Visits down South

Business and family took us down south the end of January.  First of all, Dave had interviews in Silver City, NM and we decided to drive to Utah, visit before and after, and leave the kids with grandparents while we went down for the business.  

It was a rather nice drive down, I just love driving through this gorgeous country.  Hit a little fog and a bit of snow, but. mostly clear roads.  We got down late Friday.  On Saturday, we caught up with family and played with cousins and Sydnie and McKenzie's reunion was especially sweet.  Sydnie kept saying "McKenzie is my best friend!" and "I love my cousin!" Dave and I hit up the store to get a few things we needed.  Then, Amy and Kolby with their boys and Mark and Mayela came down and we celebrated Grandpa Scott's birthday a bit early.  We hung some new things for organizing in his garage, so he was very happy with that, and we hear that has got Dad in gear to even donate and throw some things away.  Nice! We finally got to meet sweet little baby Kanon, what a special boy! We are just over the moon excited for them and Kanon is the baby they deserve.  He is so good and happy!  Boji had a ball with Cov and the rest of the kids, those two always laugh so hard though it's a hoot.  We enjoyed the afternoon playing, talking, eating the Pie pizza, making Grandpa's s'mores cake (Emma did most of it) and playing a fun video game.  Saturday night, Erin & Randy came over and we played some games and chatted.

Sunday, we got ready and had to head to the airport.  We watched our sacrament meeting via Zoom after we did our security check (always better to get there early, sometimes it's so crowded and takes forever but wasn't too bad) so that is kind of cool we can get church wherever we are. We didn't get off the ground after boarding for over an hour so the flight ended up being double what it should've been.  Then we went from Phoenix to Tucson, and stayed in Tucson for the night.  Traveling always makes for long days and Dave and I were tired.  We got some Cheesecake Factory for lunch/dinner and it is always so good.  Fun to just get some alone time with the two of us from time to time.  We drove around and checked the city out, and got to go find the beautiful temple.  Monday, we left to go see what Silver City was all about.  When we got there it was sunny and dry, and so that was nice to see everything.  We saw the local and big chain businesses and restaurants, found the church (3 wards and 1 branch here!) and schools, parks and then scoured the area for housing opportunities if this is where we are meant to be.  We got to our hotel room in the evening and it started snowing and we had 8 inches by the time we woke up Tuesday!  Everyone said this was the most it had snowed in 5 years.  Nothing to us, but a big deal for them and everyone was freezing, while we thought it felt pretty warm.  So glad we got to get out Monday afternoon!  Dave had interviews starting at 7:30 and went until 8:30 for two days in a row!  He said it was way overkill as he answered lots of the same questions over and over.  The hospital is a bigger one than what he's done by a long shot (400 employees, way more beds and revenue!) but there are many challenges.  Always are in rural or any health care.  There were about 80 people in on the interviews he said.  On the second day, they had a "virtual tour" of the town with 3 different groups talking about the area, history, opportunities, events, etc. I got to go along for that one. That was interesting and a good break for Dave's mouth.  While he was away, I was having fun cross stitching, reading, listening to audio books, resting, and working on our family photo album.  Kind of nice to have a couple of days to catch up and just do whatever I wanted, as Amy said "You probably don't know what to do with yourself",  haha! but we missed our kiddos!  Thursday morning, we headed back to the airport to fly back to Utah.  There and back, we will see what happens.  "If it's meant to be, it'll be, it'll be, baby just let it be." (Bebe Rexha) . Well, we found out a week later they ended up picking none of the candidates, though Mike, the one Dave was working with through the consulting management company, said he said he thought Dave had it in the bag and was totally shocked they didn't pick anyone.  They are going back to the drawing board.  It was kind of a blow, we felt pretty good about that one.  Maybe it's a blessing though, they have had 7 CEOs in 8 years and lots of politics and drama, yikes!  Something will work out.  

