This is “PERU part 2.” “Part 1” is back HERE, and the intro to all this hoopla is back HERE. And I know I should break these up into smaller posts, but I want to keep all these memories as close together as possible, so brace yourself for LOTS of pictures. Because Peru! And Machu…
The summer semester ended for Grace and for Claire. Grace’s ended earlier than Claire’s, and she’s been working double shifts up there, sometimes with fun visitors: (Mini cousins Moses and Gabe.) Also reunions with dear mission friends and fun adventures with new friends: Claire’s semester ended with a bang, trying to balance so many things…
We left the hotel in Cancun in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning to get home to Elle and Carson who were arriving a couple hours before us. That light in the Houston airport (layover) was so incredibly beautiful bringing in that holy day. We arrived to our rainy, foggy desert (after the most…
When Dave and I graduated from college we did it together. It was a December twenty-five years ago (yikes!) and by the time the actual graduation ceremony rolled around that spring, we had already moved to Washington, D.C. There was no pomp and circumstance for that graduation of ours (we were pretty happy about though,…
Traditions have power. They can be like the glue to hold a family together in my opinion, keeping hearts united even when they are far apart. Especially when the “big” kids spread their wings that take them to new places. I remember still holding on to my growing-up family traditions when I went off to…
You know how sometimes a plan fails miserably, and other times things just seem to somehow fall into place against all odds? We got the latter scenario a few weeks ago when Dave and I, after much anticipation and planning and preparation, got to travel to Italy and Switzerland with our married kids. We climbed…
How to Create an Awesome Family Reunion Start out by holding a wedding to bring it on (last post). Ha! It really was such a great kick-off though. For reunions we have all kinds of traditions that we love. But THIS year was a year to “Think Again” in many ways, including starting out with…
I loved having General Conference intermixed with Easter this last weekend. Maybe it was extra rejuvenating because since school was out for two extra days, we headed to Newport. It was pretty chaotic getting out the door, but the blue sky, salty air, the light that is just different here, the conversations, the connection, the…
Or Elle, as we know and love her here at home…it was so fun to have her HOME for the big day. I wrote about what I love about her back HERE, but here’s what we did to celebrate: Lucy, true to form, was very on top of the prep work, namely making sure she…