2016 By the Book

2016's list of books.  This is probably the least number of books I've accomplished in a year, but to be fair I did read my way through all of the Game of Thrones books which is no small feat.  I also fell in love with quite a few podcasts over the year.  Some of my favorites are Spartan Up, The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Stuff Mom Never Told You, and Human Race.



1. Bryan Stevenson - Just Mercy *****

2. Adriana Trigiani - All the Stars in the Heavens *****
3. Paula Hawkins - The Girl on the Train *****
4. George RR Martin - A Game of Thrones *****
5. Pope Francis - The Name of God is Mercy ****

6. Ben Goldacre - Bad Science ***
7. Suzie Favor Hamilton - Fast Girl *****

8. Augusten Burroughs - Possible Side Effects *

9. Yann Martel - The High Mountains of Portugal ***
10. George RR Martin - A Clash of Kings *****
11. George RR Martin - A Storm of Swords *****
12. Paul Kalanithi - When Breath Becomes Air *****

13. Bill Bryson - the Road to Little Dribbling ****

14. Marie Kondo - Spark Joy *****

15. Anita Renfroe - Don't Say I didn't warn you **

16. Diana Abu-Jaber - life without a recipe **
17. Christopher McDougall- Natural Born Heroes ****
18. George RR Martin - A Feast for Crows *****
19. Drema Hall Berkheimer - Running on Red Dog Road *****
20. Erik Larson - The Devil in the White City **

21. Phil Knight - Shoe dog *****

22. Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain ****
23. Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way *****
24. John Parker - Racing the Rain ***
25. Brigid Pasulka - A long, long time ago and essentially true *****
25. Jojo Moyes - Me Before You *****

26. Ron Fournier - Love That Boy *****
27. George RR Martin - A Dance With Dragons *****
28. Shauna Niequist - Present Over Perfect *****
29. Mary Mann Hamilton - Trials of the Earth ***
30.Hope Jahren - Lab Girl ****
31. Rich Roll - Finding Ultra *****
32. Amy Robach - Better *****
33. Jojo Moyes - After You *****
34. Anna Kendrick - Scrappy Little Nobody *****

So what have you been enjoying lately?

Last year's list: here

Working on it

The kids are working on their bravery

and the mama is working on letting them be brave without a giant plastic bubble

Why they invented waterproof mascara

So much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

William Carlos Williamson



So we knew this day was coming around our house.  The day we would decide that Maggie, the goat we got for weed management really, has had enough of this living with cancer business.  It has been rougher than I imagined it would be.  She really weaseled her way into our family.  The last 6 months she's gotten more attention than ever as we managed her health.  And just last week I caught her drinking beer out of the cup I'd left on the back porch and begging marshmallows out of the kids' hands.

We talked about what would be different when we got home and how it would go for Maggie.

She's in good company with our beloved Beatrix.

And as Burrito and Emma reminded me: Dobby (the rooster), goldie (the goldfish...naturally), and blackie (the black goldfish if you can call him that....who lived for quite a short time in our house).

And after all was said and done I noticed Maggie left me one last message.   Not three days ago, the blackberry plant that I have been trying to grow all season (it was transplanted from the front to the back yard) was finally starting to look really good and I thought maybe we'd get blackberries this year after all. 

Today I noticed Maggie had nibbled on it, one last time:

All I could do was shake my head, smile, and wipe away a tear.

A good combination

Sundays are for dead lifts (115#....new PR) and Easter cookie play dates

Christmas at our house

It would appear that I took just one picture Christmas morning. 

 The rest will have to be committed to memory.

Emma had her original Mr Nibbles stolen at school earlier this year. 
This was the present I was most excited to give this year.

Apple hill 2012

This was the only picture I snapped from this year's apple hill trip.

That would be my daughter, wearing her school shirt on a Sunday.  Why? 
"Because I'm proud of my school mom!"
This cannot really be my kid.

Highlights:

I got a new spoon key chain with my initial on it - my sister will be jealous.

There were caramel apples to be eaten - I didn't have it in my sore, broken knee to walk back to the cute old man in the corner of Denver Dan's and get an apple on my thumb....there's always next year I suppose.

There were hand dipped corn dogs at Jack Russell Brewery - they were every bit as tasty as I wanted them to be.

And there are 3 homemade pies chillin' in the freezer now, just waiting for an occasion.

Scenes from this Christmas



Someone turned 4




Cookies were made




Little bit of fun was had



Newmans came to visit




Nerf guns happened.  Lots of nerf guns.




