Heading to Utah 

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My oldest niece, Melanie, is getting married this coming week and I wouldn’t miss it for the world!! 

I have such fond memories of little her (she was 4) when I lived with my brother and sister in law while doing an internship at a school out in Utah. I can’t believe she’s all grown up and marrying the man of her dream!

We decided to combine her wedding with a visit out to see Gabe at BYU-I. He was home just in mid April in between semesters for a week, but a weekend in his territory sounded fun!

We booked a Friday night flight to SLC. What a fiasco getting to that flight! Traffic getting to airport, nightmare parking issues (I decided we would try a new lot since the price of where we usually park had doubled! Never again!!! Will find new options.) Long, and inefficient lines in security. And to top it all off, Rob was somehow preselected for some security check which meant he couldn’t check in ahead of time and had to be pulled aside and all bags fully searched! We decided we better separate so I could run ahead and get  to the gate. By the time I cleared customs and entered the “duty free store” (forced to walk through it before entering the gate area in Toronto airport), they were calling “final boarding call” for our flight!!! I ran!!!! I got there while there were 3 people still lined up to board and luckily Rob had raced too and came running up! Thank goodness he’s a runner!!!
So we made it. And settled in for our flight. Sitting separately of course, since airlines like to now ensure you aren’t together – unless you pay. Which we didn’t even have the option to since Rob wasn’t allowed to check in early….

Anyhow.

We ended up landing early which I was super excited about because that night, my nephew Tanner received his mission call and was opening it!! My fondest memory of Tanner was him climbing into Zach’s crib during nap time and the two of them jumping like monkeys (Tanner is a year older than Zach). I can’t believe all these boys have grown too!!!

By way of background, in the LDS church young men and women have the opportunity to serve a full time mission for 2 years. It’s completely voluntary and is a combination of religious teaching and humanitarian work. You submit your “papers” (application)  and then are “assigned” where you go. You don’t get to choose where to go (although you do let them know your interest in serving in a foreign country, learning a new language etc). It’s a very exciting time to open “your call” and see where you are going to be for two years!

So, I was super excited to hear that Tanner’s call had arrived by mail and they were having an “opening party” that night! We raced to collect baggage, pick up our rental and headed to my brother and sister in law’s! We didn’t tell them we were coming, so it was a fun surprise.

However, I am super bummed I was not on my game to take a lot of pictures! I was caught up in the whirlwind of the dozens of friends that arrived (how does he know so many people?!?) Unfortunately even Judy was a mother mess and has limited pics too:( 

A few were taken: Rob with now giant Drew and me with Judy, wondering how our children can be growing up so fast (it’s a crazy time for her: one kid on a mission, one getting married, and another kid about to go on a mission…!) 


I did get a nice video of him opening the letter that said he had “been called to serve as a full-time missionary in the Peru Trujillo South Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He will report to the Lima Peru MTC on August 29.”
And a few shots afterwards: 


Wow!!!!! He’ll be learning Spanish!!! So exciting! So happy I was there! I missed Abby’s call (obviously!) so it was nice to be around for Tanner’s. (Abigail is serving in the Washington Vancouver mission and is almost a year in!) 

Tanner with his gf ^^

It’s super fun to guess where he’s going ahead of time and see if anyone nails it! Only a few guesses were in South America. 

We also got to meet Melanie’s fiancée (so nice!), Tanner’s girlfriend (such a sweetie!) and Ellen’s Guinea pig (pretty cute too!). And the only one we seemed to get pictures of?!?


We hung out for a while catching up a bit before heading out. We had a hotel booked half way to Rexburg, Idaho where BYU-I is so needed to drive a couple of hours. With the time difference, we were zonked but Rob is such a champ for driving! We seriously crashed in that hotel after an eventful day! 

Quote of the Week

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There was a Youth Conference at our church over the weekend, and Josh happened to see a quote that he liked and shared it with me. (It wasn’t a quote anyone said, but it was one that he saw framed up in one of the conference rooms):

“Stick to a task ’til it sticks to you… for beginners are many, but finishers few”.

Thomas S. Monson

We talked about it as we drove to a soccer game that night (the best time to talk to my boy is when driving to soccer!). We talked about for some starting is hard, for some, finishing is hard.

Sometimes getting started just requires us to set and keep tiny, tiny, tiny goals. Set a “Minimum baseline” – as one of my favourite authors/speakers/life coach Brooke Castillo says.  Her theory is to set a goal so small that you absolutely know you will get it done; you will honour that commitment to yourself. If you don’t, then maybe your goal is just too big. Achieving that goal may do nothing else but get you in the habit of doing something, and teaching yourself how to honour your commitments to yourself.

