Life Update (April 2022)

For years this blog was my place to post cute pictures and tell the world about the adorable or obnoxious things my kids were up to.  Now my baby is 17-years-old (as of a couple months ago) and kiddie antics have been replaced by teen angst and our mid-life woes. In other words, nothing very exciting, unless you're a therapist trolling for clients. 😂  That's okay though. As I mentioned in my last post though....my family loves this blog.   So here I am again, posting an old-fashioned and super boring life update that absolutely no one (including my own mother) will care one iota about.    

Glen--  Glen has recently passed the year mark of working at HS1 and, happily, he still enjoys his job.  It's one of the better functioning companies he's ever worked for and that makes the stress seem that much more manageable.   His mom has been in failing health recently, so we took a quick trip to Denver for Spring Break to visit and to lend a little help.      It's hard watching our parents get older! 

   

Lara--  Speaking of aging parents, mine have both had falls in the last month or two.  My mom tripped over an uneven part of the sidewalk and broke her pelvis.  My Dad got displaced from his recliner and walker by Mom's acute injury and, being out of place and off-balance, he fell and hit his head on the coffee table. Several staples later and both of my parents are quite hobbled currently.  On another note,  I am still very much in the throes of a mid-life identity crisis, where I've been for the last few years.  I feel like, at my age,  I *should* be working or doing something more productive in the world, but I also really feel like I need to be home for Ellie right now.   Now that she's in school part-time, I really need a creative hobby or a work-at-home job, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what that looks like. I keep hoping I'll find the "next thing" and get excited about it, but right now that passion seems elusive to me.  I really like to do things with design, but then I remember that I'm self-taught and really not that great at it, so I can't imagine anyone wanting to pay me for what's only been a church based hobby up to this point.    And no one here knows that I like to do it anyway, so I'd have to toot my own horn... something I'm not great at either.  I keep thinking I have a better chance at succeeding at writing for a job, but writing requires concentration and time, both of which are in short supply with Ellie's back and forth schedule at school this year.  Not to mention, I have no idea what to write about.   So there you have it...I'm aimless and lost...and stressed about getting older.   Feel free to inspire me! 

Spence-- Spence is working a job that pays his bills, but that's about it.  I think he wishes for something  with more growth potential, but he is still working on figuring out what that looks like and he has some exciting ideas up his sleeve.  His dog, Kiwi, is a year old now and she is very much attached to Spence.  She's mellowed out a bit, but she's still quite a handful and the house gets quite loud when they visit.  We love living close enough to him to see him regularly.   

Cami, Garrett, Lucie--  Garrett graduated from medical school a few weeks ago and he was matched with an internal medicine residency program at the University of Alabama--Birmingham.  We were disappointed that it wasn't in Utah, but we're happy that they'll be somewhere affordable and close to family (Garrett's brother and his wife and daughter are at the dental school there at UAB as well).    Cami  still has a semester of nursing school left after this one {yes, she's had a long circuitous path in her education!}.  Blah!  I'm trying hard not to be anxious for them living separately for 10 weeks while she finishes up.  I wish I could just swoop in and make it all easier for them, but, alas, I never have mastered the Easy button in life...plus I still have a kid at home that needs me here.    

Emma--What can I say?   It's been so much more lively and fun around our house since she returned home  from her mission.   Ellie is in heaven to have a sibling home again and I love how the house is filled with loud singing, much giggling, movie nights, and better food!  She's been working part-time and recently finished a phlebotomy certification training, so now she's looking for a job to put that to use.  She plans on taking a class or two at BYU this summer before she starts full-time in the fall.  . 

Adam--Adam finished up his freshman year at BYU, got hired as an FSY counselor for the summer, and received his mission call to Portland, Oregon.   He made some great friends at BYU and is super excited  about the other adventures he has coming up.  He is in the middle of FSY counselor training right now (June 2022)  and is loving it.  He may have been a tiny bit disappointed that his mission call wasn't to a foreign country, but that disappointment was fleeting and he is very excited about serving in Portland starting in August. 

Ellie--Ellie finished her junior year up at a local private school.  I wasn't sure about sending her to school after so many years of homeschooling, but it seems that it's  been a good fit for her and I'm frankly not sure I could have handled another lonely year like we'd had in Pennsylvania.  Finding  homeschool connections is NOT easy and I didn't have it in me to put the effort in to start from scratch yet again.  She went to prom with a friend and  Ellie is looking forward to an exciting summer ahead with a week at FSY and two weeks in Malawi for an HXP trip.

In other happenings-- My sister, Kristina, and I  flew out to Birmingham to househunt with Cami.   We were hoping to find a house that would be our first foray into owning an investment property that Cami and Garrett would rent, but, alas, while  the market is much more affordable there, it is still insane.  We did enjoy spending the time together exploring their new city. 

A couple weeks later, Cami and Garrett surprised us with a visit to Utah.  They had come for Garrett's sister's graduation from BYU, but we were happy to be close enough to enjoy the visit as well.  We were excited to introduce Lucie to my parents and grandmother, meaning we had five generations gathered together in the same place!  

We love our little Lucie!