I subscribed to a magazine called Seventeen when I was a teenager. The glossy covers were a staple in my adolescent bedroom, along with tubes of blue mascara and Aqua Net hairspray. I spent hours lying on my waterbed, flipping through pages and taking random quizzes about everything from skin care to dating. Fast forward to 2023, where my seventeen year old daughter is living … Continue reading Seventeen: A Snapshot
Detasseling corn is a rite of passage in Nebraska. Every July, groggy teens climb aboard dusty school buses at dawn, bouncing along gravel roads to cornfield after cornfield. Kids fan out across the field, one person per row, tasked with pulling the tassel from the tippy top of each stalk of corn in their assigned row. After row. After row. Detasseling was my first job. … Continue reading From Detasseling to Dipnetting
Most years I prefer to downplay my birthday and simply get it over with, but this year I decided to use it to my advantage. I’ve been wanting to host a cooking competition with family friends for eons, and this was the perfect way to make it happen! The evening was loosely based on the Food Network show Chopped, where chefs face off in head-to-head … Continue reading Chopped
Due to COVID-19, we’ve now celebrated two quaranteen birthdays. Everything was still locked down when Maggie turned 14 back in April, so she wasn’t able to celebrate with friends at all. We were still determined to get her out of the house, so Clark loaded up the ATV’s and took the kids out to Knik for the first ride of the season. Unfortunately, somewhere along … Continue reading Happy Quaranteens!
Happy {gasp} 15th Birthday to Sam! Long gone are the days of planning themed parties around my children’s passions. Last weekend Sam invited a few friends via SnapChat, and I think the theme was “Come hang at my house and we’ll avoid my parents as much as possible.” In all seriousness, Sam and his friends are all great kids. They even let me torture them … Continue reading Fifteen: One Cool Ride
There are friends, there are families, and then there are friends who feel like family. We are grateful for our Alaskan circle of friends every day, but especially on holidays. How lucky that we have children close in age who genuinely enjoy each other’s company? Our kids have relationships similar to the ones I had with my cousins when I was younger, and it’s been … Continue reading Easter Cheers
Profoundly Ordinary 