Happy birthday

Adi won $100 from some Italian scholarship group. That was a fun surprise last night! And we’re like, 98% sure it’s legit. 

I love summer memories. Makes me feel like I should do another summer series. And why do so many of my favorite people move so far away???

Matt and I drove to La Plata to have lunch with his mission leaders. 

I was a little salty because their schedule was kinda loosey goosey and instead of them coming to Leonardtown, Matt offered to drive to La Plata. I shouldn’t have been salty at all, because they were wonderful. Kind and inquisitive and it was beautiful to see the bond they still share with their missionaries. And they bought us lunch, and I’m nothing if not a good date. 

D had summer dance and the rest of the crew went to the Henderson’s beach party. They are always so generous with their fun stuff. 

I saw Alecia and Josh holding Emma like this and had wanted to try it with our baby ballerina. Don’t mind Adi’s weird .5. Not too bad for a quick effort.

It’s hot like the surface of the sun and I finally feel like I’m making progress on being ready for my interview. I also got like 10 emails for my birthday month. Kohls and RC Theaters and even Lowe’s got in on the action. Happy birthday month to me. 

Ministering

We had a nice inklings at Donna’s this morning. I walked over and then Tracie drove me home. 

Jess was sick, so Adi went and picked Hudson up to give her the day to rest. Adi is her ministering sister and I’ve been talking to the girls and praying about ways to help them be better ministering sisters. This was the perfect opportunity and Adi stepped right up. 

I FaceTimed the boys and we did a scavenger hunt. We each found something yellow, something soft, something we love, etc. It took 10 minutes and was a cute way to stay the engaged Mimi I want to be. 

Huddy has a ton of energy, so Adi walked him to the library and then after lunch we went to the pool. Unfortunately, after less than an hour at the pool, they had to close it because of 💩. Not from our party, thankfully. 

I took D to an appt and ran errands and dropped her at dance and then took Hudson home on my way to pick D up from dance. For a “low key” summer at home, I’m running around more than I’d like. 

Tonight Adi is babysitting and Frankie and Delaney sound like they’re wrestling in the basement and Matt’s talking to his dad. All is well.  

Renegades

It was a lovely summer day. I took Adi to get her meningitis booster and then convinced her to go to the pool with me to make sure she moved her arm a lot. We all did the laundry together which is so much nicer and faster than doing it on my own. One of Adi’s summer bingo boxes was to listen to a book series together, and the girls chose Renegades - which we’ve read before but I, obviously, cannot remember any of it. Bonus of a terrible memory.

My fav podcasters are going all in on Americas 250th and I am loving it! Complete with a news brief from this day 250 years ago. We watched it together and why did it make me weepy. 

While d had dance, I shopped at Aldi and Walmart. For family night *and* a summer bingo square, d wanted to make a dessert pizza. Or I guess, she wanted me to make it and her to decorate it.  

Giant cookie plus homemade hot fudge, plus marshmallow fluff, Oreos, m&m’s, kisses, and sprinkles.

That guy was rich! 

Toy Story

It was a slow and lazy weekend. Honestly, I always need a few days after getting back in town to really get going. I did some couponing and we cleaned the church and Adi babysat Friday and Saturday. 

On Friday I met with Markett and Fran on Google Meets, and I came away more nervous than when I started. I’m sure it’s the adversary, I just feel like the last person that should be doing this interview. I’ve tried hard to suggest the mission leaders at the Visitors’ Center, or the cute sister missionaries serving there. All to no avail. I know the Lord will qualify me as I do my part. That’s been my mantra before, and it will be again. This just feels different because before it was just members i’d let down if/when I messed up. Now if I mess up it will be to “an estimated local population reach of 1 million,” nonmembers. I need prayers. 😩

Anyways. Today after church we had our Disney dinner. This is what our drinks were supposed to look like. 

Before church I steeped some herbal purple butterfly pea flower tea for our drinks. 

This is what our drinks ended up looking like. It’s annoying because a - they were a ton of work, from making tea, simple syrup, a pina colada blend, and mashing and straining kiwi and then b - I used to know how to layer drinks. I feel like I’m doing what I’ve done before, but my results would say otherwise. 

Everything else was delicious though. 

And, drinks aside, this was a fairly easy Disney dinner. 

I think my rocket was supposed to fit in the pizza box, but my pizza boxes were smaller than I thought they’d be. I had planned to serve all the Toy Story dinners in honor of Toy Story 5 coming out, but after the movie ended today everyone voted to watch number 2. So I guess I won’t. 

