September 2024

 Where in the world did this month go...  The greatest blessing of all time coming off of a nine day vacation is to have the days following fly by with so much productivity and joy.   We had another nearly uneventful month and it made me so happy.  

We arrived home from our Park City adventure on Friday afternoon.  The most well planned 9 days off ever.  We had a wonderful week and then still had 2 1/2 days to get our laundry done, come down off of the vacation high and be ready to go back to our normal routine.  I always highly recommend putting at least one day in between vacation and going back into work.  

I spent Saturday decorating for fall....  and cleaning several areas that only get touched every now and then.  It felt so good, even though it is still in the 100s in this town of hellish temperatures.  Global Warming is no joke.  

We also started attending weekly football games at various times during our Saturdays.  It didn't really matter the time, morning, noon or night it was BLAZING hot with an occasional hot wind that felt like a gigantic blow dryer on our already hot bodies.  And I am complaining like it was so awful for the fans...  I cannot even imagine how our boys felt running around in pads and helmets. 

Ryker is the Swiss Army Knife of his team.  His official position is on the D Line, but pull him in to be on Special Teams, O Line and he is the punter.  Sometimes he gets confused when they send him out on offense because he is so used to being defense.  It is really unfair to him.  But he is so good, they just use him everywhere.  I have been so impressed with his attitude and his willingness to go wherever he is needed.  He listens to his coaches and takes their advice.  

He is such a good kid. 

When we dropped him off to practice one of the nights, as he was getting out of the car with all of his gear, water bottles and playbooks, Raleigh said "Walt......  you're a good boy!"

I started crying and had to put my sunglasses on. 

Also, this was the funniest thing to me...

Ryker and his dudes talked one of the cool moms into taking them to Ross,

so they could buy matching shirts to wear to school...

like they were a "squad" or something.

And they took a "we are too cool to smile "photo.

And the kids were like "what is going on?"  "Where did you get these shirts?"  

" What does this mean?"  "Where can I get one?"

And the boys were like 

They were $5.99 at Ross and this was the only shirt where there were enough for all of us.

But the kids at the school thought it meant something way bigger than it did

and everyone wanted to get one.

The young men and young women in our ward were able to go and do baptisms together finally.  

It was such a fun night for them.  

They came home on such a HIGH, all three of them chattering away about their feelings.  

I loved every minute of it

Peyton has been studying for a month for her Drivers Permit test. 

According to her, she was ready a year ago.

But, it has been delayed because she broke her glasses and she wouldn't be able to pass the vision test without them.  

We were supposed to be making her an eye appointment to get contacts, but for whatever reasons, we kept not remembering to do it.  

Well... she was getting antsy, so she found her super old glasses from years ago and she thought they might work.  So we made an appointment at the DMV.

Fast forward to The Day....

Driving out to Hurricane for the appointment. 

Literally over half way there....  she goes....

"UM....  I left my glasses on the stairs"

We Could Not Believe It.

You have had A MONTH to prepare for this? 

You had ONE JOB!!!

Well....  she failed the eye test miserably!

But the cute lady let her slide as long as she has her contacts by the time she is 16.

She is the cutest. 

Poor little girl has to learn to drive on THE TRUCK.

She'll be able to drive anything after learning on that thing. 

One of the mornings, I had to start my day in Deep Hurricane at Mollie's Landing.

I was going in a due East direction.  I knew I was because the morning sun was almost making me completely blind.

I simply did not see that there was a section of the road that just ended for no apparent or good reason at all and simply dropped off into a hole.

I rolled right into it and instantly got a screaming alert to pull over immediately as I had ZERO pressure in my back right tire.  

Well.... fun fact.....

Teslas don't have spare tires.

So the only way to get a tire change is like this....

Makes a person really late for work BTW.

Upon further analysis, it wasn't my tire that popped, it was the rim that bent so badly the tire could not hold pressure. 

I had to drive the truck for two days, while they welded my rim back into place and reattached it to the tire.

What a freaking pain.

I was the happiest person alive when I got my little car back

I am really good at listening and paying attention to my body.

I am also really good (borderline hypochondiacally) to go to the doctor when I think something is not right.

I am unapologetic about this though because I think it's better to know, so you can take care of it.  

