16+

We had a 16+ activity at the Blacks. It was super fun! We all got  there early and stayed late. They have the best house for gathering. 

We tubed, boated, swam, hot tubbed, played basketball and ping pong, made s’mores on the dock, ate chili and cupcakes and everyone had to be kicked out at the end of the night.  (that's the sign of a good mutual activity).  Ann and Jim are so generous and so hospitable and everyone feels welcome.  If I had great wealth I would want to share it the way they do. 

After a long time on the boat the hot tub felt perfect!  These kids are so cute!

We only had two "incidents" while boating.  Maya did a backflip off of the back of the tube and hurt her leg.  She limped around for awhile but by the time she went home it seemed to be doing better. Marjorie got thrown off the tube as well.  She, unwisely, choose to go out in shorts and a t-shirt.  When she slid off the tube her shorts and undies also slid off her body.  She yelled out "I lost my shorts!" and then "I'm n*ked". Luckily Grace had on a pair of shorts over her swimsuit and was able to toss them into the water.  And luckily Marjorie actually caught them and they didn't also sink to the bottom.

I also had a near incident.  Lettie and Maya arrived late, after we had already loaded up the boat and been out tubing for awhile.  We arranged to meet them at the community dock so Ann, Andrew, the missionaries and the two girls walked down and we drove over.  The boat was already packed (with 18 people on it) so Alicia, Charlotte, Josh and I got off when Lettie and Maya got on.  

Here comes the problem.  See the picture at the top?, that's the dock.  See how there is a fence around it that is rather tall?  Well Charlotte and Josh hopped right over.  Alicia (who for the record is 4 inches taller than I am) was able to hoist her leg up and be pulled over by Ann and Andrew.  And that left me.

I thought I might be able to "hop" over but the truth is I'm not much of a hopper. We had several (failed) attempts to get me over.  (embarrasing).  Then Ann picked up Maya's shoes to carry them back.  At that point I planned to just shimmy through the reeds on the outside lip of the dock to the opening (which was not close).  As soon as I saw them I thought Aha! I took the shoes and was then able to put my feet in the openings of the fence and "hop" over. 

I was grateful no one thought to film the endeavor and grateful that in the large amounts of laughter that was happening I didn't fall off into the water (and get eaten by an alligator, although that might have been less embarrasing because at least the story would have ended with a tragic twist and at least that would be the part people remembered).

 

More interesting than anything I will write

Mission letter from Ethan: 

I can't say for certain if these things are Spain exclusive or even in all of Spain but 10 days in Cádiz has shown me a couple quirks different from the USA 🇺🇲

1. First thing is that I don't know what is going on with the animal life but it's like waking up in a zoo to all sorts of sounds. I feel like someone turnes on the avatar with the blue people audio everymorning when what I'm guessing is the birds start going off every morning. But I'm a big fan of that part of life. It reminds me of Florida a bit. They also have green parrots or parakeets and some other tropical looking birds flying around the city so that is cool.

2. Keeping with the animal theme what do you do to take your dog out when nobody has a yard and there is just very limited grass in the whole city? Apparently you just walk around with a bottle of dishsoap with special city street dog disinfectant and just let them pee anywhere. Throw some special spray and that and you're good to go. It was a bit weird seeing the first time but lowkey a smart idea.

3. Almost nobody in Spain has a car and everyone just walks or takes the bus if it's too far, maybe a train. The sidewalk game here is absolutely on point though. The city was designed for walking pretty much. The Spanish 🚦crosswalk culture is funny though. It's more of an unless something tells me specifically I'll get hit if I walk it's a full send. Green means go, no light means go, red means go unless you can't beat the oncoming traffic, and yellow for you or the cars also means go. So when we are at a cross walk staring at a red light but then see the cars flying by suddenly got a yellow everyone just starts walking no matter who's in the intersection. Wild.

