A Few Things that Have Been Making Me Happy

Life has felt extra stressful lately.   In between the normal busyness of life, Glen is in process of transitioning to a new job (again!), things are heating up with the extended family drama I'm helping with, we are trying to spend more time with my elderly aunt who is in the crosshairs of the family drama, I had TWO unexpected trips out of town (one to OKC for my Nana's funeral and one to Dallas to help Heather with her injury), we are worried about my Mom and are trying to get a referral to get her tested for some things (a process that is proving to be much harder than it should be), and we still spend 3-5 days down in Provo most weeks for our callings.   

All this means I've had very little free time to relax or to pursue my hobbies, but, don't fret, life is not all business!   Here are a few things that have been making me happy lately: 

1.  Time with old friends.   I recently got lunch with some of my dear friends from Virginia, most of whom have moved to Utah in the last few years.  We also watched Bella M. as Juliet in BYU's production of Romeo and Juliet and Logan N. performing in BYU's Young Ambassador's show.  It is incredibly meaningful for me to be able to spend time with people who know my kids, my story, and love me anyway.    It's a feeling that is very fleeting since moving to Utah, so I embrace it whenever I can!   

2.  It was our ward's turn to help with preparing and serving dinner at stake institute for 300-500 people, and it was so fun to be able to gather and serve together in that way!  

3.  Speaking of service, I love Christy and Alicia, two of the women I serve with at church...

4.  Entertaining isn't necessarily my forte, but I do love having our ward members to our home once a month.   It usually ends up right about 30 people and it's fun to give them a home-cooked meal and to find a good excuse to send some postcards afterwards.   

5.  I also love our ward temple nights.  There's something special about gathering together in the temple and I wish our home ward did this occasionally too.   

6.  I also love finding photos like this in our camera roll.    Adam recently ran a race with his friends...

 7.  And Emma had her own Branch Temple night in Boston...

Here they are gathering to watch the worldwide RS broadcast...

8.  I loved logging onto Facebook and finding this adorable picture of our missionary who comes home about THREE MONTHS!!!!!     

Speaking of our missionary, I totally look forward to our family phone calls every p-day.  The ability to be able to communicate weekly was the best rule change the church has ever made!  

9.  Adam and his roommates came up to our house for Glen to smoke them some steak!  I completely neglected to take pictures of them, but here's a glimpse of our delicious lunch that day! 

10.  These cuties are coming to visit soon and I can hardly wait!!! 

So, that's a glimpse of some happy stuff, though  I also need to be better about taking pictures.   Some happy things not pictured were book group at our house.  The discussion of "The Billion Dollar Spy"  was excellent, the turn-out decent (around 10 people), and all in all a great night.   We've also been lucky enough to spend a little more time with a special  friend of Adam's that I definitely need to take more pictures of. 

Will life continue to be stressful for a while?   Absolutely.   But I'm trying hard to look for the rays of light in the midst of it all!   

Have a beautiful day! 

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Old Friends and a Few In-Between Things

 Have you noticed that it's been pretty nonstop around here for the last couple months?  Yeah, me too.  With kids at home, my life used to be pretty nonstop all the time, but as the kids have left the house one by one, the pace has slowed down a bit.  There have even been times in the last few years when I worry that I'm missing something, because life is so NOT busy.   I've thought long and hard about finding a job, but just haven't felt like that was the right thing yet, so I am sometimes floundering a little as I search for the most effective/meaningful way to spend my time.   But then I have periods of time like the last couple months have been and I am grateful a million times over that I have the incredible privilege of choosing to stay unemployed at this stage of my life, because I can't imagine one more thing to do on my already long list.  Plus I really, really love being flexible enough to be available for the grandkids' calls and visits and I think our new BYU callings would be very challenging if I worked full-time too.  

So, I finally have a few minutes and, here I am, blogging about a couple of the in-between things that I missed mentioning here on the blog, because they happened amongst the myriad of other "bigger" things (like  our busy new callings, Emma's graduation, the work conference in Saint George,  our trip to Alabama, and Emma's injury/surgery).  

