Fall Traditions: Hiking and Fishing

Fall is my favorite season.   There's just something about the mild weather and the vibrant colors that makes me incredibly happy.  I love Spring too, but sometimes it gets too wrapped up in the winter for my taste and, given the choice, I'd choose the fall anytime!  My idea of a perfect autumn day is a long hike on a lovely day, followed by some great food.  The other Saturday, Glen was busy, the weather was gorgeous, and I decided to pack a bag with food and water and just walk along the Murdock Trail without a distance in mind.   I made it 10 miles and loved every minute of it!   Then I went home, ate some good food, worked on the program, and I decided that it  was *almost* a perfect day.  The only thing that would have made it better is if Glen had been able to come along too.   :)

So, that's MY idea of a perfect autumn day, and now here's a glimpse of what Glen's ideal day would be.    For the past six autumns, Glen has taken a Saturday away from home and rented a boat to embark on a day long fishing excursion on Strawberry Reservoir.   No, your math isn't off...this tradition actually began before we even lived in Utah, but was embraced with even more enthusiasm once we did!    Usually Adam and/or Spence join the adventure, along with his brother, Alex, and a couple of his boys, but this year, after several turned down invitations, it ended up only being Glen and Adam.    One of the downfalls of only having the two of them there, meant that it was sometimes difficult to manage the boat and fishing at the same, but together they still managed   to catch about 20 fish.   It was a beautiful day and they both came home feeling like it had been a successful day on the water. 

They brought home a few fish to eat and later that evening, Glen cleaned them up before storing them until we were ready to cook them.    As you probably know, cleaning a fish is not a pretty sight.  It involves chopping off the head and tail, splitting the fish in half, and cleaning out the guts.   I don't even like watching, but my little 6-year-old nephew, Jesus, was FASCINATED.  At first, I tried to keep him away, so as not to disturb him, but after a while I realized that he was very much viewing the whole process like a little scientist and I opted to just let him observe and ask all the questions he wanted.  It was very cute to see how inquisitive (and very much not disturbed) he was. 

In a few more years, Glen may even have a new fishing buddy to join him on his autumn excursions! 
 
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Obsessed and Boring

 Hey there! 

Here's a boring little life update...

 I think I have discovered the yummiest cookies in the history of the universe.  They're brown butter maple pumpkin cookies.    I used gluten free flour and subbed some of the brown sugar with coconut sugar, but that didn't affect the deliciousness level one bit and I think I may be obsessed.

  I made them once in Saint George, then made them again because I couldn't stop thinking about them...this time with a healthy maple frosting (sweet potato based with maple syrup, a bit of maple extract, and a little coconut oil).   It sounds weird, but it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.   Have I mentioned that I'm obsessed?   

 

 Also, the garden harvest has been plentiful this year and I'm loving it, though I am kind of over all the giant zucchini....and I haven't checked yet, but it was 31-degrees when I woke up the other day, so it might all be dead now.  Boo.

I went on an 8 mile hike the other day in the fall perfection and my average mile was 15:18...it felt great!

Glen didn't come with me on the hike, because he was doing his annual fall fishing trip on Strawberry Reservoir with Alex and boys...

The next day, Glen smoked that very trout and we ate it for dinner, which was quite delicious.   The kale salad was from our garden, the bread was GF, and the sweet potato a nice touch.   We ended with the aforementioned cookies that I'm currently obsessed with, so I ate way too much and ended the day with a tummy ache....

I keep finding photos like this in my camera roll (which we share with the youngest 3 kids) and it makes me smile!   I think she's liking college life!  

I haven't seen Lucie, Cam, or Garrett since Labor Day weekend and I have been missing them extra lately (probably has something to do with the empty house).   Every picture (even when taken at a gas station)  I get makes me want to get on a plane right now...   

In the meantime, I am eagerly looking forward to Thanksgiving! 

Thanks for reading!  Have an amazing day!

May the 4th Be With You!

I just thought I'd take this opportunity and say, "May the 4th be with you!" to all of you dear blog readers!     

And since Lucie might just make for the cutest "May the 4th" greeting ever, I think I shall inundate you with lots of pictures of our favorite {and only} grandbaby! 

Glen just spent the last week there and had an absolute blast getting to play with sweet Lucie all week while Mommy and Daddy went to work! 

He was basically Lucie's servant for the week and whatever Lucie wanted, Lucie got.  She wanted to go on a walk; Papa would take her on a walk.

  She wanted to read books; they would read books.

She wanted to see the animals;  they went to the zoo. 

Lucie wanted to try out a cheesy new hair-do; no problem!

