the loss of a dear friend, aurora borealis, mother's day weekend

last week had some very high highs and some very low lows...

 last tuesday i met kay at school towards the end of the day to hang up over 100 notecards filled out by kids at recess for teacher appreciation week. we hung them around the teacher's lounge for the staff to enjoy. when the kids got out of school, we gathered a group of 4th graders to do chalk messages on the sidewalk as well. 

on wednesday morning i learned that my best friend kelli's uncle died unexpectedly the night before. a few hours after that, i found out a wonderful friend of mine (going all the way back to kindergarten) passed away from breast cancer. erin was the kindest, funniest person with an impeccable memory for our elementary school years. that was one of my favorite things about her and we often reminisced over text. i did not see her much after high school, but she always spoke to me with so much warmth and enthusiasm that made me feel like such a cherished friend. she and her husband visited seattle in 2019 and we went out for brunch together. i can't believe she's gone. we last texted a couple weeks ago when she knew the end of her life was near and she was full of as much grace and words of affirmation as ever. the world feels a little bit darker without her in it, but i will carry her friendship and memories with me forever. 

that evening ashford went to karate with rebekah and arlo and then asked me to take him to watch fritz's baseball game after dinner. twist my arm! ;) i really do enjoy these spring nights at the baseball field, even when my kid isn't the one playing. and the weather was so nice last week, which makes it even better. 

thursday evening ashford had practice. i can't believe he only has a couple weeks left of the baseball season.

friday thatcher headed to our property to do some work. it got to 80 degrees for the first time this year. i went for a walk to the grocery store in the afternoon and it felt like summer. 

in the late afternoon, ashford and i went to hang out with rebekah and arlo in their yard. we ended up staying there for over four hours and ordered pizza for dinner because thatcher was still gone and half of their family was gone too. then on the way home, azalea and sisi ambushed sisi's mom and me into letting them have a sleepover. i remember my best friend kelli and i doing that to our moms back in the day :) 

that night was the first night of the solar storm that made the northern lights visible across the northern part of the us, even in big cities. i was so glad it was clear skies here. i didn't see anything in the 10:00 hour right before going to bed, but just after 11:00 pm, my phone started blowing up with texts saying to go outside. i took azalea and sisi out there with me and we hung out with some of our neighbors for a half hour in our pajamas. the sky mostly had white streaks visible to the naked eye, but when we pointed our phone cameras towards the sky, we could see the purple and green. it was pretty cool. 

saturday morning sisi headed home and we got ready to head to our property for the day. this was my chosen mother's day activity (a day early). it was a bit of a rocky morning getting out the door with the kids and we suffered through some pretty tedious construction traffic on the interstate, but the rest of the day was great. we stopped in mount vernon on the way for coffee and treats. it was another warm, beautiful day. we grilled hot dogs and brats for lunch, got some projects done, and hung out with the neighbors and their animals. 

i also made the kids do a little mother's day photo shoot with me ;) 

we didn't end up leaving until almost 5pm, so we made a stop at chipotle for dinner on the way home. we heard that the northern lights were supposed to be visible again saturday night, so we all stayed up until 10:30 and drove a short distance to an overlook park. there were hundreds of people there doing the same thing. unfortunately, the lights never showed up, so everyone went home a little bummed. oh well. 

sunday was mother's day, but since we did our day trip on saturday, it was mostly just a normal day for us. we made a big breakfast like every sunday. then azalea and i gave sisi a ride to belltown for her music show that was happening later in the day. 

a little while after we got home, azalea headed over to sisi's to join her family to go to the show. she ended up being gone for 9 hours! busing + long show + a meal out after. they are always so good to her and i'm so thankful for it. in the afternoon ashford and i went on a little ice cream date to 'sweet alchemy' in our neighborhood. when we got back i decided to watch the movie 'brooklyn' for the first time because i recently finished the book. i loved the movie so much! we made spaghetti for dinner, thatcher and the kids gave me a couple gifts, and we relaxed the rest of the night.