2024 Wrap Up

Here we are, a new year, and I'm sitting in awe of how quickly the last year went by. Is this how it goes? The older I get, the more quickly each year passes? Time was so strange as a missionary: a day felt like a week and a week felt like a day. I don't feel like that anymore, but it does feel that I can look at my kids today and simultaneously view them as newborns, as infants, toddlers, kindergartners, and then blink and we're back to present day Layla and Marcus. How did it all go by so fast? It's amazing, sad, and beautiful all at the same time. 

I am grateful that we had a good year. 2024 had ups and downs, but mostly ups. The year had real challenges for me: my calling is a challenge (I love it, but it's a challege) and my best friend, Susan Burt, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She called me on our drive home from Lake Powell, while we were stopped at a diner eating lunch. The world stopped spinning and I sat on a bench outside, with tears streaming down my face, while she told me that the diagnosis she had feared for the last year of being ill had finally been confirmed. For the next several months, I would think of her, Jeremy, and their kids, and just start sobbing. Out of nowhere. For no apparent reason. It hurt my heart so much to be so far away. To feel helpless and unable to help in the ways that I wanted to. We talked a lot about me going out and spending time helping their family, but in the end, Sue made the decision to wait. She didn't want cancer to "win" by taking away anything from our time spent together. If we finally got to see each other after so many years of not seeing each other, and she was too sick on the couch to enjoy it, then cancer wins again. So, it was hard for me to agree, but I respected her wishes to wait until she felt well enough for a visit. Hoping that will be in the next month or two. She is recovering from her surgeries and is technically cancer free, but experiencing symptoms from some neurocognitive conditions that doctors are currently working to figure out. We continue to pray for her and her family and put their names on the temple rolls often. We have done what we can to send gifts and even paid for a cleaning service for their home. What I really want is to give her a hug and tell her to her face how much I love her. Soon.

I must move on from this subject as the tears are starting to flow again. This was definitely the most difficult part of 2024. Hoping for recovery and quality time with Sue in 2025.

We had a lot of fun and travels last year! We went four wheeling in Moab, went to Disney World and Lake Powell. The Powell trip was neat because we went with some friends/neighbors who had never been before. It was great to introduce them to that magical place. We went the first part of August and experienced some intense rain showers ... in the middle of the night ... that soaked us all. But besides that, it was a great trip with no injuries, illnesses, or broken boats, so, Success!

Layla started 9th grade and Marcus 6th. Marcus has Mrs. Bean, whom Layla also had. It has been a learning curve for him this year to handle a more intense workload, but he's getting there. Layla, too, as she is technically in high school. They are both doing so well though despite some growing and learning pains. We are so proud of them and amazed at their intellect and abilities to learn. 

Marcus finished his fall soccer season. He scored several goals and enjoyed playing on the same team as his classmate, Archer Anderson. Marcus didn't do robotics this school year. Made us kind of sad, but it's okay. He just finished reading The Hobbit for the first time and loved it. He got a bow and arrow for Christmas and has enjoyed practicing when it's not too cold outside. He hit hte bullseye on his target for his first time today and he was elated! 

Layla is excited for musical theater to start next week! They are doing Aladdin and she's been practicing her audition song. She started voice lessons again (after she rage-quit French without telling us, which landed her in some trouble) and her coach is helping her prepare to audition. She's also still dancing at Illume and still loves it. Christmas was different for teenage Layla this year- she got mostly shoes, clothes, etc. and no toys. She seemed a little sad about it, but also loved everything she got. 

Mitch is loving ski season, as always. He's gone almost every day during his time off work. I join him once or twice a week or so. The kids have even gone with us a few times, which is good since they didn't love it last year. His work is still frustrating and stressful, but good and he enjoys it. 

I am loving being back at the school and working as a therapist. It's been such a perfect fit for my life right now and I love working with my colleagues again. I will finish my licensure hours this year for my full CMHC license. Then I'll have to decide what I want to do at that point. Stay at the school, go back to private practice, work from home, return to school counseling, a combination??? I'm sure the right path will present itself at it always seems to. 

