therapy animals

 I love having these bunnies. They really bring me so much joy (and therapy…)

We just naturally gravitate towards spending time with these two every day…

I’m telling you, they are therapy. 

State Cup 2025

 Over the last few weekends, Ryder’s team has competed in State Cup. It rained the first weekend, so we were rescheduled in Temecula and San Diego over the course of three weekends.  We are moving on and I’m not sure the finish line yet… We love watching this kid play. At this time, Ryder has been pulled up to Strikers EA for 2010, so this was the last time this specific team would be together. 

It was sweet to watch them battle together! They keep moving on so I will keep you posted!

March books

Here are the books I read this month!

I LOVED this autobiography! Kelly Bishop read it and that made it even better! Being someone that loved Gilmore Girls, I loved getting the behind the scenes on Kelly’s life. To think of what she has accomplished and now being 80, how she’s all still committed to learning and growing…Also, how she spoke of her late husband was so endearing and the story of her life only makes the character of Emily even better! I’d recommend it!

Ryder read this one for school and being a family that loves history, we loved this allegory for the Russian Revolution and all that led up to the world wars! It led to such great conversations, especially in the political climate we are in now.

This book was recommended to me by a dear friend who did her graduate work in psychology and therapy and is a huge advocate for both.  I am a huge fan of therapy and would attribute so much of my own healing to the work that was done in therapy.  Here was a tiny synopsis that I loved, by David Maywald:

“Shrier defines bad therapy as anything “that introduces new symptoms, or makes existing symptoms worse”… Additionally, iatrogenesis occurs when patients suffer adverse outcomes or harmful complications because of their doctor/healer/therapist. For example, a nervous or sad child is drawn into a hasty and inaccurate diagnosis. The child is encouraged to ruminate on emotions, which are interpreted as symptoms by the adults around them (some of whom have conflicts of interest). Then the child is labelled with a mental health condition, such as anxiety or depressions, medicalised, and suffers adverse side effects.”

I loved how Shrier proceeded to unpack so many systems, whether in parenting or schools, that have been put in place with the anticipation to help a child, then swung in a severe opposite direction to where anxiety, depression, and mental health issues and diagnosis are on the rise and children (and parents) feel helpless and overwhelmed.  I loved her take on famous books like "The Body Keeps the Score", and other testing that is done for the state levels in our schools that are causing more damage than good.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I loved the conversations that I have been able to have with Kit... 

Phase one ✔️

 On March 24, Eden got her braces off, completing phase 1 of braces. Eden will then have invisiline for about 8-10 weeks as we finish up the final tweaking.

We celebrated with a trip to the Spectrum for caramel apples! So excited for this girl’s smile!

Surprises for sister…

 Last week on my sister’s birthday, we got to surprise her with doughnuts and lunch. She was so surprised and cried!

It was so sweet to celebrate my first friend!

Spring Break 2025

 Over Spring Break, we had a little camping adventure to Joshua Tree! We started with date shakes, pizza in Landers, and seeing things outside the park first:

We stayed at the Jumbo Rock Campground. Here was around camp with hanging out, cooking,  and connecting:

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We hiked to Skull Rock, the Queens mines, took a loop that took us to an old cabin that is still intact, and then did a climb through a chasm that pushed me to my claustrophobic limits but I was so proud of us because we did it. Ryder had recently been here with friends so he guided us to the cabin and through the rock chasm. 

The trip was only a few days but we just had the best time together. Family time will always be the best time and making memories together fill my heart with such joy!

It was so good to unplug and just spend time  together! Joshua Tree, you were so good to us!