Eastering Together

Since becoming empty nesters, we honestly  go through some pretty dry spells where our lives are pretty uneventful, but lately it's been a pretty steady stream of nonboringness and we are enjoying it!  In fact, it's felt a bit like a whirlwind here the last month or so, so there's a ton to blog about.

This post will focus on the happenings of Easter weekend.  

On the Friday before Easter, my sister Heather was down in Provo with my Mom taking Emma's graduation pics (more of the recent excitement) and we decided to join them for a spontaneous little dinner and treat night.  Besides Heather, my Mom, and Emma, McKenzie (my niece), Riley (Emma's roommate), Adam, Spencer, and Glen and I were there.  We ate dinner at Don Joaquin's...

and laughed when our receipt was #74, which induced a lot of giggles on our parts...

We ended the night at Brooker's Founding Flavors ice cream shop near BYU.  Zwahlens in PA is still our gold standard for the best ice cream ever, but Brooker's isn't too far behind.  Plus the colonial / Founding Fathers theme of the shop makes us nostalgic for the DC area.   We were there on the snowy day mentioned here, so it wasn't great ice cream weather, but the place was still packed and we laughed that they had an outdoor DJ there that night.   

It was way too cold to be sitting outside and eating ice cream, but we chatted with the DJ on the way out and were impressed that they were celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere that night.  

I doubt any of you blog readers have been around long enough to remember that Emma was OBSESSED with the poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow back in the day!   We both could quote several stanzas of the poem from memory and I had to pull up this picture I found here on the blog to pass around to everyone!    "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere..." 

Then on Easter Sunday we attended our new YSA ward and LOVED it!   The talks and music were Christ centered and beautiful.   I think we are going to really enjoy this season of serving down at BYU. 

After church, we hosted dinner for 12 people!    Guests besides Glen, Emma, Spence, Adam, and I, included our niece, McKenzie, my sister, Heather, my Mom, my cousin, Trisha, and her 2 daughters Lily and Sylvie, plus Adam's roommate, Ty.

Glen woke up at 2am to  smoke  brisket and later made mashed potatoes, Heather brought rolls, and I made broccoli salad, pie,cupcakes.  Adam, Emma, and McKenzie were our sous chefs.  Everything was delicious and we ate well! 

It was so fun to get these first and second cousins together again. 

Meanwhile, in Alabama...the B family was enjoying their own Easter.  Yes, Cami and I were wearing matching dresses that we both bought on a recent sale!    And Cami sewed Lucie and Oliver's matching outfits!    Apparently Lucie had the time of her life with all the Easter celebrations, but Oliver wasn't so sure...

And, in California, Ellie was busy teaching people about Jesus, while celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.   She, along with the other missionaries serving in her ward, ended up performing a musical number in the Easter sacrament service without any previous notice.  Overall it sounded like she had a beautiful day. 

It turned out to be a lovely weekend with  a lot of good food, lots of reflection on the atonement of our Savior, and  with lots of good company... just the way Easter should be!  💗

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A New Reason

Sometimes I laugh to think that we live in Utah now.  It was certainly never the intention and there are still elements of Utah life we aren't sure we'll ever get used to.   Having said that though, there is no doubt in our minds that, for various reasons, we are exactly where we are supposed to be right now.   Being close to my Mom is one of the main reasons.   And we also really like living close to our college kids, though I'm sure they would do just fine without us here too.  Most of the other reasons are fluffy, like liking the scenery, the quiet neighborhood, the laid-backness (compared to DC), and having temples in all directions!    

Then in the past couple weeks we gained another reason...

We just got called to serve in a BYU YSA ward!

It is going to mean a pretty major lifestyle change for us, with a lot of driving back and forth to Provo, but it instantly felt peaceful the second the calling was extended and we anticipate that it will be very meaningful way for us to serve.  Plus, we'll serve in it together, which makes it feel a bit like a mission...something we hope to do together someday! 

In the meantime, we get to attend church with some of the most amazing people on earth and we are loving it! 

A Snowy Day in April

Once upon a time there was a girl who spent most of her growing up years in Minnesota.  She took great pride in having an extensive collection of cozy sweaters and an excellent tolerance to cold.  

Later, when the time came, she headed to BYU for college.   She was immediately underwhelmed with Utah winters and loved to tell her friends how wimpy they were compared to "real" winters in Minnesota.   She laughed when others became alarmed when experiencing the sensation of their nose hairs freezing  for the first time when they took a roommate trek to Idaho.   Pshaw!   That happened all the time in Minnesota.

Yeah, she was no doubt quite an annoying person to be around sometimes.      