Nobody having a car can be a bit of a problem though. We were walking this week in the rain because a storm came through and saw a car stopped at a cross street. "Necesitan ayuda" we asked. "We don't speak Spanish" replied the two dudes. Somehow we, being some of the only English to Spanish bilingual people in the entire city happened to walk by as two dudes from Saudi Arabia had their car battery die, and prolly the only two that would stop to help in the rain. Shoutout God for guiding us on that one! We tried pushing their car up the hill a couple times to see if our friend could use the speed to slap it into gear but no dice. No big deal we'll just call a member and come have them jump it right? Well like nobody has a car and when we eventually did find someone in the ward with a car none of them had jumper cables. I guess pinzas (cables) are more of an American thing. In europe they just hope their car doesn't die and then pretend to be a Flintstone if it does or something idrk. In the end we were able to help translate and get our homies a roadside assistance to pull up and help out. It was super cool to be able to help like that. English skills suddenly are a bit of a commodity out here. 💪we got to use them earlier in the week too when some tourists from England stopped us and talked to us asking where to buy milk. They knew we spoke English because they were members. So shoutout out the Bristol stake.

4. Spain does daylight savings time a few weeks after the US so yesterday we got to skip another hour of sleep. #scammed 

5. Our clothes washer is in the kitchen instead of a dishwasher and we don't have a drier so we get to slap wet clothes on clotheslines hanging outside the window. That's not to bad and all but when we have a rainy week it sure takes a while for the clothes dry!

6. Last fun thing is that for sacrament they just whip a whole baguette 🥖out and start breaking that thing like the last supper took place in a French café. I'm down for it though.

This week was a lot better out here. Those first couple days had me worried not gonna lie but I'm settling in just fine. They say Cádiz is a super hard area to find in, hasn't had a baptism in over a year, hasn't had missionaries consistently in even longer, the hardest Spanish to understand in the country, and where you face rejection all day. But I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm tryna have 7 months to just grind out here. Smooth sailing never made a seasoned sailor and I'm trying to get out of here having made some growth. Bring on the challenge!!

 John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." TOUCHDOWN JESUS!

Sunday night

 My alternative title was “a good deed gone wrong and other reasons I’m a bad wife”. That seemed a little wordy. 

But first let’s take a moment to admire the cutest little Darcy! 

So backstory: Kraytos (the dog Grace walked (before she was fired this last week)) lives in a house that I think smells ….off putting. It is very clean and nicely decorated she just uses some kind of air freshener or something scented that I really don’t like. When I would go with Grace I never went inside because I didn’t like the smell.

More backstory: Rob doesn’t like the way my car smells. Ever since we moved to Florida he’s thought it had a smell. 

I don’t smell it. 

He thinks I’m nose blind, which could be true. 

This isn’t normally a huge problem because almost all the time we take his truck if we are together.

Saturday he decided to fix my car and get rid of the smell “for me.” Which is nice but his fix included spraying a freshener in the vents. I’m  sure it doesn’t take much deductive reasoning to know exactly what I think it smells like, that’s right Kraytos’ house.  Now I have to drive with the windows open and every time I get in the car I feel mad. I know this was an act of kindness done with good intentions so I feel bad that I feel mad. 

I like to think that I am easy going and not difficult to get along with but sometimes that is just not the case. For example I do not like it if someone changes the settings in my car (and especially not the smell). I do not like when my phone upgrades. I do not like when someone folds the towels wrong and I have to redo them. I hate when people leave stuff on the dining room table and I really, really don’t like cupboards or drawers that are left ajar.  

We had a special fireside for youth and their parents tonight. A lot of the youth spoke and they did so well. We also had a beautiful musical number by the youth. It was so so nice. They all had the same topic, which is “trust in the lord”. They shared personal stories and insights from come follow me and really just did the nicest job. 

Yesterday we had a stake youth activity. I chaperoned. 

In the morning I went to Ann’s for a pampered chef party. I bought some insulated bowls that I hope will solve one of our entertaining problems. Usually when we have people over for dinner Rob will smoke. This is a huge hit and I love it because then I only have the sides and the dessert to worry about. The problem we have is timing. We can not seem to match up when dinner is ready. It’s frustrating when the food gets cold waiting for the slower parts of the meal to be done. So my hope is these bowls will solve the problem and if we don’t match up in dinner preparation I can put the sides into the bowls and they can stay warm until we are ready for them. 

