My son, Trey is married to Anna—who is adorable and amazing. Trey graduated college in April and was interviewing for a handful of advertising positions. He was also doing freelance work. Anna had completed her first year as a high school special education instructor and was waiting on word about Trey’s future. In this liminal space, they asked if they could come stay with us. We were just about to leave on a 12-day trip to Denmark and Norway—so, YES please!!

Now all of a sudden it’s been six months AND we’ve LOVED having them under our roof. They jokingly refer to themselves as our squatters, but truly it’s been so FUN to getting to know them as a married couple and having so much time with Anna—who among other things loves to clean (BONUS for me!)

Anyway, they left this morning for Christmas in Brazil. Anna’s father is the Consul General of the United States in Sao Paulo. I’m already missing the extra activity and conversation. When they return they will be moving back to Utah. Trey has started his own ad agency and will be working there with people and companies he knows well. Super BIG and exciting news is that Anna is expecting their first child—obviously, Grandma is thrilled—but I’m saving those details for another post. What I want to write about here is Anna’s artistic talent and her NEW Etsy shop. In fact, I have a Christmas FREEBIE for you to download.

In the evenings I noticed Anna would often be working on her iPad. When I asked, she said, “I’m doodling” and I thought, that’s nice. But, then one day I actually took a good look at her work and was blown away. “You, are an artist” I said. And then I added something like, “People would buy your art. You should open an Etsy shop!” She replied, “I’m working on one actually.”

Last Sunday, we had a special Christmas lesson in Relief Society (the women’s ministry at church) and as part of the lesson, we were gifted a small framed piece of nativity line art. They announced that Anna had created it—what? So cool. Not only is she uber talented, she’s humble.

No worries, I’m going to shout her work from the rooftops and be her biggest fan and promoter—I asked if I could share the line art on my blog and she said, “Sure!” — it’s HERE.

And her Etsy shop, Sock Paper Co. is HERE. Anna is currently specializing in Nursery and Kid/Play Room art. She has just started uploading, so everything is on sale. You’ll. probably want to take a peek—be sure while there that you like her shop, so you’ll be notified when she adds new stuff!

And in case you’re wondering why I’m blogging again—the reason is that I’m 93% certain that my WORD for 2025 is WRITE. I want to write more—here on the blog and in other places. I want to write personal stories and I want to help my Dad write his stories. I’ll be celebrating sixty (60 😳) in May, so I want to write at least 60 stories about life, faith, family, adventures—the people, places and things I LOVE. It feels like an important milestone for me. While I’ve never stopped telling my story in scrapbooks, I’m eager to find a stronger voice with just words and I’m interested in the self-awareness that comes when you set a goal and work to achieve it. I’m looking forward to developing deeper understanding and wisdom as I write my way into this older version of me. In my Live Your Story membership, we’ll be more focused on writing, so if you’re in a similar place, come join me—us—and let’s get words down on paper and archived for future generations.