Off the Rolls and onto the Blog

Most everyone I know has migrated to capturing their life's milestones on social media and I admit that it is a convenient way to share information. Unfortunately I find that staying active on social media is challenging for my mental health and turns into a time-suck that is difficult for me to manage.  I still have social media accounts, which I do use, but mostly I keep it at arm's length and rarely share or interact on it.  Having said that,  I really, really like having stories and pictures combined into one place, so that we can look back and remember how things were in that moment in time.    This is ultimately the reason why I am trying to keep up on the blog again.     For nearly 16 years...holy cow that's a long time...this blog has been there for my family to look at anytime, as well as any of my friends who cares to see what's going on in our lives.  I can share my pictures and stories in  a way that maintains my creative control over the formatting and it is solely mine.  I know it takes more effort for people to find their way here and I frankly like that aspect too.  My life isn't being thrown into anyone's feed of a 100 items for people to press the obligatory "Like" button to show they "care", but it's there if anyone cares to look for it.   😁

So...in the vein of capturing moments...here are some pictures I didn't want to get lost in the camera roll.   Some more pictures from when Cami and Lucie were in town...

I left the house more in the week they were here than I had in several weeks before that and I loved all the girly time we got to spend together, including more visits with Emma (down at BYU), Cami's sisters-in-law, and my Mom and sister, Heather!

It's honestly felt way too quiet around here since they left, but I take heart in the fact that we will be seeing them again in a few weeks!  I am already eagerly looking forward to it. 

In the meantime, our weekly Facetime calls with Adam will have to suffice for family time!

I love our family! 💗💗💗

Lucie-isms and Life Update

life update as taken from a letter to our missionary written:   1/15/23
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Dear Elder G. (aka "Our Favorite Missionary in the World"),

First off, I'll start off with the barrage of questions.....
{boring, boring, boring}

Second off, I'm a little upset that you haven't called back your Portland weather yet!   Seriously, it's been raining/snowing every day for weeks and I am officially ready for Spring (only 2 months and 2 days according to Alexa).   😞  Next time someone here talks about a drought I'm going to loudly guffaw and say, "Drought.  Shprout.  Have you been outside lately, you little lout?"   I think it's going to go over very well and win me lots of friends.   

Speaking of friends, I Facebook stalked your companion and see that he's friends with my cousin's daughter.   Is he from Pleasant Grove?   Or does he know her from college?  And if you haven't answered me yet....how is everything going with your comp?

Speaking of comps, I am very happy to have a couple extra comps hanging out with us this week.  It's been so fun to have Cami and Lucie here.   Lucie has been a little on the grumpy side the last couple of days, but you will not be surprised to learn that she's still an adorable companion, even when she's grumpy.   This picture includes Jack K. (Katy's son, who is about 9 months old).

For your information, Lucie says exactly three words:
1. "Hi," which she uses with a wave whenever she sees someone/something with a face (including stuffed animals, dogs, snowmen ornaments, and people sitting behind us at church).  
2. "Doggy," which sounds like doodoo.   She is quite enamored with both Rocky and Denali and loves to softly pet them or beep their noses.  We are keeping her away from Kiwi, but she loves to wave at her from a distance (usually through the closed gate which we got for the top of the stairs).
3. "No," which she actually doesn't use super often, but also usually shakes her head to show that she means it. 

She also signs, "more," "water," "thank you," all done," "hot," and "milk."   In other words, she's quite good at communicating what she wants and quite good at wrapping the whole world around her fingers with her adorableness.😍  

She still isn't quite walking yet, though she can walk along furniture and crawl up the stairs now.  We've been working on teaching her to go DOWN the stairs safely and she's starting to get it! 

 Speaking of Lucie,  you've probably noticed that ALL the pictures for this week will include her!  😆

We took Lucie over to meet Denali's siblings today. 

There are 8 of them and she wasn't quite sure what she thought of them and their up-close-and-personal greetings.   

Sadly, most of the family was gone and we didn't get our dose of Natalie love while we were there. 

Puppy love was nice though...until one nibbled Lucie's ear.  

Here's hoping she sleeps well tonight, because the construction zone behind us seems to keep her up during the day.   Speaking of construction zones, the house behind us is going up warpspeed now that they've hired people to come work on it.  Every once in a while, we'll see the owner out there hobbling around (last week he was hobbling ON THE ROOF without a rope)😱, but we are glad there's action finally starting to happen there and have hopes that it will actually be completed before 2030 now. 

Alright, I guess I've sent you like 47 gigs of photos and told you all about Lucie.  What else is happening?  

Precious little.  

I'm still mostly staying home and trying to spend as much time as possible with Cam and the Goose (which is what Cami calls Lucie).  I've also finally found a way to share the Come Follow Me activity pages.   It's not very many people, but at least they won't be sitting there doing  nothing anymore.  

I hope the transition to Beaverton and your new comp is going well!  I can't wait to be able to talk to you later.   I LOVE YOU and am so proud of you!!!

Love,
Mom

PS  Here's a spiritual thought that came from Elder Christofferson's talk, "The Doctrine of Belonging."  "Thus, the doctrine of belonging comes down to this—each one of us can affirm: Jesus Christ died for me; He thought me worthy of His blood. He loves me and can make all the difference in my life. As I repent, His grace will transform me. I am one with Him in the gospel covenant; I belong in His Church and kingdom; and I belong in His cause to bring redemption to all of God’s children."