Celebrating Ellie with a Little Trip to See Taylor Swift!

Once  upon a time...about 18-years-ago... a sweet little baby was born!   She was happy, easy-going, and delighted her parents and four older siblings from day one.   

She's had a bit of a rough road in life, starting with seizures that started when she was in kindergarten (and continue today), having a million side effects to most of the anti-seizure medications we tried, being in first grade when our world was turned upside down with Spencer,  experiencing some social isolation from the girls at church through elementary school, and then moving 4 times while she was in high school (a lot of it during COVID).    This girl has definitely been through the wringer a bit....

BUT, I have to say, she is also a girl that has  not just weathered any storm she's faced, but in the midst of them, she's learned a kindness, empathy, resiliency, and depth well beyond her years. 

We are proud of her and will miss her when she heads off to BYU-Idaho this fall!  

So, how did we celebrate 18-years of Ellie making our lives a little brighter?   

We drove to Las Vegas and took her to her very first concert!  

We planned to take off the morning after her birthday, but woke up to 6ish inches of new snow.  {Yes, it's the end of March and still snowing every other day.} 

The snow delayed us a few hours, but eventually we got out...barely beating the snow squall warning that popped up on our phones basically right as we were leaving.   The trip to Las Vegas was pretty long with slow moving traffic due to the snow at first, traffic outside of Saint George, then annoying construction that took forever on the stretch between Saint George and Vegas.  Worst of all was the  terrible traffic and parking within Las Vegas.  We were really glad we were arriving a day early, because we would have been quite late if we were catching the Friday night show.  

We spent the rest of the evening finding food, finding our way to the stadium from our hotel, and picking up our Taylor Swift merch that a friend had stood in line for hours to buy for us.  

The next day, we donned our Taylor Swift merch and set out to explore the Strip...something we'd never done before!    It was fun to see the "Walmart versions" of so many cool places and we enjoyed the conversation starter that our t-shirts were all day.  We had a lot of entertaining conversations with people who would normally never talk to us, but were drawn to ask about the concert. 

We knew that Las Vegas is referred to as Sin City, but we were a little shocked by the indoor smoking, the number of bare butts we saw, the in-your-face signs for prostitutes, and overall debauchery that was on full display there on a busy Saturday morning.   Ultimately we decided that Las Vegas must have been what Lehi saw in his vision when he referred to the "great and spacious buildings".  

On the bright side, we found some GREAT food!   This ice cream store called Cereal Killerz was once featured on Shark Tank and was a fun, original concept and quite tasty!  We would definitely go back again sometime and I just noticed they have a SLC location, so maybe sooner, rather than later.    

Thankfully I had a lactose pill with me, so I didn't spend the rest of the day running to the bathroom...

This sign made us laugh...

We also took a ride on the High Roller Ferris Wheel , which is currently the 2nd highest Ferris wheel in the world.   

We totally enjoyed the birds' eye view of the city and the surrounding area.

Dinner was at a French restaurant called, Mon Ami Gabi, which was pretty much out of this world.  The waiter claimed that Taylor Swift had eaten there in a private room earlier in the day and ordered the trout with a side of brussels sprouts.   We weren't quite sure if we believed him, but after tasting the food, we were at least convinced that it was good enough that Taylor COULD have eaten there and been happy!  {Note to any Virginia friends that might be reading this...I just noticed that there's also a location in Reston.   I highly recommend going there for a date night sometime.}

The service was excellent, the food delicious for all of us, and the  salmon I ordered was among the best salmon I've ever had. 

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to put on our sparkles and bling for the concert!   I was wearing more make-up than I had since about 1988 and I thought my sequined sweater was quite fun, but we were definitely VERY conservative in our dress compared to many of the concert-goers!   

Ellie and Emma had chosen different Taylor Swift Eras for all of our outfits...

but don't ask me what they were.   I just thought it was fun to be there and feel like a teenager again for a few hours. 

The concert was a  super fun 3-1/2 hours of going through Taylor's different Eras...

I knew a lot of her songs (thanks to the 5 teens that have lived in my house over the years), but I found that I liked most of them....even the ones I didn't know.   

I was worried about feeling overwhelmed by the loud music and crowds...

but all in all, we all had a great time....

singing and dancing along...

