May 2025

My Sophomore year at Ricks College in 1990....was a very difficult year for me.  I had terrible roommates.  They were all barrel racers and one of them was a wanna be barrel racer.  And if you know anything about barrel racers, you know they have reputations of being shallow and totally mean.  These girls were that.  They were completely insecure about themselves and they took it out on almost everyone that they came in contact with including me.  The girl from California, who didn't know how to be mean or fight back.  It was rough to be home with them, so I tried to stay away as much as possible. I would stay up on campus until they would kick me out the commons because they were closing the building.  Then I would go to the athletic center and walk on the track for an hour and then I would go to my guy friends apartment.  I had a friend named JD.  He was from Montana.  He was like 7 feet tall.  He was just a really good guy.  He was so fun to hang out with.  They would let me come and hang out with them and watch sports at their place.  It was easy to hang out with them, they were nice to me and there was low drama there.  

He was friends with my ex-husband.  And when we got divorced, I just assumed he chose that side.  Especially because by the time of our divorce, I had lost track of them.  We didn't have social media in those days.  Or phones. Or computers.  

Well out of the blue, almost 27 years later.... he reached out to me on IG.  He said he and his wife were in town and they'd love to come visit.  I was of course...  skeptical. Why after all these years?  I have trust issues, y'all know that.  Nevertheless, I said yes, come to my house, and I made a cheesecake.  

They came.  And it was the most fun I have had with friends in a very long time.  They stayed for over 3 hours and we got all caught up on each others lives.  He is exactly the same.  I loved every minute of our visit and I was so happy that they came to see me.  NO one does that anymore.  I am feeling so blessed to have them back in my life and I hope we can get together again and again.  It is so nice to be reminded every once in a while that there are good people, just trying to do the best they can while keeping covenants and living good lives.  

The Young Women's President in our ward, is a bird watcher.  Like a legit bird watcher.  She is in the bird watching community and goes on expeditions and stuff.  She was longing to take the girls to one of her favorite bird watching venues for a Girls Day Camp and she asked Rals to come up and bring me as bishopric representatives.  It is located somewhere between Santa Clara and Beaver Dam, Arizona.  It is hidden deep back off the old highway.  12 miles off the old highway.  12 miles on a dirt road.  And not a nice flat, graded dirt road.  This road has moguls.  12 miles of moguls.  So rough, your teeth start hurting after a while.  So rough, your nerves are shot by the time you arrive.  And it's SUPER primative once you finally arrive, so your arrival is completely anti-climatic.  ESPECIALLY when you know you probably should have stopped at the REZ gas station back 15 miles on the nice road to go to the bathroom.  Cuz now you're here.  And you need to really go.  And YOU'RE HERE.  At this place.  

Rals stopped the truck and I kinda started crying.  He knows me SO well.  So he immediately jumped out of the car and went on the hunt for an outhouse.  

He found it and came and got me.  "I will go with you and I will stand right outside...  Come on....  blow your nose and let's get this over with"  

 

Well...  I was very pleasantly suprised when I got inside.  

There was a dead lizard and a black widow behind the toilet in a big thick web, but I talked to her and told her to stay put because I didn't plan to be in there very long.  I was just so glad it didn't reek and the toilet actually flushed which was a total plus.

I was a new woman after I left that building and I was a little bit more ready for the upcoming events.

We took a walk around to check the place out.

It is a BYU owned and operated place.

But, I don't think anyone from the school had been there since Brigham Young was alive.

It potentially could be a nice place to go.  But in reality, it was super run down and unimpressive. 

Come on BYU.

We found wild turkeys

And some wild teenagers

We watched the girls eat camp food (happy that we had stopped at Chick fil A on the way in).

Then we headed to the stream for an art class.

Some people are so talented

This will be one of my favorite pictures of me with the girls

and YES we had to climb over that fence to get to the water.

Then we had a fireside 

and finished off the night with a little "OWLING".

Yep, I said owling.

It's a thing.

The YW president had a speaker and she "called" the owls through it.

And they answered her back and then through some freak of nature tactics, she could tell where they were in the trees and she could actually spot them with her insanely bright flash light

It was actually pretty freaking cool.

But we had to drive back home.

After we were back on the smooth highway again and my teeth stopped hurting, 

I was glad I was able to attend.

It is very interesting when other people share their unique talents with you and they are so far different and so much more developed than yours.

Ryker finished up 7 on 7.

Their team made the play offs, but the boys one by one declined to play.

They were just DONE at this point.

It was a rough season. 

Ryker was by far... the most improved player on the team. 

He worked SO hard and endured some brutal treatment.

But, he didn't give up and he hung in there until the end. 

His last game was the most fun to watch.

In spite of all of the "feelings" we all had about the experience,

I loved watching him grow and improve and learn that crazy game.

This is just crazy to me 

Ryker made this with a 3D printer.

I cannot explain it

I cannot understand it

It is incredible what people can do who know how to 

use these amazing pieces of technology.

What is in store for us? 

Unimaginable

Prior to the youth session of Stake Conference our kids were 

invited to a Nacho Party with a few kids in our ward.

I love when the youth gather. 

The number of kids that attended the youth session compared

to the adults that attended their session was very unequal.

