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