Then the next important concept is that of consistency. Just keep going. A tiny commitment, kept every single day, can lead to great results. Just like Gretchen Rubin’s “One Coin Problem”; when we consider our actions, often it is true that any one instance of an action is almost meaningless, yet at the same time, a sum of those actions is very meaningful. Whether we focus on the single coin, or the growing heap will shape our behaviour.

A small commitment, a small goal, a small action can propel us into a new direction. Then we must be consistent and just keep going. Day after day. Whether it feels like we are making steps forward or not. Just keep going. Keep facing forward  and go one step at a time. Be a finisher.

Zach Photo Contest

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Mama bragging rights…

Zach has always had an eye for taking photos. He went to a photography camp several years ago, and then also purchased his own DSLR camera.

He loves to take photos and I love that he loves to because together we get about 3000 photos on every trip! Lol.

I love seeing all his photos on trips he takes without me too, and I love seeing him carry his camera around in his knapsack on outings with his friends where he captures some awesome moments on their adventures.

So when my dear friend Larissa told him about a youth photography contest, he decided that maybe he’d find a few photos to submit. Larissa came over one night to help him select his submissions (and edit them a tiny bit as well). There were so many to choose from, but he ended up submitting these ones:

Love that these are all nice samples of his travels too; another passion we share!

These ones below were close contenders (but we figured that these are less original; still beautiful, but Angor Wat has been photographed way more than those little boys on the cliff up there, or that rad frog, or the boat in Cambodia, the rainbows in Cusco, or my personal favourite, the guide snowshoeing in Greenland). But the sunrise at Angor Wat is pretty spectacular too (and I’m so glad we got up early two days and he was able to capture the different lighting):

Well yesterday, he received notice that: “Although all the submissions were great, we think at least one of your 5 photos is exceptional! There are 18 finalist images out of the 500 plus entries. You are receiving this email because you are a finalist for the contest!”

Yah!!!

They are having a contest exhibit on May 5th and will announce the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners then. I am so excited for him, but so bummed because I am on a plane on that day heading home from my niece’s wedding (though excited about that too!).

I’m so curious to know which photo they selected as one of the finalist ones! I’ll keep you posted!!

So proud of this boy!

Update: He didn’t win, but here he is at the show! (It was the rainbow in Peru Photo!)

Quote of the Week

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“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

Pablo Picasso

 

I’ve been feeling like I’ve been searching for something to do recently. Feeling like I want to do something different. Take on a new challenge. Change things up.

I’ve been feeling like I want to grow and develop and learn and try new things. I think I’ve been feeling this way for well over a year. Ok, maybe two years. Maybe since my kids started getting older and more independent (sigh).

When I started feeling this way a couple of years ago, I decided to start learning about different things: read about different topics, listen to some different podcasts, and take some workshops.

It was awesome. I felt my brain power increase and we were able to make some significant changes in our life that will be beneficial in the long run. We have spent the past couple of years working towards some new goals we set regarding investing and real estate. While we still have far to go to achieve all our goals, and we are still committed to achieving them, it’s definitely a marathon we are running and our approach now that we’ve set some things up, is to be slow and steady.

Which means I’m back to being a touch restless!

And then that means I’m back to reading about different topics, listening to different podcasts, and taking some workshops.

I love how these periods of growth not only help me in developing new ideas, they help me in becoming better at what I am doing now. So many new things I have learned I have been able to put into practice as my role as a therapist, and I find the new growth helps me move forward and keep going (especially in an area that can be somewhat emotionally draining).

However, my favourite part of doing this new work, is the inspiration that I do receive when I’m doing it. That’s why when I came across this quote, it rang so true: inspiration finds you when you are working – not sitting around doing nothing – or even worse, sitting around complaining how bored you are.

You need to get out there and do something different: read, listen, write, talk! Throw yourself into a new hobby, research a new topic, dig deeper in a subject you know something about, rekindle an old passion. Then share these experiences. I think that is also key. I’m blessed to have some people in my life who are also constantly trying to grow and develop and it’s so helpful to feed off their energy and motivation.

So if you are stuck: get to work. Inspiration will come knocking. But get off the couch and answer the door.

Quote of the Week

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“A poor man wants something; a rich man is committed to it.”

The difference between wanting something and being committed to it, is HUGE.

We often want things. We often dream about the things we want. We wish that we had them, and we think we want something so bad and wish that we would just get lucky and get what we want.

But how bad do we actually want it? Enough to be committed to it?

