Thanksgiving 2017

We spent Thanksgiving at home this year celebrating with Mark's side of the family.  We also head over to Grandma and Grandpa O's house and cram everyone in there.  It's getting a little tough to do now that we have so many grand-in-laws and great grandkids, but we make it work and it's always a lot of fun.

We definitely missed Josh and I will admit, I did shed a few tears as I looked around at everyone and missed having his presence there.  But, we made sure he had a good Thanksgiving in the MTC.

Mark made him one of his delicious pecan pies and we sent it up to the MTC with a same day delivery service.  This is one of the reasons I am thankful that he went to the Provo MTC and not a foreign MTC.  

One of the not-so-cool things that happened over our Thanksgiving weekend was that we had to say goodbye to this little lady.

After about 12 years of hard work, she finally gave up the ghost.  Which would have been fine if we would have been able to get a new one right away.  But because of the holiday, we couldn't get one delivered for a week, so we had to pull out all of our coolers and invest in multiple bags of ice for days.  It was...a pain, but definitely a "first world problem".

One very cool thing about this weekend was that we were enjoying some unusually warm weather for Thanksgiving time and we were able to get out on the pickle ball courts near our home.  This makes me realize that it has now been about a year since we have played pickle ball.  That is sad and must be remedied as soon as the weather allows it.

A Little Fall and a Little Volleyball

October 2017

Provo Canyon views

Shortly after we purchased our new van, we took a trip down to BYU to attend a women's volleyball game.  We met up with Becca there and loved visiting with her while we watched the awesome BYU Women's Volleyball team.

Oh ya...we also ate a Cougar Tail (gigantic maple bar), which was THE absolute highlight of our trip.  We also drove by the MTC and blew kisses to Josh.  :)

Taking Elder Ogden with us.

With cute Becca. :)

New Wheels!

October 2017

Ugh.  I really hate that I am so far behind in posting that I have to add a date before the post. 😩 . Oh well.  At least I'm less than a year behind...barely.

Our New Van

It was that time...time to trade in our old van and get a new one.  We had gone back and forth with the question, "Do we need to get a van?  Or can we get something like a Tesla and get away with the lack of storage space?"

We have really wanted to get an electric car, but when it came right down to it, we knew that we still needed the room that a mini van provides.  (Much to Mark's disappointment because a Tesla is a pretty sweet car.  That's okay.  It will be next on our car list. :)

We knew there was a new type of hybrid mini van, but you always hear people say, "Don't buy a car the first year it is out!  Wait until they work out all the bugs!  Well, we took that into consideration, but when we crunched the numbers, we just couldn't pass up on the savings in gas and maintenance that a hybrid van would give us.

So we closed our eyes and took the plunge...

Meet our new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica.  We were amazed with it in the first 15 minutes of driving it off the lot.  It's super cool and I think I'm really going to love it.

So many bells and whistles!  I don't know if I will ever learn everything that it is capable of.  The girls were super excited for the TV's, leather seats, and sun roof.

It's just so pretty.  I am in love.  

I can't close this post without paying respect to the mini van that took carried us as we created so many wonderful family memories...

There she is.  She took us safely to Texas and home again through snow and ice.  She took us to San Fransisco, Yosemite, Disneyland, and many trips to St. George and back.  She was a good van, and I must confess, I was a little sad to drive away from her.

However...now that I have enjoyed the gas savings for almost a year now, I'm not sad anymore.  Lol.

See ya in 2, Elder Ogden!

As I sit writing this post, we are actually almost down to just 1 year until we get to see Elder Ogden.  The past year has had it's rough spots and I miss the kid like CRAZY every single day.  But looking back on this day last September when we dropped him off at the MTC, I cannot help but feel joy and gratitude for the blessings we have received.

September 27, 2017

Elder Ogden Reports to the Provo Missionary Training Center

Since Josh did not have to report to the MTC until 1 pm, we decided to take one last trip to Leatherby's.  We got there right at 11 when they open and found the place to ourselves.  It was awesome.

Of course, there was the saying goodbye to the pets as well.  [Cue tears when Josh said to Bailey, "You're going to still be here when I get back, right?] . Two years is a long time in dog years.  

 On the way to the MTC!!

And then, there is this...[cue more tears.]

Josh and Emma

Josh and Abbie

Josh and Ellie

We're going to miss this kid!

It was so heartwarming to see these kiddos.  Emma was in tears the whole time.  Abbie was in tears as soon as she looked at me or Emma, and Ellie had her brave face on (although I know she shed a few tears as well.)

It was a beautiful day at the Provo Temple where we took pictures and said our final goodbyes.

Ugh.  Seeing this picture makes me miss his hugs even more!

Our attempt at an awkward family photo.  Classic.

My heart.

Our final family photo for the next two years.


