Going to the Mountain

After a beautiful session at the Cedar City Temple, Tony and I hiked in Kannaraville Falls.  It was a beautiful, perfect afternoon in a gorgeous setting.  And we still like being together.  

 

Football and Wild Wednesdays

 Of all the reasons Tony loves living in St George, the top five are: desert heat, accessibility to BYU football games,  no more call and 4 day work weeks, being close to parents, and unlimited racquetball.  This week, Tony enjoyed all 5 of these perks.  While the PNW is cooling off and enjoying a dreamy fall, we are still  90-100 degrees and running the air-conditioner at full force.  Tony has spent the last two weekends at the BYU football games in Provo.  Last week he attended the Holy War with Rand and stormed the field when the 7 year curse was finally broken and BYU won.  This week he and Wilson went to Provo to tailgate with all the Blughesworths at Jeff and Betsy's.  It was especially fun because they got to see Jackson and Allie before they head to Denmark where Jackson will start his new job at Lego.  Wilson has been in a low place and lost his job again, so I hope he was able to feel all the love and support he needs to try again.  

We have begun our official "Wild Wednesdays!"  Its our taste of being empty nesters, at least for a few hours.  This Wednesday, Mom and Dad were camping up at Pine Mountain,  so we spent the day hiking and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.  It was so fun to see Mom enjoying herself and we got a great workout when we discovered our hiking trail was not a loop.  

Eliza reported that she was hired by In n Out and almost has an apartment.

Max continues to work just enough to pay for his significant eating-out habit.  We encouraged him to drop out of high school this week, since he rarely attends.  8 1/2 more months feels like a very long time, and the anxiety is painful.  Max asked me to take out his braids and we both laughed when a ton of sand shook out of his hair from his surfing trip two weeks ago.  

Sam loves the High School sports scene so much he gave up a couple nights on the houseboat at Lake Powell with the young men.  He continues to be a basketball trainer, but would like a more consistent job.  

I'm getting a little more caught up at work.  I still really like my job and attended a conference yesterday on selective mutism.  It is such a sad anxiety disorder and I hope I can help my student with the things I've learned.  

Eliza moves out

Eliza has transformed from a timid, intrepid, shy girl to a brave and bold adventurer.  We love it!  When her plans to go to Korea fell through, she decided to move to California with her roommate Claudia. She packed all her belongings in the car and off she went last Friday morning.  She's having a hard time finding an apartment and has been living with her roommate's family for over a week.  She's applying for jobs like crazy.  She already loves going to the beach and living the California lifestyle.  Good luck Sister!

BYU football

 One of the best parts of living in Utah again is that Tony gets to live the BYU football dream.  BYU was playing in Las Vegas at the Allegiant Stadium and that meant a party.  Jeff, Betsy, Jason, Andrea (Jack) and Brad and Kim came for a glorious, happy labor day weekend.  We BBQ salmon on Friday night and stayed up too late talking.  I'd had the idea to rent a van so we could be together on the drive to Vegas and Tony jumped on it.  On our way to Vegas we stopped in Mesquite for the buffet, which was terrible food, but a fun experience.  Tony had also prepaid for parking, so we were ridiculously early for the game.  The stadium was so big and we all wore masks (kind of).  I don't like the game of football: the noise, celebrating and cheering when someone makes a mistake, people getting hurt.  The whole experience is so bizarre.  But I do love being with friends.  The hard part was that we didn't get home until 3:00 in the morning.  Tony and I got up to attend a special testimony meeting on the grass outside of our burned church building, and by the time we'd returned the "party van," Brad and Kim had made a delicious breakfast.  We had a beautiful sacrament meeting and Come Follow Me study together and spent a good part of the afternoon ministering to each other with priesthood blessings.  Thankfully Jason and Andrea didn't have to leave until Monday morning so my post-company depression was relieved. 

What also made the weekend so wonderful was that Max was on a trip with his friends and their family in Newport Beach. It was such a stress relief to have him safely occupied and to be able to just enjoy the weekend with friends.  He had a great time and according to the chaparoning mom, behaved well.  

One of the not happy parts of the weekend was that Russ was in the hospital.  He had sepsis and pneumonia and was very, very, sick.  We fasted for him on Wednesday as a family and Tony spent the night with him on Friday night.  We are thankful that he was able to come home with a pic line and get IV antibiotics.  I am thankful he called Tony last weekend during the football game and that Tony urged him to go to the hospital. 

Tony went back up to Provo for the Holy War and had the best night of his life with Rand celebrating the end of the curse!  BYU finally beat U of U!  

Jackson and Allie Hughes get married

Covid has turned a lot of things upsidedown over the last year and Jackson and Allie's wedding was no exception.  After careful precautions like masks, Covid tests, and even postponing the wedding for a year, the dreaded corona virus managed to ruin another gathering.  Poor Savannah, the most cautious of anyone I know, had some sniffles on the night of the rehearsal dinner and opted to stay home. Because she is so careful she took a COVID test.  When it was positive, she took another then called Betsy in horror.  She had exposed all her siblings and parents to Covid.  They wouldn't be able to attend the wedding!  All the travel and clothing and expense for nothing. I felt so bad for Betsy and Jeff.  The weight of everything came crashing down and Betsy had a lot of grief come pouring out, when she least wanted it to. That's pretty much how grief works.  Jason, Andrea, Jack, Eli and I represented the Blughesworths.  The wedding venue was the most beautiful I've been, set in the gorgeous state of Pennsylvania.  We were served an unbelievable vegan dinner and I was obsessed with the fake brie cheese wrapped in phyllo.  Eli was the best man and gave a perfect toast with his clever sense of humor.  Allie and Jackson make a wonderful couple and are excited to start their adventure to Denmark where Jackson will work for the Lego company as a designer.  

On Sunday I got to spend a lovely day in Philadelphia. I parked at the temple and walked around the downtown. I love old things.  I love being in places with a story.  I even got to participate in Evan's homecoming talk on Zoom, sitting at the temple visitor's center.  It was a whirlwind weekend and I loved being apart of the messiness, happiness and reality of family. 

29 years-happy aniversary

 Without too much fanfare, Tony and I have reached 29 years of marriage.  We celebrated where we honeymooned, at the Shakespeare festival in Cedar City.  We enjoyed dinner and "A Comedy of Errors." I made myself sick on cinnamon rolls.  It was a peaceful, happy night and I am relieved to have at least 29 more years with a partner, companion and sweetheart as good as Mr  Lundberg.