St. George Getaway

 The last time Matt and I had a little getaway by ourselves was March 2020 right before the coronavirus decided to change up our lives.  This month, Matt had some time off, and we wanted to go to New Orleans, but we couldn't bring ourselves to travel outside of the state and to a busy urban area yet.  We also knew that our trip wouldn't be as fun due to some closures of things we would otherwise do as first-timers to NOLA.  So, back to Southern Utah it was!

We got a cute "casita" which was attached to the back side of this house in Ivins in the Encanto community near Tuacahn and Snow Canyon State Park.  It was comfortable and well appointed.  We loved the surrounding views!  We took advantage of the nice walking/biking path and enjoyed invigorating morning walks.  

The only real plans we had for this trip was to go to Zion National Park, eat at some recommended Female Foodie restaurants, and go see our first movie in a theater in 9 months (a Tom Hanks movie called News of the World). We did all of those things and had a great time!  We also had hopes to finally play some pickle ball but we couldn't ever locate the neighborhood court (I guess we could have asked someone but we didn't).  Also, we tried twice to sit in the neighborhood hot tub, but there were people already in it which was a deal breaker.  

Oh man, we sure had some good food on this trip.  I only took one picture at a restaurant and that was at our final one which was on our way home in Cedar City called Centro Woodfired Pizzeria.  Female Foodie said it has the best pizza in the state, so we had to try it out.  It was pretty great.  Of course, not as great as the pizza we had in New York City, but still awesome and yummy!  

Here's the list of other places we ate at during our trip.

Riggati's Woodfired Pizza in Washington, Xetava Gardens Cafe in Kayenta, Angelica's Mexican Grill in St. George, The Crepery in St. George, Thai Sapa in Springdale just outside of Zion NP, and Mad Pita Express in St. George. There's still 4 or 5 restaurants that we still want to try down in that area.  

This was our second time to Zion NP.  We chose to hike Emerald Pools since last time we were there it was closed for repair.  It was a beautiful hike even though the water levels were low and the green foliage was gone for the winter.  Zion is truly amazing any time of the year.  It was extra nice that we could drive ourselves around the park and not have to get on the shuttle buses that has to be utilized at busier times of the year.  An added unexpected bonus was having two fighter jets fly overhead near the end of our hike.  The sound was amplified through the rocky canyon.  So thrilling to hear and see!   The next time we go to Zion we are planning on putting our brave faces on in order to hike Angel's Landing.

Instead of just going straight home, we decided to make a slight detour and go to Bryce Canyon for a quick stop.  I hadn't been there since around the time I was 19, and Matt had never been there before.  It was a beautiful drive through Dixie National Forrest.  Our bellies were full of that awesome pizza in Cedar City, and we were happy, little Utah tourists venturing onto new highways and exploring parts of our state we hadn't seen before.  This is one of our favorite things to do together.  We stopped at the visitor's center to buy our must-have Christmas ornament and postcards for Piper and Emma and then continued into the park to Inspiration Point to take in Matt's first view of Bryce Canyon.  Truly breathtaking.  

We continued home the long way and drove up Highway 89 through small towns like Panguitch, Richfield, Manti, and Ephraim.  We were out in the middle of "Nowhere, Utah" and saw a sign for Butch Cassidy's boyhood home.  Matt loves Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so of course we had to check this out.  We flipped around and went back to this cute pitstop just south of Circleville, Utah and took a look around.  It was fun to imagine what life must have been like living out there in the late 1800s. 

Another fun trip with my best friend.  Here's to a bunch more in 2021! 

A Book A Month 2020

Another year has come and gone! I continued my goal of reading a book a month, but I actually didn't make my goal this year. I only read 11 books. You'd think I would have read twice as many books due to Covid restrictions and not being out and about for months on end. But I had a house full of family which included a very adorable granddaughter. I chose to play with her more than I chose to read. But really, the biggest obstacle to not reading 12 books was moving to a new home in August. I hardly read that month, and so it took me two months to finish my August book. You'll notice that a couple of my book choices this year were on the shorter side due to all that was going on this spring and summer. But, nevertheless, I read a variety of books in 2020 and that's what counts! 

 

Oh wait a second! I read two books in February, so I guess I did read 12 this year. 

