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Church History Tour

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 This summer Brendon and I got to go on the Midwest Church History Tour for Seminary and Institute Teachers. I kind of wish I had written something on this blog nightly because now I feel like it was too much to recap. We were on a bus with 54 seminary and institute teachers from all over the US. Each day we were on the bus from about 7:30 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m., making very quick visits to all the church history sites from Missouri to Iowa. In between each stop, we were being taught or getting to know one another.  Our first day we visited Independence, Missouri. We visited the temple site, where there is no LDS temple but there is a Community of Christ temple and their church headquarters. The Community of Christ is an off-shoot of the LDS church and as the years have gone by they've abandoned most LDS teachings, including the Book of Mormon. But they returned to Missouri long before the LDS church did and reclaimed many of the early church history sites. Their temple is large,...
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Catching up

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 It's been more than a year since I've written on this blog and that is a very sad thing. I think I'll have to do multiple posts to avoid skipping over anything. We just hit a year in our new home. Our home is so beautiful. Our neighborhood is quiet. And somehow, we've had multiple miracles that have helped us afford this home. When we were moving I was terrified. I kept running the numbers and I was absoutely positive we would be in big, big trouble. I started going to the temple as often as I could. I needed that peace in my life. I needed the blessing the temple gives: Clarity, peace, strength. Out of the blue we had people approaching us, asking us about new potential business opportunities. We met several people who would be in the new ward and they told us over and over again how great of a ward it is. We had all these small moments, convincing us that we were going to be OK.  So we moved and we were OK. None of those business opportunities panned out, but Brendon...
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Moving to Australia

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Written May 4, 2024 I haven’t been able to go to bed on time at all this week and it’s making me tired. And I had to spend a whole day in a training that was SO boring. And I was asked to write blogs for dry cleaners and I hate writing blogs for dry cleaners. And there’s a mysterious stain on the carpet that I can’t get out and every time I try it just gets bigger and messier.  And Brendon is fighting with his sister again and she won’t let him apologize and move forward and nothing he says matters and now none of her kids will talk to me and my kids want to see them but they can’t and it feels like everything we do is wrong in her eyes somehow and if they can’t get along we may have to cancel our summer vacation. And I was really looking forward to that vacation.  And selling a house is difficult and I feel like we won’t be able to afford the new one but I’ve been holding out hope that it will work out and trust the process and then our appraisal came back $50,000 less than w...
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Grief

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 Grief is such a weird thing. Why does a death have to hurt even 16 years after it happened? Why does it hurt at all if it's such a part of life? And when it does hurt it just feels silly. I can't shut my life down every time it hits. Life doesn't work like that. It never has.  Life has continued in the past 16 years. It's completely different now. It's a life she never experienced. It's a life she wasn't a part of (to no fault of her own!) So why does it still hurt? And when it does hurt why does it hit like a ton of bricks? Why can't I stop the tears from coming?  How are you supposed to act when someone is grieving? I don't know, and that's why I hide it from my husband and kids. Because they can't understand. They never knew her. They don't know this grief. I don't want any pity.  So I write because writing works. It helps to vent, even though no one will read it. I did dream of her last night. It was Michelle Day, the annual day ...
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Recording Family History

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 I've been terrible at using this blog lately. Life is just changing so quickly. I'm busy all the time and at the same time I'm not stressed enough to need my normal writing outlet. But with so many changes, I need to get better about recording what is happening. The first big change is I came back to work at Child Crisis Arizona. I noticed in April that leadership had changed. I reached out to an old coworker to see how the change was impacting everyone and the next thing I knew, I was getting a job offer. My old position had been filled (I had been gone a full year) and a new Director of Marketing position had recently been created and hired but Justin was eager to bring me back in whatever capacity he could so another new marketing position was created--with my input. Yes, I got the chance to create my own position and go back to work at an organization that inspires me every day. I couldn't pass it up. I love everything about my job. I get to hear incredible stories...
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Eisley is 9!

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My sweet Eisley girl turned 9 this year! Here are a few things you should know about Eisley: Eisley’s favorite animal: Puppy Favorite color: Teal Favorite food: Spaghetti Eisley recently started musical theater and she is loving it!  Eisley is one of a kind. She does not have the attitude that Kaybree has. She just loves to have fun and will always choose the path that leads to the most fun. Often, she gets carried away in that pursuit. She’s not great at chores or homework—no time. Gotta have fun. In fact she will do anything to avoid the boring stuff so she can make time for more fun.  A couple examples of this: Earlier this week she popped some popcorn and before she poured it into a container, she put paper towels down in the container. This way, when she is done with her popcorn she can dump the whole thing in the trash can and avoid doing any dishes. Last Saturday Kaybree, Lola and Eisley decided to have a lemonade sale. Something in the air didn’t agree with Eisley and ...
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Aspen is 4!

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Aspen has been waiting a very long time for her birthday. That’s a tough thing for a child who is still too young to understand the concept of time. We finally got the countdown to make sense when we started counting “sleeps” instead of days. On her birthday we went and got our traditional birthday donuts.  Aspen spent time with Barb who let Brittany take her out. She came home with two new necklaces, 9 headbands, and a new outfit. She had three hotdogs for lunch and rode the carousel at the mall four times. I made Aspen the strawberry kiwi with whipped cream frosting cupcakes she requested. She only ate the fresh fruit on top.  We went out to eat at Red Robin because Aspen loves their Mac and cheese but she was too busy having a pretend conversation on her new play phone most of the night to actually eat. Kaybree voiced Mickey on the other end of the line.  I share all of this so we will always have recorded evidence of how positively spoiled and loved this little girl i...
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