(beanie, leggings, top) <– All on sale! Today’s the last day of the sale! A few more musts from the up to 70% off + 30% off Athleta sale: Ranier cargo leggings ($34!!), I ordered this sweatshirt, this half-zip I love to run in, bootcut pant that I am eyeing, the cozy karma 1/2 zip, and more in this post. I also got this fleece for Skye with these leggings… the girl stuff is just as amazing.
Our running group is a bring candy and share kind of a run group. And if someone finds a new delicious candy to bring, they receive bonus points. These tart apple gummy bears were the perfect mid-run fuel.
Wrapping paper messes in the corner of your room is a requirement during this time of year. I didn’t want to do yoga, but I did do yoga afterward. 30-minute Peloton class!
I don’t know what I was thinking but something took over me and I decided to take the kids skiing while Andrew was at work.
I have even more respect for all that Andrew does to get Beck on the lift and keeping everyone safe the entire time. I had beads of sweat from the experience. This may have been one of my biggest parenting accomplishments. Andrew joined for the last little bit, and I was so grateful because I was exhausted by that point.
Almost in the straddles, haha.
We finished the day with cousins at the outdoor shopping mall.
On Sunday, we needed to get Brooke to her flight and decided last minute to squeeze in one more tradition together before she left–> The Grand America Hotel.
We started with pastries and the best peppermint hot chocolate that I have ever had.
We looked at all of the different window displays.
A Christmas tree picture was required.
The main event is seeing their massive gingerbread house.
To think I barely have patience for the pre-made gingerbread houses from Costco and some people have the patience for this sort of thing;)
We did our own, much cheaper, version of Polar Express on the city train in SLC;).
Too invested in the train ride to look at the camera.
I should have brought a bell for everyone.
And then they dropped us off at the airport and hung out with my in-laws while I got Brooke to her flight. We had enough time for our traditional Cafe Rio date. Chicken quesadillas for both of us.
And then we walked around for a while until it was time to board. I’ve been thinking that I would nail the goodbye this month, but it felt much harder than normal, and more tears were shed after she left than I have in a long time. She will have the best time ever with her dad! I can’t imagine how hard it would be if that weren’t the case, so I feel very lucky all at the same time.
I posted this on IG but thought I would post it here, too:
Sundays and holidays were my least favorite days for a while there when going through my divorce and healing, especially the ones when Brooke was gone. There’s something even lonelier about those days when you already feel so alone. The world slowed down those days; there was nothing to distract me, and it felt like everywhere I looked, people were living the life that I thought I had worked so hard to build but was then gone.
If you are feeling lonely, I wanted to share a few things that helped me on those dark days, and if anyone could share what helps them in the comments, that would be amazing.
It’s always darkest before the dawn. This fact gave me hope when I couldn’t find the light. I reminded myself over and over again that it would come.
Please know that more people are feeling this same way than we think. It’s easy to get on social media and think we must be the only person feeling alone but we aren’t. I had a therapist command me to get off of IG during the holidays, and that helped so much.
Every day may not be beautiful, but I can find something beautiful in each day I worked on finding something beautiful in each day. On the especially hard days, I really had to work to find something small that I found beautiful but they were always there. Always.
I’m one message away. If you need somebody to talk to who can empathize on this topic with their entire soul, I am your woman.
Go outside. Nature is the #1 thing to help any hard feeling I am experiencing.
And for those not struggling with loneliness, find the person who is and change the course of their holiday season. I swear we are all here to learn how to help the people around us and I’ll truly never forget a Christmas Eve where I was at rock bottom and a friend and her husband showed up at my door dressed as elves and made me laugh. They may have not felt like it was anything big but to me, it was EVERYTHING that night.
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Any tips or stories for people on how to deal with loneliness?
Have a highlight from the weekend?
Parents reading–> Any proud parenting moments for you recently?
