Catching Up with Mel

Mel was going to come up on Sunday but then didn't, so we were happy for surprise visit last night. We stayed up late visiting with her and catching up on her life. She and Christian are still happily dating, aww ~

Good looking couple I think! I have a picture of Corey in front of this LOVE sign from years ago - (1996)

Mel being silly ~

His turn ~

He's in California with his family this week, so we were glad she came up to say hi since she had an open evening. The kids were all excited to see her. She stayed the night and was up with me this morning to say bye to the kids. She walked Daniel and Peter to the bus stop (Owen rode his bike with the neighborhood bike gang). She headed out right after that so she could stop by the store and still be back in time for her 11:00 class. 

Today's been a nice day around the house. My fingers hurt when I type, cause some of my fingers have cracks in the corners, I think from all the climbing? Probably more from the cleaning and washing I do in this dry Utah winter weather. (I should prob get rubber gloves to protect them). I made a good dent in cleaning the laundry room desk and master bedroom roll top desk today, they're both coming along! After I get those all done, I'll either start on inside of closets and cupboards, or I'll move into the basement. Now ALSN are at Young women's, Daniel is at Hobby Lobby with a friend, Owen is playing Retro bowl on the computer cause he did all of his chores today, he's one of my most dependable workers. He had trumpet today and did a great job focusing. Waiting for Corey to come home from work. I think I'll work on my Simple Abundance book or go work on the desks some more until everyone is home again in another hour. Or The Core Play. I bought that exercise program in 2023 and haven't really done much. I want to improve my handstands. Corey and I went climbign last night, Mel showed up right before I left. Corey had taken the van out, then Abi took it to her lesson and Corey told her to just come home after so that he didn't have to stop working early to get her home so she could do her chores. Thus he was left without a car. I said I could pick him up and we could go climbing. He said we could do this morning, but then I remember I have carpool. (I just switched my Tues shift for Wed because a neighbor's work schedule changed. So since we couldn't do toprope this morning, and cause Corey prefers that over bouldering, we went last night from like 9 -10:30. I listened to BYU speeches as I climbed, which was a first (I usually listen to "boy" by the killers). Mel and Ethan both watched the BYU Devotional yesterday by Kevin R. Duncan, "Jesus Christ Is the Answer". Mel said that the devotional from yesterday was really good, then Ethan it added that "it was also kinda super depressing". Bro Duncan told a story of how when he was just 2 years married, his first wife passed away after being hit by a car that ran a stop sign. Overall a positive and good message, but yeah, he shared some hard life experiences that he's been through. After that that podcast continued automatically and played the previous episode which was "The Pursuit of Happiness" by Jeffrey Rosen. That one was really fun and funny. I thought it was so great, like him following the "Jefferson schedule" during covid, haha wow! 

We visited with Mel after we got back and thus didn't get to bed until past midnight. Both of us struggled getting up and going this morning. I took carpool and Corey went to the temple. I went to the temple yesterday, and then had a busy day and didn't even take a nap, so it was a looong day for me, but it was good. Yesterday I sent a polo to my siblings asking about their political opinions regarding all the craziness that is going on thanks to Trump. The conversation has continued into today. It was good to vent there and gain a little bit of calm. My sister shared this podcast "Don't Believe Him" by Ezra Klein that I shared with other people that I know (from their facebook posts) are freaking out about all the things. My little brother Grant was better informed than I was before he voted, and he's feeling ok about things. So, it was good to take a breath and calm down. 

Yesterday I gave Dennis a phone call, then went to visit my parents for a little bit. Came home and went on a walk at Dimple Dell while I listened to the Naturally Thin for Life Podcast. She's closing the doors to her program, and ending it so she can be with her kids full time and homeschool them. I'm proud of her for doing that. I LOVE being a stay at home mom and full time homemaker. It's the best. Nicole told me this morning about a book "Magnetic Femininity" which I think talks a lot about women embracing their feminine roles. "Your feminine majesty has the power to heal almost everything in your entire life––and this book will teach you how. When you heal your feminine energy, everything else in your life falls into place." Wow! So I put that on hold at the library and Nicole and I are going to go through it together. Fun.