9/10/23

After a nice rainy Labor Day with Maddie's family, we started into a full day school schedule this week. Three days of tennis matches for Anne, two soccer games for Lucy, plus Dad & I found a FABULOUS El Salvadorian restaurant in Logan for date night. Emily started school sick!!-& ran into Rachel the first day. Enjoyed ward temple night with Neal & Diana, had lots of visits & brief presidency meeting, bottled 15 quarts of tomatoes when Joan dropped off free boxes, picked more plums from our 2nd tree, installed the smart thermostat, got help with the garage door (again!), mowed the lawn, and got caught up on bills. Some really happy times with Masina's baby being born Thursday night!: Everett Ty Lowry 💙, then Pres. Nelson turned 99 on Saturday!!! (9/9) AND Brent and Breely found out they're having a GIRL!! (they let Anne & Lucy see first, so they could get a "gender reveal" cake ready for a little party Sat morning--their cake and frosting efforts {IN SECRET} were pretty hilarious). So lots to celebrate, even during the sobering things of life: hearing about my good friend Kristy's mom recovering from a stroke, Uncle Wayne still in the hospital for weeks with his aneurism, watching LaVonna's life fading, and other health issues. G&G's 50th anniversary was also on Thursday, which is kind of a combination of celebration and mourning mixed together (like most of life!). I heard two things I liked recently--one was that our lives here are kind of like renting space--we know it's temporary, and we can either improve on what we've been given or make things worse. Regardless of what our lives look like, we all have something to offer to make things better. Like the spiritual gifts that Paul taught about that we've been studying--EVERYone has something to contribute. The other one was from a psychologist (Paul Conti) that boiled down the key to mental health/peace of mind as: GRATITUDE & AGENCY There is so much about life that we have so little control over, but there IS always something to be grateful for, and the more we focus on the things we CAN do, the less trapped and victimized we feel. I think it hit me because it's a perspective I really need to work on myself. Love you love you! Hope things are going well with your new comp! Love, Mom