Today is Kendra’s birthday.
I always find it tough to come up with good ideas for what to get her
for her birthday. She always gives a few
ideas for things she needs like clothes or shoes and a few things she wants
like Starbucks gift cards or an hour-long massage. I usually take the easy road and pick out
something she’ll want and I know she’ll enjoy.
But the problem for me is, they never end up being very memorable. I think she might be able to tell you what I
got her for her birthday last year, or the year before that, or even 5 years
ago – she has an uncanny ability to remember the little stuff like that. I can’t however. But I do remember the big stuff, like getting
engaged on her 22nd birthday.
Or finding out she was pregnant with triplets a few days before her 30th
birthday. The thing is, those aren’t
things. Those are events. Real life happenings and not a new article of
clothing or another Pumpkin Spice Latte, things that are all forgotten
tomorrow.
When I thought about what to do or get for her birthday this
year, I remembered a comment she made about a month ago after having looked at
some pictures from the past year – “wow, it’s been a really good year!” That it has.
We’ve done a lot, watched our kids grow a LOT, traveled a lot, and had a
lot of fun. Yes, there has also been a
LOT of time and work put into taking care of our trio. However, when I reflect on the past year,
while I do think about the work (and how Kendra’s done the lion’s share of it),
I think the most memorable things are some of the events from this past year.
So I wanted to somehow capture that in a meaningful way and wrap it up as a
birthday gift for her. Pretty hard to do
when we’re talking about experiences and places, intangible things that can’t
be boxed up and wrapped. Well, the
pictures of those experiences and places can at least. Then this blog popped into my head – maybe I
should write a blog post for Kendra’s birthday?
She’s really devoted a lot of time towards this blog over the past year
and a half, documenting our lives for friends and family to experience with us. And to document for kids to hopefully one
days look back on. I have to confess,
the idea wasn’t entirely original on my own part. Kendra went to Seattle back in July and took
care of the kids, on my own, for 3 or 4 days while she was gone. She thought it would be a good idea for me to
write a blog post about the weekend taking care of the kids on my own. I did too.
The only problem is it never got written. Just one of many things that I find myself
all too often thinking I’d like to do but never finding the time to do.
It’s taken me a while to learn this, but what I’ve come know
Kendra really likes receiving from me for her birthday or Christmas or any time
really is my time. Quality time, as
she’ll often put it. While it was
tempting to go get a gift card to Starbucks for her instead of finding the time
to sit down and write a blog post, I ultimately decided writing this post would
be far more memorable than a few of many Starbucks drinks she consumes in a
year. Finding the time hasn’t been easy. There isn’t much time when I’m home, she’s
gone, and the kids are sleeping. There’s
about one night a week that this happens.
So, I had to arrange for her friend Val to invite her over during Sunday
afternoon nap time so I could start writing this. While this technically doesn’t count as
“quality time” because I’m not spending this time with her, I think she’ll
appreciate the time and thought I put into this.
Every year, right around this time, all the news sources
seem to start posting articles about the past year. Aricles like: “2014: The Year in Review” and
“Top 10 <blah blah blah> from 2014.”
So, when I thought about Kendra’s “it’s been a good year” comment and
writing some sort of blog post for her birthday, I decided to make a list of
all the memorable events from this past year, from my perspective. Here’s what I came up with. I agree, Kendra, it has been a GREAT year,
thanks to you and all you do for our family.
Happy Birthday!
Kent and Emily’s
Wedding in August
We went to Michigan in August for her brother Kent and now
sister-in-law Emily’s wedding. Traveling
of course was challenge but it was made easier with help of my mom who traveled
with us. It was a fun trip with lots of
time spent seeing friends and family. I
flew back to Albuquerque after a week while Kendra, the kids and my mom stayed
for another week. Then Kendra and my mom
flew back with the 3 kids. 2 adults + 3
14-month olds = not easy. It’s a feat
Kendra and I will try to repeat when our family of 5 flies to Michigan for
Christmas in a few days.
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| Kent and Emily's wedding |
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| Kyle, Kent and Kendra |
Fenton Lake Camping
in July
Our friends Kaytee and Jason from church organized a weekend
camping trip to Fenton Lake State Park in July.
I had been wanting to start camping with the kids this summer to start
getting them familiar with the camping life, so this sounded like a good first
opportunity. While we only camped one
night and were gone from home a little over 24 hours it went pretty well. It’s a family camping trip I will always
remember since it was the first.
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| Snack time at Fenton |
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| Tent time |
Kendra goes to
Seattle in July
At the start of the summer Kendra had been
talking about going to Seattle to visit her friend Katie. I really wanted to make this happen for her
since I know how much she enjoys the time she gets to spend with Katie and since I
knew how much she could use a break from the daily grind of diapers, bottles,
meals and clean-up. So, she booked a
ticket for the day after the 4th of July and I got to play Mr. Mom
for a long weekend. I look back to that
weekend as one of the only weekends I’ve gotten to take care of the trio all on my
own and despite all the work I truly enjoyed it. Kendra has another Seattle trip coming up in
January and I’m looking forward to the challenge and the fun we’ll have.
