September in Snowflake

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. 

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.

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. 

A birthday gift: I set up part of our basement to be for working out and bought new heavier dumbbells :)

Filtering. . .movies. We enjoyed a free month of Clearplay, watching the above-mentioned birthday movie with it, and also Groundhog Day, Inception, and Minari. Note: I realize that probably all of those movies are ones that normal people don't think need filtering. But if you know me very well, you know I am pretty dang sensitive. If I see/hear something disturbing, it is at the forefront of my poor brain for a long, long time. So. . .mentally not good. Also, I am a bit princess-and-the-pea spiritually as well. I crave light, and anything dark or ugly tends to make me feel ill. Maybe that sounds like a good thing, but it has not been an easy world to be that sensitive in! So, Clearplay was nice. I only heard the occasional bad word that was mistimed from the filter and dealt with the non-gory violence that was not filtered. 

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! 👈) 

We all helped, and the finished product was named Sherelanda. (Anyone catch that Bluey reference? 😁) Sherelanda performed relatively well, ie she did not come in last. 

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! 

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! 

and 

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. 

 

Dear Flammly, There are no true endings. . .

. . .only everlasting beginnings.

September 24, 2023

Snowflake, Arizona

You can thank Exacto for the noble pictures of Rosehips 😁

Dear Flammly, 

It's autumn time! I started my new toothbrush yesterday. :) So far, no real color changes in the trees and the weather has been strange -- weirdly windy for this time of year, giving it the air a sort of hot and cold feel.

I had a great week. I rehearsed twice with the choirs for their upcoming concert (I need to practice!) and taught all my piano students. I have 7 students now, counting Rosehips! That's the most I've ever had, I think. 

For Family Home Evening we invited Nana and Grandpa to join us in making our traditional Conference Countdown pictures. We listened to conference music in the Church's Sacred Music app, and just settled in and quietly worked. It was lovely! 

The cottonwood by the well house got cut down this week. 😢

On Tuesday we had the special opportunity to participate in Laps for Logan, an event planned by our dear friends here who lost their adult son to suicide a few years ago. On the anniversary of his death, we gather at the high school track and walk laps, talking about mental health if we choose, and making an effort to connect with someone new. I loved getting to know a new friend and talking about our experiences with our children and mental health. It was an uplifting, encouraging time! 

And after that Rosehips and I met DC at the church for tithing declaration with our bishop. Hearing her declare that she was a full tithe payer brought me deep joy. He sent us home with a nice little loaf of homemade bread. :)

Wednesday evening I had Young Women work -- we met with the class presidency and took birthday treats to two of the girls. It felt a bit crazy squeezing so much in to just over an hour but it was super fun. On Saturday we had our class activity, playing kickball in the Boones' yard and having a caramel apple bar out of Duncan's trunk.

Thursday evening we had dinner at Nana's and Grandpa's (a leftovers extravaganza! :) and I just felt so grateful and happy to be able to spend time there with them. Then we had a great flammly video call, thank you so much! I love reconnecting with Russell and Ham in their respective lives away from home. 

Friday I had a delightful conversation with our beloved Janice for her birthday. I am so, so grateful for her in my life! To have a friend like her who knows me so well and loves me so much, and who has wisdom of older years, is just a treasure I thank Heavenly Father for!

Exacto and I ran three times this week, including the whole Knoll Trail on Friday 💪

Also Rosehips and I got our autumn groove going and did some baking while watching a Hallmark autumn movie. Super fun! That evening we studied 1 Nephi 18 and played Packesel together and watched some Bluey and the first half of Elemental. (DC hasn't seen it yet).

Yesterday was a full, happy day. We had the honor of joining McCleve relatives for the placing of my Uncle John's headstone in the Snowflake Cemetery. I loved being there talking to cousins and seeing their adorable children, as we watched and helped the monument workers place the granite base and then the beautiful headstone Aunt Laura had designed. I love the words she chose to put on it: "Live for the Reunion" and " There are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."

Grandpa performed an amazing act of love and invited the whole group to a hot meal afterward! He made chicken enchiladas with rice and beans and chips and salsa for about 70 people and Nana made a huge salad and we helped them set it up at Pioneer Park and then take it down afterwards. I loved seeing them serve like that -- it was celestial material for sure! 

That evening DC and I joined our game night friends for Tsuro with expansion pack, some hilarious rounds of Secret Hitler, and then Qwirkle. We brought the remnants of the caramel apple bar from the YW activity, and it was of course well received. 😋 Such a fun evening! 

This morning in our family gospel study we watched two Book of Mormon videos (this one and this one) and Rosehips shared some thoughts about Lehi's family and their journey to the promised land and prophets. 

It was a more difficult journey than it had to be because they stopped being willing to listen to the prophet and to believe that what he was telling them was what God wanted him to tell them. She said that it's like that for us, too, that if we will listen to the prophet and believe that he's telling us what God wants him to, we will have peace and safety during our life. 

I am so grateful for God calling a prophet for us and speaking through him! I can't wait to hear him next weekend! If we will be humble enough to really listen and repent, the Lord can deliver us from the extra-hard parts of our life. 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Mommy / Michelle