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

 




 

How Cold Is It?

How cold has this winter been?  

It's cold enough that this snowy scene has been the view of our city (from our favorite trailhead) for the last couple of months.   The snow will start to melt, only to have it snow all over again.   I think we've had measurable snow fall at least a few times a week for most weeks since November.  Thankfully, we have a snowblower now, which makes clearing out a little easier at least. There was about a month when we barely saw the sun, because the clouds just seemed to settle in the valley and stayed.  

 

 

 

Both of these pictures were taken on a morning walk within the last week.   One day we came back covered in snow.    

 

 

This morning we came back covered in frost from where our breath had condensed in our hair/fur (temperature 10* F).

 The good news is....is that Utah is not as cold as Rexburg, Idaho, which saw temps well into the -20's this past week.  Also,  it looks like we might see temps in the 40's later this week.  That's about as warm as we've seen since November and I may just break out my mid-weight winter jacket for the occasion! 

Hawaii: Part 6 -- Parasailing, Botanic Gardens, and More.

I'm trying my best to blog my way through  Hawaii before life gets away from me, but, man, I'm not sure life could get much crazier than right now.  I'll try and do a quick catch-up post of all the happenings soon, but in the meantime here is another bare bones recount of our 6th day in Hawaii!  

SATURDAY MAY 28

• We ate a simple breakfast at the house and then we headed to Honolulu for a day of adventure planned by Ellie

• The boys took Lucie first, while the rest of us girls tried parasailing! 

•   It was much less scary and much more peaceful than I thought it would be sailing 800-1000 feet in the air and I have to say, that despite my scaredy-cat tendencies, I rather enjoyed it.   

• After we girls finished up, we traded off Lucie with the boys and let them have their own parasailing adventure.  

• While the two different groups of us parasailed, the Lucie holding group walked around Foster Botanical Gardens  where we discovered lots of very unique and beautiful plants
  
  
  

These leaves...or perhaps they're flowers... resembled butterflies as fluttered off the trees...and the cannonballs were crazy!  We're glad none of those landed on our heads!  😅

A closer look at the fluttery thingies...

Lucie enjoyed a double dose of the Botanic Gardens...

Here's a closer look at some of the unique flora and fauna we saw there....

• Ellie had done some research and found a flea market at Aloha stadium that sounded cool, but it wasn't really worth it.  We bought a couple of small items, but mostly it was just a big overhyped collection of souvenir shops. 
  
  
• We went to Oahu Grill for dinner—it was good Hawaiian family style  food, but unfortunately even the meat had gluten in it, so my options were limited. 
  
  
• We had heard that Waiola Shaved Ice was the best around and while we were hopeful when we saw the crowds there, we found it was good, but not amazing.  

• On the way home, we stopped at surf shop in Haleiwa for some souvenirs. The t-shirt selection was the best around and they even had some unique postcards for me. 
  
  
• After all that Hawaiian adventuring, we headed back to the house for a chill night in.   We enjoyed our Lucie snuggles while we watched the sunset and played pickleball.  

• We played Cards Against Humanity {family edition}

• MEANWHILE AT HOME...our puppy was getting spoiled with scenic drives and mountain hikes! 

• This was one of our favorite chocolate covered macadamia nuts!  YUM!  😋

• DISCLAIMER:   I have just had one of the craziest weeks of my life (6/19/22) and writing this blogpost is my effort at decompressing.  I am mentally and physically exhausted and do not have the bandwidth to edit or read through my blogposts, therefore I kindly request that you suspend judgment at my lack of creativity and proper grammar.   💖