There were very happy children




And then we ate meat pie.  And it was delicious.



Cookie days of one kind and another

One of our Newman family traditions around Christmas is for all the girls to get together and make cookies.  It's always a fun filled day with good food, hot drinks, a lot sugar, and some face-to-face family visiting before the holiday and hectic traveling begins.  Some years there are those that can't make it and they are always missed.



Kristine, Karyl, Noah, Nicole, Donna, Marsha, Kayla, Phyllis, Debbie,
Emmers and Zeke



Noah is new to cookie day this year (his birthday is Dec 24th) and we had our first ever best decorated sugar cookie contest.  Emmers won....hence the santa hat holiday cheermeister hat.

Burrito said he'd help with the no bake cookies as long as his hands didn't get dirty and as long as Kayla hand fed him tasty bits from the leftovers in the bowl.   Well played, burrito, well played.

We have been making new friends in our own neighborhood.  So I shared the super secret best, ever sugar cookie recipe and we had our own little decorating party. 

The only things missing this year was my favorite sister and red hots for snowman buttons.

On A Cold and Drizzly Sunday Afternoon

I think the brain washing is working.  I have a little scientist in training.  There's even been a request for a lab coat.  Please note the hot pink safety glasses that occasionally double as swimming goggles.  Also, apparently NASA has won the lottery.  There are rocket ships all over outer space.  The girlchild said she was planning her trip to Mars to collect soil samples.  The bug magnification device is set out for official scientific use.  As I scrubbed dishes and washed linens the girlchild was busy labeling her earth and running up and down the hallway asking how to spell this or that. 

The Girl: What else Mom?

Me: I think that about covers it.  You got Fernley, China, India, New York.  What else do you need?  (Notice I did not suggest she write Australia...that'd take 6 days for her to spell out)

The Girl: But I still have all this space.

Me: Don't forget about the ocean.  Did you know that there's more ocean that there is land? 

The Girl:  Good idea mom.  Then I'll fill in the space with islands.  Seven of them.  Like Hawaii.

I particularly love that Fernley and Asia look to be about the same size.

No Shoes, Sunday Service

Burrito: Mom, did you hear that?

Me: What?

B: Father Bob said Jesus is dead!

Me: I know.  He died so he can open up the door to heaven for you.  Now Shhhhh....people are noticing you have no shoes on.

The Husband is off on a business trip.  Can you tell? 

I didn't discover until we were already at church that Burrito didn't have shoes on.  Not sure what the policy is on that.  Glad I can provide some entertainment free of charge.

I left my heart at the Spragpole Museum-Bar-Cafe

While I was up North visiting my brother, we took a short day trip to Murray, Idaho. 

Seriously, the cutest old mine town ever!  Well...we do have a few gems closer to home but this one is definitely in the running.  It even made it's way onto the wishful-maybe-we'll-retire-there-someday list.  Right next to Austin or Ely, NV. 

We stopped first at the Spragpole Museum-Bar-Cafe for lunch.  I had the most amazing huckleberry milkshake ever! I had to fight the milkshake coveting children off with my long ice tea spoon and honey-BBQ chicken wings.  I also distracted them by making them count the deer antlers around the bar between bites of huckleberry deliciousness.

After lunch, we toured the attached museum.  It was like going home again.   The best part was being there with my big brother and being able to say "Dad has a forge just like this in the backyard" and "I think this is the exact some ugly troll made out of moss that is still in the front entryway at home".  It was an odd assortment of wood carved animals, old apothecary jars, blacksmith tools, ivory elephants, collector edition miniature cars, and giant wooden saint statues.  And it got me thinking.  (LIGHT BULB.....in my best despicable me voice) We could just put out a donation jar and let people take self guided tours of Hal's house when he's gone.  I kid, I kid.....mostly.


My brother was kind enough to send me home with bags of frozen, wild huckleberry.  And we recreated the huckleberry milkshake, many times over, at  home, possibly before we got the vacation unpacking done.

I love to hate the snow

When it starts snowing outside and I'm sitting at my desk at work, chances are I will start to cry.  Not really.  But I want to.  I will spend the rest of the time alternating between looking out the window praying the snow will stop or checking my email to see if they've called a snow day yet.  It makes me wish I had my own personal driver who would shuttle me to and from work so I don't have to worry about slippery roads, four wheel drive, or other crazy drivers.


Truth be told, I enjoy the snow.  I enjoy it most from the warmth of my favorite Nintendo chair parked by the fireplace.  But, I do enjoy playing in it as long I have the appropriate warm, waterproof gear on.


