Being Real

 I had grand expectations of coming home from our trip in November and getting right back "into the swing of things" with life.   I'd quickly reestablish my exercise and scripture study routine.  I'd get the house all decked out for Christmas.  I'd jump right on Christmas shopping and getting our cards designed and out the door. I'd leave my vacation eating habits in the dust and happily start cooking well-rounded meals again.  Heck, I'd probably even get a few books read, some neighbor gifts made, and some blogging done too.  😂

Lucie reacts to my grand dreams of productivity...

  I'm not quite sure why I thought that coming straight off a trip and directly into the holidays would be conducive to getting back to it,  but fast forward a month and I'm here to say that I am nowhere near the swing of things.  In fact, I am pretty sure my brain might still be in the middle of the Sahara desert somewhere.  Probably being chewed on by a camel, based on how I'm functioning currently.  

Not only do I keep catching random bugs (3 in 6 weeks, 2 of them directly from Lucie) keeping me on the tired and rundown side,

but our dishwasher is broken (dishes by hand are not my favorite chore), our car is unreliable (see this post for the story), my phone had to be repaired, I missed my flight home from Alabama (thanks to super long security lines), my house still hasn't recovered from  our weeks away, the Christmas decorations look like I had 4 people randomly throw them up onto the shelves (probably because that's exactly what I did),   I am stress eating like I haven't done in years, I'm still not exercising regularly, and I've barely even made a dent on Christmas shopping.   

On the bright side, though, I did finally start getting our Christmas cards out the door today.  #priorities

Oh, and we  hosted the missionaries (who still wanted to come despite Glen and I both being sick),

rented a car and picked up Ellie from Rexburg who is off-track for winter semester...

and sent off Adam's Christmas package (it was due on the 15th, so this was verrrrrrrry last minute)... 

-- all that within 24 hours of me returning home from Alabama a day later than expected and still being sick.  So, yay me. 

I think I've gotten to the point now that  I just have to accept that this will be a Christmas where I just need to prioritize sleep ( so I can stop getting sick) and taking care my mental health (which always suffers during the wintertime).  The state of the house will be what it will be and everyone will have Christmas presents of some sort or another.   It will be far from perfect, but we will have 3 of our 5 kids here,  and it will  all be good!  

Speaking of mental health, every time I start to get a little discouraged about yet another load of dishes to do by hand or by the number of things on my to-do list, I look back at these photos from my week plus an extra day in Alabama (December 2-10) and it's hard not to smile.    Lucie may have given me her cold, but it was worth it for the snuggles, storytimes, giggles, and time with her Mommy and Daddy too. 

 

I LOVE being a Gigi!

Next time I see them, they'll have a new little one to snuggle too.   I can't wait. 

Merry Christmas! 
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The Bad, The Good, The Funny, and the Tender Mercies

I'm slowly making my way through writing up about our amazing trip, but it's slow going and I didn't want to forget any of the details of our Thanksgiving Week, so I thought I'd do a little recap here before diving into our travel posts.  

THE BAD:

1. Our car totally went kaput driving 70mph down the freeway while driving my brother, Matt, to the airport.  I was barely able to maneuver off the freeway to a parking lot, where my brother had to Uber the rest of the way and I had to call someone to rescue me.  (see below for more details)

2.  I got a full-blown stomach bug on Thanksgiving Day and spent the entire day in bed with zero appetite and feeling miserable.

3.  They fixed our car for a somewhat reasonable amount, told us it was ready to pick up, then called us back a while later, and said, "never mind, it's still being weird."   We still haven't heard the new verdict.

THE GOOD: 

1.  My sister, Kristina, and her family (husband and 5 kids), plus my brothers, Nate and Matt,  came to visit.  They came to town for the BYU-OU football game (a game my Dad would have LOVED) and Kristina and Nate stayed for Thanksgiving.  

2.  Ellie and Emma came home from Rexburg and Provo, and Cami and Lucie flew in from Alabama for Thanksgiving, so  we had everyone home but Adam (still on his mission) and Garrett (who was working crazy shifts at the hospital and couldn't get off). 

3.  We had a lot of fun baking and just hanging out together.   We also visited the Orem Temple open house, went to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point, and got several inches of snow. 

4.  My nephews, Manuel and Isaiah, got baptized while they were here.   They are a year apart in age, but the older one was pretty nervous and wanted to wait for his brother to do it at the same time.    

5. No one else (except Lucie and me) got the stomach bug and thankfully it was only a one-day thing. 

6.  Lucie stayed behind when Cami flew home and I get a bonus week of Gigi time!  

THE FUNNY: 

My nephews' baptism was definitely the most entertaining and memorable baptism I'd ever been to in my entire life.  They were both a bit nervous about getting baptized and that nervousness translated into extreme silliness.  There was potty humor, there was giggling, they screamed as they went underwater, one of them screamed, "I'm blind, I'm blind," as he came up out of the water, and the other kicked his dad in his sensitive parts because he'd been instructed by an older sibling that he may as well, because he'd be forgiven for it anyway.   It was definitely irreverent, but knowing their background of trauma (they were adopted out of the foster care system a few years ago), it was honestly beautiful to see them overcome their fears and embrace it in the best way they knew how.  