 

And I think our birthday girl had the most fun of all!   She did a lot of shrieking along with her singing and it was fun to see her so animated! 

 

 We didn't get back to our hotel until almost midnight, so we crashed hard that night, then woke up the next day to head home.  We took a quick stop at the temple on the way out, but the grounds were closed, so this shot out the car window was as close as we got!

The trip home was filled with construction, bad traffic, and spots with treacherous weather...so it took us a few hours longer to get home than it should have, but we made it.  

It was a fun weekend together celebrating our Ellie girl and I'd have to say we all (Glen and I included) like Taylor Swift more than we did before.    Thanks for giving us a reason to celebrate, Ellie!  

WE LOVE YOU, ELLIE!   HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  

Girls' Weekend!

A few months ago  my sisters, our Mom, and I decided it was time to gather for a relaxing girls' weekend in California!  The last time we were all together was for my Dad's funeral and it was nice to have a happy and laid-back gathering to look forward to.    My sister, K, took care of planning the details and the rest of us girls gathered in from our three states (Utah, Virginia, and California) to spend a long weekend together!    

The weather was cooler and cloudier than I'd hoped,  but I have to admit I rather enjoyed the above freezing temperatures quite a lot.   Here's a little glimpse of  our weekend:  

 Thursday:
-Woke up in the wee hours of the morning and flew to SNA with Mom and Heather.  We flew on Breeze Airlines and I just have to say that I am quickly becoming a fan of the Provo Airport. 
-Spent the day hanging out with K's family--including being introduced to all the stuffed animals, meeting the cutest little Spiderman ever, and going to the library to find a copy of East of Eden for me and a bunch of fun books for the boys 
-Trip to the grocery store to buy candy and then to the post office to send off a candy bar note for our niece, Anna's 5th birthday!  
-A walk around Kristina's beautiful neighborhood

Friday:  
-Mom, Heather, AnnaLisa headed off for a day at to San Diego Zoo, while K and I stayed home to get the kids where they needed to be
-I finished reading East of Eden (I only had a few chapters left when my audiobook went back to the library), read lots of silly library books to the kids again and again, and did an art project with the kids based on one of the books
-Drove to San Diego to check into the Airbnb, but only after getting locked out of the car on purpose by one of the kiddos.  Thankfully AAA didn't take too long to come to the rescue.
-A very late dinner at Marcy's Taco Shop, which was within walking distance to the Airbnb--the chicken tacos were excellent!  

Saturday: 
-Drove to Andrew's invitational track meet back up in Newport Beach, where he got a PR in the shotput (52' 7") and won 3rd place!   We were quite the enthusiastic cheering section, which I think he enjoyed very much!  
-We got lunch at the Burger Lounge, where I got one of the best bunless burger I've ever had

-We walked across the street and got doughnuts at Sidecar Doughnuts, which I have to say were the best doggone gluten free doughnuts I've ever had #goodfoodday
-Whale watching cruise at Newport Beach where we saw a pod of gray whales. a bunch of dolphins (a little later in the day), and some sealions 
-We got ice cream at Cowafornia, which was tasty, but still not as good as Zwahlen's (our new standard for ice cream goodness)
-Drove back to San Diego, where we did some postcard and souvenir shopping and got a late dinner at Miguel's (a family tradition) in Old Town San Diego.  If we had known about Andrew's meet during the planning, we probably would have found a house closer to home, but I sure do love San Diego, so it was good to be there!  

Sunday:  
-Woke up and finally got to explore around the AirBnb.  Its location between the bay and the ocean made for some pretty spectacular hiking!
-We checked out of the AirBnb and went to church at the Point Loma Ward, which had very terrible parking
-Got lunch at The Crack Shack, which also had very terrible parking
-Went to walk around Cabrillo National Monument, which also had very terrible parking, but was  stunningly beautiful. It was my first time visiting and I was in love with the views!   Unfortunately, Mom wasn't feeling great at this point and there was a bit of grumpiness stemming from the long hours in the car and the parking woes that seemed to follow us, so one car headed back to K's house.  Kristina and I stayed and did a lovely hike.   
-After getting back to K's house, we ate some dinner that Tom had cooked, I got to enjoy my first 50th birthday cake (a month or so early), and we played a very laugh-filled game of Apples to Apples!

