Fall Fun Festivities

October turned out to be a pretty good month. Things have been hectic and busy, but the little reprieves here and there and the fun festivities made it a great time. Tanya came to town and we had a nice visit. We do best in person and not over text. She bought me yogurt and it was a fun time with my folks. It is always a throw back to my youth when it is just the four of us together somewhere with my sister and parents. Celia was up for all sorts of activities. We went to the pumkpin patch and she did go to the trunk or treat, and the fall dance, and the Hallween dance at her school. She won a gift card for best overall Halloween costume. She had picked it and we styled the wig and it was a hit to be Dazai from Bungo Stray Dogs(the anime). The costume was hard to recognize so when she won, they announced it as.. "Celia Davis as anime". She had a good time with different groups of friends.( school friends, camp friends, church friends) She even made friends on Halloween night as we trick or treated near Grandma's house. I was put in the parents section and she took off with some kids. I did get to ride in a golf cart to catch up and had a great time. She is blessed and maybe doesn't realize it, but it make me happy to see her being social. We saw Spence a lot this month too. Because Brian and I would go to Chicago he saw us before and after, hen he needed a new mmicrowave,and when we have his IPP meeting. He is well take care up and it warms my heart to see him doing so well independently. He was happy to try on the snuggie for his costume and was happy. He now has us stop off for popsicles and goes inside 7 eleven and exta mile stores. It would be nice for him to get out in the community more soon. He seems to be wanting that more. I felt like a city girl in Chicago. Walking everywhere and ubering sometimes. The whole city had gardens all over and beautiful artitecture. I was in heaven going out ot eat and hanging with another wife from the conference. We went to the aquarium and shopped amazing high end stores. It was such a much needed break from normal routine. walking and talking and experiencing the city, it was wonderful. The boat ride was a highlight and of course Mortons with Brian, Onder, Javier, and Dominique. Dominque and I got our nails done and shopped for shoes. We tired the famous chicago food and it was all great memories. I hope we dont wait another 16 years to visit again. I hosted Bunco halloween at my house. I loved that everyone came dressed up. the food was so good and the party was a great excuse to clean my house. I had a great time and allt he ladies seemed to like it too. How grateful I am to have friends and to gather again.

Calm and Collected.

It would seem that it would be hard to feel calm in tulmultous situations, but I have experienced this last week. Maybe someone would call it feeling numb, but it was more like emotionally stable. One should not be surprised when challenges come up in life, but being prepared to work, and be tired, and be uncomfortbale is key. To have hope even when uncertainty is looming. Logically things cannot stay bad or to our disliking all the time. It is interesting how self care and routine go out the window right as they are needed to ground us. It is interesting how kindness is appreciated all the more when things are rough. Taking time to check in on oneself and to count the things to be grateful for become neccessary to move on. I love my family and their support to me. It has been over two week and we still don't have our new transmission in, but we are adjsuting and thankfully we have a rental car. It will be so nice when we have the big family car back. I feel like I can see the suffering others are going through more clearly as I get a taste of how it feels. I love to serve and seeing a need, helps me to have a desire to serve. I feel such relief when a weight is taken off my shoulders when I am bearing much. Hopefully, this means the Lord thinks I can be refined and learn and grow. I like to be open and faithful and its sometimes hard to change. Scarcity is a feeling I disdain, yet sometimes we have to feel like that when we sacrifice of ourselves. I try to focus more on the abundance and it gets me in a better mood. I'm grateful to be home and not at a hosptial, Im grateful for the health of my family. Im grateful for joys in life like birds, sunsets, and warm breezes to help me thorugh the dark times. All in all, I have much to be greateful for, even the lessons learned the hard way. Hoping to be okay with letting go and letting others in to help in my life. I'll focuson my upcoming trips and my humans I share time and laugh with.

Spence and Cars

Bri really wanted a van again to take Spencer around on our weekely trips. Joe needed a new car and we worked out a deal for him to get the Passat and We went and got a new van. The space is amazing just like we hoped. I was able to carry people around when we had a visitor andi t made it nice to go on family rides. I guess the van needs a new transmission, but we are going to get through that mess and move forward with keeping the van for family ride comfort and for Spence. he may start a daily route driving around for his "work", and I bet he will love it. I'm excited for himt to get out, however, I think he will enjoy the van on weekends with us. I think its great that Brian is a family man and cares so much for the kiddos. He esopecially works hard keeping Spencer's house in tip top shapes and refilling the need for swings and pull ups and popscles constantly. He is blessed to have a Dad like Brian.

The Cabin, and My Birthday

It was all great, I love that Joe and Emmy gathered from two different states to be a part of our family time in Colorado. We picked up Emmy in Provo then headed to the Cabin. There was some construction on the 50 on the way to Gunnison, so I insisted we take a new route, 92 to get there. It was a leap of faith, but boy did it work out. The black canyon cliffs were fantastic. We saw the steep hill and the views and I said, "Wow, Its goregeous!" It is so neat to have a new perspective. We will definietely go that way again. This year we were in the Audi since that was our new family car sans van. We packed light, but forgot to tell Emmy. It was tight in that third row. Each day we ventured and enjoyed family time. No bears which was nice, because we heard they were around this year. I got cold a few times, but it was such a great mountain experience. I cooked and we bbqed. We also went to Quincy's in Monte Vista which was a steak dinner highlight of the trip. On my Birthday, we went to the Alligator Museum which turned out to be awesome. It was an adventure seeing all the dangerous animals, but it was loved my all who went. Holding the small alligator was quite the experience. Tater falls was great and we uunted for my sunglasses for so long, the cold water was no longer was too freeaing. I loved that Bri found them and that we didn't give up. We went four wheel driving in the Audi and broke it in with muddy tireds and high up elevations. It was so fun and I'm glad we took it. Even though four car washes later, there is still dust around in crevacies from that trip in the car. Bri, Emmy and I hiked to the meadow this year. I had to stop a lot going up, but I was glad I made it to a clearing where we shot a gun and smelled the bark of hte trees there that smell like vanilla. It a surreal feeling to be so far up in nature, it was lovely. We picniced on the Platoro drive near a meadow and a river. I wish we did more of these exploring in nature outings in California, but Coloroado's beauty is amazing and not as busy with people. Taos was nice though and we shopped a little. I loved the smoothie there and buying a wool rug with Bri. On the way to Taos, Brian picked me out a Manasa turqoise braclet from a vendor by the gorge and it made for a great present and happy feeling for me. It was a whole nice experience. All of the clouds around the valley were amazong and we did see rain every few days. It was a stark contrast coming home seeing smoke from fire in all the states from Utah to California. What a reprieve it was to be at the cabin and see the stars and be smoke free for a while. On the way home from Taos, we went looking for wild horses. We didn't see very many, but a few. I said "Hey lets turn off this little road" to see if it would takes us around the mountain to see more wildlife. We turned off road and all of a sudden, a herd of Antelope started running,. We drove along side them as they ran up the hill. They were so camoflauged my video didn't turn out, but it was magical to see them run up the hill following their Dad's instrcuion. The one with the horns was guiding them and it seemed like a little family. SO sweet. It was a great vacation and feel blessed to have spent the time out there together. It

was a beautiful way to spend the end of summer before school starts up again.