I got an email from the mission president’s wife today. She was asking for a video of Ethan opening his mission call. She said they have found with their missionaries who are coming in after a reassignment the first two weeks are really hard. They have found that having a meeting a couple weeks in and watching the videos has really helped. I don’t know if Ethan is having a hard time or not but I was happy to send the video. (Luckily Hannah had one). I’m looking forward to talking to him tomorrow and hearing how his week was and how he is. 

Friday!!

 Hannah posted these yesterday and I clicked on the artist and was so touched by her work. It beautifully represents the Savior’s great love for each of us and I’m some cases his unreciprocated love. I felt myself be filled with gratitude as I studied the different images.

Darcy is still sick. In fact she had to go to the emergency room last night because she stopped breathing. So scary. Jenna and Clayton are doing everything right, still I wish I was there to help. To offer some time off for a nap, or a dinner, or to take the girls for the afternoon. 

I got an unexpected text today from my friend Becky! We texted back and forth and then decided a phone call would be better. We spent almost two hours catching up and it was so so fun to hear from her! Tonight I also had a good chat with Tori. Unexpectedly it turned into a very nice day!

Rob and I went to the movies tonight. We saw “The Lost City” and I laughed all through it. It was pretty ridiculous in some parts but also sweet, romantic and funny. 

sick

Poor baby Darcy is sick. She's only two months old and she has her first stuffy nose, can't breathe, illness.  Sick babies are the saddest. Also her hair is looking lighter to me!  I love getting pictures from the kids, these two with Marshall holding his little cousin and comforting her are so sweet.

Grace and I got our covid boosters on Tuesday.  When we got the first two neither of us had any adverse affects.  I expected the same thing but we both got sick. I was achy and my eyes felt hot and I had a headache all day.  Grace was worse.  When we came home(from school and work) we both went to bed.  Grace asked for dinner, so I got up and made it...then she didn't want to eat it.  I guess it was good though because there was dinner for Rob when he got home.  

Grace felt bad enough that she called Scott's dad (a doctor) and asked him for help (she's a good self advocate). He called in an anti nausea med for her since she'd been throwing up so then I went to Publix to pick it up.  Then I got to be her service dog and lay on her legs for awhile.  Poor Grace was crying and feeling terrible.  I felt poorly but not as bad as her so I was able to help and finally everything settled down and I went to bed for real. " Mom sick" is different than other people sick.  

side note: I didn't even want to get the shot but maybe it helps? and maybe it will be required? Lame.

 The last long while work has been challenging for Rob. I think the fighter plane to missiles switch has come with more challenges than he anticipated. Earlier this week Rob interviewed for a job at Pax.  We won't know for a couple of weeks if he gets an offer or not. There has been a lot of uncertainty for him at work with projects he's working on, and funding, and work awards.  This is super stressful for him, and he is also very proactive about making sure he has longevity in his career path.  From the outside it seems like this is the way defense work always is.  There are always bids for new projects, there is always R&D going on some of which results in contracts and some that doesn't, there is always a political element and there are always difficult bosses, difficult problems, and new challenges. From the outside though I can't really know what's going on.  I try to be supportive.  I try to be encouraging.  If he asks what I think I tell him to work hard and do his best and things will work out (which is my opinion) So right now there are three paths in front of him and he's weighing the options, seeing what happens, trying to be prepared for all of them. 

None of those options result in us living in a house in Spanish Fork (sadly).....  so it's not that I don't care, I do, but it's mostly on Rob's shoulders to make a decision.  I want Rob to be happy.  And I want him to pay the bills.  We have always moved where the work took us and we always will but I will say that I am tired of moving & I like living in a place and knowing people and having a history.  And an added complication this year is Grace is going to be a senior.  We have moved 3 kids before their junior year and that was tough.  Before the senior year seems even more brutal & Grace is the most stubborn of our children, and she's the baby so....

Day in day out

 Sunday we watched stake conference. We also bbq’ed burgers. It was the last day of spring break and it felt like it flew by!

