April 2021 UPDATES!

Here's a glimpse at April 2021 for our family!   It was a busy month!  

1--We finished our Spring Break trip to the northeast  with our first ever trek to Martha's Vineyard!

The Gingerbread Cottage Village on Martha's Vineyard totally stole my heart.  CUTEST HOUSES EVER!!! 

This pink one was our favorite! 

We also visited an Alpaca Farm, which was an absolutely delightful way to spend an afternoon!

And what's a trip to an island in the Northeast, without a trek to a lighthouse or two?   

2--Glen got a job....in Utah.   Actually I think he officially was offered it back at the end of March, but he started working remotely this month.   We are excited to be closer to most of our kids, but we have very mixed feelings about moving to Utah.  

3--We got out-of-town visitors!   Pete / Mika and family and Kristina and family came for Easter and brought lots of energy, laughter, and fun to our house!   We loved taking them to see the sites and introducing them to Pennsylvania (even if it was right before we moved)!  It was an absolutely delightful trip and we LOVED this glimpse of normalcy amongst all the craziness the last year has brought. 

4--We babysat regularly for our sweet neighbors, the Richards,  while their mom and dad got ready for their impending move to Utah (a few weeks before ours). We absolutely loved the giggles and happy conversations they brought into our home during the time we were neighbors.  I 100% feel that they were one of the reasons we needed to live in Pennsylvania.  

5--Glen went on a big fishing trip to North Carolina with his friend, Ryan.  It was planned for LAST April, but COVID canceled it and he was thrilled to make it happen this year.  They deemed it a successful trip (as you can see by the pictures)!  

6--We got vaccinated!    I'll be the first to admit that we were a little hesitant about getting the COVID vaccine at first.  It seemed too rushed and I wasn't keen on being a living science experiment, but ultimately we felt like it was the right thing to do for our family.   All of us except one of our adult children (who shall remain unnamed here on the blog) ended up getting it.   I have no regrets.   

7--We found out that we're going to be grandparents in December!!!  We are so incredibly excited for Cami and Garrett! 

8--We went on a house hunting trip to Utah and bought a house!  (this is the view off our back porch)

More excitement to come...

Life Update--March 2021

WRITTEN MARCH 2021 

Okay, so I guess I'm struggling to get back to any sort of routine on here again.  I really like having the record for my family, but it feels overwhelming to always be playing catch-up, so I'll just keep randomly posting when I can.   

Here's a little update for each of us:   

Glen:  He's still between jobs, actively seeking to find whatever the "next right thing" is.  It's been fun to have him home.    The job search has heated up significantly the last few weeks and so has our stress level. 

Lara: I've been feeling a little restless lately and have been sewing masks to pass the time.  The project is meant to help Ellie earn money for her HEFY trip this summer, but it's definitely more my project than hers.  She certainly helps way more than she'd prefer to....but the bulk of it is done by me and I'm okay with that.   Having a project has been good for me and I like that Ellie feels like she is a part of earning money for her activity.  I am trying very hard to be patient as we wait to find out what's next for us.  It's looking less and less likely like we'll be staying here and I'm getting soooooo anxious/impatient to start figuring out the details...like what, when, where, etc.  

Spence:  He's been plugging away at a  telephone sales job.   After a frustrating summer of knocking doors and selling pest control in Texas and Nevada, he is happy to be able to experience success from the comfort of his own home.   He is enjoying the increased independence, but is not  excited to be booted from our insurance policy next month.   

Cami/Garrett:  They are deep in the throes of a busy semester.  Cami's taking a ton of credits and Garrett's taking his big board exams next week, so they are busy and a bit stressed.   

Emma:  is happily still serving as a missionary in the SL-West Mission.  She's still hoping that the Canadian border will open up eventually, but in the meantime she's happy and excited for her first local baptism.  

Adam: is plugging away at his senior year, writing a talk for stake conference....for the second time in his life.  Here's a link to his talk if you're interested in reading it.  

 He is also working at a local ice cream shop owned by a member of our ward and is really enjoying it.  The ice cream (and caramel apples) there are EXCELLENT and I highly recommend a stop anytime you're in the Philly area.  It's called Zwahlens and it is the sole cause of the 10-lbs I've gained during COVID.   

Ellie:  is helping me sew masks and is staying busy with homeschool.  She is also doing karate and gymnastics.  

Oh yeah, and she also had her Sweet 16 birthday with a gluten free cake ordered from the Milk Bar!

Other Happenings:  

1.  AnnaLisa came to visit

2. Our favorite neighbor kids from down the street came to visit regularly. 

3.  We took a super spontaneous spring break trip to  NYC, Boston, and Martha's Vineyard (covered in April's blogpost).  NYC and Martha's Vineyard were awesome, but we were a little disappointed in Boston.  It's normally one of our favorite cities, but everything was still closed and we didn't get to see much.  They were also having a public restroom crisis (as in any and all public restrooms were closed) and it made me very grumpy.    I'm so happy that other people's bladders went on hold during COVID, but mine didn't.  😖

  

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2021