Empty Nesters. Three Months with the nest empty here is what we are all doing. October 26, 2018

It's been three months since we moved our daughter to college.  

There is still a lot of adjusting going on in our little house. 

We did take our first weekend get away vacation out of the state.

We went to Newport Beach in California.  It is the first vacation 

we have taken that did not include visiting some place we used to live. 

We did take our daughter with us, but it was a treat for all of us.

We have a new joke with the kids being little "birds" out of the nest.

Our daughter "Chick" may have left the nest but comes back often because

the worms at home are much tastier than at school.  Just when I get used to her

being away she comes home for a visit.  We see her pretty much every week. 

I'm the sounding board for all her stress and issues in life and I think my hair is getting grey.

I think this college child is stressing me out!  I had a good friend tell me that the 18 year old 

brain is not totally developed yet and be prepared for them to do things that make no sense.   

So far we have all survived these moments, and I think she has learned some good lessons.

She is doing really good in college, getting great grades and becoming more independent.

She has big dreams and I hope she gets to do them all. 

Our Boy "Chick", well he flew south of the boarder and has yet to come home. 

If the count down clock is right he has 173 days left of his mission. 

He sound good in his e-mails.  He has told me a few things he wants to do when he comes home.

He wants to go to the doctor to make sure he doesn't have parasites.  He is like me 

a bit of a hypochondriac. He wants to get back to work so he has money for college.

He wants to go to the grocery store I work at so he can see all the American food.

He wants to have a Mexican dinner night where he makes us Mexican food.  I can't wait!

My husband keeps busy with work and working on old cars with his friends. 

These are two of his friends and one of the cars they are working on.  One of my husbands

very good friends it dying of cancer.  It is heart breaking.  He and his friends have been helping

this friend finish this car.  We all just pray it is done so he can drive it before his battle with 

cancer is over.  We just don't know how much longer he has. 

We continue to do weekly day dates.  Last week we took a drive through the Butter field Canyon.

Thanks to my phone GPS.  It was a beautiful fall day, with great surprises. 

My husband was good and stopped the car often so I could take a photos.  I have a blog post in the works about this trip. My husband has said that he loves our day dates.  I think it has helped him learn to relax, to not always be working and he just seems happier than he has been in a long time. It has

also helped us to build a stronger relationship.

I just finished reading this book. Susanna Kearsley has to be my most 

favorite author!  Most of her books have some type of family history theme to them, and

for some strange reason I can connect a lot of my family history to the books she writes.

Which I just find cool.  This book takes place in the United State near  the time of the 

French and Indian war.  It talks about how settlers went back and forth between 

New England and Canada.  Many of my ancestors did this.  So it was cool to 

learn more about this time period.  It also helped me to get back into doing my family history, I've

taken a lot of months off.

There was a night at some point where my husband and I sat and looked at old photos.

It was just so sweet to remember all the fun little kid years.  One thing I did when my kids were little was print out one Halloween photo every year and buy a Halloween themed frame and put them in it.

I looked forward to decorating for Halloween because my decorations this year

was all the photo's of my children throughout the years.

So if you have young children this might be something you might want to do.

I also had a fall themed puzzle made through Shutterfly.  I'm still putting it together.

I can tell you I think the quality was really good.  

I got lazy with the making a soup every week.  This is one of my favorite soups.

It's tomato basil and the nice thing was it was made fresh at Harmons grocery store.

Anything made at Harmons is worth the price, it's so good. 

Next time I'll have a recipe that I made. 

Well we are all surviving the empty nest and the kids are doing good. I think that is all you 

can ask for in this crazy world. 

If you have sent your kids off to college or on a mission, or just out into 

the world how is it going?

G.G.

Mom of a Missionary, Emails from Mexico. October 22, 2018

A new record!

Hello Family and Friends! Elder Bowlby here.

This week we went to work on completing the goals set by the Mission president and Apostles, and that goal is to talk with as many people possible per day. 

I remember that in the early stages of my mission, when we talked with maybe 40 or 50 people a week, it was considered a lot of work!

