December | Currently

 

embracing all the holidays this year

easing into the madness of the Christmas

finishing a bulk of our holiday shopping very early

choosing to stay in Alpine this year instead of traveling

trying to not be consumed with the ever growing numbers

dousing everything in Thieves Household Cleaner

rolling and diffusing all of the oils

meeting regularly with my therapist

working on healing the trauma from Sept 2019

catching up on all the shows I missed out on while BK was working

celebrating the end of fire season 

obsessing over December Daily 

watching all the process videos from amazing creators

taking full advantage of all the nap times

putting finishing touches on past projects because I am not quite ready to document December 2020 just yet

updating #amakdecstories on instagram

reliving all the magical moments 

feeling so very nostalgic

making space for new plans and traditions

missing our extended family like crazy

hoping 2021 brings much joy!

May | Currently

settling into some sort of routine again just in time for Fire Season to fully hit and disrupt the normalcy we are finally finding

feeling so incredibly blessed for the extra time with Berke and the privilege to fully follow our shelter in place orders while others have no other choice to be on the front lines

hoping other people that have the ability to think of others and act in ways that keep their fellow humans safe

thanking those doing the hard work every chance I get

dousing all the things in all the Thieves Cleaner

so freaking happy to have amazing, and clean, products for our home

working on a new project that I am super excited about

printing so many photos to get ready for it

stoked our driveway was redone and we don't have to worry about it washing away again

chasing the kids out of the culvert daily

celebrating 5 years with our boy 

wondering where time has gone

doing our best to make him feel special while maintaining social distance

loving my mornings again now that the plants are blooming and the birds are singing again

eating the best chocolate truffles I bought myself for Mother's Day

making a plan to FINALLY finish my chair project from over two years ago 

watching the 2019 Little Women movie and not loving it

reading Friendship Bread and a ton of titles by Lisa Jewell

liking those a lot more

listening to all the "made for you" Spotify playlists extra loud

journaling as much as possible as I work through some unresolved trauma

diffusing a new favorite blend: Thieves, Stress Away and Valor

helping the kids with little lessons each day as Kindergarten nears

loving all the little random things they remember leaving no room for rote memorization of letters and numbers

March | Currently

searching for some sort of routine with the ever changing 

balancing Berke's telework and staggered office work days with two very active kiddos that love doing everything with their dad

hanging out with pirates, princesses, and superheroes regularly

using our imagination to make the days more fun

trying to not worry so much about all the little messes

preparing ourselves mentally for the long haul

washing all of the things; hands, clothes, doorknobs, etc.

thankful for all the Thieves

hoping people stick with social distancing so things slow down

feeling quite bummed that almost all of our coming plans may be canceled

knowing that keeping us all home and keeping distance helps keeps others safe makes it okay though

thinking about making Lopez Fried Dough and Dolmas this year to cheer us all up

celebrating new growth on my neglected oregano plant 

dreaming of ways to start our backyard gardens early without worrying about an inevitable late spring freeze 

looking for all of the supplies for the trellis teepee I was planning last summer

working my way through my 20 in 2020 list

focusing on the little things to help build up to the big stuff

reading When Breath Becomes Air and Wilder Girls

watching the Hulu series based on Little Fires Everywhere and not loving it

diffusing a new favorite blend: Thieves, Orange, and Bergamot

eating cookies and pie

enjoying the experimenting and the creating with the kids

doing my best to practice patience while helping them learn these new skills

loving the memories we are making

January | Currently

challenging myself to post a new selfie each month

settling into routine again after a really busy couple of months

reading a pile of new books that the kids got for Christmas

perusing all the cookbooks for some new kitchen inspiration

trying my hand at perfecting tamales

feeling all sorts of filled up after a fun weekend with one of our favorite people

snacking on lots of raw veggies

loving my super cozy Lamo Slippers 

pushing myself in all sorts of new ways

practicing yoga regularly

working on being more active and exercising my repaired ankle

wearing a fun mix of oils as my daily perfume (more to come)

thinking about adopting a furry family member

listening to audiobooks and podcasts with a little bit of Post Malone sprinkled in LOL

dreaming about our summer garden and backyard plans (way too early, I know)

planning to go big with that space this coming year

letting go of past expectations for myself

feeling inspired by a renewed sense of self

x

July | Currently

settling in after another handful of trips. 

