Happy New Year! 2022 Recap

Happy New Year! 2022 Recap

• 12.31.2022

All is not calm. All is bright.

That line above may be our family theme for 2022.  There were always places to be, things to plan and prepare for, lots of messes, and lots of screaming and fighting between the boys.  Yup.  I think "all is not calm" pretty much sums up our year! 

But on the flip side, everything was surely bright.  We dealt with simple every day problems.  I saw the Lord blessing our family in many ways throughout the year; from prayers answered one line at a time to feeling seen by a friend to knowing that the Lord has a plan laid out to provide for our family's needs.  It's a wonderful crazy life and I am so grateful I get to do it alongside Bron and our four boys.

The highlights of 2022:

January:  The new year brought with it so much snow and ice that the boys got a few extra days off of school.  We spent those days sledding and snowshoeing.  We even stopped by Murtaugh Lake after church one day to "skate" on the ice!  I made a red neck hot tub outside which was a big hit for the little boys.  Jed did swim team and Levi and Conrad wrestled.  I ended the month celebrating my 37th birthday.

February:  Our dog Misty delivered nine of the sweetest and furriest puppies!  We took Conrad skiing for the very first time and he did remarkably well.

March:  Bron and I spent a few days at this fantastical resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a PDS meeting.  We ate, we relaxed, we swam with dolphins and went scuba diving and whale watching.  A week or so later we took the boys to St. George, Utah for a long Spring Break weekend where we played hard on our bikes and at the pickleball court.

April: We said goodbye to Misty's puppies and hello to Gus, our newest furry family member!  We celebrated Easter and Jed's 12th birthday with a handful of friends at an escape room.  We also traveled all over the state with Jed and Levi's lacrosse team.

May:  It was probably the coldest and rainiest spring we've ever experienced here in Idaho.  We celebrated our 15th anniversary and Ezra turned two years old!  We hosted Tyrel's family for a day of bowling and shooting.  I joined my cousins in Tetonia for a weekend of hiking and moose spotting.  The youth of our ward had a successful Work Hard/Play Hard Saturday.  Jed played his trumpet in a pops concert.  And importantly, I spent lots of sweet time at the park with the two little boys.

June:  We began the summer with outdoor movies and a hike down into Box Canyon.  I also survived a week at Girls' Camp!  We mountain biked at Galena, hiked up to a mountain lake and rafted the Salmon River - of which I captained a boat for the first time and learned how on the job!  It was a riot.  We also enjoyed some late evening firesides and a disco dance party.  

July:  The pinnacle of summer and chuck full to the brim with family and fun.  Bron floated the Middle Fork of the Salmon River for a week with some friends.  We attended both the Nelson and Kelley/Wade family reunions.  We floated the river, spent a day jet skiing at Lucky Peak, played at Roaring Springs waterpark, and kayaked to Pillar Falls.  Jed and Levi visited Commander and Liz in California for a long weekend of rollercoasters and building ping pong guns.  While they were gone, Bron and I took the little boys on an epic hike to Baker Lake.  We spent an afternoon swimming and playing volleyball at Bron's 20th high school reunion.  I shot two weddings with my camera.  The youth went boating at Murtaugh Lake and floated the drops in Shoshone.  Mountain biking practices began for Jed.  He has found his passion in that sport!

August:  We enjoyed more boating at the lake and Dave's fireworks show!  We celebrated Levi's 10th birthday with friends at Ritter Island.  Football practice started for him.  Ezra ate a couple of earrings which came out in his poop a day later.  We went on a family camping trip into the Sawtooth Mountains and stayed overnight in a cabin.  The mountain lakes we saw on that trip were so memorable!  I sent three of my boys off to school for the first time!  Jed started 7th grade, Levi is in 5th grade, and Conrad attends half day kindergarten.  Ezra and I began a tradition of sitting outside to wait for the bus every afternoon.