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I am not convinced that Utah will ever truly feel like home  to me, but I'm coming around to the idea that it's certainly not a bad place to live.  Besides the epic scenery, I love that old friends actually come to visit (or move here too).    If we moved away from our community here in Utah tomorrow, I am 99.99% convinced that not a single person we've met here in Utah would ever come visit us, no matter where we lived (even if it were a mile away), so the fact that I have friends that  call when they come to visit sometimes, makes me incredibly happy!   

  Heather and Kelly are two of those good friends.  Heather recently moved nearby and is now a part of my book group, which I love.  Kelly is so good at keeping in touch, something I'm not the greatest at, so I extra appreciate her efforts and I loved seeing her, along with Heather, when she came to town for her daughter's recent graduation from BYU.  

Speaking of graduation, when we were out celebrating Emma's, I  randomly ran into this cousin of my sister-in-law, Karey,  who recognized me from my blog.  Haha!  I am fully aware that she was a regular blog reader from way back when I actually attempted humor and had a lot more funny stories to share, but it did make me feel cool to be recognized all these years later!   If you ever meet / see me in the real world, please come talk to me and make my day!   

The day after all the excitement from Emma's graduation, we celebrated my 52nd birthday!   Emma made an AMAZING cake (gluten free of course)...

which was as delicious as it was cool looking!  

I'll do a catch-up post for every member of the family soon, since there's a lot happening in most of their lives, but I think I'll finish this blogpost up with a few more pictures of some Virginia friends that recently came to town.  Kim's son was performing in a BYU production of High School Musical, which provided the perfect, last minute excuse for a trek to Provo to gather with old friends!  

All of these women are dear friends, but, besides running RAGNAR together nearly 14 years ago (see photo below), I feel like I have a special connection with each of them.    Amy is a fellow grandma to Lucie and Oliver, Kim is the mom of one of Adam's best friends growing up, and Heather is a fellow Minnesotan with whom I have a lot of shared experiences.    Finding  this old picture of us was a blast from the past and brought back a lot of carefree memories from the couple of months right before Spencer was diagnosed with leukemia and our world was forever rocked!   These women were right by my side during that challenging time!  

RAGNAR, September 2011 {l-r:  Cat, Me, Amy, Kim, Paige, Heather}

 We had to get a photo with just us and the B family, since we're practically related now that our kids have been married to each other for 7 years!    

It made my whole week to see them all again...💗

And now I need to get back to my long list of things to do again.  Thanks for tuning in today and stay tuned for more updates coming soon!   

Visiting with Old Friends!

Moving across the country in middle age is not for the faint of heart!   The part I miss most about living in Virginia is people knowing us and our story.  I feel like I will always be a  stranger in this land where  3/4 of our ward grew up in Utah County, many of those in the same neighborhood we live in. While I admit that it was nice to have had a fresh start, I was not mentally prepared for the anonymity that comes with being the newbies in a place where outsiders are such a rarity.  I think I had this naive notion that our outsider status would somehow make us more interesting (like it often does in other parts of the country), but when you're  boring introverts at heart, there's just not that much pull for people to leave their comfort zones to really get to know us. 

BUT...all is not hard about living in Utah!   There are some parts about Utah that we love (other than the scenery)!  For example, I love, love, love being close to my college kids.  It's been fun to meet their roommates and friends and feel like our connection is stronger with them once they leave the house.   I also love being able  to stay connected with old friends.  Utah is such a crossroads for so many members of the church and, although it's less frequent than I'd like,  I really enjoy being able to keep in touch with others that have also moved here, are going to school here, or are passing through here. 

One of those opportunities came up this past week. 

  Elena is Emma's oldest friend.  Their birthdays are a week apart and we met her and her family back in 2002 and love them all.  If you look back through the archives of this blog, you'll find a lot of posts with Elena and Emma together over the years.  

