Looking Back...

Alright, I interrupt the regularly scheduled updates of how intensely crazy life currently is (with a new stress about one of my kids thrown into the mix), to share these old photos we recently came across at my Mom's house.   My Mom has a new diagnosis that I'm not ready to talk about on here yet, but it's a doozy that requires a lot more testing and will severely affect her life in the future.  We are all still trying to process.    In the meantime, she's been trying to go through boxes and I thought it would be fun to share some of the treasures we came across.   

Here's a couple of me from when I was a baby...

I see glimpses of my kids in these....

And this one was with me and my Mom taken on the day before my younger brother was born. It was May 1974 in Germany and I was 13 months old....so basically still a baby myself!      

I love this sweet family photo from around 1977.  

This one was taken around 1979 or so in Oklahoma City, and includes my Uncle Mike (in back), Kristina, my cousin, Ashley, Pete, Nate, my cousin, Aaron, and me (in the front row).

This one is 1988 with me holding my brother, Tim.   My hair was clearly in fine form in the 1980's.  

These were taken around 1999...

Look at my sweet Littles, who are now almost 31 and 29!   

These pics are on display at my Mom's house...

Look at those cute little smiles...

I thought this old drawing of mine was cute and kind of funny.   I'm guessing that the teacher had written the writing prompt up on the chalkboard and I very obediently even added the blanks to show that I filled it in!   Haha!   And the fact that I was excited to "play around the house" for Spring Break is also kind of funny.   

Here is an old letter Cami had written to her Great- Grandma Hepworth.   She passed away in 2009, so it was sometime before then...

 My Mom has a very hard time parting with items like these, so taking pictures of them and sharing them here on the blog is a good way to preserve them for future posterity.   Perhaps I'll have to start posting these flashback posts more regularly again...


 

A Funeral, an Injury, and Another Unexpected Trip

A few weeks ago, my grandmother, Doris/Nana, passed away.   She was 96-years-old and had been super healthy and energetic up until just the last couple of years.  She lived in my parents' basement for about a decade and just moved to a care facility a few miles from our home after my Dad passed away in 2022.   Having her live with my parents meant I got to know her better than I ever could while she'd lived in Oklahoma City for all the years before.  

I got to know what an amazing cook she was...always offering to feed us...even in the last couple weeks of her life.   Her specialties were  hearty breakfasts, which usually consisted of bacon, eggs, homemade biscuits, and gravy.   Our family enjoyed many a delicious morning in Nana's lair while she spoiled us.   She is also very generous and always had a gift to offer to whomever came to visit her.  

My Dad was her oldest child (and I am the oldest child of my parents), so it was an amazing thing that we got a 5 generation shot before my Dad passed away.  It's not many people who get to meet their great-great grandchildren!   

She also got to meet Oliver...

   I felt blessed to be able to live close over the last few years, so I could drop by her care facility on a semi-regular basis.    I will never forget how she kept asking if we needed anything and wondering if she could make us some food up until the last week or two of her life.   

She had raised her family in Oklahoma City and lived there until about 2013 (?), when she came to live with my parents.    My granddad was buried there in OKC and it made sense to hold her funeral there in the city she called home for so many years. 

Four of my siblings and my mom were able to fly out to the funeral.  

  

It was amazing being able to see so many long lost cousins I hadn't seen in many years...  

And other extended family as well --aunts, uncles,  2nd cousins, and even Nana's 90-year-old sister {not shown}!

 I had arrived into town on Friday around  lunchtime and left just a few hours after the funeral was over on Saturday, so I could get back for my talk in sacrament meeting the next day.

We didn't have very long together, but I was grateful for the time we did have.   |

The day after the funeral, my Mom, sister, Heather, and brother, Matt, drove back to Dallas for their flights home.  Tickets in and out of Dallas were MUCH cheaper than from OKC, even with the car rental and hotel added in.  I almost certainly would have gone that route too, except I needed to get back for my talk.  It was there in Dallas my sister, Heather, had an epic fall on an uneven sidewalk at the hotel they were staying at.  It was a bad fall that involved a couple of broken bones, missing her flight home, and an emergency surgery the next day.  

Thus began a new crazy adventure that involved another surgery to remove all the crazy external hardware they placed to stabilize everything before the actual repair...

2+ weeks in the hospital and in-patient rehab center...

and some round robin trips to Dallas amongst us siblings to stay with her and help her out.    Matt took the first couple days, then AnnaLisa flew out, then I came for Monday to Friday....

And made sure to get myself and Heather some Torchy's a few times...

Then Kristina arrived later in the day I left to take the final shift and fly home with her (after a full two weeks of being stuck there)!   

IN amidst all this, we had to figure out how to get my Mom back home.  She was supposed to fly back with Heather, and since she gets easily disoriented, we knew there was no way she could navigate an airport by herself.   Eventually we arranged for to be accompanied straight to the gate in Dallas, then I met her in the airport in Provo, which thankfully is a very small airport.  

Mom was totally fine.   

Heather is now home.  

And life remains as off-beat as  a good plotline  for an  episode in Crazy Town!  

Beautiful Northern Ireland!

