It's February! Which means so much to celebrate and learn in this big beautiful world. Especially with this being the first year we get to celebrate our beautiful Talia girls birthday now too.

Because we knew that we weren't going to be close to family for her 1st birthday, we decided to celebrate a bit early while we were home. This was important to me as she is our last little one, and our only baby not to have a big first party with family and friends. Silly, maybe, but I am who I am haha! In an effort to still be careful COVID wise, we just did it with our two families. We ordered cake from one of our favorite places [Butter&], let the kiddos pick out some balloons and easy decor, dressed her up and showered her with all the love and attention she so richly deserves. We did the same the next day with my parents, Luke and Sam, and it was so wonderful. On the actual day of, we spoiled her with all her favorite things, and made strawberry coconut cupcakes, which seem as bright and happy as she is here in Idaho. Now, please bask in the beauty of my perfectly gorgeous baby in the below pictures. Always smiling, lighting up our lives from day one. 







[brown butter citrus, passionfruit chocolate. both AMAZING.]



[rainbow fruit flavored]




[her big bday cake was sweet cream and roasted berry and surprisingly, it was all of our unanimous over all favorite flavor!]



[strawberry coconut cupcakes we made one her actual bday here in Idaho].

With Lunar New Year coming up we decided to prepare early, and make a trip up to Salt Lake and get ingredients and supplies. We decided to make a weekend of it and stay downtown, and visit a bunch of museums while we were there. We checked out both the Butterfly Biodome and the Museum of Natural Curiosity-Isla loved the first, and Addy got to do the ropes course at the second while Bear, Talia, Lester and I hung out with Andy, who met us there. At both the Natural History Museum, and the Museum of Ancient Life we were SO impressed by both the amount of dinosaur bones [so many entire skeletons recovered or close to it, and interesting history], fossil digs, cool facts about indigenous people and their lives, life organisms, and so much more. We also loved the Museum of Fine Arts, which had some of my favorite exhibits. We got to meet up with my lifelong friend Lauren and her husband while we were there. I loved the features from all around the world, and the critical thinking questions it posed. I loved the seamless combination of both art from generations before us, and ones made by those of us still here. There was even a whole room of art pertaining to the years we're all sharing now-depicting glaring social justice issues, pandemic experiences and so on. We finished our time there exploring some of my old haunts, eating good food, doing a little bit of shopping and getting eating out with my roomie Britt, and visiting more with Andy, and Lauren and Jared. It was so good for the heart and the soul. Rejuvinative I'd say.















[[just another reminder that sea monsters are real and more then half of the ocean is unexplored and inaccessible!]






































Once Lunar New Year came, we celebrated by cooking a big meal together, learning about our ancestors and cultural traditions and so on. We made lanterns, talked about our hopes for the new year and fresh starts we hope to make and other stuff. And of course the kids were over the moon to get to their red envelopes just like we were when we were kids haha. While we were home, we made it a point to go to the Asian Art and History Museum and it was so impressive and beautiful. They had a few temporary exhibits in particular that included music and moving pieces that have stuck with us and we loved. It was also cool to see the kids feeling like they were part of the art, and something bigger then themselves. It think art should be like that if it can. Change us for the better, or at least make us think. 




















We've been actively celebrating and learning all about Black History [always, but especially this month] and experiences beyond our own. I think its important to listen to other experiences, and see how it affects our own-perhaps it even can help us to see ourselves more clearly and how everything is intertwined. So before we left home, we made it a point to go to the Museum of African Diaspora and have conversations with our kids about these things. The artwork was both so beautiful, and also so jarring that we all were affected by the artist's conveyed experiences. So much so, that on our way out, we wanted to buy postcards of some of our favorite pieces to put on our fridge, even after this month is over. As I was buying them, the women at the desk handed me a large bag full of books as well as the postcards [some of which the kids had been oohing and awning over in the gift shop]. Confused, I told her we just bought the postcards, but she look at me and said 'Yes they are!' and proceeded to talk about how she loved how much our family was interested in hearing about experiences beyond our own and that she wanted to support that. I was so touched, and so grateful, since I often worry that this is something I worry our kids don't have right now in the fairly non diverse places we are living and with the med school financial life we have right now. All of the books have already been such great, beautiful resources for all of us, and I am so grateful for it.










We've had some fun celebrating all different kinds of love for Valentines this month. Romantic love, friendship love, familial love, self love, and so on and so forth. I got the chance to help all the kids with their Valentines making, and go to some of their class parties. Night of we made a fancy dinner, and told each other one things we loved about each member of our family. It was a simple thing, but I'm glad we did it. 

Of course we've been doing our usual things. School for our older kiddos, cuddles in the mornings with the younger 2, projects, errands and cooking, baking etc, new recipes and old ones. Lots of rock climbing [Addy is a monkey, and climbs to the top of every wall, even the ones that adults struggle with, and I can't stress enough how proud I am of Isla for working through and overcoming some of her fears. Big deal and life long skills in the making!] I cherish these in between moments, as I know the older we all get, the more far and few between they'll be. We've tried to make the most of it and enjoy cozy days inside, making snow ice cream, sledding and snow angels, and cooking delicious warm foods. Life is busy, imperfect, and we have, and are all growing and changing-but there has also been lots of good, simple things, and I am so grateful for that. 

So who knows what the next few months will bring. But that is where we are at for now! No complaints. 























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The Pineda Family

The Pineda Family

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