THE TENDER MERCIES: 

As inconvenient as it was for the car to break down during a busy holiday week when I had a million places to be, there were so many tender mercies and little miracles that happened with it, that I need to capture them here, so I don't forget. 

Tender Mercy #1. It was me driving it in a populated area, not Glen in the middle of nowhere on his way to Saint George.  He drives that car to Saint George 95% of the time and I only requested it because of Lucie coming to town.  

Tender Mercy #2. I had 3 separate trips to make to SLC that day and the car broke down on the trip when there would be  the fewest people on the road (at 5:30am).  

Tender Mercy #3. It all went down (power steering stopped working and car started losing power) right at an exit, so I was able to maneuver off the freeway quickly and safely. 

Tender Mercy #4.  Our AAA membership is all up to date, so they were able to come tow the car to our mechanic with little stress. 

Tender Mercy #5.  This car literally has 230,000 miles on it and has had very few problems, so honestly it's a tender mercy it's lasted as long as it has.  We clearly need a new car soon, but we  are hoping to get it running again and working well enough to hand off to Adam when he gets back from his mission. 

What Happens When…

What happens when you realize the same year you turn 50 years old….

the invitation to my 50th birthday party where I tell no one it's my birthday

Is the same year you drop your baby off to college….

a piece of my heart is now at  BYU-Idaho

And is the same year you celebrate your 30th wedding anniversary?  

our wedding announcement:  Dec. 18, 1993

Well, if you're us....you plan a big trip!   

 It was originally supposed to be a 3-week trip to Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and UAE...but with world events being what they are, the Israel and Jordan part of the trip was canceled shortly before we left.  We were excited/relieved that the whole trip didn't get canceled, but it did mean that we had the week and a half to fill in between the end of the Egypt portion and the beginning of the UAE.   And in case you aren't aware of the timing--our trip was scheduled to begin on October 20th, the Hamas attack on Israel happened on October 7th--so this fill-in-the-gap trip planning/rearranging was happening with VERY short notice.  It was a tad stressful figuring out those details, but we did it!  

Stay tuned for a more detailed glimpse at our trip coming soon...

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Not Total Eclipse of the Sun

Remember 6ish years ago when we trekked to South Carolina to be in the path of totality for the solar eclipse of 2017?   That experience was kind of amazing and I've been so obsessed with the recreating that experience, that I already have plane tickets and a hotel room reserved for Austin, Texas for the full solar eclipse of April 2024. 

But somehow, even with that obsession going on,  we missed the memo that we had an annular solar eclipse right here in Utah on October 14th.  

We had too much going on (a long story I'll share soon enough) to drive the mere couple of hours to the path of totality, but we donned our eclipse glasses (which I'd also bought for April 2024) and took our normal Saturday morning walk with regular stops to check the progress of the eclipse. 

Annular means it was a "ring of fire" eclipse and it was only 80ish% here at home, but it was still enough to get the cool eclipse shadows and for it to feel dark and cold as peak time approached.  

We trekked to the local park and I literally asked anyone who passed us if they wanted to peek through my glasses.  I think more than a few people thought I was nerdy and weird, but pretty much everyone peeked anyway, so I kept embracing the nerdiness.   I also woke Spencer up and pretty much demanded that he grab some of our glasses and head outside.  Spencer definitely thought I was being obnoxious, which I probably was.  But he saw it and I felt like I did my Mom duty, so I'm calling it a win.   

All in all, a cool experience that made me extra excited for April!     Wanna meet us Austin?   Give me a ring and let's make it happen!

Obsessed and Boring

 Hey there! 

Here's a boring little life update...

 I think I have discovered the yummiest cookies in the history of the universe.  They're brown butter maple pumpkin cookies.    I used gluten free flour and subbed some of the brown sugar with coconut sugar, but that didn't affect the deliciousness level one bit and I think I may be obsessed.

  I made them once in Saint George, then made them again because I couldn't stop thinking about them...this time with a healthy maple frosting (sweet potato based with maple syrup, a bit of maple extract, and a little coconut oil).   It sounds weird, but it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.   Have I mentioned that I'm obsessed?   

 

 Also, the garden harvest has been plentiful this year and I'm loving it, though I am kind of over all the giant zucchini....and I haven't checked yet, but it was 31-degrees when I woke up the other day, so it might all be dead now.  Boo.

I went on an 8 mile hike the other day in the fall perfection and my average mile was 15:18...it felt great!

