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Like many Americans have done since 2020, this year we got COVID and bought a camp trailer. Luckily COVID didn't slow us down for long and we were able to see more people, have more adventures, and visit even more places than we did in 2021. |
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Our fiberglass Casita camp trailer fits all four of us. It functions as a bunkhouse, bathhouse, and cookhouse, but is way too cozy to be a playhouse, which forces us all outdoors as much as possible. |
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| We also bought a hybrid AWD Toyota Sienna minivan to pull our camp trailer, but it was massively backordered, so we literally bought the cart before the horse. We had a 2-inch lift kit installed on our "horse" so it can take us even farther afield. And it's pretty cool to tell other parents that we drive a lifted minivan. |
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| Getting Out |
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| In August, we camped with three other families at Pine Flats hot springs in Idaho. We got to know each of these families during different eras and places in our lives, which made it extra special to reconnect and let our flock of children get dirty together. |
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| David & Caleb LOVED (and Shaunda & Clara tolerated) a local Lego convention that included this huge rug piled with Legos to play with. |
Skiing is one way we get outside during the winter as a family. Caleb can handle blue runs, and Clara is venturing beyond the bunny hill (which the kids think should be renamed the turtle flat). She begs David to take her through "jump powder." |
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| Our kids have a growing appreciation and surprising attention span for live performances. We took them to The Sound of Music (2 hours 45 minutes), an opera written for kids, and the Nutcracker (2 hours). We chose the Nutcracker because we had a ballet student live with us during the fall and he was in the Nutcracker. |
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| Clearly the kids will be hiking circles around us by next season. |
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| Milestones |
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The kids are now sleeping well enough to share a room; the bunk beds are a hit. |
Caleb's teeth have started falling out! |
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During a summer trip to Georgia, Caleb discovered the joy of swimming. |
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Clara loves cruising on her strider bike. |
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| Caleb started Kindergarten and Clara PreK at the Open Classroom, a local charter school. Parents are required to spend time in their kids' classrooms, which has given us a greater appreciation for teachers. |
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| Shaunda officially cut back her work schedule to four days per week. David describes it as trying to cram 5 days of work into 4 days instead of trying to cram 6 days of work into 5 days. Regardless, the change has been a major boost to Shaunda's satisfaction with work and life. In addition, after three years battling insomnia, Shaunda had a breakthrough in realizing that morning light exposure almost magically enables her to sleep at night. What a relief!
David continues to freelance part time as a legal data researcher; he led a research team funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts that published a report on debt collection in Utah courts. He filled the rest of his time this past year watching the kids after school and upgrading the van, the camp trailer, the house, and the yard.
Parenting continues to be an adventure. On the one hand, our kids inspire us to be better people. On the other hand, staying one step ahead of them requires us to become more and more cunning and sophisticated. This year Shaunda read a fantastic negotiation book (Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss), which ended up being at least as applicable to parenting as to her work as a lawyer. |
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| Family Visits |
| We were blessed to spend some quality time with parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews. |
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For Christmas, while the rest of the country was gripped by winter, we escaped to sunny and warm southern California to spend time with Shaunda's family. |
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| Come visit us! |
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We wish you the best in 2023! Please visit. |
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