Life Update--March 2021

WRITTEN MARCH 2021 

Okay, so I guess I'm struggling to get back to any sort of routine on here again.  I really like having the record for my family, but it feels overwhelming to always be playing catch-up, so I'll just keep randomly posting when I can.   

Here's a little update for each of us:   

Glen:  He's still between jobs, actively seeking to find whatever the "next right thing" is.  It's been fun to have him home.    The job search has heated up significantly the last few weeks and so has our stress level. 

Lara: I've been feeling a little restless lately and have been sewing masks to pass the time.  The project is meant to help Ellie earn money for her HEFY trip this summer, but it's definitely more my project than hers.  She certainly helps way more than she'd prefer to....but the bulk of it is done by me and I'm okay with that.   Having a project has been good for me and I like that Ellie feels like she is a part of earning money for her activity.  I am trying very hard to be patient as we wait to find out what's next for us.  It's looking less and less likely like we'll be staying here and I'm getting soooooo anxious/impatient to start figuring out the details...like what, when, where, etc.  

Spence:  He's been plugging away at a  telephone sales job.   After a frustrating summer of knocking doors and selling pest control in Texas and Nevada, he is happy to be able to experience success from the comfort of his own home.   He is enjoying the increased independence, but is not  excited to be booted from our insurance policy next month.   

Cami/Garrett:  They are deep in the throes of a busy semester.  Cami's taking a ton of credits and Garrett's taking his big board exams next week, so they are busy and a bit stressed.   

Emma:  is happily still serving as a missionary in the SL-West Mission.  She's still hoping that the Canadian border will open up eventually, but in the meantime she's happy and excited for her first local baptism.  

Adam: is plugging away at his senior year, writing a talk for stake conference....for the second time in his life.  Here's a link to his talk if you're interested in reading it.  

 He is also working at a local ice cream shop owned by a member of our ward and is really enjoying it.  The ice cream (and caramel apples) there are EXCELLENT and I highly recommend a stop anytime you're in the Philly area.  It's called Zwahlens and it is the sole cause of the 10-lbs I've gained during COVID.   

Ellie:  is helping me sew masks and is staying busy with homeschool.  She is also doing karate and gymnastics.  

Oh yeah, and she also had her Sweet 16 birthday with a gluten free cake ordered from the Milk Bar!

Other Happenings:  

1.  AnnaLisa came to visit

2. Our favorite neighbor kids from down the street came to visit regularly. 

3.  We took a super spontaneous spring break trip to  NYC, Boston, and Martha's Vineyard (covered in April's blogpost).  NYC and Martha's Vineyard were awesome, but we were a little disappointed in Boston.  It's normally one of our favorite cities, but everything was still closed and we didn't get to see much.  They were also having a public restroom crisis (as in any and all public restrooms were closed) and it made me very grumpy.    I'm so happy that other people's bladders went on hold during COVID, but mine didn't.  😖

  

2007

2021

Another Future Cougar!

Last month Adam got the news that he was accepted to BYU in Provo!

   WE are all very excited....and also excited that he'll be rooming with his long-time friend, Logan.     They've been friends since preschool and look forward to continuing their friendship at the Y.  

January Shenanigans

  I was feeling overwhelmed by getting caught up here on the blog and remembered that I write a weekly email to my missionary each week that does a nice job of summing up what we've been up to lately.  Mostly the letters are pretty boring, but sometimes they're a little silly.   This letter from January 24th falls on the silly end of the spectrum.  Here's a glimpse of our life...

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

Hola Hermana!
I'm attempting to get off to an earlier start than usual writing my letter to you. Partially because I'm really tired and would likely write you a nonsensical diatribe filled with useless tidbits about the square root of pi ( because I hang out with Adam) if I wrote to you at my normal time. Or I would fall asleep writing it and it would say something like:
"This week was ajfjkjfjjjjjzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" phhonahgenn
and you'd be left wondering all day if our week was good, bad, or full of crazy shenanigans.

Don't worry, it wasn't any of those.

So here I am, attempting to be coherent. Plus dad's on a ward council zoom call right now (yes, it's 10pm) and I can't go in the bedroom, so here's me being all productive in the living room instead of wasting my time getting ready for bed and all that kind of useless jazz.

This week was.....

normal.

It wasn't exceptionally good or bad, and shenanigans were all on the minor side of things.

