Farewell

And just like that, it was time for Chase to become Elder Preslar and begin his training at the Missionary Training Center. As always, time dragged its little feet until suddenly it was sprinting.

Chase began his MTC training on Monday, September 19. The day before that, he had the opportunity to give a talk in church. Back in my day, (cue creaky grandma voice), the church meeting for a departing missionary was called a Farewell, and the family of that missionary took over the entire meeting and planned it according to their wishes. All the talks and music and everything. Those meetings could get a little out of hand - the main problem being that the focus became the missionary and not what it should have been, Jesus Christ. So those farewells have been minimized to just the missionary speaking, plus whoever else the bishop asks. And...our bishop asked Troy and me to speak with Chase. So it kind of was still like an old-timey farewell. Only we tried to not focus on Chase, but share spiritual messages. I felt really good about the thoughts we shared, and I was especially proud of Chase, who was very nervous about writing a talk, but did it, and did a terrific job. 

I was incredibly touched by the number of people who showed up to support him. Both of my brothers and their families came, as well as all of Troy's brothers and mom. We had so many friends there too. Chase's friends from Aspen Grove, the Mayfields, Tuckfields, Tates, Irvines, Pehrsons, Behunins, Grovers, Burnetts...so many dear dear people.

It was actually quite humorous - this meeting just happened to take place on the same day that I was released as the Relief Society President of the ward. My whole presidency got rearranged, plus the entire Young Women Presidency and Sunday School Presidency, plus several other separate callings as well. We were all giggling about how many people were standing up to get recognized, thanked, released, called, sustained - we looked like horses on a carousel. I call days like that the snow globe days. I was very emotional about being released - so relieved and also sad and also grateful for the good experiences I had.

I'm posting a couple of photos taken from the stand. This is not usually something that happens during church, but the last speaker was our Stake President and dear friend Ben. He asked everyone in the room to raise their hand if they loved Chase. I should have taken a photo then. But I missed it. However, Ben told me to take this photo so Chase could always remember how many people were loving and supporting him. I also love the photo of Chase, Troy and me on the stand after the meeting was over.

After our church meeting all the visiting guests headed to my house (which I had been frantically cleaning all week) so we could have some food together. I set up in the backyard, even trying to screen the neighbor's yard from view for a little privacy. It worked ok. 

We had tasty toasted ham and Swiss sandwiches, a big salad, and lots of brownies and apple cake. 

Once some friends began to head home, it was time for Chase to be set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mission time was officially beginning. 

What a tender experience to gather in the living room, and have Chase's father, uncles and dear church leaders lay their hands on his head while Ben set him apart and gave him a very sweet blessing. I will always remember how prominently Matthew was included in the blessing, promising Chase the help and presence of his brother as his own special companion. He was given many special blessings that I'm grateful for.

After the blessing, most people departed for their homes. However, because both of my brothers had come from far away, they lingered the longest, and we just gathered in a circle to talk for a couple of hours. I love my brothers so much.

Finally our house emptied out. It was a fantastic day and I couldn't have been happier, or more grateful, about the love and joy of the day. We of course had one final movie night and I bet you'll never guess what it was! Of course, Jurassic Park. We connected the tv to the big speakers and snuggled up to enjoy it one last time. Or so we thought. More on that later.

Photogenic

We have never hired a photographer to take pictures of our family before. Troy knows his way around a camera and is a talented photographer, so we always use a tripod and have him do the job. However, with Chase leaving us, and with getting to know a new mother in the neighborhood who is trying to develop her photography business, we decided to hire her to capture some photos of us. I'm so glad we did. She did a fantastic job. 

We had been meaning to get this on the calendar for the entire summer, but things kept coming up that made us reschedule. Finally Chase only had a week left before starting the MTC so with that deadline we managed to make it happen. Sunday the 11th was the day, and we met up at Brigham Young Park downtown, which turned out to be a wonderful place to meet, especially with the lovely evening light and setting sun. I couldn't be happier with how the photos turned out. 

I'm so grateful to have these keepsakes!

 

 

It Actually Worked

You may recall that in the early spring Troy and I put quite a bit of effort into removing a bunch of old  yucky dirt from our side yard in hopes of having a more successful garden there. It's been a long time since we have had much thrive or produce well in that dead soil. We took out literal tons of dirt, and tried to pep up the soil with our own compost and the goods found on the floor of our chicken run. Troy tilled it thoroughly and in early May I planted several kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, some herbs, tomatillos and some giant pumpkins. 

At first I was really quite disappointed. Nothing seemed to be taking off or really flourishing. We decided that maybe we just hadn't pepped up the soil enough and would have to try again next year. I did add a little organic fertilizer to the plants, which smelled the same as the chicken poop, so it had to be good, right? Also, we had an epiphany about watering. For a while we were watering a little almost every day. But then Troy tried something new. He must have gotten sick of holding the hose over the sagging pumpkin vines. So he set up a sprinkler and let it run for a good 20 minutes. The ground got well and truly soaked. And we didn't have to water again for 3 or 4 days. 

Around the time of the watering change and additional fertilizer, something kicked in. Maybe the roots of the plants finally dug deep enough to hit gold, but about mid-summer, everything kind of exploded. All except this one tomato plant which just stubbornly refused to either grow or die. It just stayed like a green twig sticking out of the ground. But everything else flourished before our very eyes. Every morning it was so fun to go outside and see how far the pumpkin vines had reached and entwined themselves with everything from the fence to the tree 20 feet away, from the neighbor's brick wall to the other plants. We had to fight them off a little bit. The tomato plants were so dense and heavy with fruit that they basically flopped over on themselves until they had vines trailing out alongside the pumpkins. Cucumbers began to grow and you had to find them quickly before they grew as large as runaway zucchini. So delightful. Plus, we have sunflowers that reseed themselves in the area every year and there were masses of them just towering over the garden. Talk about a happy place.

