July 2018

Been awhile.
My first winter in Eugene was maddening.
Rainy and gray, cold and rainy, green and rainy.
Rainy day in and out,
I craved the Colorado sunshine like none other.


When the sun came out one morning in April,
I had a physical reaction to it:
I cried.
It's been terribly lonely here.
I didn't work much,
altho I did have some design consults
in Colorado and Utah,
which kept me sane.

Oregonians kept promising better days ahead in the summer
and they were right--
summer has been a welcomed relief of sunshine and decent temps.

Joseph graduated high school, people.
He was in 2nd grade when I started blogging,
and now he's graduated.
Holy smokes.
He's preparing for the Melchizedek priesthood this Sunday,
and then working for a few months to save up for a mission.
He had his first Sunday in the YSA ward already and liked it.

Arianna is on the scenic route--
declaring she doesn't believe in God at all
as she reflects on the many classmates that took their own lives in Colorado
over the past two years.
While it is a new issue that none of my other kids have presented,
I feel hopeful she is still figuring it out.
She continues to go to church, and is in fact, going to EFY in a month.
So we'll see.

Dara got married two days ago to that agnostic boy that we hoped would dissolve.
It is more drama than I can share,
except to say that we're calling this her First Marriage,
and this is her Journey.
We love her, we care for her, and we always will.
It's been rough.

We had a First Family Reunion all last week
at Depoe Bay, Oregon.
We rented a beach house for all 16 of us
and had a blast.
"We drank like pirates and partied like hippies"--
(although we don't drink at all),
but from sunrise to sunset there were several trips
to the beach,
lots of whining from grandbabies (to be expected),
too much food,
evenings around the fire pit discussing childhood traumas,
one-ups, successes in the past and present,
sarcasm-fueled laughter was our love language,
and too much food to be sure,
hugs were given,
selfies taken,
tears (both the sad and the happy kind) were shed
and memories made.
We loved this time together.

It isn't over yet.
This Oregon summer.
Dani's family and Dean are here until Friday.
Then Kent and Joseph leave the 27th for a ten day hiking/backpacking trip
in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana.
Arianna, who's in Arizona with Nana for 3 weeks (they left today)
will return briefly for 5 days and then go to Provo, Utah for EFY.

I will be alone in the house for a week!!
That means naps and lots of painting for me.
And not cooking.
Paper plates for one, please.

I may or may not be going to Saudi with Dani when she returns August 20th.
Still deciding that one.
On the one hand, she may need help flying around the world with 4 kids--
although she's done it so much I think she'll be fine.
On the other, I hate that trip.  It's so uncomfortable and exhausting. Jet lag. ugh.

If I go, I may stop to sight see in another country like I did last time I went.
But it's not that great of a temptation to make me really want to see it alone.

So that's it for me.
I'm hanging on for dear life and waiting to see what the next month brings.