Monday was good. We got a fun email from Ethan and got to talk to him in the evening. Grace and I went to Target and then R met us to go to UNO’s. When we got home Grace and I played a very fun, funny, and rousing game of Guess Who, then we did a seminary lesson. It was a nice evening. 

Today I had an observation. We are in the middle of a two week long writing workshop so it’s kind of boring to watch. I’ll hear back tomorrow. Hopefully it went well.

After work Grace and I went back to Target to get the Covid booster. That’s why we were there yesterday but we had to make an appointment. 

Mission update

 I’m currently writing this at what I guess is thursday night on a train, and I will get to that later, because things have been so hectic I wanna make sure I record everything I can of these first experiences here in Spain. 

Wednesday was the day I fly in. My flight left at 10am in Utah and I was getting picked up at 7am so I woke up at 4:50am to play basketball one last time and then got ready to go. The flight in Utah went to New York and we got there with a 4 hour layover. In New York we met up with some other missionaries and then feeling like the intrepid experienced travelers we are, we hopped on some random bus to another terminal got food and hopped back over. This excursion went fine and stoked our confidence in travelling that was smashed later that day.

We get on the flight in New York at 8pm and land in Madrid at what is technically like 9am thursday and then walk around as a group of 7 lemmings following the crowd but that works out, we get picked up, and off we go to the mission office. We had an orientation, met the president and filled out paper work until about 3:30pm. Then we learn where we are going.

My new companion is named Elder Whipple and he arrived on the flight with me and has been on a mission in Vegas for 8 months. We are both being sent in to whitewash the ENTIRE CITY OF CADIZ! This means we will have a complete reset out there with 2 new missionaries who have never even sniffed Spain before being thrown together, in an apartment alone, in a new city where we hopefully will be able to at least survive. As I'm writing this thursday and send emails on monday if you're reading this right now it's safe to assume we survived.

I didn't know anything about Cadiz before but apparently it is a coastal city in southern spain that is one of the oldest ports on the Mediterranean, the oldest city in Spain, and Old testament Tarshish from the story of Jonah. I'll probably have more info on Cadiz later too when it's not thursday but the tale continues right now. 

After announcing where everyone goes president whipped out the pizzas and said we were gonna eat and then end for the night, except the Cadiz boys who actually had to leave 5 minutes ago to catch their 4 hour train ride to Cadiz. What!!?! So we grabbed our stuff chucked it in a truck and then  had our keys and sim card given to us for our phone, got dropped off at the Atocha (main train station in madrid) and scuttled along. I have never had a more hectic and stressful 20 minutes of trying to navigate a busy train station in a foreign country. I have never really traveled by train before and it was a trip. It felt like a really small airport but now I'm on the way to Seville where we'll have to change trains and finish the ride to Cadiz and then somehow get from the train station to our piso (apartment). Reflecting on it we never really got instructions on that part so its another one where if you see this email it probably all worked out. Update: it did not go well. We spent 2 hours walking around with our suitcases holding half  a sticky note with an address written in a way I've never seen before and with what turned out to be the wrong address written on it. We had to call the missionaries who lived here before to find the place. But we got to ask some nice Spaniards for directions. Spoiler: the fact we had found nice spaniards in our first contacts this night would prove to be miraculous (but not in a cool way) however just being in the city and country was surreal and I would've walked around for 20 hours gleefully that night!

I've been wearing my suit for nearly 30 hours with about 2 hours of sleep in between and feel like a mess but así es for the arrival to Spain. 

