Eighteen Months Later!

 I won't lie...sending off each of my missionaries was a leap of faith.  We were so happy that a mission is what they chose and excited for the experience a mission would be, but not seeing your child for 18-24 months is HARD!   After doing it three times through before I thought it might be a little easier with Ellie, but that was not the case.   I think it was partially because she was my baby and partially because of all the health issues she's faced, but I was antsy as can be for the last few months of her mission.  It didn't help that about 15 months in she started having more seizures and  really didn't feel very well.  I honestly wondered if they would just send her home a little early, since it was so close to the end of her mission anyway.   But that's not what she wanted and after some telehealth appointments with her neurologist here and some medication adjustments, she started doing better.  

Then I fear I became a broken record for most of April and May.  If anyone asked me how I was doing, I would giddily say I was great because my missionary was coming home.   And then they would be surprised when I would tell them she wasn't returning until mid-June.  Those last few weeks felt like they took forever, but then one day I found my milk carton...

And then, after many distracting projects (one of the big reasons why this poor blog became neglected),  the day finally arrived.   Traffic was terrible and it was a mad dash into the airport with only a few of us actually making it in time, but she came home!   

It won't let me embed the video, but here is when I got my hug.   My sister was supposed to be the photographer for the moment, but she was caught in traffic, so it's a little chaotic.    

 https://youtube.com/shorts/9AzgDKP4BK4?si=uuDAxn8-4eb8gik7 

   

 

It definitely wasn't the big welcoming party we envisioned, but at least some of us were there...

The rest of the party was far enough away at that point that they just got out of the traffic and turned around.  We met them for dinner at Aubergine (Ellie's choice).   The big group included my Mom, sisters Heather and Kristina, brother Nate,  Kristina's boys, Adam, Spence, and Glen and I.   

Adam made a new Welcome Home sign for her to replace the one McKenzie made and we've had hanging up since he got home about 2 years ago.  

Denali was VERY excited to see her again...

A few days later, Cami and family, and Emma arrived...

And Heather took our photos after super smoky air and storms canceled our professional session...

Then Ellie had her homecoming talk and surprised us with this musical number.  

She had NEVER done a musical number or even sung in a choir before her mission, so the fact that she could/would sing a harmonic duet  shocked us in a happy kind of way!   I find myself listening to it a lot.   She also gave a beautiful talk and Bishop T. called Glen (calling him Bishop) up at the end to return her plaque to her.  I think it meant a lot to Glen to be a part of that, especially since many people in our home ward don't even know us since we've been serving down at BYU.  

Ellie had a cohort of mission friends there...

After the service we headed home for some snacks and socializing.   

We are so happy to have our girly home again and already sad that she'll be leaving us to head back to school again so soon!  

The Conference Weekend and Easter Stretch

 Anyone who knows me in person or has been following along here on the blog for very long, knows that I'm a bit disorganized and pretty much the opposite of fancy.   I host a lot these days (between book group and YSA events), but I am definitely not someone who can host something and make it look put-together and effortless.  People come to our house and get a sense that it was a stretch for me to make it happen!   This Conference / Easter weekend was a case in point, with the struggle made  a bit worse than usual because Glen was in Denver visiting his parents all weekend long.  

On Saturday, Adam invited up a bunch of friends to watch Conference in our theater room and to eat all 3 meals at our home.  I had it all planned in advance and thought I was good to go, but somehow struggled even getting breakfast on the table.    I served cheddar cheese pancakes with fruit syrup, bacon (most of which I burned to an absolute char), scrambled eggs, and some fruit.   Besides the bacon, it actually turned out pretty well, but I ended not serving it until 10ish minutes before the first session began, so it felt rushed.  Conference was awesome (of course), and the other meals came together okay (croissant sandwiches for lunch and taco salad for dinner), with only minor omissions and mess-ups.   Most of the day we had about a dozen people there, with some trading places that happened along the way.   

On Conference Sunday, I very spontaneously opened up our theater room to our YSA ward for watching conference.   Over the course of the day we generally had 4-6 visitors there (not including Adam and Tia).  I fed lunch (croissant sandwiches again) to about 10-12 people.      

After all that came the hard part--trying to cook Easter dinner  by myself.  Normally Glen, Heather, and my Mom would make part of the meal as well, but, as previously mentioned, Glen was gone, Heather is still completely non-weightbearing on her broken ankle, and my Mom is struggling with stuff, so it was me.  Adam and Tia helped with some of it, but I was making things that other people normally make (like the potatoes, ham, and meat), so it was all only okay.   My Mom did set the table beautifully, which made me smile.  Neither Heather nor Spence felt up for joining us for dinner, so it just ended up being me, Adam, Tia, Mom, and my nephew, Andrew, so it felt very small.  