I enjoyed all of the books except one...The Haunting of Hill House. I hate horror stories, but Matt had bought this short book and since it was written in 1959, I thought it probably wouldn't be too bad. It wasn't, but I still hated it. 

January- The Priesthood Power of Women by Barbara Gardner 

February- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens/ You Are More Than Enough- You Are Magnificent by Ganel-Lyn Condie

March- Silent Souls Weeping by Jane Clayson 

April- Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank 

May- The Island of the Colorblind by Oliver Sacks 

June- Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole 

July- Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach 

August (start)- A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith 

September (finish)- A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith 

October- The Gown by Jennifer Robson 

November- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 

December- Change Your Questions Change Your Life by Wendy Watson Nelson

Christmas 2020

Christmas this year was unlike any other we have ever had. With all of our children living out of state and not being able to gather as extended family due to COVID 19 restrictions, we spent the Christmas holiday pretty much by ourselves. Our only visitors inside our house were some of our favorite YSA ladies (Kim, Amanda, & Corine) from South Jordan who surprised Matt with caroling at our door. We invited them in, with us all wearing masks, and had a nice catch-up chat. They were so sweet to think of us and come down to Provo to see us.

I picked out this ornament for us and our kids. I thought it was quite appropriate for 2020!

As I said in a previous post, all of the neighbor gifts we received really made us happy and brightened our holiday season. Another thing that helped me find joy this month was reading a couple of Christmas books to Piper on Marco Polo. Matt even got in on the fun and read her "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". She loved them all and would send me back a message saying, "A new book, Grammie." I plan to read her one every month this coming year. I hope it doesn't get old for her. Here's a picture Chelsea sent me. Piper loves finger paint lately.

I love this new faux garland I bought this year at Sun River Gardens! It looks so real and fresh. It was worth the $80. I'll have it for years to come.

I got a little teary eyed when I was putting up Christmas decorations this year by myself and especially when I decided to only hang our two stockings. But it helped me to embrace this new stage in our lives. It's gonna be mostly just the two of us from now on. And being with Matt makes me happy and feel loved, and that's a really good thing. We went on a couple of car rides to look at Christmas lights through the foothills of Provo. There are some pretty spectacular ones around here. We also went to the Riverwoods and admired the lights there. This year, Santa sits behind a plastic wall and is six feet away from the little kiddos who come to see him. That's so 2020.

A few days before Christmas, on the 21st which was the winter solstice, we sat in the parking lot of the Provo Temple and witnessed the rare "Christmas Star". It was when Jupiter and Saturn appeared to come super close together and looking like they joined and formed a large star in the sky. Experts say that this hasn't happened in over 400 years. It was in the lower south western sky and was the first "star" to appear right after sunset. This picture Matt took doesn't allow it to show up very well. It really was much brighter especially as it got darker. But I love this picture ayway because of the silhoutte of these older people in front of our car. This heavenly light that appeared on the darkest day of the year reminded me of Christ who is the Light of the World.

On Christmas Eve, we had a traditional ham dinner by candlelight and then watched a Christmas movie together.

On Christmas morning, we opened our gifts from our family and from each other while Christmas music played in the background like we've always done. It was quiet and quick, but I was happy to be with Matt. My fav gift from Matt were warm wool slippers. Matt's fav gift from me was a bidet! And that's no joke HaHa! We drank hot spiced cider and made buttermilk pancakes and yummy bacon. Then we decorated a little village of gingerbread houses and decided that we'd make that a tradition in years to come. We had a family Zoom call with all of our children. It was the best having us all "together". I miss them all and am so grateful we love each other.

Graduations

Like I just mentioned, Josh is now graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor's degree in aviation science and has all of his helicopter licenses that he could earn. Since it's December, there isn't a graduation ceremony for him to participate in. I wish I had a picture of him that could commemorate this event. Chelsea and Spencer didn't get graduation ceremonies either since they both graduated with their bachelor's degrees from BYU in the month of December. This is the third December in a row that someone has graduated! But actually, this year we have two! Chelsea graduated from The London School of Economics and Political Science with her master's degree in development management with a specialization in applied development economics. Because of COVID 19, she and many of her fellow students had to leave London and return to their homes all over the world to finish their classes online and write their thesis papers. The school put on a nice graduation via Zoom that Matt and I watched. Here is a screenshot of when the professor, in the lower right corner with the cool hat and robe on, announced her name in his awesome British accent. 

