Our Hermanita (Ellie) Update

Hello, hello!   I hope you all are having a wonderful June!   I'm here on the blog today to start  a person-by-person series of blogposts, because it feels like there's a lot happening amongst our family members right now...way too much for one long blogpost!     I figure I will start with the youngest first...

Ellie hits her 6-month mark on her mission next week, which is kind of wild to me!   As per usual with my missionaries, it's gone incredibly slow, yet incredibly fast at the same time.  Thankfully, she seems very happy and, from our perspective, the Spanish seems to be coming along well and doesn't  stress her out too much.   

She served in the same area (Oxnard) for her first three transfers and just got moved to a new area (Santa Barbara) this past week.  We haven't even talked to her yet, so we have no idea what she thinks of her new area and new companion.  She's really loved her first few companions, though, so we are hoping this next one will be good for her too.  

Her  mission hugs the coast of California just north of Los Angeles, so I imagine that most of her areas (if not all) will have Pacific beaches in them.  As full-time missionaries, they obviously can't get anywhere near the water, but  sometimes on p-days they go down to look at the beach from whatever safe distance falls within mission rules.  They like looking for dolphins and seals, and just feeling the ocean breeze on their skin.  I think Ellie really enjoys this proximity to the beach, even if she can't fully appreciate it at this stage!  

On p-days, her district usually plays pickleball, volleyball, or basketball, but occasionally they go thrifting.  She's never been a huge sports player, but she really likes expanding her wardrobe in the bargain bin at the thrift store!  It sounds like they also do a fair bit of trading outfits among the other missionaries and  I have to laugh at how few of her clothing items I recognize in her photos.  😂

These three girls have been Ellie's roommates and also have become her good friends.  She was a little sad when Hermana P and Hermana W got moved to their own apartment this past transfer, but they were still in the same ward and area, so they happily still got to see each other regularly.

LEFT TO RIGHT:  Hermana P, Hermana W, Hermana C, and our sweet Hermanita!

There's currently a lot of stress among the Hispanic people in her area, but she is finding great joy in serving them and sharing the gospel with them.  So far, none of the riots have spread to where she's at, though there have been protests in her new area.  

We are so incredibly proud of our Hermanita's decision to serve a mission and share her light with the people of California.   She has hard days, but we know she is making this world a better place...one day, one person at a time!   

A {Semi} Spontaneous Trek to California

At some point during the summer, my sister, Kristina, got a bee in her bonnet about us coming to visit them in California.  And by "us," I mean she really wanted Cami and the kiddos to come visit them and was willing to tolerate Ellie and I coming along as well.  😆

As luck would have it, Cami was equally as excited about the possibility AND was able to easily change her flight home without penalty.   I worked on getting us some cheap tickets and thus our trip to California became a reality.   I think Cam and kids enjoyed the change of scenery about as much as K's family enjoyed doting on Lucie and Oliver.    

Oliver loved having all the floor space to scoot around and both kiddos enjoyed the attentions of  Madeline, Kristina, and the King Boys, especially Jesus and Manuel, who loved to snuggle them and try to make them laugh.  It was quite sweet to see their soft sides shining through.  

We arrived during one of the hottest weather spells they'd had in a year, with temps around 100* the whole time we were there.   The searing heat meant it was a little too toasty for hiking and such, but it was perfect for visiting Newport Beach--especially since the temps were a good 15-20* cooler at the beach too.  Here are some pics from our day at the beach. 

My nephew, Jesus, skipped school and came along with us too, a fact which made Lucie quite happy.  They played well together and I think they kept each other entertained far longer than either would have been on their own. 

It had been quite a while (maybe Hawaii in 2022) since I'd spent any time at the beach and it was a delightful day. 

I also enjoyed recreating this picture with Oliver...

Another day we headed to Balboa Island, where it was also 15ish degrees cooler.  We found some good food and enjoyed walking around together.

We also went on a whale watching cruise where we saw zero whales, but lots of baby dolphins and sea lions.   It was a bit disappointing not to see any whales, but it was still a delightful trip. 

We were only there a few steamy days, but we made a lot of fun memories together and Lucie keeps asking to go back to California, so we are calling it a success!  

Within 24-hours of  returning from California, we put Cami, Ellie, Lucie, and Oliver back on a plane and sent them back home to Birmingham, where Ellie has been nannying for them for the last month.  Our house is way too quiet and lonely without them here, but I am forever grateful for the fun memories we made while we were all together!  💗


 

Girls' Weekend!