Monday: 
-This day was filled with lots of errand running, which included getting K's kids to and from school, dropping off and picking up their car from the mechanic--which happened to be located on Lazy Glen Road (a fact which struck me as very funny), grocery shopping (where I found my favorite dressing that I've been having a hard time finding here in Utah), and just relaxing.
- Reading books to kids is something that makes me incredibly happy, so I made sure to get in a few more rounds with the library books and the boys before leaving.   I may or may not have, "Cock-a-Doodle Poo" and "I'm Not Scared, You're Scared" partially memorized by now!  Haha! 
-Our flight was delayed by a couple hours, so we didn't arrive home until well after midnight.  Thankfully, after the delays,  the flight was smooth and I was very happy to be home again! 

Despite all the hours of driving back and forth between San Diego, K's house, and Newport Beach, the parking woes, and the late dinners...it was a great trip!   I consider my Mom and my sisters to be my best friends and it was wonderful to be able to spend that time together.    It makes me think I need to plan another girls' trip  soon!   😆

A Bit of a Mess

 As has become tradition when we have a child serving a mission, here's a little life update taken from a letter written to our missionary.  I figure it's a good way to cross two things off my list at once.  3/13/23 

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Hello to our favorite missionary in the whole wide world!  

So how's life in the land of Beavers and Dams?    So first things first, have you actually come across any beavers or dams yet?  Or are these still hypothetical dam beavers?  If you ever actually see one, I expect 4 gazillion pictures, a baptism date, and a personal introduction (so make sure to get its name).   

Most weeks I write to you life is really boring, but this week is not.  Here is a picture of me and our car from last week.  As you can see, we are both giant messes.   This was not a one time occurrence.   I have pretty much been a bit of a mess (brain wise, house wise, car wise, and other wise)  all week long.  

Why the mess?   Hmmmm, let me see.   It could be the RS activity last Tuesday, which was very time consuming and not as much of a rousing success as I would have hoped, which discouraged me a bit.   It could be that I was somewhat sick  with a cold most of the week. It could also do with the fact that I didn't sleep very well much of the week (a lot of that to blame on the cold).  It could be losing an hour of sleep on Sunday night.   It could be that Dad's been out of town (in Saint George and Denver) for several days.  It could be my hormones. It could be that Kiwi's in heat again...something that I was hoping would never happen again, but Spence has yet to get her spayed.  It could be that I'm so over the wintry weather I could throw snowballs at the moon.  

BUT....

GUESS WHAT?!    

Despite there being yet another winter storm warning on the horizon, the last couple of days, it has warmed up a tiny bit and the snow has been melting!   And when I say warming up, I mean temps NOT in the 30's!   I almost wore my bathing suit to church!  Haha.    Also, for as much as I dislike losing an hour of sleep, I really do like the extra daylight for going on after-dinner walks, of which I'm 2 for 2 now.   

Guess what else is making me happy?  

I'm going to California for a sisters/mom weekend.   It looks like Dad and I will barely cross paths (he comes home and I leave the next day), which is kind of sad, but I am excited to enjoy some California weather for a bit and spend time with my sisters.  

Here are a few other things that are making me happy.    

Spring break is coming up in a few weeks and there are no RS activities in April, so I'm hoping that will help my stress level a bit!   

Sweet pictures of Lucie.  I know I am a little obsessed, but I don't see her enough, so I have to obsess over the pics and phone calls!  

Also, I had book group at our house this past week. I don't have any pictures of it, but it was a good turnout and it made me very happy to discuss a good book.   I feel like the women who come to book group are the closest thing I have to friends here in Utah, so I very much look forward to it each month.

We {Ellie, me, my mom, and Heather} went to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and we loved the stark beauty there. It was still pretty frozen over, so there weren't as many birds as there will be in a few weeks, but the birds we did see were awesome.   {tundra swans, bald eagle, northern harrier, great blue herons, etc}  PS  The aforementioned messy car pictured above, became messy here at B.R.   

 Then we headed up to Rexburg for the day. Rexburg is a nice town (everything seems a bit newer than Provo) and I think Ellie's going to like it there.   It made for a long day, but the bird watching was good for my soul and Ellie enjoyed the opportunity to see her future home town.  

