• Uncategorized

    2016: Traveling Solo with a Toddler and a Baby

    January 24, 2026 - By 

    I’m really proud of this photo and I feel it needs documentation. This is me, flying with a 3-year old, a 1-year old, two carseats, a stroller, and all our luggage. There’s a smile on my face and the boys look reasonably happy. There were definitely some tears, and cranky outbursts, and I bribed them with lots and lots of snacks. But overall, they were great travelers. We met up with Chris, who – if I remember correctly – had been there for a little bit, helping with planting at the farmground. And of course we also got to spend…

  • Family - RemoteDance - Throwback - Travel

    10 Years Ago

    January 23, 2026 - By 

    The current social media trend is to share flashback photos from 2016. Looking through my photo albums from ten years ago, it’s kind of crazy to see what a wild ride it’s been. My blog was on hiatus – in fact, I wouldn’t re-start it until our official move away from Arizona in 2017. Since I don’t have a lot of entries documenting those years, I thought it would be fun to re-visit them in a series of posts. For this introduction, I will remind you all of the Great European Family Adventure, which took place in 2016. It can…

  • Family - Parenting - Throwback

    Create Your Cozy

    December 10, 2025 - By 

    The “old people’s social media site” recently shared with me a photo from 10 years ago. This Christmas setup was 4 houses ago, in Arizona. What a trip (literally, and figuratively) to think how many fireplaces we’ve hung stockings from. How many trees we’ve decorated and situated in how many different floor plans, and how many holidays filled with joy that we’ve been blessed with. After that house there was the farmhouse in Iowa (the fireplace is just outside the frame): And then there was the Kansas City house: And now, Wisconsin. Which, arguably, is the coziest and most perfectly…

  • Family - Marriage - Parenting

    Never Say Never

    April 8, 2025 - By 

    Sometimes the most surprising blessings come from unexpected places. When we moved to Iowa, we thought we were finding our forever home. When we moved to Kansas City, we hoped, yet again, we were finding our forever home. And here we are, for the umpteenth millionth time in our lives, moving again. The decision to make a move is never straightforward. It is always bittersweet. There are tears and heartache but also hope and anticipation. It is a time of so many emotions, so many things to coordinate, and so much physical and mental energy. But, if I could be…

  • Fun

    Of Yoga and Inner Peace

    November 20, 2024 - By 

    The first yoga class I ever attended was in the nineties. 1995, to be precise. I was fifteen, and it was late fall in the Midwest. Which meant the five block walk to class was sometimes snowy, and always chilly. I can’t remember how I found the class, exactly; although I’m pretty sure it was the work of my best friend. Of the two of us, she was the one who blazed her own path. Some days she shone so brightly that it didn’t matter if it were unconventional; we were drawn to her like moths. Something to remember: in…

  • Family - Parenting

    Soft Kitty

    September 16, 2024 - By 

    Almost every night, I sing my children a bedtime song. But there is more to this story. The first thing you should know: I’m an awful singer. I can’t carry a tune no matter how hard I try. For this reason, I rarely sing for anyone other than myself. The second thing you should know: because of the first thing, I don’t generally enjoy singing “for an audience” for an extended period of time. I’m too self-conscious to have fun with it. BUT. Then I had my first baby and he needed a bedtime song. I put a lot of…

  • Family - Marriage - Parenting

    Our Story

    March 14, 2024 - By 

    We met at work in 2006. After I agreed to go on a first date with you to another state where I would meet your entire family and stay at your mom’s house and run around the farm in a dress and heels on our way to said date so you could help your dad smoke a badger out of the barn (also my first time meeting your dad) (WHEW) I guess something must have gone right because here we are. We’ve lived in small houses, in bigger houses, with roommates, without them, in apartments, and – for a time…

  • Throwback

    November 26th, 2003

    November 26, 2023 - By 

    I found this list I wrote, twenty years ago, about my favorite modern conveniences. And I honestly have to say, I WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING. I would not put smartphones on that list, even now. (Although telephones in general are a good one. As is email. All of which were definitely a thing that existed in 2003. But even knowing their integral function in today’s society, I’d still rank them below “pasteurization” and “modern surgical techniques”. And please – let’s just forget social media and leave YouTube for the instructional videos only, hmmm?) Also PS GET OFF MY LAWN. Only…

  • Family

    Refrigerator. Cat.

    November 23, 2023 - By 

    We are spending this Thanksgiving with family in Iowa, at our new house on the lake. We drove up Tuesday afternoon, once the kids were released from school, and it was cold, dark, and late when we pulled in. We unloaded our stuff and went straight to bed. Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early (also, I may have forgotten to turn off my weekday alarm) and set about getting our grocery shopping and other miscellaneous pre-Thanksgiving errands done. I returned from a mid-afternoon supply run to find the household in a panic. The basement refrigerator had suddenly stopped…

  • Family - Throwback

    Same Beach, 20 years later

    October 16, 2023 - By 

    Sometimes life is WILD. From 2001-2003 I lived in Davis, California, attending the university there. My close friend, roommate, and co-worker was a gal we’ll call Jennifer. We graduated, she moved to Portland, Oregon, and I moved down to Los Angeles. Eventually, I got a career that wasn’t waiting tables and I moved to Washington state. In 2004, Jennifer was getting married. We’d kept in touch and I was honored to be in her wedding, which would take place on the Oregon Coast at her fiancée’s uncle’s house. So I packed my bag, printed out my MapQuest directions to the…