Marching Onward

 A peek at the last couple weeks, including a little announcement at the end:  

Ellie's been in the Phoenix area staying with a friend from BYU-I, while they work and go on an adventure in a few weeks.  I miss her here at home, but glad she gets this experience...especially since it would be incredibly boring here at home.    Being able to attend a vibrant YSA ward (the one in our community is a bit on the older side), having someone to go to institute and temple prep classes with, and just having a friend to hang out with is a good thing for her.  Not to mention she would have been stuck at home while I head to Alabama soon.

Glen and I went to a ballet performance at BYU of one of Adam's friends from Virginia.  Bella is a stunning dancer...so light and graceful on her feet...and it was a delight to see! 

 I went down to Saint George with Glen not this past week, but the week before.  I enjoyed the milder weather and the opportunity to spend the week with him.  We attended the Saint George temple together for the first time.  It's been closed for renovations for the last few years and only recently reopened.  It's a beautiful temple and I LOVED the colorful celestial room!    Click here to see pictures of it. 

I've been mostly exercising indoors at home (thanks to the wintry weather and all of the  public restrooms being closed for the winter), so I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to walk outside WITHOUT bundling up...

Speaking of Saint George, we are just starting the process of trying to wrap things up up here, so I can join him there permanently.   There are LOTS and LOTS of very complicated emotions  that are involved with starting down this path and I've found myself crying about it more than a few times, but we feel like it's the right way forward.  I imagine it will be a slow process, since getting a house ready to sell is about 1,208,599th on my list of favorite things to do and we have a new grandbaby I'll be trekking to Alabama to meet soon (!!!), but moving boxes have been purchased and the process is beginning.    It may take a long time and we may yet change our minds, but this is the plan for now.  Wish me luck.   I'm going to need it. 

Sweethearts Dance for Ellie

When Ellie came home one day and announced that she wanted to go to the girls' choice Sweetheart Dance at her school, I was excited to take her dress shopping!   Not only was I excited that she's starting to find her people after 3 years of being the new girl, but she's my first girl to need a dress in Utah, which meant that we actually had options for finding modest ones off the shelf!  

Here's the beautiful dress she picked out--classy and full of gorgeous details.   

I love that she opted to wear her very comfy (and very cute) Converse, rather than uncomfortable dress shoes that would have made her feet ache.   She's definitely a girl after her Mom's heart in that regard!  

Neither her  or her date drive (thanks to her seizure disorder and her date being a foreign exchange student), so we brought her to the festivities.   I loved that she brought along Denali along to see her off!   :) 

 We weren't there (obviously) for the festivities, but we were happy to see these pictures afterward.  Here she is with her good friends from school.  

They did a painting activity together...

And had dinner, which they all brought something for...

Then they took photos together...

Here she is with her date, Daniel--a very kind foreign exchange student from Cambodia (who speaks English without an accent)...

A good time was had by all... 

And her first girls' choice dance was definitely  a success!   

Fish, Smoke, Snow, and Leaves

 A letter sent to our missionary 10/10/21:  

*********************************************

Hola Emma Girl!

Don't get too excited, but I think I've set a new record for starting your letter before 8:00pm. Never mind that it's literally 7:59pm, I think you should give me some kind of award or something (or at least eat a cookie for me or something). But then again, earlier does not always equal better (as you know from the goofy letter from a couple weeks ago), so refrain from too much anticipation. 😜

So, what are we doing this week? Eating, eating, and more eating. I don't know why, but suddenly there's good food everywhere and I'm eating it all.    

Also, have I told you that you're going to like our new kitchen? It's not fancy, but it is nice and certainly bigger and more organized than any other kitchen we've ever had. I think you'll enjoy it.

Also, GUESS WHAT?!! I'm finding you some new friends for when you get home. One is named I----- and she lives with her parents in the ward. I don't know her story, but 1. she was homeschooled 2. she's about your age 3. she's very nice. Also, I met A----- today. She lives two doors down from us and she is recently returned from the Vancouver, Washington mission. There's also the BYU student whose family lives kiddy corner behind us who served in the Toronto Mission (she just happened to already be out when COVID went down, so she got to stay), so you were basically meant to be friends one way or the other. We will definitely have a YSA gathering at our house when you get home, so you all can get to know each other. :)

My next mission is to start finding you some dates too.  

Yesterday Dad took Adam, Logan, and Ryan H. fishing on Strawberry Reservoir.

If you remember the weather yesterday, it was COLD, SNOWY, and WET, but they dressed for it and had a successful day. They caught 20+ fish--including a monster big one that Adam caught....

Tonight Dad smoked a few and we ate well (see the eating problem I mentioned above).

YUM!

