The Best 50th Birthday Gift

Mister turned 50 last month. He’s quite a few years older than I am, which seemed very sophisticated when we met when I was a baby of 19 and he was 25. As you know the fiftieth birthday is fraught with emotion (mostly depressed and negative) and expectations. There was… Read More

December 27, 2015February 17, 2016

The Best Christmas Gifts

Although I just couldn’t really get into Christmas decorating this year (I really only get my mojo on about every other year), I was very, very excited for Christmas itself. The first reason was because I decided to give Mister a new cat. Our old cat, Clover, was eaten by… Read More

September 17, 2015

Texas Tuesday: The Texas State Cemetery

My son Finn is a huge Navy Seal fan so you can imagine how excited he was to find that Chris Kyle–the ultimate Navy Seal–was buried here in Austin at the Texas State Cemetery. We’d heard lots of people say that visiting the cemetery is a cool thing to do.… Read More

September 15, 2015

India and York Head Off Into the Sunset

Last Tuesday we said our final goodbyes to India and York as they head off to be missionaries in São Paulo, Brazil. It’s been surreal. Super surreal. I’ve felt like I need to spend every second with them even though they would much rather hang out with friends, not their… Read More

August 26, 2015April 25, 2016

Flunking Back-To-School

Isn’t it so exciting to get ready for the kids to go back to school? Normally I start out super organized and ready for the school year. All the kids’ lockers and lunch boxes are cleaned out and ready to go–normally. But this year it didn’t really happen like… Read More

August 13, 2015

Texas Tuesday: Newman’s Castle

I haven’t been writing much about our Texas Tuesdays this summer. Shame on me! I’ve got a whole pile of things to tell you about. One of our most favorite place we went was called Newman’s Castle. This is quite a drive from Austin–about an hour and a half (it’s just… Read More

July 25, 2015

York, the Sommelier

The other day I stopped at World Market to pick up hagelslag*, otherwise known as chocolate sprinkles. They’re not crappy chocolate sprinkles like you get at the grocery store, they’re real European chocolate sprinkles and that’s what my kids like to put on their toast and bagels. While we were… Read More

July 16, 2015April 25, 2016

Are You A Night Person or Morning Person?

I grew up surrounded by Night Owls. Everyone in my family stayed up late all the time, particularly on weekends. This was mostly due to the fact that my mother has always been a chronic napper. We all knew that every afternoon was quiet time and there was no reason… Read More

June 30, 2015

Lovely Week in San Diego

This year we got our Big Summer Trip out of the way early on. We had a family reunion with most of Mister’s family out in San Diego. Mister’s Mother turned 80 this year and we all got together to celebrate. We rented a bunch of condos right on Mission… Read More

June 8, 2015April 25, 2016

High School Graduation (AKA Three Hours of My Life That I Won’t Get Back)

York just graduated from High School over the weekend. It was . . . how shall I put this? Less than interesting? I’m certainly glad he graduated. I know high school was a big ordeal and lots of work and we are very proud of York for making his four… Read More

May 27, 2015

The Kids Get Mission Calls

As you probably know by know, we’re Mormon. And one of the rites of passage for Mormons is going on a mission when young adults turn 18 or 19 years old (it’s strongly encouraged for boys–being the fools that they are–but optional for girls). Part of the reason is to tell… Read More