Still Loving High Fitness

 I love to sleep. There are few things that I'll wake up for, but High Fitness on a Saturday morning is one of them. My friend Lisa Danielson teaches High Fitness at AF Fitness Center. I went to her classes when there were only a few of us going, including Carmen. Now there's a room full of people working out and it is so great. When I'm in class, I want to cry, laugh, sing along, etc. It brings back memories of discovering High Fitness 5 years ago.  It's good old 90's aerobics and I love it! It's just such a fun workout. It makes me nostalgic for simpler times, when our family was intact and went to the AF Fitness Center together, but there's nothing I can do about that. It makes me feel strong when I do lots of burpees. It makes me so happy to connect with instructors and people in class. I've met some pretty great people through High Fitness. I had so much fun yesterday morning, as Santa was there. This cute guy, Fred, lost a lot of weight doing High Fitness. He's been coming to Lisa's class for years, too. 

4 Words for 2021

Connect

    bring together or into contact so that a real or notional link is established.

    form a relationship or feel an affinity.

    hit the intended target.

Alignment

    a position of agreement or alliance.

Health

    the state of being free from illness or injury.

    a person's mental or physical condition.

Creation

    the action or process of bringing something into existence.

    a thing which has been made or invented, especially something showing artistic talent.

A friend posted a word puzzle on facebook today and the challenge was to see what were the first 4 words you saw. These are the ones I saw first. Hmmm. Let's go!

this is me driving away from campus on my last day of teaching in person for 2020

Bonus Day in Arkansas

 Sunday, December 13, I got up early enough to make breakfast for Kamiko and Bekki. Hot chocolate, scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and cinnamon rolls that I made the night before. I found a hideous ornament that featured an elf with a face mask, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. 

Then Kamiko and I left and picked up their friends who were on the same flight as me. It was snowing. There was real snow that kept falling...didn't stop. It took us longer to get to the airport than usual. In fact, at one point, there was a hill and the Arkansans were driving slowly. We drivers who were used to snow knew that many of the cars weren't going to make it up the hill. I mean, you need some momentum. We finally had to just pass some.

We got checked in and the snow continued. We wondered if our flight would get cancelled. It did get delayed twice. Then they announced that it was rescheduled to Monday. I called Kamiko, but he had JUST gotten home after a long drive in the snow with inexperienced drivers on the road. We decided it was best to call an Uber. We decided to go with Uber XL, hoping for an SUV and someone who knows how to drive in snow. Imagine what we thought when we got in a minivan and the woman, Donna, told us she had just moved from California and this was her first time driving in snow. She even called her husband, who was away on business, and asked him if she could drive in snow. He said "yes, just drive slow." We gave her a few more tips. She was actually a very confident driver and did a great job at getting us home. There were only a couple of times on the freeway that I thought she was following a little too closely. 

It was fun to get a bonus day. Kamiko and I went to Walmart to get stuff to make dinner since we knew there wasn't much food in the house. We also grabbed sandwiches to eat for lunch. Kamiko made a great lasagna and we watched the movie Elf. It was a super fun night. It snowed all day. It did stop by Monday morning and the sun came out and melted much of the snow in the parking lot and on the roads. It was a smooth drive to the airport. We made it to Denver, which was Kamiko and Bekki's friends final destination. I had a LONG 5 hour layover. I did find more seats with missing armrests, so I was able to lie down and nap. It was great to finally get home. 

This was our bonus Sunday together. We really just relaxed. Kamiko did administer the sacrament for us and he gave me a priesthood blessing, in which he told me that Heavenly Father is aware of the decisions I've made and is pleased with me. 

I got to hang out with Dotty May while the kids went to a Christmas party

Made Kamiko's favorite: cinnamon rolls

Total snowfall by the end of the day: 6 1/2 inches! The annual average is 9 inches.

New House is Ready for Christmas

I love my house. I love my ward. I have great neighbors. I'm ready for Christmas. The girls will be with Keenan on Christmas Eve. I'm invited to Starlyn's and I'll probably go. It's been a good Christmas season. I've been enjoying a book about advent, called Shadow and Light. It has passages, artwork, and music to consider each day of advent. I also filled my advent calendar with notes for ME...things I want to do, like send a Christmas card (I sent one to Uncle Mike), go out to eat, read a story in the Ensign, watch a Christmas movie, etc. Again, I've really enjoyed this season. It's a unique one, but it's been peaceful and wonderful. I'm also the recipient of the 12 Days of Christmas from an anonymous giver. Each night, they've dropped by a note, scripture, and a gift. It's been really fun. 

MaryJane McGuire brought this for me. She said it looked Swedish to her. We had a great visit. 

So many treasures in this hutch, including a Zella Santa from Karen Dillard and Christmas dishes from dad.

Santa Lucia breakfast on December 20 with the girls. I celebrated with Kamiko and Bekki last week. 

Melia talked me into buying this tree. The Christmas tree is my LEAST favorite decoration, but I think I've changed my mind. I love this beauty that we named Lucy (nod to Charlie Brown tree and Luz for light)

Allie showed this butter ornament to me. It's perfect for this year with all the pastries and pan sauces we've been making. BUTTER. 

I gave my elf pillow a makeover this year and I really like it. We got the straw ram on clearance at IKEA. 

Will you accept the life-saving blood transfusion?

 I joined church via zoom today and there were beautiful musical numbers. I wish every sacrament meeting all year had as much music as we get at Christmas.

