Traditions

I love traditions. There's nothing like a good, comfortable ritual to get you feeling the holiday (whichever holiday that might be...) spirit. No doubt, the idea of having "traditions" was realized through a peaceful agreement between the sentimentalists of the world and...the slackers.

It is so nice to have something special to look forward to every year; an activity that marks the passage of time and gives a point of comparison from year to year. Something you can share with your loved ones and pass on from generation to generation. Something that reminds you about the real meaning of the holiday.

But...it's also nice not having to reinvent that Christmas/birthday/

Valentine's Day wheel every year. A planning slacker's paradise. For example, this year Spencer and I went rock climbing on my birthday. Why, you ask? Oh, because we did it last year and it was fun. Why mess with perfection? Why put in unnecessary effort when whatever you did last year can be easily recycled this year? Say hello to the birth of an unintended "tradition."

With that said, this past holiday season, Spencer and I (mostly me...because I'm obsessive like that...) spent a lot of time trying to discover our "dream" traditions. This came about, I believe, mostly because it was the first time in our five Christmases together that we would be waking up Christmas morning in our own place instead of a family member's.

To me, this felt like some kind of rite of passage. I took it as a sign that I needed to figure out the holidays completely and spend ridiculous amounts of time researching traditions. Because really, as discussed earlier, if you do it right just one time, you are set for decades. :)

We'll start with Thanksgiving. I might as well just admit that I did not spend as much time contemplating Thanksgiving traditions as I should have. Sigh. Thanksgiving; such an under appreciated holiday. The mere fact that it is the least commercialized holiday I know of merits extra recognition and attention. Next year, I'm sure.

As it was, we mostly just piggy-backed on the Warnick's traditions. Grace did run in the Toddler Turkey Trot down Lane Ave, but that was about it. But, hey, the Warnicks' traditions are fabulous, so it was still a win-win situation.

We were lucky to have lots of family come to Columbus this year. Our Merkley cousins, Sarah and Hannah, and their families as well as good old Sam, Emily, and Alex joined us for a few days. Terri, a lady from our ward, also got in on the fun. The dinner was fabulous and my small contributions paled in comparison to the feast the Warnicks produced. As such, they shall not be mentioned. :)

The post-Thanksgiving dinner gingerbread house making was a hit. My goal was to cover mine with as much candy as possible, so I could happily snack on it later. Spencer's goal, as always, was a little more ambitious.
And now, on to Christmas! Not all of the traditions that I tried to implement this year were successful. Perhaps we were suffering from tradition overkill, but we definitely found some keepers. We went to see the Thomas the Train Christmas display at the downtown library.

We braved the cold in order to experience "Zoo Lights" at the Columbus Zoo.

It was totally worth it. Grace made friends with a wolf. Two seconds before this was taken, the wolf had her front paws perched up on the window, staring into Grace's face.

However, most of our new traditions do not come accompanied by a picture. During the entire month of December, Spencer and I wrote down little compliments/(things we'd noticed the other doing that we appreciated) on slips of paper and put them in each other's stockings. On Christmas morning, we got to read them all. This one went swimmingly. I'd forgotten how good Spencer is at writing love notes. (blush...)

We also tried implementing a 12 days of Christmas service project. It involved doing at least one little act of service for someone outside of our family every day from December 13th-24th. We sort of accomplished this. We went to the temple, delivered lots of Christmas treats, cleaned some public areas, took cookies to the house in the neighborhood with the best lights, and wrote some thank you notes. The delivering of Christmas treats extended to far more than one day, so we counted it multiple times. Cheating. We'll do better next year.

Insert random pictures from Christmas:

Also, thanks to a friend's blog, we started a Christmas story reading tradition. I wrapped 12 Christmas-related stories for Grace (most of which I just picked up from the library) and let her open one each morning during the 12 days leading up to Christmas. Obviously, I seem to have a thing for the number 12. This tradition was a great success as far as Grace was concerned and it got her really excited about present-opening in general.

However, "someone" could have done a better job at screening the stories. (read: me) The culminating story, opened on Christmas Eve nonetheless, ended up being "Hark, the Aardvark Angels Sing." A bit anti-climactic, needless to say.

And lame. Lame, lame, lame.

You know, there is an amazing number of truly terrible Christmas stories for children out there. But, whatever. The title seemed appealing to me when I was just trying to get out of the library. :) Again, I'll do better next year.

We hosted the Warnicks, a sweet lady from our ward, and our neighbor Jennifer for Christmas Eve. There, we served Japatis (Spencer's African special), performed a live Nativity, and painted little, wooden Christmas ornaments (another stolen Warnick tradition). All in all, it was a fabulous Christmas.