This week, we achieved the goal that the Apostles have asked! We have talked with 140 people this week. 141 to be exact. The only challenging part is keeping up with this goal and doing it again this week!

We're talking with so many people because we know that the time is coming close in which Christ will come again to Earth. We have to work hard to prepare the way for him!

My time is running short! I've completed 18 months in the mission as of the 18th. I have just six more months to go. Uh oh! And here I was thinking the mission would take forever. It's going by really fast!

I'm doing all I can to really put forth my best effort in this last stretch. I'm going to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength!

Hey, Mexico got pretty chilly this Tuesday! The temperature dropped from it's usual 90 degrees to about 60 degrees. Maybe you all think that's nice and refreshing, but I was frozen solid! (and caught a cold and a fever!) They say that here in Mante it shouldn't get much colder, but I guess I need to be more prepared! Everyone was laughing because they assumed I was accustomed to the cold, but after months of 100 degree heat, 60 degrees is too cold!!

Here's a scripture that I really liked recently. It talks about how a prophet of God named Alma was able to recieve personal revelation... and he tells us how we can too!
Alma 5:45-46

45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

We can learn the truth of all things by diligent fasting and prayer. This is the only way we'll be able to discern the many voices and influences that will be coming our way in future days. 

I love you all! I'm always happy to read your stories and see you're doing well. I hope that you all have a great week, and also that you keep strong!
Elder Bowlby

So I have learned that my son will be home close to the beginning of April.  He said that missionaries with travel visa's get sent home about 3 weeks before their visa expires.  So really he has about 5 months left.  Wow!  It seems like the time is flying by.

Summer Bucket List, Day Date 13. The Red Butte Gardens, Water Wise Garden Sept. 13, 2018

My husband and I went to the Red Butte gardens again as a date.

The Garden in huge and trying to see everything in one day is not really 

possible.  At least in the summer when it sometimes gets too hot to stay outside.

I think this statue is a Rain Bird.

I'll have to read more about it on our next visit.

I've decided I need to buy a membership to this garden.

I want to see how it changes through the seasons.

Plus it is open all year long.  I wish I lived closer to it.

I think they might move this gnome around

the garden. 

I thought this rose was just beautiful.  I've never 

seen petals like this before.

We spent most of our time walking the water conservation Garden.

In Utah this is something I think needs to be looked at more.

I would love to be able to make my yard more water friendly.

pretty much it looks dead all summer.

It was a beautiful day, and this garden is up higher

so you see some amazing views.

I love the pots of cactus plants.

What I love about this garden is pretty much 

every plant is labeled. 

This plant smelled so nice.

It was the last week of the Lego Sculpture display.  

I was glad I could see them again. 

Well if you are into gardens and haven't checked this garden out you need to.

G.G.

My Weekly Garden Walk. Week 23, September 5, 2018. Fall is starting to come to the garden

Fall is coming to the gardens, there are different

berries for the birds. 

I will have to find out what tree these grow on.

All the potted plants have been changed to fall themes.

I really like the ornamental pepper plants.

I like all the different grasses that are in bloom right now.

The Caterpillar still has zinnias around it.

I'm not sure what the purple flowers are but they are pretty.

This is looking toward the point of the mountain from

the stairs going to the vista mound garden.

The wart hog.

The vine plants that they planted grew to be huge in 

the fragrance garden.

I think these might be little crab apples.

These flowers are at the bottom of the Italian Garden.

I think this might be a fig tree.

A close up of a Zinnia flower. 

A Zinnia flower opening.

The ornamental pepper plants.

Now that I'm an Empty Nester and don't

have anyone needing me, I take time

to just sit in the garden somewhere and read

from my Mindfulness magazines. 

I like slowing life down.

Looking out across the garden from the main entrance.

There were huge fires in Utah this year, you can 

almost see the smoky haze in the sky.

Another week of walking done.  I will so miss

walking here when they close in October.

Do you have a favorite place to walk? 

G.G.