 

Speaking of cold, snowy, and wet--have you seen this weather alert? 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

It's funny, because last time I lived in Utah, I was coming from Minnesota and I remembered the Utah winters as pretty wimpy. Now we're coming from somewhere where they cancel everything every time there's an inch of snow and I'm getting increasingly worried that these winters are going to knock my socks off. As it is, I am 10000% NOT excited about a winter storm in October!   😱

I heard that leaves were at their peak this past week, so we braved the cold, soggy weather this week and took a drive through Big Cottonwood Canyon, over Guardsmen Pass, back through Heber Valley and back home through Provo Canyon. The weather in the mountains was a good 20 degrees colder than home and significantly windier too, so we pretty much froze. But we did get some beautiful pictures and I think the bad weather kept the crowds away.

What else did we do this week?  

Adam went to homecoming with his friend, Sydney...

I heard they had a fun time and I found these pictures in the camera roll, so it looks like a success.  

We also found the cutest little alpaca farm about a mile from our house and I think Ellie is ready to be adopted into their family, so she can see this cute little fellow every day...

We talked her into staying home after I promised to drive by at least once a week.  Be sure to remind us and we'll drive you by when you get home too.    It's so stinking cute it's sure to make you smile when you're having a grumpy day! 

A couple last things....

The L---- family (from VF1 in Pennsylvania) came to breakfast this morning.  It was great to see them and I truly feel like they were one of the reasons why we needed to live in PA.   

On Thursday, we went to BYU Homecoming Spectacular.  I sent you a couple videos from it, so you can see that it was AMAZING!!!!    Brian Stokes Mitchell was the headliner and the whole thing was so fun and so well done!   

Spence opted not to come, so we searched for someone to take his place.   Katelin D. was available and  we enjoyed spending the evening with her.  

This month is a pretty busy month.  Next weekend is Ellie's Fall Break and Dad is going on ANOTHER fishing trip with a colleague.  Later Dad will fly to Dallas for a wedding, after which Ellie and I will fly to Austin for Cami's baby shower.  I'm getting so stinking excited to be a grandma I can barely stand it!  I just hope that they end up getting residency somewhere closer than Texas.

Speaking of babies....Dad's cousins (Marilyn's girls) all had babies within a few months of each other and they asked me to take pictures of them when they came to town.  I was SUPER intimidated, but talked Heather into coming along too, and I think they turned out beautifully (thanks to Heather).  It was fun to see them again and meet their sweet babies.   

Jane's baby is P----.  He is about 8 months old.   Stephanie's is C----- and he is 2-3 months old.   Jill's is M---- and I believe she is about 7 months old.   They live in 3 different states currently (Texas, Virginia, and Utah).  

They were all completely adorable ...

And it was fun to see the sisters reunited!   

They sent these beautiful flowers as a thank you gift.  😍

Well, I've definitely set a new record.   I'm wrapping up now and it's not even 9:30 yet, so HALLELUJAH, I might actually get to bed at a reasonable time!  

I hope you have an AMAZING week!  WE love you!!! 

Love, 
Mom 

Old Town Alexandria: Where Ellie Decides Contortionism is Her Thing (May 2019)

When you're about to move you start thinking of all the things in the area you haven't done yet.   After nearly 20 years in the DC area, there wasn't much that we'd never done, however there were many things that we hadn't done in many years.   Old Town Alexandria was one of those for us.  

According to Wikipedia, "Alexandria  is a city on the Potomac River, just south of Washington, DC. It’s known for its Old Town, with brick sidewalks and well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century buildings. King Street is lined with boutiques and specialty shops. Founding fathers dined at Gadsby’s Tavern, now a museum with period objects and photographs."

We'd driven through Alexandria a number of times over the years, but realized that we hadn't officially visited there in 15+ years.   So in May, with my DC area bucketlist at the forefront of my mind,  we decided to go explore. 

AnnaLisa and Tim came with us.   And we just spent a beautiful Spring day walking around.  We enjoyed the Torpedo Art Factory, the historical surroundings, and the good food.

 

The blue house in the picture below is called the "Spite House".  At a mere 7-feet wide, it is reportedly the narrowest house in America. The story goes that the owner of one of the neighboring houses in 1830 decided that he was sick of people using the alley way next to his house, so he bought it and built a house there to keep people out.

Here's a view of it from a little further out, so you can see how truly narrow it is.

In amongst the charming old buildings, quaint alleyways, and scenic river views, Ellie decided to try out some of her flexibility for the camera. 

As you can see....she is quite flexible.

And didn't get a lick of it from me!

 

All in all, it was a fun day exploring an interesting and beautiful place.  

I'm not sure why it took us so long to get back there, but I highly recommend it if you ever happen to find yourself in the DC area.