janae – Terry Family Shenanigans

Cancun

Ryan and I decided to do a little get away. Well, Ryan decided and I went along and had a great time. He is the instigator of most of our trips and I appreciate it. We wouldn’t get around to it as much if I was instigating it. We went to a resort in Cancun. Last time we were in Mexico we did some day trips to see different areas and the Mayan pyramids, and a cenote. This time we were just there for three days and we decided we wanted to relax and do not very much. We walked around the area we were at and ate good food and did some window shopping. Otherwise we stayed at our resort and napped or read a book on the beach or at the pool. I got a great tan in February! In the evenings they had some show or activities we could go to. The last night we were there was the super bowl so we watched it on a big screen with the rest of the hotel. It was very relaxing and it was nice to be able to unplug for a few days.

Flying in it was raining. We have had the worst of luck on our beach vacations. We research the best time to go for great weather and smaller crowds and when we get there it is ‘unseasonably cold’ ‘not been this cold for 30 years’. So we were a little discouraged. The rain stopped pretty quick and we didn’t have any more after that. When we landed the airport had no gate for us to go to. Like they were surprised we were there.🤦‍♀️ They told us some stupid story that the plane at our gate broke down so they didn’t have a spot. But our plane was joined by 5 other planes parked at some random spot on the tarmac before we were done. We waited about 30 minutes for a bus to come. Then another. Then finally a third before it was our turn and we were able to get on one and they drove us to the airport. Last time we flew into Mexico it took about three hours to get our luggage from baggage claim so this time we didn’t check bags and were able to leave once we finally made it into the airport. I took a picture of their ladder while we were waiting for the bus to leave, it made me laugh, “Excellence from touch down to take off”. Ok Mexico.

This is the view from the pool I was in. Pretty awesome!

After the first day the weather wasn’t really to bad. It got a little windy sometimes but it was warm enough to enjoy the beach or pool. They resort had different restaurants or a buffet to choose from. I thought the food was decent, and I didn’t have to make it so that makes it a win too! Ryan likes to wear his KC hat at the pool to make friends and I like to put my headphones it and sit by myself in peace.

I didn’t look before we went but I was thinking I would be halfway closer to Matthew than in Kansas before we left. I was still further than I thought. I was only 950 miles closer. Because of our flight times I didn’t get to talk to him as much as I usually do on Mondays so I am looking forward to talking to him next week.

November Fun

Ryan traveled a lot this Fall for work. He was in Omaha, Wichita, Vegas, Lake of the Ozarks, Branson, and Denver. He works hard for us. He gets to do some fun stuff when he travels too. When he was in Denver one of his clients took him to the Chiefs and Broncos game. The Chiefs unfortunately did not win.

Our church had the Relief Society Christmas dinner. They like to do it in November because December is always pretty busy. It was a nice dinner and they asked us to dress up as fancy as we wanted too. They also invited the teenage girls to come. Allison had a wrestling practice so she didn’t come but Emilee came with me. She dressed up by putting her hair up. 😜

Sister Trip- Breckenridge Colorado

My lovely sisters and I decided it was time for another trip together. It was a little last minute. We started talking about it at the beginning of September and we went mid October. We decided to go for easy travel for all of us to get there. We settled on Breckenridge Colorado. It was a direct short flight for all of us to Denver.

We arrived Thursday morning. We got a rental car and headed to Breckenridge, which was about 2 hours away. We stopped and had lunch a little outside Denver on our way. When we got to Breckenridge we walked around and explored the down town/main street area for a few hours until our place was ready for check in. We stayed in a little apartment two streets away from main street. It was a perfect place. It had one bedroom with a king and twin bed in it so we could all sleep in the same room and stay up talking as late as we wanted. We got a few snacks and some breakfast food at the grocery store. The rest of our meals we found cool restaurants in town.

It is officially the off season in Breckenridge in October. There were still a good amount of people around but it was not crowded at all. We did a couple different hikes. Breck’s elevation is 9600. Olathe is 900. The first hike we went on was 10500. My mid 40’s self struggled a bit with the elevation, which has never been an issue before. I also think I was starting to get a cold but I know I am not as out of shape as I felt when we were hiking. It was I can walk, or I can talk, I can’t do both. I bought a hat I thought had bears on it but Sherri pointed out later, and was correct, it wasn’t bears- it was dinosaurs! LOL! On the last hike we decided to cross the river and walk back on the other side instead of the same side. I thought for sure one of us was going to slip and totally fall it (probably me) but we all made it safely and were just wet from the middle of our calves down for the last 30 minutes or so. There was still some orange and red Fall leaves, some ice starting to form in the rivers. It was definitely chilly or just plain cold in the evenings but it was beautiful. Fresh crisp mountain air. We even had a few snowflakes one of the days. DeAnna is usually the one that has a list of activities for us to choose from. We picked several of her hikes, and one of the days we went to a Paint and Fire place to let our creative selves enjoy a few hours of crafting. I painted some pottery, DeAnna did a mosaic, and Sherri painted a canvas.