Here's a closer look at  what we ate:   Ham, roasted beef, glazed brussels sprouts, roasted potatoes, and Brazi bites.   I had also made some carrot cake (not shown) and a purchased Oreo ice cream cake was served for Andrew's birthday (which was also on Easter Sunday).  

We also got to talk to our missionary on Easter and on Monday!   She's finally doing a bit better after struggling with an increase in seizures over the last couple weeks.  It's been a rough couple weeks for our sweet girl and she still isn't 100%, but we are happy that there is some improvement at least!  I am getting so excited for her to come home in June!  

Also on Easter Monday, I got to go to Ashton Gardens for a YSA stake FHE night.  The weather was lovely that day and it was delightful to spend the evening with ward and stake members enjoying the beautiful flowers and amazing sculptures of Christ.  

I'll be honest...I was a bit exhausted after it was all over, but taking into account that I fed about 30 people five separate full meals (though never that many people all at once), I think I did okay.  It's fun living somewhere that we can host that many people and close enough that people actually come, even if it is a stretch for me!  

And I'll end with a quote from General Conference from Elder Bednar that really stuck with me: 

Enduring to the end is linked inextricably to the spiritual gift of charity. Enduring to the end is not merely a relentless determination to grit our teeth, hold on to the limits of our physical strength and mental capacity, and push through the challenges and adversities of mortal life; it is so much more than that.

Enduring to the end is the joyous quest of a lifetime—a pressing forward with faith in Jesus Christ in a gradual process of trusting in and receiving help from our Savior to become more like Him. As our love for Him grows ever stronger and deeper, we can be blessed to receive spiritual perspective, the Lord’s empowering grace, and exceedingly great and indescribable joy.


Life has felt a little heavy and hard lately and I needed this reminder about what enduring to the end is really all about.  I may not be crossing as many things off my own to-do list right now, but He's helping me to focus on what's most important.   💓

Summer Happenings: Part 1

Well, what can I say?   All routine is out the window and I am having an incredibly difficult time keeping up here on the blog.  I known that there are approximately 2 people that may have even noticed that it's been while, but I feel like I need a little brain break, so here I am.

So here's a glimpse of the last few weeks...

Kristina and boys came to town for a couple weeks.  

It was loud and the house was a mess, but I very much enjoyed spending time with them...

I introduced them to Perler beads, which they'd never tried before, but Jesus dove in first, then when the other boys saw what  it was all about, got obsessed too. 

It was very cute how hard they worked (for hours a day) and how proud they were of their work...

Denali also very much enjoyed the extra attention!  

I taught them a couple of old-fashioned card games--Old Maid, Go Fish, and Slap Jack--and enjoyed watching them have fun playing those!

One day, we dropped by to wish Nana a happy birthday!   She's 95 now!  

I won't lie...it's a bit chaotic when they come to town, but it's mostly a good chaos that I enjoy.  

I always love my postcards, but this summer I've been a little extra obsessed with them. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't love sending and receiving mail as much as me, but it's literally a stress relief for me and I love that it's not a super time consuming thing I can do for myself.  I may have to do a whole post on this topic soon, because I've been having fun with it!

Speaking of postcards, here's a little postcard challenge I'm doing with my sisters (and Cam).  The challenge this week (chosen randomly by Heather) was blue-footed booby.  I had run out of my authentic Ecuadorean cards, so I adapted this one to fit the bill.  haha...

Also...Ellie submitted her mission papers a few weeks ago.  We knew her call would likely take longer because of her seizures, but we are hopeful it will come soon!  

She finished her second trimester at BYU-Idaho and she is happy.  She had good roommates and really enjoys the environment up in Idaho...

I picked her up from Idaho and we are enjoying the extra noise and action that comes along with having her at home.  

I have a bunch more to add, but blogger is not letting me upload photos today, so I'll do a Part 2 soon.  Stay tuned... 

Celebrating Ellie with a Little Trip to See Taylor Swift!

Once  upon a time...about 18-years-ago... a sweet little baby was born!   She was happy, easy-going, and delighted her parents and four older siblings from day one.   

She's had a bit of a rough road in life, starting with seizures that started when she was in kindergarten (and continue today), having a million side effects to most of the anti-seizure medications we tried, being in first grade when our world was turned upside down with Spencer,  experiencing some social isolation from the girls at church through elementary school, and then moving 4 times while she was in high school (a lot of it during COVID).    This girl has definitely been through the wringer a bit....

