A Happy Swirl of Chaos

I've mentioned here on the blog a few times recently, that life has been in a bit of chaos mode the last few months.   It's not that anything is wrong, it's just that we are long on things to do on our calendar and short on routine and spare time.  As part of that happy swirl of chaos,  in the last month we've had the following houseguests stay with us:  

💗Cami and her family 

💗My cousin, Aaron,  and 2 of his kiddos

💗Cami's sister-in-law, Marissa, and her 2 kiddos

💗My sister-in-law, Mika, and my niece, McKenzie, who was just heading into the Provo MTC

💗Adam, who is in between 2 apartment contracts (#byuhomelessweek)


Honestly, we love hosting people and being able to host is one of my favorite parts about living in Utah.   In addition to the bonus it is to live in a crossroads area, where so many people come and go, we also enjoy having a house with enough beds that we can even host more than one group of people at once, which happened a couple times this summer.  

I didn't take any pics of Aaron or Marissa while they were here, but below you will find pictures galore that show a glimpse of the fun we've had over the last few weeks!  

🐔  One of Lucie's dreams before arriving to Utah was to hold one of our chickens.   We aren't quite sure how that particular activity made it onto her bucket list, but she talked about it incessantly after arriving and we decided that was a dream that was easy to help come true, so we brought her out to the chicken coop bright and early the morning after they arrived.   When it came down to it, she was a little too nervous about actually holding one, but I think sitting close to a chicken and being able to touch it more than satisfied her chicken holding dreams.    Finding the eggs in the nesting box sealed the deal and she was happy as a clam about it all!   

🐴  Lucie's other big Utah dream was to ride a pony.  I had taken her to the farm at Thanksgiving Point a year or two ago, and apparently it was a core memory for her, because she still remembers many of the details of it.   She happily got on the pony and was feeling pretty confident about the whole experience, but about 30 seconds into the ride, we had a little hiccup when one of the ponies got spooked and they all stopped suddenly...  

🐴They took everyone off the ponies and let them chill for a bit without any riders, then allowed them everyone back on again...only this time she was very nervous.   We eventually convinced her to get back on (a different pony) and with her Mom at her side, she was able to overcome her fear and try again.  

🏡We also enjoyed frequent visits from Adam, Emma, Heather, and Rosy-Nanna while Cam was here.   I loved loved loved having the sights and sounds of having a houseful again!   

😣I am so kicking myself that Glen and I didn't hop into these photos my sister, Heather, took while she was visiting one day.   We are still missing Ellie on her mission and Garrett, who hadn't arrived yet, but it was an almost full crew otherwise.  I think it had a good chance of becoming our Christmas card photo this year, but now we will have to see.   I'm thinking a collage...

🍛The night after my cousin, Aaron, and his two boys stayed here, we hosted a YSA dinner at our home.  We loved having the extra sets of hands, with Cam here, to help with the cleaning and prep.    Glen smoked a brisket and we served brisket tacos, roasted corn salad, watermelon, and lemon strawberry shortcake.  The food was VERY well-received and we loved having the YSAs in our home for an evening! 

👶Oliver is at a delightful stage of life (around 18-months-old) and I very much enjoyed watching him learn and grow right before our eyes. He's only been walking for a month or two, but he's quite the adventurer now and I loved hearing him try to say new words.  He was obsessed with our toy cars and he ended up adopting one of the few teddy bears we still had left in the house, after hew grew pretty attached to it during his time here.  He is a sweetie pie!   

👸I also really enjoyed my interactions with Little Miss Sassy Lucie!   She'll be four in a couple months and she is a girl who knows what she wants in life...which is made-up stories, dress-up clothes, all the good food, and no naps!   When she's slept well, she's fun, talkative, and silly.  When she's fighting bedtime or skipping her naps, she can be quite the grump, but she's still pretty darn sweet even when she's grumpy! 

👪Some adventures we went on together included, early morning walks to my Dad's grave and the neighborhood farm where we saw peacocks, camels, horses, cows, etc , Thanksgiving Point to see the butterflies and ride the ponies, meals out on the deck, holding the chickens, a visit to our YSA ward... 

🚗And a  visit to Midway to hang out with Cami's sisters-in-law and Lucie and Oliver's cousins.  We visited the Ballerina Farm Store, where we got some good food.  Then we mostly just window shopped at several cute boutiques.     Marissa, Annie Grace, and Jack stayed with us one of those nights too.  

🌄Cami and Adam hiked Kyhv Peak together.  Spence started out with them, but ended up turning back before they reached the top.  I think they both really enjoyed the sunset hike together.  

😐After a few days, Cami and her family took off for a B family reunion at Sundance.  It was sad knowing they were so close, yet mostly out of reach, but we tried to embrace sharing them like the mature adults we are (most of the time).  We did join them for a dinner one night in the canyon, which was fun, because we love Garrett's family and it was fun to be able to spend a little bonus time with them!   (a couple of these photos are from the evening in the canyon, but, sadly, I did not take many).  

