Denver

 Our trip to Denver was so fun! We ditched the kids at Bowman and Stephanie's house on Friday morning, ditched Sammy at mom and dad's house, and then rushed to the airport to catch our flight. It was a pretty short flight to Denver. I read and dozed a bit, and then Daniel sucked me into a game of golf. 

When we landed, it was still afternoon, which gave us time to do something. We picked up the car Daniel rented, and we drove into downtown Denver to Larimer Square, a fun few pedestrian blocks of shopping and eating. We had dinner at a New Orleans style bar, which was fun. The food was good, but just a tad too spicy for us. They had this spicy Mac and cheese that was amazing, though. Afterwards we went to an ice cream place in Larimer Square, Van Leeuwan Ice Cream, and that had the BEST vegan ice cream I've ever had! Some kind of banana and walnut bread ice cream. It was SO good. 

We went to check out this intense costume store on the way to our airbnb. It had typical Halloween store things in it; but then there was a whole huge room attached and off to the side where they kept really amazing quality costumes that were so fun to see. Daniel put on this cool pirate coat and looked so good in it. 

Our airbnb was so cute. Daniel found this little airbnb made out of an old trolley car in the back of someone's property. It was super cute, but also quite cold. We had to snuggle up to keep warm. 

The next day, we went to a breakfast place close by and had a fantastic breakfast before heading on a drive into the mountains. We drove a while so that we could go on a hike, and it kept getting more and more cold and snowy. It was really quite snowy when we stopped for a hike, and we were not very well equipped. Most people had snowshoes and clothes... we were just wearing our normal boots. 😆 We hiked for a little while, maybe a mile or a little more, and then headed back down and drove back to Denver. 

We spent a little time relaxing at our airbnb, playing games and resting. And then went to dinner at an Irish pub. It was an interesting place to have dinner, haha, loud and TVs everywhere and busy. But the food was actually so good. 

After dinner, we headed to the Grizzly Rose for the concert. It's this huge saloon style place. It had bars and tables, arcade games and a riding bull, a big stage and a dance floor. We walked around for a bit and then went to the dance floor to wait for the concert. It was a mostly standing room concert. There were tables on the outskirts of the dance floor that people paid to reserve. But we just planned on standing in front of the stage. There were SO MANY PEOPLE on the dance floor for the entirety of the concert, all crowding around and pushing each other and drinking. We saw a few people fall over because they were a bit tipsy, and one girl was so out of it (probably on drugs) that she had to be almost carried out. Everyone around us was drinking. One guy near us was flabbergasted that we were not drinking anything. He asked us if he could get us anything, and we told him we don't drink. He said he'd get us water, but we said we were fine. Daniel basically told him he didn't want to have to go pee in the middle of the concert. Haha! But the guy left and came back with 2 cups of water for us anyway. 😳 Daniel took a few sips of his. But as a woman, it's pretty well-ingrained in me that we don't drink from open containers that a stranger gave us. I had this image of Daniel passing out from date-rape drug and I'd have to be the one to get us home. 😬

There was an opening act, some small band with a few guys, but we didn't like them very much. They sang so many songs that were inappropriate, about drinking and doing drugs and immorality. We were unimpressed. 

But we were SOOO excited when Josh Turner came on!! It felt like it took forever. We had pushed up to the front of the crowd in between sets, before Josh Turner came on, so that we had a better chance of being able to see him closer up. Daniel kept pushing me forward every time someone left. At one point I was right up against this girls in front of me and her hair was right in my face. The girls in front of us kept putting their arms up as they danced to the music, which was super annoying because we couldn't see very well. But there were moments when we saw really well! And he was so good in concert! He sang so many of our favorite songs, and it was so so fun. The people around us were kind of funny: girls crying because "he's sooo hot!", huge tall guys cutting to the front (one of which seemed to be trying to help his Granny -- okay, pass for him -- no pass for all the other rude guys 🙄), girls getting really tipsy, commiserating with all the other short girls and dancing with them a bit, haha. It actually was so fun. I even got beer spilled on me at one point, which I totally predicted at the beginning of the night. 😂 I had a completely great night! 

It was quite a late night, by the time we got back to our room to sleep. The next morning, we got up, got some breakfast biscuits, and went to church, until we had to get to the airport to catch our flight. 

