San Juan Island, WA, Pepa's sealing

Annabelle was asked to Prom in the beginning of February. Prom is in April this year; April 13th to be exact, which is also my birthday. The poster read, "will you be a smart and take the Dum-Dum to prom?"

Nora has been a frequent temple attender since she got her recommend in January. I love that her and her friends plan these trips together. 

Pepa's husband Leondis went through the temple in February and then they were sealed. Scott and I were able to fly out to Seattle to be there for that which was really special. 

We flew out Thursday night, spent all day Friday at San Juan Island, which was my mom's favorite place of peace, we spent all day Saturday with Pepa and Leondis and Fred and then we flew back home early Sunday morning. Here we are waiting to catch the ferry from Anacortes to San Juan (friday harbor). 

I love riding on the ferry. It's nostalgic. We probably went on the ferry most years growing up to go to various islands. 

When we got to Friday Harbor, our first stop was to get fish and chips for lunch. We ate a place called Blue Water bar and grill. I think this is the same place my mom and I ate when we visited in August of 2019. The fish and chips were SO yummy! And they were huge plates so we shared a dish. 

After lunch we drove out to Lime Kiln Park. This is my mom's favorite spot on the island. The view is amazing. There's an old lighthouse with picnic benches nearby, and a trail that runs along the ocean. Scott and I walked about a mile on the trail down to deadmans bay. 

Deadman's Bay had a beach that was full of large logs. 

While we were in WA, the kids were on their own at home. Charles asked Sadi to prom while she was in the hospital recovering from her brain surgery. 

Saturday morning, February 10th,  after Scott and I exercised in the hotel gym and got breakfast, we stopped by The Donut House, which was me and Fred's favorite donut place to go to after seminary and before High school started, but which I found out only takes cash so we then had to make another stop at an atm, then went back to get our donuts, and then we brought them to the cemetery where we met Pepa, Leondis and Fred. We shared the donuts and then visited mom and dad's grave. Pepa brought some flowers from the dollar tree.  

After our visit to the cemetary, I went to the temple with Pepa and Leondis while Fred and Scott drove out to drop off a gift for Reese at the UW campus because it was her 16th birthday and she was there with the track team. They met us at the temple for the endowment and sealing. 

Pepa and Leondis had about 20 people show up from their ward to support them. It was so neat. I got to see some old ward members and friends which was fun. We felt the presence of our parents the whole time we were at the temple. I also felt like my mom was with us in San Juan Island. I feel them near when I'm at home too, sometimes I talk out loud like I'm talking to them when no one can be seen, but I'm sure they're still in the details on our lives. 

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at Qdoba(which did not sit well with me AT ALL. I had to run to the bathroom about 5 times in the next hour before my stomach started to calm down) and then Fred, Scott and I went out to UW to watch Reese and Shaun race. Reese did great! Shaun ended up not racing because his hip has been giving him a lot of pain. 

While at UW, we walked over to the Shell House where the Boys in the Boat story took place. I love that book and the movie was pretty good too. 

After the track meet, Fred, Scott and I drove to Lynwood and met Leondis and Pepa for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We loved visiting with family and spending time together. A quick trip but worth it! And the kids survived on their own. 

St George & Mesquite Soccer Tournament

 Elisabeth's loving her time in Ecuador. She's been in the Quito area since she arrived in Ecuador at the end of August. Although today (February 14th), she's heading to Lago Agrio, in the Jungle. She's nervous because it's far away from everything, but we're excited to see what the Lord has in store for her, and the people she can touch. 

We drove down to St George on Thursday morning and stayed in the Ludwig's home while we were there. Elisa L came down too with Annika, and they had another neighbor and his son staying there as well for a tournament. Thursday late afternoon Annabelle had her first game in St George/Santa Clara. That evening we went to the Red Cliff's temple open house. It was beautiful; one of my favorite things to do in open houses is to look at all the paintings while we're walking through and try to figure out the scripture story that goes with the painting. 

Both's girls teams had pool parties. Nora's team had a soccer party at one of the houses a teammate was staying at (her uncle owns the DIME company that sells perfume; so it was huge). The girls had a fun time eating pizza, swimming and playing hide and go seek in this ginormous house. Scott and I played a couple of friendly games of pickle ball. 