I look forward to not planning for it next year. :)

The Great Hobby Search

This past fall, Spencer, Grace and I were wandering about through a local, outdoor Arts Festival. As we walked, we talked about which of the arts displayed we could see ourselves really getting into. I chose jewelry making, mostly because I love earrings and saw it as an "easy" way to accumulate LOTS of them.

Spencer chose glass-blowing. He's always thinking big. Watch out, Chihuly.

Once this lovely, little stroll down artsy-lane came to a close, I thought very little about our conversation. I thought a lot about starting up new hobbies, but kept all of them theoretical. I'm really good at having theoretical hobbies. In my mind, I'm quite the seamstress. :) And, periodically, I do a fantastic job of refinishing imaginary furniture.

Spencer, strangely enough, thinks theoretical hobbies are silly.

Now, if you looked up supportive in the dictionary, no doubt you'd find a little, smiling picture of Spencer sitting next to it. Spencer thinks I can do anything. I can't, mind you, but because I know that Spencer thinks I can, sometimes I dare to dream. That is, stop dreaming and turn my theoretical hobbies into reality. :)

For Christmas, Spencer surprised me with a simple jewelry making kit and a few beads to begin with. The part I like best, however, is that he sat with me for the better part of Christmas afternoon and helped me make my first creation:

I know it's not much, but I felt pretty good about my first attempt. I twisted and bent all the wire and was surprised at how simple it was. There's a lot I still have to figure out (the necklace doesn't hang right most of the time...), but...I'll get there.

And I'll have you know, I've already made at least three more fantastic pairs of earrings in my head.

And, as if that wasn't enough, check out this beauty that came to live with me on my birthday:

How many people can say that they have a hand-crafted, literal jewelry tree? Far too few, I tell you. Far too few.

That Spencer; he's done it again.

Merry Christmas 2010

The Bardsley Family’s

Top Ten Countdown of

2010

10... Grace entered nursery at the beginning of the year and has since competed in her first nursery eating contest. Anna is overflowing with pride.

9... Spencer has completed his time as an indentured servant in the physics lab and now actually works for pay.

8... Anna successfully ran two half-marathons in record time and thinks her days of running full marathons are definitively over. I mean, really, why run 26 miles when you can run 13 and hurt just as much?

7... The whole family took trips to Utah, Washington D.C., and Michigan to visit family, friends, and a lot of old fashioned cars.

6... Grace is potty-trained. Anna sort of misses diapers.

5... Spencer got a MacBook Pro with our tax return and loves it almost as much as life itself. Almost.

4... Anna read more books than any one person probably should, but unabashedly continues to further her addiction.

3... Grace discovered spontaneous ice cream runs, princesses, trains, and dinosaurs. She has never looked back.

2... Spencer has ventured further into his career path (Engineering Physics) at The Ohio State University and feels like, someday, he might be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

1... The whole family has had a good year and is feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future. We have been so blessed and are so thankful for all the opportunities we have been given.


We hope this letter finds you and yours well and happy. We love you all and are so pleased to have you as a part of our lives. We are who we are because of you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Spencer, Anna and Grace

Celebrating the Small Things

Since Grace is one of the greatest little "small things" that I know, I thought I'd celebrate some of her accomplishments of the past little while. They are many...prepare to be amazed.

First of all, I would like to bring your attention to her zip-lining skills. Notice the form: arms straight, legs tucked gracefully up towards chest, head erect. Flawless. You can't teach that folks. You just can't.

And then there's her decorating abilities. Grace managed to almost single-handedly decorate the bottom of our Christmas tree whilst Spencer and I waged war against the *popcorn we were trying to string together. And she only broke three ornaments!

We're planning on hiring her out next year.

*Notice there is no popcorn on the tree. No doubt you can guess who won the above-mentioned war.

And then there was...the race. Grace participated in her first "Toddler Turkey Trot" on Thanksgiving and furthered the family legacy by finishing...dead last. But honestly, take a look at the above picture. Do you see all that hand-holding and carrying going on? I mean, really.

Just look at that---the flair and finesse of a champion. Grace has learned quickly that, no matter how far back you are in the standings, you still get a medal and a cookie. That's victory in my book, folks. Victory.
She and Spencer have also been practicing their dance moves. With our luck, they'll be winning us an Ipad in no time.

Grace's mad kite-flying skills have already been well-documented on this blog, but I couldn't help but include another photo.

