Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Sister Adcock

It's official! We have a missionary. We've had one for almost 2 weeks. On May 17, Melia entered the MTC around 12:24 pm.

I got back from Florida and we put all of our efforts into getting Melia ready to enter the mission field. She really, really wanted to go to the temple with grandma and grandpa. They'd been out of town. We were able to arrange a temple meet-up in Provo for Friday, May 12. My sister Karen was in town and joined us. We had a nice time and Mel got to ask grandma and grandpa lots of questions. I didn't realize how much it meant to her until she mentioned it in her farewell talk.
grandpa and grandma Hunter, Mel, and me (Karen was working in the car)
Many Crocketts were in town, so Saturday we met up with them for ice cream. We had so much fun visiting and spent so much time there that it became time for dinner. We just kept the party going and moved from Rockwell Ice Cream to Slab Pizza. Shauna Crockett was the bonus.
Connor, Shauna, Me, Karen, Allie, Mel, Elle, Kamiko, and Keenan

Sisters!


Mel spoke on Mother's Day. It was a perfect day. We invited friends and family to come to our house before church for breakfast. We had crepes, breakfast casseroles, and fruit. About 75 people came. I got to feed my mom and sisters and dear friends breakfast on mother's day. A little note about making crepes ahead of time. THEY STICK TOGETHER IF THEY'RE HOT. Yep, Mel and I spent lots of time making and freezing crepes with waxed paper layered between each crepe. Didn't work. When I went to separate the thawed crepes on Friday, it was obvious that it would have taken me longer to separate them than to make more. So we made more. It really wasn't a big deal. We made them, let them cool to room temp, then layered them with paper towel. That worked GREAT. We had nutella, cookie butter, whipped cream, strawberries, and bananas. We had just the right amount of food. Mysti Tupou brought some cut fruit and the Oswalds brought orange juice. Other than that, we just did it ourselves.
Me and my kids on Mother's Day

Mel gave a very good talk. I think everyone was surprised at how much she had to say. She was so poised and prepared. Keenan and I were both very surprised. We didn't know what to expect since she hasn't spoken in church in years, but she did great. A number of people commented on her talk. When she finished, Annie Oswald, who was sitting next to me, said "she's ready." Yep, she was. We stayed at church for all 3 hours since I teach primary and don't have a co-teacher. When I got home, I was surprised to see the kitchen clean. Jenny and mom and my kiddos had cleaned it for me. That was so great. I took a long nap, then we cooked Papa Murphy's pizza for Mother's Day dinner. A fantastic day. Oh, and my kiddos gave me 3 8-inch round cake pans, a cake decorating turntable, and cardboard cake rounds. I want to start making cute cakes and these will get me started.

Monday we all went out to dinner. I have found that the night before the MTC, the missionary can be quite nervous and not have much of an appetite, so we went to Cafe Rio on Monday as a family. Mel and I also worked on one last jumper for her to take. On Tuesday, Mel and I went down to the Payson Temple to do some sealings with mom and dad. That was really special and I'm glad Mel made time to go. We made final touches on the jumper. I wanted to tweak a couple of things so it didn't look homemade. Mel got set apart on Tuesday night at 9:30. That was a great experience for all. I took notes and typed them up for Mel to take with her. It's very easy to send your missionary off when you know she's prepared, the Lord is watching over her, and she's HAPPY. She will be such a joy to everyone. About JOY...Mel has joked that she wants "Joy to the World" on her mission plaque. We haven't discussed this with the ward, yet, but we hope it can happen. It's her favorite hymn and favorite "quote." Coincidently, when she was set apart, President Livingston mentioned more than once that she will bring JOY, to go forth with JOY, etc. Joy to the world, for sure. Or at least Joy to Arkansas and surrounding areas.

STREAK OVER. Mel and I were working on a 100 day streak. It ended too soon.

