February books 2024

 Happy Leap Year!  Here are the books I read this month.  This month I only had two but both were really good!

This book looks at how we can bring living life with Jesus into loving and caring for our neighbor through a political lens.  I am overly simplifying her book but how she looks at life with Jesus and spiritual formation and spiritual disciplines and how those not only effect us personally, but corporately as a body of believers and how we can take that to benefit our neighbors in the name of Christ.  It is so good and I really think every Christ follower should read and have the opportunity to reflect on.  So many good thought provoking topics that Kit and I have loved discussing.

This simple book is the third that I have read by this author.  I love her take on making a home and the gratitude that comes with living full lives with less junk.  Easy read and I loved her photographs and ideas. 

I have been a fan of SARK since the early 90's and it was fun to pull out this old favorite for an easy read with creative inspiration!

I have recently been going through our home and decluttering and pulling things out that I haven't used. This book was a fun one because it unpacks the Danish way of life called "Hygge".  Hygge, in it's most simple definition is:  

creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people.

I love the idea of creating a home with this idea in mind.  I also really enjoyed learning about what the author has learned through his work at the Happiness Research Institute and he applies that to daily life. I really enjoyed this very simple read.  I also want to take a trip to Denmark...❤︎

I am new to this author and I really enjoyed her writing.  This book is a novel about a family and the generational legacy and stories of families, and in this case, a blended family.  I always enjoy when characters are developed and you find yourself routing for some characters and strongly disliking others.  I love stories with twists and revelations that bring characters together. I really enjoyed it!  I am looking forward to reading more from this author!

Best 12 dollars I've spent on a beauty product...

 We found this curler and Eden uses it almost every night...

...And it comes out so pretty without using any heat!

She feels so grown up...

Soccer Weekend...

 This weekend both kids had soccer tournaments, Eden's in Downey, and Ryder's in Oceanside.   Add that we had Eden's birthday celebrations and the US women's game, there was LOTS happening.  Kit took Eden and I took Ryder.

Ryder's team had two losses but he played so well!

This weekend marks about a year since he participated in his first club tournament at the same place.  It caused so much reflection thinking about how much he has grown this year! He was new to club and now he is on the NPL team and is thriving and growing.  He has made the goal to be on the EA team by 2025, so he just keeps right on pushing!

Highlight was all of the car time.  It took us 2 hours to make a 1 hour drive and we talked and danced to old playlists... It was so good to connect with my kid!

Eden's team made it to the Championship.  They were able to take home the win! They fought so hard and we are SO proud of them! This is a very special group of girls and we love them and their families SO MUCH!

Eden’s besties!

Eden’s coach for the past several seasons who is also like family to us…

This tournament closed out our time with AYSO.  We will be investigating clubs and other opportunities that Eden would like to pursue as a goalie and I am so excited for her! We have been blessed by this community and never knew when we walked onto that first field back in 2015 that it would have brought so much richness to our lives through experiences and community and friendships.  So many fun things are coming and I love that we get a front row seat to it all for both of our kids!

TWELVE

 We are coming off of a full weekend where there was lots of opportunities to celebrate our girl and make lots of family memories along the way!

On Friday night we got to watch the US Womens National Team beat Argentina! 

Eden was dressed to cheer on her team, especially Alex Morgan:

 On the way to the stadium, we grabbed dinner at a sushi restaurant that fuses Japanese and Korean cooking.  It was so good!

It was so cool to watch our womens team!

She made it onto the USWNT site:

(I spy Eden)

She got her shirt signed by Alyssa Naeher, Emily Fox, and Naomi Girma!

Ryder really wanted to see the Beckham statue as we left:

Such a fun night of memories!

The morning of her birthday, she had a tournament, but we still got to celebrate her with our traditions:

The team won both of their games on Saturday and had a special lunch to celebrate and the team celebrated Eden there too!

She felt so incredibly loved and celebrated and I am so thankful for the friends and community that love our family so well!

This girl is so excited to be 12!

(gifts this year: a stackable necklace, gold hoop earrings, Sephora gift card, a skein of yarn with a promise for a yarn shopping trip with mom, and black converse.) 

Her list just feels like she's getting older!

{almost} twelve

 Tomorrow we celebrate our Eden Marie turning 12!  How is that even possible?!? 

This feels like yesterday:

We can't wait to celebrate our girl!

banana, peanut butter, and chocolate, oh my!

I found a new snack/dessert that has become a favorite in our family.  I will tell you that it tastes WAY better than it looks... 

After the peanut butter layer, put it in the freezer until it hardens.  After that, combine chocolate chips with a dollop of coconut oil and pour over the peanut butter and banana layers.  Then out in the freezer until it hardens. 

You can cut it into squares or just break off a piece.

It is so good and is such a fun treat!

best buddies...

 We have been the luckiest to have each of our kids surrounded by sweet friends that they get to walk through life with.  For Ryder, one of his best friends lives around the corner and they get to spend time together a lot.  For Eden, she goes to school with her buddies and they also get to spend time together playing soccer...  They wait for each other to walk into school and I get to see them support and love on each other...  Also a HUGE perk, I love each and every one of their parents... We really are the luckiest.  I want to remember and commemorate how sweet these little moments are with a photo one of my friends shared with me last week...

San Diego memories

After a weekend soccer tournament in San Diego was canceled, we decided to make the most of it and make some family memories together. We had an early birthday dinner for Eden at Buca di Peppos on Friday night.

 We spent Saturday at the San Diego Zoo. None of us have been there before and we all really enjoyed it! 

Our little navigator...

He still holds onto his dad...

The sky tram was really fun!

We were also silly...

We grabbed coffee at Portal Coffee and watched the sunset. 

Then we had dinner at OB Noodle House, a recommendation of Guy Fierri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! SO good! 

Then Sunday morning was spent taking a slow day together. So many great conversations and laughter… San Diego, you were so good to us