After our hike THROUGH the river, DeAnna wore this lovely look to pick up dinner one night because her shoes were still wet. She didn’t think anyone would notice…but they sure did.

We tried a local pizza place, breakfast place, and burger place. They were all great food. The vibe is pretty fun. It looks just like a old western mountain village in a film would but it isn’t old. It is new and clean and well kept.

We almost tried out the hot tub but only the outdoor one was open and we weren’t filling walking to and from the hot tub in 40 degree weather. We played games and talked for hours at our place. One card game DeAnna and I fixed Sherri’s hand to finally bring the game to an end while she was in the restroom. We didn’t change any outcomes, just hurried it along. Sherri wasn’t going to win so she switched her strategy to sabotaging whoever was winning and while we were having fun, it was getting a little long. We stayed until Sunday late afternoon. It was awesome. I love my sisters and I love hanging out with them. It makes me sad that we don’t live closer.

We checked out Sunday and DeAnna found us a church to go to. It was in Golden Colorado. When we were younger we lived in Colorado and went to a building in Golden that was just down the road from the Coors beer factory. This building fit that description. It didn’t look familiar to me (it was 5th grade for me) Its hard to be sure what memories I have are from what place because we moved so often but it could have been the building 30ish years ago I was taking a picture of with the primary on the front lawn after the primary program. After church we grabbed lunch and then went to the airport. We waited with Sherri at her gate until she left, then I waited with DeAnna at hers until she left, then I caught my flight. It was a great weekend. I loved every minute of it!

Blast From the Past

My sister Sherri and her family stopped in a few weeks ago. They were taking a road trip to see our Grandma June and were stopping at family along the way. When they left our house their next stop was Colorado. They were well on the way when they started to come up on an RV and moved over to pass it. When they did Kenny saw that it was one of our old RV’s that we sold when we closed our RV business. It still had our logo on the side! It was the one we called “Cowboy”. Pretty crazy!

Celebrations!

Ryan and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary this year. Ryan had some hotel points built up so we decided to do a quick weekend get away to Nashville. We stopped there one night on our way home from Florida a few years ago and really liked it and have wanted to go back since.

He booked an awesome hotel with a roof top pool and we planned to set by the pool all weekend and relax and soak up the sun and then check out Broadway at night and listen to amazing live music.

We left Thursday evening after work. The girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Terry for the weekend and Matthew went on a senior retreat for his Covenant Prep class he has been taking Sunday afternoons. We drove about half way and then finished Friday morning. The hotel was amazing. The pool was gorgeous. But it rained. The. Entire. Weekend. Ugh. That was a little disappointing. But we found other things to do. We brought some games and actually went up to the pool and played for a while on the covered patio part. It was chilly and raining but we could see the pool.😜 We found lots of great live music and food. Our hotel had a different musician each night. Broadway had tons of options. There is live music everywhere in Nashville. We walked by a Taco Bell and they had a live band playing, in the Taco Bell. Despite the rain we still had fun. We both said we would come back and stay in the same place again, just later in the Summer so there was less chance of rain. We drove home Sunday and arrived in time to see the kids for a few hours before bed Sunday night. They missed us so much and were glad we were home.😉

The weekend after we got home from Nashville was Mother’s Day. I was feeling a little more emotional and sentimental this year because it is the last one before Matthew leaves. On my way to church I was reminiscing about how when the kids were in primary they would always sign a song at church on Mother’s Day. When church started they announced that for a special surprise the youth would be doing the sacrament program. Several of them did musical numbers, and several gave talks-including Matthew- that were all really good and very thoughtful. Then, all the youth sang a song together which meant all three of my kids were singing a song on Mother’s Day just like they did when they were younger. I was bawling like a baby. The primary kids came up and sang a duet with the youth so they even sang two songs. I loved it. It is the last time that will probably ever happen and I soaked it in.

