2020 recap

Here's a recap of 2020 for us.

photo credit Rachel Lacy

As Charles Dickens wisely penned, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." This year has been unforgettable because of the contrasts. Each month has been filled with highs and lows. I haven't chronicled each of them, but in a nutshell:

January was awesome because K went with me to Universal Studios in Florida. This girl has read the entire series of Harry Potter books like seven times. That's a lot of reading. For her birthday last December, she got one huge gift: a one day ticket to this amazing place. (I'm glad we seized the opportunity during the winter. If we had waited, it would not have happened!) Just for context on how much she loves HP, after we moved to Texas, I bribed her with getting her ears pierced. She got her ears pierced when she was 9 and 3/4.

We have an awesome memory for January, but most of the month was really lame for me, because plantar fasciitis was awful. It took months for my foot to heal, and finally all these months later I can walk without worrying about my foot. But the lesson here: healing takes time. Life is filled with wonderful things, but challenging things too.

February was fun because S was part of a massive Eagle Scout Court of Honor. This deserves an entire post of its own, but his Eagle project was for Kyle's Place, a home for teenagers. Their parking lot was in need of fresh paint, so the Scouts restriped it.

photo credit Clairissa Cooper

March was awesome because A loved her birthday and the simple, joyful celebration at home. And then quarantine.

April was awesome because of Easter, but lame because I had a kid at Children's Medical for EIGHT long days. I'm happy to report that appendicitis is treatable even when the appendix has ruptured. But it was traumatic for K and trying for us; the silver lining was the outpouring of love from my village. My friends brought cookies and dinners and visited us in the hospital. I was truly humbled and blessed at being the recipients of such love and prayers.

May was lame because I was feeling super chubby. I decided to try a modified version of Mark Fuhrman's Eat to Live program. You can survive anything for twenty days, right? Well the main take-away here is that I needed to increase the quantity of fruits and vegetables and beans in my life.

June I can't even remember. At least we have a pool.

July was hot. We cancelled our trip and didn't attend a family reunion in California. That was lame and I made N miserable for the whole week we weren't there.

August: Norm and I celebrated Twenty years together!!! Also in August we finally had a glimmer of hope that school might actually start, and the kids and I decided to drive to Utah. It was awesome to have a teenager help drive, wonderful to see the mountains again, and we had a lovely time with extended family and a handful of friends. If you're reading this and I didn't visit you in August, please don't take offense. We had a very short bucket list and only a few days before we had to return for band camp. Remember that saying about opposition in all things? It was a serious bummer that the wildfires in Colorado wrecked our plan to see my aunt on the return trip. I guess you can't have everything.

September was virtual school, and when "in-person" began, my schedule catapulted into crazy. I feel like a ticket agent on a ferris wheel, because I just send people out the door and greet them when they return, all day long. But I love it, because I've had time to hang out with my kids one on one in ways that were impossible in a different season. One week I took K to lunch with me. I gave her a $10 budget and told her she was the boss. So she decided to eat leftovers at home with me for lunch, and spend the entire budget at Swirl, trying lots of goodies in their baked goods case. A girl after my own heart.

October

C finally got to take the SAT, and he did well, and he turned 18. My biggest kid is almost all grown up! If you want to read my thoughts on my baby being this big, you can read here.

November

Happy Thanksgiving! I love that social media turned lovely for a week with #GiveThanks. On our Thanksgiving card we chose one word: GRATEFUL. We are so grateful for a roof over our heads, for food on the table, and for health and strength.

December

I spoke in church last week; here's my take on Isaiah 51:3 and how the Lord transforms a Desert into a beautiful garden. "For the LORD shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places, and make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."

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Leaving Utah

Norm and I are at a crossroads. It's time for our family to take the next step. But first a quick trip down memory lane. We first came to Utah sixteen years ago. We were young and cute and pregnant with baby #1. Norm had been accepted as a student. I had a lot of fun during my first two years of college, and I imagine the admissions board looked at my transcript and said something like, "yeah right!" (More details about getting a D in organ lessons over here .) So my first BYU application was rejected. They let me attend classes as a visiting student, and one day an admissions officer called my phone. It was a landline, and we were living in BYU married student housing. He had two questions for me: Is your husband a full time student? Yes. And you live on campus? Yes. End of interview. A few days later I got my acceptance letter. We finally graduated together in 2004. We bought our first home in Lehi, not too far from Willow Creek middle schoo

believe

These four books are either written by or about some of my favorite authors of all time. Isaiah , Prophet, Seer and Poet, by Victor Ludlow. One semester during college we did a deep dive into this poet's literary works found in the Old Testament. Someday if I get bored, I want to learn Hebrew and read his stuff in the original language. Neal A Maxwell is another favorite writer. My favorite book that he's written is called All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, and is a masterpiece on human suffering and why it's necessary in the refining process. Highly recommend. The first time I read through it, it took about a year because I could only digest about a paragraph a day. believe is such a fantastic collection of quotes on hope. Love it. Eliza The Life and Faith of Eliza R Snow, by Karen Lynn Davidson and Jill Mulvay Derr. I love this lady so much and she's my favorite poet and pioneer woman. This biography is beautifully written. My favorite poem or quote by

2021 Christmas Card

December 2021 Dear Friends and Family, We love you and and miss y'all that are far away in WA and UT and other places!! This year we skipped our tradition of sending a Thanksgiving card and opted for a virtual Christmas card instead. It saved a ton of stamps and envelopes, but I definitely miss the glitter and sparkle. We hope you can feel our love even through a simple email or blog post. One tradition we couldn't skip was our gratitude tree, where the little leaves are a list of blessings. We are so thankful for God's goodness and mercy every day. Here's the highlight reel: Cade graduated, made lots of Domino's pizza, read probably a thousand books, and is currently living in Provo, UT as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He's heading to Helsinki, Finland in January. We are so proud of him and his hard work, we miss him but are excited for his opportunity to learn and serve. Shad spent a zillion hours with Marcus Ban

Thorns and gifts

We've been reading in the New Testament as a family lately, and Paul has some great advice and counsel that's still applicable today. In his letter to the church in Corinth, he talks about a thorn in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. It's kind of a moot point to speculate what Paul's particular thorn might have been, but I've often wondered. More importantly: what is God's purpose in giving his children such difficult stuff to learn? Why does life have to be so hard?

