September 2021

Over Labor Day Weekend, we took a quick trip up to Mountainside in Park City.

This vacation NEVER disappoints us.

We love it here.

We left early Friday morning and were up in Provo in no time.

We dropped the kids off at Morgan and Allie's apartment.  

Morgan took them to do some work projects....

like sitting in her boss' Tesla.

Peyton's dream car.

Peyton is studying famous artists in school.

One of them is Banksy. 

Banksy has three strategeously placed works of art around Park City.

We found one of them so that she could take her picture by, so she could get some extra credit.

Kaleigh saw a painting of Marilyn Monroe.

She is obsessed with women of past decades.

Diana Spencer, Marilyn and Anne Frank to name a few.

She reads all about them online and comes in before she turns in at night and tells us all about them.

I know so many fun facts about so many 20th century women.

The Lunds under a Lunds sign

Park City Main St.

We always have to take a picture by the Welcome Bear

While Rals and Allie and I took a very long and much needed nap...

Papa and Nana took the little kids down to the game room to play ping pong, shuffleboard and cornhole.

They were down there for over an hour and had the best time.

Almost a teenager....

Sometimes they really like each other

I know that people go to Swiss Days in Midway and have fun and find things to buy...  

but, I am not one of them.

It could be me, it probably is...

Last time I was there, I was 14 months pregnant with Kaleigh, while pushing Peyton in a stroller for 2 miles over dirt moguls in a dirt parking lot wearlng flip flops and a long maxi skirt (that being the only thing I could fit into at the time).  Then I had to fold up the stroller and try and cram it on a bus that shuttled me and my 1 1/2 babies to the event ...  I also had to try and cram my very large stomach on the bus as well and then when we arrived I had to push the stroller over grass while trying not to crash into the 8,000 people in attendance who were moving like cattle through rows and rows of booths of what I recall was crap.  It was hot.  I was sweaty.

I was Job.

My mom has memories of that day that border on resentment toward me, that my bad attitude squashed all hope of any one possibly enjoying themselves during our 2010 Swiss Day Adventure.  And she hoped that I wouldn't let her down again in 2021.

Well, I am only human after all

We agreed as we were leaving (in two separate cars) that they would follow us.  So if we got lost, we'd get lost together and also that we could arrive at the same time and park next to each other and ride the shuttle together....

But, almost as instantly as WE got in OUR car, the text messages from THEIR car started pouring in faster than I could read them...

We are waiting for you down by the traffic signal.

Now we are at Albertsons.

Now we are on the side of the road by Albertsons.

We are on the freeway now.

Where are YOU?

Are you near us? 

Are you catching up to us. 

WHAT????????

I thought the idea behind "following us" and "traveling together" kind of meant driving behind and/or in front of one another.

This was not doing good things to my attitude...  FYI.

When WE arrived at the Swiss Days Mogul Parking lot, which by the way, hadn't changed in 11 years, THEY were no where to be found.

It was baffling, as they were the ones in such a gall durn hurry to get there.  How were they now behind us or not even in the vacinity at all?

Turns out they took a wrong turn or didn't take a right turn or something, but they were not near us, not following us.  Not traveling with us.  And we were were in the dirt parking lot in row 115, walking toward the shuttle with only half of our group...  the very scenario I strongly wanted to avoid and tried to take steps to circumvent.  And yet here we were standing under a canopy with Father Time and the other senior citizen volunteers who kept telling us every three minutes that the shuttle line was over there and we should head in that direction.  

"Look, Verle...  we are gonna stand here in this shade until my parents arrive, no matter how long that takes because we are a family and we are commited to try and have fun and find some pleasure in this disasterous Swiss mess you Midway People have created...

Raleigh asked me if I needed an 18 second hug.

We hug for 18 seconds when I need an attitude reboot

And boy, I needed to reboot.

If I was going to change my attitude and NOT repeat my 2010 Swiss Days Attitude, I for sure needed to reboot.

He hugged me for 36 seconds

This year, I had children who could walk on their own, but the same feelings came back... those of frustration, claustrophobia and disappointment.  Some of us wore white pants, big time bad choice.  Some of us dropped their "Swiss Taco" top side down right, on the grass.  Some of us had a flat tire.  Some of us just wanted to buy some cute Christmas Wrapping Paper but never found the booth and even if we had, we wouldn't have been able to stop...  the line that we were in HAD to keep moving.  If someone in the line were to stop....  to try to look at ANYTHING, the whole line would have had to stop and wait for that person.  

No one should have to shop like this.  Especially at a place where in order to take part, we had take a bus to for crying out loud.