I wrote my Monday to-do list and it’s a full 3 column long one, so that’s not the most fun, but needful. 

Blog ✅ 

Home

 Frankie and I flew all night Tuesday night. We landed in Denver just after 11 and boarded our next flight by 11:40.

Beautiful sunrise coming into Baltimore. We landed at 5 and I was so thankful Matt was willing to pick us up. I’m terrified of falling asleep driving. I stayed awake chatting with him till hughesville when my eyes couldn’t stay open any longer. When we got home Frankie and I slept till noon. 

Wednesday was our 20th anniversary. It was a straight up nothing burger of a day. To be fair, we took the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii last year and Frankie and I were just getting home, and and and. I want to start giving each other traditional anniversary gifts, and 20 years is china, so I gave Matt a Pacific Northwest plate for his side of the bathroom. 

On Thursday morning I went to the dermatologist, first to the California office where they informed me that my appt was in their Leonardtown office. 🤦‍♀️ Adi had an appt the next day in their California office and I mixed them up. From there I drove straight to the visitors’ center to meet Markette to do a pre-film walk through. While I waited I visited with the missionaries and walked around the exhibits at the VC. I love this gorgeous tree they’ve got displayed in their room about the history of the VC. 

I had a lot of time for all of that because Markette mismanaged her calendar and thought our appt was virtual. She stayed on the Google meeting and then thought I’d forgotten. She was so sorry she’d mixed things, but heavens knows I’ve done the same, that very morning actually, so I assured her it was fine. But also that I couldn’t come back up to the VC the next day, so we scheduled a Google meeting. 

After that I spend a few minutes with my scriptures in the temple and then changed clothes and went for a run. I thought, how blessed am I to be spotting the angel Moroni above the trees days apart in two different cities. 

It was a long day, but I had prayed to not feel overwhelmed or too tired and grumpy and my prayers were answered. 

So long, Portland

 At Powell’s Books - photo cred: Frankie 

Frankie was off to brekkie and the awards ceremony by 9 this morning. She didn’t make the top 10, but we both agree this was a good experience, we learned so much, and if she chooses to come back, will do so much better. 

I went for a run down the neighborhoods near our hotel. The houses are so cute! Maybe our next house will be an old one. 

I got back, ate my brekkie sandwich and hit the pool at 10 when it opened. I had the pool to myself and I was in heaven. I used to not love the pool because when you’re managing littles you really can’t relax. You’re cold, deal with it. Your hair is gross and tangled, take care of the kids first. You just want to tread your little heart out? Too bad. I came back around to loving swimming - ocean swimming first, then lake, then pool. ❤️ unless there’s jelly’s, then that’s last. 

I showered and finished packing and left our room at noon. Somewhere in my packing I realized I’d left my cheap new sunnies from Towson at the pool. Thankfully they were still there! I do love a free shade. 

And then, I waited. 

Took about 2 hours for Frankie to join me. The hotel stored our suitcases and Frankie and I walked two blocks to the theater to see Toy Story 5, because it was the only one that wasn’t rated R and fit our times. Hooray for 1/2 price Tuesdays!

Back in Maryland this cute 18 year old voted in her first primaries!

We took the light rail to the airport, easy squeezy!

Oh, and we twinned!

We had 2 hours to kill at the airport. 

I got the most delicious order of tillamook cheese curds and tillamook will always remind me of Smilin’ Jack. 

And now, we fly. 

Treading

It was 90° today in Portland, and for those who don’t know, that’s a big deal. Many people here don’t have air conditioned homes and that is miserable. As for the weather, I for one, did not pack well for it. I ended up wearing my skirt all day Saturday, and then my floaty pants all day Sunday, which left me with jeans just a little tighter than when I flew out, ifyouknowwhatimean, and I was not about to wear those on such a hot day. So instead I wore a workout outfit and my nice sandals since they are such good walking shoes . Listen, I’m knocking on 48’s door and I got no one to impress here. 🤷‍♀️

We started our day slowly with a documentary series we’ve been enjoying. As part of the conference Frankie received a $100 gift card for food at the convention center, and she thought she still had $60 left on it, so we headed there for lunch. Turns out she only had $45 left on it, but I’m still glad we spent it. 

We made our way back to our room to drop our leftovers, but mostly because Frankie forgot her bus pass. Then we headed in search of souvies. First was Frey Meyer, which was a bust. Then we headed downtown to the Hello Portland store where we hit the jackpot. 

