Let’s back up to before Lucy’s birthday for a minute.

Because I had three days back HOME between the first leaf glory and the second (which rounded into Fall Break).

And those days were filled right up to the brim.

Relief Society Activity

I’m still serving as the chair of the Relief Society Activity Committee. It is a fun job because I love getting to know these ladies better, but also a big job. I want so much for us to do things that build and unite. I want so much to include everyone, those who are members of our church and those who are not, and all different ages and stages. I want us to plan things that are really beneficial for all our hearts and minds and souls. So many of the women in our ward are empty-nesters which means lots of people are gone a lot. And life is just busy. Maybe we need to have a night to just sit and do nothing. Ha!

Anyway, we gathered for a night of “Conference Prep” at the end of September. We had one woman give all kinds of ideas to get more out of General Conference:

And one woman (who is a professional caterer), give tips and tricks to making delicious cinnamon rolls.

I don’t know why making cinnamon rolls at conference-time is a “thing,” but it is. And this lady brought us some pretty delicious rolls.

Salad Group

This year I joined a “salad group.” What is that?, you may ask. It’s a group of fifteen women who take turns making fifteen salads and drop them off to each other. This sounded way too overwhelming to me last year, so I opted out. But when they asked this year, because I was really trying to reach out and get to know more people, I joined. And let me tell you what, that was a good decision I have to say.

What happens is you make two salads for everyone for the whole “semester,” and for that you get your own gourmet salad dropped off on your doorstep every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Win/win in my book.

…that is, until it was my turn to make my own first batch of salads. Yikes!

I think it would have actually been fine except that it was sandwiched in between the RS activity one night and the temple with my niece the next morning and there are lots of “parts” to this watermelon feta salad I made (one of my very favorites). Lots of chopping, grilling the chicken, cooking the quinoa, blah blah blah.

Thankfully Dave helped me with the deliveries (in the midst of trying to fit in five other things early that morning), which resulted in a little fight right before the temple.

Thankfully Dave is good at making jokes like how were we going to act like we liked each other at the temple coming up. Ha.

My Niece Received her Temple Endowment

…and we got to accompany her.

…and glad Dave and I could “act” like we liked each other until we really did:)

So excited for this niece and that she gets to head out on her mission soon, she will be the best missionary!

Sunset Dinner

Lucy and I had a special dinner out on the back patio under the sunset one night when Dave had meetings. I love that this nature-loving girl of mine requested that.

Other Stuff…

Dave and I heart-attacked my neighbor for her birthday (she’s the BEST at bday celebrations which always makes me want to up my game).

I got all my brainfood bins delivered to schools all over my town, (even though I was super late to pick them up and missed the packing part, people were so nice about my dropping-the-ballness).

And with that, I loaded that plane trying to calm my heart down, heading to Utah to start Fall Break off a couple days early to celebrate one of my high school friends. Lucy and Dave would be joining me a few days later. I loved that my niece-in-law and her baby happened to be on my same flight. She is commuting from Tennessee to Utah to finish her nursing degree and she is a rockstar. Can you tell by all the stuff she is carrying?

I arrived late at night, and had a little sleep-over with these sisters:

…before heading up into the mountains early the next morning for our hike.

9 Comments

  1. I love that salad swap idea! Is it hard to navigate with travelling so much? I bet compiling all those yummy and creative recipes would make a great e-book fundraiser too, maybe for Brainfood or to ”sponsor” any other neighbors who would like to participate but may not have the means to make 15 extra meals at a time. Bonus points if you can find another “salad swap” group and trade your book of recipes with theirs so you can all gather new ideas for next semester!

  2. Any plans to move to Utah? I feel like you split your time between both states and I’m sure Claire will be at byu and Lucy be at a Utah university, and grandbabies etc

    1. My mom was just telling me that a few of her friends have gotten little apartments by their grandkids so that they’re able to visit for longer stretches. Granted, they’re further than an hour plane ride from Arizona to Utah so they’re not back and forth as often, but it seems like such a wonderful thing to do if able. It sounds like between church, friends, and her husbands family, they’ve got enough roots in AZ to stay put, but as more kids migrate to Utah in the coming months they’ll likely be there more often.

    2. I feel like we’ll always have our homebase in Arizona but if Lucy decides to attend college in Utah we will definitely be up there more, at least in the beginning. This will be pretty tricky for a transition, so many things that she still needs help with and we don’t know how it will all work out. But sure praying that it will work the way she is hoping and praying it will. And that we can support in whatever ways are needed.

      So much to think about and navigate, but we’ll see how it goes!
      xoxo

  3. Random, but I always appreciate when you share having spats with your husband! I’m constantly hemming & hawing how to “keep it real” versus what’s appropriate to post on the internet. You do a great job of managing both! Getting snippy with family on crazy busy todays is totally normal. At least it is in my household 🤣

    1. Oh Thank you Chaun! It is tricky to keep it real for sure. And yes, so normal to be snippy! Life is real, right? I appreciate your comment.
      XOXO

  4. Speaking of the Temple, I was at the Boston Temple Friday night and your brother, sister-in-law and nephew were in the session. 🙂

    1. No way! That’s so crazy. He was receiving his endowment for the first time. I so wish I could have been there. I love what a small world it is.
      xoxo

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