Being committed to something implies a lot more than just a desire, or a want. It involves action.

I want to do well at school is way different that I am committed to doing well at school.

I want to lose 10 pounds is different than I am committed to losing 10 pounds.

I want to find out the answer to my question is not that same as I am committed to finding out the answer to the question.

Commitment implies that you are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that the result happens. It’s action combined with want.

The next time you think about something you want, ask yourself how committed you are to it? Are you willing to do what it takes to turn that want, or that dream, into your reality. Then you better be ready to commit….

 

Monthly Snaps 

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I really need to keep on top of my “monthly” snaps, bcs these pics are pretty much “quarterly snaps”! 

Here’s what’s been happening in everyday CDF life since January:

New year’s eve celebrations (minus three kids!) 



11 years ago, after our first NYE, we went to the park and this pic was taken:


So we went back to the park and recreated it:


Here’s the comparison:


We played the new Ticket to Ride game that Gabe got the family for Christmas:


The YM held a game night at our place:


And more games with the boys (winter time the games seem to come out):


Zach thinks our dining room table is his personal office; can’t complain that our dining room is our study hall – bcs they are studying! 


Josh shocked us all by getting a buzz cut! 


Reggie is still a suck for tummy rubs:


School Semi formal:

Zach likes to doodle while he sits at my desk when he’s on the phone, so I often sit down to this:


Valentine’s (should have done a post on its own… but we did our traditional steak and poutine supper and gave the kids their yearly album):



We celebrated Valentine’s at a new hotel in the city and had some poke which was awesome!


Josh’s school basketball team won the city finals:


Finding selfies on my phone:


Rob took the boys on their annual auto show excursion:





Meanwhile Reggie caught up on his scripture study:

And  Gabe is cooking up a storm at BYU-I. We try to get in a good FaceTime call every Sunday to catch up on university life: 

The occasional glimpse  of spring that  Rob catches when he runs:


We love to have Zach’s “special friend” Rachael for the weekend: 



Especially when she and Zach make Sunday dinner (yummy burritos):



We went to a missionary fireside and someone took these pics of us:


Josh had a band concert (he plays the trumpet… kinda… lol)


This was the sunset when we were flying home from Norway. But I’ll let it represent the ton of travel Rob has been doing these past few months to Alberta and BC! 


But he does get to see this when he runs in Victoria:


While I’m at home enjoying my new nightly “might muffin and frozen Greek yogurt snack” . He texted me one night to ask what I was doing (waiting for me to say “missing you”) and I sent him this pic:


He sends me funny texts about the guy he works with who talks too much (and he has a high threshold living with me so this guy must really be a talker!!)


Finally this past weekend we drove to London (Ontario!) so these kids could attend a 2 day youth conference. We rented an Airbnb to house us all and had a good time:

How cute that they match:)

Love this very happy boy Aidan below who’s heading off to England to serve a mission for the LDS Church. Not sure how I caught him slapping my girl though!! (He really wasn’t… but it was a funny shot to capture that made it look that way!)

Love these two girls and love that they love each other so much! (and don’t you just love Zandra’s dress?!?) 


Here’s the gang:

That’s a wrap for the past 3 months! 

Oslo, Norway

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We left Trondheim and flew into Oslo early afternoon.

We set out to explore right away and just grabbed a quick sandwich near the beautiful Grand Hotel.

We walked along the famous Karl Johans Gate, passing the University and then walking around that a bit.

We then headed to the water and walked along the waterfront. We passed some sites on the way: the theatre, City Hall:

The one crazy thing about Norway in general we have found is how treacherous the sidewalks are! I don’t think they have to worry about liability I guess and everyone walks at their own risk? We often walked in the snow along the side of the icy sidewalks!

We made our way to the unique Opera House where we climbed to the roof to overlook the city. Too bad there’s a bunch of construction:(

The inside of the Opera House (I think I look like a Dr. Seuss character sitting there! I didn’t know he was taking photos!)

We walked back along Karl Johans Gate past all the shops.

We then found the Oslo Cathedral. There was a service going on, and despite not understanding a word, we sat through the end of it.

The parliament building was beautiful too, but it seemed squished into the middle of the city:

We headed back to our hotel where we relaxed bit before dinner.

Dinner was at a french restaurant called “Brasserie France”. (I forgot to take a pic (darn it) so pulled one off the internet as I didn’t want to forget the restaurant!). We had a lovely dinner, and they had the most amazing little dessert cart that went around. I pretty much took one of everything and polished it all off (definitely back to macros when I am home! lol).


