See ya, 2015

So long, 2015. Let's be honest, you were a doozy. Nevertheless, we had some good times too. The Word Of The Year was "DO," and do we did. Here's a little review of the ups and downs of 2015:




The very first day of the year, my brother's roof literally came crashing down from burst water pipes in his ceiling. He and his family stayed at our house for a month or so while his apartment was fixed. We all learned a lot about living with other people, and we enjoyed the company. Plus, I got to cook my first pheasant, compliments of my brother's hunting prowess.

I got to try out my snowshoes, and did some hiking, more hiking, more snowshoeing, and even more hiking!

Taking a leap and turning in a piece of artwork for the LDS International Art Competition was scary! I hadn't focused that hard on a finished piece of artwork in a long time, but it came together with a steady schedule and purpose. That was a lot of work, but I learned a lot about my art process along the way.

I had been really interested in beekeeping and took a class about it. I loved it! Bees are so amazing and I feel like we are kindred spirits. Oh tiny sisters, I love you! Unfortunately, we can't have bees in our current house, so it will need to wait until we have a different home.

I got back into rock climbing! It had been years since I last enjoyed it, but with a trusty friend to show me the ropes again, I took it up again and had some of my best lunch breaks!

For my birthday, we took a trip to Zion National Park with friends and went on some wicked cool hikes. We got to do some light bouldering and also visited the Valley of Fire, which will forever hold a special place in my heart. We stopped by a crazy cool ghost town and of course an old cemetery. We played games and talked without any children interrupting. Yes, it's a thing!

Not too soon after that, Kirk got laid off due to the dip in the oil market. Well, poop. While it was a major bummer, we looked for the silver lining and decided to move forward as a single income family with a stay-at-home parent. What a lucky kid we have! We had to make some major adjustments. It was a palette cleanser and turned out to be the catalyst for many life introspections and realignments in our lifestyle and the direction in which we want our family to go. All good things, but a painful route.

With a clear and free schedule, we were able to attend a wedding in San Diego last minute. The sunshine was just what we needed, the little kid got to go to the beach for the first time, and we got to see family that we hadn't seen in forever. Cousins, guys.

I got up the guts to submit my first piece of art to the Springville Museum of Art's Spring Salon. It was so much work too, but I am proud of the final product and loved the way the piece turned out.

Also, I got up the courage to get my own website up and running. There are a lot of moving parts and every time I would change something, I would discover 10 more things that I needed to do. Gah! So. Much. Work. But also, it's a labor of love that I'm super proud of! And, I got some business cards made, which helped me feel a lot more official. Being a business owner has been so rewarding and I can't believe I waited so long to get started. Once I got through all the worrying in my brain and got things done, it finally came together. I finally found my purpose and style, which was a major win!

I had my first art booth at the Beehive Bazaar last spring! For some reason, it was a super scary step for me to take but I was blown away by all the support from friends and family and was humbled that people liked my art enough to buy it. Thank you, friends! And, I got more comments on my booth than anything else. Kirk made it for me to display my wares. Isn't it amazing?

Our family took part in a fun run.

We were in charge of a large family reunion, and it was full of crazy fun times and crazy fun people. We hiked along a petroglyph ridge, visited our old stomping grounds in Nevada, spent time splashing in the pool, and swapped stories. We also got to spend some time with our little family visiting Zion again, and tricked our daughter into hiking with us there.

Pepper took some swim classes and turned into a little fish and may have proposed to her instructor.

I did some hiking, more hiking, even more hiking, and solo hiking.

Then, there was that one time I had a baby. He arrived a couple hours after one of my favorite woodsy hikes. He just needed a little encouragement but he came with a smile and a sense of humor. We took a couple weeks off of our regular lives while we adjusted and got to learn how we would be as a family of four. We spent those weeks exploring the wilderness, exploring more, and exploring even more.

We planted and cared for and harvested a garden and flower beds this year. We also got some unexpected blessings from our labors and dried, juiced, and froze some of the best food.

Again, we participated in the Beehive Bazaar. Kirk's booth construction was all the rage again, and I added more pieces to the booth. I loved making all the art!

We got to cheer Kirk on in his half marathon through the beautiful fall foliage. He practiced diligently and did a great job!

I submitted my first-ever art piece to the Springville Art Museum's Religious and Spiritual exhibit. Again, it was a ton of work but I love the way the piece turned out. (The post will be up soon!) Plus, I was able to see a vast difference between this piece and my first submission from earlier in the year. Progress, guys!

