A Few Memories at the End of January 2022

As the first month of 2022 comes to a close, there are a few memories I want to record. 

Our animal chilling on the stairs

This month I learned to groom Tex. I have done some grooming in the past, but it kind of looked like a hack job. Tex really needed a bath. He stunk. He was could use a trim. I watched some Youtube videos and made a plan. I also bought some new equipment to use in the grooming process. When Alison went to get her haircut I went to work on taking care of Tex. I bathed him. I use the shower. He hates it and he looks so skinny, but he needed it. When he was done I used Alison's old hair dry to dry him off. This I learned is a crucial step because it gets rid of some of the old dead hair. Once he was dry I brushed him out. First, I used a metal slicker brush, and then I followed it up with a metal comb. This got him looking nice and fluffy. Then I used some ball tip scissors to trim up a few areas. The goal was to cut as little as possible so that he would have a really natural, but still clean look. I was happy with the end result. He is a handsome boy. 

CC is interested in the candles we made with Bret

This last weekend Skylee and Anna Holly had a sleepover at our house. This was Anna Holly's first sleepover at our house. Part of the reason we invited them over is that I have been growing a sourdough starter again and I wanted to make sourdough pancakes on Saturday morning, but it seemed like overkill for just Alison and myself. 

My sourdough starter

We picked up the girls on Friday afternoon and brought them to our house for dinner. We had salmon, rice, and pineapple - some of their favorites. After dinner, we made popcorn and watched Raya and the Last Dragon. It was a good Disney movie. Alison and I had not watched it yet, and the girls love it. 

Tex needs attention during the movie

After the movie it was bedtime, we picked out a story to read before bed. We read I'll Walk with You by Carol Lynn Pearson. It is a great kids' book that builds on the classic primary song (by the same author) and teaches kids about loving and including everyone, even people who are different than you in many ways. Part of the message is also to celebrate diversity. I enjoyed reading it to the girls. 

Anna Holly did great. She shared the bed in the guest bedroom with Skylee. She also had her little ice cream bed that we set up for her and got her all tucked in. I don't think she slept great, but she didn't get us up during the night. She did sleep with all of her toys and dropped one off the bed around 6:30am. It woke up Skylee and I came into their room to check on them. I tucked her back in because she said she wanted to sleep. When I got up at 7am. I peeked in and saw she was wide awake and asked her if she wanted to come downstairs with me. She told me it wasn't morning so she need to stay in bed, but I assured her it was morning. She came down and I got her some water and she watched me make a morning smoothie. Skylee came down shortly after Anna and I turned on Micky Mouse for them while I worked out. By the time I was done Alison had come down too and was snuggling with Anna Holly. 

When they were done watching Micky Mouse we made my sourdough pancakes. Both girls were excited to help. They were delicious pancakes. 

Sourdough pancakes with huckleberry syrup

After breakfast, we all got dressed. Alison bathed the girls and then we went grocery shopping. The girls don't mind coming shopping with us, as long as they can pick out a Kinder Egg. After shopping, we came home and made lunch. We also whipped up some Mormon Miracle brownies for a family party Alison and I were attending that evening. Then we took the girls back home. We baked our brownies at Kristin's house because our oven is broken. That is a whole other saga. 

On Saturday night we met up with my uncle Dan and aunt Kim and their kids for dinner in Lehi. Every year we see them at Christmas and say we should get together and we never actually execute on our good intentions. This year we put it on the calendar and it actually happened. We all had dinner at Summit Pizza and then we went to Matt and Alyssa's house for a game night. It was a lot of fun.