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.  

Spencer's Summer Update

Hello, friends!  Welcome back for the next installment in our series of  What Our Family is Up To where I go person by person and give a little update on what our family is doing this summer.  You can see previous updates  here:  
 Ellie
 Adam
 Emma 
 Cami 

...and if I get my act together, I'll do updates on Glen and I soon too, but in the meantime, here's SPENCER!   

NOTE:  Spencer has not outgrown his aversion to picture taking, so his update will be less pictorial than the rest.   

  For the last couple years Spence had been working as a relationship banker at a local branch of a big bank, which gave him some great experience and proved to be a  confidence booster for him. However it did not prove to be as upwardly mobile as promised when he was hired and he did not enjoy getting shuffled around to work at several different local branches, despite being hired to work at the branch 5 minutes from home.  

Eventually, he decided it was time for a change and he quickly found a job in a related field, but not before winning a prestigious performance award at his old job.   The reaction of his soon-to-be former manager when he found out about the award confirmed to him that he'd made the right decision by leaving.  

His new job seems very promising.  Not only have most of his co-workers worked there many years (which seems like a good sign), but part of the training is helping him receive licensing and certification that will increase his earning potential and future marketability, wherever he works.   He also enjoys working from home every-other-week, so the longer commute is less of a factor than it would otherwise be.   

The last couple of years he's gotten a few tattoos--each of which has special meaning to him.  

In addition to being busy with a new job, Spence has been enjoying the long hours of daylight by taking Kiwi out on long walks most days.  He still loves to read, listen to podcasts, play disc-golf, rock-climb at the gym, and play Magic the Gathering whenever he can talk Glen and/or Adam into joining him!   

His health remains good and we enjoy having him live close! 

Cam's Big Summer Update

Alright, here we go with the next installment in our series of  What Our Family is Up To where I go person by person and give a little update on what we're all doing this summer.  You can see previous updates on Ellie, Adam, and Emma here and more will be coming soon.     This update is the only one that will feature more than one person, since Cami now has a couple cute little attachments (and a tall handsome one) that come along with her on her life adventures!  

Speaking of cute little family members, I guess I'll start off with the family pictures they had taken in May.  They were taken by a photographer friend of theirs on the grounds of the apartment complex they've lived in the last 3 years (Tributary Rise).  They turned out quite adorably if you ask me and it's fun that the photos captured a glimpse of the place that they've grown to love so much!   

 Next, I'll get on to the biggest family update of all...

 In June, Garrett finished up his internal medicine residency at the University of Alabama - Birmingham and Cami worked her last day as a nurse at Children's of Alabama and they packed up their apartment and moved approximately 1200 miles northeast for Garrett's fellowship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.   

The moving crew consisted of 5 full-time missionaries, Garrett's parents, and of course Cami and Garrett...

And Lucie and Oliver...

Sadly, Rhode Island is approximately 500 miles further away from us, but I am happy to report that plane tickets there are cheaper and more plentiful than they were to Birmingham, so we are taking that as a win!  

Plus their state bird is a chicken, so that's fun... 😆

They took three days to drive to Rhode Island, hitting a new state along the way (South Carolina), visited Garrett's sister Ashley and family in North Carolina, and spent a night in Virginia where they visited the house we raised our family in...

and visited with AnnaLisa and Tim where Lucie and Oliver apparently charmed the socks off them and quite enjoyed playing with Tim's cat, Ash...

Then on Monday, they rolled up to the house they'll likely be living in for the next 3 years!   It's old and doesn't have AC or a dishwasher, but after apartment living for the last several years, they're excited to have a little room to run around!   

In the meantime, Oliver started walking (finally!) and Lucie is really excited to make new friends.   I was also quite delighted with Lucie's reaction (shown above) when she received her first postcard from me in their new mailbox.   She didn't realize that postcards could come to Rhode Island too!   Each new discovery of something familiar in Rhode Island (like a farm, Lifetime Fitness, primary, etc), makes her happy!

Now, I am eagerly trying to figure out when I can come visit  my favorite  new New Englanders!