I read some books.

Pepper's preschool ended, and she said goodbye to her friends there and hello to a full-time life with a great stay-at-home dad. She started a dance class, though, and fell in love with performing on stage!

My brother got married! In a whirlwind of familial excitement we spent loads of time planning, prepping, doling out unsolicited advice, and participating in general merriment. I took photos of our family with all the new additions before we all went our separate ways and started our own roots.

I got in some delicious autumn hiking, more hiking, and even tried mountain yoga hiking!

We partook in some of our favorite holiday traditions during the fall and Christmas seasons. The last quarter of the year is always one of our favorites! We also started new traditions to make our family life more intentional and to encourage one-on-one time and great family times too.

We cheered Kirk on in another race and got to share in the sugary spoils.

I tried a new thing on Instagram where I posted a different art series every month. I did an alphabet bird series, an autumn leaf watercolor series, and a series of requested wildlife sketches. I love being able to share my art with others!




2015 was indeed a doozy. While we are still trying to figure things out, we are managing to make the best of it and enjoy our precious family time while we can. 2015 was a good lesson in reevaluating constantly, making purposeful decisions, and getting up the courage to do things (because waiting through all the thinking is oftentimes more painful and difficult than actually getting things done!) So, there you have a few of our highlights from last year.

After talking with a friend about how I didn't think 2015 was a really good year, and that I felt I hadn't accomplished much, I was encouraged to write about it. Once I started writing, it opened my eyes to the many positive things we experienced last year, even amid the challenges. It was a great exercise in positivity and looking back I was surprised at what we were able to accomplish during crazy times and despite a definite funk.

So, if you've made it this far, first, you're a dedicated soul (thank you!) and second, I'm passing the advice forward. You don't need to post it publicly, but I encourage you to reflect on your past year if you haven't done so already and write down some of the major events. Looking back on your photos and social media accounts might help you out. So what do you say?

Grandmas Are the Best!

I don't know about you, but our grandmas are pretty much the best. Last month we took a trip with Grandma to see some Halloween spookies and spend some time together:

Time together is even better if it includes pirates and a much-anticipated pony ride. Blaze was a pro, and so was our witchy little cowgirl.

Thanks, Grandma, for the fun outing! We are still talking about it to this very day.

Pumpkin Patch!

One of our favorite family traditions is visiting the pumpkin patch each autumn. We have a favorite that we frequent because it has awesome activities like a hay pyramid to climb on, a tractor ride through the pumpkin fields, and a corn box, which is like a sandbox, only awesomer:

We loved visiting the animals and running through the mazes. It is good for us to form memories and experiences with our kids. Plus, being in the wholesome outdoors is always a big bonus!

Around Here

Around here we're enjoying the fruits of our labors:

We're putting more things in the shop each week:

We're gearing up for one of the best holidays ever invented:

We're arting our little hearts out:

We're learning new things:

And we're generally making ourselves cozy. Fall is the best, don't you agree?

Pumpkin Patch

One last fall family tradition that I'd like to share (before it isn't fall anymore!) is our trip to the pumpkin patch. There's a free pumpkin patch in Springville that hosts a hay ride, petting zoo, hay mazes, a cornbox (which is like a sandbox only with corn, you know), and, of course, pumpkins:

Yeah. That's totally a kangaroo. Awesome, right? And the cornbox drew in people of all ages. I've always wanted to swim in a big pool of corn, so now I can check that off my bucket list. Done and done.

While we enjoyed the animals, the best part of all was the hay ride, hands down. Who would have thought? (I mean, come on, there was a kangaroo there, and the beastliest pig I've ever seen in my life!) I guess it's just something about bumping and jolting around and through rows of produce that tickles a girl's fancy, because, I'm telling you, our little lady could not ever get enough of it. Thank goodness it was free, or we might have blown our life's savings on all the repeat rides we had to take.

Thank you, free pumpkin patch friends, for giving us the gift of a delightful family evening.

Scary Claws and Atta-Tweeting

Our best-loved Halloween tradition is one we started on our own. On Halloween Eve (not All-Hallow's Eve Eve...so, like the 30th), if we've been really really bad all month long, Scary Claws will stop by our house and leave us frightful gifts to help foster the greatness of the Halloween spirit:

So, not only do we get to look forward to trick-or-treating (or "atta-tweeting," if you're a 2-year-old titty tat), we also get to enjoy our scary new presents all day long. Yay for presents!

