While February was a short month it was packed…and some of it was pretty painful. Sophie and I returned from our epic Paris/Rome vacation on January 30th. On January 31, our friends from our NYC days were killed in a car accident while on vacation in Hawaii. Husband and wife, doctor and immigration lawyer and most importantly, parents to four children. We were devastated. Our NYC friend group was devastated. Their death was national news, which felt incredibly weird and off putting. We quickly changed our plans and headed to Utah for their funeral two weeks later. I have never been to a double funeral and hope never to again. It was incredibly sad and painful and at the same time filled me with hope. Being together with some of our best friends made everything sweeter. Also during that same week we FINALLY closed on a 13-month long process to buy a business that Sam has been a partner in for the past eight years. Finally it was done. DONE. We talked Simon through illness far away in Kenya and worried so much about him. He improved and rallied and all is well now but for about three weeks it was a tricky situation to navigate. He really pulled himself out of a difficult situation but having him handle it so far away was hard. This month was just…A LOT. We were all very happy when March 1 rolled around. But February was important and I don’t ever want to forget all of the things that happened and all of the feelings we had. Here then are a bunch of photos from February 2022.

Becca and Jasons death was heartbreaking on so many levels. I’ve never clung to my faith and my testimony of eternal families and life after death more.

We came together to celebrate the lives of our friends and support each other. It was truly a little piece of heaven to all be together in one spot. It was the first time since before the pandemic that I was with Carrie, Kristy and Kelly (just missing Mckay on this trip) and that was a piece of heaven as well.

Seeing these two together was THE BEST. I’ve known Darby since she was four months old and she is an absolute joy. She cleaned up Sophie’s hair post the big chop (see more on that below).

We visited our friends restaurant Irasshai while we were in town and OH MY GOSH. Glenny’s is from the Dominican Republic so there is bomb Dominican food. Lane served his mission in Japan and lived there a bit longer after his mission so there is bomb Japanese food. Basically, food heaven. We all hung out in the restaurant kitchen while Lane and Sam cooked up a storm and we just sat and ate ourselves into an actual food coma. Truly my favorite day on our unexpected trip to Utah. So. Much. Fun.

We loved having Kristy stay with us at Lornas while we were in town. Lots of Kristy time is always a good thing.

We even got Simon and Kristy on a call while we were in Utah. She had some great advice for him. She’s known him since before he was born so it was awesome 🙂

Did you notice that suddenly Sophie had no hair in February?

This was something Sophie had wanted and needed to do for quite awhile. It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision but one that we talked through pretty extensively. Here is what I wrote about it on Instagram; it explains her decision best:

“Around this time last year, Sophie dyed her blonde hair almost black. Looking back now it is easy to see that this was an accurate outward depiction of where she was at in her life. Things felt dark and heavy and really hard for her. In the past eleven months, Sophie has grown and changed dramatically. it has been a difficult road to health and happiness and it is a road that she still works hard on each day. We have had a front row seat as a family to her trials and her incredible triumphs. She has spent the last eleven months trying to get back to that sunny blonde hair that she had for so long. The black dye was SO difficult to get out. We color corrected it twice and cut it…but never got it quite right. After talking about it for awhile, she made the bold choice to just shave off all of that hair on Sunday night. It’s more than hair she was cutting off. It represents pain and hardship and colors that aren’t really hers. She shaved the first half herself and Sam finished it. It was just the three of us in the bathroom and was so special to do together. This shaved head represents a fresh, clean start for Sophie. She is bold and motivate and understands herself so much more now than she did a year ago. Not one hair remains on her head now from a year ago. That alone feels like a huge triumph. I miss my girls hair a little bit…but I’ve still got my girl and hair grows”.

She just looked so healthy and confident and stunning. It helps that she is a beautiful girl but wow, she was just glowing after we did this. Not many women can pull off a bald or buzzed head but Sophie did and does!

A little more from our Utah trip:

Simon worked his way back to health and we loved hearing about his adventures in Nairobi. Here are a few photos from him during this time.

Seb found his likeness on a Target shirt for Black History Month and we all felt it was pretty epic. I also felt that I am owed royalties for his likeness :).

The pup continued to be incredibly cute.

Randomly and very unexpectedly it snowed in Auburn in February and we were obsessed with the bizarre awesomeness of it. It was the first time in our 18 years in California that we formed snowballs at our HOUSE due to snow! We were positively giddy about the whole thing. I drove over by our downtown and high school to really soak it up.

Here is how it looked driving from Rocklin into Auburn. Seeing these skies I knew we were in for some trouble ahead in Auburn.

Everyone was unprepared for the snow which made it feel even crazier. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Simon had been here to see the snow. Instead we sent him lots of photos and videos.

That about wraps up February 2022 🙂

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