She had a pretty good idea of the type of car she wanted.
Little. Easy to drive. Cute.
She would periodically send Raleigh links and he would tell her
all the things that were wrong with it.
It has a rebuilt title
It has too many miles.
It has been in an accident.
And she would say... But it's cute Dad.
Finally... he found the perfect little car for her.
A white Honda Civic with fairly low miles
and she loved it.
They withdrew her saved funds and drove over to pick it up.
She got to work ordering a darling jewel laden steering wheel cover and
flower jewels and ribbons to go in her vents.
She can drive it really well and now she doesn't have to practice on Pey's truck anymore.
In January, a sweet lady in our ward was diagnosed with Lymphoma stage 4.
She is one of the most faithful women I know and this news was devastating.
She was so scared
When she got her treatment plan, I told her that I would check in with her every day that she
had a procedure.
She would send me a photo every week and update me completely and keep me posted on her
symptoms and complications.
She did so with a smile every single week. No matter how miserable she felt.
She was an inspriation to me each week.
I felt SO blessed to get to be in attendance at her Bell Ringing Ceremony
Following her 16th and final treatment
We were able to clean the temple again.
It's my favorite.
I LOVE the scrubs SO much.
The coordinators this time were from our old ward
and it was very fun to get caught up with them.
We were able to vacuum the Celestial Room again
which is our favorite thing to do.
Our little Hankimer continued to grow.
He throws up in our cars everytime we try to take him anywhere....
So we had to find a dog sitter to be with him while we went to Park City.
I was devastated.
I did not want to go at all.
My heart was broken to leave him at home with a stranger
Nevertheless, we left him on July 3rd in the morning, asleep on my pajamas in our closet and
I cried all the way to Cedar City.
When we arrived in PC, we arrived to a very sick Papa.
We hadn't been there 5 minutes and he asked Rals to give him a blessing.
which he and Brent did.
And then they hugged.
It was the cutest thing ever.
And then Papa went to bed and we played cards
The next morning I woke up to a text that Papa and Nana tried to go home,
but only made it to the Park City Intermountain Hospital.
So Rals and I jumped in the car and drove over there.
He was in good spirits, but he was not feeling great.
His oxygen was too low and he had rhinovirus (a cold).
It would have just been a cold to you or me...
but to a Polio survivor, it's always much worse.
They decided to admit him about an hour later and
we knew then that Papa would not be a part of our PC celebrations.
What a huge bummer.
This happened at Christmas one year and it just doesn't feel the same
without him.
So we all just went back to Mountainside
Kami and Brent were there when we got back and they were
ready to go shopping, so we headed on down to the outlet mall.
And got some lunch at 5 Guys
And we all took a nap in preparation for our
4th of July nighttime event
Raleigh got tickets for us to go to the
Heber Camp Faith Walk.
We had heard some good things about it and he wanted the kids
to experience it
There are a dozen darling senior missionary couples there
and they guide you along the lighted path.
Station 1 is taking your picture
Along the path are pictures of Jesus
and they are beautiful and the trees are beautiful
and the little lights on the trail are so cute.
And it's quiet, you don't talk at all
because you are wearing headphones and they are playing
the best music and you hear words from the prophets and apostles
while you walk along
At one of the stations, you sit on tree stumps and
write something that you are struggling with in your life
or if you have a question that needs an answer
and you write it in invisiable ink.
And the idea is that as you walk along and listen
you keep the thing that you wrote down in your mind
and listen for thoughts and impressions to come into your mind
The next station is the chapel where you
sit and think about what you just wrote on your paper
Next you sit on little benches and they put your pictures up on screens
while they tell you that you are a son and daughter of a loving Heavenly
Father who knows you individually and loves you perfectly
and that you have worth and a work to do and most importantly that you are
divine.
Then you continue walking along and listen to the most beautiful
music and the most beautiful words being said to you
And hold onto the Iron Rod
And read what people who came before you wrote
about what they were struggling with.
For me.... I instantly felt like my problems were so much less when
I read what other people were facing
It was a really good night and our kids loved it and felt so good afterward.
It was really for them, but I am so glad that we were able to do it too.