 

They asked me to make programs for church...each week now.  You can guess how I feel about that!  :)

Also, I drank water, ate food, and  drove places.  haha

Well, I know I said it was not a boring week, but writing it out, it doesn't sound that exciting.   I hope I didn't put you to sleep at least.   I'll close off with a spiritual thought before signing off for the night... 

 

ON Sunday, we discussed this talk:  

It was an interesting discussion about the parable of the wedding feast.  Ultimately we decided that God is there welcoming us with open arms, even when we are choosing to not follow the path.   

"Each of us should evaluate our temporal and spiritual priorities sincerely and prayerfully to identify the things in our lives that may impede the bounteous blessings that Heavenly Father and the Savior are willing to bestow upon us. And surely the Holy Ghost will help us to see ourselves as we really are.

As we appropriately seek for the spiritual gift of eyes to see and ears to hear, I promise that we will be blessed with the capacity and judgment to strengthen our covenant connection with the living Lord. We also will receive the power of godliness in our lives—and ultimately be both called to and chosen for the Lord’s feast."

Well, I LOVE YOU LIKE CRAZY and hope you've had an amazing week! 

Love, 
Mom 

Beyond Coincidence...

Adam and my mom recently discovered a crazy story that seems to go much deeper than coincidence. I sent out a version of this story to everyone on Elder G's email list, but thought it would be cool to share here on our blog as well.

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The story begins in the waning years of WWII when there was a dearth of young men available to serve missions, so married men were sometimes called to fill short missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was in 1946 that my grandfather, Fay Edmund Hepworth, was called to serve a six month mission in Northern California. He was a 38-year-old quiet farmer in Star Valley, Wyoming with six young children at home, but he faithfully answered the call to serve when his twin brother, Bishop Jay Hepworth extended the call to him. He left in November 1946, minimizing the time he'd be away during the busy season on his farm.

Elder Hepworth recorded in a letter to his mission President that he'd met and started teaching a Mr. and Mrs. Goff on December 20, 1946. Mr. Goff never showed much interest in the gospel, but Mrs. Margaret Goff turned out to be a "golden" investigator, reading the entire Doctrine and Covenants in a night and eagerly devouring any gospel literature they could get her. In Elder Hepworth’s journal, he records having several "cottage meetings" with them and describes her happiness that she'd finally found the truth and her eagerness to be baptized. Margaret specifically requested that Elder Hepworth be the one to baptize her, however he ended being transferred before the baptism occurred. He happily recorded in his journal in early April 1947 that she was scheduled to be baptized on April 5th.

Margaret Goff was baptized at that time and went on to become a faithful and committed member of the church. In 1949 she sent this letter to my grandfather along with a book of poetry she'd written entitled, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ."

My mother, Rosanna, had not been born yet when my grandfather served his mission, but she remembers meeting Margaret and her family several times when she came to visit them in Wyoming. One time Margaret brought a box of fresh oranges straight off the tree in California--an absolute delight to my Mom and her siblings! This picture is from May 1955 and shows Fay and Margaret along with several children from their families on one of the Goff family's trips to Wyoming.

Later, Margaret's daughter, Beatrice, went on to write the primary song, "Faith," which was a favorite of our family's and was sung at my grandmother (and Fay’s wife), Florize Hepworth's, funeral.

Now fast forward about 75-years from that initial meeting between my grandfather and Margaret in Northern California. Our son, Adam, was recently assigned to serve in the B. Ward of the Portland Oregon mission. My mother, Rosanna, heard that my son's new mission companion had the last name "Goff" and she sent my Elder G. a letter sharing a bit about this story. After taking a quick look on FamilySearch, Elder G. and his companion discovered there is quite a connected legacy in this new companionship.

Lo and behold, the great-grandson of Elder Hepworth {Elder Adam G.} is currently missionary companions with the great-grandson of Margaret {Adam's companion}. There are so many independent decisions that had to preface this interaction -my grandfather accepting the call to serve a mission, Margaret accepting the gospel and choosing to be baptized, multiple generations of two families doing their best to pass on their legacies of faith to their children, two elders making the choice to serve missions, inspired church leaders assigning them to labor in the same mission, and, finally, an inspired mission president assigning them to serve together, despite knowing nothing of this connection. But, the Lord knew and directed the necessary inspiration that needed to occur for these great-grandson elders to serve together.