So Cádiz. It is a super pretty city that is basically an island. Its like a weird península with little bits keeping it from being a proper island but its super beautiful. There are 2 parts, casco antiguo (ancient helmet) where the old historical things are including a very cool cathedral, a bunch of plazas, and countless little streets that are super tight with tall buildings creating a little urban canyon maze made up of random stores lining the street. It is super super cool and makes me so happy to be around. There is also supposedly an area that is where Christopher Colombus set sail from before crossing the ocean blue in 1492. And there are definitely areas where modern cruise ships are coming in and out of port every single day. It's almost like going on a vacation. The other side of town, and they are separated by a giant fort wall, is more modern. It has all the stores and stuff and is like a full on city topped off by the Cádiz fútbol stadium. That is also super cool. They beat Villarreal this week. I know who they played because we saw their team bus camped out in front of the hotel. Pretty cool. Fútbol is big out here. There are a million little concrete courts all over and kids running around with soccer balls all throughout the city. Tonight with él clásico we saw all the bars filled with people watching. Safe to say it wasn't the best for missionary work.

But on that strain apparently everyday is bad for missionary work here. You can't knock doors because all of the apartment buildings are super locked, and when we've tried to contact in the street 99.9% they are super cold and don't want to talk and not friendly. It has been ROUGH. Maybe it's just that me and my companion were given no instruction just chucked 4 hours away and haven't seen any other missionaries since so we have no idea how Spain missionary work works but we did not have a successful week. I also hear our part of Spain has the worst accents to understand of ths entire country. Spanish here us tough too. I have been adjusting to the accent though and things are better every day. It is so cool being surrounded by Spanish all day. 

Analysis after week 1: I already think 8 months will not be long enough to live in Spain I just love it so much. And 8 months of this type of missionary work will be so hard I just might be willing to go home after 8 more months 😬 As 

much fun as it would be to be a tourist here I'm not trying to spend 8 months of my mission as a tourist and that's what this week felt like. BUT i have a plan and it centers on the love of Jesus Christ that I have faith will make next week better and better. Jesus Christ is always the answer. I love that guy. Que majo!

This week's motto: Philippians 1:29 "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;"

Conference

 If yesterday felt like a Saturday today definitely felt Sundayesque. Rob is in the stake choir, and this weekend is stake conference so it was a busy day. We started with our new stake center’s ground breaking. I wasn’t excited to go but it was much nicer than I had expected. They had some really good talks and the choir did a nice job. We have lived here long enough that we know a lot of people when we go somewhere and it was fun to see friends and chat while we waited for the meeting to start. The choir had to be there very early so I had lots of chatting time. 

Melanie, me and Michelle

We went to Walmart after and did our grocery shopping then home for awhile. Rob had to go to the priesthood leadership to sing, I didn’t go.  Lastly we had the adult session which was also great. After they had milk and cookies, a fun surprise. 

Rob lending his bass to the choir

#14

 

Rob’s back. That means this is the first thing I see in the morning🤣

It felt like a Saturday today. In the morning we had a couple errands. Also this morning the Orange Observer came to interview Grace and Lincoln. The Observer saw them at the Horizon West Fest and wanted to meet them so now I guess they are local celebrities.

Grace and Belle went to Typhoon Lagoon. After that Linc and Lu went to Scott’s. Meanwhile Rob and I both worked. I had lesson planning to do sometime during the break and since Rob was working I decided to work too. I had planned to procrastinate until tomorrow night but it seemed like a good time to get it out of the way so we could enjoy the weekend.

This is my babysitting picture while Grace was gone. 

Rob and I went on a date. Mexican food followed by a stroll at Downtown Winter Garden. They had a Celtic festival going on so was fun, and we ate ice cream and looked at shops. The place was packed with people, which was also fun. I like to people watch..and dog watch, everyone had dogs with them it seemed. 

We have a fundraiser coming up, I’m very proud of my awesome flyer 😅

Lastly I saw this pretty picture today and it reminded me of summer. Can’t wait! The winters in Orlando Florida are brutal. …emotionally, it’s hard to go to work everyday when the sun is shining!

Lastly lastly tooth #14 while much much better is not perfect…hopefully it just needs a little time.

Happiness

 Today was a good day. I woke up feeling happy. Lilly and Lettie had spent the night and I had fallen asleep to the sound of the 3 girls chatting downstairs. 

Ethan landed in Madrid and had sent a quick text letting us know he was there. I’m delighted for his opportunity to serve and live in Spain. His Spanish is very good already and he will be glad to use it full time. 