looking forward to a few weeks at home after being on the go for so long. We were away from home more days than we were home in June and it carried into the first week of July too.

listening to kids audiobooks on our road trips lately. The Complete Tales by Beatrix Potter and Charlotte's Web by EB White were good titles, except I forgot how morbid the first few sentences of Charlotte's Web can be. We are currently waiting for some new titles to be available on Overdrive via our library loan system. 

planning to be gone most of August now too.

hoping for a very slow fall and winter this year. 

celebrating so many big things throughout my extended family. Graduations, weddings, and babies on the horizon!

struggling to finish The Book Thief. Look for a new Book Report post coming early next week. my 

trying to get back to spending my mornings in the word. 

looking to implement a new weekday routine for the kids and myself once we are done traveling this summer.

thinking about starting a loose "preschool" like learning time for Teddy. 

spending a little bit of time each day barefoot in the garden.  

enjoying the grounding feeling I get each day, especially when I do it in the morning.

loving that our replanted tomatoes are producing. Between all three plants we have nearly 25 tomatoes ready to ripen. This is such a huge difference compared to our single unripe tomato last September. 

researching  some hardy winter plants to start in our other boxes.  

contemplating what to do about the mating pair of non-venomous snakes that have taken up residence in part of our yard where Teddy and Berke like to goof around. Thankfully, they have been docile for now but we are worried that may become more aggressive/defensive once their babies arrive. 

branching out in my recipe choices thanks to the 52 Recipes project. I am up to 30 recipes. I haven't been the best at sharing them all here, but if you are on Instagram, I do have a Stories Highlight dedicated to the project. 

stealing moments here and there between naps and in the evenings to get my words down in posts. Most of my time gets wrapped up in editing and uploading photos and it is hard to do that with.

troubleshooting a few different issues right now. First, the materials, that I spent forever looking for and buying for my chair project, do not work for these chairs. So I feel like I am back to square one. Also, my laptop, phone, and computer don't want to connect to each other and it is maddening. Lastly, we have vehicle stuff going.

making hard decisions regarding our automobiles. My daily driver was recently "totaled out" by the insurance after a small encounter with a deer. 

praying we make the right choice for our family not just a hasty decision to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

feeling like time just keeps speeding up. 

considering all the options for Eliza's first birthday! With all the travel coming up, I feel like I need to get a jump on it sooner rather than later and make a solid plan. 

doing my best to keep up with it all. 

May | Currently

getting back into the swing of things after a busy few months and an especially busy couple of weeks. 

celebrating Tiny Krueger being not so tiny anymore. Teddy turned three earlier this week and the weekend prior we had a small barbecue in his honor. 

eating all the party leftovers.

making small adjustments to our daily routines as we head into the busy part of the summer season. 

loving that the structure leads to most days being pretty predictable.

reading Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan's Always Enough, Never Too Much devotional. I have been struggling with my faith and feeling like I do not fit in with the church congregation we have chosen to fellowship with the last two years. It is hard to feel like you belong when most of the people in the community are in vastly different  phases of life. This amazing devotional has been helping bridge that gap. 

trying to get back to spending my mornings in the word. 

looking for a daily devotional. Do you have one you love?  

spending more time outside as the days get warmer and longer.

enjoying the return of our summer sunsets.  

replanting most of the vegetables and flowers we planted in April. After fairly mild winter, we felt it was safe to get our garden all set up. Then we were hit with an early May cold snap, snow, and frost. Almost everything was nuked.

working on finally getting those patio chairs redone. I have a plan and now I am searching for all of the correct materials. 

thinking about all the other goals and plans I want to make for this summer. Every spring I make our "Summer List" and every fall I am glad I did. I feel like writing out a solid list of plans, intentions, and goals helps to answer the typical "what do you want to do today?" question and guide us to fill in free days.

cooking my way through my 52 recipes for the year. My current count is about 15 recipes. I am about five recipes behind the overall schedule for the goal and I have seven or eight recipes I need to post here. 

spending evenings and random moments throughout the day in front of the laptop, writing posts, editing photos while podcasts play in the background.  

listening to all the podcasts again. This, this, and this are the top of my list right now but I rotate through about a dozen others. Clearly I am into True Crime. 

feeling like time just keeps speeding up. 

watching the kids hit all sorts of milestones. Eliza is crawling and trying to get into all sorts of trouble already.

doing my best to keep up. 