The next day we headed up to the Royal Palace and walked the grounds. They are beautiful, but the gardens are only open in the spring/summer.

We decided we would visit the National Gallery and spent a few hours there. There are a few well known Norwegian artists there (Krohg, Werenskiold) in addition to Munch, the most famous Norwegian artist. “The Scream” was Munch’s masterpiece and we had some fun with that one!

A cool little spot in the gallery for those who want to watch soccer instead ?!?!?:

Instead of thinking about Munch’s famous dance of life:


We had a typical Norwegian lunch at Kaffistova, and were pretty exhausted after it. We wanted to keep going, but figured we should spend an hour or so recharging our batteries!

After a quick recharge, we headed out to Frogner Park – in one of the most exclusive and pricey neighbourhoods in Oslo which was simply stunning!

Love that you see people walking around carrying their cross country skies in the city!

Inside the park:

We headed in to the park and went to the famous area called “Vigeland Sculpture Park” which houses 212 statues by Gustav Vigeland. They were pretty cool.

The most famous one is called “Angry Boy”.

We enjoyed a leisurely walk back through this gorgeous area back to our hotel:

We headed out for our last dinner at a place called Baccus. It was in a lovely building and we had some great food.

Sad that this trip is ending, but what a trip it has been! Certainly a different adventure (but most of our trips are different from each other!).

We loved that we got to experience so many different things in this trip: organized tours, walking, a cruise, eating great food, chilling and relaxing, reading and napping, road tripping, seeing gorgeous scenery, and of course, seeing the incredible Northern Lights. Loved seeing some thin places: on top of the mountain in Tromso, early morning in Lofeten, and ship’s deck watching the Northern Lights. Lots of thin moments in there too:)

Definitely an incredible celebration for our 10 year anniversary!

A few thoughts on the Northern Lights

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I have  been texting the boys while they are over in Greenland and Iceland with their Dad this week.

Of course a big topic is Northern Lights: weather conditions, how strong they are, when to see them best, if we’ve seen them etc. Seeing them was on top of both our lists!

Rob and I have had the best luck to see them a couple of nights, but unfortunately for the boys, the weather has not been cooperating with lots of cloud cover which makes it hard to see the lights even if they are active.

To see the Northern Lights you need dark skies (away from light pollution), no clouds (so a clear sky that you can see stars), and then of course, Northern Lights activity.

What I have learned though, is that when there is faint activity, they really look like white streaks, or faint clouds, or even mist. You need to use a good camera lens to try to capture them because they are too faint for the naked eye.

With a good camera, you can capture them. And if they get stronger and stronger they can change colours and you can then see them with your naked eye.

While we had an incredible show one night, Zach was out with Josh and his Dad driving around trying to find them. They couldn’t see clear sky, so certainly couldn’t see the lights. Zach got out and was experimenting taking pics of their rental truck.

He ended up sending me this one:


Yes!! Those were Northern Lights!

He had no idea that they were there until he saw the picture later on!

Now he knows that sometimes he needs to stop and take the photo to see what’s really there. Then, if he can see some activity in his photo, then they can wait to see if the lights get stronger, or try to head in that direction to catch them. Or they could use a guide (which their Dad prefers not to do). It takes a lot of patience, and you can’t rely on your naked eye when trying to find them.

This got me thinking a lot about life and faith and how symbolic the Northern Lights are.


(Sort of reminded me of “if a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear?” too.)

If you can’t see the Northern Lights with your naked eye, are they still there?

Doesn’t how you see things in life really depend on the lense you put on?

Is it not the case, that sometimes all you see is dark sky and mistake the white mists for clouds, or fog, or nothing, when really with a different lense, there is colour?


Or sometimes, do we not just need someone to tell us how to change the lense, what settings the camera should be on and what to look for? Or we just need the right environment and have to get away from light pollution and head to where there are clear skies? You can’t see the lights in a storm or in clouds (even thought they are still there).

Sometimes a guide can teach us some of the tricks they’ve learned over years of experience and lead us to the right places and help us see the most colourful show. We still need patience, but we can learn from their experience.


The benefit of the boat is that they announced Northern Lights when they were strong enough for us to see – we didn’t have to be out looking all the time. We relied on their expertise. And had to trust that they knew what they were doing and would let us know when and where to check.

As my kids set out to find their “northern lights” I just pray that they are patient if they don’t see lights with their naked eye, are wise enough to look through many different lenses and take the picture even if they think nothing is there. I hope that they are wise enough to seek the expert advice, learn through their experience and other people’s experiences too, and at times seek out a guide they can trust who can show them the ropes.


