Updates from this Week

Phew!  I feel like this week has been so LONG!  

Here are all the many, many things I haven't already posted about according to the pictures on my phone...

Morning Walks
I've discovered that I really like to walk in the mornings!  Well, I already knew that, but I've been too busy being overwhelmed by the tragedy of moving to bother to walk outside my front door.  So this week I decided to stop complaining and do something different.  I've logged 63,000+ steps on my FitBit for the week and listened to a giant handful of Conference talks.  And it's great!  It's a super empowering way to start the day, it makes me feel better in my clothes, and if that dang internal alarm clock is gonna wake me up at 5:41 every morning, I might as well do something productive with that time, don't you think?

PokemonGo
Yep, we've totally been sucked into the Pokemon vortex and we're loving it!  Emma and I have totally enjoyed running around (carefully, while being completely aware of our surroundings...) catching Pokemons everywhere.  We even accidentally ended up in this beautiful cemetery one night at dusk because it was a HUGE PokeStop.  I'm sure the interest will wear off soon, but it's pretty fun right now.  #gottacatchemall 

Thunell Mancampment 2016
There is always some kind of annual fishing adventure in the summer for the men in Craig's family.  Previous week long Scout Camp commitments, limited vacation time, and long distances from Utah haven't always made it easy to get there, but after last year's adventure in Alaska, he committed that wherever two or three Thunells (and some fish) were gathered, he would make every effort to be there.  

This year, Craig thought it was probably about time he started included McKay in these adventures.  After all, despite my efforts to convince myself and everyone else that he's still 8 years old, he's going to be THIRTEEN next month...!  The other nephews started going on these man trips at about this age.  McKay's 12 year old cousin, Ethan, is also making his first appearance on the river this year, too.  Both boys were thrilled to be included!

Monday and Tuesday nights were spent gathering not just fishing/camping gear for Craig and McKay's trip to Montana (via Logan) but also gathering stuff for Megan and Emma to take to Girls' Camp which will happen during the time that the boys are gone...and none of us know the secret locations of things in Craig's well organized garage (nor do we want to go randomly poking around in there for things like mess kits and sleeping bags...because, um...spiders and other large bugs and also the world's largest salamander live in that garage...ew!)  So by late Tuesday night, two large but separate piles of outdoor stuff had been assembled on the basement floor.  

On Wednesday morning, Craig and McKay packed all of their worldly fishing belongings into their bags to take on their flight to SLC scheduled to leave at 6:55 that night.  Craig worked a 1/2 day at the office and came home to continue working/packing until it was time to leave for the airport.  (He's kind of meticulous about his travel procedures and something about throwing in a 12 year old companion had messed up his groove, so he was slightly more flustered about this than usual.)  

Wednesday evening, we had a quick dinner all together at home, and then I started the drive with the boys to the airport (except I let Craig drive so I could catch a few Pokemons on the way down  ...I'm not obsessed, just a maximizer of opportunity!)   About halfway to the airport, Craig received a text from Southwest Airlines that the second leg of their trip from Chicago to SLC had been cancelled due to weather.  So we pulled over in a nearby church parking lot (which also happened to be a PokeStop...total coincidence, I promise!) and called to check flight availability.  There was nothing available from BIRM to SLC until 11:00 the next morning!  

I have to tell you, I was not at all disappointed about that news because I've been having some separation anxiety about this trip, and 6:00pm is NOT my favorite time to drop people off at the airport and come home to a half empty, almost dark house.  I was not-so-secretly thrilled that my boys were staying in town an extra night, so I texted Megan on the way home and told her to set up the Ticket to Ride game so we could play as soon as we got back!  I found it a funny dichotomy all night that one person's disappointment is another person's source of rejoicing and comfort.  Fortunately neither of them was super disappointed about playing games, sleeping one more night in their own beds and starting over at a decent hour the next morning because I had a hard time withholding my celebratory glee.

On Thursday, there was plenty of time for me to wake Craig up at 5:41am and drag him out on my walk around our hillacious neighborhood for an hour, shower, reorganize bags, have breakfast, and get both boys and all their fishing gear to the airport before the girls even woke up for the day!  oh, teenagers...

Craig and McKay have had a great couple of days in Utah and will drive to Montana this afternoon after church to spend a week on the river solidifying family bonds and also catching a bazillion fish.  

LOTR/The Hobbit Marathon
Megan and I have successfully completed all three Lord of the Rings movies and all three Hobbits!  Emma is only content to stay and watch with us for a little while because she doesnt love them as much as we do.  Oh, I can't even tell you how much I love those Tolkien stories.  (The Hobbit movies are my favorite.)

Perfecting
Well, I didn't have anything else to do while we were watching all those movies!

Robert and the Puppies
The girls met a super nice, really cute friend at Youth Conference.  He is just a friend, I've been assured, but they've both been texting him quite a bit since getting home from their Nauvoo trip and he's only here for the summer visiting cousins so they wanted to try to get together one last time before he goes back to Washington next month.  Yesterday, we drove an hour to meet him and his family in Oxford, AL.  

After I met him and confirmed that he was not an ax murderer, the kids went to a movie while I drove around and took pictures (those are coming later...that place was awesome!) and then we drove Robert back to his aunt's house where we met his ENTIRE family!  They were so nice and invited us to stay for dinner, and had we not been an hour away from home at 6:45pm, we probably would have stayed.  But, they did manage to talk us into staying long enough to see their two week old PUPPIES!  Oh, it's a good thing those puppies were too little to bring home with us because I know a couple of girls who had a really hard time putting them back.  Yes, ok, one of them was me!  Sheesh, they were cute!

New Life
And we checked McKay's little plants for the first time in awhile and they've all sprouted and look like they're turning into viable vegetable plants.  Now all I have to do is replant them in a larger container and move them to the back porch so they can get some sun and start becoming that organic salad I've been craving!  

Life in Alabama is getting better.  I feel like I'm getting a little more used to it everyday and I find something new to like about this place every week.  I'll be happy when everyone is back home again and when routines starting the fall, but for now, there is still much to be grateful for.