One thing that I learned growing up the way I did was to celebrate all the things. Spring time is the perfect time for this-it may not have a the hubbub of the holiday seasons but it has plenty of reasons to party! Things like new life and sunshine, but also lots of important cultural celebrations, like  Lunar New Year and Black History Month, St. Patrick's Day, Cinco De Mayo, Easter, and of course, my birthday [an important world event for sure haha]. So, this year we decided to lean into it extra hard this year, as we've been realizing how many wonderful people there are here to share our love for these cultures with, and learn more about there's!

In the end, apart from our personal little celebrations at home [or at friends house, like Giddy's, where they threw the most awesome Lunar New Year celebration], we decided the best way to share our culture and spread the beauty of diversity was to throw a cultural celebration. So, we told everyone to come party, and to bring a good from their cultures to share, and we'd have lanterns to make, and write their hopes and wishes for the Lunar New Year, and to learn a cool filipino dance that Lester worked on w his classmates [which we didn't end up having time for bc we ended up having too much fun w the other stuff haha!] Bc I had just recently gotten my 23 and me results I was excited to be able to learn more about my roots, and make foods from those cultures! So I ended up making pork buns, pancit and haupui. Everyone else really came through w the food they brought, and how willing they were to participate. It was a blast and we loved every second of the camaraderie we experienced. 











For Valentine's Day, we enjoyed a visit from my sister Sam, who also watched the kids while we went out to eat. It was fun to know we still enjoy each other, and also fun to know we can also enjoy coming home to our kids haha. I also got to throw a fun Galentine's day and bake to my hearts content and visit w some friends also, who in turn had a great Super Bowl party. Other than that, we've been playing up a storm, at climbing gyms [Addy has a love and a talent for this], going on a Mommy daughter date w Ms. Huckleberry Isla girl, being Lester's official ice cream taster as he makes his own recipes like honey lavender, orange w almond brittle pieces, lemon poppyseed, olive oil wheatgrass and salted malted vanilla, building w Bear, pants wearing to church for me, and trying to further our families environmental goals. Of course, w all that fun, we've been working equally hard so that we can continue to live this life, and do better in the coming years. Life has its ups and downs, but we keep on keeping on and enjoying this life we've built together. Love my people, and how home is turning out while we're here.









































Now on to all the March things!!



Things are going fine for us. No real complaints, no big exciting things either. Other then the fact that its Feb. which means a big bunch of important, small holidays that we love! Like Lunar New Year, Black History Month, Valentines Day and so on. The weather has been a little bi polar, but we have tried our best to roll with it, especially as we know it will pale in comparison to the intensity of the weather when we move to Eastern Idaho in July. A few highlights have been:

-Participating in the women's march. I actually loved this-I often feel the desire to have more representation here, or be a voice of reason w still an alternate view point. But then I hesitate-but Lester was encouraging and supportive, and when I looked at my kids I thought that they needed to see me doing things like this to know that they are valued and matter, regardless of what society will tell them. So we went-there were a lot of inspiring talks, women and men sharing support, and a charged feeling of what was possible for the future. Afterwards we went to get some brunch, and all in all, it was a cold morning well spent.






-We've been spending a lot of time bundled up in the rain and snow, riding the scooters the girls got for Christmas, with Bear chasing them or riding his little bike alongside. This, plus indoor crafts like watercolors, making slime, building endless magnet tab towers, yoga, baking, dancing, and reading [lots of Roald Dahl, Boxcar Children and so on..] has been our reality lately, and I ain't mad at it..been kind of nice to take a step back and simplify, and just be w my people.


























-Of course, we've also been further pursuing our food hobby. We've slowly but surely been moving towards a predominantly plant based diet over the last year, and now I would say we are to the point where we eat meat maybe once every week or two. Our reasons for this are multi-faceted; some health reasons, some environmental, and even some understanding [personally for us] of religious/moral factors. At first, it was a pretty hard adjustment-but since then, we've not only gotten used to it, but learned to love it. I mean it when I say that while I still appreciate what meat can contribute here and there, as an accent, it doesn't have to be the center for it to be filling, and incredibly delicious and complex. I think at least from my perspective, this will probably be a lifestyle for us, and I am pretty happy about it! I like that it sparks creativity, and trying new things, while still yielding delicious results. So here are some of the things we've been making or trying when eating out. 

[Homemade broccoli bean caccio de pepe, white bread]

[Homemade margherita pizza]

['Pulled Pork' inspired jackfruit, w coleslaw on buns. Shockingly delicious!]

[Tofu Larb lettuce cups-also a fave, we make this one every other week we love it so much!]

[Homemade pistachio bundt cake a orange zest, honey olive oil glaze]

[home made dulce de leche bars-couldn't wait for the picture haha]

[Portabello fries from Trillium]

[Sweet and Sour Cauliflower from Trillium]

[best crab salad I've ever had from Trillium]

[butter cake from Fork]

[Bibimbap from Mr. Wok]

[beet salad & grain salads from Certified Bakery]

[Ramen from a place in Meridian, I'll update when I remember what its called haha]



[Schnitzel sandwich, fries and noodle salad from Das Alpenaun]

-We signed the girls up for gymnastics as well, and that has been fun watching them try new things and thrive. Isla seems to do particularly well on the balance beam, and Addy kills it on the bar-but both of their cartwheels could use some serious work, and are the most adorable, hilarious thing. 







-In the course of our time here, I've made several close friends. One of them was recently having a birthday, and asked if some of us would help her check something off her bucket list. So, after hyping ourselves up, we went out for dinner and hit the club the for some awesome Mom dancing at a club! It was so fun, and ridiculous, and different then the days a million years ago of dancing the night away in college haha. I feel lucky that in so many different stages of my life, I've been able to have so many wonderful friends to share them with. So that was fun!






Now, we've got lots more fun to look forward to in this awesome month. Overall, things are good! 


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The Pineda Family

The Pineda Family

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