Brother Ken Moss spoke about Christ. He told of a friend who is a thoracic surgeon and he once had a patient come into the ER in very critical condition. He told her that without surgery, she would not live. She agreed to surgery, but said that she didn't want a blood transfusion. The doctor told her she needed the transfusion. She was insistent - no transfusion. 

The surgery was successful. They tried to make up for the lack of transfusion with IV fluids, etc., but she did not make it. 

The doctor had likened this experience to the atonement. Christ gave His blood for us. We don't live if we don't accept His sacrifice. 

I really liked those insights.

Fall 2020

I haven't written in a while. I think it's maybe a bit of a sign that I don't really want to write about my life right now. Things are great. My job is great. The kids are great. Kamiko and Bekki and Dotty came again in October, but I am still divorced. I'm not thrilled that I had to get divorced. Most days I'm ok with it, but some days I'm really sad about this change. It is what it is, though. I mean, I have to trust my Heavenly Father, who sent me the prompting to get divorced. It doesn't make it easy. I'm mostly ok. It will all be ok. I know this takes time. 

I do have a ton of support. Kamiko, Allie, Melia, Starlyn, Jenny, Kristen, Karen, Debbie, Derek, Maria, Natalie, Sylvia, mom and dad, Allison, James, many many more people are here to give me support. They are great. 

Starlyn had a whole unit at the Marriott Mountainside in Park City to herself before Thanksgiving, so she invited me to join her. Jenny came too. We had a blast. Watched TV, played games, and talked. So fun. 

I confused chili powder for cinnamon in my cranberry sauce and apple pie on Thanksgiving. Luckily I caught it in time to take the top crust off of the pie, rinse the apples, and season them again. Had to make a new batch of cranberry sauce. 

I voted

Last day of classes on campus until 2021. Right before Thanksgiving. The rest of the semester was remote. Look how straight my teeth are getting. 

Allie and I watched the DeVuyst kids while James and Allison went house hunting. I'm so grateful I had picked up a sugar cookie mix the day before. 

My friend Adrienne Murray and me in our Halloween sweatshirts

Yes, this pretty big mouse mad it into my house. Lee Hjorth was kind enough to set traps and come get him when we caught him. Ewww. 

Allie and Mac

Cookies

This is what I picked for my Christmas gift from BYU. Ham and cheeses and mustard. I also got bread and a cutting board. I've got great plans for this over Christmas break

Watching TV with the girls

Watching TV with all the kids over Halloween week when Kamiko and Bekki were in town

I helped Allie make these for her students

Mel found Mitty. She was looking on the South Utah County Animal Shelter website and found him in late November. He had been missing since July 23. He was turned into the shelter on October 28. Note that his name at the shelter was Simon. He was so skinny when Mel got him. He seems just fine now that he's home. 

Mom and I watched ONE Hallmark movie together. Dumb Covid. Mom even decorated the basement in late October so we could fully enjoy the experience. 

October 9th and 12th in California

I'm very lucky to have extremely supportive sisters.

October 9th marked the 6-month mark of the divorce being final and October 12th would have been our 29th anniversary. It could have been tricky, but instead, I was in California, having a great time with my sisters. 

Jen and I flew to LAX on the 9th, where we met Kristen, then went to Downtown Disney. So, I got to spend a few hours in my favorite place. By the way, due to Covid travel restrictions/cleaning measures, it took us longer to get our rental car than to actually fly to California. Jen and I got in first, so we went and got the car then we picked up Kristen. We went straight to Anaheim. Stores and restaurants were open. The parks won't open for months, I'm sure. Governor Newsom is really keeping California on lockdown. Big time lockdown. We got sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich then we got in line to enter World of Disney. I got an apron and I got a Haunted Mansion hoodie for Mel. I got rainbow Disney Crocs for Allie. I also got a Jungle Cruise magnet that I'm really excited about. It references one of the corny jokes that the guide always says. Oh, it was fun, even though we had to wear masks. 

Please let me in!

Tribute to Chadwick Boseman, actor who played Black Panther, and passed away this year

We then drove to Sarah and Cameron's new house. It's such a perfect, cute home. They're only about 15 minutes from the beach. Their neighborhood is so cute. Cameron does turndown service, with chocolates on the pillow each night. It was a blast. We went on walks around the neighborhood, we hiked, we went to the beach, we went out to eat and had yummy food. My favorite was a delicious black bean burrito at a dive by the beach. It was full of beans and guacamole, all wrapped up in a soft flour tortilla. Sarah surprised me with a yummy chocolate birthday cake. Sarah and Cam are so much fun. We watched trash TV "Selling Sunset" which is about high end homes for sale in Sunset Hills, California. 

There were a lot of cars with Trump and American flags that drove up and down the street

It doesn't look that great, but it really is the world's best burrito

On Sunday, the 12th, we decided to go to San Diego. I don't remember the last time I was there. We took pictures in front of the San Diego Temple, we drove past the Mormon Battalion visitors' center, and we went to Mission San Diego. We Hunter girls love our missions. Sarah got some beautiful photos of the mission. It was such a great time. We had enough time Monday morning to hang out and go on a walk around the neighborhood before heading home.  

This is what a father's living quarters would have looked like

The San Diego Temple is soooo beautiful

Mission San Diego

All Jenny and I wanted to do was to go to Disney. All Kris wanted was sunset at the beach

Jenny, Kristen, and me at the San Diego Temple

Jenny, me, and Kris at the beach

I'm just grateful that I had such awesome family members to spend the days with.