I wanted to jot down a couple cool experiences we've had relating to the temple lately. In 2020 I made a personal goal to attend the temple at least once a month for the whole year. I crushed it for the first three months, and then all the temples in the world shut down. And because I've already received my own endowment and been sealed to Nate, I haven't been able to attend since. I think it has been good for me to have this period where the temples have not been available to me, so that I can really tell the difference that being able to attend makes in my life. As a mom of young kids, I've frequently thought of it as a sacrifice to take what time I have alone and spend it at the temple. Now I'm recognizing that the blessings outweigh the sacrifice. I look forward with earnestness to the day that I can go back! It has been thrilling to watch our hometown temple continue to rise despite the worldwide closures. A few weeks ago the youth from church had an activity w...

The first time our family met Brother Grove was at Christmas. We went caroling here and there around the ward with the choir, and his house was one of the ones on our list. We went around back, knocked on the basement apartment door, and greeted him with a song. He asked us to sing White Christmas, and then talked for a minute or two, mostly about his recently departed wife, Beverly. He seemed so sad. So Nate and I decided, heck, we have no family close by to visit, so we'd better come back and see this guy sometime. So that's what we did.  We showed up at his door unannounced, with kids in tow one Sunday afternoon, introduced ourselves, and he invited us inside. The first few visits were pretty awkward. But we kept on going back, and he kept on welcoming us. We became good friends. He had the craziest stories about flying the F4U in World War II, meeting his wife on a bus when two jerks took her sandwich, growing up in Kansas, hippies, black panthers, teaching at Weber S...

That's what I am. Today is three days overdue. The baby clothes are all washed and folded, diapers are neatly stacked, the carseat is assembled and ready, Grandma and Grandpa are here. We're just missing one thing: a baby! So to pass the time, I'll give you a couple of the best comments I've gotten on the pregnancy. 1. Are you sure  you're not having twins? 2. Wow, you really are huge ! And my personal favorite: 3. I can't believe you can even walk! Nice, really nice. I have grown to love my doctor's nurse. She's so hilarious and just totally gets it. The last couple times I've been to my ob appointments she's seen the crazed look in my eye, recognized it for what it was, and gone searching for chocolate. Last time it was peanut butter m&m's in one of those cups that you leave a urine sample in. One of the things I am looking forward to most about having this fifth baby here is feeling like I have control ov...

Ah how I've missed blogging. It's quite therapeutic for me to sit down and write about the good times that our little family has. Otherwise, I tend to forget about them! We are so busy all the time, and I frequently feel like all I ever do is drive/clean/grocery shop and hound my kids to do this or that. So it's really nice to be able to look back and say, "Hey, we did something really fun as a family." Or, "Wow, we really do spend quality time together sometimes!" Nate trained really well for the St. George marathon this year. 26.2 miles! I want to die just thinking about it. He ran a great race, which maybe he'll blog about sometime. I'm so proud of him. That's so much training. And he was really, really diligent about it. Way to go, lover! Brothers-in-law, both first-timers. We got to spend that weekend with the folks in St. George, and it was such a lovely time. We hit all our usual stops, plus just enjoyed being at ...

It was a couple months ago, but a red-letter day like this shouldn't go unblogged. For Nate's birthday this year he really wanted to hike to the top of a mountain. So he picked Ben Lomond, headed out early, and conquered! I love it when Nate gets back from his outdoor adventures. I worry the whole time he's gone, so it's part relief that he didn't get eaten by a bear or a snake or break a leg. But he also comes home recharged. Something about doing something hard outside helps him break free from the stress and monotony of daily life and show his very best self. I love it. While Daddy was out getting his hike on, the kids created a birthday jungle for him. It was pretty spectacular. He went through all the tunnels and spotted all the wild animals with the kids, and then opened presents and enjoyed his birthday treat of choice, fresh peach milkshakes. I will take just a moment here and wax philosophical. It is incredibl...

Nate and I woke up early one Saturday in June, picked up a niece to babysit, and hiked Adams Canyon. Hiking just the two of us was delightful, and we got up early enough to beat the heat. The only downside was that somehow we ended up right behind some enormous cheerleading group, so we had to wait several times for them to move along. It was nice to enjoy each others' company, be able to chat without interruptions, and to be on a destination-oriented hike. That same day, we went to see one of Nate's coworkers who is pretty recently retired. He invited us over to see his llamas. The kids were in heaven. They got to feed them and pet them and chase them around. This visit somehow morphed into a soon-to-come vacation! So stay tuned for that. We are really enjoying being so close to the mountain. Great hiking is five minutes from our front door. One evening we drove up to the trailhead and decided to hike briskly for about fifteen minutes and then turn around a...