Bowman and Stephanie fed us dinner when we went to pick up our kids. Apparently, they had the time of their lives with their cousins. They went to the pool and watched TV and played games and ate good food. I'm glad they were well taken care of and had such a great time while we were away. 

Calling

 So. I got a new calling last night. A couple of days ago, David Tanner texted Daniel and I asking to come meet with Bishop Kimball. Which immediately sparked my curiosity and anxiety. I was pretty sure that it was Daniel getting a new calling, so I asked David who the bishop wanted to talk to specifically... and it was me. 😭 Daniel made an off-hand comment about me being called to be the new relief society president. 

Let me back up. Our Bishop Clarke was being released from his calling because he and his family are moving to Mapleton in a month or so. Plus, Brother Norris, who was the 2nd counselor in the bishopric, was given a stake calling. So, a couple of Sundays ago, the bishopric was reorganized, and Bishop Kimball was called to be bishop. And he essentially destroyed 2 auxiliary organizations in the process, haha. Because his wife was the relief society president, and he called the elder's quorum president to be one of his counselors. So at this point, he needed to replace the relief society president and counselors, and also the elder's quorum president and counselors. 

Which is why Daniel felt the need to tease me about being called to be the new relief society president. I agonized all last night and all the day today about meeting with the bishop. Every time I thought about it, I felt my stomach fall to my feet. I was so anxious and nervous, and after the fact, I realized that I was trying so hard NOT to know what was coming. I kept convincing myself that no one in their right mind would call ME to be the relief society president, right?? (As if it worked that way) I slept terribly last night, and was anxious the whole day. 

Well. 

We met with the bishop tonight. And he extended a calling to be the relief society president of our ward. And I cried. Poor bishop. I think he felt bad. I have so many thoughts and emotions about the whole thing. 

First, I feel completely unprepared and inadequate to have this calling. I'm not good enough or spiritual enough or enough of a leader. I have not the FIRST clue how to be a relief society president. 

Second, I feel like Heavenly Father is giving me a chance to prove that He can trust me. He's giving me great responsibility right now, over the sisters in my ward. He's entrusting this to me and I don't want to blow it. 

Third, I feel like God wants me to grow. This is a growing opportunity more than perhaps anything else. He's presenting me with this chance to change and become better.

Last, I just feel overwhelmed with this. It's a big calling, and I'm nervous about doing a bad job and also being able to do it all. I'm also concerned with doing homeschool plus this... plus the other things I'm doing. It feels like a lot. 

Anyway. I've been crying a lot tonight. Anxious all day, crying all night. 

Tomorrow Daniel and I are going out of town for the Josh Turner concert in Denver. So, I'm going to try not to think too much about it until we get back. And then it's time to get to work. 

St. George Take 3

This last weekend, we took a trip to St. George with a bunch of our friends. Back in November, I think, Daniel's coworker, who owns a vacation rental just north of St. George in Washington, offered to give Daniel 40% off if he booked sometime in January. We (and I actually mean Daniel) sent out a text to 8 different families, in our ward and in the Pilgrims Landing 3rd ward, just to see if anyone would be interested in going to St. George for a weekend with us. We were surprised when 3 of them answered that night, only a few hours after we sent out the text, to say that they were in for a weekend trip. I was thinking, "Wow, that was kind of a fast response, maybe some of them will end up backing out after they give it some more thought." Haha! The Rubens and the Davises both had new babies, so they were a "no" right away. But in the end we got the Smiths (Gina and Preston), the Winfields, the Freis, the Tanners and the Christensens to come with us! 6 families, 11 adults (because Russ Winfield ended up being sick that weekend and couldn't come), and 23 kids! We had to rent 2 houses; the one that Daniel's coworker owns and the one right next to it that shares a wall. But, man, was it a fun weekend!

We drove down on Thursday afternoon. Most families drove down at some point on Thursday. But we were last to get there, I believe. So that night was basically getting settled, putting kids to bed, and then staying up too late chatting with the other adults. We were set up in a house with the Tanners and the Freis, and the other house had the other families. There was this bunk room with 3 triple bunk beds, so 9 total beds, with different sized beds on different bunks. We put all of the little girls in this room: Zoe Tanner, Brooke, Claire, Camille, Becca and Addie Tanner. Every couple had a room, some of us sharing with little people, and the Tanner boys had a room to themselves. 