Well, I'm off to take down the Christmas tree and finish the board game we didn't play last night with Marcus because I fell asleep. Couldn't make it to midnight, haha. Off to have more fun today! Here's to a new year!

Last Day of School

 Today is the last day of school for the kiddos. Layla finished 8th grade and Marcus finished 5th grade. They are so happy to be done, but no one is more happy than Marcus who did not enjoy his teacher this year. She retired and I'm pretty sure she felt done and it showed. But, we made it through and we're excited for summer!

We celebrated Marcus's 11th birthday this past week. I remember rocking him to sleep for hours on end like it was yesterday. Hard to believe he's 11! 

Layla did not make SBO for 9th grade and she was so sad. She is more used to the idea of having more free time to pursue other things now, but I'm sure if there was a way for her to be an SBO next year she would take it. Hard life lessons for sure. I am hopeful that her 9th grade year will be delightful either way.

Mitch and I bought a new (to us) boat and are itching to get it out on the water. Hopefully this weekend!

I am still plugging away as young women's president. This calling has stretched me and pushed me in many ways. We are gearing up for Girls Camp in July. I can't believe I've already had this calling for 7 months; feels like 2! 

Last month I left the private practice counseling world and went part time as a therapist at the junior high where I was a school counselor before. It has been a great change for me and I've enjoyed the impact I've been able to have on students.

Mitch got a new position at work and it seems he is getting home from work earlier than normal, which is awesome! His official title is now "The Weapon Systems Architect," so now I tease him that he's an engineer, a doctor, and an architect. 

The new Layton temple is opening next month. We get to attend the broadcast for the dedication on Father's Day. Even Marcus was granted a special use temple recommend so he can attend, too. We are going to the open house tomorrow as a family. Layla and I went with the youth and it is beautiful! 

Well, I'm off to prep for summer and fun stuff with the family.

It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day

 2024 is here. Last year treated us well, overall. The year ended with a wonderful Christmas, some skiing (but crappy snow) and overall good health. Can't ask for more than that.

Other highlights:

I finished my schooling for my CMCH certificate in December. I am now an Associate CMHC, chipping away at the required 3,000 hours and two state tests to become fully licensed. It will take me just under 2 years to finish. I accepted a second, part-time position today back at the same junior high I worked at as a school counselor. This time I will work as an IET (integrated Educational Therapist). I'm excited to be back there with great people!

Marcus's robotics team has done well this year. They have one competition left and that is their final chance to qualify for state. They have been SO close every competition and made it to finals, but just haven't quite qualified for state yet. Regardless, he has had fun on his team with his friends.

Layla got a role in her 8th/9th grade musical as a best friend of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. She wanted a different role, but is now excited and enjoying practicing.

Mitch was invited to his coworker's "retiring from industry" party, which entails this friend buying Mitch a first class airplane ticket (round trip) to California to party at his friend's home. This friend is flying out another coworker and his favorite bartender from SLC. Wow. He dreams big. I like it. Anyways, Mitch is looking forward to that and I'm sure it will be unlike any other party he's ever attended. 

Mitch has also been skiing as much as time allows this winter, though it's not quite as fun when it hasn't snowed as much. The kids and I have been too, but Mitch definitely goes the most. 

Mitch and I were quite sick a few weeks ago. I had some virus that turned bacterial and ended up on an antibiotic. Mitch got THE WORST case of pink eye I've ever seen, in both eyes. He missed an entire week of work and his eyes were practically swollen shut. It was nasty. The drops from the dr have now made his eyes a bit cloudy to look far away, so now he's trying to clear that up. But thankfully the kids did not get sick (crazy miracle) and we're feeling better. 

I can't believe Layla is currently choosing classes for 9th grade! That girl wants to take all theater, musical theater, orchestra, choir, etc. I'm trying to talk her into getting some of her computer science and PE credits done and over with, but she's not buying it. We'll see what ends up happening. Marcus is looking forward to 6th grade and a new teacher. I think he'll be very happy to say goodbye to 5th grade, though having a slightly grumpy teacher has taught him a lot of good life lessons.