  Everyone in my family has a bit of wanderlust in them, but my brother, Nate, is the absolute king of travel and he makes the rest of us look like homebodies by comparison!   He had a goal to make it to 100 countries by the time he turned 50, which he accomplished and now he is going back to visit his favorite places and occasionally adding new destinations when it fits into his plans. So when he found out that we were visiting Northern Ireland on our trip (a place he'd never been), he spontaneously  added it onto his itinerary for a trip he was taking at the same time.   Where were the other destinations on his  trip to?   Cape Verde and the Azores in Portugal...you know right on the way to Northern Ireland!   Haha!  

Our overlap with Nate was about a day-and-a-half, so we reserved a spot for him to come along  with us on our day-long tour, which included  stops at Carrickfergus Castle, some Game of Thrones filming sites, and Giant's Causeway. 

You all probably didn't know this about me, but I am a bit of a geology nerd.  I took several geology classes in college and I LOVE visiting places in the world with unique geologic features.   Basically that means that Giant's Causeway was on the very top of my list of all the things to do in Northern Ireland and it did not disappoint.   I was nervous as we approached as it did not look like much from a distance, but up close it was as AMAZING as I had expected!    

Can you believe this place is real?!    😁

I was seriously enamored with this view and in awe at a great God who set into motion the natural processes that created such a masterpiece...

 I think I took more pictures here than at any other single location on this trip...

In case you're wondering how these striking hexagonal basalt columns just naturally formed on the Northern Irish coast, here is an excerpt from the UNESCO Heritage page about Giant's Causeway that can explain it way better than I ever could: 

"The Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast is a spectacular area of global geological importance on the sea coast at the edge of the Antrim plateau in Northern Ireland. The most characteristic and unique feature of the site is the exposure of some 40,000 large, regularly shaped polygonal columns of basalt in perfect horizontal sections, forming a pavement. This dramatic sight has inspired legends of giants striding over the sea to Scotland. Celebrated in the arts and in science, it has been a visitor attraction for at least 300 years and has come to be regarded as a symbol for Northern Ireland.

The property’s accessible array of curious geological exposures and polygonal columnar formations formed around 60 million years ago make it a ‘classic locality’ for the study of basaltic volcanism. The features of the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast site and in particular the strata exposed in the cliff faces, have been key to shaping the understanding of the sequences of activity in the Earth’s geological history."

I could have stayed all day, but eventually the tour moved on and we explored  a couple other interesting spots before heading back to Belfast! 

The next day we bid adieu to Nate, who was heading back to Dublin for his flight home and we explored Belfast.  We logged A LOT of steps that day and enjoyed seeing everything we could possibly squeeze in.  

We particularly enjoyed the Titanic Museum {shown below} and were fascinated to learn about the construction of the Titanic, which took place on the museum's site right there on the port in Belfast.   

We thought this street was super cute and we loved the quote arched across the way, "There's only seven types of rain in Belfast:  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday..."   Thankfully it only rained a little while we were there! 

Northern Ireland ended up being one of our favorite spots on the trip, so I will finish up with a few random facts about Northern Ireland that we learned while we were there:

1. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, while Ireland is not.   They use the same currency and same postage as most of the UK (including England, Scotland, and Wales...but not including Ireland).  

2. Though Northern Ireland has its own culture, it does not have its own flag. 

3.  As mentioned above, the Titanic was constructed and launched from Belfast, though it did not pick up any passengers until reaching England/France. 

4. There is still a lot of conflict between Protestants and Roman Catholics.  

5. Game of Thrones was filmed on location in Northern Ireland for almost a decade.  The Northern Irish are very proud of this connection and it ended up being a great boost to their economy.  We've never seen the show before, but didn't have a hard time imagining why it was chosen as the backdrop for a show. 

We stopped by several Game of Thrones filming sites--including Dark Hedges (shown below)--on our Giant's Causeway tour.  

And that's it for Northern Ireland!   Thanks for following along with our adventures...stay tuned for 2 more segments to come!  

Fourth Time Around

They say that the more you do something, the easier it gets, but I'm here to say that that is definitely not true when it comes to sending missionaries out into the world for 18-24 months!   We are on our fourth time around and perhaps the actual process of getting them physically ready is a bit easier, but certainly not emotionally.    And when I say, "emotionally," I'm not talking about her.  This girl was as ready as they come.  As with all of our other missionaries, she was very independent with the whole process of applying and submitting her papers.   With her epilepsy, she had a lot more hiccups and hurdles along the way than our other missionaries, but she navigated them with poise, patience, and independence.   By the time it was time to drop her off at the MTC (on New Year's Eve), she was excited and ready.  

Me, not so much.   With her being my baby AND having an ongoing health issue, it felt like an even bigger leap of faith to send her out into the world, than with her older siblings.   Having said that though, we couldn't be prouder of her decision to serve a mission.  We do not pressure our children to serve whatsoever.   They grew up knowing that Glen's mission meant the world to him and they certainly know they come from a legacy of missionary service (5 of my siblings, 1 of Glen's,  my parents, and many great-aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents), but we felt strongly that the decision to serve their own missions had to stem solely from them.   It's been a beautiful thing for us, as parents, to watch them as they've prayed, pondered, and ultimately made the decision to step away from their schooling and social lives to serve the Lord completely on their own.  