💕Then Mika and McKenzie came to stay with us for a few days!   McKenzie had just finished Home MTC and was heading to Provo MTC before her mission to Gilbert, AZ.  It was delightful to have a missionary in our home again for a bit and I very much enjoyed the time to catch up with my sister-in-law, Mika!   We miss living close to them!   Sadly, they just missed seeing Cami and kids, as McKenzie's drop-off time was at the exact time Cami had a couple hours back here at home before we  drove them to the airport.   

👴👵As per usual, we loved the opportunity to be Gigi and Papa in real life.   It's fun to send postcards and do Facetimes with them  when they are far away, but there's nothing quite like the snuggles, giggles, and  general silliness that come with spending time together in the same house

💗💗💗

Summer Update on Glen!

I recently did a whole series on what my family is up to this summer and never got to Glen, so here is his update... (Other updates can be found here...   Ellie,   Adam, Emma,  Cami , Spencer)

Glen had a birthday in June and Emma made him this beautiful cake!   

White chocolate raspberry is one of his favorite flavor combinations and it was quite tasty!   

Most of my family are big Brandon Sanderson fans and Glen is no exception.  He doesn't have a lot of spare time for reading currently, so it took him a good 6 months to get through his latest, "Wind and Truth."  Glen was very proud and happy to finish up that 1500 page tome!  

Back in mid-June, Glen's family had an impromptu family reunion in Colorado!  His parents are both in failing health and when his family realized that a couple of the out of town siblings were going to be there at the same time, they decided to make it an official gathering and see if they could get the whole crew at once.   Most of his five siblings don't love to travel, so it had been 7 years since the last time they were all together and there was no way Glen was going to miss that!  He flew straight from a business trip in San Diego to Colorado for approximately 36 hours.  

They spent time at both their Mom's and Dad's homes...

And even recreated this iconic G family pyramid picture...old person style!   

Here's a grandkid version of it from the early 2000's.   

It sounded like the trip was a great experience and a joy for them to be all together again.  

In addition to the work and church stuff that keeps him busy on a day -to -day basis, he also still loves to fish, play Magic the Gathering with Spence and Adam (and Garrett when he's in town), go golfing when he's got a buddy to play with, play disc golf with Spence, and play Pokemon Go.  He's been playing Pokemon Go long enough that he's reached the top level and is basically an expert.   He also walks with me most mornings, which is a habit/tradition that I love...time to connect and exercise together at the same time!  

Glen's a good one and I'm glad he's mine!  

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Our Fourth and Climbing Kyhv Peak

Between lots of out of town visitors, planning for some upcoming travel, some health stuff with my Mom, two of our kids moving, and some other random time consuming responsibilities, life has been a bit chaotic lately.   For a while, I kept hoping that things would calm down once we got past a few certain calendar items, but now it's looking like the pace is about to escalate even further.  And on an indefinite basis.   As such, it's definitely going to be harder to find the time to sit down and blog, however, I still have the desire to keep up with it, so here I go adding blogging to my to-do list, so it actually happens in between all the other things!  

This blogpost will be all about our Independence Day happenings.   

Glen and I decided to take advantage of his day off and do some hiking in the mountains.  We log a lot of miles in a week walking around our community on our morning walks, but it's actually pretty rare for us to venture into the mountains.  It's mostly time and a little bit of an intimidation factor that keeps us away, so the holiday was a perfect excuse to set all that aside and hike Kyhv Peak (formerly known as Squaw Peak).  

Adam had told us that it was the perfect hike for someone at our level (generally fit, but not super into hiking mountains).    

Some of the uphills were definitely challenging, but with views like this along the way... 

we did our best to enjoy the journey...

The view from the top was lovely in all directions...

And it was fun that we arrived to the peak at the same time as some college kids who'd toted a flag up there for the Fourth.   They were kind enough to let us take a few pics with it, so we felt a little extra festive.

I slipped in some loose gravel on the way down and ended up with a minor sprained ankle.  Luckily, it wasn't too bad and I was able to make my way to the car without difficulty.  The pain didn't actually set in until later and I did end up hobbling around for a bit, but I'm back to 100% again now, so thankfully it wasn't too bad.   

Because of my hurt ankle, we just hung around home the rest of the day while I put my foot up.   Despite the injury, I consider the hike a success and we would totally recommend that hike for someone looking to hike a mountain without committing to an all-day adventure!   

 And that was pretty much a wrap for our Fourth, so here's a look at other family members' experiences.  

Cami and family had just barely moved to Rhode Island a week or two before, so they spent the day in a cute New England town, just exploring and enjoying the old town vibes, including a parade and fireworks!  

Lucie was a little cutie pie in the festive clothes I'd sent in a package for the occasion ! 

 

Emma did a little hike with her friends...

And went to the balloon festival...

Adam had to work during the day, but spent the evening with friends...

