SIPRESS SCOOP

Since my Grandma Rosalie's funeral on January 14th, I hadn't been back to Bellingham.  It makes it easier on me I think because I don't have to drive around town avoiding places filled with old memories.  However, I have had moments of unexpected tears.  First it was Valentine's Day.  The week before I ordered personalized Valentine's cards for our loved ones.  I ordered special cards form the kids for the Grandmas.  It hit me, I didn't need to order a card for my Grandma, she was gone.  I cried for hours and eventually turned the water works off.  Then Issac pooped on the potty for the first time & I wanted to call my Grandma because at Thanksgiving we had discussed potty training.  But what should have been a happy Mommy moment became a sad moment of emptiness.      We have tried to do some research so we know how to help the kids understand what is happening around them.  We...

My Mom lives in Ferndale and Tyler’s Mom lives in North Marysville.   Knowing it was the first holiday since my Grandma had passed away I had already planned on spending Easter with my Mom.  In early March Tyler’s Mom sent us an invite to join them for Easter.   I told her I planned on spending the holiday with my Mom, Laura understood & extended the Easter dinner invite to my Mom as well. My Mom took the Saturday morning Amtrak train from Bellingham into Seattle where we picked her up.   We then stopped for lunch on our way to the Woodland Park Zoo.   Because our children enjoyed the zoo so much in Utah & we enjoy the Woodland Park Zoo, Tyler bought us a family membership that is good for an entire year. The zoo had an Easter egg hunt going on which was a perfect way to introduce the idea of an egg hunt to the kids. After the egg hunt we walked around the zoo and saw all the animals. To no surprise the kids enjoyed the elephants, giraffes, h...

We had planned & canceled a trip to Utah last fall because Tyler was out of work due to injury & we couldn’t afford it. However, since my Grandma’s death it has weighted heavy on our minds that none of Tyler’s grandparents have yet to meet Miss Josie. To fly to Utah with Josie on our laps would have been close to a thousand dollars. However to drive was only about $350 in gas round trip. Once it was confirmed that Tyler was able to line up his work vacation with his school’s Spring Break, I began to plan everything out.  Before, during & after our trip   EVERYONE kept asking us why we choose to drive the "long" way to utah through Montana.  It is simple, we wanted to spend some time with tyler's younger brother & his wife in Spokane.  We saved money on this trip in many ways. First off we drove instead of flying. Second, we took up every offer from different family members to have dinner with them so the only 2 nights we ate din...