What smart kids we have! We are once again, so very proud of them and their hard work to accomplish their goals.

To Amish Country They Go

Josh was offered a helicopter flight instructor job in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on the same day that Emma left for Houston. We were already a bit sad about her leaving, and then we got the phone call from Josh saying that they were leaving in just one month. He and Megan spent the rest of November and the beginning of December selling off things they knew they couldn't take with them such as all of their furniture, washer and dryer, and some other things, including most of Megan's beloved plants. Their plan was to drive both of their cars loaded up with all that they could fit in them. We gave them our hard top car carrier that attached perfectly to Josh's Subaru. They were able to put bags of their clothing up in that. 

Josh finished up his bachelor's degree in aviation science at Utah State, and then just a couple of days later, they set out early in the morning for their three day trek to PA! Matt and I and Megan's family were there at their apartment to see them off before dawn. I wish it had been light enough to have been able to get a picture of them with their loaded cars. There was only room for one person in each car. Even their passenger seats were utilized. We were happy that they arrived in Lancaster without accident, harm, sickness, or car trouble. 

Several days before they left, Megan accepted a job offer as a medical assistant for an orthopedic group. We are super proud of them and can't wait to get to visit them in beautiful Amish country! Here is a picture of them in their empty apartment all ready to leave and a picture of some goodies I sent off with them. The next one is a screenshot that Matt took while facetiming with Josh. Notice how much he has stuffed in there! The fourth picture is one Josh took while driving on icy roads. I took a screenshot in the app Find My Friends that showed when they were arriving in the Lancaster area. They are temporarily living in his new boss's pool house in Ronks until they can move into their new apartment. The last picture is one Megan took of a bridge over the Susquehanna River near Lancaster. I hope to see more pictures of the gorgeous area they live in and where Josh now gets to fly over every day.

The Best Neighborhood

We moved into the best neighborhood I think we've ever lived in. So many people have been so kind to us from the moment we moved in. As December approached, I wasn't sure what this neighborhood does when it comes to Christmas "neighbor gifts". Do they do them, or do they do a combined service project/donation, or do they do nothing at all? Well, right on December 1st I had a hunch that they are gift givers when we received a little package of Christmas themed covid masks from someone in the ward and neighborhood whom I've never met before. The gifts kept coming to our doorstep over the next few weeks. They came from mostly people on our street, but there were a couple more from families we don't know. So very kind and thoughtful. We decided to give little containers of homemade honey butter to all ten of the families on our street plus two more households. I took pics of almost all of the little gifts given because I wanted to remember how wonderful people in our neighborhood are! Mistletoe, spatula, pine dishsoap, homemade cotton candy, orange spice potpourri, 2 sparkling ciders, honey, homemade mint soap, pringles, dish towel, snowman hand soap, pancake mix, and family picture Christmas cards.

November

Our missionary girl finished up her MTC at home and left for Houston on November 16th.  We are so very proud of her and miss her already.  

Piper and her mom and dad spent hours raking the beautiful yellow leaves from their lawn in Michigan this month.  Looks like she had loads of fun!

My two favorite things I did this month was...

#1 made these delicious big guys

#2 read two Thanksgiving books to Piper via Marco Polo

Here she is saying "Thanks Grammie! New book, please!"  So in December, she'll get her wish of a Christmas book read to her.

My mom had her 75th birthday.  we (the siblings) got her a huge yard sign to let the whole world know.  We visited with her while wearing masks and ate a little cake.  I also gave her a fun detective book.

Thanksgiving Day 2020 was a new experience for me and Matt.  We spent it all by ourselves.  We cooked a traditional meal (substituting a turkey breast for a whole turkey because two people don't need 20 pounds of turkey!)  It was a quiet day, and we missed our kids and extended family, but it was also nice to be with each other.  I'm thankful for Matt!  We were able to join in on two Zoom meetings with both of our families.  It was fun to connect with them and talk about good things that happened to us this past year, to play silly games, and to learn about our lineage connection to people on the Mayflower.    

During the Thanksgiving week, President Nelson taught us in a social media message that gratitude and prayer can heal and bring true happiness.  We were encouraged to use social media to share what we are thankful for and flood the earth with gratitude.  I am truly blessed, and I need to remember that each and every day.