The rising generation is very strong

We were able to attend the temple on a Friday night

I love doing that.  We knew so many people this night

It was fun to see friends

We were able to go up North for Memorial Day Weekend and attend

the farewell of Kate Sundloff.  It was fun for all of the friends to get together

We were able to see Allie too while we were up there

The main purpose for the trip to Nothern Utah was to buy Peyton's First Car.

Very soon after she was born, we started putting a small amount of money

from each paycheck into a bank account for her first car.

We were not rich by any means and we were spectators to our big kids

first car situations and how impossible that was for us at that time to 

help them.  Luckily, their dad had help with making those things happen 

for them.  We wanted to be able to do that for our kids, but we knew that

it wouldn't be easy without a plan.  We were really diligent and we stuck with

the deposits even though it was not easy some months.  

Especially when we added 2 more kids to the mix.

3 cars for 3 kids in 3 years

YIKES!!!

She got her permit on her 15th birthday.

She has been trying to learn how to drive on a gigantic

truck and a Tesla.  NOT good practicing opportunities for her.

We knew that we would need to buy her car early if she was going 

to have a chance of being a good driver.

We signed her up for Summer Drivers Ed in April

and she and Rals have been attending meetings 

and working on assignments together. 

At the end of each assignment submission, she has to 

send in a photo with a parent, showing that they are 

actively involved in her studies.

I take the photos.

Rals takes one for the team

After looking for 8 months for the perfect car for her

personality, she chose a Toyota Tacoma

in Saratoga Springs.  So we emptied her 16 year old bank account and 

drove up there to make a purchase.

Raleigh's friend, Chris volunteered to bring it down to 

St. George on a flatbed for us so we could salvage 300 miles.

SO NICE

She is a darling little truck owner now and

she will practice driving every night of the summer.

Her 16th birthday is the second day of her Sophomore year. 

I imagine she will be late to school that morning due to

being at the DMV getting her license.

No more bus for the Lund Kids.

Young Men's Camp was the very last few days of May.

It was in Castledale which is about 3 1/2 hours away.

Ryker was very excited about it, Rals was frustrated.

He had to last minute rent a van in order to get all the boys up to camp. 

Way more boys than willing leaders presents problems.

Remember the days when the Young Men's leaders weren't also in the 

Bishopric?  Those were the days.

These men worked so hard after they already work so hard.

But the boys had a lot of fun and learned a few things and 

some of them felt the spirit, so the consensus was it was worth it

The camp was primitive at best. 

Port a Potties

ONE SHOWER.

And it was make shift.

Literally a hose hooked up to a propane tank 

Rals decided he would take his shower late at night when

it was dark and everyone would be sitting around the fire roasting

marshmallows.  Ryker caught wind of his plan and said

"you can't go down there alone, Dad."

Raleigh said, "sure I can, I'm brave"

But Ryker wasn't having it...

He insisted going down there with him, so he could

stand guard and protect him from snakes and killers.

I thought that was SO cute.  

I had a home decorating project in May. 

It was not my favorite.  I had to order furniture this time and that is hard.

The owner didn't have very many opinions at first. 

He gave me a few guidelines to which I followed to the best of my abilities

with the meager budget I was given.

When I sent him the project designs,  he suddenly had opinions.

Needless to say, I had to return several things haha... including but not limited to

 the DARLING yellow accent chairs I had chosen 

and instead, I had to purchase super ugly GRANDPA chairs in their place.

It made the whole mood of the room change and I lost interest in a hurry.

And had a bad attitude.

SO LAME

Oh well....  it's not my house.

Furniture is only fun if you have a little bit of money to spend,

which I DID NOT.

Corduroy, reclining, GRANDPA CHAIRS are definitely not fun by the way.

And they tarnish a reputation really quickly. 

I didn't like this project as much and was really glad when it was over.

I have, however generated a nice amount of money for our company with this 

little business though.  And it has a name now.

You know you are making a difference when your idea and contribution

gets a name....

Refresh with Red Rock

I love doing it.  I am so glad every time a new opportunity arrises for me.

It really makes me love my job.

May was easy and SO fast.

I cannot believe school is over and the heat is on.

120 days of 100+ degree weather is upon us.

I made a 120 check off list and every day that I make it through

one of these painful days I cross the day off.  I get a little sense of 

accomplishment with each checkmark

Also....  I have started taking a little Ashwaghanda supplement every morning.

The reason I started was because someone said it helps with arthritic pain.

I don't know if it is helping that, but I'll tell you what I think it is heping with...

OR WHAT I IMAGINE IT IS HELPING WITH is my anxiety.

We went up north for three nights this month and I didn't have ONE

anxious thought.  Not ONE.  I slept like a baby all three nights.  That is NOT like me at all.

I had to drive Rals' truck from Saratoga Springs to Murray following behind 

the new truck...  not a problem for this girl.  I have had several tense moments at work...

NO anxiety.  Rals was at Young Men's camp for four days.  I never once thought 

about the door locks, in fact it is possible that one of the nights, the front door was 

left completely unlocked.  I never even thought to check.  I just went to bed.  I didn't have to 

have the TV on, like I usually do.  I just truned on the sound machine with a lovely

waterfall sound and slept peacefully all of the nights.

And don't get me started on how uninhibited I was when I walked into the 

temple like I owned the place this month and didn't have a HINT of a panic attack like I usually do.

WHAT??

I can't believe it.  Could it be that simple?  

I don't know!!  But I freaking love it.

Just think of what this girl could do with some

unrestricted confidence.

Thanks May.

You were a joy.