Here's a glimpse:

The good:
There were no broken bones, the food was exceptional, Rocky stopped eating his own poop (because we now watch him like a hawk every time he goes in the backyard and run out in our barefeet to chase him away if he so much as gets within a yard of his poop), I got rid of some crap sitting around the garage, and we got 3 more Christmas cards in the mail.

The bad:
Adam cut his foot on a tape gun.

 Ellie sliced her leg open with the car door. I ate wayyyyyyy too much of that exceptional food. I'm pretty sure that Rocky isn't actually a puggle, but perhaps a puggunk (part pug, part skunk).

Things I accomplished:
I sewed a boatload of masks and helped Ellie earn over $200 for her HEFY fund. Never mind that I've spent about $500 on fabric and have a long ways to go before we ever break a profit; it's just the project we needed to help us stay engaged and creatively motivated. Plus I'm pretty sure all the fabric store employees are starting to recognize me now (even though I try to vary the mask I wear each time), so don't be surprised if I get nominated Joann's favorite customer of the month soon. I'm pretty sure that's a thing. And I'll be so flattered, I'll probably buy another $200 of fabric.

Things we ate:
burgers with guacamole, grilled cheese and cauliflower soup, garlic chicken pasta with sundried tomatoes (over zucchini noodles), tomatillo chicken chili, hearty chicken pesto pizza, chicken and cheese enchiladas with roasted tomatillo sauce, and the best dang green beans I've ever eaten (thank you, Ellie)

Random news of the day:
I think we may be going to Florida this weekend. This is a development as of today, because we're just that random and just that spontaneous....and tickets are super cheap and Kristina's family is going to be there too.


Some shenanigans:
We went on a 5-1/2 mile hike in the 28-degree weather. It was a lovely hike, but very cold. Adam talked about the square root of 2. Ellie had a good math day, then hated it again the next. We also played Clue and I lost. I sent some super random postcards...

See I told you our shenanigans were on the minor side of things.

News from home:
Did you hear? M.K. is starting her mission and has been reassigned to Temple Square? Oh, and last night I had a dream about N.Z. driving me in a car while he sat in the passenger seat... I'm pretty sure there's some good hidden meaning in there about you marrying him someday, but it also could have just been a random flashback nightmare about teaching all you kids to learn to drive. I don't know....you're the missionary...you decide the meaning.


Pop culture trend of the week that you may or may not have missed:
Someone snapped a picture of Bernie Sanders at Biden's inauguration that has gone viral in a hilarious way. It's him all bundled up in his very casual winter clothes, with a pair of amazing mittens on, and looking somewhat ill impressed. People are taking that image and photoshopping into famous paintings, scenes from movies, and just in general making it hilarious. It honestly was a bright spot in my week. I'll attach a few for you to enjoy.


Well, it's a good hour before I normally send off my weekly epistle to you, but I'm running out of things to tell you. And I'm afraid that my writing will quickly devolve into musings on the advantages of sleeping without socks on or about how Spence wants an air fryer and a cookbook for his birthday. Or I'll just... aahklhklhlkjlkjlkzjklzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Or I'll just sign off and say I love you (all) like crazy! Have an amazing week!
Love,
Mom

Riots and Scars and such

 Family update via letter to our missionary (dated January 20, 2021)

Hola to our favorite Hermana!
Como esta? How was your week?

I'm sitting here trying to think what to write to you about and I just have to say, it's been a super boring week. Everyone's back to their school schedule again, Ellie and I are fully eating keto now, and dad's looking hot and heavy for a job again. We didn't even do any cool hikes or anything

There were the riots at the capitol building earlier and I guess that wasn't boring, but it was depressing. Just another can of worms to get people contentious and up-in-arms again. I think it's a very good thing that inauguration day is coming very soon or the whole world may implode (as Trump does his best to throw the world a figurative hand grenade as he leaves office). Trump needs to just stop having power and to get out of the limelight.

Adam finally let us cut his shaggy hair.   That was kind of exciting.

Did you get to watch the Brandon Sanderson "Why I Believe" fireside on FB Live tonight? It was good. I don't know if you can watch it belatedly, but you should totally watch it if you're allowed. I haven't even read any of his books and I very much enjoyed it.

Speaking of Brandon Sanderson...Adam recently just finished his latest book, "Rhythm of War" and Dad just started it. Of course Spencer read it immediately and Garrett got it for Christmas, so I imagine he'll be reading it soon too. I just finished a light fluffy read, after two heavy non-fictions (one about cholera and one about the founding father--Benjamin Rush). I needed light and fluffy!