September:  We spent an exciting but exhausting week at the Twin Falls County Fair where Jed and Levi showed and sold their dairy heifers.  I made pickles, salsa, and tomato sauce from the vegetables of my very first successful garden.  I began volunteering as a coach for the Magic Valley Youth Symphony on Tuesday nights.  Football games and mountain bike races dominated our Saturdays.  The young women made a jean quilt for our youth fundraiser.  And the funniest part might have been the insane amount of candy that Conrad and I collected during the Homecoming parade!

October:  We basked in warm weather as my photography sessions went into hyper drive.  Jed officially became taller than me!  Conrad got his birthday present a month early - a new mountain bike with gears.  He's such a stud on that bike.  We hosted an adult Halloween party at our home where we played ridiculous and embarrassing games.  The boys did their first 5K run and were minions for Halloween.

November:  Swim team began again for Jed and Levi.  I made delicious apple pies with my friend Danielle.  Levi and Conrad sang in a sweet primary program.  We celebrated Conrad's 6th birthday with friends and games at home.  One of my photos won fourth place in the 2022 Voice Competition and three other images won honorable mentions.  The highlight was celebrating Thanksgiving in St George, Utah with my dad and sister and their families.  We ate, we swam, we played games, we hiked and biked, and the kids stayed up way too late giggling and making memories.

December:  Bron and I began the month in the most epic way - scuba diving in Cozumel, Mexico with friends!  We also spent a day exploring some Mayan ruins and swimming in a cenote.  Our last day there we rented motorcycles and puttered around the island.  It was beautiful, warm, and relaxing.  The month brought Christmas parties - such as Conrad's kindergarten party and our annual adult white elephant gift exchange.  The ski season began.  Jed had a band concert.  Bron and I went on a date to see some lights and drink hot cocoa with friends.  We celebrated Bron's 39th birthday and surprised the boys with a trip to Florida for Christmas!

*****

Since blogging has been put on the back burner indefinitely, I'm going to write up a quick summary of every member of the family.  This is who everyone is and how he or she is doing these days.  It's a hoot having all these personalities under one roof.

Bron:

The man of the house who puts family and work over himself.  He's our steady provider and fixer of many problems.  Bron takes a lot of pride in our home and yard.  He put up a fence this year for the 4H cows and planted countless trees!  He's pivoting a little bit and beginning a brand new job in January as the manager of a budding feed mill.  It's an opportunity that I think caters to his personal strengths with numbers and people.  I'm not expecting it to be an easy transition, but one that comes with many benefits instead.  I'm hoping one of those positive benefits is finding a little more time for taking care of himself!  Bron still loves to mountain bike ride and spend time outdoors whenever possible. He's also still crazy about his wife and enjoys spending time with me out on dates or at home late in the evenings. 

Jessie:

Desperately trying to balance the hats of wife, mother, homemaker, photographer, and young women's president.  My whole world revolves around my boys and their needs and schedules -- which are getting more full each year!  It's a life rich in love and occasional exhaustion. 

This year I teamed up with my photographer friend Carli to shoot any weddings she double books through her business.  She pays me well to shoot the wedding on the bride and groom's big day.  Then I turn around and give her the SD cards to edit and deliver.  I think I shot half a dozen weddings this year.  A one thousand dollar Saturday without any editing strings attached is a dream come true for me!  So far, it's been a great deal for both of us and I'd love to work with her again in 2023.

This was also my first year acting as young women's president of the Rock Creek ward.  It's a weight I feel every day and it takes up a lot of my time and head space.  It's a calling that has highlighted both my strengths and my weaknesses.  Honestly, some days I want to quit.  But I keep my chin up and keep trucking along anyway.  Fifteen months in and I still feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants.  I just pray I'm filling the girls' needs because I feel like my efforts are often inadequate, but at least I've landed into a good routine and groove with my presidency.  They are an amazing set of women whom I've come to love and appreciate for their unique sets of talents.  I truly could not fulfill my calling without them!

