its only been few years

 How did I get here? from December 2018 till..... now? February 2022? I've had dry spells before but I used to love blogging and even when there were gaps there was never a complete halt to things.  Can I play catch up? Do I need to? 

To recap quickly... and just the highlights...

2019:

 after a couple years of slowly remodeling and building a loft space over our garage,  we opened The Robyn's Nest Airbnb in January of 2019. Its been an incredible success and has kept me plenty occupied. I love hosting in this way and the positive feedback has been very gratifying. We are booked year round mostly for avid skiers or other snow enthusiasts, but we get hikers and other adventurers year round and of course the occasional family visiting from out of town. One of the things we did just before we officially opened was to have a blessing party with close friends and family. We prayed over every bit of the space of the studio apartment and I believe that is what has set us apart and blessed our endeavors. We bring our best before the Lord and leave the results up to Him. It's been awesome!

In April my mom passed away. She made it to 90 years of age. No matter the age or how well you think you prepared for it, its still a trauma we must navigate. We had a beautiful celebration of life for her and it was well attended by both those who knew and loved our mom and the faithful friends who came to support our family. 

Also that April we added to our household in the form of a 4 legged bundle of fur. I'd been longing for a puppy for a couple of years and it took some time to convince my sweetie that a dog would be a great thing! We picked up Coop just a few days after Mom passed away. He was the perfect balm to my hurting heart! Coop is a Mastodor; a combination of Mastiff and Lab. He's now 3 years old and pretty much never leaves my side. As you can imagine the breed is large. He weighs around 100 pounds and has no idea he is as big as he is. He's goofy, sweet, playful, protective and of course, gorgeous! 

2020

What can we say about the dumpster fire that 2020 was?  The pandemic ravaged us in more ways that I even want to think about.... suffice it to say we survived it!

2021 

was more of the same... but with a couple of  awesome shining bright spots! The first was a trip of a life time in February of 2021. We flew to the US Virgin Islands for a 2 week adventure aboard a catamaran where with some family and friends we sailed around the islands. Kayaking, snorkeling, swimming, hiking, beach combing, sun bathing and more than a little bit of rum! It was the perfect vacation with memories for a lifetime. We hope we will be able to do this again some day in the near future... we'll see!

The other big event was moving my daughter and granddaughter back to Washington State. They are living only a few minutes away now after almost 15 years of being far apart both geographically and relationally. I am overjoyed  that we are rebuilding our relationships. Its not easy but its better. 

And here we are in 2022. I'm currently recovering from a major surgery on my left shoulder and typing with one hand is a pain in the butt no lie. But I decided to catch this up and then see about printing out my blog. Whether I will continue my blog beyond this is uncertain at the moment.  We will just have to take it a day at a time.