I'll be honest, it was a really hard goodbye for me, but I wouldn't have it any other way.     

I'm glad she is where she is and I know she's going to change lives!  💓

A {Mostly} Predictable Christmas

Happy New Year, my friends!    I just dropped Ellie off at the MTC earlier today (and I will post about that later), but first I need a little distraction from my complicated feelings and wanted to do a little recap of our Christmas.   If you've been following along with this blog for very long, you can likely predict that the excitement level of this post will be somewhat low and the content fairly predictable, but I figure if you're still following along with this blog 17 years after I started it, you know what you're getting!  Haha! 

I already posted about our Christmas cards this year, but here is a glimpse of the the other Christmas cards I designed AND had printed (yes, I'm that obsessed).   The top ones were for Cami, who had a pretty crazy Christmas season of Garrett working nights most of the month, combined with a lot of sickness that knocked them out for a while (and required a couple of scary ER visits for poor Oliver with a case of the croup).    She knew there was no way they were getting out before Christmas, so we just embraced the New Year theme! 

I also designed and printed my Mom's cards. I felt a little badly that there were no photos of her with any other grandkids to include, but, to be fair, I asked everyone before throwing in the pictures of my family.  No one else had any to offer, so it is what it is, and my sister, H, and I  are already on a quest to do better this year  taking pictures with the other families when they come to town.  

Christmastime at our house always includes making a lot of goodies, but this year we decided to jump into the whole "neighbor gift" tradition that is very much a thing here in Utah.   We brought goodies to friends in other places, but with our ward being so compact here in Utah, it's much more of a widespread tradition and it's fun to see the creative gifts and treats that people came up with.   We opted for white chocolate toffee popcorn--a recipe I got from my friend, Lona, in PA.  It was easy enough to make in large quantities and we packaged it up cute and made about 25 deliveries on Christmas Eve. 

It was fun to spend an evening with my nieces, Lauren (at BYU-ID) and McKenzie (at BYU), before bringing them to the airport to head home for Christmas break.  They knew it was their last chance to see Ellie for 18ish months, so they enjoyed their time together! 

We almost dispensed with the Christmas Eve pajama tradition this year, but after some persuasive arguments from a couple of the kids, we pulled it together very last minute.  

I think everyone really ended up liking their Snuggies and I will be hard-pressed to dispense with this tradition before Ellie is home, so we will be keeping the tradition alive for another couple years at least! 

We couldn't find baby-size Snuggies, so we sent Lucie and Oliver pajamas in matching colors at least.    Garrett is a big fan of his, while Cami finds hers a little too toasty to wear much. 

To be fair, I can't wear mine to bed for the same reason, but I do enjoy wearing mine in the evenings and especially when I first wake up in the morning when the house is colder.   

I do have to admit that Christmas pajama photos are pretty fun and we've had a lot of epic ones over the years.  This one ranks up there with some of the best!  

After pajama opening, we did our traditional Christmas Eve devotional with songs and scriptures. My Mom, Heather, and Nate joined us for this part of the night.   You can find a printable version of the devotional books we use here.  We usually read all the scriptures and sing just the first verses  of the songs, then Glen finishes off the night with showing us this video and him testifying about how we can let Christ into our lives better. 

On Christmas morning, we made and enjoyed this delicious breakfast....

Emma made a gluten free version of our favorite Orange Breakfast Bread, I made bacon, and Adam and Glen made eggs and got the berries ready.  It was all delicious and I daresay we looked pretty cute eating our Christmas breakfast in our Snuggies!  

Later we opened presents, during which I took almost no photos.  But I did capture the beautiful Scandinavian heart baskets Emma made for us and we smiled seeing this sweet picture of Lucie, so happy that she got the only thing she wanted from Santa...some pink sparkly shoes!  

What else did we do?  

Ellie and I did some shoveling, since Glen is still recovering from his recent appendectomy.   Adam hit up some Christmas parties wearing this epic outfit. 

Speaking of epic outfits....Adam's BYU friend group were all looking pretty snazzy at this party!  

Oh, and this part of the post is all out of order, but I had to throw in something slightly unexpected for you.  This was a glimpse of our Christmas Eve dinner, ordered to-go from Cheesecake Factory.   It may look like alcoholic beverages on our table for the occasion, but, rest assured....

It was just a non-alcoholic butterscotch beer taste testing we decided to try!   It was our first time having butterscotch beer (besides the butterbeer from Universal Studios Harry Potter World).  I think it was pretty unanimous that it was all a bit too sweet for us to buy on any regular occasion, but #1 (the one we'd gotten from Costco) was the one we liked the best. 

 So there you have it...our very boring, but wonderful Christmas festivities.   These days I don't even want non-boring.   Having our college kids home, a missionary in the house, and my Mom, brother, and sister here was perfect.  The only thing that would have made it more perfect, was if Cami, Garrett, Lucie, and Oliver could have been here too, but we had {most of} them for Thanksgiving, so we will be grateful for that!  

Happy New Year!