I feel like it's important to carry on traditions from our foremothers, but it's more important to start our own family traditions. What traditions have started with your generation? (It doesn't just have to be a Halloween one, either.) I'd love to hear!

Nightmare Express

A fun Halloween tradition our family has is to take a ride on the Nightmare Express, a miniature train run by some spooky-loving neighbors:

We enjoyed walking and riding through many a neighborhood spook alley, and of course, the train was a huge hit. We went when it was still light outside before all the scary spooks started coming out. Thank goodness.

Halloween is pretty dang awesome. It's pretty much the second-most awesome holiday ever.

Scary Claws and Other Awesome Traditions: Did You Know?

You may already be aware that Scary Claws visits our house every October Eve (September 30th, folks) and leaves us frightening decorations and wonderful props for our costume room. It's because we're so wicked, and he only leaves presents for bad girls and boys. Sometimes, when we're excellent examples of the Halloween Spirit, Scary Claws visits us every night for the 13 nights before Halloween, too.

You may also know that every year we gather with the Nielsons for the Crazy Halloween Dinner, where nothing on the menu appears as it should and that we have an unspoken rule to never repeat a costume.

Did you also know that another tradition we have is carving apples? Well, you'd better believe it, because it's the honest truth, and it's been around for nearly two decades. Observe:

There are lots of pros to carving apples instead of pumpkins.

• First, you don't have to work hard to get the guts out only to work hard to carve the dang thing.
• Second, apples are smaller than pumpkins, which means less work in the long run.
• Third, if you mess up on your masterpiece, an apple is cheaper to replace than a pumpkin.
• Fourth, the cleanup from apple sculpting is minimal compared to the juicy newspaper mess that results in pumpkin carving.
• And fifth, apple sculptures increase in awesomeness the longer they sit out to dry.

In fact, that's the whole purpose of carving apples: to see how decrepit your sculpture becomes after a few days of windowsill dry-time. What Halloween traditions does your family have?

Scared to Death

Last year, we got this awesome resin angel on discount because it had a chipped piece, but that only adds to the character when converting such a lovely lawn ornament into a creepy headstone. It has been an excellent member of our cemetery family. This year, Kirk suggested I have at it and work my artsy magic. With pleasure, I'm sure.

Before:

After:

Ahh...that's much better, don't you agree? I used India ink and dripped it strategically to get a morbid result. My sister helped me paint it, and she was very patient when, in my infinite excitement, I dripped permanent ink on her several times. I hope any rain will help weather and grunge the ink. What do you think?

Spooky Addition

It's no secret that Halloween is the most beloved of holidays for this Baxter family. Each year, Kirk builds a new Halloween prop to frighten and delight our senses. This year, he created nothing less than a full-sized toe-pincher coffin. Gnarly, right?

I fit perfectly inside it, isn't that creepy? If I need to be buried anytime soon, I can rest assured that Kirk is well-prepared for such an event. I will only start worrying once Kirk constructs a headstone for me with my death date on it. Until then, though, we're embracing this wretched holiday with all our hearts...and brains.

Oh No! Not You Again!

Those crazy Nielsons crashed another Halloween dinner this year, and they are getting out of control, I tell you what. Introducing...

Waldo. Thank goodness he was finally found. It turns out that his cardboard camera was the most delicious thing for dinner.

Madame Ting-ting sang a fun gong-shi song to entertain the guests and impressed all by counting in Chinese and saying essential phrases like "That's too expensive" and "Let's make out."

The mad Scot made an appearance.

It looks like Uncle Cletus gained some weight since he last graced us with his presence, but we still love him anyway because he's family.

I never knew the ancient peoples of America had spectacles, be it appears to be true.

A fat-bummed monkey was seen waddling around the premises.

I wish I had a giant set of dominoes like the one that attended our dinner.

A bossy pilgrim...but we thought she was a witch so we had a trial then dumped her in a pond.

Here's a cowboy. I know, it's hard to tell, but it's only because he couldn't find his hat. When he puts on his black shirt, though, he's a bumblebee.

Hairy Kendall

Sweet Alyssa

And someone who introduced himself as "I'm tired!" Doesn't that look like the comfiest costume?

Anyway, it was a lighthearted festivity, and we enjoyed everyone's company regardless of how true to character they stayed. Does your family have any awesome Halloween traditions? I'd love to hear what they are!