Then she moved to the DC area, where she spent the next 25ish years experiencing a true four season climate.   Yes, it would get cold in the winter, but generally only in the winter and everything would get canceled if it snowed at all, so they could stay warm and cozy at home.  Yes, it was hot and sometimes miserably humid in the summer, but only in the summer.   And Virginia falls and the springs were glorious and long!   She got spoiled.

Then they moved to Utah and she quickly realized that Utah winters, though not as cold as Minnesota's, were not as wimpy as they had been in her memories.  The Utah springs and falls have moments of intense glory, but they get overshadowed by winter a whole heck of a lot more often than she remembered.    And somewhere during those ensuing years, her aging body seemed to have lost all tolerance to temperatures below about 75°.  I think that, perhaps,  she just used up that tolerance in the first 18 years of her life. 

So what happens when that completely cold-intolerant, done-with-winter girl wakes up on April 18th to a sight like this?     

After grumping around the house for a bit, she pulls back out her winter clothes, pastes a fake smile on her face...

and turns her morning walk into a photographing-snow-on-flowers walk.  

Because, it was either that or crying...

And that didn't sound fun.    Hope you all had a beautiful Easter! 

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General Conference Weekend-April 2025

After raising a big family, it's still kind of weird being empty nesters.  I often get a little disconcerted when it's too quiet in the house,  and I'm glad our neighbors have kids who play outside a lot, because somehow that happy noise makes me feel a little more at home. And I do have to admit that I really enjoy living close enough to our college kids to get to see them on a regular basis.   Emma and Adam often come up for Sunday dinner and, unlike with our older two kids, we actually get to meet a lot of their college friends.   

 Adam started hosting friends here for General Conference weekend back when he was a freshman at BYU and I'm really happy that he's picked it back up after his mission. It was a lot of  work getting beds ready and bathrooms scrubbed for the big crowd to stay the weekend, but it's so fun once they get here, that we don't mind the work a bit! 

Over the course of the weekend, we had about 15 people who came and went, but there was a core group of about 6 that stayed the whole time.  I wish I'd thought to take pictures of everyone before they left, but there are several people not pictured here. 

During October General Conference, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen getting ready for meals with the group.  We wanted to try to  avoid that this year, so I did most of the kitchen prep in days leading up to their arrival.  That meant making several loaves of banana bread, making a few pans of honey-lime enchiladas, baking lots of cookies, and doing some chopping for another meal.   Everything ended up coming together very smoothly and we liked simplifying the work we did while everyone was here.  The food all got eaten up or sent home with people! 

I actually pulled myself together this year and created and printed a bunch of  General Conference activity packets for this conference.  I brought them around to several neighbors, but had a few left for the college kiddos to use if they so chose. 

A few of them were into them and several people tried my super hard word search...

I was really happy when my niece, McKenzie, and her roommate came up for one of the sessions.  She just got her mission call to Gilbert, Arizona, and we were really happy to see her again! 

Glen and I watched upstairs, so the youngsters could have their space in the theater room downstairs.  We didn't take many pics down there, but here's a glimpse...  It's a big room that can seat a lot of people and you can kind of see the side table full of snacks in the second picture.  Next time I'll get better pics!

After the last session, a few of them hiked up to Horsetail Falls and came back a bit muddy and wet.  

It was a full weekend.  A full house.  Full hearts.  Full tummies.   Full spirits.     Can't wait for October!  
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Click here to see General Conferences of years' past.   

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Gardens and Temples and Other Fun Springy Things

Spring is finally here and I am loving it!    Never mind that it snowed last week...this week the weather is beautiful and that's what I'm embracing today!   What does Spring mean for me?   It means increasing my mileage on my morning walks (30+ miles a week)...

thinking about summer endeavors, and, this year, finally thinking ahead to our garden.   As I've mentioned before, we are pretty lazy gardeners, so consider the next thing I tell you as somewhat miraculous!  

I STARTED SEEDLINGS THIS YEAR!

This is literally my first time ever starting our garden from seeds, so forgive me if I sound like I'm bragging a bit.  Because I am.   Neither of us are yard and garden people and any garden we've ever had before has been planted and kept alive (or not) by fits of inconsistent efforts and a good dose of  luck.   So please pat me on the back and tell me how amazing I am to not have to BUY starters from the store this year. 

I'm so excited about it that I even bought another tray and am going to plant more.   Go me.  Now all I have to do is keep them alive until planting time (which is about mid-May here in Utah), then keep them alive in the garden all summer.  

Wish me luck.  I need it. 

On a completely different note,  here are a few other random tidbits from the last couple weeks.  

The hockey season is ending soon and it finally worked for me to attend a game with Glen.   And Utah Hockey Club even won, so that made it extra fun. 

Adam ran into my cousin's daughters one Sunday when he was attending a different ward.  They hadn't seen each other in several years, but somehow recognized each other nonetheless!

