Trying something new for the update-type posts! I love how my bloggy friend Amy does "A Little of This and That in ____ " posts for each month, and thought I'd try something similar.
This September was weirdly wet in the first half and then windy. The month found us. . .
Visiting. . . our Russell in Utah!
It was such a beautiful drive. Parts of the rez were gorgeously green and lovely from the monsoon. I enjoyed reading Harry Potter (book 1) to Rosehips and DC on the way -- that book just seems to belong in the autumn, don't you think? -- also it was super fun to read the Hogwarts Express chapter on the day it was happening, September 1.
Big hug and dinner at Russell's apartment, then we went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple for baptisms. Beautiful evening in a beautiful place!
We were there for my nephew's baptism in Springville, which was so so cool. I love that boy and I love his family. It was really special to be there with them as he began his own journey of discipleship.
We had a delightful day with Russell on campus.
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| Drooling over these practice rooms in the new Music Building! |
He bought us tickets to a women's volleyball game -- such a blast! We got to see Cosmo right in front of us! And he was way classier than some of the fans we were sitting by. 😬
Dinner at Cafe Rio and then ice cream back at R's apartment. His roommates are so nice!
On Sunday we went to his ward choir practice, where he's the conductor and I got to play the piano. And then to church in the MARB with his fire student ward, loved it so much! 🔥🔥🔥
A heavenly evening with my brother's family who had just welcomed a perfectly beautiful little baby girl 5 days earlier. I held her for a long, long time and just stared into that soft, wise face. Babies are amazing! And I love being an aunt so much!
Studying. . .with Exacto. We've been working on learning some Japanese with Memrise. And Spanish by myself. And a challenging free class on Coursera from Yale : Moral Foundations of Politics. I took my first real quiz since college and was surprisingly nervous -- but I got 100%! :) We also have "Memorizing Parties" where I'm working on memorizing scriptures, poems, and quotes. Also scripture verses in Spanish.
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| I watched church over zoom from here |
Convalescing. . . from a nasty virus that lasted over a week. Being that sick for that long, I learned two things: 1) I need to have a personal boundary of stepping away to be alone, probably daily, to write in my journal, pray, meditate. Like Jesus did! 2) I need to remember the helplessness of being sick, the reality of it, the depression that came with it. Sometimes you really can get very sick multiple times in a row, and feel awful for a long time -- it's not laziness or antisocialness. I think I had judged people and also myself in the past for being maybe hypochondriac, you know, not tough enough. But, y'all, stress is real. And it takes a toll on your body and your mental health. (That's why #1!!)
Celebrating. . . a big birthday. DC is now 5-0 years old! His celebration got spread out over three different days, due to travel and my illness, but it was sure fun! He started a new birthday tradition (so did I last December) and I think it's a winner. It's to do a family movie night, where we start early enough to be able to watch the WHOLE thing in one night (I'm notorious for wanting to stop in the middle and go to bed) and have a treat. This year he chose ¡Three Amigos! and we had root beer floats.
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| A birthday gift: I set up part of our basement to be for working out and bought new heavier dumbbells :) |
Building. . .a pinewood derby car! I never thought we'd do that again! Our ward had an activity where each family got a kit and got to bring their car and race it, and Exacto suggested we do a girl one, since Rosehips and I had never gotten to do one before. (Isn't he sweet? Also, single! 👈)
Reading. . . out loud: Harry Potter with Rosehips, and Fellowship of the Ring with her and Exacto, Last Christmas in Paris and Grandpa Green's war letters with Gras
to myself: Out of the Silent Planet and then Perelandra by C. S. Lewis
Fathers and Sons by Turgenev
Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton
If you want to read my (not super articulate) thoughts about the books I read, you can follow me on Goodreads. I love it there! I would love to follow you, too!
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| Pay no attention to that cat in the window 😂 |
Attending. . . and learning so much from a class called Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience. I LOVE IT! So, there are about 6 of us, all women, who meet every Sunday in the late afternoon and go through one of the lessons in this manual and share our thoughts and feelings. And during the week we have "action partners" and text each other encouragement and follow up on commitments we made. I am really grateful for some of the things I have learned -- probably need to do a separate post for this.
Rehearsing. . . with those amazing high school choir students and their fantastic conductor. I love my job so much! For music nerds out there, this was my second concert using an iPad for my sheet music, and my first concert where most of it I turned my own "pages." I got too scared last time, and Hummer stepped in and did it for me. This time I did all but three pieces, and DC turned for me. He also played for two of the songs and it was so comforting to have him up there with me!
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Performing. . . our concert was last Thursday, and it was so fun! Rosehips lent me a dress and did my hair! I loved having my parents there and also Rosehips and Exacto, and receiving kind texts from friends afterwards. My favorite song we did was My Song in the Night (gorgeous new arrangement by Elaine Hagenberg) but I also really enjoyed Crowded Tables with DC's fiddling.
That wraps it up, I guess! General Conference started on Sep 30 but it'll get its own post, hopefully.
