Hall bath renovation

Tile fitting of our house built in 1950. Searching for vintage plumbing parts to make a gorgeous sink from 1946 operational. Trim and paint. Currently at a stand still while Razor races, the oldest goes to prom, soccer and track season march onward, and I make super, scrappy pineapple quilt blocks like a crazy person.

It'll be so pretty. Eventually.

-dana

Ski Trip Surprise

Experiences and memories mean more than stuff. Christmas morning the girls found out that instead of stuff under the tree, we were taking a trip to Colorado to go skiing. On December 30, 2016 we flew to Denver. We stayed the night and some members of my family may or may not have spent a few hours Pokemon Go hunting.

The next day we drove to Salida. That evening we went to Monarch Ski Mountain to witness the New Year's Eve Torch Light Parade and fireworks. It was amazingly cool. And very, very cold outside. 

We woke up the next day ready to ski. And quickly realized that our selfie game was far from strong.

Oh wait! Maybe the selfie skills are improving!

Nope. Spoke too soon. Razor looks like he's run into a few trees with his helmet and sunglasses all wonky but really I think he's trying hard not to drop his phone off the ski lift.

We took lessons in the morning. Razor and I were thrilled how easily skiing came back to us and amazed at how quickly the girls picked it up. The tube carpet ride to get to the top of the bunny hill is a new invention since the last time I skied. I want to build one on the sledding hill back home. . .

We spent several days skiing Monarch Mountain and loved, loved, loved it. The snow was perfect. The runs were fantastic. The staff was super friendly. And we never, ever waited in a long line for the ski lifts.

This was one of the gorgeous views from our cabin.

Spending time with my family, experiencing nature and exploring new places. Bring on 2017!

-dana

Unexpected day

Razor is off work this whole week. This whole week! That is unexpected in and of itself. But yesterday he asked if I wanted to drive to a neighboring town and look around. On a total whim!

There were at least five or six antique shops and though we saw lots of great things, we were just looking. 

Well, we were just looking until we spotted this door on the way out of one shop. It was behind another door. I asked if we could take a closer look. And if the shop owner had a tape measure. He told us they brought it over from England. It's 32 inches wide. And standard exterior doors in America are 36 inches wide. Our shoulders sank a little bit at this news. But I took their business card with the measurements written on the back.

The girls were already home when we finally pulled into the driveway. I immediately started dinner. Razor immediately grabbed a tape measure.

Guess how wide our front door is?

Guess who is getting a new/old front door??!!??

Three cheers for unexpected days.

-dana

Father daughter adventure racing

I've spoken about Adventure Racing as a sport for years in this space. It's an endurance sport combining navigation, running, paddling, mountain biking, and climbing or repelling. Expedition races can last days or weeks while sprint races average six to twelve hours.  It's something my husband, Razor, has done since our youngest daughter was two years old. 

You see where I'm going with this right? 

She's fourteen now and recently completed her first adventure race with Razor. Adventure racing is largely an adult sport and it's uncommon for teenagers to race. But she biked, ran, repelled, and paddled for over six hours in the hot sun with her dad.  This is the two of them at the finish. She was hot, tired, sore, thirsty, sweaty and hungry.

And it's in her blood. She was ready to do it all again as soon as she flopped down in the shade at the finish.

They came in third place in the co-ed division.

Third place ya'll! She's fourteen!

-dana

Postcards from now

8th grade graduation and a speech that made my heart leap, eyes leak and mouth smile.

And the flash mob performance you coordinated was the absolute coolest!

Making Midsummer Night's Dream proud. And your momma too.

Still adventure racing. Still always at the top of the pack.

533 half square triangles later, I'll soon have a new quilt.

Strawberry rhubarb pie. Enough said.

-dana

Doing their thing

I've barely seen my oldest daughter for weeks. She's been building a car as a project for her physics class at school. You heard me right... building a car. She's spent hours welding, bending pipe, and redesigning.

I've barely seen my husband lately as he's done two adventure races in the last three weeks. One was from coast to coast in Florida. Yep, from the Gulf to the Atlantic.

And I've barely seen my youngest daughter either. She's been running with a coach, spending countless hours rehearsing for a musical that debuts later this spring, and being queen of the ball.

If you happen to see any of them, can you send the home for dinner? I've missed them.

-dana

Winter trip to Yellowstone National Park

In May of this year, my husband and I will be married for 20 years. Blink of an eye. We've wanted to visit Yellowstone in the winter. Cross country move. So in February we did just that. Two gorgeous daughters. We snowshoed. Dealt with postpartum depression. We cross country skied. Chose to be a single income family. We rode snowmobiles into the interior of the park. Three homes. We saw lots and lots of foxes. Job promotions. Big horn sheep. Business owners. Elk. Made tough decisions. Bison. Learned to be great communicators. Moose. Celebrated the everyday. Trumpeter Swans. Pursued our passions. Bald Eagle. Met goals. Coyote. Lost parents. Wolves. I love him more today than yesterday. Oh, the wolves. And as unfathomable as it is, I will love him even more tomorrow.

-dana