We didn't spend a dime, with the exception of $5.00 Scones and $2.00 diet cokes.

Which I must be honest, were delicious.

We had a few laughs...

SEVERAL in fact.

I think that is all that matters

I know that once again, I have disappointed the family.

It took a couple of times to come to a final conclusion, but I am certain that Swiss Days is not for me.

I don't do well in crowds, especially on busses

I am the grumpiest person alive when things are the slightest bit complicated,

which Swiss Days just IS.  There is no doubt about it.

I will take this opportunity to publicly apologize to my mom.  All she wanted to do was make some fun memories for her family.  And I got my lederhosen in a twist....  AGAIN.

SCHEISSE!!!!

I'm sorry mom.

Raleigh and Ryker and KK braved the Alpine Slide again

A leisurly stroll down the mountain

Takes the slide at her own pace making no apologies to anyone

Getting her money's worth, this one

They had a marvelous time

On our drive home, we talked about Dragonfruit for some reason.  

The kids wondered what such a strange fruit could possibly taste like...

so we bought one to try.

$8.00 later....

We may have picked a bad one or maybe they are no longer in season, but it had no flavor.

Booooo!!

Raleigh and I participated in our two-stake "National Day of Service" project on 9/11

200 precious souls showed up to the pavilion at 6:30 am.

We thought we were so cool by offering the use of our trailer.

That way, all we would have to do is drive around and pick up the discarded bags of trash.

Reality of our hasty decision being a big mistake set in when we reported back to the drop off zone with our full trailer and the big man in charge implied without saying the words

"Part of the job of signing up the use of your trailer means you'll have to take this stuff to the dump"

by throwing a tarp over the trash and saying here, I will help you tie this down.

Well.... what could we say or do?

The dump is so gross...

so unbelievably gross.

It smells as bad as a place could.

The St George dump could very easily be HELL

A 110 degree, 300 foot trash pile.  Very few things are worse

There was a mattress on the bottom of our pile that I am certain had Hep A, B and C on it.  We had to touch it to throw it out of the trailer.  Now we have to burn our trailer... and our clothes.

Nevertheless, we pressed on and persevered.

And I am certain the blessings will start pouring in any minute now

The next Saturday was rainy.

SO FUN!!!

So we did indoor projects on this day.

Raleigh had a brilliant idea to power wash our shower.

It worked like a charm, however it required us to bring a hose in through the bedroom window.

I was skeptical. 

But, Rlund made it happen and now our shower looks brand spankin' new.

It was very satisfying to watch the soap scum disappear and leave fresh tile in it's place.  

I could have done this all day.

Word of advice to all homebuilders choosing your own tile for your shower...

Don't choose a matte finish for your tile in your shower unless you want to hate yourselves.

Why did no one in the design center try and steer us properly?

They were probably just internally laughing at us 

"stupid people, who chooses matte finish tile for your shower?"

"good luck cleaning that mess, you idiots"

Haha....  joke's on you Salisbury Design Center Jerks.

Rals Lund is a life hacker extrodinaire

he'll find the way or the way can't be found

Pausing for a moment to say....

LOOK AT MY TREE!!!

It is gigantic and has to be the healthiest tree in Washington County.

On the third Sunday, I taught Doctrine and Covenants 93 in class.

I was supposed to teach that lesson 3 weeks earlier, but our schedule got all messed up.

I really wanted to teach this section because it is one of the greatest of the whole book, but it was so out of place, I thought I'd really have everyone upset if I taught it.

I felt very strongly to go ahead and teach it.

I am SO glad that I did.

 We had a fabulous experience.

I watched the light go on in the faces of several of the boys.

They are 15

They are the perfect age to start "grasping the gospel of Jesus Christ" and a couple of them really did.

I loved when they would stop me and say...  'wait, I don't understand that, can you explain that better?'

I literally almost started crying two or three times because I was so happy that they were paying attention and actually wanting to learn.  

There is no better reward for me than this.

That night we watched football in the cool evening sitting by the fire pit.

I really hope they have fire pits and cool evenings and ice cream and football games in heaven...

OR at least something equally as cool that brings as much joy

Beautiful Quincey turned 25 this month.

I found this picture while I was making my IG post for her.

I love this picture of these three girls.

I want this to be how it really is... like it was before everyone got all adultish and stressed out and complicated

If you are looking at our house...  the left side yard of our house is 85% landscaped and set up with lovely backyard stuff.  We have been working on it for 8 months....  and by we, I mean Raleigh worked hard and I watched.

It's very nearly finished with just a few more finishing touches needed, but it's too blasted hot and we are too tired to bring it home.