Friday morning we kind of slept in, had breakfast together and took it easy. I went to Costco to get food for lunches and snacks for everyone, and I'm sure everyone just hung out and played games while I was gone. After lunch, when I got back, we decided to go tour the Brigham Young house in St. George. The whole group went, minus Daniel and Sawyer, who stayed back. It was fun to see the house and learn about Brigham Young and the history of the church in those early days. Afterwards, we went to a little historic candy shop to get oldtimey candy and fun drinks. 

I left the group with Jack at that point, because it was my night to make dinner. The rest of the group toured the tabernacle that was just down the street and went to a park, I believe. I made a pesto tortellini bake, and the others added sides and drinks. It was a hit, that dinner! Even all the so-called picky eaters gobbled it up, and there were no leftovers afterwards. After dinner, we just played games and put kids to bed and talked. The big kids, including the teenagers and bigger kids, like Brooke and Harvey, went outside to explore the little wilderness in the back and to play night games. She had a blast doing that almost every night we were there. 

Saturday, we decided to go to this little local fun farm, kind of like a rundown and not as good Cornbelly's. There were games and animals and playground areas and food trucks and vendor booths. The main reason we went was that they were having a classic car show that day. We wanted to take the boys to see the cars, and we invited anyone who wanted to go with us. There was a group of us that went, although we didn't really see the other families there much. Sawyer was not having it. It was a little chilly and he was quite grumpy. He perked up a little when we went to look at the cars. But he was also miffed after a while that he wasn't able to get inside of them. The other kids had a good time looking at the animals and playing on the slides with their friends.

We went back to the houses for lunch, and then decided to try the community pool. It was an outdoor pool, and a little to chilly in January for it to be comfortable. But the older kids really wanted to try it, and although we had made plans to go to an indoor rec center pool, we decided it'd be easier to just go to the community pool down the street. It had a really cool slide and a lazy river that the kids wanted to do. So we all went (Daniel stayed back at first to take a nap), and the girls had some fun in the pool and lazy river and going down the slides. But the boys and I mainly spent time in the hot tub. We tried the pool. It had a really awesome super-shallow area for little kids, and Jack wanted to try the lazy river. But every time we tried, one or both of us decided it was too cold. And we got back in the hot tub. Daniel eventually made his way to the pool about the same time the boys and Brooke and I were done. He stayed back with Camille for a bit while I took the other kids back for baths and to relax a little. 

That night, after getting kids to bed, we split men and women for a girls and guys night. Ladies in one house, guys in another. The men were a little irritated at first, some of them. I think they felt like we were exiling them or something? I don't know. But we did it anyway. It was really fun. We just played golf and ate a bunch of good snacks and talked. 

Every single night we went to bed way too late. Haha!

The next morning, we got up and all went to a local Sacrament Meeting. The rest of that day was just spent relaxing. The kids played outside for a bit, exploring the little wilderness behind the house. We ate lunch. Most of the men took a bunch of the big kids to the lava tubes, while the women stayed behind with the littles. We just sat on the couch and chatted and snacked mostly. Daniel asked if I wanted to do the lava tubes and have him stay back with the boys. But I'd been feeling so tired and rundown the past few weeks, with mom and dad visiting and the holidays and Sawyer in the hospital and being sick for several days and school frustrations and planning for the St George trip and food... plus the fact that I'd not been eating very healthy or exercising. I was just ... tired. I didn't want to do anything that required anything of me. It was nice to just sit on the couch with my friends (although I probably would have felt better with a little nap).

We women were all in the kitchen helping Jessica get dinner ready when the guys and kids came back from their adventure. We kept joking about being "sister wives". I can't remember how it started... I think Gina had told us about a polygamist family that had lost one of their kids at Cornbelly's overnight. And then when we were taking a picture at the Brigham Young house, Jessica said, "Say sister wives!" instead of "Say cheese!", which was hilarious and probably made the missionaries there pause. Anyway, we definitely felt the sister wives thing, all being in the kitchen helping with dinner. And afterwards, we all helped each other clean up and serve up dessert. It was quite the picture, really. All the women in the kitchen, making dinner, serving the children, cleaning up, while all the men were lounging on the couch with each other, chatting it up. It still irritates me to think of it. 

That night, like all the others, we played games together after kids were in bed. We let Brooke and Camille stay up a little later playing night games outside with their friends. And the adults played golf and other things. I was so tired that night. It had been a fun weekend, we'd eaten a lot of good food and stayed up way too late every night. 

