Sunday, February 23, 2025

Ski Trip with Luke!

Feb 16-19, 2025:
This past week Luke hit the slopes on skis for the first time. It was such a fun trip, just the two of us concurring the french alps together. I'm super proud of Luke for getting up again and again and learning to ski this week. Such a fun thing to witness and be apart of. The first day was really challenging, lots of falling and frustration and some tears. We took lots of breaks and had some good times sledding too. I decided to put him in a lesson at the end of the first day and things just clicked during the lesson for him and he really mastered the basics. From then on, he took on all the green slopes on the mountain and we did a lot of blue (harder) runs the next day too.  It was a really perfect following day of the mountain. The weather was so nice during our trip, felt like spring skiing! I was grateful for that, because he spent a lot of time on the ground that first day anyways.

Other things I want to remember was  reading harry potter together, sharing a bed, card games, and french bakery runs. It was a really good time together and so grateful for these days we got just the two of us exploring La Clusaz and Saint-Jean de Six.


























Thursday, February 13, 2025

Hold Them a Little Longer

Last week at school drop-off, I witnessed a moment that has stayed with me. A little boy—just a few months younger than Lucy—broke free and took off running toward the road. His mother, distracted for only a second while waving goodbye to her other child, didn’t see him go.

The street was busy, cars moving fast, and he had no idea of the danger ahead. Just sprinting straight for oncoming traffic. He was only seconds away from stepping into the road when two moms sprang into action. One of them reached him just in time, grabbing him and pulling him back to safety.

It all happened so fast. A matter of seconds. He was safe—but if they had reacted even a second later, things could have been so different.

Since that moment, I haven't been able to stop thinking about how fragile life is—how everything can change in an instant. One second, things are fine, routine, ordinary. The next, they could be altered forever. It’s unsettling to realize how thin the line is between safety and disaster, between normalcy and tragedy.

And then, just after I wrote about that experience, I found out that a college friend had passed away unexpectedly. She was only 32, pregnant with her third baby. She passed away during an emergency surgery, leaving behind two small children, a husband, and a life that should have had so many more years. My heart aches.

I keep thinking about how life gives us these moments—sometimes a near-miss, sometimes no warning at all. How we go through our days assuming there will always be a tomorrow, another chance, another time. But there aren’t always second chances.

I don’t know what to do with this grief except let it change me. Let it remind me to hold the people I love a little longer. To say the words that need saying. To stop rushing past the little moments because, in the end, they aren’t little at all.

And yet, in all this heartbreak, I also feel gratitude—gratitude for Hailey’s life and the way she used her time so beautifully. She did so much in her short 32 years. She was a kind, good soul. I’m so grateful our paths crossed in Hawaii. Now, as I listen to her music and hold onto her words, I find comfort in the legacy she left behind. Her songs, her novels she published—these are gifts that will help her children hold onto their mom until they meet again.

Just a week before she passed, she shared this testimony on her Instagram story:

"I've had angels, both seen and unseen, take my hand and tell me to hold on. To keep fighting. To keep breathing. I have felt healing light fill me and the power of prayers said on my behalf buoying me up and lifting my spirits. Angels are real. God hears our prayers. I know that my Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered the pain of this specific experience so that He could comfort me in the moments of my greatest need. And He has. I have a long road of healing ahead of me, but I am optimistic and determined to get well. I know there is purpose in my suffering and that this experience will ultimately work together for my good."

Reading her words now—knowing what I know—it all hits differently. There’s something sacred about the things people leave behind, the echoes of their faith, their love, their life. And it makes me want to live with more intention. To create, to share, to write things down. Because one day, those might be the words that hold us together.

Hailey's music & blog


funny happy hawaii times because im going back memory lane. . . 

Sunday, February 9, 2025

January 2025: A Fresh Start

2025 is here! One month down! The days are slowly getting lighter, and while we’re so ready for winter to be over, we’re also trying to embrace the cozy moments while they last.

January always feels like a weird in-between—holiday chaos is behind us, but spring still feels forever away. That said, it’s been a great month! I kicked off the year with a little change… I went blonde! New year, new hair, right? It’s been so fun switching things up. Who knows, maybe blondes really do have more fun? I’ll report back.

I also went all in on Lagree Pilates! Riley gifted me an unlimited month for Christmas, and now I’m kinda obsessed. I’ve been going six days a week and loving every shaky, muscle-burning second of it. It’s intense.  So much so that I just went all in and got a year-long membership. It’s been the perfect thing for mentally and physically to set aside the time and train 40 minutes a day. 

And then, because apparently, we thrive on doing intense things… we started polar plunging every Monday. Yep. Straight into the freezing Amsterdam canal right outside our house. It’s shocking, it’s wild, a little dirty and somehow, it’s also the best way to start the week? There’s something about that instant jolt that makes you feel so alive. (And by "alive," I mean borderline frozen, but in a good way.)

But the biggest highlight of the month? Clay turned FIVE! I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up. We celebrated minion-style, and he was absolutely in his element. Five feels like such a big kid age, and I’m just trying to soak it all in.

So here’s to more light, more movement, more adventures, and hopefully fewer freezing days ahead (except on Mondays, I guess). 

Lucy's vision board for 2025....  I think I should get her another doll. 
Can't ring in a new year without oliebollen... 

Riley also mastered Ramen this January, it hits the spot. 





The boys making some side hustle cash with a stroopwafel stand. 


canal jumps 




Riley also made cookies for the first time in his life which turned out great.