A few months ago  my sisters, our Mom, and I decided it was time to gather for a relaxing girls' weekend in California!  The last time we were all together was for my Dad's funeral and it was nice to have a happy and laid-back gathering to look forward to.    My sister, K, took care of planning the details and the rest of us girls gathered in from our three states (Utah, Virginia, and California) to spend a long weekend together!    

The weather was cooler and cloudier than I'd hoped,  but I have to admit I rather enjoyed the above freezing temperatures quite a lot.   Here's a little glimpse of  our weekend:  

 Thursday:
-Woke up in the wee hours of the morning and flew to SNA with Mom and Heather.  We flew on Breeze Airlines and I just have to say that I am quickly becoming a fan of the Provo Airport. 
-Spent the day hanging out with K's family--including being introduced to all the stuffed animals, meeting the cutest little Spiderman ever, and going to the library to find a copy of East of Eden for me and a bunch of fun books for the boys 
-Trip to the grocery store to buy candy and then to the post office to send off a candy bar note for our niece, Anna's 5th birthday!  
-A walk around Kristina's beautiful neighborhood

Friday:  
-Mom, Heather, AnnaLisa headed off for a day at to San Diego Zoo, while K and I stayed home to get the kids where they needed to be
-I finished reading East of Eden (I only had a few chapters left when my audiobook went back to the library), read lots of silly library books to the kids again and again, and did an art project with the kids based on one of the books
-Drove to San Diego to check into the Airbnb, but only after getting locked out of the car on purpose by one of the kiddos.  Thankfully AAA didn't take too long to come to the rescue.
-A very late dinner at Marcy's Taco Shop, which was within walking distance to the Airbnb--the chicken tacos were excellent!  

Saturday: 
-Drove to Andrew's invitational track meet back up in Newport Beach, where he got a PR in the shotput (52' 7") and won 3rd place!   We were quite the enthusiastic cheering section, which I think he enjoyed very much!  
-We got lunch at the Burger Lounge, where I got one of the best bunless burger I've ever had

-We walked across the street and got doughnuts at Sidecar Doughnuts, which I have to say were the best doggone gluten free doughnuts I've ever had #goodfoodday
-Whale watching cruise at Newport Beach where we saw a pod of gray whales. a bunch of dolphins (a little later in the day), and some sealions 
-We got ice cream at Cowafornia, which was tasty, but still not as good as Zwahlen's (our new standard for ice cream goodness)
-Drove back to San Diego, where we did some postcard and souvenir shopping and got a late dinner at Miguel's (a family tradition) in Old Town San Diego.  If we had known about Andrew's meet during the planning, we probably would have found a house closer to home, but I sure do love San Diego, so it was good to be there!  

Sunday:  
-Woke up and finally got to explore around the AirBnb.  Its location between the bay and the ocean made for some pretty spectacular hiking!
-We checked out of the AirBnb and went to church at the Point Loma Ward, which had very terrible parking
-Got lunch at The Crack Shack, which also had very terrible parking
-Went to walk around Cabrillo National Monument, which also had very terrible parking, but was  stunningly beautiful. It was my first time visiting and I was in love with the views!   Unfortunately, Mom wasn't feeling great at this point and there was a bit of grumpiness stemming from the long hours in the car and the parking woes that seemed to follow us, so one car headed back to K's house.  Kristina and I stayed and did a lovely hike.   
-After getting back to K's house, we ate some dinner that Tom had cooked, I got to enjoy my first 50th birthday cake (a month or so early), and we played a very laugh-filled game of Apples to Apples!

Monday: 
-This day was filled with lots of errand running, which included getting K's kids to and from school, dropping off and picking up their car from the mechanic--which happened to be located on Lazy Glen Road (a fact which struck me as very funny), grocery shopping (where I found my favorite dressing that I've been having a hard time finding here in Utah), and just relaxing.
- Reading books to kids is something that makes me incredibly happy, so I made sure to get in a few more rounds with the library books and the boys before leaving.   I may or may not have, "Cock-a-Doodle Poo" and "I'm Not Scared, You're Scared" partially memorized by now!  Haha! 
-Our flight was delayed by a couple hours, so we didn't arrive home until well after midnight.  Thankfully, after the delays,  the flight was smooth and I was very happy to be home again! 

Despite all the hours of driving back and forth between San Diego, K's house, and Newport Beach, the parking woes, and the late dinners...it was a great trip!   I consider my Mom and my sisters to be my best friends and it was wonderful to be able to spend that time together.    It makes me think I need to plan another girls' trip  soon!   😆

Reliving a Nightmare

June 23:    My sister, Kristina, really wanted to see Cami before her mission and offered to pay for a ticket out to visit her in California.   As cool as it sounded, Cami did not leave much open time in her schedule this summer and the only open week she had was while I was at YW camp, which meant that she was on babysitting Ellie duty for the week!  I thought it would be a deal breaker, but tickets were actually super cheap and Kristina just invited Ellie to join them as well.  