A few weeks ago, Elena and her husband, Harlan (also from Virginia), had a baby.   I loved being able to see and catch up with both of their parents, as well as being able, along with Emma,  to meet and hold their new baby.   Elena was in YW almost the entire five years I served as YW president, so in addition to feeling connected to her as one of my daughter's best friends, I also got to watch her grow in the YW program.  

It does make me feel a bit old to realize that someone who is only a week younger than my THIRD child is already married and has a baby (even after both of them served missions), but I am a grandma and have a full head of gray hair under all the dye, so I guess I should just embrace that I actually am old! 

It really is moments like these that make living in Utah worth it to me. 💖

Post-Thailand Life and Where the Sidewalk Ends...

Coming home from Thailand was a little rough.  Not only did we have a 13 hour time difference to recover from, but I had a million things on my to-do list, which meant I had to get moving full-steam ahead.   What do we have going on right now?   Mostly just normal stuff and getting Ellie ready to leave for college in a few weeks.   And by normal stuff I meant  I had a RS activity I was in charge of within 3 days of returning home.   Thankfully I had done a lot of the prep-work beforehand and so it was just pulling the details together, which was good, since the jet-lag was brutal at that point and this was the most disorganized I ever felt before an activity.  In the end, the activity was well-attended and  I feel like it came together well.

Here are a few other things we have going on...

I've been logging a lot of walking miles this summer.    Most mornings I just wander around our community, taking whatever route my feet happen to follow.   I am wearing out my shoes quickly and I am realizing that I need thick, good quality socks to walk this much.   I miss walking with Glen, but we log as many miles together as we can on the weekends. 

I ran into this sign on one of my recent walks and it made me laugh and think of this book of poems I loved so much as a kid.  Thankfully the sidewalk's end in real life was not quite as dramatic as the one of Shel Silverstein's creation! 

On one of our weekend walks recently we discovered this little stretch of trail here in Alpine that made us feel like we were back home in Virginia for a minute. 

Last week we celebrated my Mom's 71st birthday with some "Better Than...Anything" cake that Ellie made for her.  Today is my Dad's birthday, so I am thinking of him extra today. 

One morning Emma came over to hear the scoop  about Thailand in person.   Ellie was very happy to have her partner in silliness back! 

 

We had a Vienna Ward get-together last week and it made me sooooo happy.   Our lives have been (and look to continue to be) so nomadic  and it was good for my soul to be among people who love and know us.   I miss that feeling. 

 

 

Speaking of old Virginia friends, Ellie's recently had a couple old friends move to Utah and she's been enjoying the boost in her social life before she heads off to college.   

I don't know if I adequately portrayed in my blogpost about Thailand, how much that experience meant to me, but it felt like a little of the protective wall I've kept around me since moving away from VA got chipped away a bit. I find myself looking through pics and reminiscing about it often.  This was one more collage I created...just for fun.  I'm also working on another couple projects and am super looking forward to a reunion at our house this coming weekend! 

 

This blogpost is getting a little long and rambly, so I'll finish up with a couple pics of my favorite grandbaby!   Lucie is 20 months old, good at making messes, is going through some sleep troubles (trying to skip her naps!), and is learning new words every day!   I LOVE my facetime conversations with her and look forward to a real life visit in a few weeks!  

Here she is wearing of the Thailand dresses I got for her.   She may or may not have been the recipient of the most Thai souvenirs.  She's just so darn fun and easy to shop for (and I know she won't complain)!   Hahaha!

 
And with that, I'll sign off on this post!   Have an amazing weekend! 

Trip to the Mother Land!

 Once upon a time, when we young and freshly graduated from BYU, we decided to move to Baltimore for a cool job opportunity for Glen.  We had one toddler and were 32 weeks pregnant with our second  baby when we moved.    This picture was taken within a couple weeks of moving in. 

 We liked Baltimore okay and enjoyed living and exploring  there for a couple years, then ultimately decided that that was not the place we wanted to raise our family.   When an opportunity arose for a 2-year rotation at the DC office of the  company Glen was working for, we assumed that we'd live in DC for 2 years then be onto our "forever" home...wherever that might be....however, that plan didn't pan out, because we  liked DC way more than we expected and decided to stay.  We bought a house and ended up staying for nearly 20 years.  In the process we attracted every single one of my siblings (but one) to do a stint living in DC.   Three of my brothers and a sister still live there, not to mention countless friends.  
 