Excited enough to dive over the hand rail just to get in the snow



We took the kids to a little hill in Truckee for some good old-fashioned, free exercise and fun.

The boy at the bottom, Bobbo climbing back up

















After a while, the children claimed they couldn't possibly make it back to the top of the hill because they were so so tired.  Good thing we brought the Daddy!



A Week in the Environment

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.

~ Winnie the Pooh

This year, the Fall family vacation was camping in California.  We woke up to this lovely sight every morning.  It was a nice break from work and chores and time lines.

The Boy and the monsters were SO SO SO excited to get the camping fun started that they left without me.  This is what two children who have been camping alone with their papa for three whole days look like.

Burrito will truthfully admit that he's only into fishing for the sunflower seeds.  Oh, and the buzz lightyear fishing pole of course.  He needed his big sister to put the worm on his hook, take the fish off his hook, and liberate the ones who were too small for eating.

He did however eat an entire bag of jalapeno salsa sunflower seeds (shells and all)....

A big thank you to Annabell who willingly let Burrito use her tail as a tow rope when he was too tired to continue on our hiking adventure.

Grandma volunteered to tow thing 1 and thing 2 in the bike trailer the 10 miles we road up the Bizz Johnson Trail.  I'm pretty sure we'd still be out there if the task was assigned to me...

My favorite part of the bike ride is going through the train tunnels!

A completely unscripted act of sibling love

No one was eaten by bears, we had delicious campfire dinners every night, and the children are more or less cleaned up now.

Off to do some laundry now.

A Pain-free Labor Day (mostly)

We had a lovely Labor Day Monday in good old Fallon.  Except the part where Burrito ate it on the sidewalk and is now sporting a healthy amount of road rash on his forehead.

Sidewalk's not for that fancy walking my son, it's for regular walking.

Anyway, do you know what the best part of being from a small town is?

That you can't go to walmart without running into at least 5 people you know? WRONG

That you can kiss the beer man in the grocery store and it will be okay because it's your husbandman? WRONG

That you can count on the Eagle's pancake breakfast on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month? WRONG

It's parade candy may friends. (and oodles of soccer kids, cheerleaders, band peeps, old cars, horses, and fire trucks.)

As the mother of this operation I take my candy cut from the top....meaning any piece I want is mine, no questions asked.

I told the husbandman that if I had this truck he wouldn't have to steal the ford down the street I've had my eye on for a while.

This one was the kids' favorite (naturally)



And this is why we usually leave the mother at home:

Oh The Places We [Won't] Go

Pretty soon I'm not going to want to leave my backyard.
I'll be spending my evenings relaxing under the stars with a marshmallow roasting stick in one hand and tall glass of sweet tea in the other.
I can't wait.

Baby Steps

That's MY GirlChild.
Out where she can't touch.
Swimming with the big kids.
She loved every second of it.


Good thing, Burrito's idea of swimwear looks like this:

(Notice the jacket in July....I wasn't even kidding about that)

A Day at the Lake

Just one of those perfect, lazy days at Lahontan.

Complete with......

The Boy

The GirlChild

And a new footstool for Burrito

(And no....that's NOT our dog, thank you very much)

With love - Lakeside,
~Zeke

Marks on My Heart

Who Needs Play Equipment?

Who needs a swing or a slide when there is a ginormous pile of rocks in the driveway to play on? 
We've had more than one, "I'm king of the world" shouting contests.  Some of the rocks have gone into prepping for the new concrete pad outside my bedroom window.  The rest are slowly being moved into the dirt spaces in the front that aren't meant for growing things.

THIS MEANS YOU....WEEDS.

It's been slow going, because it's been soooo stinkin' hot.

Which you'd never guess by looking at this picture:

It's a hundred degrees outside and burrito won't go outside without his sweatshirt on.
Well....he might get heat stroke but at least I shouldn't have to worry about skin cancer.
Right?

What do you do with an idle Sunday?

Here's what happened in my backyard last Sunday.  I was in charge of general design and painting (both red and green).  we are loving it!!



p.s. There have been no broken bones....yet.

p.p.s.  Please excuse the weeds, I'm gonna have to fire the landscape girl.  She obviously isn't doing her job.

p.p.p.s The audio is crappy because it was windy....but the argument you are missing is the girl asking her dad (now that the seesaw is done) to build a giant tree house.  Heehee I laughed...you can too.


~Zeke
(and I am the landscape girl...)