After church Ryan smoked some pulled pork and Grandma and Grandpa came over and spent the afternoon with us. It was very relaxing and I really enjoyed it. I even had some time in the hammock while everyone played catch together in the yard. I am really glad that I have been blessed to be a mom to my kids. I am not the best but I love them and I hope they know that. They are pretty special. It really is scary how fast the years go by and they grow and change.

Ryan snuck a picture of them singing together for me while I was busy crying. 💖

Emilee had a celebration for the end of the school year. It was a family picnic day. Dad and I had work and didn’t have enough notice to take it off, but Matthew saved the day. He was done with school already so he took Emilee some Chipotle and ate lunch with her. I told him to send us a picture of their picnic…this is what we got.🤦‍♀️ Emilee thought it was awesome that he came and ate with her though. Probably thought it was cooler than if dad or I had come.

2025 Begins!

January was a typical January this year. There were a lot of social media comments and jokes about how January is a 12 years long, never ends and the most miserable month of the year. I don’t think that. February seems longer to me, ironic since it is the shortest month of the year. I get why people struggle though. It is a long cold and dreary month. I am ready for the calm boringness after several months of go go go with the holidays. We had a few things that spiced the month up though.

RJ and Dani decided we should all go to a show together at the Kaufmann Center downtown. They had never been and it had been a long time for us. We all went to Chicago together. I had seen the movie, never the play. I think the play was a lot better. It was a nice adult date night down town. Allison watched their son and dogs overnight at their house and Matthew and Emilee watched each other so we stayed downtown and used hotel points after the show. It was nice to not have to drive all the way home afterwards.

The following weekend was Ryan’s works holiday party. They rented out a speak easy under the KC Hotel downtown with a roaring twenties theme. It was pretty fun, everyone dressed up and had a good time. We were going to stay in the hotel that night too but mid week Ryan got sick and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to go or not so we canceled it just in case. Luckily he was better and we got to go. It is a pretty fun hotel but I didn’t mind coming home since we had stayed downtown the weekend before. I was talking to the new marketing person Ryan just hired and her spouse. They seemed really familiar and eventually we figured out that they come to my office for dental work, so they reason they looked familiar is because I have cleaned their whole families teeth for the past few years. LOL. Small world. There were some group pictures taken but I didn’t get any copies so I just have the pictures of Ryan and I. I thought we looked pretty good, Emilee thought we looked silly but she clearly doesn’t know how people dressed in the 20’s. Our costumes came with fake cigarettes but we decided to not carry those around all night.

The next weekend we had Grandpa Terry’s 73rd birthday to celebrate! Every year he says he just wants a very simple meal for his birthday dinner with everyone. This year he said he wanted tacos, Ross said that was boring and made chicken fajitas instead. They were very good… I think Roger enjoyed them and ended up being ok with the switch. Rhonda made him a carrot cake-she makes a very good carrot cake-and he blew out all the candles successfully. The Terry family has decided we are going to continue with the decades old tradition of blowing out the candles on a birthday cake despite COVID trying to do away with it. It is kind of gross if you think about it, but we have all survived this long. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I do not have a clue why Allison is holding a candle up in an orange for him to blow out too-I would guess either an inside joke or she didn’t want to eat cake for wrestling reasons and was including her orange in the celebration.

And last but not least for January-for part of the kids Christmas present Ryan got tickets to the Chiefs playoff game…if they made it. Of course they made it to the playoffs. We have gone to the super bowl 6 times in the last 7 years and will probably go again this year. He had four tickets. I was fine with not going because if I watch the game I prefer to do it in the warmth of my living room. IT WAS COLD! Allison had some wrestling stuff she didn’t want to miss so she passed her ticket onto Matthew’s friend Carter. So Emilee, Carter, Matthew and Ryan braved the weather and went to the game. We won and it was a fun game. No one lost any toes or fingers to the cold. The Chiefs hold the record for loudest stadium in the NFL and Emilee said she believes it. She had a fun time with her dad and brother. Next we have to try for a three win in a row at the Super Bowl!

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

December was just lovely. It flew by really fast but it wasn’t chaotic and out of control with to much going on. It was perfect.

We made treats, did puzzles, listened to music, looked at lights, drank hot chocolate, did toys for tots and the giving tree, wrapped presents, watched Christmas movies, went to Christmas parties, celebrated with family and friends. It was an awesome month.