BUT, I have to say, she is also a girl that has  not just weathered any storm she's faced, but in the midst of them, she's learned a kindness, empathy, resiliency, and depth well beyond her years. 

We are proud of her and will miss her when she heads off to BYU-Idaho this fall!  

So, how did we celebrate 18-years of Ellie making our lives a little brighter?   

We drove to Las Vegas and took her to her very first concert!  

We planned to take off the morning after her birthday, but woke up to 6ish inches of new snow.  {Yes, it's the end of March and still snowing every other day.} 

The snow delayed us a few hours, but eventually we got out...barely beating the snow squall warning that popped up on our phones basically right as we were leaving.   The trip to Las Vegas was pretty long with slow moving traffic due to the snow at first, traffic outside of Saint George, then annoying construction that took forever on the stretch between Saint George and Vegas.  Worst of all was the  terrible traffic and parking within Las Vegas.  We were really glad we were arriving a day early, because we would have been quite late if we were catching the Friday night show.  

We spent the rest of the evening finding food, finding our way to the stadium from our hotel, and picking up our Taylor Swift merch that a friend had stood in line for hours to buy for us.  

The next day, we donned our Taylor Swift merch and set out to explore the Strip...something we'd never done before!    It was fun to see the "Walmart versions" of so many cool places and we enjoyed the conversation starter that our t-shirts were all day.  We had a lot of entertaining conversations with people who would normally never talk to us, but were drawn to ask about the concert. 

We knew that Las Vegas is referred to as Sin City, but we were a little shocked by the indoor smoking, the number of bare butts we saw, the in-your-face signs for prostitutes, and overall debauchery that was on full display there on a busy Saturday morning.   Ultimately we decided that Las Vegas must have been what Lehi saw in his vision when he referred to the "great and spacious buildings".  

On the bright side, we found some GREAT food!   This ice cream store called Cereal Killerz was once featured on Shark Tank and was a fun, original concept and quite tasty!  We would definitely go back again sometime and I just noticed they have a SLC location, so maybe sooner, rather than later.    

Thankfully I had a lactose pill with me, so I didn't spend the rest of the day running to the bathroom...

This sign made us laugh...

We also took a ride on the High Roller Ferris Wheel , which is currently the 2nd highest Ferris wheel in the world.   

We totally enjoyed the birds' eye view of the city and the surrounding area.

Dinner was at a French restaurant called, Mon Ami Gabi, which was pretty much out of this world.  The waiter claimed that Taylor Swift had eaten there in a private room earlier in the day and ordered the trout with a side of brussels sprouts.   We weren't quite sure if we believed him, but after tasting the food, we were at least convinced that it was good enough that Taylor COULD have eaten there and been happy!  {Note to any Virginia friends that might be reading this...I just noticed that there's also a location in Reston.   I highly recommend going there for a date night sometime.}

The service was excellent, the food delicious for all of us, and the  salmon I ordered was among the best salmon I've ever had. 

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to put on our sparkles and bling for the concert!   I was wearing more make-up than I had since about 1988 and I thought my sequined sweater was quite fun, but we were definitely VERY conservative in our dress compared to many of the concert-goers!   

Ellie and Emma had chosen different Taylor Swift Eras for all of our outfits...

but don't ask me what they were.   I just thought it was fun to be there and feel like a teenager again for a few hours. 

The concert was a  super fun 3-1/2 hours of going through Taylor's different Eras...

I knew a lot of her songs (thanks to the 5 teens that have lived in my house over the years), but I found that I liked most of them....even the ones I didn't know.   

I was worried about feeling overwhelmed by the loud music and crowds...

but all in all, we all had a great time....

singing and dancing along...

 

And I think our birthday girl had the most fun of all!   She did a lot of shrieking along with her singing and it was fun to see her so animated! 

 

 We didn't get back to our hotel until almost midnight, so we crashed hard that night, then woke up the next day to head home.  We took a quick stop at the temple on the way out, but the grounds were closed, so this shot out the car window was as close as we got!

The trip home was filled with construction, bad traffic, and spots with treacherous weather...so it took us a few hours longer to get home than it should have, but we made it.  

It was a fun weekend together celebrating our Ellie girl and I'd have to say we all (Glen and I included) like Taylor Swift more than we did before.    Thanks for giving us a reason to celebrate, Ellie!  

WE LOVE YOU, ELLIE!   HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!