See you in 2, Elder Ogden!  We love you!

Are We Ready for This?!?

The closer it gets to MTC day, the more teary I get.  (And I am, of course, writing this almost a year after the fact.)

Because I am so far removed from this time, I am going to add some excerpts from my journal...

*Thurs, Sept 21, 2017*

"We are down to 6 days until we take [Josh] to the MTC.  It really feels unreal.  I am excited, anxious, happy, and sad all at the same time.  I am going to miss him so much!"

Well, I was going to add more, but...that's the only thing I could find in my journal.  Ya.  I need to be better about writing in my journal...Lol.

A little "last time to have hot chocolate together for 2 years" 

Mark and I went with Josh and Becca to the Provo Temple so they could do baptisms.  Before Becca came, we were able to do some sealings for some family names as well.

"The Night Before"
This is what it looks like in the beginning stages of packing up a missionaries belongings that he will carry with him for 2 years.

Josh's Mission Open House- Sept 2017

Oh my goodness!  Are we all going to miss this kid or what?

We had an open house the night before Josh spoke in our ward and we were so blessed to have friends and family members come out to wish him good luck on his mission.

The following day, Josh gave a wonderful talk in church and then we had our family members over for lunch.

1st pic:  Josh with Leslie and Aunt Susie
2nd pic:  Grandma Great talking with Becca's parents
3rd pic:  Some of Josh's friends

1st pic:  Ryatt & Xander, the Archibald's and Josh
2nd pic:  Josh with Shannon and Jack
3rd pic:  Josh with Bishop Poulson and his wife, Suzanne

1st pic:  Josh with Ross, Shelli, and Jayce
2nd pic:  Josh with the Black family
3rd pic:  Josh and Gwen

1st pic:  Josh with the Summer's
2nd pic:  Josh with some of his friends
3rd pic:  Josh, Nate, and John

1st pic:  Josh and Becca
2nd pic:  Josh and Grandma Great
3rd pic:  Josh and Penny

1st pic:  Josh with Brittany and her kids
2nd pic:  Josh with Dan & Chantelle and their family
3rd pic:  Josh with Craig and Sharise

1st pic:  Neighbors from our street
2nd pic:  Josh talking with his first cello teacher, Bro. Archibald
3rd pic:  Sharise and Novie

1st pic:  Josh and Gwen
2nd pic:  Hal, Maddi, Josh, Mark, and Grandma Ogden
3rd pic:  Ben and Sean talking with Lori

1st pic:  Josh with Grandma and Grandpa Ogden
2nd pic:  Josh with Grandma and Grandpa Fowlks

Lyceum Festival 2017 and our Trip to St. George/Zions

Josh had the amazing opportunity to participate in the Lyceum Philharmonic's Summer Fest again this year.  He had an incredible time and was able to have several solos in the concert.  He spent the week learning and growing from several people, including Nathan Pacheco.  The concert was absolutely one of THE best I have ever seen.

Here are a few pics I took before the concert started.  The concert was held in the beautiful outdoor amphitheater near Zion's National Park.  I sang in this venue when I was a Senior in high school, so coming back here when Josh was a Senior brought back some great memories.

It is a breathtaking backdrop and hearing all of the talented kids in the orchestra and Nathan Pacheco's gorgeous voice made the night truly a blessing.

I'm so proud of this kid.  He works so hard and it was wonderful to see his hard work and dedication to this instrument that he loves pay off.

Here are the videos of the performance...

Josh with the fabulous, Nathan Pacheco

Stunning backdrop for rehearsals and performance

Action shots and Josh's fan club.

Pictures from Josh's phone

While Josh was living it up in Zion's National Park for the week, we spent the week at my parent's house...well, everyone except for Emma who was in San Jose for her National Showcase Competition.

Family all over the place.

The first night we were there, Mark and I went to see "Newsies" at Tuachan.  

We went with my parents, Brittany, and Sharise.  While we were there, we got a text with this picture...

All it said was, "Hi!"  It took us all a minute because there was a problem with this picture.  These cute kiddos belong to my sister, Danette, and her husband, Chad.  They live in Texas.  The kids are standing in front of my parent's home.

We were all like, "What the heck is going on?  Are Chad and Danette really at mom and dad's house?"  

Yep.  That was the case.  They surprised us.  No one had any idea that they were coming.  Best surprise ever.

It was actually really wonderful that they ended up being in St. George because they were all able to say goodbye to Josh before he leaves on his mission.  There were a ton of hugs and a few tears shed.  (Especially when Eli threw a pretty good sized rock and it came back down and hit him on the head...lots of bleeding, as well as lots of tears.)

 But, before the whole rock incident, we were able to get this great group shot.  It was awesome.

Here are a few more shots of some of the fun times we had while in St. George...