As Seen On My Morning Walks

Hello dear blog readers!   

If you happened to live in the same neighborhood as me (or if you read this blog regularly), you already know that walking is my sanity saver.  I have yet to figure out the secret for making friends in Utah (or anywhere for that matter), so I just walk a lot...by myself, unless Glen is home, then it's with him.  And when I say I walk "a lot", I mean like 35+ miles a week a lot.  During those long treks around and about the area, I mostly just  wander and explore until I feel done, then I go home.   It works for me and it keeps my mental health on the positive side.  

With all the miles I log, I see  glimpses of a lot of interesting things out and about.   Here are a few from the last week or so...

One day I returned from my 7.25 mile walk to what I can only describe as wild sunflower "kisses"...

They confused me at first, then I realized that they're from walking through overgrown sidewalks like this one.  The wild sunflowers are everywhere right now and when they hit my leg head-on, the pollen leaves a little "kiss' mark.   I like it! 

This lovely dragonfly caught my eye and didn't fly away when I approached to take a picture.  It was definitely still alive, but I worried it may have been on its way out with how close it let me get. 

You've all heard of a "snake in the grass", but have you ever heard of a snake in a bush?   Not me, until the other day.   This snake was about 2 feet off the ground and just slithering around the bush!   I very much kept my distance from that one! 

Spence and I took the doggos out for a little jaunt around the block and found the loveliest double rainbow.   It looked like we could have walked right behind that house and found that elusive pot of gold right there. 

I am not normally much of a cat person, but this cute little kitty was super friendly  and had the most beautiful coloring.   I actually even gave it a little love, which is not very Lara-like of me.  

The Halloween decor is starting to pop up around town and this one was wild to me!   I thought it was supposed to be a skeleton basketball game until I saw there was an extra player in there.   I wonder how many small children are scared to walk by their house this time of year! 

Road closures are EVERYWHERE right now!   We just had our road paved a week or two ago  and now it's closed again for them to do work on the manholes.   It's rare for me not to run into at least one closed road on my walks each morning.    On the plus side, that means the massive potholes that popped up everywhere during our endless winter last year, are finally disappearing! 

So, that's it.  Thanks for reading my blog today. 

Empty Nest

 We passed a HUGE milestone two weekends ago!  

No, I did not finally learn how to cook a good steak, nor did I  finally figure out what I'm doing with my life.  

But what we did do is bring Ellie to say goodbye to her Grandma and Great Grandma...

We packed up the car....

We stopped for lunch with friends in Idaho Falls...

And we got this girl checked into her "dorm"...

And we left a piece of our hearts there in Rexburg...

After 28-years of having kids at home {almost all of those years as a stay-at-home parent}, an era has ended and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with myself next. 😖 

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Atlanta with Most of My Peeps!

 Once upon a time, about 6 years ago, we planned a trip to Alaska, so I could finally get to my 50th state.   I'd been at 49 states for more than 20-years and we decided it was finally time to remedy that.  

Then, sometime after that trip was all planned,  Glen realized that he only needed to visit 4 more states and then Alaska could be his 50th state as well!  Thus was born our Spring Break 2017 trip to the Deep South, so he could visit Georgia, Alabama,  Mississippi, and Louisiana. 

We had a great trip exploring the South and thought we likely wouldn't visit again for a very long time, but, lo and behold, our daughter, son-in-law, and grandbaby  now live in Alabama and we visit as often as possible!  Who would have guessed six-years-ago we'd end up such frequent visitors to the Deep South?! 

So...back to the present day and another trip to the Deep South...though this time not in Birmingham.  

We wanted to have one last hurrah with Ellie before she went off to college, so we thought a little Labor Day family gathering would be fun!   We had hoped it would include everyone, but Adam on his mission, but, alas, Spencer's dog is hard to find care for, so he stayed at home on Kiwi (and Denali) duty!   Garrett's time off as a second year medical resident is limited, so we knew it would need to be somewhere near the Alabamans to make it doable for them.   When weighing all the options, we landed on Atlanta as the location.   It's only a 2 hour drive for Cami and Garrett, Cami had never been to Georgia before (since she was on her mission during our 2017 travels), we really enjoyed our time there in 2017, and flights are cheaper there too.   In other words, it was a perfect fit! 

☺So...be forewarned.  There are approximately 2,093,299 photos in this post and most of them contain the sweetest little 21-month-old in the universe.  ☺

 Emma, Ellie, and I flew into Atlanta on a Wednesday night, picked up our rental car, then immediately drove to Birmingham to spend the night.   We girls had a super chill day on Thursday playing with Lucie, going on a walk in the cutest neighborhood in B-ham (see collage below), getting a little shopping done, and just enjoying some girls' time.

