We made it to another Friday! I hope you all had a great week. Our week was really nice. We had Clay and his adorable friend home for the first half of the week. It was so fun to have time together, and as always it went way too fast.

We celebrated G’s birthday on Monday. Gareth is so easy to celebrate, and having Clay home made it all the sweeter. We had a delicious dinner out, and while we were there the snow started DUMPING.

It snowed HARD, and really didn’t let up until Wednesday, which made for some interesting travel conditions. Tuesday morning, we gathered up our college kids and began our snowy trek to the airport in Denver (where it was sunny). The kids made their flight, and we headed off to some of our favorite old haunts.

We lived in Denver from 1994 to 2000, and it was such a special time. We had a darling little bungalow in an incredible part of town right by the greatest park ever. We had our awesome family close by and tons of fun friends. Emily was born there. ❤️ Just a really sweet, special time in our lives. It’s always fun to go check out our old house . . . which we really should have hung onto . . . good old hindsight! So all in all, we spent a lovely chunk of the day in one of our favorite spots.

But then, as they often do . . .things took a bit of a turn. While we were having our walk down memory lane, the conditions on the highway home had devolved, and they shut it down. We were trapped for a few hours. It wasn’t that dramatic. I got to go to Home Goods and eat Chick-fil-A, so I was living my best life.

I began sharing this tale with you on yesterday’s post (here) . . . and as promised, dear readers . . . here is the rest of the story.

We got word that the highway had reopened, and this is where the real adventure began. Roads were icy, but traffic was light . . . at first. The higher we climbed into the mountains, the snowier it got, and we found all the rest of the cars and trucks who wanted to join in on the fun. At one particularly snowy point, the driver’s side windshield wiper flew off, making things super – umm -interesting.

Thankfully, at this point, we were in such heavy traffic that we were stopping for long periods, which allowed for Gareth to get out and wipe the window down with napkins. See, look at me finding the bright side! Our snow-scraper and brush were in the way back with Daisy, and it wasn’t really safe to get to them. (Note to self: Keep that tool closer to the front seat). When the napkins ran out, I offered to give him my jeans to use. He didn’t think that was as funny as I did. So he drove the rest of the way leaning over onto my side with the working wiper, and using that as his view-finder to get us home the rest of the way.

Why didn’t we pull over and put the remaining windshield wiper onto the driver’s side, you might ask? In truth, we were completely hemmed in with traffic, and there was really no safe way to pull over. Plus, Gareth pointed out that with the snowy conditions, we may not get the wiper fully connected, and then we’d be wiperless . . . which would have turned our sh** show into a full on sh**storm.

Yada, yada, yada . . . hours later we made it home safely, thanks to my superhero husband and his superpower of scrappyness.

Let’s Recap Our Week

On Monday, we dove into the nitty-gritty details about our 2nd Brain in What’s Your Gut Telling You. We looked at the Gut-Brain Axis, and the huge role a healthy microbiome plays in protecting it.

On Wednesday, I shared my recipe for Egg Bites. With endless possibilities for mix-ins, these delicious bites have become an essential staple in our house.

On Thursday, I shared a food log for the week to see how I did with feeding my microbiota 30+ different plants. A flourishing microbiome requires plenty of pre and prebiotics and diverse fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and beans. Take a look here!

Also, on Thursday, I gave you a glimpse of my inner 12-year-old and shared this AMAZING recipe for Gut-Healthy, High-Protein Cookie Dough. I may have changed a few lives with this one!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Gareth and I have some special plans that I’ll fill you in on when I’m back here on Tuesday.

As always, thank you for spending the week with me! I never take that for granted, and I’m so grateful that you choose to spend a little time here!