One More Syllable

It's been a year. One year ago we moved to Texas. One year ago I started asking people to call me Kristina instead of Kristy, thus adding one more syllable to my name. August is our anniversary. Last year we celebrated that anniversary by adding a cool new memory. That day we drove up to our house, found the keys and walked inside with the kids. We spent the night in our house without any stuff. Isn't it funny how places seem bigger when they're unfurnished? And that pool in the backyard? We knew nothing about pools and maintenance but just jumped in carefree. It was great. It was like being in a hotel but with room for everybody to spread out. Maybe it's time to explain the name change. For me, I had decided before moving to Texas that I wanted to quit using Kristy as my nickname. It served me well for many years and I still like it, but it's mainly for simplicity. When I'd first meet somebody, maybe I'd mumble or maybe I don't speak clearly enou

Twenty + One Month

You know how life gets kinda messy sometimes? My version of messy looks like this: Four kids including a teenager learning to drive; a kindergartner learning to get herself ready in the morning; a senior learning about adulting; a middle schooler learning to ride her bike to electives every other day, a mortgage husband's career VIRTUAL PLUS church service pandemic, civil unrest, election year my own personal need for friends and connection even when my schedule looks like a revolving door Our big anniversary was last month and we were lucky enough to celebrate together this past weekend. We managed to sneak away for 24 hours. First I need to give credit where credit is due. There was a very generous friend who volunteered to parent the children during our 'Nelson marriage offsite.' And there was a generous benefactor who donated Marriott points to spring for the fancy room. I won't mention either party by name, but thanks to their generosity we had a great time. I'

Happy Fall Y'all

Over the past year I've noticed a lot of fun and interesting things about Texas. Call it culture shock or assimilation, but here's an outsider's view of my new home. Obviously I like saying "y'all," and I find it quite handy. From the vocabulary to the climate, from the school traditions to the local hotspots, I'm enjoying this new land even if I poke a little fun at some of the quirks. One of my favorite things about Texas is the people. They are nice. The general default mode is to show kindness, warmth and hospitality. People go out of their way to help each other. I've seen this over and over again. The foundation of this town is built on people who are genuinely decent and friendly. Language: I love the west Texas drawl (or is it east Texas?). At the elementary school, the sweet secretary lady is the nicest. When my son delivered something to his sister one day, she said, "Thank you baby," in a motherly, sweet way.

It doesn't matter where you live, but how...

Thoughts on Houses This is my first post from Texas. The blog lives on. August was a whirlwind, September we started settling in, and now it's October. Most of the boxes are unpacked. Just last week I found the box that had cookbooks in it, and that makes me pretty happy. I still haven't made whole wheat bread or cookies since we got here, but maybe I'll do that soon. We spent a lot of time this summer thinking about houses, getting ready to sell our house in Traverse Mountain (in Lehi, on the northern edge of Utah County), and brainstorming on what we'd need in a house in Texas. On the way to Texas, we drove south through Colorado and spent the night at Mesa Verde. We found the Far View Lodge inside the park and stayed up high on the mesa. The night sky was pitch black away from the city lights, and the weather was at least ten degrees cooler up high. I loved it. The next morning we learned a lot about the Native Americans who lived there. A man ga

Meek Warhorse

Norm's last church talk/sermon in Utah before moving to Texas July 2018, Lehi UT, Traverse Mountain 8th Ward Hello brothers and sisters, it’s my privilege to speak to you today. I guess this is our good-bye address even though we haven’t moved yet, which I’m taking as a personal sign that the bishopric can’t wait for the next family to move in. (that was a joke, guys) In my remarks today, I’m going to cover an alternative definition of meekness that really struck a chord with me. Once I’ve introduced this idea, I’m going to share my supporting argument for meekness as a strength, and then I’m going to talk about how I believe we can develop this form of meekness in our lives. As Kristy told you, our topic is “being meek and lowly of heart” which, in the terms I normally think of meekness or lowliness, is a subject that does not come naturally to me. I am not naturally what I consider to be meek, quiet or, as Kristy would tell you, all that well behaved. While I

Companions - Notes on Home MTC

November 18, 2021 Most people know that missionaries run around in pairs. Some of my neighbors have seen this version of a companionship lately. Let me explain. During Covid, the church did a pivot and changed the missionary training experience from in-person to virtual. During this process they realized there were a few cool benefits that were worth continuing even after the pandemic. So the new version of missionary training begins at home with an Elder or Sister doing full-time training with a companion online. Then they transition to in person after a few weeks. My oldest son began on November 8 with training at home. When they are in class or working together, they are meeting and making friends with other missionaries in their district. My son's cohort has four young women and four other young men, for a total of nine kids all going to Finland in January. BUT when they're not actively working or studying together, I'm his companion . All of the places I'd no

Notes for my sister