Lucie wanted ice cream..er....actually that might have been Papa wanted ice cream, so Lucie got ice cream too!  

He  brought Cam and Lucie fishing....

and taught Lucie how to say, "fish".

It's hard to say who was more enamored at the end of the week..Glen or Lucie!   This is an actual picture of  Lucie when they dropped Glen off at the airport.  She'd been happy up until the moment when she realized Papa was walking away from them.   Glen is happy to be home, but felt the same way about leaving them behind.    

How did I celebrate my May the 4th?   I just bought Ellie and I tickets to visit Lucie {and her parents} next month!  Yay! 

For the record {in case it wasn't abundantly obvious}, I am rather fond of this grandparenting time of life. 💗

Dam Life Update

As has become tradition when we have a missionary out serving, here is a {quick and silly} life update taken from a letter we wrote to him on  2/5/23.
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Hello my dear missionary!  
How is life in the Town of Beavers?   Speaking of which...do you know how Beaverton got its name?   I'm going to look it up right now.  It seems like it's got to have something to do with beavers and dams, which means that it's time for some good Mom dam humor.

                                        <PAUSE while I look it up.>

Straight from Wikipedia:

"According to Oregon Geographic Names, Beaverton's name is derived from the settlement's proximity to a large body of water resulting from beaver dams.

The area of Tualatin Valley that became Beaverton was originally the home of a Native American tribe known as the Atfalati, which settlers mispronounced as Tualatin. The Atfalati population dwindled in the latter part of the 18th century, and the prosperous tribe was no longer dominant in the area by the 19th century when settlers arrived. The tribe named their village Chakeipi, which translates to "place of the beaver," which early settlers referred to as "Beaverdam.""

WHAT?

Not only is your Mom right, but it was originally called BeaverDAM!!!! THAT'S DAM EPIC!!!!  I think I am going to start telling people that you're serving in Beaverdam from now on!

I think you should make this your new profile picture.  I'm sure your mission president will approve.  

Also, I have no idea what I'm writing to you next.   

I guess I should probably tell you about life at home, but that seems so boring.  So I think I'll show you the awesome postcard I got today.  It's my favorite type and it made me smile.  

Also, you have some silly sisters....

And a Dad who likes to go fishing...

even when it's cold and snowy! 

So, I guess maybe I am telling you about home now.   Here's a more detailed synopses of what's happening: 

1. I had a RS activity last week that we advertised to be Mindfulness, Movement, Munching, and Mingling.  

 

 

We had a spiritual thought based on these two articles (#1 & #2), then split off into two 15ish minute classes.  One class was glow stick dancing (MOVEMENT) with a teacher speaking a little about the importance of continuing to move our bodies.  The other class was a 15-minute meditation (MINDFULNESS) session. Everyone had a chance to do both classes if they wished.  At the end, we all gathered back together for MUNCHING on healthy snacks and MINGLING with the other sisters.    About 30 people came and I am considering it a success! 

2. Dad is getting a lot of action on his resume and has had several interviews already. 

3. Ellie is Ellie. 

4. Lucie is convinced that all animals say, "Baaaaa".  I think I already told you / showed you that, but it's so stinking cute I had to mention it again. 

5. Also, I think Lucie identifies me as the "Dancing Grandma" now.   Whenever I get on facetime with her and she sees my face, she starts dancing.   It makes me smile and I look forward to dancing with her in person in a couple weeks!   

6.  Kiwi and Denali are getting along better now.  It was a rough few days after Denali's haircut with Kiwi acting aggressively toward her.  We had to keep them separated, because Kiwi seemed totally convinced that she was a strange dog that looked and smelled funny.  

7.  Did I mention that my digestive issues have been much improved since my surgery?   It's been weird and I don't understand the reasons why, but suddenly my stomach is much less sensitive than it previously was.  I've even tried gluten a couple times with success.  Granted it's a specially processed flour that it is much different than what you can buy at a grocery store, but I now have 50 lbs of it and I've eaten bread made with it twice now without consequence!   Woohoo!

Here is a pizza crust I made with the special flour.   I ended up leaving it, along with directions, for Ellie and Spencer one night, while Dad and I went on a date....but I COULD have eaten it and that's awesome!  

8.   I feel like I need something random to throw in here again, before you fall asleep with the boringness of this letter, so here's your sister having some kind of moment with Denali while laying on the fireplace hearth.   

9.  The cold and snowy conditions continue here in Utah and the other morning I had the experience of standing ON TOP OF THE SNOW without sinking in.  It was about 15ish degrees at the time and the experience brought  back all sorts of memories about my Minnesota days.  For the record, I may look happy in this picture, but I am not happy with how incessant this winter has been.   I literally don't think it's been out of the 40's since October and I'm tired of bundling up in my cold weather gear every single stinking day! 