And last, but not least, every once and a while even I have a moment of pure brilliance. Look at those Christmas sweaters. Award-winning Christmas sweaters, that is.

As always, the Bardsleys are in it to win it.

Bye

A strange turn of events

I've never been one to follow sports.

Scratch that.

I've never cared much for any sport or team that Spencer wasn't participating in.

Okay, scratch that, too. I did go through a brief period during junior high when I faithfully followed the Utah Jazz. And John Stockton was my personal hero. And I might have cried a little when the Chicago Bulls beat them over, and over, and over again.

But since then, nothing. Until...

...we moved to Ohio and were thrust into the midst of Buckeye mania. Now, once upon a time, I thought people got pretty into BYU football.

I had NO idea.

It's just a different experience to cheer for a team that actually has a fighting chance of winning the title every year. AND seven national titles under their belt. AND a stadium that seats 110,000. I've actually found myself surreptitiously checking BCS rankings and secretly sending losing thoughts towards the likes of TCU, Oregon, and Auburn.

Not that I actually sit down and watch the games. That would be silly. Four hours; are you kidding me? I just care about the outcome. Such a strange, strange turn of events. :)

The game Spencer and I went to was against Penn State. The weather was perfect, the game was much more exciting than we would have expected, and I finally learned that the easiest way to get what's going on is to watch the quarterback like a hawk. And, yes, Spencer had to tell me. I guess he'd had enough of my constant, "Man, I couldn't find the ball that entire play!" exclamations.

And have I mentioned the marching band yet? Wow. I want to go to another game just to see the band again. I've never seen anything like them. To quote a friend, watching them is "like a spiritual experience." :)

You just never know what life is going to throw at you.

Glimpses

I'd like to think that our summer could be defined solely by this picture of a chicken. You know, kinda crazy, a little unexpected, but likable all the same.

However, I suppose it could be defined by all of the following pictures as well. :)

Grace spent most of her summer looking more or less like this. That kid sweats like nobody's business. This picture was probably taken after she did something exceptionally strenuous---like walk from her bedroom to the living room. Seriously.

She may or may not have inherited this from her mom.

One of the highest points of our summer was definitely our trip to Utah. We spent the first few days in Moab with the Bardsleys. Grace was in heaven because our campsite looked like this:

One, gigantic sandbox. She enjoyed all the cousin time, too.

We went on some hikes, swam in a little creek,

AND I saved Jacob from a rattlesnake.

This little guy was surprisingly friendly. Spencer...
We had such a good time and look forward to the next Bardsley family adventure!

While there, Grace and I (Spencer had gone back to Ohio by then) also got to meet Jacob and Whitney's new little boy, Taylor. Grace loved him.

She'll make a really great older sister in five years... :)

Grace and I also stayed with my family for a week but accomplished only one picture since I left my camera in Provo. Which is shameful.

But we also had a great time with them and can't wait to go back.

Jacob and Whitney's friendly backyard horse.

Another highlight was our visit to the Ohio State Fair. You can thank this trip

for the chicken at the top of this post. And then you can thank Sunny 95 for sending us to the Fair for free! Woo-hoo! It'd been a long time since either Spencer or I had won a radio contest, and it was HIGH time.

Grace went on her first "ride" of any kind and loved it.

Mostly she loved giving her ticket to the attendant.

The rest of the ride kind of terrified her. She wouldn't let go of my arm at all and pretty much just stared at the floor. But once it was done she said, "Again!"

Weird kid.

Spencer and I, however, had a blast. You know, there are a lot of things that become much

harder when you have children: eating, sleeping, going anywhere, shopping, etc. But, there are some things that become exponentially more fun. Like State Fairs. And zoos. And parks. And holidays. The list goes on and on. With this idea in mind, we've come up with a business idea which I will now pitch to you:

"Rent-a-Toddler."

Just imagine the possibilities. You set up a booth at the front gate of the zoo, fair, etc., and hand 'em out like candy---for a small fee, of course. It'd be fabulous. :)

The rest of the summer looked a lot like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And a lot of this.

Grace got really good at kite flying:

Though she was already pretty good back at nine months:

And we enjoyed a really amusing Fourth of July Parade, replete with high school reunion floats and these ladies.

And now you have glimpsed a bit of the Bardsleys' summer.

