveled the deck and listened to podcasts, read my book and did yoga. I have decided I don't like how skiing makes me feel wildly out of control.
Gemma's grade gave a Perseverance assembly. It was fun to watch her perform, but even better to hear her practice the songs and poems in the days leading up to it.
Hazel tried out for the school volleyball team and made it. She is a setter. She and Todd also got involved with a basketball club that meets two nights a week. Suddenly, she is all sorts of busy. She loves it. Now Gemma, Jack, and I have a couple nights a week just the three of us. We sometimes snuggle and read, sometimes use it to catch up on school projects that take a little extra time, and sometimes watch shows or play games together. They've been quiet nights.