85% is a solid B.

If you are a person who is okay with settling for mediocrity,  which incidentally, I AM... it is spot on. Sadly, instead of tying up loose ends, we lost interest and moved on to the right side of the house.

Mostly because we are paying someone to do this side.

In came the gigantic machinery.

This do-hickey got rid of all of the decorative rocks both big and small and smoothed out the dirt.

There was also an attempt to clear away the last section of the hill

But apparently, 6 billion years ago, a brontasaurous died here and laid his bones to rest under our hill.

There seems to not be a piece of equipment in the St. George region that can handle the task of budging the rock holding up the dirt on this part of our property, it's so big and solid and not going anywhere.

Believe me, they tried.

For three solid hours they tried.

The sun went down and they kept trying

But they were only mildly successful

and went back to the easy task of pushing dirt around

Then three cement trucks came and poured cement in a space covering 60 X 30 feet

and they configured the cement to go around the fossils which was so disappointing because the perfect square we were invisioning now has a decorative curvy part and our gazebo has to go somewhere different.  I am not happy about it at all, but my sadness is getting me nowhere.  It is what it is.

And a pickleball court started to take shape.

And because the end of the month came before the cement dried completely, you'll just have to tune in next month for the finished final product...

Meanwhile back at work...

I moved my office from a building 15 minutes away from The Literal Actual Resort where I work

to an office at the literal actual resort...

What an idea.

It makes my job like 1000% easier to do.

I got my office all set up and it's pretty nice

I have a fridge, microwave, sink, bathroom, tv to watch Oprah on...

but the best part is when there is a problem or an issue or someone just needs to talk to me, I no longer have to drive across town.  I am just there, all the time, like a real boss.

what else does a girl need?

The Red Cliffs Temple is coming along nicely

The top of this temple is WAY up there.

I get to drive by every morning now, so I am not missing the daily progress

I HATE CHANGE

My two co-workers have recently made major life changes and both of them moved.  

Sam moved to Cedar City

and luckily for me she was allowed to keep working for us part time from home and part time on site.

It's not ideal, but it doesn't suck as bad as Taylor, who also was able to keep working for us all the way from St. Louis....  no commute for her.

Only daily video chats from now on.

We went to Wingers for a good-bye dinner.

It was the end of an era. 

We've been through a lot together.

A lot of CRAP

We will miss her!!

STAY TUNED...

It's going to be pretty fabulous...

Kinda glad September is over.

Super glad it's cooling down.

I finished the month with an excruciating headache that lasted 7 days.

It was manageable if I was on Tylenol, so I took it every four hours, just so I could function.

If I was even 5 minutes late, I deeply regretted it, as it sent shocking electrical pain through my entire head for 30 minutes until the medication took affect.

I could not determine the starting point...  it hurt in my right temple and then on the back right side or maybe vice versa and in the back of my right eye, also in my neck and my shoulder.  On top of it, my ears were ringing so loudly, I could hardly hold a thought in my head and they would wake me up several times each night.  What a mess.

Interestingly, and so unlike me...  I wasn't worried about it, other than I was freaking out about the amount of Tylenol I was forced to ingest.

I just kept thinking it's one of three things...

a pinched nerve in my neck manifesting in my head.

a sinus infection

OR

a tumor.

And oddly, I wasn't stressed out about it being a tumor like I normally would be.

I should have been, but I just wasn't.

Very out of character.

I tried to think it was a sinus infection, so I took some Mexican Antibiotics to see if I could knock it out.

Nevertheless, my liver was about to burst wide open with all of the tylenol I took over the course of a week.

I just keep thinking, there are people who take literal crack cocaine every single day and don't die, so maybe I'll be okay with 500 mg of acetaminophen... six times a day.  Right?

 I also would tell myself at like 2:00 every day...  Tonight I will probably call the online doctor and see if I can convince that person to prescribe me a full body MRI and also some valium...  but then when I would get home every night, I'd lose my nerve and just go to bed.

Tonight on the 30th, I think I may have turned a corner and might be able to say the Mexi-biotics may have helped a little bit.  I am on hour 7 since last dose with only a dull ache.  

I consider myself a success this month that I went on AND survived a family vacation.

I didn't have a single work tragedy this entire month and there were so many opportunities for tragedy to occur, but for some reason tragedy eluded me.  Bless my heart.

I was so physical that I think I lost a little weight...  Whoo Hoo... pre-menopause is NOT helping me right now.

With the exception of my tumor, we were all healthy this month

and we have so many insane fall projects to work on, it makes me giddy to think of the changes about to happen at our house.

Life is Good