Harvey is still kicking. Such a funny cat. I will miss him when he's gone, but some days he drives me insane. Always in my way, always sleeping on our bed, always tripping me in the dark. But he does make me laugh occassionally, so we keep him.

Welp, gotta go take Layla to dance now. She's still loving Illume and their program there.

2023 Update

 Crunched for time but going to update. 

The rest of the summer was great. We went to Lake Powell for a full week and had a blast. We weren't sure if we'd like being there an entire week but we loved it. The kids also went to science camp for a week and Marcus did a second science camp with school friends and Layla did a musical theater camp. Lucky kids!

Layla got up on the surfboard this year at Powell.

Did some cliff jumping.

Our houseboat had a hot tub this year. Never thought we'd use it, but we did (it wasn't that hot). Also, this year will go down in the record books as the year at Powell that my parents' boat broke down on day one and Oakley joined us but Kevin and Nicole sadly didn't because of an emergency hernia surgery. We sure missed them!

School started and now we're already done with first term. The kids are adjusted to the routine and enjoying 5th and 8th grade. Marcus has Mrs. Lebaron this year, the same teacher Layla had for 5th grade. It's not a match made in heaven, but it's okay. He's learning and being challenged and is happy with friends in class. Layla is a student body officer again and stays very busy with that and dance classes. She is excited for musical theater that starts in January. 

I am still at Aspire Counseling and loving it. I just had my "pre graduation interview" and was offered to stay on as an Associate CMHC. Yay! 

Mitch is still plugging along at work. They are always busy, but he is entering an extra busy season with some looming deadlines coming up. His stress levels have decreased some recently, which is great.

I was asked to serve as our ward Young Women President. It's only been about three weeks, but I have felt every emotion so far. Before the bishop asked me, I knew it was going to be me. When he released the current president, a voice in my head said, "It's me." But it felt pretentious to say it outloud, so I didn't tell anyone. I was not surprised when the bishop exteneded the call, but felt completely calm. After I was sustained at church, I had 4 people mention that they also felt ahead of time that it was going to be me and they felt peace about it. That was a great confidence booster to me and felt like Heavenly Father's way of telling me that it's supposed to be me, because I never would have picked this for myself.

I have since received inspiration to some things I feel would help the girls grow closer to Heavenly Father. I have also had feelings of complete inadequacy and wonder about "why me?" when I'm often defiant and disagreeable about church procedures and others' ideas of how to do things in the church. For example, in ward council, one of the bishopric members said to me that he would "really like to see so-and-so attending activities and church," so can I make that happen? Ummm, excuse me? Can I just magically make someone come? Noooooo. And I won't manipulate or trick or coerce anyone into coming to church. I know his heart is in the right place and he wants to help others, but it feels icky to me to think about it so simplistically and matter-of-factly. Instead, these things need to happen organically and authentically through honest friendship and the person coming to their own conclusion that they want to participate. Anyways, rant over, but these thoughts are why I sometimes am surprised that I was called to this calling when I often think differently from the mainstream church member. 

Overall, I am excited about this opportunity to get to know the young women and help them strengthen their testimonies. I do have a testimony of the gospel and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I feel honored to serve Him in this way. Even if the way I do it differs from the normal methods. My patriarchal blessing says to "serve the Lord and also to do the things I know to be right." I feel that applies here: I will serve as young women president but it will be in my own way, the way I feel is right, which is often different than how it has been done in the past. I am also grateful and excited to serve in young womens while Layla is there and hope it will be a great bonding experience for us. And Marcus will join the young men in a year from now, so it will be fun to spend that time with him, too! 

Layla and I went on another annual girls trip with Nicole and Oakley. It was a blast, as always. This year we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Tuacahn. It was awesome and the oompa loompas were absolutely hilarious. 

