Saturday, December 31, 2016

2016 in review

One of our many family jokes is that the Smalls do not send out Christmas newsletters.  There's something about it...I think it's the fact that we have to have it ready and out at a certain time.  However, this year we decided to break tradition and put one together!  (We have yet to actually send it out, so they'll be more like "New Year's Surprises" for when the Christmas card rush ends.)  Between Mom, Tirzah, and myself writing parts, the newsletter got quite lengthy and had to be cut considerably.  This was a very tricky job.  So here's my full version of the year's events....  

2016 has been both a long and short year.  I think this is my concluding evaluation at the close of every year, though.  As I look back over the past year, a lot of fun memories come to mind, defining 2016.

Back in January my brothers, Tirzah, a friend, and myself got to visit White Pass and go snowboarding again for the first time in several years.  A snow day at the pass used to be a yearly family tradition, which eventually had to be dropped.  Being on the mountain again was a fun reminder of "old times," and a tragic reminder of how bad I had become at snowboarding.

Also in January, I became classified as an adult and promptly got my license.  I'm afraid that I've inherited more of my dad's driving style, and I love being behind the wheel.  My long-standing love for cars quickly escalated to me buying my first car in June, due to other mechanical problems and a slight lack of wheels between 3 drivers.  Having my name on a car title is both exciting and frightening and has made me feel shockingly old.  I hope to not take so much money out of the bank again any time soon.

Through the spring months, 2 friends, Kea and Anna, came to live with us, helping Mom with writing and editing projects.  At the time of Anna's arrival we had not yet met her, but we had no short-term trial in mind.  She was very brave to commit to 3 months of living with us, and getting to know her proved to be a safe, fun adventure.  We really enjoyed having extra bodies and smiles living with us, too.

During the summer months, a good friend of Tirzah and mine, Johannah, got to stay with us and work a job nearby.  We are always happy when someone willfully moves in with us for a temporary time.  Having Johannah be part of the family over the summer kept us from either getting into trouble or being bored.

Tirzah and I also expanded our independent house cleaning business over the summer.  Thanks to various people recommending our work, we were able to take on cleaning several vacation rentals. Tirzah and I have been glad to be able to do all of our work together, figuring out a routine that works well for both of us.  Thankfully we tend to each like doing the job that the other one dislikes.  These jobs kept us quite busy, and we have been grateful to work for very kind homeowners who want to keep us on as their regular housekeepers.

In June my mom, Tirzah, and I returned to my original home state, Alaska, to visit for a week.  I got to surprise a friend at her highschool graduation, spend time with her, and re-connect with several other family friends.  It was a refreshing get-away before returning to work and the busy remainder of summer at home.










The summer came to a quick conclusion with a wonderful bang.  My sisters treated my mom, Johannah, and myself to a Piano Guys concert in Seattle, which felt like a dream come true.  As an enthusiastic fan, I was thrilled to be seeing them in person, and the experience only intensified my love for their music.  Check it off the bucket list?  No, I wrote it on the list a few more times.
I could go on for some time about this lovely evening, but then I would begin to sound like their personal salesperson.
As summer came to an end, our lives didn't slow down at all.  But something about summer being over made life feel a little quiet and lonely, even though the calendar was full.  This was the first time in 6 months that only the 3 of us lived under our roof.  By mid-fall we were severely lacking the friends and heat that summer had brought.  (though the level of busyness was still not diminishing.)  To remedy this sad, lonely situation, 2 friends from Alaska came for a 10 day stay.  We got to be the first to introduce them to Washington and take them to all of "our" waterfalls.  And, since their visit was already too short, we spent many late nights enjoying deep conversation and long laughs (unrelated to each other).  Now we want to make their visit a traditional post-summer consolation.

Within the first week of December we woke up to a few inches of lovely, silent snow, which we have been very thrilled about.  This is our first "real" snowfall/pile up in 4 years!  The snow has brought back many memories of our move to Brinnon four years ago, and only 5 days before Christmas, when we moved in the middle of a snow storm.  Tirzah and I have enjoyed several days out sledding and snowboarding on our hazardous hills, which have gotten quite icy.  Most of our hills tend to have either a fence or some kind of post at the bottom, so we are getting good at maneuvering these obstacles.

As an 18-year-old, the question I may have gotten more than any other this year is "so are you graduated?"  And along with that comes at least 10 other questions, such as "what are you doing now?" "what are your future plans?" "are you planning your wedding yet?" and so on.  Although I sincerely appreciate the thoughtfulness that is usually behind the interrogation, the questions do get a bit old after a year.

By now you are doubtless also wondering what the answers are.  To satisfy your curiosity, I will provide some answers that I am thus far aware of.  Being homeschooled simply means that the learning stage never ends and the point of graduation is more like a blurred dot on a seemingly distant page.  For the past several months I have been in that awkward stage of standing on either side of the finish line, partially graduated.  I am planning to finish obtaining all of my necessary highschool credits within the next month or 2.  I am anticipating the relief and joy of being entirely across the finish line, dancing in the confetti.

