new year 2016

I have been struggling with guilt over how long it has been since I last posted anything on this blog. I have plenty of good excuses about why I've been slacking, but despite trying to talk myself down, I can't seem to beat the feeling of not fulfilling my obligation to preserve our family's memories. To whom do I owe this obligation, you ask? Who am I letting down by not keeping up with this blog? Not my husband, or extended family, or friends. It is myself - specifically, my future self. Present Tarythe is frustrated with Past Tarythe for letting all this time go by, as it is significantly more difficult to put together pictures and write blog posts month after the fact. Future Tarythe will be even more upset with Present Tarythe if Present Tarythe doesn't do something about it. It will only get worse.

Remembering that it is so much more difficult to blog long after the fact, I've decided to not go back to last year right now but start more recently, attempt to keep up with what's currently happening, and go back to 2015 later if I can. Because if I try to pick up where I left off, I will probably never catch up!

So here we are. Ringing in the New Year, 2016!

We stayed with the St. Clairs for the last couple days of 2015, and Scott just drove to their house after work instead of to ours. I was stage managing a wedding on New Year's Eve, so I had thought that it would not only be fun for our family to be able to hang out with the St. Clairs for a bit, but also so Scott and Jed wouldn't be too lonely without me that night.

I was nervous about the wedding because I had never stage managed one before, but it was overall pretty smooth. The bride and groom were people I work with at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, so I knew that if it went well then life would be great, but if not then I would hear about it forever! The bride and groom were not married that morning, and by the end of the night they were - and nobody died. So, all in all, a triumphant success! Many of the wedding guests were coworkers from the Clarice, and it was nice to be able to see them all outside of that building.

The reception went until 1 am, followed by clean-up, so I got back to the St. Clairs' rather late. We got up the next morning, had breakfast, and drove to my dad's farm in Raphine, VA. We spent Friday and Saturday there, and returned home on Sunday. We worked hard clearing trees from the front edge of my dad's property, in preparation for a controlled burn scheduled for later in January. Jed was a super big help and loved being out at the farm (though it wore him out!).

My dad and uncle Charles were bringing my dad's horses from Charles' barn, where the horses are boarded when my dad isn't at the farm, when Ida stumbled and went down on her knees. Charles fell off and Ida landed on him, breaking a couple ribs and injuring his shoulder. Jessica drove him to the hospital where he got his diagnosis and some heavy pain medication. He was still able to help us the next day, but could only drive the tractor. Jed spent a lot of time riding with Charles, when he got too tired of the hard labor...

One of Jed's favourite things to do was scoop the ashes from the fireplace