Next up was Powell’s Books which is the biggest and coolest bookstore I’ve ever seen and where I swore we took more pictures, but I only have this one. 

I found Matt’s anniversary gift there and a cute tiny picture for our travel wall. I was thinking about it and I decided I’d like us to try gifting each other traditional anniversary gifts. We’ve never been big on giving each other gifts, and after not finding anything, I almost called it off, but I found a cool china plate for him to put his toiletries on in the bathroom or a catchall on his dresser. It’s got salmon on it and it’s hand painted and will remind him of the Pacific Northwest. *China is the traditional 20th wedding anniversary gift. 

Frankie has a tummy ache after lunch, but was trying to be a trooper. We hit one more Made Here store and then I took pity on her and we headed back to our room. We were out for about 4 hours and I was pretty tired too. 

We love a glass elevator and checked out the 15th floor as we came back. We’re on the 7th which is not as cool as the 15th. 

I went to the pool to tread water. It’s maybe my favorite way to workout, because I have to be weird. I have a knack for it too, I could tread water for hours. The pool here is 9ft deep and I love not worrying about hitting my feet like at our shallow pool. Frankie went to the pool with friends and we spent some time packing. Tomorrow is the awards and closing ceremony and then we begin our journey home. This has really been a wonderful little trip!

A Father’s Day competition

 We got up at 6:30 this morning and walked over to the convention center at 7:30. One of the Maryland leads told us that Frankie had to check in with her group and they all stayed together while they read their speeches, but it turns out that wasn’t right. They weren’t even ready to check people in yet when we arrived, and then when they were ready they told us their 8:00 wasn’t there yet and asked if Frankie would like to be the first competitor of the day. 

She was like, yes please! I asked if I could watch because I knew Frankie wanted me to and even though you’re not technically supposed to, they let me. 🤗

So it was 2 judges, Frankie, and me. I was able to motion for her to smile and slow down. She did a good job! Could have been better, but her speech is really good and she made eye contact and had a good, if short, answer to their follow up question. 

We grabbed brekkie at a cute Portland fav and went back to our room for a bit. 

Frankie had a luncheon and I wanted to go to church at 10, so I took a bus to an institute building branch that was v unfriendly. It was unclear if Sunday school was in the chapel or not, and no one came up to me. I’m not exactly afraid to talk to people, but everyone was deeply engrossed in other conversations are bustling about. Finally a cute missionary introduced himself. It’s always a good reminder to be friendly. 

I spent the afternoon reading and napping. S’wonderful. Frankie came back for a bit and we watched a movie. She went with friends back to the conference center for karaoke which she reported was very fun. 

I went for a swim and grabbed some dinner. 

We’re on the 7th floor and they have this teeny tiny balcony thing right near our room. 

And the view from our room. 

I worked on some communications stuff and planned some activities for tomorrow and am waiting for mt little karaoke singer to make it home. 

#55

Getting to the temple was a lot of work. Worth it, but a lot. After I dropped Frankie I came to the hotel to charge my phone for a bit since using maps drains my battery.

Then I took a light rail, bus, and then walked a mile and a half. I could have ridden another bus and only walked .8 miles, but I would have had to wait for the bus and it was a lovely day. 

I crossed over I-5 a couple times. 

First sighting!

Portland is a super unique temple! Entering the  celestial room was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and then the celestial room had an upstairs! Another first was the mini arboretum near the welcome desk. 

It’s a beautiful temple!

I walked about half mile to deseret book and got some new garments, then grabbed dinner at Chick-fil-A, which is lame but it’s what sounded good. 🤷‍♀️

My phone battery was precariously low again (I only charged it to 80%) and I was nervous, so I’d map it, take pictures, and then turn the map off. So it had me walk like a mile and a half after the bookstore, which, fine.

But then After walking when i re-mapped to check my work, it had me going a different way and needing to walk another almost 2 miles. I was tired and sweaty when I finally got on the bus.

Moroni! 👇🏻 

A closer look. 

It took me over 2 hours to get back. So I got back and maybe 20 minutes later Frankie did. Mine was a long outing. 

Anyway, Frankie had fun and traded a bunch of pins, even her Maryland one. 🤷‍♀️

She met up with some kids down at the pool, went back to their room, and made it home within a one hour period. We both showered and she practiced her speech which will be early tomorrow.