Later that afternoon we all (meaning all the girls) shlepped to Atlanta together and got checked into the AirBnb!  We chilled there for the evening, then eagerly went to sleep, meanwhile Glen's journey was just beginning with a red-eye from Las Vegas.   I picked him up from the airport nice and early the next morning, then brought him back to sleep for a bit, before we headed  to a big farmer's market  for some Georgia peaches, etc.  It was like a Costco of Farmer's Markets and we had fun wandering around seeing what there was. We had to laugh when we found the peaches and discovered that they were all imported from Idaho.  Haha!  We bought them anyway, figuring Idaho peaches in a peach crumble would still be pretty delicious! 

Later that day, we went to the Atlanta History Museum.  It was a place we'd visited during our 2017 escapades and I knew Lucie would love the animals and all the girls would enjoy seeing the Swan House, which was the filming sight of President Snow's home in the Hunger Games movies. 

 

We went to dinner together, then Garrett joined us later that night.   The next day we headed to the world famous Georgia Aquarium.   I've never been to an aquarium that rivals the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but I'd have to say that Georgia's does.  It's the largest aquarium in the world and is one of only three aquariums in the world that have whale sharks.   The whale sharks were quite a sight to see and we very much enjoyed our time there, though Lucie did start to lose steam  and we ended up skipping out on the sea lion show.   

After a good lunch at a Mediterranean place, we wandered around Olympic Centennial Park...{this collage is kind of random}

Eventually we made our way to the Coca-Cola Museum (right next to the Georgia Aquarium).  The lines were long and it was jam-packed inside, but it was an interesting and well-done tour.  The last stop on the tour is a tasting room, where you are handed a cup and allowed to sample as much of the products as you wanted via help-yourself-soda-fountains.  Apparently Coca-Cola offers over 4000 products and the tasting room was filled with dozens of those from around the world.   We tried Ugandan soda, Thai apple soda, and some others.     I am not a soda drinker, so I got overwhelmed very quickly in there and ended up on Lucie duty.   Lucie thought it was the coolest place ever and was eager to sample the wares herself or to try to get me to drink more.   It's not a place I feel the need to ever go back to, but it's totally worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Atlanta! 

The next day we headed to Stone Mountain for a hike.   It's a very unique mountain, which is exactly what it sounds like...a mountain made of sheer expanses of stone.   The trek up is a total party with pretty big crowds of people of all ages from the very old to the very young.  The summit has a spectacular view of the surrounding area, including the Atlanta skyline in the distance.

Here are some more random pics...including a beautiful covered bridge we found, my Atlanta postcard export, another one from Stone Mountain, and an adorable one of Ellie and Lucie at church!

Here are a few more random ones, including Glen at the temple (after the rest of us left), Emma and Lucie playing the "Night Night" game where they'd pretend to sleep until Lucie deemed it time to wake up, and us just loving on Lucie as much as possible.  

Not pictured:  The delicious peach crisp the girls made with our Idaho peaches and the super contentious game of CodeNames where it was lamented that no one knew what the LaBrea Tar Pits were and it went over everyone's head that platypuses have eyes! 

Before parting ways, we broke out the Christmas pajamas a little early.  I had bought these in Thailand for everyone and wanted to get a picture with as many of us as possible and since this isn't our Christmas with Cam and family, we figured this was as good as it was going to get!      Lucie was hamming it up big-time, while I, on the other hand, was feeling greasy and gross at the time, so this photo is NOT something you'll see in the Christmas card!! 

Speaking of my favorite grandbaby (for now), I'll finish up with a little Lucie update:   She's 21-months old now and is quite the little charmer!  She recognizes when she does something funny and she'll repeat whatever it was that made us laugh to try and elicit more.  She has quite the vocabulary now and she can repeat almost anything we say...except for Spencer's name...which, for whatever reason, she refuses {with a laugh} to even try.   She's getting a little independent streak {just like her Mom} and she is starting to want to do everything herself...including, buckling herself into her carseat, brushing her hair, feeding herself with a fork, putting on her shoes, and choosing her own clothes.  I love that she watches Cosmo the Cougar videos while her Mommy puts her "piggies" into her hair each morning.   I sure love this girl! 

In case it's not obvious, I really, really, really enjoy being a grandma {and a Mom} and am very grateful for the time we were able to spend together in Atlanta.    Now we just need to figure out a way to do it more often.  💖

Ten Things that Made Me Smile Recently

If you know me in real life or have been following along with this blog for long, you will probably not be surprised to hear that sometimes I struggle to see the bright side of things.  I came from a family of worriers and I think my brain's natural way to see the world is with wariness, lest anything bad is just about to happen. This is not my favorite part of my personality, but it is how I'm wired, so I have to work really hard to maneuver my way around these tendencies and keep from being a Debbie Downer all the time. 

One of the things I try to do regularly, though probably not regularly enough, is to record some things in my life that are going well and that are making me happy.   My favorite way to do this is to keep a daily gratitude journal where I can write one thing from each day that I'm grateful for.   I go in spurts with it, where I'm really good at it for a while, then I get out of routine and it takes me a while to get back to it.   Here are a couple of my daily logs from earlier this year that show you how random I am with it!  