March | Currently

settling into routine again after 17 days in California

celebrating spring with snow showers, rain storms, and small bouts of warm weather, and I love it

preparing for our Resurrection Sunday celebration

filling and rolling dolmas for Sunday

feeling a little sad that we won't be with our extended families or close friends for the holiday

remembering the old days out on the Lopez Family Patio making fried dough

chasing around a curious almost three year old and an army crawling seven month old

marveling at how fast Eliza is growing

wondering if our family is truly complete with two kids

thinking about adopting a furry family member

scaring myself with the thought of adding another wild beast to this equation

dreaming about our summer garden and backyard plans

gathering the supplies to start the work

planting roots, figuratively and literally

embracing Berkeley's promotion to Engine Captain

letting go of my "return to Flagstaff" dream, for now

missing our people

opening myself up to new people and relationships, and new opportunities building a community here in Alpine

April | Currently

enjoying documenting our life during this year's Week in the Life. I love capturing the details of what our life is like right now. If you'd like to see more of that documentation, it's happening this week (April 17-23 2017) over on my instagram @ashleyamak

appreciating that Teddy is at an age that enjoys interacting with the camera. I know sooner than later it will be a fight to get a decent shot. 

reading the Jesus Calling devotional most mornings. I don't discuss my faith much here but spending a little bit of time each day to center myself on The Word has really been beneficial for me. 

eating too many breads and sugars lately. I need to be better about following my anti-inflammatory diet.  

watching the Toy Story trilogy and Up several times a week. They are toddler favorites right now. 

fighting off a woodpecker from taking up residence on our patio. I never thought I would be at odds with a stubborn bird. I guess this is life as an adult. 

working on small patio renovation plans. I am trying to save some weather worn, outdated chairs, Berkeley is growing a more kid friendly front lawn and we are building planter boxes.

waiting not so patiently for warmer weather so the last of the snow and ice melt and we can get started on the bigger yard work. 

hoping to finally plant the vegetable garden we have been dreaming about since we moved into this house in January '16. 

thinking about how fast this past year has flown by. The last two winters, we have been blessed with consistent winter work for Berkeley. He didn't even experience his seasonal layoff this year. It has made for time to fly by. 

embracing this almost 2 year old toddler stage. In just three and a half weeks, I will have a two year old. Again, time is flying by. I will admit, the last month or so has not been my favorite stage. He is so stinking smart, and curious, and inquisitive that some days are a real battle of wills, but it also means that our good days are really awesome and outnumber the trying days. His sense of humor and laughter are everything!

doing my best to remember those moments and days on the more trying days.

December | Currently

getting into the "Christmas Spirit" much slower this year

celebrating this month with small traditions

drinking to all the Christmas music

building cookie trains 

watching all the Christmas Specials, especially Charlie Brown

listening to all the Christmas music

loving that Teddy is slowly starting to understand the season and that he was in love with this Santa

taking it one day at a time as this December has been marked by tiny little messes and toddler antics 

cleaning eyeliner (crayon, pencil, mascara) stars off the tile floors (bedroom walls, kitchen cabinets, etc) - you get the picture

trying to appreciate all these things as signs of his growing development and curiosity

seeing in him all kinds of traits from various people in our family and finding it fascinating

in awe of his ever increasing vocabulary

discovering that 18 months can be the most challenging but also the most rewarding

being really thankful that Berkeley has not been laid off for the season yet

reading Jesus Calling and loving it

making Ugly Christmas Sweaters

heading to California again in a couple days to celebrate the holidays with family

baking holiday cookies and cooking family recipes

enjoying this season of life 

July | Currently

settling in to our new small town life here in the woods

working on emptying the last of our boxes

hoping we finally get to plant more permanent roots

becoming part of our little community

chasing after our walking toddler

adoring his curiosity and his budding desire to learn

visiting the library weekly

watching in awe as he develops new skills daily

hosting visitors throughout the coming months

enjoying having down time at home

finishing a mini scrapbook album for my sister

starting a second one for the other sister

planning out new products for the winter "shop" opening

marking the calendar with upcoming craft fairs and markets

making progress on turning our yard space into something other than weeds and dirt

using the "hot method" to get our compost started 

looking forward to getting plants and seeds in the ground 

having a great summer

wishing you all a great summer as well