So this morning, I dropped them off at the airport, giddy and excited for their cross-country adventure together.  Some of you may remember that  THIS happened to Cami a couple of years ago.  Because of that nightmarish experience, I was definitely  a little nervous sending them off, but took heart in the fact that it wasn't wintertime, so any potential storms out there should be more quickly passing than the giant snowstorm that stranded her before.   Plus, I've never been stranded in an airport in my entire life, certainly my 18-year-old wouldn't be so unlucky as to have it happen to her again.

<sigh>  I was wrong.     <double sigh>

The trip out there turned out to be one grand misadventure after another.   First off, their original flight out of BWI got cancelled.    We called the airlines and quickly got her rescheduled on another one that left out of IAD, which is closer to home anyway,  so we didn't mind that change.   Then I dropped them off and took heart in that the flight left on time and everything seemed to be going smoothly.    Smoothly that is  until instead of calling from their scheduled layover city of Denver, they called me from Rapid City, SD.

Apparently there was a storm in Denver that prevented them from landing there, so after circling Denver for a while they flew to Rapid City before they ran out of fuel.   Rapid City.  We've been there.  It's a great little town not far from Mount Rushmore, but weirdly it is not a super happening place  and the quaint little regional airport was already closed for the day.    That meant no dinner options (the restaurant had run out of food, except for bowls of cereal and United certainly didn't even offer a snack or anything).   There were no back-up pilots nearby, so they had to be flown in from Chicago.    Basically it meant that Cami and Ellie got to wait, wait, wait, with nothing to do and nothing to eat for hours.

Eventually (after several hours there) the back-up pilots arrived and they got on their way to Denver.    They were getting into Denver about midnight (2am to my girls) and I knew there was no way they would be catching any flights to California that night.  We called United several times and were met with rude, unapologetic people who would do nothing for them.   The only thing we managed to accomplish was to get them scheduled on a flight to California at 8am the next morning.    All the nearby hotels were booked, so Cami got to spend her second night of her life on an airport floor and Ellie her first, which is still one more than me.

All the restaurants in Denver were already closed, which meant still no food, but worse than that...they were absolutely freezing.   They were dressed for summer weather, not for sleeping on cold tile.  They asked United for a blanket.  They said, "no way" and seemed more than happy to let an  18-and 11-year-old that they had stranded for many hours without food or accommodation of any kind just freeze.  #unitedcustomerservicesucks

At least they had each other though.   And I think that meant a lot to both of them.

The next morning, Cami, in her freezing, sleep deprived state-of-mind, didn't notice that they'd changed the gate of their flight out and they missed it by 5 minutes.   Eventually around noon, they finally got to take off.   All in all, it took 27-hours for them to reach their destination.  

And once again, Cami handled it with better humor and attitude than I did.   I wasn't quite as emotional as I'd been a couple of years ago, but I definitely didn't sleep much and our words for United after the ordeal was done were none too kind.   On the bright side though, they did end up getting a travel voucher out of the deal, which meant that Cami got to extend her trip a couple days and visit her "friend" in Utah.  

San Diego!

My younger sister, Kristina,  turns 40 this week....

so my sister, Heather and I flew out to California this past weekend to help her celebrate! 

We spent the weekend in a beach house in San Diego...

and had a great time hanging out in the sand and the sunshine together! 

We got pedicures, massages, went on long walks, went shopping, hung out at the beach, ate good food, played games,  and in general had a fun and relaxing weekend.   

A few more of her friends also  joined in the celebrations and we laughed to realize that together we'd left a total of 48 children at home with their daddies to be there that weekend.    

(I'm the one on the far left in the picture below)

Except for the crazy windstorm on Sunday night, we had perfect weather the entire weekend...

(I'm fourth from left in this picture)

 I missed being with my family, but loved the time  away and the opportunity to soak in the beauty of my surroundings...   

the beauty of the area, the beauty of spending time with my sisters, and the beauty of friendships anew.

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Congrats to Madeleine, the AML fighting wonder girl (she's on her third go-around fighting against this horrible disease), who was the only one to correctly guess my location!    I haven't figured out your prize yet, but stay tuned for something! 

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Leftovers!

I found these leftover pictures from our trip to California that we took this past January.   For some reason I never quite got around to blogging about them, so since I didn't want these cute photos lost forever, I'm adding them belatedly to the blog.   They are all out of order and without any commentary, but they still make me really, really, really want to go back to California soon.