Charles stayed home while we were in St George because he got asked to Sweethearts which was that weekend. He stayed with his friend Drew. For his day-date, they went up to a cabin in the mountains and went snowmobiling. He had a great time! 

He went with Maddi Hart, one of the Ludwig's neighbors, and she's good friends with our friends the Campbells (Charles went with Brynn to Sweethearts last year).

One morning Elisa L and I went running; it was very wet but still fun and I love getting to run with my good friends as it keeps us connected on a regular basis....Elisa and I normally run together every Wednesday morning. The next morning Kim and I went for a run (Elisa L wasn't feeling well so she opted to stay home), but on this morning the sun was shining and it was beautiful! Kim and I normally run together every Friday morning. 

Elisa L was kind enough to host Annabelle and Annika's team at her house for a pool party. She made pulled pork sandwiches for everyone and the team brought some snacks and treats. Although it mostly rained that day, the skies cleared for about an hour during their pool party which was nice. 

January 2024: Charles 18th Birthday! Scott is 43, N temple, trouble in Ecuador

I've got to start with a pic that I missed putting on the blog in December, whoops! I guess it'll be in the 2024 blog book. This is Nora with some of her soccer team; Ali's mom hosted a Christmas party at their house which was so sweet of her! I'm sure it was loud :). 

 

 I taught part of the 5th sunday, sunday school lesson in December that was based off an area broadcast. My portion was on compassionate ministering and I focused on something Elder Bednar recently taught us about during a meeting which was to Observe, Listen and Discern. 

At the end of December, Charles was asked to go to the Sweethearts dance with Maddi Heart. The poster read, "Charles, it would float my boat if you go to sweethearts with me".  Fun fact, her sister Sammi, in 6th grade, was in my reading group this last time around. Penny looking so pretty in her white flowers. 

Nora is officially in the young women's program at church and able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead now! (did you know they talk about baptisms for the dead in the bible? And when you proxy baptize someone who has already passed away, they then have the opportunity to accept or reject it). I love that they get to do work for their relatives who've passed on. 

This year is the first year in 18 years that we no longer have a child in primary. Annabelle, Jane, Nora and Charles are in the youth program now. 

Charles turned 18 on January 6. We celebrated with some of his favorite foods for the menu that day, and with some gifts. He got a couple of things for his upcoming mission (large suitcase, packing cubes), some pickleballs, pants and snacks including some drinks so he could fill up his mini fridge (Naked Juices and protein shakes). 

Since he was working the evening of his birthday, we had a birthday lunch (good thing it was on saturday) of Ham and Cheese Sliders and banana cream pie. We made two since he likes to have one all to himself. We made one with a grocery-store-bought pie crust and another with a crushed vanilla wafer(& butter and sugar) pie crust. 

I can't believe we're at the point now where we have more adults in the family than children! Charles is super excited that for his last semester of school, he only has to go on B days. On A Days he has 3 works release periods so he can stay home every other day and get things done around here or work or sleep. B days he has EMT, Seminary and Language Arts. I told him there's no excuse to not get good grades this semester....he tends to average C's (meaning some D's and some B's etc). We're all relieved that graduation is almost here. 

We got our first big snow of the season; Nora was in heaven and spent a lot of time outside playing in it. I love that she put on the ski googles :)! 

Our friends the Hague's got a puppy for Christmas. Nora has gone over a couple of times to snuggle Grizz. 

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Jane is in Dance Co this year and they had a recital where Jane danced in several numbers.  I think she's enjoying dance more than she thought she would. 

Charles and a few of the Priests from our ward and surrounding wards and took a weekend roadtrip down to St George when we had an extra day off of school. They stayed with Koen's grandpa and hit a few temples in the area or on the way and were able to do baptisms. He packed his xbox and they played some pickleball as well. 

They also were able to catch up with Tarin one day and go bowling together. Charles and Drew knew him from our week at the orphanage; he's Kaysha and Shad's son. 