The Bardsleys Go to Washington

A few weeks ago, we got back from a much anticipated (though somewhat thrown together...) trip to Washington, D.C. The idea was born when we realized that Spencer would have some "free" time in between work and school that conveniently fell right on his birthday. To us, it seemed like a no-brainer. DC is a mere seven and a half hours by car from Columbus (eight and a half hours by toddler...) and we have family and friends there. Plus, Spencer had never been and I hadn't been since I still believed in the tooth fairy. That is, right around my sophomore year of high school. :)

Anyway, we were quite excited about the trip. We figured that for sure it would beat our other somewhat thrown together family trip (is anybody sensing a pattern here?) to Detroit. It did. By far. Sorry, Michigan, you're great, but...where's your White House? :)

However, I did NOT get to add any more states to my repertoire (unlike the Michigan trip...) while Spencer and Grace got to add three ( West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia) more. Sigh. North Dakota, how are we ever going to become friends?

Our first stop was the Shenandoah National Forest, which came highly recommended from Uncle Ralph. And it did not disappoint. We went on a beautiful little hike through a seemingly very haunted forest. It had a little abandoned cemetery and everything. And there was NO ONE there. Apparently, no one else hikes at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday night. Grace really likes hiking and spent the majority of her time trying to get out of the hiking backpack so she could jump over everything in sight. And telling us to be quiet so she could hear the frogs.

The local wildlife was quite friendly.

The next day we spent the majority of our time exploring monuments in DC and complaining about the $100 parking ticket we got. I mean, seriously, could the parking signs be anymore confusing? I submit that they could not. Here's to hoping that the people at the D.C. Adjudication Services agree. And are having a good day when they read our penitent letter.

Memorial to Thomas Jefferson. Very beautiful; very big. I wish this picture could do the dome justice. John Adams would've been appalled. I mean, honestly, where's his monument? :)
View of the Washington Monument from the Old Post Office bell tower. The Washington Monument acted as our North Star during the trip. We could see it everywhere we went and it anchored our safe return to our car. So symbolic of what the man it memorializes did for our country's founding, I think.

World War II Monument. This one was new to me. A big circle (perhaps dome) of columns representing every state's WWII Veterans surrounded a beautiful fountain. Once again, the picture just doesn't do it justice at all. It was pretty spectacular. We wanted to take a picture by the column of each state we'd lived in as a family, but only ended up with Iowa and Utah. The Ohio column was overrun with Ohio vets in wheelchairs. I mean, how can you compete with that, really?

Spencer practicing his photography skills. :) Views of both ends of the reflecting pool with the Lincoln Memorial (above) and the Washington Monument (below) as the focal points. It was beautiful, but very buggy and the water was kind of dirty. And by kind of dirty I mean really dirty. So, whatever. We still liked it.

Lincoln Memorial. Loved this one. Grace was unimpressed. Spencer and I were not.

I just thought this picture was kind of funny. I couldn't see very well and I didn't know I was cutting Grace off. :)

Thus ends DC day number one. The next day we did Sunday stuff. Saw the temple. Visited with fabulous family and friends. And spent LOTS of time in traffic. On a Sunday afternoon? Seriously? DC traffic is unreal. The metro (thanks Camilla!) is definitely the way to go.

View from the roof of the Wilcox's building. Wow. They live in Maryland, but you could see the temple, the Capitol, and the Washington Monument from their place. I didn't think I could ever really picture myself being a city dweller. Now I can. :) They have a pretty sweet set up. Without question, the company (the Wilcoxes and the Stephensons) were just as fabulous as the sights.

The next two days were spent trying to cram in as much as possible: the Capitol, Library of Congress, and every Smithsonian museum possible. Which...with a toddler and a lot of time spent in traffic, wasn't very much. We were able to take a tour of the Capitol, which we loved.

Apotheosis of Washington, Dan Brown readers? :) I wasn't able to get a ton out of the tour (shocking) because of Grace, but the rooms we toured were amazingly beautiful. You can ask Spencer what they signified, 'cause I don't know. But...still worth it.

The only museums we were able to see, much to our dismay, were the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Natural History. We barely scratched the surface in either of them and could have easily spent all day in one. Grace and Calder were great sports, and even got a little cat nap in their strollers.
There was a lady handing out free, gigantic bugs to anyone who wanted to hold them and Grace was all about it. In general, I think the Museum of Natural History was the highlight of her life. She loved every bit of it and called every large dinosaur she saw a crocodile.
Spencer and I did not hold one bug. Just for the record.

There's so much more that we saw and experienced that I didn't capture by camera, so you'll just have to take my word that the trip was a fabulous success and that we were a part of a bomb scare at the White House. :)

And now I'd like to leave you with the highlight of a particular young squirrels life. Me and rodents. I know.