When we sold our house and moved away from Northern Virginia in 2019, we did it with sad, but hopeful hearts.  We knew we'd miss so many people that we'd grown to love over the years, but we also were excited to get a fresh start somewhere new and have the opportunity to make a difference in a new place.  

We enjoyed Pennsylvania, but it did not turn out like we expected.  We met many wonderful people there that hold a special place in our hearts, but Glen's job opportunity, though great for his career path, fizzled out more quickly than expected and we also got blindsided when COVID came and shut down the world.  I think we would have certainly struggled with COVID in Virginia as well, but being newbie homeschoolers in a place that shut down hardcore was not fun.   There were people we met that I never saw the unmasked faces of the entire time we lived there and awkward situations that never got to be resolved, because of how everything went down.  Overall we 100% know that we were supposed to live in PA for the two years we were there, but, with as shallow as our roots were,  it  honestly wasn't that hard to leave when a new opportunity arose.  Sadly, I don't believe anyone there misses us a bit.  

Then we moved to Utah.  Once again, we know we are where we are supposed to be right now.   I believe that Ellie needed to attend American Heritage School and it's felt like a gift to be close to my Mom while my Dad's health was declining so quickly and even more so now that he's gone.  Having said that though....Utah is kind of a wild place!   We knew Utah culture would be different than what we were used to, but I was unprepared for the complete lack of interest from people around us.  They're the nicest people in the world (literally), but don't seem super interested in getting to know us on a deeper level than just "Hey, we're nice.  See you next Sunday."    Granted, I admit that Glen and I are both pretty introverted and a little on the awkward side, so we don't make for the easiest people to get to know, but it has been a bit discouraging how little effort anyone has put into it.   Even my own efforts to reach out have fallen pretty flat.  The book group I started as a deliberate act to find some friends has resulted in a great small group of women who meet at my house monthly, chat about the book, then go on their merry ways.   They don't want refreshments, they don't want conversations that drag on into the evening, and they don't want to hang out outside of book group.   It's okay.    As I mentioned previously, I am pretty introverted and have low social needs, so I stopped taking it personally pretty quickly after moving here and now just accept that my close friends live in faraway places.   It's all good.  

So, why all the pontificating and recapping about our moving adventures and sorry social lives?   

I guess it's to bring me to the heart of the  reason for this blogpost.   Ellie and I flew back to Virginia right after her graduation and spent a week visiting family and friends!!!!    The visit was good for our souls and it felt so good to be somewhere where we felt known, loved, and missed!     

Here's a little recap of our time there: 

Speaking of book groups....these are my book group besties right here! I was sooooooo excited (like over the moon excited) when I found out that I was going to be in town while book group was meeting.  I even hurried up and  read the book during our travel time, so I could be a part of the discussion.  As always, the discussion was in-depth and interesting and I relished in conversations and friendships like I haven't had in 4 years.    Every single one of these women are intelligent and faithful and being there that night was one of the highlights of my trip.   Truly when I think of "my people" (outside of my family), these are them.  

One of the first people I called when I knew I was coming to town was Kelly!   She's been the best kind of friend you could ask for and I was delighted that she had a little sliver of time before heading out of town for Memorial Day weekend.   

Kim was also on my short list of people to visit and it was fun to go on a morning walk one day with her and Kelly.  They are both down-to-earth and good listeners.  I treasure my friendship with both of them and I was glad they had time for me.  

We also spent some of the time visiting with my brother, Peter, and his family.  They lead very busy lives, but I loved having a day to hang out and catch up with them.   The girl cousins were verrrrrrry excited to spend time with Ellie and it was fun to attend one of Davin's baseball games.   I was also able to go on a walk with McKenzie and take her on an outing to see another of my brother's families up in Maryland.  