Glen didn't come with me on the hike, because he was doing his annual fall fishing trip on Strawberry Reservoir with Alex and boys...

The next day, Glen smoked that very trout and we ate it for dinner, which was quite delicious.   The kale salad was from our garden, the bread was GF, and the sweet potato a nice touch.   We ended with the aforementioned cookies that I'm currently obsessed with, so I ate way too much and ended the day with a tummy ache....

I keep finding photos like this in my camera roll (which we share with the youngest 3 kids) and it makes me smile!   I think she's liking college life!  

I haven't seen Lucie, Cam, or Garrett since Labor Day weekend and I have been missing them extra lately (probably has something to do with the empty house).   Every picture (even when taken at a gas station)  I get makes me want to get on a plane right now...   

In the meantime, I am eagerly looking forward to Thanksgiving! 

Thanks for reading!  Have an amazing day!

40 years of Sunshine!

Just a quick shout-out to my favorite youngest sister, who turns 40 - years old today!   

 There's nothing she likes more than making people smile, so my family and I are trying hard to make sure she smiles big today. 

Watch out for lots of sunshine, silliness, and loud singing today!  

We love you, AnnaLisa!  

Fall Splendor

Fall has always felt like a time of new beginnings for me, even more so than the actual beginning of a new year. I think it partially has to do with the fact that the advent of a new school year generally brings with it a new schedule to work around, which gives me the opportunity to re-establish good habits that I often let fall by the wayside in the summertime, but that's definitely not all of it.     

I love all the seasons for different reasons (except maybe winter, which I only tolerate), but I think fall might just be my favorite.    I  really, really love the glorious fall weather when I can turn the AC off, but before I have to turn the heat on.   And the beauty of the earth as it enters into the autumn-mode is an absolute delight to my senses. 

Last week we decided we needed to take a drive into the mountains and see the aspens in their peak colorful beauty. 

An East Coast tree cover it is not....

but I do have to say that Utah did pretty well for itself this fall. 

The beauty took my breath away and I wished I could freeze the change of seasons right here and make it last another month or two...

 But  I already turned my heat on this week...and  took my morning walk in  brisk sub-freezing temps today...and noticed that the snow in the mountains isn't melting right away....I was reminded that winter is on its way.  

And it's probably not that far off. 😐

 

 

Zion, Conference, Nerds, and Gala...Oh My!

It's a long story about how we ended up with a Saint George Outpost (a small townhome we're renting in SG while keeping our homebase in Alpine), but, for now, Glen is commuting down there every week and I am trying to figure out as much time with him as I can.     It's not ideal, but selling a house we just bought 2ish years ago isn't totally ideal either, so this is what we feel like is the right option for now.   Perhaps I'll go into more detail about it another time, but this post is for another purpose, so stay tuned! 

We spent our General Conference weekend (a twice yearly conference of our church where we watch messages broadcast at home, rather than at a church building) at the Outpost.   Here's a little recap of our weekend....

  We started the weekend (on Friday) with a trek to Zion National Park.  Glen had never been before and my last journey there was in 2015, so we were excited to be able to experience it together.  We didn't win the lottery for getting a permit to hike Angel's Landing, so we did two shorter hikes instead.  First we did the Canyon Overlook Trail, then Kayenta to the Emerald Pools.  Both were lovely! 

 

 Then on Saturday, we settled in at the Outpost to watch General Conference streamed from Glen's phone onto the television Glen never uses.  We opted not to get internet at the Outpost to save money, so it was just a matter of getting the right cords from Target to stream from his phone.  I imagine that the television will get used a bit more (especially for BYU sporting events) now that we've got cords! 

  It was weird watching Conference without having a houseful of people.   I wasn't really feeling baking a whole batch of cinnamon rolls or doughnuts with just the two of us.  If we'd been at home, I probably would have stopped by a gluten free bakery, but we couldn't find one in SG...

so  we had Nerds Clusters instead.    I'm not usually much of a candy eater, but I have been mildly obsessed with them since discovering them in Thailand.  I can easily eat a whole bag myself, so I was glad to have at least Glen to share them with.  

 On Saturday evening, we went to the Doctors' Volunteer Clinic Gala, representing Glen's workplace.   It was another big reason why we decided to stay in Saint George for the weekend.   It turned out to be a big giant money grab, but it was for a good cause, so it was fun to be there (especially since it was his work that did all the donating).  We did discover that we are pretty terrible at photo booth pics...

Sunday was World Postcard Day (betcha didn't know that was a thing!) and I celebrated between and after sessions by sending around 30 postcards--mostly to people I know and love and a few to some people in a postcard exchange I am a part of.  

All in all, it was a great weekend and I loved the extra time with Glen at the Outpost and being uplifted by the talks.  (I especially love this one, this one,  this one, and this one).   

Have an amazing week!