Mitch, the kids and I went to Washington DC over fall break. We saw so many cool things! It was the first time for both kids to experience a big city and ride the subway. They loved it but both said they prefer to live in a much smaller city like our current home. The highlight for the kids was the International Spy Museum. I also think we'll never forget seeing a kid puke all over the glass protecting the Bill of Rights document. We also toured the Capitol building and saw many monuments.

For Halloween this year, Marcus was a banana and Layla wore a Taylor Swift inspired outfit (her friends did the same, and they hung out together). Marcus went trick or treating with Mitch and friends and Layla went with a friend and then to a party afterwards. Mitch and I were invited to our neighbor's (Chad and Emily Knowles) murder mystery dinner and it was great! The setup of the game was different than we'd done before and everyone was so great at staying in character. It was a fun night. 

Layla and her friends dressed up to see the Taylor Swift Eras concert movie. They let me join them. I had the best day with you today.

Mitch put his car in our city's car show.

Marcus is playing soccer this year and he's loving it. The season is on break for now and will pick up again in the spring.

Layla and I have been improving our cake decorating skills baking cakes for foster children through a program called Cakes 4 Kids. 

Spent lots of time at Lagoon. We even rode the new ride, Primordial. 

Giant donuts from Bowman's needs no introduction.

Giant Jeep that I love driving also needs no introduction. I will cry when we have to replace the tires though.

Mitch hiked to the top of Francis Peak with a friend. He kept all his toenails this year!

I found a whole series of pics like this on my phone one day. Thanks, kids!

Marcus enjoys making creations like this cereal box mask. 

Later, gator!

End of School Year 2023

 The rest of the school year was busy and great! For spring break this year we spent three days in Sun Valley, Idaho skiing. Our season passes to Snowbasin work at Sun Valley, too. We had never been there before and we all enjoyed it. Beautiful place and the ski mountain was HUGE! The kids and Mitch all outskied me as usual. They are all such good skiiers! 3

Layla turned 13 in April, officially a teenager.  She has a large group of friends that she spends most Friday and Saturday nights with and while Mitch and I are exhausted from her social life, haha, we are happy that she has such a great group of friends who are good kids and good influences on each other. For Layla's birthday, she took a handful of friends to Saver's where I gave them each $10 to buy what they coudl and put on a fashion show after. They had a great time and bought some fun stuff.

We gave Layla her first smartphone for her 13th birthday, which was a big decision for Mitch and I. Ultimately, I feel fine about it--she's responsible and smart about it -- but it's also hard because once they have a smart phone they'll never go back. But overall it's been great and actually helpful in many ways.

The month of May went by in a blur. So many school activities and programs, Marcus ran track, Mitch and I celebrated 16 years of marriage, and Marcus had a birthday. It was a busy month, some people call it Maycember because it's as busy as December, haha. 

Marcus had a great 10th birthday. He chose to have friends go to Get Air and it did not disappoint. We had 12 boys jumping and they were sweaty and stinky by the time the party ended! Marcus is also blessed to have many good friends in his life. For his birthday all of our families went in together and got him a robotics kit so he can build and program his own robot. He just built one with a catapult. 

Marcus ran track this spring and loved it! He still hasn't decided if he likes the longer or shorter distances more, but he truly did great at both! He competed in several track meets and earned a few ribbons for shot put and javelin. He also placed in the top 5-7 places for the mile run, the half mile, and 100 meter races. He started the season on a team with a few friends, and Marcus was the only one who chose to do the extended season. He is excited to do track in junior high and high school and wants to continue to do what he can in the meantime. We are lucky to have so many track meets for kids close to us at Davis High.

Now it's summer and one of the best decisions I've ever made is putting the kids in charge of weeding the yard! They go out every morning for 5 minutes each and it's enough to take care of the weeds for the most part. I kept up on it until school got out and now I've barely pulled a weed in almost a month. We have Lagoon passes this year and love going at 8 pm on a weeknight when it's not hot, lots of people are leaving, and the lines are pretty short. It also helps that we live only 10 minutes away. We're trying to convince Layla that she likes roller coasters, haha, but no luck so far. 