And then we rocked in the rocking chairs which is my favorite thing to do
July 5th was Sunday
We went to the Park City 1st Ward Visitors Branch.
There were about 500 people there.
It is so fun to see so many people who are on vacation attending church.
And we stopped by the hospital on the way home to visit our Papa
And played cards all night
Allie and Aubrie came up for dinner and stayed until midnight
On Monday, Papa took a little turn for the worse and his doctors
had to scramble to come up with a new treatment plan for him.
And that sounded scary to me.
And Nana was there with him.
And we were just sitting there in the room.
That, coupled with missing my doggie and being tired of watching him
on our doggie cam NEVER LEAVING HIS CAGE.... for now going on 4 days
and two of those days being FIREWORKS days and there he was
all alone in our house in his little cage with no one there to help him not
feel scared.... because our dog sitter apparently had better things to do than
dog sit.
I had just had it with this trip.
I cried for two hours and I just wanted to GO HOME.
Our Papa was in a cage
Our Hank was in a cage
We were all in a freaking cage and I wanted OUT.
We had a little family meeting and weighed the pros and cons of leaving
and we decided that we should stay one more day. We just couldn't leave Nana
in the room by herself.
So while she was at the hospital,
we drove down to Salt Lake and went to Posty's Raising Canes
we drove down to Salt Lake and went to Posty's Raising Canes
And did a little school shopping.
And then we went back to the room and played cards all night.
It was the most fun night.
We woke up early on Tuesday and headed home
And our little dog was SO happy to see his people.
And on Wednesday, Papa and Nana came home with
all kinds of new contraptions in tow
For almost the entire time that we have been married, Rals has wanted to have a
"side hustle"
Periodically, he would come to me with his latest idea.
I'd listen with real intent to all of the details.
All the while making a pros and cons list in my head.
And when he was finished presenting....
I would proceed to shut it down.
Not because I am mean or unfeeling...
but simply because the cons FAAAAAAAR outweighed the pros.
And every time I was....... (sorry)......... right.
And he would say to me
"Woman, you are holding me back from my dreams."
or
"we are never going to be free from 'the man' "
or
"Okay.... you must be fine with middle class living."
And the truth is, I AM.
Not necessarily middle class living, but I am definitely not okay with being financially wiped out
because of a food truck.
We still have three kids living with us.
If it was just Rals and me, we could live in a single wide trailer fairly happily while
we built up our finances again.... but we can't drag teenagers into that nightmare.
So, sorry... but Dough Bro Doughnuts is going to have to go on the back burner.
Then sometimes he would come to me and say, I am going to do such and such with so and so
in a business venture... as partners. How do you feel about that?
And I would have to say...
Given the pros and cons = NO.
Finally he came to me and said
"Next time an opportunity arises, I am just going to do it and not tell you"
And I said....
"okay, that may be the only way it will happen for you"
So May 2026 came along
and I was feeling the pains and sufferings from work issues.
One of them being: Our pet friendly homes with artificial turf smell SO bad in the hot summer sun.
And I was pradling on and on as we walked along about this dilemma.....
And he finally responded....
This may be a good time for me to tell you that I have started a business.
I have all the proper licensing and permits.
I have already purchased all of the equipment.
I am only waiting on one more piece and it's the big daddy.
Once it arrives, I will launch.
Turf Therapy
made her maiden voyage in June
and was officially launched on July 8th when the Big Daddy Extractor arrived.
None of the vacation rentals in this town will smell bad anymore
and none of the turf homes in our neighborhood will not look perfectly manicured anymore
He had to practice with the extractor a couple of times.
He practiced on our carpets and MAN it did a good job
If the Turf thing doesn't work out, he can easily clean carpets
for all of the vacation homes.
He is like a kid in a candy store with all of his new equipment and he
has stars in his eyes thinking that this will be our ticket to retirement freedom
so we won't have to be Walmart Greeters well into our 90s.
Additionally, he really wants to pass a successful business over to Ryker when
he gets home from his mission.
Can you imagine....
Ryker Lund, The Bachelor:
I'd like to marry your daughter, I am left handed, I am an RM and I own my own business.
The ladies will be lined UP.
The boys went to the temple to do baptisms.