Well, you'll be happy to know that my latest hiking shoe injuries (I mentioned those, right?) are almost healed now. My elbow injury was pretty intense and is going to have quite a scar. It's been a few weeks, and the wound (which was actually deep enough that Garrett said could have used stitches, but didn't NEED them) has finally completely closed up. Unfortunately, it still hurts when touched and I absolutely can't bear any weight on it, which is surprisingly a common occurrence when getting up from a lying down position. Thankfully it doesn't generally keep me up at night anymore either, so that's good. My knee still hurts some, but is going to be totally fine. My elbow scar will definitely outshine Adam's when all is said and done.

Your cousin Jesus just turned 3. Isn't that crazy? Also, M & K's family just arrived to Kuwait this past week, so they're quarantining for 2 weeks. It's kind of entertaining to see Matt's facebook diatribes and super long Marco Polos that he seems to be doing to keep himself busy. The good news with the 10 minute long Marco Polos is that we're seeing lots of glimpses of their cute kids. Anna is talking a TON now and it's adorable. She often refers to herself in the 3rd person, which is extra adorable. They also got cats, which are kind of cute.

E.B. (from our new ward) is just finishing her at-home MTC learning Spanish and is taking off on her mission (to Mesa Temple visitor's center) on Tuesday. It's too bad you two didn't overlap. I think you two would be good friends. 

Tonight I made keto lasagna, roasted broccoli, and keto lemon bars...and we totally enjoyed it. Eating keto is hard sometimes, but it's definitely easier this time having done it before. My sweet cravings are starting to lessen a little at least.

You may be able to tell by the content and coherency of this letter, but I am SUPER tired and should probably be outlawed from trying to communicate right now. I think I'll finish up with a link to a talk that struck me earlier this week. It's a good one and if I could put my words together better, I would tell you what I liked about it. But that requires brainpower I do not currently have, so I'll just say, it's a good one and you should read it.

Becoming like Him

I love you a whole whole bunch and like a macadamia nut. (that's an actual quote from your older brother when he was a young child and why I threw that in here, I have no idea).

Hope I haven't said anything too stupid or embarrassing.
We LOVE you!!!!
Love,
Your tired mom

Christmas 2020

Letter to Emma dated 12/28/20:



Hello Hermana!
How is post-Christmas life? I hope you're excited about whatever transfer day has in store for you and I look forward to hearing all about it.

What have we been up to?

Well, mostly eating way too much crap,

 playing Codenames (a game we got for Christmas), and watching movies. 

The boys are playing Magic nonstop and they even taught Dad how to play, so he'll likely be absorbed by it too. I worry a little about Adam and he playing a little too much of it when Christmas is over. 

Today we had a very delicious cheese tray for dinner and WOW! It was tasty (and beautiful thanks to Cami). I decided that I need to get myself a wooden cheese/cutting board one of these days..

 

Today, I decided to wear Ellie's hiking shoes on a little walk around the neighborhood. They're the same brand as the evil ones I swore off after the unfortunate incident in Utah, but different enough that I thought they'd be okay. They weren't. I had the exact same issue with them and fell....HARD! It was quite cold, so thankfully I was wearing a thick jacket and sweats, but I still busted myself up pretty good. My knee is bruised and scraped, but my elbow is a mess. It immediately started dripping blood and apparently is busted open quite deep. Both Cami and Garrett said it is something that is deep enough to be stitched. They also said that the fact that it was my elbow, where the skin is loose and scarring isn't really a big deal, that it didn't HAVE to be stitched. So I am avoiding it. I had Cami and Garrett clean me up good, cover it with lots of antibiotic ointment and wrap it up in gauze and such. In the meantime, I am in pain and quite adamant that I never touch a hiking boot ever again. Maybe a hiking shoe, but maybe just tennis shoes since I'm kind of scarred at this point.

So we watched Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas night. It was stupid. I don't think a single person in our house enjoyed it. We watched Soul last night and that was a much better effort. You'll definitely need to watch that one when you get home.

I'm sure you saw the pictures on Hangouts, but we ended up going to Bethlehem last week. It was a cute little town and it was cool to see a glimpse of a place important to Dad's heritage there. Apparently they normally have quite a big Christmas market that's the coolest around. We missed it though... I'm not sure whether we were too late in the season or if just never happened this year because of COVID, but even without the big market, it was still quite a charming town to visit.