I love that I still have young children in my life through my siblings.   I don't see them often enough, but we also  loved visiting with Matt's family while we were there.   Sadly we didn't get to see Matt, as he was on a business trip, but his kiddos are as fun and adorable as ever and we love his wife, Karey!  Just in case you're wondering how cute my 5-year-old niece Anna is...she's 104 cute...as compared to her cat which is only 2 cute.   😂

We also spent some time with our beloved homeschooling friends, the S family, the P family,  and the V.D. family.  These are friends that have been a wonderful support through our 11ish years of homeschooling and I can honestly say that I couldn't have done homeschooling without them.    They not only were practical support, being an integral part of a co-op that covered challenging topics for the kids, but they were also dear and supportive friends that felt the same call to pull their kids out of school.    It's not an easy club to be a part of, but it sure helps when you've got great people on your team!    Ellie was also very happy to spend some time with Joseph, Hannah, and Miriam!   

My sister, AnnaLisa, was out of town for a Memorial Day beach weekend with friends for a good portion of the time we were in Virginia, but I was grateful that she was able to set aside some time to explore DC with us before she left.   We introduced her to Magnolia Dessert Bar, traipsed around downtown with her (see more pics below), and, in general, just enjoyed spending the day with her.  

We also hit up the Hirshhorn Museum, which was full of funky artwork--including a room filled with phallic symbols (the room with mirrors and red and white objects), a room filled with random stream of consciousness quotes from the artist, and a giant spotted pumpkin.   Definitely not your typical art museum, but  fun to see some off-the-wall stuff!  

AnnaLisa also brought us to the Hillwood Estate and Gardens--a place we'd never been before.  It was the home of Marjorie Meriweather Post (heir to the Post Cereal fortune) and it was quite grand.  I loved touring the gardens and seeing a glimpse at her myriad of collections and how organized she kept them.   You can have quite the array of interests when you're the heir to a giant fortune!  

I attended church on Sunday, but knew I wouldn't get enough time to talk with people there, so I put it out on the ward email group to meet me at Nottoway Park on Sunday afternoon.   We kept it super casual and it was so fun to have some uninterrupted time to visit with some more friends.   I enjoyed the conversations I had, even if it did  make me really miss being somewhere where people know and love us.   

The first few days I was in town, I used Tim's apartment as a homebase.   He introduced me to Big Buns and the new Amazon Fresh Grocery Store and I brought him to Taco Bamba!   Tim's a pretty quiet guy, so it was fun to have a good excuse to hang out with him for  a few days!   

One of the activities we added into our schedule last minute was a trip to the Marine Corps Band Memorial Day concert at Wolf Trap!    We'd been several times over the years we'd lived there and it was a great place to see more long-lost friends.   The music was fantastic, the night beautiful (only a little rainy), and the company excellent.  

I had met with Mary early in our trip (another person on my short list of people to visit), but never got a picture, so I was grateful to see her at the concert again and at least get a quick snapshot together.   Adam and her son are good friends!  

When Ellie wasn't hanging out with me, she was having her own fun with her own friends {collage created by her}.  Most of her friends also had plans for Memorial Day weekend, but she spent as much  time as she could with Kelsey, Emilia, and others.  

 

Okay, so this next photo collage wasn't actually taken in  Virginia, but it did occur shortly after returning home from Virginia and involved more Virginia friends, so I'm including it here in this blogpost.  Cami's sister-in-law is expecting a baby next month, so she had a baby shower that included a lot of people we know and love from Virginia as well!     We are excited for Ashley and loved the opportunity to see more dear friends! 💖

On the same vein, here's another Virginia face we know and love and saw at Walmart last week....Elder Perkins!   Of course, he hasn't been known as "Elder" in several years, but he was one of our very favorite missionaries (and he had a special bond with Ellie back in the day) and it was a delight to see him again!   

So....there you have it.   I do have friends.   They're wonderful, thoughtful, caring, and amazing and mostly live across the country from me.    That's okay.   I can visit.  

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