We have been boating a few times this summer. It has been a cold, rainy start to the summer so boating has not had the same feel yet. We ordered a new wake surfboard that I'm dying to try out. Our Powell trip is coming up fast so if nothing else Ill try it there.

I have officially been working as a CMHC therapist for a full month now. I was SO nervous for about two weeks when I started. Like, stomach aches every day nervous. But now my nerves are gone and I love how much I'm learning from the process and the other clinicians I work with. So many wise people that I feel blessed to be surrounded by! I have met many interesting people and love learning to love all types of people. It has stretched my heart, patience, empathy, and understanding of others and myself.

Along the same lines of self-growth, my cousing Lindsay passed away recently. This has had such an impact on me. To be honest, I did not know her well as she lived in Washington state and I didn't see her often. But her death has prompted me to want to live life more, to see the people I don't see often enough, to have more fun, and to worry less. It's been a great time of reflection for me and of prayer for her family. I think also in the mix is the fact that I'm turning 40 this year. That's a big milestone and one I'm looking forward to. There's something about turning another decade older that brings another level of appreciation. 

Anyways, I didn't mean to get all philosophical, but I have had those things on my mind a lot lately.

Mitch is well and busy as ever at work. I think he balances his stress from work with skiing and boating on the weekends. Good thing we live in a place where he can do both. It's funny to see his excitement for boating and Lake Powell grow each year. For most of our marriage I was the one wanting to save and plan for a boat and Powell trips. Now I think he'd agree that he loves it as much as, if not more than I do! He has become quite the wakeboarder, which was something I could do that he couldn't originally, and now I'm asking him for tips! He wants so badly to buy a newer boat that we can surf easily behind (our current boat is a wakeboarding boat), so that's the plan for next year. One thing at a time. 

I can't remember if I recorded it in my last post or not, but we just bought a 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon. It's awesome. Whomever owned it before put a lift on it and big tires and it's so much fun to drive! It pulls the boat, so that's great.

Welp, gotta go get some other things done today. And make sure I fit in time for self-care and quality time with the family. Trying to prioritize those things a little more so I don't waste my life away cleaning the house! 

April 2023

Easter is on Layla's birthday this year. I can't believe she will be 13! Time flies, that's for sure!

Quick recap of life lately:

-Marcus's Robotics team made it all the way to the state competition! During the school year his team took first overall at one competition, which qualified them for state. They also won the Creativity award. His school was divided into 8 teams with 4 students on each team. 7 of the 8 teams made it to state, and 1 of those teams (not Marcus's, sadly) qualified for the Worlds competition. Marcus was a coder on his team this year, which was great for his first year on the team. I know he would have preferred to be a driver. He learned a lot this year and is already excited for next year!

Somehow I got the job of decorating their team table at the state competition. My mom helped me and it turned out pretty good! The boys were also in a parade and carried their team banner.

-Layla ran for student body officer for 8th grade. There were 6 students running for 5 spots, then a few days before the finals were announced, one girl learned she was moving, so the remaining 5 automatically made it. Layla is stoked because the other 4 sbos for 8th grade are her good friends. I'm sure she'll enjoy it next year! She did a great job with her campaign theme. She did the movie Up! and made an adorable video and great poster.

-It has officially been snowing for 6 months. We have broken all sorts of records with snowpack, moisture, etc. this year. Now that it's starting to warm up, everyone is preparing for likely inevitable flooding. Hopefully it's not as bad as the 1983-84 season of flooding. Snowbasin ski resort is still open and extended their season to April 23rd. They have received 600" of snow this season and other resorts in Utah have received even more (Solitude 780"!). It's been quite the winter. Looooooonnnnggg. But I know many people, including us, have been praying for the snow we so desperately need to help end the drought. It will take more winters like this one, but every drop helps. 

We put the trampoline up too early and have to keep shoveling all the snow off of it.