I made pancakes and sausage for the girls and we visited while I cooked and while we ate. 

After that I made a grocery trip for dinner tonight and then I went to the dentist (3rd time this week for those who are counting). I had a very positive experience, it didn’t hurt at all and I enjoyed seeing Austin and am very, very glad to have my tooth fixed. 

On the drive home I drove thru Wendy’s for a Diet Coke and for the second time in as many weeks they gave it to me for free. This made me very happy, of course. 

I talked to Anna on my way home, on my way into the house, while I changed my clothes, and while I drove to the temple. That was fun. We don’t talk as often as I’d like. 

It was a bright and sunny day. 

The temple was lovely and peaceful. 

When I got home I worked on dinner, we had the missionaries over and ate St Patricks day food. They liked the food and we had a good conversation. 

Rob came home from his trip. We are happy to have him home. 

So that’s it. A nice day.

I am generally happy but today I wanted to make a note of it.

Breaky break

I woke up this morning and my tooth barely hurt. So yay!

Then I spent time in bed reading. 

I went to Bahama Breeze with two new friends, Camille moved into the ward 7 months ago and Alecia 3-4 months ago. We had a super nice time. We sat on the patio and it was breezy and nice. I had the stuffed plantains and they were delicious. We had lots to talk about and I was really happy I had such a great idea;) (to invite them to lunch).

 After I went to Epcot to check out the flower and garden offerings. 

Grace had a full day as well. She and Lilly hung out all day, they made banana bread and friendship bracelets.

Then Lettie and Scott joined them and the four left to go resort hopping. One of the perks of living in Orlando!

Ethan is in the air. He layed over at JFK and just took off for Madrid. 

Root canal

 I went for my root canal today. It was at an endodontist’s office  that  only does root canals. He had quite an assembly line. Hopefully he’s good at what he does. I had a necrotic root so now I’m on an antibiotic and it definitely hurts less and differently. He said it would take a few days so 🤞

Grace and I had plans to go to a Disney water park but that changed and instead we watched movies. We watched Turning Red, Shrek, and a hallmark movie. 

In Mosiah 25 we learn about the people of Mosiah who didn’t know how to feel. They were sad and happy and amazed and anguished and all kinds of things all at once. That’s how life is. I am happy and grateful that my tooth is getting better and that modern dentistry is way better than medieval dentistry. I am delighted it’s spring break and enjoying time with Grace. I am happy for FaceTime and texting that lets me keep in touch with those I love. I am over the moon that Ethan is flying to Spain tomorrow and excited for the wedding. I am sad my family lives far apart. I mourn for the Ukraine and the rest of the troubles in the world far and wide, big and small. There are so many struggles in the world.

Shrek thinks ogres are like onions?? Well so are people!

It’s pouring rain tonight. Lightening, thunder. The cats are in and Grace and Lincoln are sleeping but I’m laying awake listening. I’m tired, not particularly troubled by the weather, but just laying awake. I just read that temple operations are going to be phasing back to normal! It probably won’t be overnight but I can’t wait until we don’t have to make reservations and the temples can operate at capacity! I wanted to go this week but there wasn’t any availability. 

Espana

 

And for the best news of the day Ethan flies to Spain on Wednesday!!! He’ll get to finish his mission there and I am so excited for him. 

G.R.A.C.E

Gorilla research and conservation effort, also the name of the two year old gorilla Grace and I love to visit. We went to AK today and it was awesome. 

The weather was so nice. We rode flights of passage. We shared a plate of ribs. Then we went to Disney Springs to get our free pass holder magnets. 

We rode the Riverboat to Port Orleans to walk around and eat Mickey shaped beignets. 

Then we rode back in the dark, which was fun. It’s fun to see all the lights dancing on the water and to hear the bugs and birds. I’d say it was really an awesome day, despite the fact that I went to the dentist and he is sending me to an endodontist tomorrow:( I am excited to have a root canal done so my mouth won’t hurt but I wanted it done today…and I don’t really want to go and do it.

 

Rob flew to CA to work, so he’ll get to spend some time with our cute little Ezra this week.