The Wrap Up blog post is like a catch-all post for all of the pictures that didn't really have anywhere else to go but we still want to say something about them. At one point in our blogging life, we may have included these in a "5 Things on Friday" post or something - but now they just get lumped together at the end of the month with the hope that we remember to say the thing that we wanted to say about them.
Here are a few "wrap-up" things from January.
1- David was out of town for Assurance Advantage Level 1 from Monday, January 8- Thursday, January 11. He was leading the training for his company (and did a great job). He travels 7-8ish weeks per year and I feel like it's a manageable amount for us. We miss him while he is gone, but we find things to do to make it through. I often find us changing our routine a tiny bit; maybe not going to bed as early, or maybe having a bonus movie night. We don't usually eat out, but we might eat frozen pizza or something. On the Monday that he was gone, we loaded up into the car at 6:15 and headed to the library to get some books. I snapped a picture because it was definitely out of our normal Monday night routine. (Who leaves the house after it gets dark in winter? Not us!) It was a good excursion for us.
2- Lately we have been doing a rotating meal plan and it's really been working for us. We make a 3 week meal plan and then rotate through it 4 times. It means that we are only making the same thing about once a month, but we get three months of meals out of it. The other great thing about it, is that for many recipes I can quadruple the dinner and freeze the extras. Then, when that meal comes back around- I already have it prepped and can just pull it out and heat it up. It's been really really good for me! I snapped this picture of the lasagna's that I prepped to freeze for us to eat over the next several months.
3-Lydia has been babysitting a handful of dogs while their families are gone for trips and it's a good business for her. She doesn't have a lot of interest in babysitting kids, but a dog-watching business is a good fit for her! I can't get her a dog, I just can't. But I can support her in feeding her love of dogs by helping care for the other pets in our neighborhood. She loves watching Harley (Bradfield Family).
4-David and I have started switching back and forth for who is teaching Family Home Evening. But we have told Lydia that if she ever wants to teach a lesson, she just has to prepare it the Sunday before and she can lead. She decided she wanted to and she did such an incredible job with activities, stories, scriptures, and testimony.
5-The kids don't know this yet, shhhh! We are going to Disneyland in March and we are attempting to watch ALL of the Disney movies that they might encounter references to on our trip. All of the movies that have rides associated with them and princesses that they should probably know. We have instituted "Wednesday Night Family Movie Night" and are making our way through a whole bunch of them. The kids just think we are doing a fun winter thing by having an extra movie night here and there - but they are going to be so excited!
6-The Lydia we know and love, reading a book while making a snack at the same time.
7- Our backyard isn't the dreamiest backyard you might ever imagine, but it's pretty much the best backyard in the winter. The perfect little sledding hill, rock wall to build a for against, and lots of snow piled in from the wind. Our kids love it and I love that they will go out and play while I stay nice and warm in my kitchen.
8- I 'm grateful for the relationship these sisters have together.
9- Austin drew this cool thing on the LCD pad and wanted a picture of it. Poor guy has a fever sore on his lip and his nose and we are trying to get it under control.
10- We finally sold our 2014 Chrysler Town and Country. We posted about it back in November when we bought our new Honda Oddesy, but as a note for our 2024 book:
We bought the Town and Country in April 2016 when it had just over 30,000 miles. We named her Millie. She took us on so many trips and we've been able to do so many fun things together. Some of our favorite memories are going to the Oregon Coast and the California Redwoods, but she also took us to Logan, Wyoming, St. George, Bryce Canyon and a whole lot of driving around town. We loved that it had the stow-and-go seating and so often used it to haul things usually done by trucks. David said, "Shantel believed that it could carry anything in it (beds, furniture and cattle guards) and was rarely proven wrong about what it could fit inside." (true)
We had hoped to get $7,000 or $8,000 for the van, but were only able to sell it for $3,900. It took a few months to sell it since we tried posting it higher, but we're glad to have it finally sold and so excited for our new van. Millie had about 120,000 miles on it]. We are grateful for the many memories we made together in this van and all the trips and running around and going places together as a family.
