Disclaimer: these posts were written after the fact. In the moment I was too stressed out and angry to find the right words most of the time.
All good summers must come to an end. Admittedly, after a couple months home with the minions, this mama is usually ready. The start of school is about the time to take down the summer swimming pool. This year we had switched to a much bigger pool which created a large dead circle in the lawn. Now thinking to myself “what would make this dead circle look intentional” I went to the classifieds in search of a fire pit. Ended up on a really good deal for a fire pit with 5 chairs and a lighted umbrella. Pretty sweet. The boys are convinced s’mores should be a weekly occurrence although cooking marshmallows over a gas fire table does take some practice. Three little boys with flaming marshmallows on sticks is an adventure. At least it made my dead circle of grass look like it was always meant to be.
I had very mixed feelings about school this year. As much as the boys attending in person school was, in hindsight, the correct decision, at the time it was very nerve-wracking. This year Andrew was starting kindergarten, in a mask, during a pandemic. Just lovely. He dealt with the same during preschool and it’s sad he hasn’t known any differently. It took me a couple of weeks of pretty bad daily anxiety before I got into the groove and it seemed things would go okay. The boys were happy to be back seeing their friends and to them wearing masks was a minor inconvenience at most. Honestly, even without universal masking at school it was one of the healthiest falls we’ve ever had.
We had a few late summer adventures. A big one for Andrew was no more training wheels! I now have a fully riding biker gang of 3! We even invested in bikes for Jason and I. There may be family bike rides in our future.
As one would expect after you finally finish a major kitchen renovation, our water heater died. Planned expenditures followed by unplanned. Good times. The good news was we were home when it decided to start wetting the basement floor and found someone to replace it before it caused any major problems. With supply chain issues we weren’t sure finding exactly what we wanted was going to be easy or quick. New kitchen+new water heater=hot water for everyone! It wasn’t a planned project, but going to a slightly larger (and probably much more efficient) water heater was good timing with the boys starting to need more regular showers/baths and 5 people needing to get through the shower back to back to back.
September brought garden take down time. After a fairly successful sweetcorn crop I decided to do a little decorating with the dried stalks. This is notable because growing up in WI surrounded by corn, never once had I used cornstalks as décor. This year the boys helped me tie some up around the porch and front flowerpots and it looked kinda fun. It almost balanced out the less than stellar pumpkin crop we managed to grow. 🙂
Also in September, Jason and the kids had a Friday off and took a boys only adventure to see a cave and use a hotel pool in Vernal, UT. I honestly think the boys may have been more excited about the hotel pool than the rest of the adventure but they got to spend some quality time with Dad and Mom got a quiet weekend at home. Win-win.
Early October we started in on the last planned project of 2021–a new roof! We had planned this project in combination with the kitchen loan and were just waiting for the kitchen to be complete to make sure the numbers had all worked out. It seemed like it hadn’t rained all summer except for 1) the day the new kitchen cabinets were delivered and 2) the week the roof was scheduled to be done. The roof project being delayed, along with removing 3 layers of shingles and it needing to be completely re-sheeted equated to it taking quite a bit longer than originally planned. We actually saw them start roof tear off (October 4th) but didn’t get to see the finished project until we returned from fall break (October 14th) and they were pulling out of the driveway with their construction trailer in the dark.
Late October brought my first chance to really test run the new kitchen. Our neighbor down the block has the most amazing Concord grapes on his front fence and doesn’t really use them for anything. After walking by them to and from school for a couple weeks I finally asked if I could come take them off his hands. I picked grapes like crazy and juiced it all for later. I even ended up using some of the processed juice to make jelly and handed it out to all the neighbors at Christmas time. It sounds like our neighbor would willingly send grapes our way most every fall. What a great deal! (And the new kitchen IS AWESOME!)
Covid be damned, fall felt a little more normal this year. We decorated for Halloween, painted pumpkins, and trick-or-treated until we had enough candy to make us all sick. Can I confess to you all I attended my first Trunk-Or-Treat this year? Church parking lot, decorated trunks, cake walk? I feel like I have finally had the full Utah Halloween experience. Can someone tell me why in all my years in WI I never attended a Trunk-Or-Treat or participated in a cake walk? Is this a serious Utah thing or was I more sheltered than I realize? In any case, enjoy the pictures of The Mandalorian, Harry Potter, and Baby Yoda.
November brought us an early Christmas present in the form of Covid vaccines for kids 5-11. Finally. The boys were not necessarily excited, but were ready to get vaccinated if it meant being able to return to some sense of normalcy. Happy to report no side effects in any of the kiddos and piece of mind knowing that we did what we could as parents to protect them and those around them.
For Thanksgiving we had a last minute visit from Grandma Laura and Grandpa Bruce. I say “last minute” because normally their trips are booked months in advance. This year I mentioned coming 
for Thanksgiving and tickets were booked November 8th. We used their visit as an opportunity to not only have Thanksgiving together, but also kick off the holiday season a little early. We went to the drive through holiday lights, ,made s’mores, checked out the aquarium, made cut out cookies, and strung new garland. We didn’t put grandpa Bruce to work on any construction projects or make him disassemble a kitchen, but we did take him to the mall! The Apple Store even. My parents admitted there were more people in that singular store than in all the stores in Reedsburg at any given time. His old phone was on its last leg and it was time to get him upgraded. Thankfully the Apple Store staff got his old phone transferred to his new phone and back on his way. He now has the newest phone in the family and isn’t stuck with a phone that only works on speakerphone mode. Huzzah!
Christmas was quiet and relatively uneventful. We had a sweet little cousin reunion and just enough snow to make Christmas break fun for the boys. The matching pajamas were a hit and of course Santa brought gifts. It was a long 2021 but we are thankful for our happiness, health, and family. Happy new year!