While we were away, the kids did lots of homework, practicing and reading (so much for a vacation) and it was so nice of our family to help them!  They played games also, went sledding, watched movies, went on walks, played with toys, went to lots of parks, had a nerf gun war with Erin & Randy, made bird feeders with Grandma Di and tried out pickle ball.  We were so grateful they were in good hands while we were gone and are grateful for our families and their willingness to help out so willingly!

The rest of the weekend was full of getting together with family, chatting, playing, eating.  Sydnie said she didn't want to go home but wanted to stay with McKenzie and Grandma.  Nice try!  Nothing fancy but always the best time together when we head south.  Who knows?  Maybe next time we go to visit, we'll be heading north!  

Our Very Own YouTubers

 We got our start in the YouTube world with Emma starting a couple of years ago shooting slime making videos on a channel she called "Slime Blobs".  Then, her and the cousins last summer started another channel called "Kazoo Epicness" where they'd play hit songs on the kazoo.  Funny kiddos!  Cal decided he wanted to get in on the action too, and did his first video he and Emma named "Epic Conga Boi" (boi instead of boy is an alternate spelling).  Cal did some dance exercise videos with me and we learned a few Latin dances as well.  He got this one dance memorized and decided to go all crazy to some Gloria Estefan.  I love his facial expressions and energy, haha!  Well, around that same time, he started wrestling and enjoyed wearing his singlet around to be funny.  So he started making videos of him doing random things he does often in costume and they renamed the channel "Epic Singlet Boi".  Well, he's enjoying the YouTuber life but we're still waiting for the millions to pour in.  That's how people make money these days, it's crazy!  From Ryan's Toy Review who makes 29.5 million a year to Mr. Beast and Dude Perfect, they make some serious bank and have fun while doing it.  These kids have fun expressing themselves (though we don't use our real names or do anything to reveal personal information) and even if they don't go viral, we all get a good laugh out of it.  

"Never suppress a generous thought"

 Recently, we went on a little outing to the mall as a family, which is something our kids enjoy doing.  As we were making a pit stop to the bathroom, a little girl around 4 or 5 and her mother were just coming out of the stalls.  Lucy went in first and the little girl excitedly told her "Aw, I love your shoes!"  and then to me she said "I like your baby, she's so cute!".  We thanked her and then Emma came in and she told her bubbly "Your hat and glasses are really sparkly and cool!" Emma thanked her also. After we finished our duty in the restrooms, we went out to where this mom and daughter met their dad and little brother.  We walked down the long hallway to get back to the mall area, and there we heard her give compliments to more strangers walking by.  It put a smile on all our faces.  She was so generous in her compliments and seemed to want to compliment everyone. What a sweet girl!  I thought of how often I think a nice thought but don't say it out loud much.  It made me think of a quote by the late Camilla Kimball, wife of President Spencer W. Kimball, a prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She said "Never suppress a generous thought".  Whether it's a compliment like this little girl showed us that day, a nice gesture, a smile or a hug, an act of service, a card in the mail or a nice text, apologizing or asking for forgiveness, sincerely thanking others for what they do for you...you can't go wrong by acting on these generous thoughts.  Generous thoughts are not meant to be kept to yourself but to be given away.  So let's live out loud and compliment each other and look for the good in others and help each other out. Because it feels so good to receive, but sooo much better to give.  I will try harder to give compliments out like this little girl did to all and be more generous in living.  

Here's to you, 2021!

Dave was singing Sydnie the song "O-o-h Child" by Five Stairsteps right after the new year. When he finished singing this "Ooh child Things are gonna get easier Ooh child Things'll get brighter" part, Sydnie looked at him and said, "No, actually Dad they're not."  We about died!  Maybe she knows something we don't?  

We actually are excited for the new year.  If there's anything Sydnie has taught us, it's to stop and smell the flowers.  We have to always stop at any store that has a floral department and smell ALL of the flowers, or if we are walking by a house that has flowers near, we always need to smell them.  And she demonstrates this with other things, not just growing flowers.  She finds joy in the little things and takes life as it comes. Slow down. Inhale. Enjoy. Life is good. 

Anyways, let's hope it is a great year!  Couldn't be worse than 2020, right?  Haha!