In Ecuador in early January, a lead gang member from a Mexican drug cartel escaped prison in Guayaquil. Another escaped a day later. Then the prisoners held the guards hostage (I read 100 of them). The gang took over a live tv station with a message for their newer president, telling him to stop cracking down on organized crime or people would die. They went out into the streets in Guayaquil and Quito and some other areas and were killing people, lighting cars on fire and causing chaos. Luckily the president did not back down but instead increased military forces and they had armed guards in the streets for a week or so patrolling the areas. All the missionaries stayed safe. Their mission president had them all stay home for a day or two and then they had an early curfew for the week of 7pm. A couple of weeks later, Elisabeth said everything felt safe again. Had Elisabeth not been there, I don't think I would've known anything about what was going on there. I'm grateful to the Lord for keeping them safe. 

Scott and I went to Archibald's for a dinner date night recently. It'd been a couple of years since we'd last been there. We got our usual Fried Green Tomatoes appetizer and White Chocolate Bread Pudding for dessert. 

I colored my hair! I left it in 5 minutes too long and it got a little darker than I wanted, but it's fading with time and washes. 

Jane, Ananbelle and Layla made a boxed blueberries muffin mix as a team, while one was deaf (layla put her headphones in), one was mute (jane), and one was blind (annabelle). They turned out alright, although Annabelle trying to get the batter into the muffin cups with a little tricky. 

During the month of the kids birthday, and on their half birthday, Scott or I (or both sometimes), will take that child out to eat. Charles chose Texas Roadhouse. I like this tradition as it gives us extra one-on-one time to visit. 

We've been looking at flights for various places we could go for Charles Senior trip for the past few months and we finally settled on one and made a reservation. It was his number one choice and it's been at the top of our bucketlist for years so we're SO excited that we're making this happen. The three of us will be going to Iceland this summer for a week! 

Scott turned 43 on January 24. It was on a Wednesday and he still had work and coached 2 soccer practices, but we were able to eat a birthday dinner together that consisted of Stuffed Pasta Shells, salad and a Pizookie for dessert. A Pizookie is a giant cookie (like the size of a pizza) that you serve with icecream on top. His team brought in balloons, a card from the girls and some of his favorite treats. 

We were also able to get his gift all set up just before his birthday (I ordered it, he set it up, although I helped him). We finally got the olympic bar, bench and rack and plates he's been wanting for awhile. 

Scott had a work party at Red Butte Gardens. That was the first time I'd been there, although I think Scott had been there once before. It was beautiful and the food was delicious. I had chicken with apricot glaze, mashed potatoes and roasted veggies (beets, brussel sprouts etc), along with a roll and salad. We played bingo near the end and both Scott and I won prizes. I won a $45 gift card to Cinemark and Scott won a National Parks Pass for the year. I don't normally love going to his annual or biannual work functions because I don't know the people well nor do I understand what they're talking about when he talks with his coworkers about work stuff. But this year was different and more pleasant. Over the past several months, since the beginning of November, Scott's been sharing a lot more about his work and co-workers with me and so going into this work party, I was looking forward to seeing those I'd heard about and when he had conversations about work, I knew which projects he was talking about and could follow and interact more. 

I started going to a Scripture Study class on Fridays with my dear friend Elisa L. It's with her mother-in-law, who bakes us all a brunch, her two sisters-in-law and sometimes a cousin or two. I have loved this 2 hour, friday tradition which leads me to study even more during the week so I have something to share. All of the women are amazing too and the food is great. I'm so grateful that Elisa and I met all those years ago (it was divine orchestration, honest and truly) in 2007, first in WA when I saw her singing at our church bldg when she was visiting her mother in law, who was my RS stake president, and then a few weeks later when I saw and met her at the Riverton library just after I moved from WA to UT and just after she'd moved from Philadelphia to Utah. And I'm grateful we've stayed such good friends over the years. 

This past week (January 22-28: 1 Nephi 11-15) I loved reading Nephi's vision in chapter 13 and then searching more about the plain and precious truths that were lost, about the covenants Christ made with Israel, and which Christ would teach about to the gentiles in 3Nephi: 15-17, 20-26, 28, and then they'd be hidden up and restored eventually when Joseph Smith received the plates and translated the Book of Mormon. I'm so grateful we get to study the Book of Mormon this year.