So....

what's up 2013?

We spent the long weekend teasing our pretty megan dear, napping, eating junk food, staying up past 1am and playing Michigan rummy. It was a party. And now we're home and unpacked and I'm tired.

I have to say, usually I'm reluctant for January to roll around, but this year I'm looking forward to settling in. I think this is the first month since August that we haven't had something major going on. I've been shopping it up the last few weeks as we've been traveling, trying to load up on cool things for our new house. Our new couch should finally arrive next week and I'm looking forward to putting together rooms around the house. Empty walls are inspiring for a while, but eventually they're just lonely. And I'm counting on my creative side to pull me through the next several weeks while we await the fresh air in march.

Here's a few pictures from early New Year's Day, somewhere around 12:01am.  

December thirty-first.

“The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only.”

joseph wood krutch

My darlings, it's new year's eve. We've spent the last several days in beautiful Cache Valley surrounded entirely by glistening white snow. It's been breathtaking. I've been thinking about this last year and the growth that we've seen. I've been thinking about the hurts we've nursed, the milestones we've met and crossed, the new paths we've taken and the ones we've gingerly left behind.

A few weeks ago, when I was quiet enough to truly listen for an answer, the thought occurred to me that there is no such thing as perfect happiness here, because 'here' isn't where we're from and it isn't where we belong. I spend so much energy yearning for permanence, yet nothing ever stays the same. And none of us are ever entirely safe or protected or thoroughly happy, without some sort of thorn aching someplace in our souls. Somehow, there's purpose to that. And somewhere down the road, I hope to understand more. What I forget so often is that we are journeying. This is adventure. Joy really isn't joy without pain preceding it. And you really can't truly grow if you stay the same. 

Lilias Trotter said, “Take the very hardest thing in your life – the place of difficulty, outward or inward, and expect God to triumph gloriously in that very spot.  Just there He can bring your soul into blossom.”

Tonight, I'm sentimentally counting my blessings. At 11:59pm, I'll be sharing a two-minute kiss with my best friend. Between counting and kissing, I'll be gathering up certain hopes for new days to come. 

Happy new year, my dears. Here's to hope, to better health, to quiet moments of reassuring peace, to a few more smiles and a few less tears, to sores becoming blossoms, and to darker things becoming white and new.    

B

Party up north.

We had a wild time in Boise over the weekend with my parents. 'Wild' as in eight people in a three-bedroom rental in Kuna! Whew! We ate a lot (again), played games and rang in the new year. Mr. Keller and I hit up all the Treasure Valley 'musts' while we were there: Cabelas, TJ Maxx superstore, Great Harvest on Fairview (best Rueben sandwiches ever!), El Gallo in Kuna and a new place we had never been to on N. Main in Meridian called Vintage Home. We both loved it, and the shop owner couldn't believe how much Jared knew about shabby furniture, painting and the quality and warmth of real vintage things versus pottery barn's 'knock-offs'. It was cute.

Grandma Glenna also spent the weekend with us, and was entertaining as always. One night Jared and I were laying in bed, and he asked me what I thought that funny noise was. Of course I knew the sound right away. It was grandma snoring! (She sounds just like a grizzly!) We couldn't stop laughing when he told me that at first, he thought it was the neighbors trying to start a chainsaw. At 11:30pm?! Haha!
 
As always, here are a few pictures:

{purple leprechauns, and mom having way too much fun}

{Morg and Landen and their babies}

{Babies with great grandma glenna}

{Danny boy just before midnight on new year's eve}

{sunshiney face}

{morning with papa}

{everyone loves a grandma kiss}

New year's eve, and feeling loved.

sweatshirts and pjs...the best new year's attire, i assure you.

Feathering the nest.

January, for some reason, feels to me like month eight pregnancy nesting (only without the pregnancy factor).

Seriously.

Here's what we've been busy doing:

Rearranging.
Vacuuming.
Organizing.
TJ's.
Ross.
D.I.
Curtains.
Lamps.
Great
Harvest
Cookies.
Bowls
of Popcorn.
Pajamas.

PS: Morg's talking! And it's oh, so cute!

More details to come soon!

(Ten) Years Gone By.

This day: the last day of the last year of this decade.

:

Me: wondering what needs to be said about it.

I’ve been thumbing through memories. Here are some important ones.

On this day, ten years ago I wore a jean jumper from Maurices to my first stake dance in Kuna, Idaho. I danced with Joey George (Jared was present, too). And just before midnight, we counted down the seconds, then welcomed in the new millennia.

Ten years ago.

My parents had lost their minds and moved us far and away to the countryside. I’ve often wondered if they had decided to move elsewhere, if they had given in to my begging, where would I find myself now?

Quite possibly not here. I’ve thought it through. I’ve thought it. And I believe we’re very much led. In retrospect, it becomes almost blatant.

There is a certain Hand in all things.

There was a Hand in the choice I made five summers ago when I decided on a new home for myself (though, then, it felt more whimsical than anything).

One choice, and I moved without knowing anyone at all.

I moved here.

A few months later, Jared arrived.

A few months after, we loved each other.

One decision (or a few). And it affected eternity.

Two years ago, we sat across from each other on the bed in the basement of CKeller’s. It was Christmas morning. Earlier, we exchanged presents. And then, when we were alone, we exchanged hopes for the new year. The biggest, most heartfelt hope on the list: a child of our own.

Within one month, there was a beating heart.

A few months after, a baby. A little darling. All from a single choice.

Throughout the days and months since then, we’ve stretched ourselves. We’ve learned and grown. We’ve decided so many, many things. We felt deeper, felt more.

This decade has been good to us. We find ourselves happy, peaceful, at home.

At the end of each day, I like to tell myself that what I have here is a glistening piece of heaven on earth. Truly.

--------

Tonight, we’ll most likely toast to each other some sparkling sparklie in our flannel Christmas pajamas we received last week. We’ve picked up Costco goodie goods and after Morgan’s soundly sleeping, we’ll be watching Jack Bauer kick some serious ‘bad-man’ arse (you know what I’m saying?) on our little laptop because we’re minus a (working) television at this point. Sound charming? I think so. And I wouldn't trade it.

Happy New Year, my dears! I’ll be seeing you!

Hollie Rae