Thank Goodness for Old Friends!

So a few weeks ago, I sent out  "We Moved" cards to everyone on our Christmas list.  The underlying purpose was to beat the rush and hope that none of our Christmas cards would get lost in the mail, but it also served the unexpected purpose of notifying old friends how to get a hold of us.  After sending them out, I had several old friends reach out to us.  Here is a recap of some of the connections we've made in the last few weeks.  💗 

A couple weeks ago, we went to dinner with the Lowes and the Bowens {old friends of ours from Virginia} and had a delightful evening catching up with some of the most wonderful people God ever put on the earth.  Seriously!  Take out those two middle people and you're looking at the best of the best! 

The next day, we attended the baptism of Eli Richards...our down the street neighbor in PA and one of the bright spots from our time in Pennsylvania. The Richards are the sweetest family and we felt so blessed to have been able to have been their neighbors for that year!

And then later that week, we had Riley and Olivia {and their families} over.  Riley and Olivia were sister missionaries serving in our ward when Cami left on her mission and they were my sanity during that time!    I missed Cami desperately {this was in the days before weekly phone calls} and they were missing their homes and families too.   So we formed a strong bond, like I never had with any other missionary before.   We received their packages from home, so they wouldn't have to wait for them to be delivered from the mission home. I sent messages/updates to their moms when something needed to be communicated on a non-P-day.  They'd stop in front of our house to "borrow" our internet {back when missionaries didn't have cell service}.   They were my surrogate daughters while Cami was gone and I liked to think I was a bit like a surrogate mom to them while they were far from their homes.

We ate dinner and played games, and just enjoyed being together again! 

 These were relationships that meant the world to me and seeing them again was just what I needed!   

Riley and her husband, Mitch, have a sweet baby girl named, Blake, that I very much enjoyed snuggling through the evening!  Doesn't a baby girl look natural in my arms?   {ONLY ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL I HAVE MY OWN GRANDBABY TO HOLD!!!}  😁

A few days later, I went to a wedding and got to see another bright light from Pennsylvania!   Amanda is a dear friend and helped me to feel loved and valued, especially after feeling so hurt in the other ward.   I will forever be grateful that Heavenly Father brought us to this other ward, and did not allow our time in PA to end on a negative note.  

Last but not least, the Palmers came to town!  Amy and I embarked into homeschooling at the same time and she was my sanity and savior many times over in that journey!   Our youngest three kids lined up in age and they are all as dear friends with each other as I am with Amy.   It was good for my heart and soul to sit down and have a chat with her again.   

In the end, I decided that I can be patient with Utah.   

I've got my book group all scheduled out for the new year and we start our new ward on Sunday.   Maybe we'll make some new good friends along the way...maybe we won't.   In the meantime, I'm going to embrace the old friends that always  seem to find their way to Utah.   

💓💓💓    

Thanksgiving 2021 by the NUMB3RS

THANKSGIVING 2021 BY THE NUMB3RS

It's been a long time since I remembered a special event by the NUMB3RS and Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it again! 

39-  How many guests we were originally planning for

7- people who ended up canceling their flights

11-  How many guests we actually had 
(me, Glen, Ellie, Adam, Spencer, Hyrum (Adam's friend from VA), mom, dad, AnnaLisa, Heather, Tim)

1-  False positive rapid covid test last week that officially scared off most of the expected guests 

6- subsequent negative PCR tests (between the 3 of us) to reassure the rest of the guests (including Spence and Adam) that it was okay to spend time with us

5-  pies total
(apple and blueberry made by me, peanut butter made by Ellie, chocolate fudge made by AnnaLisa, and pecan made by Marie Callender) 

I definitely have not perfected my gluten free pie crusts yet!   They were still delicious, but decidedly much less pretty than my gluten-filled ones of past years.

3-ish hours that Glen smoked the turkey for.  It was delicious! 

He spatch-cocked the turkey this year and was very happy with the results

12- other yummy items on the menu

(gluten free rolls made by me, cranberry tip top "salad" and spinach salad made by Adam, green beans made by Ellie, smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy made by Glen, ham and sweet potato casserole made by my mom, glutenous crescent rolls  made by AnnaLisa, and broccoli salad made by Nana)

My gluten free rolls turned out well enough that I was not the only one eating them, which is not a small feat considering there were also homemade gluten-filled crescent rolls available!  😆

2-phone calls with our missionary!  She got well-fed today and was excited to tell us about a baptism on Saturday.  

4 -boys excited to have someone else to play Magic with (Spence had already left when I took this picture)

3 - full loads of dishes + a bunch that were washed by hand!  Glen, bless his heart, did most of them.

1- very full mama who is ready for bed! 
We missed Emma and Cami being here, but overall it was a great day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Thanks for caring enough to read my blog!

A Bright Side of Utah...

