2016—The Year to Bring Back the Blogging Habit?

Ainsley is probably the only person who is still interested in this blog, and she has begged me to start again, "but not only when we travel, just all the daily stuff." She reminded me that I'd better do a post to start the year off right. When I asked her what I should blog about, she told me to blog about the party we went to tonight. I told her that I forgot to take pictures, and she said that was okay, I could just write a paragraph. 

Rob's aunt Ginny and uncle Bill have a New Year's Day party every year and serve sauerkraut, which is supposed to bring good luck for the new year. The girls were skeptical of the sauerkraut (until they tried it and liked it) but it also happens to be one of two days a year that Ginny makes her famous rainbow jello, and since we were gone for Christmas, we missed the other day. Ainsley started doing a happy dance when Ginny offered to send the leftover jello home with her. She's not at all possessive about it either, as you can see. Anyway, it was great company and great food, and a nice start to 2016.

P.S. I always get a little over-ambitious in January, so in that spirit, I'm attempting to blog one current post, and one "make-up" post. I picked a pretty lame easy one today: see here.

Lucky...No, Blessed

Ever since the boys quit soccer, our Saturdays have been blissfully open. This week was an exception. The boys left at 7:45 a.m. for a merit badge day. I joined them for a couple of leader classes from 10:00-12:00. Robbie had most of the merit badges they offered, so he came home with me after lunch, and Joey stayed until 4:00 and worked on rank advancement. Here they are in the fingerprinting class, which they both enjoyed. Their other favorite was the electronics badge.

Robbie and I hurried home, changed and cut brownies to take to Grandpa Backman's 90th birthday open house. We feel so lucky to have him in our lives.

I wish I'd thought to get a photo with all three Robert Backmans...

It was great to see Rob's brother Rich, from Atlanta. We missed Matt & his family, and of course Joe wasn't there.

Judy is the oldest of seven daughters. We love all of Rob's aunts.

Here's a shot of all the family there—two of the Champneys came from California and Texas, and the Prices came from California, Texas and Germany! It was so fun to see everyone.

These are the grandkids who made it:

And the great-grandkids—this should have been a video, not a picture. It was pretty comical.

We picked Joey up just in time for a photo before everyone went home.

We had dinner at El Farol's with the Marshes, and I didn't even have my phone camera with me for a photo. When we finally got home I collapsed finished my gospel doctrine lesson. It was a productive, fun, exhausting day. Not much time for St. Patrick's Day traditions, but the leprechauns did make an appearance the night before, leaving gold Rolos inside the kids' lockers. And as Ainsley pointed out, we didn't want to wear green anyway...that's Slytherin's color. :)

Deceivingly blank...

It's not the first time I've skipped blogging for a whole month. But this time I hardly took any photos, which is unusual. 288 photos, on only eight days. Here's what I captured:

1st

Robbie had a persistant cough for months, and was treated for infection and walking pneumonia with no results before I finally made an appointment with an allergist. It turns out he's not allergic or asthmatic, but the appointment still did the trick...he stopped coughing.

5th

It wasn't the first snow of the year, but maybe the deepest. Ellie and Ainsley played outside for hours.

11th

The elementary school was out for the day, so we staged a photo on 11/11/11 at 11:11 a.m.

19th

We were able to attend the Draper Temple, where Davy and Emma were sealed. Oh, and the Utes beat Washington State in overtime. :)

20th

Ralph told us about our Marsh ancestors at the Backman Family History Night.

21st

Ainsley lost her first tooth! The slacker tooth fairy didn't make an appearance for four whole days though...

24th

Thanksgiving! Our favorite holiday. We had a fabulous day and dinner in St. George at Ralph and Judy's. We were grateful to enjoy the company of Jake, the Stringhams, Grandpa & Grandma Backman, the Rasmussens and the Knaubs. It was my first year ever making my Grandma's fabulous candied yams, and they were a success!

25th

We had a fun game of dodgeball with the family. The kids told me earlier in the month that their favorite Thanksgiving tradition is going to St. George. No wonder, they spent hours playing outside with their cousins.

28th

We put up the Christmas tree a little early this year, since I was hostessing a Relief Society dinner on December 1st.

So, why the lack of photos? No, it was not restraint on my part. I was pretty much overwhelmed with daily responsibilities.

Here's what doesn't show up on this calendar: carpools, ballet lessons, piano lessons, early mornings at the gym, volunteering at the school, chess club, helping kids with homework x4, Webelos den meetings, pack meeting, Young Men's, volleyball, Achievement days, church, bishopric meetings, two book group meetings, primary practice & program, Beehive books, babysitting, SEPs, chiropractor, eye doctor, two birthday parties, PTA movie day, assembling 80 gifts for OJH piano donors and making dessert for the piano concert. Not to mention packing, unpacking, cleaning and trying to keep everyone fed & in clean clothes. More than I could fit on this little calendar, and stuff I'm trying to repress at this point.

Rob tells me my only New Year's resolution should be to say no. Of course then he called me to be a gospel doctrine teacher. No time commitment there. My first lesson was on December 6th, on...the Book of Revelation! So I also spent a couple of weeks in November preparing for that. Hard to believe I didn't fit in some time for blogging or Christmas cards. Maybe next November.

Finally caught up!

Whew. Now I can start taking pictures again.

Sunday was our Backman Family History night, at Bill and Ginny's house. After our trip to Gettysburg, Robbie was especially excited to see Bill's collection of Civil War memorabilia. Joey doesn't have the Civil War background, but does have the typical fascination with weapons for a boy his age. This Colt Rifle is taller than he is, and pretty heavy too.

The handgun was a big hit too.

As was the sword.


What is it with boys and weapons anyway?

My favorite relic was the Bible, with some pretty heart-wrenching journaling on the inside of the front and back cover. I loved the photos too.

Usually these evenings we read the history of an ancestor, but tonight Grandma Janet told us a little about her life. She is amazing. We love her so much. We feel so lucky to still have her, Rob's grandpa and my grandma around.

Here's hoping the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Rob has a great family. Tonight we enjoyed our third Sunday Backman family history night without kids, and that was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. We're grateful to Grandpa Backman and Grandma Janet for their work putting the histories and photos together, and to Rod & Barb for hosting this month.