Consequently, I caught my skin cancer super early and the surgery was very easy relatively speaking.

I was pretty nervous as it was located right dead center in the middle of my eyes.  

What a horrible place from a scarring standpoint but equally from a surgical procedure prospective.  

Nothing like watching the needle and scalpel coming right at you with both eyes. 

I wasn't worried about the cancer as much as I was worried about being wide awake hearing, smelling and seeing them cut into my forehead.

I was so glad when they covered them up with a cloth

I looked like I just made some sort of marriage commitment.

This is me SO happy the cutting part is over...

Not knowing the stitches was going to be the worst part.

SO gross.  I could hear them going into my skin

This is me waiting for them to make sure they got all of the cancer cut out

A little bit swollen

SO SEXY

So...  making lemonade out of this unfortunate situation...

I got myself a little surgical procedure that eleminated the furrowed brow that I had developed as a result of my difficult and stressful job.  

I WAS going to have to go and get some botox injections, but now I don't have to. 

He pulled and tugged and ripped by flesh tight and tightened up those frown lines right up.

At work we have had a few changes lately.  The biggest change is a change in our leadership.  Our Director is now going to be our COO and we will be getting a new Director.  The change is VERY bitter/sweet.  When I first heard about it, I cried a lot.  I have loved working under Ryan.  He is so good and kind.  He values us so much and lets us govern ourselves.  When I had my two year review with him, the entire meeting was full of praises and raises and then we talked on a spiritual level about having confidence in ourselves and knowing who we are on a Divine Level and how that is so much more important than anything. We talked about the importance of Daily Affirmations and speaking kindness to ourselves.  It was incredible.  I am SO in the right place with this company.  Sure, we have our challenges, but for years I prayed for the opportunity to work for a company who actually values their employees and cares about them....  like for real.   None of that fake stuff.  

It has taken me a couple of years to realize how blessed I am to be where I am and it's taken equally long for me to heal from the things of the past.  I can feel my professional confidence coming back and it is a very good thing.  

I was able to get another oppotunity to create somthing new in one of our biggest homes.  I have been working on turning a garage into a game room.  It is Game Room on a Budget X10, but I have done a fairly good job with the amount I have been given.  

I found 2 small stand up arcade games and an air hockey table for $300.  I covered up the poop brown floor with super cute outdoor rugs.  I really like it.  I hope the owners do too.  

I even had some help.  I named him Leonardo DiCaprio.

He was everywhere.  Always in my way.  Trying to see what was going on.

He's lucky I didn't ever step on him.

I was so happy when my wonderful Harker Girls.  They are my FLDS friends and theysent me a little note.  I have lost track of them for reasons I am not privy to.  I have missed seeing them everyday.  I have missed their goodness and their friendship.  I love this little note that they sent to me through one of their cousins who I also know and love.  

I cannot believe how fast September went.  It was a super fun month for us and we did some fun things.  I am really happy that I had a ton of days off this month that gave me some good time to refresh myself and reflect.  I am grateful for personal experiences that have given me a stronger testimony in the things that I believe.  I know that we are sometimes put in situations to test us to see how we will respond.  I was blindsided and not expecting one of them.  But, I. Was. Prepared.  I had done enouth studying and preparing, that I was able to handle the conversation.  I walked away with not only a deeper conviction of who I am and why I am actually here, but that I am undeniably loved.  I am blessed that I have been given an opportunity to to live a good life, on a covenant path.  I have been able to be humble enough to be teachable and I hear the truths and they sound familar to me.

My greatest blessing is my husband.  He is so good for my soul.  He makes really good decisions.  We were able to go to the temple with mom and dad in our new temple.   It is gorgeous inside.  It was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday.  We also got to spend an evening with Uncle Jamie and Aunt Amy this month.  They came over and had dinner with us and watched the first Utah game of the season.  They told us so many wonderful stories from their mission to England.  It is fun when they come visit.  They are so supportive of our family and it's good to have them in our lives.  

Heading into October it's still 100 degrees.  It so does not feel like Fall is in the air.  I am feeling jipped.  I am ready to wear sweaters and boots already.... this is ridiculous.  Hopefully in a few short days, we will see a switch, cuz I bought some really cute winter stuff.