Back in this post here, I shared a little about my experience serving with the Young Women in Virginia.  It truly was a life-changing time for me and each of those young women still holds a special place in my heart.  

 I'll be honest, though that calling was time-consuming and stretched me waaaaaay outside of all my comfort zones, it was actually pretty rough when I finally got released.  For five years, I'd lived and breathed all things young women related and I missed it deeply when my time ended.  I tried to throw myself at other hobbies and callings, but, dang it all, making the programs for sacrament meeting just isn't quite as rewarding as having a posse of 30 young women to hang out with! 

Eventually I realized that though my role had changed, I could still love and support the young women in different ways.  I wrote them letters on their missions, attended their weddings, brought them birthday treats, and gave them hugs in the hallways.  Once again, I think those interactions have been as much for me as for any girl.   

Then we moved and it all got a little harder.   We were far away from anyone we knew, searching for new connections, and trying to figure out how to find engagement and meaning in our new place.   

Much to my happiness though, I ended up with YW callings in both my wards in Pennsylvania. I very much enjoyed being back in my element and trying to find creative ways to connect with the girls during a time we couldn't meet in person.    COVID meant that everything was done virtually or at arm's length, so it definitely wasn't quite the experience as it could have been, but I grew to love the girls in PA too and feel like I made a small difference at least.  

Then we moved again. 

We never wanted to live in Utah.  Ending up here was definitely part of a providential plan because a lot of pieces had to fall into place to get us here...and pieces we weren't trying to push.   We have felt confirmed to us many times over, that we are exactly where we are supposed to be right now, but, man, Utah is weird. 

After living on the East Coast for the last few decades, it was a bit of an odd experience moving into a new ward and having no one care.  No one was happy to see us; we were just "another new family." Ho hum.    Not one neighbor knocked on our door to welcome us.  Even the church organization seemed lukewarm on us.  We are just now, very much through our own effort of reaching out over the last 5 months, starting to form connections.  Just in time for them to reorganize our stake this past weekend and put us into another ward.   For anyone keeping track, that'll be our 4th new ward in 2-1/2 years.   

With all its flaws, though...Utah is definitely a gathering place among members of the church, which means that some of my former young women live close!   In a time when I've been struggling to form connections, it's been such a blessing to be able to take little treks down to Provo to say, "Hello" to my former young women.  Here's Anna...

Here is Ana.  It was just her birthday, so a perfect excuse to make a treat I've been craving and share it with her... 

Elena (on the right) was Emma's best friend for many years and it was fun to bring her a birthday treat a couple weeks ago too!  She's dating Harlan, another friend of Emma's, and is roommates with Ana (mentioned above), so it almost feels like a visit to Virginia when I go!    I'm excited for Emma to come home in a few weeks to join the fun.  

I can't even tell you how much these little visits mean to me....

And as we embark in yet ANOTHER fresh start (about 2 fresh starts more than we expected when we moved away from Virginia a couple years ago)...I'll take all the positivity and connections I can find.   

💗💗💗 

Friendly Butterflies

With five national parks and the gorgeous Rocky Mountains, Utah has a lot to offer in the way of outdoor appeal.   Hiking, skiing, fishing, rock climbing, and boating are all things that bring people to Utah from all over the world.  Those kinds of activities are great and I do enjoy hiking at least, but I'll be honest I kind of miss all the historical sites and interesting museums of the East Coast. 

Ellie recently had a few days off of school for Fall Break and the weather wasn't great, which meant that the main appeal of Utah wasn't all that appealing.   So I did a little digging, bought season passes to Thanksgiving Point, and we headed to the Butterfly Biosphere for some fun!  

We'd been to the Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum before, but this was habitat was much larger and it was great way to spend a rainy day.   The workers told us to wear perfume and sweet smelling lotions if we wanted the butterflies to land on us....

but Ellie and I had just had our hair chemically treated the day before, so we were definitely not very sweet smelling and the butterflies mostly kept their distance.  

During our journey around the habitat, Hermana Goold called {on her p-day}, and we had a little chat right there amidst the  butterflies.  

It was a fun way to spend a day off of school and we'll definitely be back again...

Although next time we'll go with freshly washed hair and some sweet smelling lotion to make some more fluttering friends!
 

Utah Skies

Ask me how I like Utah and my reviews will definitely be mixed.  While I love being closer to family and old friends, the weather, the lack of trees, and some cultural things are going to take some time for me to adjust to.   One thing I unequivocally love though...is the Utah skies.  Because of the hilly/mountainous terrain and the aforementioned lack of trees, you get a much better view of the skies here and I love it.   While we definitely had some pretty spectacular sunsets and sunrises in the East, you generally only got to glimpse them through an opening in the trees or from vista point that you hiked 5 miles to get to.    I love that I can take my morning walk around the neighborhood and get views like this on a daily basis...