We had to get up really early to take Allie to the airport on Wednesday, May 17. She had already arranged to fly to St. Louis for Desmond's graduation. So they said their goodbyes early in the morning. Oh, side note...we drove to the airport in freezing rain and snow. What a day. We got back home and went back to bed for a bit. Then we got up and got ready to go to the MTC. Mel had to be there at 12:30. We met grandma and grandpa at noon at the Provo temple to take some pictures. Starlyn and Erin came to say goodbye and they were nice enough to take pictures for us. I had arranged for a couple of my pre-student teachers to teach my lecture and the TA's covered lab so I could spend the morning at home. It's what Mel wanted and it's a good thing I did it. I'm glad I listened to her.
This guy went with me to Bolivia. My dad bought it for me. It fixed a flat tire on a bus. Kamiko took it to Chile. It's now on its way to Arkansas and surrounding areas.


Mel doesn't have big hair. It's a tree behind her

Starlyn, Mel, and Erin


The family, minus Allie, who was on a layover in Denver

Grandpa, grandma, Sister A, Keenan, me, and Kamiko


Cute missionary with her grandparents

This is the jumper we made just before Mel left.

Allie joined us at the MTC via facetime

We got all our pictures, hugged, and got in the van. We got to the MTC parking lot a bit early, but they were directing traffic already. We pulled up the the sister side, unloaded our cargo, including Mel, gave hugs, and drove away by 12:27. I was at work at 12:40. We were all going to be OK. Everything is good.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

FLORIDA!

Keenan and I went to Florida years ago to visit our friends Richard and Mo Russell. We had a great time. Mo turned 65 in February and we've been friends for 20 years. Time to celebrate so I went back at the end of April, during my break from BYU semesters.

I got there late Monday night. Really late. It took me all day to get there with layovers, etc. We went straight to their place in Leisureville and got settled. As we entered their neighborhood, I said "did that sign say what I really thought it said? Do you really live in Leisureville?" YES! It was going to be a great week. It was so great to see our good friends.

I'll back up a bit. I met Mo 19+ years ago when we lived in Richardson, Texas. I was assigned with Heidi Heidt to be her visiting teacher. I thought it was a crazy assignment because I was pregnant (with Melia) and she had some "Asian flu." That's what I was told. She didn't feel great. They thought she might have picked up something Richard brought back from his work assignments in Asia. Maureen proved to be a great friend. She taught me how to paint walls and furniture. She helped me decorate our whole house. Once when we were visiting Utah, she painted the girls room the cutest pink color. It was called pink lemonade. She threw me a baby shower when Mel was born. It was really sad for me when they moved from Richardson. We've kept in touch the whole time. They've lived in Utah, Vegas, Florida, and back and forth. They've stayed here when visiting. I went with her to Boise once to visit their son McLean. I introduced her to Hot Tamales on road trips. She spoils me on my birthdays, sending me a lovely cake on my 50th. She also spoils our kids on their birthdays, Christmas, and missions. They are great people. I've learned a lot about generosity from the Russells. They've never been wealthy, but are very generous.

Mo and Richard just moved to a place in January. It's very much a work in progress right now. I had to promise to come back and see the finished product. Can you believe what they've done so far? She's so talented.

Beautiful corner off the living room

Little sitting area by Mo's desk

Mo's work desk off the kitchen


View of living room into eating area

My room. Aka: guest room



Mo's bathroom/guest bathroom

Tuesday: I woke up and Mo said she had figured we would do the quintessential Florida thing and go see some flamingos. We went to Flamingo Gardens and rode the train, saw lots of lovely foliage, pink flamingos, and people-friendly peacocks. It was so fun. We also went to see the Fort Lauderdale Temple and went to the outlet mall. I blew my souvenir budget right there when I found the perfect purse for Mel. It was $90. I had planned to spend about $20/person. As a result of the perfect bag for Mel, Allie got a designer wallet, Kamiko got a Star Wars windbreaker from Disney, and Keenan got Star Wars flip flops and a t-shirt from Palm Beach. We had yummy lunch at a favorite Mexican place in Fort Lauderdale.
Keenan called this a pineapple tidbit

What?! There are cats and flamingos?








