A Snowy Day in April

Once upon a time there was a girl who spent most of her growing up years in Minnesota.  She took great pride in having an extensive collection of cozy sweaters and an excellent tolerance to cold.  

Later, when the time came, she headed to BYU for college.   She was immediately underwhelmed with Utah winters and loved to tell her friends how wimpy they were compared to "real" winters in Minnesota.   She laughed when others became alarmed when experiencing the sensation of their nose hairs freezing  for the first time when they took a roommate trek to Idaho.   Pshaw!   That happened all the time in Minnesota.

Yeah, she was no doubt quite an annoying person to be around sometimes.      

Then she moved to the DC area, where she spent the next 25ish years experiencing a true four season climate.   Yes, it would get cold in the winter, but generally only in the winter and everything would get canceled if it snowed at all, so they could stay warm and cozy at home.  Yes, it was hot and sometimes miserably humid in the summer, but only in the summer.   And Virginia falls and the springs were glorious and long!   She got spoiled.

Then they moved to Utah and she quickly realized that Utah winters, though not as cold as Minnesota's, were not as wimpy as they had been in her memories.  The Utah springs and falls have moments of intense glory, but they get overshadowed by winter a whole heck of a lot more often than she remembered.    And somewhere during those ensuing years, her aging body seemed to have lost all tolerance to temperatures below about 75°.  I think that, perhaps,  she just used up that tolerance in the first 18 years of her life. 

So what happens when that completely cold-intolerant, done-with-winter girl wakes up on April 18th to a sight like this?     

After grumping around the house for a bit, she pulls back out her winter clothes, pastes a fake smile on her face...

and turns her morning walk into a photographing-snow-on-flowers walk.  

Because, it was either that or crying...

And that didn't sound fun.    Hope you all had a beautiful Easter! 

*********************************

 

Scenes from this Winter

Most of you probably know that I grew up in Minnesota, which you would think would make me a bit more tolerant to the cold than I am.  Instead I would say that my growing up years in Minnesota might have made me a little more jaded against the cold than I otherwise would be and I strongly prefer to be hot over cold (except when I'm sleeping, but that's a story for another day. haha)  It's not that I hate winter, because I don't.   It's just that I happen to like winters with a little more variety to them than just cold and snowy...like Utah's tend to be.  I am grateful that it does not get near as cold here in Utah, as it does in Minnesota, but it's not the ups and the downs in the temps like in Virginia, that gives you  plenty of mild days mixed in with the cold.   

Enough complaining from me!  I'm trying hard  to focus on the positive, so here is a glimpse of some of the lovely scenes from our winter this year:  

This photo was taken on the way home from the dentist a couple weeks ago.  It had nary snowed a drop when I walked in for my cleaning and looked like this when I walked out.   It was long, white-knuckled trip back home and I was grateful that there was little traffic. 

 

I found this cute scene from BYU campus in our camera roll after a recent snowstorm, which means it was taken by Emma or Adam. The beard made me laugh!  😂

Here's an icy sight that caught my eye recently when I was taking my Mom to visit with her sister...

Glen and I came across this sunrise on one of our morning walks recently!  😍

And here's another one from another morning hike...  I love Utah sunrises!

Even the Alabamans got a good snowfall this year and enjoyed getting out and  playing in it!

Adam recently got out into the canyon with his friends and had a snowy adventure of his own...

As I sit here typing up this blogpost (on Feb 13th) with this view out my window...

I am drawn to this postcard I recently received in the mail that reminds me that winter is a great time to slow down and prioritize self-care...

Which I'm pretty sure means staying in my sweats as often as possible, right?!  

Have a lovely week!  Stay warm, my friends!  💗

Winter Has Arrived and Other Such Things

Over the last two weeks, temps have plummeted and several inches of snow have fallen.  While I'm happy that winter has taken a little longer to arrive than last year, when it literally started snowing in October and didn't stop until April, it was still a bit of a rough adjustment for me.  Despite growing up in one of the coldest places in the US (Minnesota), winter and me do not get along so well and I struggle with my mental health during the winter months.

  The biggest of the snowstorms dropped about 6ish inches on us,

but the snow was so dense and heavy, it took us nearly an hour for two of us to clear a strip just wide enough to back one car out. 

We will definitely be looking into more powerful snow shoveling/snow blowing options should we stay in Northern Utah long-term, but for now we continue to shovel the old-fashioned way...with shovels. 

Because of the aforementioned weight and density of that particular snowstorm, it took even Utah natives off guard, and roads (especially side roads) were terrible for a couple days.  They canceled the 2nd hour of church that Sunday for the EQ and YM to go dig people out.   Thankfully we live on a road that gets plowed early and often, so it's not an issue of us getting out, it's when we get off the main roads and into neighborhood roads/ parking lots, that we started slipping around.

 

 

In the meantime, I am getting tired of treadmill workouts  and the gray, cloudy skies that seem to hanging over us of late.  

Here are a few other tidbits from the last week or two...

I not only made some more sourdough and talked Cami through making her first batch with some starter I brought to her on my last trip out there...

but I made enough for Glen to take an unbaked load with him to Saint George...a fact which made him very happy....

 

 

 

We also sent a loaf on same-day delivery to one of my Thailand boys in the MTC.  He was a HUGE fan of my bread at a couple of Thailand reunion events (and he is mildly obsessed with energy drinks), so we figured we'd send him off with some fun travel food before he embarked on an early morning travel day to Florida....

Ellie said goodbye to our Alabama peeps...

and arrived home in the middle of some newly falling snow which pretty much froze to ice by the morning time. 

I also greatly enjoyed getting pics of Lucie wearing a couple new dresses I got for her.  I had noticed a little girl in our ward who always wears the cutest clothes.  I finally asked her Mom where she got them from and she told me she was the marketing director for this cute local boutique, for which she now gives me the scoop on when clearance sales are about to kick in! The clothes are so classy; I may be a little obsessed (though not obsessed enough to pay full price...haha!)

I finally planned a menu again!   We eat so much better when I menu plan, but it is one of the things that tends to slide when life gets out of routine or crazy (like the holidays).  

Also, I got called up for jury selection.   It was my first time that I could actually go, because homeschooling and breastfeeding, had excused me every other time.   I didn't end up getting selected, but I was happy to do my civic duty and have the experience. 

While we were getting snowed on here, there was a huge swath of wintry air pretty much blanketing the whole country.  It snowed in DC, Philly, Alabama, Texas, and other places that don't get hit very often.   But Portland got hit almost worse than any other place, because they got snow AND ice.  Adam was without power for a couple days and they were stuck inside for almost an entire week.   After talking to him on his p-day, I got the impression they were all a little stir-crazy, so I decided to Doordash them some lunch.  (A joy of having a stateside missionary!)  I tipped the driver well for driving in that weather and I think brought them a little smile on that icy day!   

And, last but not least, we just sent our Ellie girl off on a grand adventure.  She's off-track at BYU-Idaho this semester and, for multiple reasons that we supported,  decided that spending it at  home is not what she wanted to do. 

So...off she goes...starting in the Phoenix area with a roommate who's also off-track... 


 

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.
*****************************

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 💕

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!