Your Mom is Weird

Letter written to our missionary:  4/17/23

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Hello dear missionary of mine!  
How's life in  the land of Ports and Dams?   How fun that I still get to make  Dam jokes with you even in your new area.   You probably thought you would get to escape those eventually, but...NOT YET! 

I'm fully aware that my obsession with beavers/dams probably puts me squarely in the "weird category", but I'm okay with that.  At least I'm not also obsessed with sending stupid little 4x6 pieces of thick paper in the mail, because that would be truly weird.  

Oh wait.  Never mind.

I do also send doughnuts to your cousins who have birthdays...

Maybe that makes me slightly more normal...

I also seem to have an issue with dogs following me home...

For approximately the 5th time since moving to Utah, we met a loose dog on our morning walk and had it follow us all the way home.     He had no tag/collar on, so we posted on the community FB page and pretty quickly found the owner to Maverick.  He was a pretty sweet guy, but we laughed that this never once happened while we lived in VA or PA, but somehow it happens on a semi-regular basis here in UT!   Maybe we smell extra meaty or something now.  

I also can't stop looking for "matching" pictures to show Cami after she sends me a  picture of Lucie.  She sent me this one to show how Lucie was wiping her hands in her hair like a napkin, so I found one of Cami doing the same thing...then found one of me doing the same thing.  In other words, apparently messy eating runs in the family!  

I guess it might be  slightly weird that I've started looking for "wishing rocks" to show your little cousins after I read them a cute picture book during Spring Break about different types of rocks you can find.   It gave me Adam vibes to be walking along the trail with a pocket full of rocks...and to now have a pile of rocks on my windowsill for whatever future date we might see the King Boys again. 

On Sunday, we decided to channel our inner Adam even further and took an afternoon drive to Bear River Bird Refuge.   It was a lovely day and I had fun using the Merlin App (an amazing discovery) to help us identify some of  the different birds. 

We saw American avocets...

A snowy egret (we didn't need the app for this one)...

An American coot...

A yellow-headed blackbird...

 American white pelicans...

A white faced ibis...

And some hungry Gooldicus Birdicus... {there were too many bugs to eat our picnic outside}.  We definitely need to take you there when you get home.  You would love this place!  

Also, on a different, but related note...Spring is kind of here and I've stopped crying every morning when I see the weather forecast...I also am enjoying post-dinner walks a few times a week.   {PS  I only joined BeReal to be friends with your sisters and the three of them are literally the ONLY friends I have on there (not that they post very often or anything).   Someone else tries to add me and they are instantly and cruelly denied! I will probably let you be my friend in 15ish months or so though, so don't worry.}

In case you're wondering why I only said Spring was "kind-of here"...

There are still way too many cold days in the mix for my taste...not that I'm complaining too much.  I am definitely reveling in the sunshine and not having to wear my woolen outerwear every day for now, but, heaven help me,  if it snows on my birthday, there won't  be enough beavers in the world to justify the  torrent of dams that will flow forth from my mouth. 

Sorry. 

I guess I better go read my scriptures  or something {I'M ON MORONI 9, SO ONE MORE DAY!!!}.   Or maybe send a few postcards.  Or think of a spiritual thought to end with...

Here's a quote in President Nelson's GC talk that stood out to me:  

"The Savior’s message is clear: His true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire—no matter how difficult the situation. True disciples of Jesus Christ are peacemakers."

It made me think of you and the other missionaries out there making the world a better place and it made me thoughtful about what I could do to be a better peacemaker.  

I hope you have an amazing week!  We can't wait to talk with you tomorrow! 

LOVE YOU!!!!
Love,
Mom

 




 

Bear River Bird Sanctuary

Ask me what my idea of a perfect vacation day would be and this trip to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (near Brigham City, UT) would pretty much encapsulate it all.  We were out in the fresh air, unrushed, and surrounded by one of the most idyllic settings on earth.  The only thing that would have made it better is if I'd had Glen and the kids with me. 

About a 90-mile drive from my parents' house, I had truly never seen so many birds in my entire life and I was so completely enraptured with the scenery that I could have stayed there for days on end. 

We took the 12-mile driving loop around the sanctuary and  I felt like a little kid as I constantly was yelling for my sister to stop the car so I could take a picture. 

The picture below is probably my very favorite out of the whole bunch and I'm pretty sure that this is a good glimpse of what heaven looks like. 

This ring-necked pheasant was as gorgeous as the scenery and I was glad to have seen it before we left. 

In the middle of our drive, it started snowing lightly which made the scenery and the close-ups all the more stunning. 

This straight stretch of road just called out for us to stop and take some portraits of each other.  I love this one of my youngest brother, Tim (the mountain man).

All three of us were having fun with our cameras...

Over the course of the drive we saw  tundra swans, clark's grebes, double crested cormorant, great blue heron, northern shovelers, Canadian geese, red-tailed hawk, ring-necked pheasant, a sandhill crane, American coots, magpies, American avocets, northern pintails, western meadowlark, lots of ducks (in many varieties), a deer, a gazillion birds that we didn't recognize, and rustling around in the bushes we discovered a friendly little skunk who couldn't decide whether to come closer to the car or to stay hidden!   We saw him peek out of the brush three or four separate times before disappearing again.   

 Don't worry....we stayed nice and safe in the car during that stretch of the drive. 

Our only disappointment of the day (if spending a few hours in such a heavenly place could be disappointing) was not seeing any bald eagles.  Other than that, it was awesomely awesome and I plan on visiting again as soon as possible.

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PS  The reason why I watermarked these photos with "World Adventures of the Crain Family" is because I am also adding them to my family's travel photo blog.    It is definitely still a work in process, but with as much as my parents and siblings like to travel (and take lots of photos), it's a fun place to gather the photos all into one place. 

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