Not everything went perfectly - the summer was so hot that the actual pumpkins on the vines would die and rot before they got bigger than a cantaloupe. And though there were dozens and dozens of tomates, they wouldn't budge from their state of greenness. We had a few wars with grasshoppers, but luckily we have chickens on our side and they seemed to clear them up. On the downside, they also cleared up all of my fresh herbs. They loved the parsley, oregano, thyme and tarragon. I guess I'll plant the herbs on the other side of the fence next year. 

Happily, as soon as August ended and the air started to cool off just a little, the pumpkins were able to survive and we now have four fat ones looking beautifully orange all nestled in the vines. Almost time to harvest those. And the tomatoes did start to turn red and yellow and it's been many weeks now since I have started gobbling them up on a daily basis. My favorite is either tomato toast with mayo, then slices of the delicious brandywine variety, topped with an over-easy egg, or a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes in the middle. I'll never get sick of them, and every time I pluck one of the warm beauties from the vine, bring it inside and slice into it, I know I'm summoning the spirit of my father to come enjoy them with me. Tomatoes were his favorite too.

I'm so happy. Gardening makes me so happy. I wish I knew more about it, and I have many goals of becoming a really good composter (why does decomposing waste make me feel giddy?) and becoming an expert in growing food that sustains the family. I might be a tad idealistic. But seriously, being around growing things just lifts the soul! 

This was the first tomato of the year, which Troy picked and ate. But not before he posted a photo of it on instagram making reference to a certain celebrity's back side.  

One of the pumpkins, this one actually hanging from the fence. I have no idea how heavy it will get before it just falls off.

The stubborn twig of a tomato plant never did die, and just this week has started showing blossoms.

Below shows the plants early in the summer, just when they were starting to show real growth. I'm sure this is so boring for most people but it was the most exciting gardening summer I've ever had!

And last of all, our jungle, complete with ripening tomatoes as big as grapefruit. 

 

Bingeworthy

Once we got through the summer and the girls started school, it was suddenly September. Wait a second, September was the month when Chase would begin the MTC! It was here?? Way back in June when he opened his call, it seemed like September wouldn't ever actually happen. But happen it did!

We had talked a lot about one last family vacation, a getaway before Chase got away from us. We really couldn't decide where to go and even thought we might not find a time at all. But I realized that we could do sort of a quick stay-cation not too far away and just enjoy time together. 

The kids were all game for the idea, and we asked them what kind of stuff they might enjoy doing. Chase really only had a couple of weeks left and so we let him make the first suggestions. You know what he wanted more than anything? To watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy one more time. This is something that we do every year over the Christmas Holidays, starting on Christmas night. And since he won't be with us this year he really wanted to watch them one last time.

We ended up finding a cute little AirBnB condo close to Jordanelle Reservoir with a kitchen, enough beds, and a very large t.v. Just so you know, it isn't as easy to cram in 12 hours of movies (plus the Utes' season opener game) into three days. And also leave the condo a couple of times so you don't go absolutely insane.

I should have taken more pictures, but I was too busy trying to watch a LOT of movies.

It really was fun - the place was cute and comfortable. It had a nice kitchen, and I made almost all of our meals there. We got out a couple of times each day to catch our breath between discs. We went to Kamas one day in hopes of grabbing lunch at a cute little diner there. However, we forgot that it was Labor Day weekend and the diner had a 45 minute wait, even for take out food. In desperation, we drove around looking for something that wasn't similarly crowded. The only thing we found was a food truck selling corn dogs. No line? Good enough for us! And guess what. Those corn dogs were SO GOOD. (It didn't hurt that there was a soda truck next to it.)

We also took some time to drive through Midway - what a lovely little town in that gorgeous valley. We headed to Cascade Springs to wander the trails that ran over and around a hillside spilling with water. 

 

One evening I took Chase and Romney on a drive to Park City, where we walked a nature trail that was the dividing line between a shopping and entertainment center and a wildlife refuge. So to one side of us were open fields with birds and open skies and marshy grounds. And on the other side was a Cafe Rio, coffee shops, and many folks out listening to live music on a lawn. It was kind of funny. We went far enough along the path to find a tunnel running under the freeway where we found some signage that seemed kind of funny even if it was a good warning of oncoming bikers.

We all love LOTR so much - it's so fun to quote the thing all the way through and both loving it and laughing through it. Chase couldn't stop mimicking Gandalf - with his own twist. "He's left you Baguette!" So many laughs. And we really did squish up together very comfortably. 

The truth is, we could just as easily binge-watched this beloved trilogy at home for less money, but there was something special about sequestering ourselves and just soaking it all in. It really did make for a great memory. Especially since we hit Chick's Cafe in Heber for breakfast on the way home. (Yay for scones.)

And on the subject of final events before The Departure, a week later our family went to the Jordan River Temple together to participate in Baptisms for the Dead. That may sound creepy. It's wonderful, actually. Click HERE to find out more.

Chase had to show off some of his new missionary duds. 

I'm grateful we had the chance to spend these times together as a family. We all recognized that things for us would be changing soon, and no one grumbled or complained. Just had a great time together.