What we're up to

In a valiant quest to catch up our blog and blog book with our family history, I have just about finished my whirlwind tour through the events from the last 9 months.  I thought I would pause and talk about a few things we are doing now.

What We're Eating:

If I were answering this question a few months ago, I would have said "Christmas goodies."  However, this being January and all, and with some necessary added emphasis on improving health, Dan, Aubrey, and I are on a healthy food kick. Breakfast every day is steel cut oats with almonds, coconut, flax seed, cinnamon and apples (or sometimes spinach pancakes or eggs with spinach for Dan). For dinner the three of us almost always start with a big salad with nuts, apples or strawberries or pears, and homemade dressing (we have been trying a lot or recipes and so far our favorite is lemon poppyseed by Our Best Bites.)  Other current favorites: homemade sweet potato fries, roasted broccoli or cauliflower, and brown rice with black beans and tomatillo salsa and Yum sauce (from Yum Cafe).  Joseph's current favorites: mostly the same things he has like in the past for meals, but for special occasions he has a newfound love of Cheetos puffs and Mod pizza.

What We're Watching:

Tiffany: The Crown on Netflix, Victoria and Call the Midwife on BBC/PBS, This is Us, Frontline and American Experience on PBS.
Joseph: What's Inside on Youtube and Studio C.
Aubrey likes Scishow on youtube and has been watching the entire series of Bones. This has spurred her interest in forensic science, and she is going to do her junior project on the subject.  She is just now getting into Gilmore Girls.
When he can, Dan watches movies, both in the theater and on DVD.  We all really loved the movie Hidden Figures, and Dan and I watched and liked Ben Hur.  This weekend Dan and Joseph will be watched Lego Batman, which they thought was really good.

What We're Listening To:

I listen to lots of podcasts. Favorites include LDS Perspectives, Freakonomics, Stuff You Missed in History Class, Ted Radio Hour, Planet Money, Science Friday, Hidden Brain, and What Should I Read Next.  After complaining to Dan that I can never think of what music to listen to from our music library or from Spotify, Dan put together an amazing playlist for me of awesome 80s and current songs.  We also listen to a lot of musicals, lately especially Hamilton and Finding Neverland. We have all enjoyed the song "The Village, the Wolf and the Boy" by Taylor Berrett, which Bailey introduced us to a few weeks ago. It's a great song about what it's like to live with anxiety. Since we learned about that song, Aubrey has really liked all of Taylor Berrett's music. Dan listens to a wide variety of music, and especially loves to sing along to songs while running on the treadmill. Sadly, our treadmill (only one year old) broke a few weeks ago, and so Dan has had to run on the treadmill at the gym while we wait for the treadmill motor to be delivered. I'm guessing he doesn't sing along to the songs there, but I really can't swear to that! We all have fun telling our Alexa device to play random playlists and songs, and we are pretty addicted to Spotify premium to listen to anything we want on the go.

What We're Loving:

Tiffany - I have loved carving out at least a little time to read every day, and I'm really glad that my big primary leadership meeting is over until 2018. I've also enjoyed organizing some binders of family history stories and working on editing photos from the past few years. 

Joseph loves that his hair is long enough to spike up in the front with hairspray and adamantly does not want a haircut, even though I am adamantly insisting he get one before his 12th birthday. He also is really a fan of playing Minecraft on the computer.

Dan is loving that his busy last week all went well and that this week isn't as busy (last week he taught Seminary two mornings, mission prep one evening, and deejayed a dance on Saturday night). 

Aubrey is pretty darn excited about her new exercises clothes from Target. She found the absolutely perfect set of exercise leggings, and we just ordered another pair for her and some for me. This morning on the news I saw that they rated many brands of exercise leggings, and the ones we had picked out from Target turned out to be #1, ranked higher than all the expensive brands!

What We're Reading:

Tiffany After not reading much for awhile, lately I have read quite a few books, including some written for middle readers/YA. I find that those are sometimes my favorites! I really liked The War that Saved My Life and A Night Divided.  I have also been reading the book Joseph was assigned to read in his English class, Iqbal, which is very good and breaking my heart. It's about child slavery around the world.

Joseph has been reading the Mortality Doctrine series by James Dashner. He's also excited to read the new series by Brandon Mull.

Aubrey has read research books for her big Junior Project and study guides for the ACT and SAT. She took the SAT today and just got back her scores for her second time taking the ACT. She has done great, but thinks she can do even better.

Dan has been reading a book I heard about on a podcast, Glimpses Beyond Death's Door by BYU Professor Brent Top and Drive - The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. I think the latter must be something he is supposed to read for work. Dad also "reads" Kakuro books before bed every night, puzzling through all the numbers which make no sense to me.

What We're Dreading:

The fact that winter could stretch on for several more months. This winter has been cold and unexpectedly filled with weather drama.

What We're Wearing:

Well, on any given day Joseph is likely wearing almost all Nike clothes, from head to toe. He and his friends do their part to keep Nike in business.

I have been wearing whatever keeps me warm.  I think Aubrey would second that thought, although she has found that she also really likes floral tunic dresses with black leggings. Dan has been wearing the new shirts, suit, and ties he got for his birthday.

What We've Been Up To:

Joseph lost a tooth, for the first time in years, and waited 4 long days for the Tooth Fairy to remember to visit him with a reward.  A week ago, completely on his own, he moved all the heavy furniture around in his room and he really likes the more open feel of the room now. 

Last weekend Aubrey and I went to see a filmed Broadway-version of Newsies shown at a movie theater. So, it was like going to a play, but at the movies. And we loved it!

Joseph has been on a quest for the perfect new Nike shoes for his birthday, so we spent one frustrating Friday evening at the Nike Factory store in Portland and one fruitful afternoon (yesterday, on President's Day) at Nike's flagship store in downtown Portland.

Our grown kids have been travelers! Brandon and Angela are headed back right now from a weekend trip to San Francisco to see friends.  Bailey and friends just returned from a long weekend in St. George. Reportedly, they all had a great time!

What We're Doing This Weekend:

Birthday season is beginning!  This Friday Aubrey has invited over some friends from her Seminary class for pizza, games, and maybe a movie.  On Saturday she is going with her two best friends from school to an Escape Room (with an American Revolution theme) in Portland. They are all so smart and good at solving puzzles, so hopefully they will escape! On Sunday both Aubrey and Joseph will be giving talks in church (Aubrey in Sacrament Meeting and Joseph in Primary, the last week before he graduates).  On Sunday my presidency and I will be taking over the Primary in a different ward so that the adults can go to a meeting for Ward Conference. It's always a wild and pretty exhausting experience. 

What We're Working On:

We have been constantly de-cluttering, which is a perpetual job. Recently I cleaned out about 20 games from our game closet and found new homes for them in the ward. And Joseph cleaned out his many bins of action figures and filled a bag with less-beloved ones to give away to some younger boys. Aubrey cleaned out her drawers and closets and got rid of a lot of things she doesn't love any more. I've been selling some of her and Joseph's discarded clothes at a local consignment shop. We just took a big load of stuff to the DI truck (which only comes to our area a few times a year), including about 10 years of General Conference CDs. There was a time when we loved being able to pop in those CDs in the car, etc., and who would have guessed that they would be come completely antiquated by newer technology?

We are all also working on consistently exercising.  Aubrey and I have been going to Zumba dance classes as often as we can and she runs/lifts weights at the gym most days.  Joseph has discovered that he likes to run, especially outside.  And Dan is doing strength and cardio exercises.

What We're Looking Forward To Next Month:

A trip to Utah!  We are going to visit family, including my parents and Bailey. And, we will have a chance to attend a session of General Conference.