As for my plans for the more distant future, I am still uncertain.  This month I have finished my first-ever college applications and am trying to imagine living fall of 2017 on campus somewhere on the continent.  However, the decisions of "where" and "if" are still in progress.

I am so thankful for the memories, experiences, and opportunities in this year.  I trust God will fill 2017 with just as many joys and adventures.



Guys, January starts tomorrow!  Already!  I've heard a rumor going around that says that January is the best month of the year....I think there might be some truth.  May your December end beautifully.

Friday, December 30, 2016

Christmas photo challenge

Here I am, frantically trying to blog one last post with a Christmas theme.  A new month and year are only a couple days away!
A few weeks ago I asked a friend (Johannah, namely) if she would like to do a photo challenge through the month with me.  I thought it would be a good motivator for me to do some photography, and it would be way more fun with someone else to join me.  Johannah agreed, so we chose a Christmas themed challenge that lasts 25 days--right up to Christmas.  We had a lot of fun emailing pictures back and forth and seeing how we each interpreted the photo prompts differently.

1. Oh Christmas tree
Since my family doesn't do a Christmas tree, I had to get a little creative right from the beginning.  Thank goodness for the internet, which taught me about Bokeh Christmas trees!  Of course, mine didn't turn out as good as the pictures on the internet, but it was a good try.
2. Glitter

I love how it looks like she's blowing fireworks out of her hands.
3. Something red

4. Something cold
This picture is less impressive now that it's gotten colder than this since this picture was taken.

5. Something you made

6. Ornaments


7. Something furry

8. Baking
Yes, coffee cookies are a real thing!  And so good.  Mmmmmm.
9. Shopping
Living 1+ hours from town means I can't get out and shop whenever I want in order to get a picture.  On this particular day, my family actually did go shopping, though, so I took pictures when the walked in.  I'm sure toilet paper shopping is just what the Christmas prompt was thinking of.
10. Santa: Santa was another tricky one.  I realized that we don't actually have any Santa decorations or anything that could've even remotely worked.  Imagine my excitement when I was given both this Santa chocolate and these Santa socks just in time.  I've never been known to get so excited over Santa themed things before.


11. Elves: Ok, this one needs some explaining.  Both Johannah and I had a hard enough time finding something with Santa on it.  Elves coming the very next day only made matters worse!  We decided to change today's prompt to be something about a favorite family ornament or something instead.  I chose this one, which I explained at the end of this post: why the orchestra director?

12. Cozy
13. Something hot

14. Black and white

15. Traditions: This is the ultimate Small family Christmas tradition.  It is a scroll that holds several ornaments representing Christ throughout the Bible.

16. Lights: lights are one of my favorite decorations at Christmas time!

17. Something green


18. Outdoors
I love waking up to this view every morning!

19. Fun
The fun of sledding like penguins can never be under-estimated.
And snowboarding just doesn't get old.
20. Self-portrait: Sooo...I went a little crazy with the self-portrait.  Once I had my idea down, I took SO many pictures.  I know, I know.  It seems a little vain.  But it was fun!  And I really enjoyed playing with new DIY filter.



21. Naught or nice

Oh the great lengths one will go to in order to get a picture for a photo challenge.  Don't feel any obligation to show this one off to your friends and family!
22. Reflection

23. Family
Night sledding with these ones!
24. Stockings

25. Messy/joy

Another fun family tradition is to gather around and make shish-kabobs for Christmas dinner.  We always have fun laughing and talking while stabbing food.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

More snow love

On December 5th, we had a wonderful snowfall for the first time in several years.  It was such a lovely, welcome sight.  Unfortunately, we had to be away in the city all day when this rare stuff fell from the sky.  That was disappointing because Washington snow is very unpredictable and usually doesn't stay around for more than a day or 2.  When we got home that night, there was still enough snow left to look pretty, but not enough to really physically enjoy.  
Only a few days later, though, more of this flaky whiteness fell from the sky again and piled up into a few inches!  As you can imagine, Tirzah and I were really thrilled....so thrilled that I can't seem to stop taking pictures.  We've had snow for 24 days now, and we're still loving it.  Be prepared for several snow posts to come!


I'd like to think that the measuring tape isn't quite accurate.  I think there was actually a little more than 4 inches.


Chara looks SO good in the snow!






The Beast was actually not too thrilled about how good he looked in the snow.  He kept snorting at me when I tried to tell him how excited I was.

Doesn't this look like the right environment for these beasts!)
Snow pants every day....
This is my "I'm really excited about this white fluff" face, especially since I don't normally indulge in selfies.


This picture actually has great significance.  A long-standing Small tradition says that our Christmas orchestra director can't get her pine needle wand (and shock of hair!) until it snows.  (Her original, real wand and head-piece were broken long ago.)  Some years she doesn't get it at all.  But this year we got to present it with great ceremony quite early on.  She is a happy orchestra director.