Tomorrow (Monday) is Cam and Garrett's last day with us, so we are trying to figure out how to spend it. We thought that we'd take them downtown, but they're not acting as enthused about that anymore, so we will see. I wouldn't be surprised if we just have another chill day at home. WE shall see!

Well, I hope you're having an awesome week! WE love you like crazy and are praying for you. Good luck with packing and such if you are getting transferred. 

Love, 
Mom 

PS  Here are some other random pictures from our Christmas...

Christmas breakfast...

One of many homecooked meals together....

Just chilling....

Dad, Cam, Garrett, and Adam ran a half-marathon at Valley Forge....

Christmas pajamas!!!!

Christmas Card and Letter 2020

 Here's a glimpse at our 2020 Christmas Card and letter: 

This picture was taken at the Jordan River Temple when we flew out to accompany Emma as she received her endowments.  She'd already been on her mission for a few months at that point, but temples had been closed around the world until then.  Even as it stood, they would not allow Cami to attend with us, since they were keeping the people in attendance to an absolute minimum (#covidproblems).  

I designed the card on Photoshop and had it printed at an online shop. 

I designed the newsletter on Photoshop as well and had great fun creating it.   I helped Kristina with their newsletter as well, and hers looks exactly like this, except with her updates in it!  :) 

Hope you had a great Christmas!  

Pre-Christmas 2020

A glimpse at our Christmas vacation through a letter to Emma dated 12/21/20:  

Hola!
We are soooooo out of routine here...I'm sorry I didn't remember to write your email last night.

Spencer changed his ticket and got here on Saturday, then Cami and Garrett arrived later that night too., so our house is full. C & G took over Adam's room, then we set up mattresses on Ellie's floor for Adam and Spence. Yes, that's as crowded as you can imagine and I don't think there's any floor space whatsoever. If you were here too, we would totally be using our bedroom floor for sleepover space too.

So far the boys have been playing lots of Magic and Ellie's trying to talk Cami into doing all the girly things. Face masks and nail painting have already happened. She talked EVERYONE into doing face masks (including Dad, Spencer, Adam, and Garrett), which was slightly comical. Sadly, some people washed theirs off before we got a picture of the whole group. It was pretty entertaining though.

We of course miss you like crazy! We are happy that you are doing what you're doing, but we definitely miss you. 

We are mostly done with shopping. Ellie is proving to be the hardest to buy for this year. Most everyone is just getting one big present they need and little else. Ellie didn't need the one big thing though and the list she provided us included several rather scanty items of clothing, $120 pair of leggings, and a lint roller. 

The kids had their friends over to make gingerbread houses right before all the out-of-towners arrived...

I'm sure you've been getting my package updates on Hangouts, and I'm sorry! The mail system is a mess and I'm frankly surprised that you got the other package when you did. I've been hearing report after report of packages that were sent in early December that STILL haven't reached their destinations. Sister L. sent a package to Katie (serving in the temple square mission) the same time I sent yours and hers still hasn't arrived. In other words, I am not super hopeful at this point that you'll get the second package with your actual Christmas presents in. There's definitely still a chance, but because it's still lingering here in Philadelphia three days later, I wouldn't hold my breath. Sorry your mom is a slacker and couldn't get things together any earlier. Most years sending a priority mail package 9 days before Christmas would be PLENTY of time to get there on time, but, you know, COVID. Everything is COVID's fault apparently.

 

I HOPE to finish up shopping for her today and running the errands we need to today and tomorrow, so we can relax a bit. I have some YW deliveries to make, we need to finish prepping for the 12 days deliveries, buy a couple neighbor gifts, and then enjoy. I imagine that eating way too much junk and not getting anywhere near enough sleep will continue for the duration.

The weather has stayed cold since the snowstorm, so it's kind of fun to have the snowy landscape as we approach Christmas. It definitely makes it *feel* more like Christmas.  It is supposed to get a little warmer this week, so it remains to be seen if we will officially have a white Christmas or not. In the meantime I am rather enjoying it...even if the snowstorm itself was a little underwhelming based on the hyperbolic forecasts of 12-20 inches. 

Well, I'm off for now. I look forward to our call later. Can't wait to hear how your musical number went. I was praying for you.

I LOVE AND MISS YOU!!!! Have an amazingly awesome week!
Love,
Mom