I haven't kept up my daily gratitude journal in a few months, since it, like many of my other good habits I sometimes keep up, seem to fall by the wayside in the summertime.   Lately I've been feeling like it's time to start it back up again, but, first things first, I want to share a few happy things in my life here with all of you!    Blogging is good for my mental health and I like that what I share here gets preserved for future generations, as well as being an outlet for me to get down what's in my very muddled brain!  
 
TEN THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

1.  We just returned from Labor Day weekend in Atlanta and got to spend time with everyone but Adam (on his mission) and Spencer (no luck finding care for Kiwi, his pit-pointer mix).   It was a wonderful weekend exploring,eating good food, and just savoring our time with Cami, Garrett, and Lucie who drove 2-hours to meet us there!  Family time makes me incredibly happy!  Stay tuned for a more detailed blogpost coming soon.

2.  I am grateful that our garden is starting to produce like crazy!   As mentioned in this post, gardening is something I'm not that great at, so I'm always extra happy (and honestly a bit surprised) when we start to reap the harvest in our overgrown and late-planted garden.  Yay for fresh fruits and veggies! 

3.  Speaking of gardening, I went out to do a little weeding the other day (the first time all summer) and I wore my pink overalls and listened to a good audiobook.   Every time I looked down at my happy pink outfit, I would think two things #1--how much I like pink, #2--I should probably just embrace my love of pink and  go see the Barbie movie

4.  On a recent walk, I found this big fancy house with a statue/fountain of Charlie Brown dressed as a Greek god.   It totally made me laugh out loud!  

5.  My 94-year-old grandmother just moved out of my parents' basement  to an assisted living center.  I think it was a very difficult move for her, but with her late-onset dementia and my Dad gone, it was definitely time for a new arrangement.  We stopped by to visit with her the other day and she was so happy to see us.   We brought her her favorite cookies and just chatted with her for a bit.   I am grateful that she has found a place that is nearby and that will meet her needs more fully! 

6.  I know it's a bit weird for me to have taken up sourdough bread baking again (since I can't eat it), but I was really proud of how this recent sourdough pizza crust came out.   The gluten eaters of the family very much approved and the bruschetta topping straight from our garden was absolutely delicious!   I had mine on a gluten free "cauliflower thin"! 😋

7.  I was introduced to the goofy .5 pictures by my niece, McKenzie, but it wasn't until my 2-1/2 weeks in Thailand with 21 young people that I realized how obsessed teens are with them! 😂 Here are a few Ellie recently took, though somehow she "forgot" to take one of herself, so the photo of her in the collage is from Thailand.  

8.  If you knew me from Virginia, you probably know that I'm mildly obsessed with making church programs.  It's an ongoing skill/passion of  mine that makes me laugh because of how utterly useless it is.   I'm not sure anyone  looks at them anyway, but it is a weird little thing that makes me incredibly  happy (and provides a creative outlet for me), so here I am doing them again!    Our ward here in Utah didn't do paper programs at all and refused my offer to make them several times before finally giving into my requests.  I was told, though, that it wasn't the paper program they were wanting, but something for the young women to do at church.  So I make them and the young women distribute them. Haha.  Someday I'll find something to do that matters, but in the meantime I'm happy to give the young women a job! 

Another thing that you probably know if you knew me in Virginia, is that I don't like to use any old art on the cover of the programs.  I like to get the ward members involved and use their original art.   In Virginia, I always had a steady stream of art being submitted to me and I only occasionally had to ask for it.   Here in Utah, however,  I have had a really hard time getting  people here on board with my vision.   I was putting my request in the program every week, sending notes to the primary president, asking people with lots of kids, etc. and getting almost nothing.  Finally, I had the great idea of bribery.   I started adding a note in the program that every person who gave me a picture for the program would get candy.  It took a few weeks to catch on, but I am now officially  the candy lady and I usually have a steady stream of kids bringing me their artwork after sacrament meeting--some of it usable and some not.   And I LOVE IT!   I'm happy to be the weird program making candy lady of the ward! 

9.  I know I mention this a lot, but I love that my body is strong and fit and can walk a million miles.  I've gained some weight since my hysterectomy in December, but it's not for lack of exercise!  My daily walks are a HUGE part of what keeps my mental health on the plus side and I'm thankful to live in a beautiful area that means even my neighborhood walks are scenic!  

10.  Speaking of beautiful morning walks, here are a few things I saw on my walk this morning.   A cute little wild turkey family crossing the road, an apple that fell off a tree inches from my face, a deer that totally froze until I was only a couple feet away from it, a horse that peed so loudly I turned around to see what was making all the noise, a cute baby deer just chilling in someone's yard, and fields of wild sunflowers.  

So there you have it...10 things that have made me smile recently!   Now time to get back to the daily gratitude log!   Have an amazing day! 

{Click here if you want to see some of my other gratitude posts from over the years}