Our Fourth and Climbing Kyhv Peak

Between lots of out of town visitors, planning for some upcoming travel, some health stuff with my Mom, two of our kids moving, and some other random time consuming responsibilities, life has been a bit chaotic lately.   For a while, I kept hoping that things would calm down once we got past a few certain calendar items, but now it's looking like the pace is about to escalate even further.  And on an indefinite basis.   As such, it's definitely going to be harder to find the time to sit down and blog, however, I still have the desire to keep up with it, so here I go adding blogging to my to-do list, so it actually happens in between all the other things!  

This blogpost will be all about our Independence Day happenings.   

Glen and I decided to take advantage of his day off and do some hiking in the mountains.  We log a lot of miles in a week walking around our community on our morning walks, but it's actually pretty rare for us to venture into the mountains.  It's mostly time and a little bit of an intimidation factor that keeps us away, so the holiday was a perfect excuse to set all that aside and hike Kyhv Peak (formerly known as Squaw Peak).  

Adam had told us that it was the perfect hike for someone at our level (generally fit, but not super into hiking mountains).    

Some of the uphills were definitely challenging, but with views like this along the way... 

we did our best to enjoy the journey...

The view from the top was lovely in all directions...

And it was fun that we arrived to the peak at the same time as some college kids who'd toted a flag up there for the Fourth.   They were kind enough to let us take a few pics with it, so we felt a little extra festive.

I slipped in some loose gravel on the way down and ended up with a minor sprained ankle.  Luckily, it wasn't too bad and I was able to make my way to the car without difficulty.  The pain didn't actually set in until later and I did end up hobbling around for a bit, but I'm back to 100% again now, so thankfully it wasn't too bad.   

Because of my hurt ankle, we just hung around home the rest of the day while I put my foot up.   Despite the injury, I consider the hike a success and we would totally recommend that hike for someone looking to hike a mountain without committing to an all-day adventure!   

 And that was pretty much a wrap for our Fourth, so here's a look at other family members' experiences.  

Cami and family had just barely moved to Rhode Island a week or two before, so they spent the day in a cute New England town, just exploring and enjoying the old town vibes, including a parade and fireworks!  

Lucie was a little cutie pie in the festive clothes I'd sent in a package for the occasion ! 

 

Emma did a little hike with her friends...

And went to the balloon festival...

Adam had to work during the day, but spent the evening with friends...

Ellie (currently known as Hermana G) didn't do much in the way of celebrating that day, but this photo is dated July 4th, so shows a little glimpse of the amazing things she was up to that day!  

I have no pics of Spence from that day, but he did have the day off, so I'm sure it was enjoyed!  

And that is all for this blogpost.  

Have a beautiful day!  

The Fourth

 The fourth of July was just after I arrived home from Nashville/Birmingham and I may have been a bit exhausted that day--as evidenced by the first picture you see here.   Besides not sleeping great on the trip (which is becoming maddeningly more common of late), our flight had arrived in the wee hours of the morning on July 3rd, which meant my sleep deprivation was intense.  I think I have to admit I'm officially growing old, because I do not handle sleep deprivation as well as I used to!    

It was fun to have Emma join us for the day! 

Glen smoked chicken, and we made kale salad, corn on the cob, homemade freshly squeezed strawberry lemonade, and a fruit pizza for dessert. 

Everything was quite delicious! 

Later we watched fireworks from our deck, because there were at least 3 decent shows (at people's homes) within a couple blocks of us.  We are in the small part of our town where fireworks are actually legal, and it's pretty mind-boggling each year how all-out people go here in Utah.   The dogs (Kiwi in particular) were a little skittish.  

We found this cute photo on the camera roll from Ellie's 4th of July festivities! 

Later that weekend, Glen and I took advantage of a gift card the kids had given us for Christmas and ate at this super fancy restaurant called La Caille.    The food was amazing and the grounds were pretty spectacular too! 

Even the peacock was showing off! 

And last, but not least...what would a blogpost of mine be without a sweet picture of my grandbabies from that same weekend?   They were dressed in matching outfits Heather had given them and they were about as adorable as adorable gets, if I do say so myself.  

Hope you all had a happy Independence Day too!   

Our Fourth

The older we get, the more laid back our holidays have become.   This 4th of July was no different.   We started off the day by going to the ward holiday breakfast, where Ellie quickly realized she was one of the few teens there, where approximately one person initiated conversation with us, and where there was very little I could actually eat, but the kids with their decorated bikes were adorable, so that was awesome. 

I also enjoyed the opportunity to wear my cheesy patriotic clothes out of the house.  Also, we didn't get to see Lucie in person, but I was happy to see that she was following in her Gigi's holiday fashion sense. 