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| Bye bye Mom! |
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| Kendra and Katie |
Michigan in May
At the end of 2013, I started talking to my climbing buddy
Dave about a trip to Yosemite to do some climbing. Our main objective was to climb Half Dome via
the Regular Northwest Face – a route we hoped to do a year and a half prior but
ultimately didn’t even start. We were
hoping for a bit of redemption. Making
this trip happen wouldn’t have been possible without Kendra. She was the one who agreed to bear the child
care load while I would be gone. We had
also been talking about spending some time with Kendra’s side of the family in
Michigan, so with my mom’s help we all flew to Michigan. I spent the first weekend with the family before
flying back west to meet up with Dave and head to Yosemite. My most memorable part of that trip was
taking the kids to the Big Red lighthouse on Lake Michigan (where Kendra and I
got engaged 10 years ago today!) and taking pictures with them. Dave and I ended up climbing Half Dome. Never ending thanks to Kendra, my mom, and
all the Snyder family for making every aspect of our trip to Michigan and my
trip to Yosemite possible.
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| Kendra, me, and my mom with Faith, Jack, and Alexis at Lake Michigan |
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| Me on Half Dome |
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| Tulip Time! |
Megan Visits in July!
July was a busy month for us. One of my best friends from childhood, Landan,
got married in July. After getting engaged last winter, they
planned the wedding for the summer… in Jamaica!
This sounded like a great opportunity for Kendra and I to get some
grand-parental support and leave the country for a tropical destination. The only problem was the dates didn’t work so
well for our parents, so Kendra and I made the tough decision that I would
attend on my own. Not wanting Kendra to
have to go solo with the kids at home, I secretly schemed with her good friend
Megan from our Colorado days (Megan now lives in Utah) to fly in the day before
I flew out. I won’t forget the look on
Kendra’s face when Megan walked in door that day! Thanks to Megan for coming to see Kendra and
our trio. This was definitely one of the
highlights of the summer!
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| Story time with Megan |
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| Flying Star with Megan! |
Fall Climbing Trips
Our friends Dan and Val and their two boys (they now have three boys!) have become our go-to climbing partners for
family climbing trips. Just like I was
itching to get our kids out on some camping trips, I was also itching to get
our kids out on some fall sport climbing trips.
With three one-plus-year-olds, this is only possible if you have some
friends who are willing to help with child care as much a they are willing to offer
a belay. Dan and Val are such
people. We took several family climbing
trips around New Mexico, made possible thanks to them! We look forward to many more in the
future. Thanks Dan and Val!
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| All the kids at a climbing area in El Rito |
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| Dinner time! |
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| The Enchanted Tower |
Halloween isn’t my favorite.
In fact, I can remember thinking one of the benefits of having kids some
day is you get to dress them up and hence you no longer have to yourself. This fall, Kendra came up with the idea that
they would be 3 little sheep for Halloween and she would be Little Bo
Peep. Ahh, my wishes came true and
didn’t have to dress up (though Kendra did point out I could be the Big Bad
Wolf if I wanted). It was so cute seeing
our 3 little sheep running around in their costumes this year and we’re looking
forward to Halloween next year when they understand a little more about what’s
going on.
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| Little Bo Peep and her 3 sheep! |
Grandma Visits in
October
Grandma Snyder has been good to all of us this year. Way too good.
I can’t even remember the number of trips she’s taken out to Albuquerque. I’m convinced Southwest has a seat with her
name on it. I had another climbing
excursion planned with my friend Dave in October and Grandma Snyder came out to
see Kendra and the kids. Balloon Fiesta
was going on at the same time so they went to one of the events. Though just like Halloween, I’m sure they
will enjoy Balloon Fiesta a little more when they are a year older. Judging from the pictures I saw when I
returned, I think they all had a good time while I was gone!
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| Balloon Fiesta! |
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| At the park with Grandma Snyder |
Kendra’s Birthday
Today, Kendra’s birthday, isn’t shaping up to be anything
particularly special. I’m working and
she’s at home with the kids. We’re
getting take out for dinner. And we get
our usual 3 hours between when we put the kids to bed and when we get to go to
bed. Kendra said she’s trying not to
think about today as her birthday but instead we’ll really celebrate when we
are in Michigan later this week.
Nonetheless, today is her birthday, and there’s a lot to be thankful for
and look forward to. One year ago today,
Alexis, Jack and Faith were baptized.
When I look at the picture from their baptism I’m amazed by how much
they’ve grown up and how thankful we are that they are all healthy, happy
babies. This past March we bought a
house and moved into a much better and much bigger house for our family. We also celebrated our triplets first
birthday in June. How short this past
year has felt! While today isn’t
anything special, our three wonderful kids are.
They surprise us in some new way everyday. I can’t think of a better birthday gift than the
gift of our three little babies.
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| Baptism one year ago |
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| Playing with the new house in the new house |
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| First birthday |
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| Happy Birthday Mom! Love your 3 cuties! |
Christmas 2014
The story still has to be written for the Howard Family
Christmas 2014. We’re going back to Michigan in a few days to spend Christmas
with the Snyder side of the family.
We’ve had a little bit of a start to Christmas here at home since we’ve
already let our kids open up some presents we aren’t planning on carting to and
from Michigan. They love the Christmas
tree, that for sure! I’m hoping for a
white Christmas in Michigan and I’m really looking forward to spending time
with Kendra, the kids, and all the Snyders while away from the day-to-day of
home and work.
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| Ready for Christmas |
That’s my “year in review” for the Howard family. There are many other events that stand out
that I didn’t list here. I don’t have
enough time recount them all – just finding several hours to write this much was
tough! When I think about this past
year, what comes to the front of my mind is all of the people who have come to
visit, all of the people we’ve gone to visit, and all the help our friends and
family has given us. But Kendra has done
the most of all. Everything we’ve done
this year wouldn’t have been possible without her. She’s been the best wife and mom and she
amazes me every day with her patience and perseverance in taking care of our
kids and me! I love you Kendra! Happy Birthday!
