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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Between Alaska and Camp

 Letter to Cami:   June 25, 2017

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Hi, Cami!

How has your week been? Are you back up and running with a new ipad yet? Hopefully you've been able to see the photos and videos we've shared over the last couple of weeks. If not, let me know what the last thing you got was and we will try to re-upload whatever you didn't receive.

So, we can't wait to hear about this upcoming transfer. We assume that you'll likely stay there since Soeur Wadsworth is going home and you're a STL, but who knows? Let me know if you think I should send all of your letters to the mission home this week just to be safe. I already mentioned this in my previous email, but please also let me know where you'd like me to send your next package to and if there's anything specific you'd like me to include in it. I can wait to send it until you hear officially where you'll be.

Dad's at the cabin in Idaho this weekend. It's been a little sad not to have him home on his birthday, but I think he's really enjoying the time he's been able to spend with his siblings. He comes home tomorrow.

 

Adam heads to scout camp bright and early tomorrow morning. Emma goes up to YW camp tomorrow afternoon and Ellie and I head up on Tuesday! It should be a fun week full of camping. I'm happy at least that the weather forecast doesn't look too horrible for my 5th YW camp in a row!

It was fun to officially meet Madeleine M. on Thursday.

 

 I felt bad because the only day she was available was the day our AC was getting replaced, which meant we were stuck at home in a stiflingly hot house, but she was a good sport and came anyway. She is beautiful and very prim and proper and we loved her British/French accent. She is doing much better health-wise and actually attended Julliard part-time this past semester. Apparently she still has to undergo regular treatment for her AML and travels back-and-forth quite a bit for that, but it was great to see her healthy enough for a visit! Spencer seemed to really enjoy meeting her too, and I enjoyed seeing Spence act "grown up" in her presence.

Here's your weekly update on everyone:


Dad--got home from Alaska, got sick with a bad cold (which made it hard for him to breathe), worked his tail off for two days, then took off for Idaho. We've seen very little of him this past week and will see even less of him this upcoming week. :( Hopefully it'll be a bit quieter after camps are over.

Me--I got all excited to start cooking again when we got home from vacation, but unfortunately the only thing cooking was us! Our AC broke while we were on vacation and it was 85° in here when we got home. It was a loooooooong couple of roasty toasty days, in which I forbade anyone from turning on the oven or stove. We've had a few homecooked meals since it was fixed on Thursday night, but I daresay our kitchen is feeling somewhat neglected currently.

Spence--I think he really enjoyed Alaska. He's been playing a lot of video games since he's been home and seemed to really enjoy Madeleine's visit on Thursday. He needs a purpose.

Emma--She loved Alaska and missed cooking even more than I did. When I finally gave the green light for using the stove/oven again, she went on a cooking super spree. She not only planned the menu for the next few days, but she also went to the grocery store and did all the shopping herself, and she's been making every item of food herself (until tonight, when I finally got to make something).

Adam--He's always been pretty mature for his age, but recently he's been extra mature. He still loves to make sure everyone is following the rules, including being the main enforcer of Ellie's medicine intake, but he also is calm and likes to make sure things are running smoothly. He doesn't complain when we ask him to help out and I've gotten several compliments lately on how mature/helpful he is. He's also quite the calm social presence as well. He's not girl-crazy, but loves to go to every dance and ask girls to dance for every slow song. He's also good at recruiting his friends to come and ask girls too.

Ellie--As usual, she's growing up fast. You will be surprised at how grown up she is when you get home. She talks about fashion and boys and music, and all other sorts of teen-agey type of things to talk about. She's also still a little obsessed with her dystopian novel du jour, which means we hear all about Divergent too! She wears high heels to church (now that her feet are SIZE 9!!!!!!) and loves to curl her hair.  

We love you and hope you're having a wonderful week! I was happy to hear that G. was happy with his MCAT score! Hope they're having a great trip to Italy!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love,
Mom


Here are another couple of random photos:

This one was taken on a Saturday morning hike with AnnaLisa from Carderock to Great Falls and back (about 7 miles).    

 

 

This was at a little swimming hole we went to with friends....

 

Top 10 of Cabin Life

The cabin in Island Park, Idaho is a family treasure.   

Glen's maternal grandparents built it themselves many years ago and Glen's been going to it every few years since he was a child.  Because of how far it is from home, we don't get to it as often as we'd like, but over the years we have made a lot of irreplaceable memories there.   Here are a few from our trip there this summer (Aug. 10-15, 2015).

    

 TOP TEN AWESOME THINGS ABOUT THE CABIN 

(in no particular order):  

10. The hammock.  

 What better way is there to relax outside than a cozy hammock big enough for three?  My kids consider the hammock one of their favorite things about the cabin and it is not infrequent to find one of them out there taking a nap on it!   When Cami had a fever for a few days, she spent a lot of time there on the hammock!

9.  Wazowie!  

 Glen's grandpa used to give him a big giant underdog push on the swing and yell, "WAZOWIE!!!" as he let go.    Glen told the kids about that memory one day and now he's constantly giving "Wazowie" pushes whenever we visit the cabin.   Probably more than he cares to.  But it's something the kids love, so he does it anyway! 

8.  Yellowstone.   

 Island Park is only about 20-minutes away from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, so we always like to spend at least a couple of the days we are at the cabin touring around the park.  We love the beautiful drives, hikes, and gorgeous vistas! 

7.  Wildlife 

Bison, moose, elk, zebra, great gray owl, bald eagles, prairie dogs, marmots...we love all the wildlife we see around the cabin!  Most of it we see in Yellowstone, but the two moose were actually in Henry's Fork of the Snake River near Macks Inn and the great gray owl and bald eagle were right in the backyard of the cabin!   

6.  Campfires

Every time we sit around a campfire, I always think that we should make them more often.  I love the conversations and the delicious fire-roasted food! 

5. Being Outside

The thick humidity and swarms of  bugs that are par for the course during DC summers, are noticeably absent in the West.    It did get pretty hot during the day, but it didn't have the same oppressive feel and the cooler (bug-free) evenings made it downright delightful to be outdoors!  

4.   Fishing! 

Glen is a fisherman at heart and he tries to work a little fishing into every vacation we go on.  We've been fishing in some pretty amazing places over the years--New Zealand, Asheville,  Canada, Minnesota, etc.      The crystal clear waters around Island Park though, are home to some of the best freshwater fishing in the entire world.  Henry's Fork of the Snake River is just a stone's throw from the cabin,  and most, if not all,  of my children have caught their first fish right under the bridge at Macks Inn.   

You can't fish at Big Springs, but we love to go see the amazingly pure water right as it bubbles from the earth and the large fish that  thrive there in the clear water that manages to stay 52º F year round!   

3.  The "stray" dogs-

-they aren't actually stray, but it's small towny enough that the neighbors let them wander freely and my kids took full advantage.   My kids loved friendly snuggles and games of fetch, and I loved that it helped alleviate a little of their sadness at leaving our own canine at home.   

2.  The Playmill in West Yellowstone!   

We saw performances of Mary Poppins (see below) and Damn Yankees (because you know me and how I like dams).   We love the small theater homey feel and we especially love the fun atmosphere and high quality performances.   We try to go to at least one performance every time we're in town.

1.   FAMILY!!!!  

 This is the best part of all.   We picked up Grandma Sandy in Denver on the way there and Aunt Lara and family flew in from California to join us.  We absolutely LOVED having them there and were especially excited to meet Carissa (1) and Caleb (3)  for the first time!   We are already looking forward to our next visit!