Wow.  I didn't know I was capable of so much!  From family and home to a small photo business to leading an entire auxiliary group, I'm impressed I'm still standing with a smile most days.  And as I keep learning, I know I'm capable of more. Maybe not capable of actually doing more, no, but of slowly becoming the person the Lord wants to shape me into.  I've been humbled many times.  It's been a crazy rollercoaster of a ride in all the ways.

Jed:

Jed had a great year. He's thriving in the 7th grade, learning to be organized and responsible and getting all A's and B's in school. He's a typical 12 year old boy who loves to pick on his brothers when he's bored, be suuuper obnoxious because he thinks it's funny, and sometimes loses his brain.  We're teaching him good hygiene like a squeaky wheel, "Did you scrub your face, brush your teeth, and put on deodorant?" we harp daily.  But there's a more mature part of Jed that comes through often and makes me so proud.  He can be witty (read: make me laugh) and helpful and even fun to hang out with!  Jed is a voracious reader; he reads multiple books at once.  Just this summer, he found a passion for mountain bike riding!  He also passed me in height this Fall and his voice has gotten deeper.  My little boy isn't little at all anymore!  But he still lets me kiss his cheek as he heads off to bed.

Levi:

Levi is ten going on sixteen.  The curly haired kid enjoys working!  He loves to work alongside his dad whenever he gets a chance, from planting trees to building fence.  I can always depend on Levi to get his chores done, whether it's feeding and watering the cows in the frigid cold or taking out the trash.  He's also an intense child who occasionally takes too much responsibility upon himself.  He has a short temper and very high expectations of himself and his brothers.  It sometimes results in level 10 fights and loads of push ups as punishment.  Levi is as smart as they come; he's especially quick at math.  So many things come easy to that boy.  He has the best group of friends at school.  I hope they stay friends all the way through high school; that would be a sweet blessing.  Levi also has a passion for football and snow skiing!  He ate and breathed football this Fall and now begs to go skiing any and every possible chance.  I love hugging my curly haired boy every opportunity I get.

Conrad:

Conrad is the boy I prayed long and hard for and who continues to be a daily ray of sunshine in my life.  Conrad is enjoying half day kindergarten.  He hops off the bus in happy spirits ready to tell me all about his day.  His mind is sharp and fast.  And his vocabulary is impressive for a six year old.  He never stops jabbering says the funniest things!  While we were discussing Misty's next litter of puppies, he chimed in, "Let's name the fattest one Sugar Plum!"  Conrad is very creative.  He hardly ever plays with toys but I can always find him creating a blanket fort or using all the tape and paper in the house for a very important art project.  He's always gifting me little drawings or hanging them up around the house.  Conrad learned to swim this year and is also a little mountain biking stud.  How many kindergarteners do you know who can ride the steeper trails at Auger?  Conrad is an impressive kid all around!  I just wish he'd cool it a bit and quit trying to boss his big brothers; it never seems to go well for him.

Ezra:

Ezra is two and a half but will forever be my baby!  It's partly because he will not get another sibling to dethrone his youngest status but also because Ezra has not learned to talk yet.  Ezra is as ornery and stubborn as they come.  He does have trouble forming words but he also refuses to try.  He just screams and whines despite our encouragement.  Some days the thought crosses my mind to drop him off at the nearest firehouse!  But I would never do that.  Ezra is also a joy.  He loves to laugh!  He can be such a tease.  Ezra is enthralled with trucks and trailers and trains these days.  He spends hours with his toys, imitating engine noises.  He even brings Bron his phone to watch "Vroom, vroom" a YouTube show about mechanics and their shop and a particular yellow truck.  He and Bron have really bonded this year.  Ezra's hugs are precious.  I cannot get enough of his chubby little hands and feet and the way he excitedly waddles down the hallway.  My toddler days as a mother are numbered and I'm just soaking him in, smelling the top of his baby shampooed head and kissing his soft cheeks a hundred times every day.