They looked so cute and they had a great turnout for a Saturday.
(The boy dog stayed home)
Peyton and her friends decided to go to Zion and hike on the same Saturday
when it was 109 degrees outside.
I VERY reluctantly said yes to their not so smart plan and we set her
up for complete success. She had enough ice cold water to last a couple of days.
She had neck cooling towels and electrolytes and tylenol.
And they set off on the adventure.
4 hours later, I checked her location and she hadn't moved.
5 hours, 6 hours 7 hours
no movement.
I was sending her texts in all caps
CALL ME
PEYTON
HELLO
But nothing.
On the outside I looked like I was kind of okay,
but on the inside I was having a come apart.
Finally I decided to stop watching my phone and I sat out in the backyard for a couple of minutes
UNTIL.....
Life flight flew over our house.
I burst into tears and ran into our room in a total panic and Rals said...
"it's okay hon... she finally responded to you and they are all fine"
She had such a great time and she wasn't worried about herself for one second.
"I would have been so sad if I hadn't gone hiking, Mom. It was so fun and pretty and
we had good conversations. I need to have experiences like that if I am to grow and
get better at life"
But..... I never should have let her go.
It will be the last time.
From now on, she will just need to stay home
No more life adventures for her.
As soon as we knew that she was okay and was going to return safely to us,
we met Papa and Nana for froyo.
It was Papa's first outside adventure since breaking out of the hospital.
And as he rolled up with oxygen in tow, I thought.... oh no, this was a bad idea.
We shouldn't have asked him to come.
But he was a trooper and got some yogurt while pulling his little cart around.
We sat out on the patio and it was pleasant, but still quite warm.
And as we sat there, he seemed to get perkier with each passing minute.
The Papa that arrived at yogurt was not the Papa that left from yogurt.
He was healing right before our eyes.
Nana said that on Sunday morning, he had turned a corner and was holding strong in the 90s with
no oxygen. What a relief.
Ryker is such a darling little friend to his friend that is a girl.
He bought 1000 pipe cleaners and made this super cute boquet for her.
I would have died as a young girl if a boy made me something like this.
She told him.... "you are the biggest Green Flag boy I know"
How cute.
Our little KK got her braces off right when she was supposed to.
2 years almost to the day.
She looks so pretty with cute straight teeth.
And our little Hanky Doodle continued to grow and get into trouble
And he's claimed the Minky
and sleeps in all kinds of vulnerable positions all day long
Bro.....
I am currently in a neverending cycle of overthinking
riddled with an exuberant amount of anxiety and gloom and doom thinking.
I can't stop it even when I try really hard.
My boss told me that worrying is the worst way to use
your imagination.
I couldn't agree more...
so stop giving me things to worry about then.... huh?
How about that?
I am completely within my rights to do so right now though.
There are too many things going on that are completely out of my
control. And my faith that everything is going to be alright is at like a
-25 on the scale.
I try not to cry like 20 times a day and have to do little tasks to keep
busy so I don't fall apart.
There are too many changes, moving parts and unknowns happening in
my world and I tend towards the worse case scenario thinking and so
here I am going "let's start preparing for the worst."
And then something popped up on my IG feed that said
"Everytime you start to spiral into worst case scenario, say these words....
WHAT IF IT JUST WORKS OUT?"
And that kind of works for me.
I have started saying that.
I have also started to try and practice
Assume Positive Intent thinking.
That is also helping me.
I was able to do two photoshoots at the end of the month that kept me SO busy I
didn't have time to think about anything other that that.
One of the homes was a courtesy job.
The owners asked me to spruce up their home for photos.
It's honestly my most favorite thing to do
It is fun and rewarding and it makes me feel really good.
I hope I will be able to do this a lot more in my new role.
I am not going to lie, July was rough and I am not sad to see it go.
It left us with 115 degree temperatures that is the WORST.
I am always SO glad when August gets here.
It's blazing hot, but good things always happen in August.
Nothing better than popcicles in August.
Football starts.
School starts.
Harvest decor comes out
Hobby Lobby starts putting out Christmas
Praying for Monsoons.
Praying for clarity.
Praying for much needed change.
Praying for a lot of things.
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