I was disappointed to not be able to partake much in the 4th of July breakfast, so I made my own version on the 5th of July.  It was bursting with fresh fruit, free of refined sugar, gluten, and dairy, and had a hearty whole-grain (oat) based pancake.  It was frankly quite delicious and we've been enjoying the leftovers all week long! 

And then, we did what we almost always do for fun these days...we went on a hike.  We thought it was a 4-mile hike.  It turned out to be 8-miles to our destination though (stupid All Trails lied to us).  We made it 6 and turned around in hopes to come back another day when we're better prepared for 8-miles.  The scenery was lovely and we are excited to come back when there are even more wildflowers, since it seemed that we were just ahead of peak time. 

Then we stopped for Costa Vida on the way home, talked to our missionary, Glen went back to Saint George, and  Ellie, Spence, and I watched fireworks from our deck.   People here are hardcore with their personal fireworks, so it was actually a pretty good show for not leaving the house. 

As I drifted off to sleep (with our noise machine going to drown out the lingering firework noise),  it was hard not to feel a little like we've morphed  into old people.   Next thing you know, we'll have little people calling us Gigi and Papa and we'll be empty nesters or something.   Oh wait. 

I guess we're already there.

Pre-Independence Week

This little life update is taken straight from a letter we wrote to our missionary.  It's a nice way to accomplish two things at once!  

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July 3, 2023

Hola to our favorite missionary! 
How's life in the Farming-hood?   Tell us all about your new companion, your new mission president, and whatever else is new!  What is your schedule like today given the fact that your p-day is also a national holiday.  I imagine that you'll be in your apartment for the night long before the fireworks begin??  

Oh yeah, speaking of the national holiday upon us....

Our Independence Day will consist of wearing goofy red, white, and blue outfits,  a Ward Breakfast in the church parking lot, then a hike to Primrose Point.  After that I'm making the very iconic "Sausage Salad" for dinner {which I've never made before}.  It will be totally delicious, but whatever you do don't ask Ellie about it, because she has decided it's terrible already.  😏 

We'll probably, maybe try to see some fireworks too.  We shall see. 

Speaking of Ellie, she's dog-sitting this week and taking care of Denali on steroids pretty much.     His name is Sarge and he's as sweet-natured as they come, but he clearly likes food and doesn't exercise much.  Denali and him get along just fine.  We are not introducing him to Kiwi. 

 

 I think Ellie likes this job. 

 

Ellie has also been painting a ton lately.  She has stations like this set up all over the upstairs currently. 

Emma met us for a session at the temple on Friday....I look forward to when you can join us too.  :)

On Saturday Emma did the Muddy Dash {the name says it all}, then went camping.  Apparently she took no pictures camping, because my camera roll doesn't have any sadly.   Here's one of her covered in mud though. 

We started our  red, white, and blue clothing adventure on Sunday and looked pretty snazzy if I do say so myself!

Sunday afternoon we went for a drive on the Energy Loop (I think that's what it's called).  I think Ellie kind of liked it when Denali started chilling on her head.

We saw lots of beautiful vistas and wildflowers, but honestly I had a hard time sitting still for the drive.  I was happy to see the beauty, but was also happy when the drive was over!

I mentioned in my email last week (I think) that Dad got a rock polisher for his birthday.  It takes 5 rounds (that each last about a week) before they're done, but he was very excited about how they looked after Round #1.  I find it very cute how excited he is about it. 

I am taking advantage of the non-wintry weather {acknowledging that it's a short season here in Utah} and getting out to hike as much as possible.  I'm shooting for 4-6 miles per day {except Sundays} and mostly getting it.  I'll have to replace my shoes shortly, because I'm wearing them out fast!  

I've also been cooking up a storm.  I found a bunch of new recipes and have really enjoyed making and trying them out.  Ellie may be getting a little tired of them though {especially since I picked a bunch of peppery recipes}, but I'm having fun and I think everyone else is enjoying them!   This was a Greek filling I made to go in wraps.  They were quite delicious!

I don't have any pics of Spence {surprise, surprise!}, but Spence seems to be enjoying his new job and is still very into going to the gym every day.  He keeps asking about nutritionally dense food choices, started  listening to podcasts, and seems genuinely interested in improving his health.   You will not be surprised to hear that I approve of these developments.  

This probably is more of a surprise, but I sadly have zero pics of Lucie to share with you.   Cami worked a bunch of overtime this week.    She was also working extra while I was in Alabama and when Lucie was here, so I sense that she is quite exhausted now.  I'm hopeful she's now on a path to work more normal hours for the foreseeable future. 

So there you have it....our very non-exciting lives, which, if I'm being totally honest, is probably more the way we want things to be.  Exciting is definitely overrated most of the time...