I hope that they always maintain their faith that the Northern Lights are always there – even if they cannot see them. They may just need to adjust their lense, change their environment, or simply be patient in the timing of when they will appear to them and dance in the majestic skies.


Ps – all these photos were just taken by Rob on his iPhone – that’s how strong they were that night. Completely visible to the naked eye.

Pps – boys finally saw the Northern Lights last night! I’m so happy they got to see them dance with their naked eye and experience that incredibly thin moment in a thin place together.

Trondheim, Norway

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We arrive by ship at 6:30 in the morning in the port of Trondheim; Norway’s 3rd largest city. It is home to a University of 40,000.

We had breakfast and disembarked from the ship by 8, and made our way to the Radisson Blu Garden Hotel shortly after. Our room happened to be ready, which was so nice! We were able to unwind a bit before heading out. This was my fave hotel.

Had to layer up. Getting used to being a bit puffy and uncomfortable for the sake of staying warm!

I had done some reading about Trondheim and we knew there were a few “must sees”, but also knew it was a city to just explore by foot. And that is what we did:

We first headed out to check out the two main bridges Bakke Bru (new bridge) and Gamle Bybro (old bridge) to take some shots of the incredibly gorgeous river lined with even more gorgeous and colourful houses (ok I know there will be overkill with all the cute house and river shots, but with different lighting throughout the day, I had to keep taking more!)

Have to laugh at how puffy we look!!:

We visited the famous cathedral “Nidaros” which did not disappoint!

We headed over the Gamle Bybro and wandered around the old area “Bakklandet” and then walked up to the “Kristiansten Fortress” where we took in some amazing views.

Strange little guy; we couldn’t find any info on him:

We headed back down and found a cute place for lunch called “Kalas & Canasta” where we had this amazing special of the day of a fish sandwich/salad with peas. Sooooo good!

We wandered more along the water and then returned for a siesta in our hotel. We have been really trying to pace ourselves this trip to seeing things, walking around just taking it all in, and just resting and relaxing. It’s been a great rhythm.

We headed out again to see the city with different light and stopped in a little Kaffe for an afternoon snack, walked around and explored the newer city. We liked the older part much better:)

Got some of my fave views with different light:

Dinner was at a local place called Superhero Burgers. It was filled with students which we thought was a good sign as it was locals only. The burgers were really good! I forgot to get a pic of the restaurant:(

We walked around a bit, but it was getting a little too cold without the warmth of the sun.

Our hotel by night:

Another awesome day! Trondheim was well worth a visit!

 

 

Norway Fjords Cruising and Northern Lights

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While the ship really left little to be desired (it’s their oldest working ship, and while some may claim it has the “old world charm”, I like my ships a bit more “new world”!), the weather and views were pretty. Like, really pretty. Kind of pretty that you seem to get used to, and then every once in a while you remind yourself where you are and to soak it all in!

You’ re supposed to be able to see a man’s face in these mountains:

This is called 7 Sisters (I think I cut off the last peak in this particular photo…oops):

We spent the day in the reading in the panorama lounge, napping in our tiny cabin, or watching the amazing scenery go by. We crossed the arctic circle which is marked with a globe, which was pretty cool.

There were a few ports where we got to leave the boat and wander the town a bit, which was nice to get some fresh air on land and see a few more little towns.

That evening we had dinner in the dining area, and then headed back to our cabin. Shortly after we got back into our cabin, we heard the “Northern Light” music that they piped in the cabins whenever there was a spotting. We were prepared this time (we had the camera already on the tripod and all our winter gear laid out! However, my camera is still pretty wonky, so the pictures really really do not do the lights justice!). We raced out and saw the magnificent green arch in front of us. I snapped a bunch of pictures.

I didn’t realize that THIS show would go on for well over an hour, would be all around us (on top, to the left to the right, to the back) and would shift from light green, to bright green, to pinks and yellows. It swirled and arched, and really did dance in the sky! It was absolutely amazing!

Sometimes it was so bright and present, my camera could only capture a fun screen of green! I ended up removing my camera from the tripod, and experimenting with even putting it on auto setting and it was still capturing! Rob was also able to get some incredible shots with his iPhone and I was able to take some video!

It was freezing cold, so we had to keep ducking inside for some warmth, but we didn’t want to miss too much of the show! As many pictures as we took, my heart took a thousand more. Cheesy I know, but seriously, this was one of those magical moments and both Rob and I appreciated the beauty and majesty of this incredible world. Thin place and a thin moment for sure.

We finally went in as the lights seems to fade and dance away and settled into a smooth sail into our next destination: Trondheim.