Ellie (currently known as Hermana G) didn't do much in the way of celebrating that day, but this photo is dated July 4th, so shows a little glimpse of the amazing things she was up to that day!  

I have no pics of Spence from that day, but he did have the day off, so I'm sure it was enjoyed!  

And that is all for this blogpost.  

Have a beautiful day!  

Mid-Summer Visit from Some of Our Favorites

A few weeks ago, my sister and her kiddos came to visit!  Then my brother joined the fun.    

As always with their visits, it meant life got a little extra chaotic for a bit, but it was a {mostly} happy chaos, so we loved it!  

Highlights of the visit included: 

* lots of time with J, Manuel, and Isaiah!

* Denali LOVED all the extra attention with them there

* With three of the four C. girls (and Mom) there, it meant we got to do a lot of talking time

*  My Legos got well-loved again 

*  We took a trip to the aquarium

*  Silliness and potty humor was abundant

* I got to expand my repertoire of music to way more "exciting" genres (according to I, M, and J anyway)

*   Lots of combined family dinners and culinary offerings not normally found at our house...

*  Pete came to town and we  had a big family dinner down in Provo to include the college kids

* 7 of the 10 boy cousins were all together...just missing Ben, Jack, and Lincoln

* Had 2 of the 8 girl cousins together...just missing Cam, Ellie, McKenzie, Lauren, Bridgette, and Anna

*  4 of the 8 siblings together!   

*  We don't see Pete often enough, so it was fun to have him there! 

* Pete's son, Davin, is a superstar baseball player who had come to participate in a BYU sports camp.

Lowlights included: 

*  I had a  major meltdown that I can only assume was fueled by hormones,  lack of sleep, and lack of routine.  It was of the epic sort I have only once every few years, so that was stupid.  I got to practice all the skills I had recently learned in my emotional resilience class at church (FSITL).  

* Nate came into town a few hours after Pete and Davin left, so we barely missed having 5/8 of the siblings together

In other news:  

* Some big changes are happening and life has taken a turn for busyness in the extreme and the next few months/years are going to be crazy {and good...we hope!}  I'll probably share more details eventually...

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Breaking Down the Wall

  I've mentioned this here a few times here before, but we recently got called to serve in a YSA ward down at BYU.   This has absolutely been a time consuming, but life-changing / life-enhancing calling for us and we feel so deeply blessed to be able to serve in this way.   

This post will be a little glimpse about this new part of our lives: 

If you are a fellow member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then you are probably aware that in recent years, there has been a big initiative to help young people become more independent in their participation with the church, as well as in the development of their testimonies.   Youth teach more lessons, plan their own activities, and, in general, have more opportunities to lead.   It's no different with the YSAs (young single adults).  Us older adults are just there to mentor and train, while they lead and serve in the way they feel inspired to lead! 

My specific calling is to work with the Relief Society presidencies to train them straight from the handbook, to be there as a mentor, and to just love them.  And loving them is easy, because they are some of the most down-to-earth, fantastic people on earth.   

I haven't actually taken a whole lot of pictures with them, but this past week or two, I decided I need to change that.  These pictures are me with the RS presidency (in shifts, since we couldn't all meet at the same time that night)

Susie, Me, Malia, and Zuzu

This night we were out making visits to ward members.  We brought birthday treats to those with birthdays, visited a new member who'd just moved in, and then just visited with some members they felt inspired to visit.   We did some of the visits together and split ways for some of the others.   

Me, Malia, Allison, and Zuzu

I send a lot of postcards in my new calling--for birthdays, after talks and lessons, for encouragement, for good luck, thank yous, etc.   I figure it's a way to serve that's authentically me and it makes me super happy when one of the members of the ward mentions receiving one in the mail.  I even designed my own batch of postcards and had them printed for  this calling!  😁

We spend a lot of time down in Provo now (2-4 times per week), including this recent stake pool party...

This group is mostly members of our ward

This is a group of Emma's friends from the same pool party. (She's in a different ward in the same stake)

The pool party ended up quite stormy, so the actual time in the water was very short, but it was a fun experience anyway! 

Ward members:  Karris, Malia, and I at the pool party

The YSAs take care of most of the details for planning, serving, and leading within the ward and stake, but us older adults definitely help with some logistical things...like buying a bunch water and fruit at Costco for the pool party.  

I love the opportunity to participate in ward temple days with them...

I also love participating in things like a recent ward camp-out (something they don't do in our regular Utah ward)...

Adam is not actually in our same stake or ward, but we've talked him into coming to a few of our ward activities (including the ward camp-out).  We figure that we may as well use our proximity to another big group of YSAs to expand his network  of people as well!   

We are busier than we've ever been before, especially as empty-nesters, but serving in this way has cracked open the wall I keep around myself (that's been even higher here in Utah) and I can feel my heart opening up.  💗

One more thing to add to the tally list for good parts about living in Utah.   The list is slowly growing.