ON a completely different note, here's a quote I came across when studying CFM recently: 

"The comforting Spirit of the Holy Ghost can abide with us twenty-four hours a day: when we work, when we play, when we rest. Its strengthening influence can be with us year in and year out. That sustaining influence can be with us in joy and sorrow, when we rejoice as well as when we grieve.

I believe the Spirit of the Holy Ghost is the greatest guarantor of inward peace in our unstable world. It can be more mind-expanding and can make us have a better sense of well-being than any chemical or other earthly substance. It will calm nerves; it will breathe peace to our souls. This Comforter can be with us as we seek to improve. It can function as a source of revelation to warn us of impending danger and also help keep us from making mistakes. It can enhance our natural senses so that we can see more clearly, hear more keenly, and remember what we should remember. It is a way of maximizing our happiness."  James E Faust, "The Gift of the Holy Ghost--A Sure Compass," April 1989

I like that and needed the reminder about how essential the Holy Ghost is to our internal peace.  

I hope you've had a marvelous first few days with your companion and with your mission president.  I look forward to hearing all about it tomorrow. 

We love you!!!!
Love, 

Mom 💗💗💗
 

Independence Day

Letter to Cami:  July 3, 2017

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Hi sweetie!

Happy 4th of July! I know it won't be that exciting there in France, but hope you get a few minutes to think about it at least! Dad actually will have to work all day (and probably well into the evening), so it won't be that exciting here for us either. But at least we got to wear some patriotic clothes today. 😊

We are just recuperating from our camps this week. We are all still a bit worn out, but starting to feel normal again. I look forward to this coming week being the first real week of summer without a lot on our plates. Youth conference is coming up in a couple of weeks (your birthday weekend), but our main responsibilities for that will be that weekend and not a lot beforehand! The poor James's are youth conference directors and working to get Harrison on his mission on August 2 (to Quebec Canada). I remember how crazy last summer felt and I'm feeling sorry for them!

Speaking of missionaries, Avery B., Conner C., and Tim P. left on their missions in the last week or two. Miles goes in next soon. And Harrison in August. I think Jackson, Annika, and Anna are putting papers in this fall. Taylor C. has already had 3 baptisms in the 5 weeks he's been in the SLC mission! Very exciting!

So here's a little scoop on our lives:
Emma still likes her cozy little spot under the counter. Whenever we can't find her, that's usually where she is (or else down in the basement exercising). Her main goal of the summer is to get her drivers license! She's finished driver's ed and now needs to do that required 90 minute parent meeting.

We went shopping for a tshirt dress for you, but everything was too short. We went to 25+ stores at the Leesburg outlets and this was one of the longest ones we found. We are trying our online options now. If your missionary friends have a brand or store that they like, let me know. 

Adam was the senior patrol leader at scout camp this past week. We got many many compliments on what a good job he did. We are not surprised. After dinner today, Adam served himself up some of our fresh cherry cobbler and then brought it to me to take a picture of. I thought it looked kind of artsy!

It is my goal to fill Ellie's summer with as many positive interactions with friends as possible. *** will not come to our house anymore at all thanks to her behavior to Ellie at camp, her sweet friend ***** is moving, ****** and ****** are not very available for spontaneous get-togethers, and * and * will be gone almost the whole summer, so I'm not sure exactly who those friends will be, but I'm determined to make it happen. Ellie is still very exhausted and struggling to recover from camp. Extreme sleep deprivation is not her friend. Thanks to a certain someone, sleep was in very short supply in her tent. 

Dad is sunburned from Idaho and is now peeling. Emma is a little obsessed. It's his "close week" this week, so he'll be working very long hours, including on the 4th of July! 😒

I'm working on making my own cookbook to send to all the people getting married. It'll just be some of our family favorites compiled into one book--nothing fancy--but I am super excited about it! I also need to get moving on my psychology lesson plans for this fall. We are doing the coop a little more intensely his coming year and I want to get as much of a head start as possible.

Well, tell us about your new companion! How is life? Do you have an iPad yet? Do you like these pictorial emails? Do the pictures come through embedded or are they just attached at the bottom? Can't wait to hear all about it!

We love you!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Love,
Mom
Sent from my iPhone

A Foodie Fourth

Here's a little glimpse at our Independence Day: 

We started the cool, rainy day with a delicious patriotic breakfast...   

a little  granola and fruit creation made by Emma.   

We did our Saturday chores and watched a couple of inspirational videos...

Then my girls made us a delicious patriotic dinner.   

Emma made the stuffed pizza burgers, Cami made  roasted sweet potatoes, and Ellie made cool patriotic layered drinks.

And then Cami made this lovely dessert!  

It was so good that we decided that we didn't to see any fireworks (especially since we already saw some last night at the Nats game).     

 So we stayed home, watched a stupid movie, and in general had a great {and delicious }day celebrating the birth of our country. 

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