The next morning, we got up and packed and tidied. We had to divvy up the rest of the food, which wasn't easy. And we had to leave a few things in the fridge that we just couldn't take. But we got out of the houses in time. Then the Tanners and the Freis and us went to the red rock park that we've been to before to hike the Sugarloaf. Daniel stayed in the car with Sawyer, because he just wasn't having the hiking that day. And when we were done, we drove home.

It was such a fun weekend! Daniel and I were surprised that it went as smoothly as it did, with how many people were there. I mean, with that many people, there are many differing opinions and desires. I was worried about being in charge of food, because people have different tastes, and the Christensens have a bunch of allergies. But I think everyone was just glad to be there, glad to be invited and thought of. There was one little hitch where the Christensens got a little annoyed (they wanted to go to the rec center for swimming, but everyone else voted to stay at the community pool). But that was really it! The houses we stayed in were super nice and had some fun things in them, like video games and foosball and basketball arcade games and things like that. I'm glad we got to have that weekend with our friends.

After the Holidays

 Well. The lead-up to Christmas was great. Then Christmas and after was crap. Sawyer being in the hospital was hard. He came home on the 1st. The kids and I went to the hospital to pick him and Daniel up. He still wasn't feeling great, but I was glad he was coming home. Hospitals really aren't good places to recover from being sick. It was really hard on us. 

This past week and a half has been rough. We were still off from school the week of the 1st. But it wasn't the fun vacation from school I had been planning for. I had wanted to get some things done and do fun things with the kids: crafts, take them to Thanksgiving Point, do movie nights, play games. I was still recovering from being sick. And one by one, everyone else fell sick as well. Camille got sick before I did, so she was first to recover. But Daniel, Jack and Brooke all got sick that week. And I was still super tired and fatigued from when I was sick. I did get some of my to-do list knocked off. But not as much as I'd wanted to. And the kids spent a lot of time just watching TV. 

Brooke had her first youth fireside on Sunday! It was the 2024 kickoff fireside, where we watched the video about this year's theme and went over the children and youth goals program of the church. We had brownies and ice cream afterwards, and I think she had a really good time! She's excited to be in Young Women's, I think. And I'm so happy to be in there with her. She's so cute. I'm glad that she'll be able to make new friends. 

We started school up again this week, which was sad. School has been particularly hard this school year. Jack has been really hard. And at the beginning of the year, I talked myself down and gave him allowances, because it's his first year of homeschool, he's not used to it, he's a little boy, etc. But when things didn't improve by December, and with the holidays on top of it, it was discouraging and frustrating. So, I wasn't looking forward to starting up school again. Camille and Brooke were totally gung-ho and ready to start school again. Particularly Camille. She said she was starting to get bored with all the free time, haha! Anyway, it was fine. A fine week of school, I mean. I got very frustrated with Jack a lot. 

I think I've decided that this year, I knew to organize my week differently. Normally, I would do laundry Monday and Tuesday, go shopping and to the library on Monday. I think I need to move my shopping day to the weekend. Mondays are too overwhelming with all of those things. I think laundry and library and family home evening is plenty. So I think I'm going to try doing shopping on Friday or Saturday. Then I would also be able to do some food prep on Saturday and Sunday, which I think would be good for us. 

Anyway. We had our first younger class activity on Tuesday at our house. We just got together and had snacks and played some get-to-know you games. There were A LOT of girls. We had a huge influx of girls to the younger class of young women's this year. Like, 8 or 9. And I think almost all of the girls in the class came to the activity! I was surprised and pleased. It's going to be a fun year and a fun group of girls. 

Sawyer had a doctor's appointment this morning, just a follow up after his sickness and being in the hospital. Our doctor was pleased with his progress. He's been doing a lot better this week. I've been putting him down for naps, which I think has helped. He gets a little wiped out sometimes. One night, he came to me just before 6pm, and said, "Mom, can you put me to bed?" Poor little guy! He was so tired. I asked him if he wanted dinner first, and at first he said no, but then changed his mind. But he's just been like that, tired a lot.

Anyway, it's been a struggle getting school done today and packing up and cleaning the house and getting food ready, and we are leaving soon for St. George. I'm a little anxious about this trip. And I woke up this morning not really wanting to go, actually. I'm sure it'll be fun. I'm just not in the mood right now.