Feb, March, April

 Life has been challenging, busy, and not full of photo ops lately. But here's a few from the last months:

I got to go on a girls trip to Austin to visit my friend Beth, before she moves to another country (again!). We had an amazing weekend.

March: the kids and Spencer helped make the church program amazing, and we hosted Easter dinner for my family. Ian turned 15!

April was a journey. The kids had spring break: we went exploring in the woods, to the zoo, got passport photos taken, and other adventures. I turned 43 and Declan turned 13 but birthday celebrations were affected by some family challenges. We got to see some friends from Atlanta days, Trish and Fletch Vess. Lots of happiness and lots of hard times, which I'd rather not post about on the blog. 

November, December, January

 I really have not taken many photos lately, so I don't have a lot to share. But here are the highlights:

November was normal work and life and church, with Thanksgiving in Bremerton at Spencer's brother's home. The whole Brien family was there, and it was lovely. 

December was the same, adding concerts and Christmas activities and canceling all family holiday get-togethers when all three kids got sick the week of Christmas. I did have magical day before the sickness when Spencer took the kids on their first snowboarding trip, and I had a day of relaxing, while a cleaner got the house nice. Spencer and I attempted to get away for our 21st anniversary, but we only stayed one of our two reserved nights because the B&B was kind of terrible. We still had fun.

January was long and forgettable, but the kids did pep band, Audrey's play had its performances (she's on tech crew), and everyone went to the dentist with no cavities. We also started work on our backyard, extending the patio and making big improvements. It's Feb 10th as I write this and the work is almost done. 

Here are the few pictures I have:

Some excellent board game time happening.

Audrey and I saw Hadestown--so good!

Making gratitude crafts--our annual toilet paper roll turkeys!

First day of snowboarding. The boys and Spencer went one more time (Audrey was sick. I am uninterested in participating.)

Audrey turned 17!! We both skipped school and had a great day together.

We went to a play in Seattle with my parents and sister/bro-in-law.

A couple students helped me decorate my classroom door for December.

Most of Christmas break looked like this (Audrey wasn't fully sick in this pic yet; she got it last and recovered last).

Audrey played solo of the first line of the national anthem at several games. She's awesome.

The view from my back door one morning.

I have taken no photos yet in February. Besides the yard (which I will photograph soon!), we worked on garage organization, and I added some decor and art to the living room and dining room. The house is looking good--we've lived here for seven months, and I'm hoping in our first year we can get our short list of projects done, and then continue to save for some of the bigger ones. My dad has been so helpful in getting our house in order, including adding some locks (he's an amateur locksmith) when we needed them. 

Look for another blog post probably by summer--unless I take a bunch of photos to be posted!

Brien family photos

 

October

Declan ran cross country again--great season.

Ian on Halloween--biohazard guy

Declan was a banana.

Audrey was Gwen Stacy from Across the Spiderverse.

Fun carving pumpkins

This is what I looked like going to work on Halloween.

At our annual party--vampire costumes.

My sister and brother-in-law came as vampire hunters and burst in the front door shooting Spencer and me with nerf guns. It was hilarious.

My best friend and college roommate came again--over an hour drive but we live the closest we ever have!

Some of the food I made.

Ian went to Homecoming with some buddies.

Ian got a pet hedgehog over the summer, and she is very cute.

We went to Yakima to visit my youngest brother Ben. It was a great trip.

Lovely view of Mt. Rainier on the drive home.