-Marcus wrote and gave an awesome talk in primary the other week. He truly wrote this all on his own accord:

"This might seem random, but when I was little I thought about two songs. "Stairway to heaven" and "highway to hell." I asked my mom why aren't they flipped. She said "Because it's harder to get to heaven then to hell." I thought about this for a long time and thought I should give a talk on it. But before I end I want to say that we can all clib that stairway to heaven if we have faith. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

As you can imagine, this brought out several emotions in us: we laughed, we were amazed at his insight, and we were proud of the depth and care he put into the talk. 

He also participated in the 4th grade Utah program:

-I will be starting a new job with a counseling agency next month. I will work as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CMHC) intern. This means I will see clients one on one, but they will pay only half the normal fee (because I'm still an intern) and I will have weekly meetings with my mentor to go over my cases. I am SO excited! Originally, I was lined up to work with a woman who runs her own private practice in Kaysville. I was ecstatic about that because she and I seemed to be so similar and had so much in common. Unfortunately, her husband's work might be moving them to London and she isn't sure when she'll know. I have to have an internship lined up by the end of the month, so I started looking for other places and found the one I will start at next month. I'm sad to not work with her, but who knows, maybe that will work out in the future. 

-Layla had a dance recital at Peery's Egyptian theater and an orchestra concert at Davis High.  Both were lovely and she did beautifully!

 

She also bought herself a used bass guitar and has been learning to play:

-Marcus asks great questions every day. Some examples: Would you rather be a turtle leather worker or a shark tooth necklace maker? Would you rather be able to teleport or fly? Would you rather only have ketchup or bbq sauce for the rest of yoru life? The kid is creative!

He made his Valentine's box all by himself this year (a car and you put the Valentine's in the trunk).

-Speaking of Valentine's Day, we had our traditional Fancy or Silly dinner

-Layla was Junie B. Jones in her 7th grade school musical. She blew us away with her talent! She did phenomenal and was on cloud 9 afterwards (so were Mitch and I, tbh. We both rewatched her play several times and cried tears of pride every time!). 

-Mitch's work is busy, busy, busy as always. He has LOVED all the snow this year and has skied more than any of us. He's also shoveled/snowblowed the driveway more than any of us. He sure works hard!

-We got a new car! The Q7 hit 100K miles and we had to unexpectedly dump $5K into it and it needed another $5K so we decided it was time to say goodbye. Mitch and I were actually sad when we left it. We made a lot of memories with that car! I drove the kids to and from California where we lived for a summer, we drove to Lake Powell twice, Lake Pend Orielle, St. George multiple times, fall break trips with friends, Zion, Jackson Hole, Moab, hauled the boat everywhere, and other places I'm sure I'm forgetting now. Lots of good memories!

So anyways, we bought a Jeep Gladiator Rubicon. Whoever owned it before us put a lot of money into it getting it outfitted and making it awesome. It is so fun to drive! We're loving it so far! We ordered side steps to make it easier to get in and out of. Hopefully that will help the kids I drive home in carpool complain less about it, haha.

-Mitch and I spend a weekend in New York! Oh man, I love that place! I love the vibe, the ease of public transportation, the people watching, the walkability, the beautiful architecture, the amazing food, all of it! My birthday and Christmas gift was this trip to see Lea Michelle in the Boradway musical, Funny Girl.  Barbara Streisand was the originally Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in the 1960's and this is it's first return to Broadway, so a pretty big deal. I think Lea Michele is incredible and was so excited to see her. Unfortunately, she got sick the day of our play, so we saw it with her understudy instead. I am still sad about it even as I type this out two months later. But it's okay because we had a great weekend and now I've had the experience of seeing a Broadway play on Broadway, which did not disappoint. We also saw the statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. How I wish we still built building as beautiful as the one on Ellis Island. Those windows! The tile on the ceiling! And to think of all the history there. It makes my soul happy to be surrounded in that beauty and history. And we also ate the best Indian food we've ever had in our lives. I don't even have the words to describe it. Must go back someday. Saar Indian Bistro. Yum! 

-Sometimes Layla put Harvey's leash on him that she bought him and takes him on walks:

-General Conference weekend. The message I felt the most: Be a Peacemaker.