 My favorite place to sky-watch is from atop a hill in our city cemetery.  It's only about a five-minute walk from our house and it offers some pretty spectacular views!  

With the pops of fall colors thrown in there too, I've been pretty obsessed with going there to enjoy the view a few times a week.  

This is a 180° pano shot I took from atop the cemetery hill one day last week.  Sometime I need to get up there with my sister's nice camera...

This shot was taken at sunset along our favorite trek up to the Horsetail Falls trailhead.   There was a baby cow in the field  (not in this picture) that had Ellie ooohing and ahhing over it, but for  me it was all about that gorgeous lighting!

The following three photos were taken that on that same walk on that same evening.   

I can't even begin to express how completely and totally in awe I am that this view is within walking distance to our house...

Man!   Look at those twinkling lights in the distance, the vibrant sky reflecting in Utah Lake, and the beautiful wild foliage.  It takes my breath away all over again looking at these pictures! 

A few days ago, while I was out walking Rocky, I looked up and saw this stunning sight!   It had been a cloudy day and I guess the way the sun was setting interplayed with the clouds just perfectly to make it look like the mountains were alight with a glowing spotlight!   I had never seen that phenomenon before and I couldn't peel my eyes away from it!  I called anyone I could think of  to make sure they saw it too! 

And breaking from the sunrise/sunset theme, here's a gorgeous rainbow my dad and I saw the other day while we were driving home from the dentist.  It was much brighter and fuller before we stopped to take a picture, but we couldn't resist this view of the Mount Timpanogas Temple with the rainbow.  

Meanwhile here's a gorgeous sunset shot Adam took down on campus the other day. This tree blocked angle reminded me of how we saw most East Coast sunsets.   Still vibrant and lovely as can be, but with an obstructed view.   

Speaking of trees....here is another glimpse at the glorious fall colors we've been enjoying...

  

I think that this farm up the road from our home just may be the most beautiful spot in all of Utah this autumn.   It's right at the corner where two mountain ranges come together and I am completely enchanted with the backdrop, the landscaping, the rock wall, and the overall idyllic scene.  Every day I walk by it and have to take deep breath to soak in the beauty of it.  

Whew...this ended up being a longer post than I expected!

 I think I might be obsessed.  😍 

November Life {via a letter written to our missionary}

 11/7/21 (letter written to our missionary)

Dear Emma, 

Oh man!  It's the first night of Daylight Savings Time and I'm STILL getting off to a past 10:00pm starting time on your letter.   

BUT...I have a good excuse....I've been working on the Christmas card for this year.   haha   

Actually though...it's true and I'm very excited about it.   

I'm still working with the Etsy artist who did the portrait to get Adam's and Cami's hair color adjusted, but overall I'm very happy about it.   I think the likenesses for Dad and I are the least life-like, but overall I'm thrilled that we'll have a picture together in a year that we can't actually be together.  

Right now the plan is to get it printed sooner rather than later, so I can beat the Christmas rush.  Then I'll wait to send it out until Lucie is born, so I can include information about her arrival in the letter.   Speaking of Lucie's arrival.....IT'S GETTING SO CLOSE!!!!! I'm rather excited about it!    Ellie's disappointed that I commissioned this  before we knew about Denali, but I plan on adding something about her in the letter too.   We shall see!  

Here's a close-up of the tag I created for the portrait.  You know just in case you always wanted a digital version of your tag.  

On a completely different note, here's a gorgeous sunrise we saw this past week.  The Alpine City Cemetery is about a 5 minute walk from our house and I am enamored with the view from atop the hill there (where this picture was taken).  

On another another note, my mom gave me this picture that I drew when I was 10-years old.   It was funny, because as soon as I saw it I remembered the book where I drew my inspiration from.  Here is my picture next to my inspiration!  I know, I know.  It's amazing and everyone should be jealous of my mad art skillz. 

I'm just going with random thoughts tonight...

Here's the latest picture of Denali.  She's quadruple her birth weight, is walking around now, and is all around pretty darn adorable.   

We finally celebrated Adam's birthday this weekend.  We took him out for dinner (he picked Pad Thai for his birthday meal), watched the new Marvel movie (it was okay), and found our new Utah ice cream (Brookers Founding Flavors)!  

Also, check out the bros' matching outfits!  Spence wouldn't allow me to take a "real" photo of them, but I thought this one captured their matchedness pretty well.  Both Spence and Adam were quick to inform us that their similar attire was definitely just a serendipitous coincidence, because, you know, matching on purpose is for wusses and their mom. 

Here is the birthday cake Ellie made for Adam.  Garbanzo bean chocolate cake with raspberry frosting and chocolate ganache between the layers.  YUM!!!

Alright, I promised Dad I would be ready for bed by 11:00pm, so I guess I should check out for now.  I hope you had an amazing week!   WE LOVE YOU!!!! 

Love, 
yo momma