I got that close!


The purse that started the spending
 Wednesday: Went to Palm Beach. We saw Papa Trump's house, Mar-a-Lago. We also drove around town where there are very high end shops. Went back to Leisureville and relaxed by the pool and did weights in the fitness center. It's a 55+ community, so I felt young. We also went to eat dinner at one of their favorite places: Key Lime House. It's right on the water and is open and breezy. No walls, really. Just the front of the restaurant and tables under a roof along the back. Water, yummy food, breeze, and their signature key lime pie. Mo says when Richard has a rough day, they go to Key Lime to unwind. Not too often, but it's their favorite. I can see why. We also picked up Richard at the airport that night. He'd been traveling for work. I had brought chocolate chip cookies to them that Kamiko had made. Richard got his cookies and some left-over salad from me and Mo.

Papa Trump's house
Papa Trump's flag
Key Lime House

Look at this!





Dock off Key Lime House

Thursday: Back to the beach in swimsuits this time. We stayed a couple of hours. We also got Cuban food for lunch/dinner. I love vacationing with Mo because it's not all about food. We generally ate breakfast then grabbed lunch around 3:00. So, 2 good meals/day. That was enough for me. We kept busy and drank lots of water and I had my soda. She spoiled me with soda and fixins for smoothies for breakfast. The Cuban food was great. We got a yummy pork plate with rice and beans. Sauce and pico de gallo for fixins. Then...we went on a boat...Richard and Mo had bought tickets for a cruise of the intracoastal waterway of Fort Lauderdale. The cruise started at 7:00 pm so we got to see the sun go down and see the beautiful lighting on the super expensive houses. We saw a yacht that is worth over $60 million. We also saw Johnny Depp's yacht that he later sold to JK Rowling. We saw a yacht that costs $5,000/day just to have it docked there. WHAT?! There were only about 8 people on the cruise that could have held over 100. We lucked out. If there had one fewer person, they would have cancelled the tour. So glad we got to go. We just sat and relaxed and saw pretty things. The host told fun facts about real estate and yachts along the way.

Isn't this the cutest 7-11?

My Cuban food


Note the water temperature
Dear friends: Maureen and Richard Russell





Friday: ORLANDO! WHAT?! Can you believe my friends took me to Orlando for the day? Richard took the day off of work. We left around 9. It's about a 3 hour drive. We went to see the Orlando Temple. So now I've seen all the temples in Florida. Richard had to get some garments and socks. We drove through Celebration, a planned community that is very Disney-like. Everything is cute and clean. Then we shopped at the Disney shops. There's an outdoor mall with Disney stuff, high end stores, and other shops. I found Kamiko's jacket and Keenan's slippahs there. We ate yummy food at House of Blues. I had a veggie flat bread. It was so fun to just soak in the Disney vibe. We didn't get near a park. It's way spread out. We got home from our adventure at about 10:00 pm. What a day.


Celebration Hotel


Why do I love yellow houses so much?

Cute bathroom in one of the Disney stores

Awesome bathroom in House of Blues. Florida loves color!

Lego store 7 Dwarfs

Orlando Temple

I haven't mentioned yet that the weather was PERFECT the whole time. It was warm and breezy every day. Orlando was 96 degrees but lovely because there was a light breeze. Richard and Maureen said it was the best they'd seen in a long time.

Saturday: I had to get up early and leave. SAD! It was a nice flight home. I flew to Dallas, then home. Only 1 layover this time. I had 2 on the way to Florida and one of them was quite long. It was good to get home because we have a missionary to get ready. I also made it home in time for my good friend Jamie's wedding. Jamie used to be my neighbor. We've known each other for almost 17 years.
She and Bob got married at her church at 6:00 pm. I flew in around 3:30, got home, showered, and went to the wedding. What a fun-filled friend week, topped off with a friend's wedding.

Lunch in Dallas. WOW! I'd forgotten how delicious this place is!
Almost home. See the Y?

There's the G. I live somewhere in that foreground, off to the left.

I'm blessed with great friends.