Allison had another wrestling match. It was an away meet so we didn’t go but someone recorded it for us. Spoiler alert-she wins! I finally figured out how to combine her videos so we can watch all her matches for a meet in one video.

https://youtu.be/IAO7dOd16K4?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

Ryan and I went on a brief overnight date to downtown Kansas City. He gets a free weekend night as a perk through his Hilton credit card so we usually use it in December. We went with our friends Dani and RJ. We booked a few reservations at some of the Christmas pop up places they have for appetizers, dinner, and dessert and had a nice relaxing night with lots of visiting.

Christmas was on a Wednesday this year. The kids finished school the Friday before and Ryan and I had our last day of work on Monday. Then we had the next week off to celebrate Christmas, New Years and enjoy being lazy, and getting things done around the house that we wanted to. Ryan built some shelves for all the decorations in our storage room. I haven’t taken down all the Christmas decorations yet so I will wait to take a picture when its all packed away and finished. He installed a new security system around our house. I was in my purging our house of things that we don’t need anymore and customizing/organizing a few areas. I did Ryan and my closet, the pantry, and the storage room- which like I said is now just waiting on the Christmas decorations. We played games with the kids and hung out. There is a touch of a sad note for me this year because it will be the last Christmas before our kids start leaving the house and we start tip toeing into a new era in our lives. That is another reason I really wanted to soak everything in as much as possible.

That a girl

I am just putting a little ‘good job’ note in here for me. On December 12, 2024 I got all the way caught up on my blog. I have been several months behind at any given point for the last year or two. Woohoo!

Merry Early Christmas to Me!

Shorty after we had Matthew and were living in Wichita, Ryan surprised me with a piano for my birthday. This is the awesome piano I have had for the last 18 years. It has been a great piano and I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing it. We moved it to four different houses with us and every time the movers told us it was the heaviest piano they had ever moved.

Many good memories playing songs on this piano.❤

When we were building our new house, I decided that at some point I wanted to get a baby grand piano and planned for a spot for it in our living room. Nay Sayers-like my husband (and specific friends he asked because he knew they would agree with him) said it wouldn’t fit or it would look weird. I ignored them because I knew they were wrong and it would look beautiful. I didn’t know for sure when I would get one but it was on the list. I went and looked at pianos a few times and met a nice guy named Blair at one of the piano stores that kept an eye out for what I was looking for and would send me some options every now and then. A few weeks ago he sent me one that really caught my eye so Ryan and I went over to look at it. It was lovely and I liked it but I didn’t get it. I did however, see another one while I was there that I really liked and I ended up getting it instead. We bought it and a few days later it was delivered and was my early Christmas present. AND I LOVE IT!! It fits perfectly and doesn’t look weird at all. It is so pretty and all my kids and Ryan have said they will start playing again or want to learn at least one song. Will they?? …probably not. But it is so pretty they wish they could play it. 😂🎶 I can play it! And I love to play it! John Cazier helped me break it in and my sister and mom over Thanksgiving too. I’m excited to play it for years like I did my last one.

It’s Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!!!

I have been so excited to decorate for Christmas this year! I wanted to put everything up early but since I was hosting Thanksgiving I thought I should keep my Thanksgiving stuff up at least until then. I did put my outside lights up and my tree without decorations on it early. It has been two years since we have had our decorations up. I forgot what some of them were! Two years ago we had just moved into our rental and only had room for a few things. Last year we moved in to our new house two days before Christmas so I put our tree up and that was about it. This year is was a little like Christmas opening up all the boxes to remember what I had. It was very fun to get it all up. The kids and Ryan were excited too. It feels nice and Christmassy around here now. We were in our last house for 7 years so I had a spot for everything. I have a few things that don’t work anymore or some areas that I don’t have the right decoration but I will tweak it a little each year and eventually it will all pull together. My goal this year was to get a bigger tree. We went from 7 1/2 feet to 12 feet. It is big! I love a beautiful tree but don’t love the setting up. I might get a little tired of setting it up every year, but I think it fills the space pretty good. I also got the garland for the stairs. Allison had a really cute idea to put ribbon on the kitchen cupboard doors with a bow so it looks like presents. I thought it turned out pretty cute! Ryan and I attempted to do the lights ourselves this year. He even crawled up on the roof for our tall front porch. The smaller eve next to it had a 30 foot drop off the one side so we decided it wasn’t worth the risk of our lives and ability to move all our limbs. I ordered a grinch and stuck him in the yard to make it look like he was stealing our lights, then we didn’t have to put them on that eve. Next year we need to get some bigger lights I think…and see about finding someone else to install them.