We immediately invited them over for Sunday dinner at our house, so we could reconnect as well. 

Oh, and I like that we still share a camera roll with Emma and Adam...

Here Adam is with friends the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork.

And a temple selfie...

And another temple selfie with Emma...

I know I mentioned it in my last blogpost, but Ellie recently attended the temple for the first time on her mission since the MTC, but since I already shared that picture of her,  here's another cute one of her from this past week.   She seems really happy.

 I know it was completely random, but that is all for my update today!  I hope you all have an amazing week and weekend!  

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Adjusting Back to Real Life and the Literal Worst Picture Ever Taken

 It's been nearly a month since we've been home from our grand European adventure, which means life kept  rolling forward while I kept blogging about our trip and I am a little behind here.  I know you all have missed the updates about our super exciting lives, but, never fear, I am here to get you all caught up again!   

We got back home right after the USA had switched to Daylight Savings Time, which effectively meant one fewer hours of jetlag to adjust to, but that little difference didn't seem that helpful in reality.  The day AFTER we'd gotten home (after sleeping in our bed for one night, but still feeling quite topsy turvy about what time it was compared to what time our bodies thought it was), I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror around 8pm (about 2am according to my body) and literally gasped in horror, then started cracking up.   I looked AMAZING!  😂😭😂😱😂 

 Haha!  I hope sharing this picture doesn't come back to haunt me, but this picture is a pretty accurate depiction of those first few days of being back!    It's okay to laugh...just remember the circumstances.  😆

So after a week mostly filled with laundry, shopping, getting back to cooking our own meals again, giving Denali extra cuddles, getting ready for book group at our house (2 days after returning), avoiding naps, and being completely exhausted every evening...we finally started to feel more "normal" again. 

What is normal?   

Well, we did a Belgium vs. Ireland chocolate taste test and unanimously agreed that Belgian chocolate wins.   We probably shouldn't have been surprised by that fact, but the Irish chocolate looked so tasty, we were a little surprised that Belgium won so handily.  

I spontaneously made a pie to celebrate Pi Day on 3/14, but it turned out about how you'd expect a pie made by a  jet-lagged /haggard / exhausted woman not following a recipe to look...

Luckily it tasted better than it looked and we had no trouble eating it.  

Speaking of food...while the adjustment back to making every single meal, every single day was a little rough, my body very much appreciated getting back to eating tasty, minimally processed foods again.  I especially missed my breakfasts while traveling, which are generally  hearty, wholesome,  and nutritionally dense.  This veggie filled omelet Glen made one Saturday morning was as pretty as it was delicious, so I had to take a picture!  😋😋😋😋😋😋

Glen worked some while we were on our trip, but definitely got a little behind and has been playing catch-up  since being home.  One night, Glen challenged me to a game of Scrabble, then got lost putting out a figurative fire at work, so Spence played with me instead.   Our kids do not enjoy  Scrabble the competitive way Glen and I play, so we played fast and loose with the rules.   

We didn't keep score and threw in a few proper nouns for good measure...but it was fun!   We'll have to play that way more often to get the kids to join in!

Since being home, Glen has been on not one, but TWO additional  trips--one for work and one to help with his Mom, who is in poor health.     And last week his "right hand man" at work just unexpectedly quit.    In other words...his stress level is high and I am hoping he is able to find his balance soon.  It's hard watching him feel so much stress and feeling helpless to do much, other than loving and supporting him.  

On a brighter note, Ellie recently started the second transfer of her mission and got a new roommate and a new companion in the process--a missionary roommate is a missionary who lives in the same apartment, but is in a different companionship. 

from left to right:  Hermana C. (Ellie's companion), Hermana P., Ellie, and Hermana W.

Anyway, she learned that Hermana W.'s family lives within sight of our house!   They're in another ward and relatively new to the area, but I immediately reached out and had her Mom over for lunch one day.  

It was delightful to meet a fellow missionary Mom and  we bonded over the fact that both of our daughters have had significant health challenges in their lives.  Her daughter has a prosthetic foot, which is much different than Ellie's epilepsy, but both indicative of strong young women overcoming challenges to serve the Lord! 💗 

Speaking of Ellie, she seems very happy on her mission.   

 

 It sounds like the Spanish is coming along decently well and it's made my Mom heart happy to watch her grow and stretch in this way!    She doesn't have a temple in her mission boundaries, but was recently able to attend the Los Angeles Temple, which was a highlight for her. 

Okay, okay.  I said I was catching everything up here, but I need to be done for today.   I am trying hard to keep things like blogging in balance in my life, so consider this catch-up post #1.  I anticipate an additional 1-2 more, before I'm back to blogging about more recent happenings.  

HAVE AN AMAZING DAY!   THANKS FOR TUNING IN TODAY!  💗