He's Home!

Paige and Colby went back to work after the airport, and the rest of us met our stake president at the institute building on campus where he works. He visited for a while and then officially released Carson.

Carson served in Bountiful, Evanston, North Salt Lake, Evanston again, Rose Park, and South Salt Lake. In addition to English areas where he expected to serve his whole mission, he also served in a Marshallese branch, two Samoan wards, and a Japanese ward. He learned some of those languages and had a lot of cultural experiences.

Right before Carson came home, a sweet Japanese woman wrote a long letter for him to give me. I will treasure it forever. I'm so thankful for people in Carson's mission who welcomed and loved and supported him.

It's great to have him home and have all our kids together for a few weeks. Facebook has been reminding me that eight years ago this week, on July 24th (Pioneer Day for Utahns but a regular day for the rest of us), Colby left for his mission. After eight years, our family is done with the mission years. It's yet another phase that has now ended.

He spent over half his mission in Evanston, Wyoming, so he showed us his cowboy jeans, boots, and rope. Who is this guy?

Arizona gave us a beautiful first night home.

Ready

Since this house only has four bedrooms, we put air conditioning in the small garage and moved Colby in there temporarily so Carson can come home to a bedroom. When Carson leaves for college, we'll box up his things again and move Colby back into that bedroom. We plan to turn the small garage into a gym eventually, and now we have air conditioning for it.

With room darkening curtains, it's very dark in the garage. The air conditioning unit keeps it as cold as Colby wants. We still have some twin beds I've been meaning to sell and an old kitchen table we set up for his desk. I bought a hanging clothes rack for his "closet." 

Meanwhile, Leah and I set up Carson's bedroom again. Carson loves nature -- canoeing, camping, hiking -- so we hung nature pictures and paintings, something I've been meaning to do for that room these past two years. We printed out pictures we took of some favorite places in Minnesota. Leah printed out some of Carson's mission pictures. And now we're ready for him to come home!

Birthdays

The Week

We've had several violent monsoons lately, and we lost the only tree in our yard when a storm toppled it. 

These rabbits did not run away as we walked by.

I've been running errands all over the city with Leah this week. We got stuck outside this grocery store waiting for a monsoon to end.

I found this massive and creepy Palo Verde beetle in our church kitchen this week. It was no longer alive and had spent its final moments trying to get this M&M it could never eat. There are probably great lessons and metaphors about that.

I was scared to get close in case it was still alive. It took a while to get enough courage to vacuum it.

It was wider than the vacuum hose and only fit halfway in. I'm pretty sure I screamed. I ran to the door with the vacuum on, turned off the vacuum, and let it drop outside. It was huge, and I never want to see another one.

There's a parasite scare across the country that involves fresh produce, and I'm not taking chances. I haven't been buying any lettuce, but I do like a yogurt parfait with granola and berries every morning. I've been soaking berries in vinegar and baking soda, then boiling them down into simple sauces.

The hardest days are when I wake up and my stomach is already huge for no reason. I feel defeated before I even begin the day. This was yesterday.

A walk didn't help much, so I hid inside the rest of the day, taking it easy and wearing large, loose, comfortable clothes. I don't even know what to try next. Nothing calms my stomach problems yet.

I had another ENT appointment this week and the doctor scoped me again and confirmed my stubborn sinus infection is finally gone. The more Dupixent shots I take, the more the polyps will shrink and disappear, and my CRSwNP will get back under control.

And today I'm watching Dan, Colby, and Leah play racquetball.