Here is another random picture from that same walk.  It's just a bunch of female longhorn cattle standing on top of a large mound of dirt/snow while the males waited patiently at the bottom for them to come down. 

Alright, it's getting to be my bedtime and my brainwaves are degrading into fuzzballs quickly.   I'll close off with a quick spiritual thought.  It's a quote I found that went along with the CFM reading this past week:  

"It is this living water, freely offered by Jesus Christ, that we all seek to quench our own spiritual thirst and that is critically needed to end the gospel drought that continues to plague mankind. As His disciples, we are the primary distribution system for delivering the living water from its everlasting source to His cherished children in need. We largely determine who will receive the water as we, by our ­service, control the irrigation system headgates. We preserve the purity of the water as we reflect to the world the value of the ­living water in our own lives. If we irrigate when the living water is required, rather than when it is convenient for us, we determine its vitality. It is only the living water of Jesus Christ that can and will bring a happy, successful, and everlasting life to the children of men."  {The Living Water of Jesus Christ, H. David Burton, BYU Speeches, January 2000}

That's what you're doing....bringing the living water of Christ to the people of Beaverdam!  You're awesome.   I love you!!! Have an amazing P-day! I look forward to talking to you tomorrow. 

LOVE, 
Mom 💕

One More Thing -- A Trip to Yellowstone

You've probably noticed that we've had a bit of a crazy few months around here.  Between our travels, my Dad's death, my kids going a million different directions, and Adam starting his mission...it's felt pretty nonstop.   In the weeks leading up to Adam starting his mission, we kept talking about how we realllllllly wanted to do "one more thing" with him before he left.  We went back and forth on what that one thing should be, but ultimately decided that a trip to Island Park, Idaho would be just the fun and nostalgic thing we were looking for. 

 Glen's grandparents owned a cabin in Island Park for many years and we would bring our family there every few years for Yellowstone adventures while they were growing up.   Sadly they sold the cabin a few years ago, so we didn't have an easy place to stay this time.  At first we shopped around for another cabin to stay in, but after lamenting over the high prices and less than ideal locations,  I had the bright idea that we should make it a camping trip.       

Camping, you ask?  Yes.  Never mind we haven't been camping in several years and a lot of our gear was still in boxes in the garage.   We like spending several hours tracking down items we haven't used in years, setting up our tent in the dark, cooking over a fire, getting bitten my mosquitos, and sleeping on hard surfaces.   Yeah, we're crazy like that. 

Seriously though...despite the rough/slow start and the weird amounts of wind and rain we encountered, it ended up being exactly the kind of fun memory making experience we were trying to create.   

  

We spent lots of  time in Yellowstone and went on as many hikes as we could...

Glen was excited to put his canoe to good use and to get in some world-class fishing!  

We saw "Singin' in the Rain," and "Tarzan" at the Playmill (a long-standing family tradition)! 

We cooked breakfast and lunch over the fire most days.  We took this picture after  Emma and I started a fire in the wind and drizzle, while Glen and Adam were out fishing. 

 It was one of our first times starting a fire completely by ourselves  and we were quite proud to start it in less than ideal conditions!  

We ate dinners and treats out on the town--in West Yellowstone before the shows.  

We weirdly didn't see much in the way of wildlife in Yellowstone, but we did enjoy the opportunity to snuggle together in the car during our drives, because it was cold and windy for part of the time!    What wildlife did we see?  A handful of buffalo, maybe 2-3 elk, and a bunch of chipmunks.   

We had forgotten the stark beauty of Island Park and Yellowstone and we enjoyed soaking in the gorgeous scenery there.    

I couldn't get enough of the wildflowers and took way too many pictures of them...

Actually...what am I saying?  

Is it possible to have too many pictures like these?   

I don't think so...  😍

This really may be one of the prettiest places on earth..

Of course we  made sure Adam got lots of love....

We finished off the adventure (after having to get our car jumped before we could leave the campground) with a stop at the Rexburg Temple to do baptisms together.  It was an awesome experience.  

After three nights of living the tent life, we were pretty exhausted by the end.

 But it was a good kind of exhausted.  The kind where you sack out in your smoke and unshowered body scented clothes while you bask in not having a rock underneath your left hip.  Yes, it was a great laid back trip filled with a lot of memory making experiences, but it was also pretty heavenly taking that first shower and sacking out in our own beds. 

Maybe we'll even go camping again...someday.  😄