November: church stuff

Let's jump right in to this recap of church-related Izatt-related happenings from last November:

Jump right in, get it? hahahahaha. OH man ;). Clyde has been a stalwart photographer of my church outfits for a couple years now but occasionally Willy Boy gets a turn and because it's Willy Boy he finds it hilarious to instruct me to 'stand on one leg!' followed by 'stand on no legs!'... hence the jumps. Cutest nutter butter!

The beginning of November brought Andy's 18th birthday, which meant a fast and furious finish to his Eagle Scout project so we could board of review him ON his birthday. We don't mess around. Andy collected personal hygiene and toiletries for local refugees and had so much awesome support! Here are some pictures from 'sorting/boxing day':

Another fun Scout activity: dropping off the bags for Scouting for Food! I had Andrew... and one of my older kids... but the point is Andrew was hilarious. This is a collection of things that freaked him out and made him refuse to go to the door and drop off a bag: a dog statue, a Neighborhood Watch sign, a real cat, and a fake dead body (okay, that one was weird). Andrew is such a tough, hilarious kid and I've never seen any side of him that wasn't Ready for Anything so hearing him adamantly declare that he was "NOT going up by that dog; I don't care if it's fake" was eye-opening and endearing. Ohhhh I miss him and his brothers!

Will and I attended the baptism of one of his primary classmates. During some downtime I handed him a paper and pen and encouraged him to write her a note, which prompted the cutest little letter ever. We talk to the kids a lot about how prevalent Satan is in our lives right before and after spiritual highs - because he wants us to doubt our feelings and he wants to shake our newly strengthened or soon to be strengthened testimonies. I love that Will has retained that knowledge and knows that right after someone is baptized, things will get a bit more tricky. Satan is the master deceiver and there's no absolute way to be immune to his BS - because he flipping packages it SO temptingly and preys on us when we're at our lowest. It kills me to think about how eager he is to draw us away form the safety and peace of being close to God, just to abandon us when we become trapped in habits or decisions that are destroying us. He has no loyalty or long-term interest in us. He's legit just there to screw us over and then moves on. 

Okay, well that escalated quickly! Can you tell it's been on my mind lately? ;) Main takeaway: Will is cute and I love little insights into how his mind works.

For a while the boys were really into baking projects on Sunday afternoons:

Baked goods on Sunday, workout class Monday/Wednesday/Friday! The first Wednesday of every month is sentao with the amazing JoLyn and the picture on the right is Nicole up there with Jenn... I feel like this is around the time we found out Nicole was moving so I was extra emotional about documenting everything before she was gone - insert crying emoji here because I'm too lazy to find it...

I had a quick meeting... maybe another Board of Review? right after church one Sunday, so the kids headed out to play in the sand under Chuck's supervision until I was done and he headed back in to do his church stuff.

Aaaand you best believe that since it was the Sunday before the election, we all donned our most patriotic of church clothes!

The primary program was in November, and as always it was so fun to watch the boys participate - especially since this was Jack's first time. The day before there was a practice at the church, leading to an impromptu Izatt/Swenson pizza picnic during which Will ate zero slices of pizza because he does not eat pizza which really makes me wonder if he's my kid after all....

Couple temple trips this month, first with Maren and Emily and then with Kautri. Man, I love those girls! Also I was looking something up in my actual scriptures and was reminded that during my seminary years, I usually marked which scriptures people used for devotionals. I'll tell you what, I'm as addicted to my iPhone as any other self-respecting millennial but there's something about my actual scriptures that can't compete at all with the electronic version. Oh, and I found this picture of Brother Dille on Chuck's phone. I have no idea re: the context but I love Brother Dille so there ya go.

And in conclusion, here's an awesome President Eyring quote. Sometimes the angels are in the form of people around us - friends, family, strangers we meet along the way. Sometimes the arm of flesh fails us and the angels are of the heavenly variety, so have to be more still and discerning to recognize their presence and peace that they offer. I'm pretty well versed in supportive, awesome older brothers and Jesus Christ is the ultimate example - unlike the adversary, He will never abandon us. He will never give up on bringing us back. He will never stop providing manifestations of his love and Heavenly Father's love for us. 

Aaaand that's my mini-devotional for this morning ;). Goal is to finish November in the next two days (fingers crossed emoji!!!)

November: Chuck & Jana Utah trip

Once upon a time Chuck and I planned an exotic destination getaway to.... the IKEA Superstore in Beautiful Draper, Utah!

It was magical; neither of us had ever been before. Tips for other newbies: wear comfortable shoes. And a pedometer... because you are going to get your 10,000 steps in!! It just never ended. I was thrilled there wasn't like a fire drill because I had no idea where we were in relation to where we started... I just kept following the little laid out path. Craziness. We liked some stuff, failed to see the vision of some other stuff, and walked out having purchased some more little kid plastic plates and a blue Ikea bag. #souvenirs

I guess I shouldn't make it sound like we ONLY drove down to Utah to go to IKEA... when in fact, the stops at various Deseret Industries stores along the way was also a main draw of the trip.

Burley, Idaho D.I. on the left - this place holds a dear place in my heart. It's quick off the freeway and you can conveniently stop at McDonalds to get food for the kids and then run into D.I. while they stay in the car with Chuck and eat. That's if you bring the kids with you to Utah, which this time we did not AND IT WAS AMAZING. On the right is... I want to say the Centerville D.I.? No... more south I think... oh man, they all run together after a while. Chuck said we couldn't leave the state until I could honestly say I owned more than one pair of jeans haha. (Little did he know I would live in leggings alllll winter long anyways!)

Besides Deseret Industries thrift stores, another thing that Utah has a lot of that I love? Temples! Chuck and I were so, so excited to go to the Salt Lake City Temple for an endowment session. We've been there twice for beautiful sealings but we never seem to have/make the time when we're in Utah with the kids for other family stuff. This time it was A Main Priority and our first official stop of the trip. It was such a beautiful experience. I have so much admiration for temple workers who sacrifice time every week to give this service that can require a lot, both physically and mentally, and being in a 'live' session deepened my existing respect. 

And of course, I'll take it any time I can be in the temple with my favorite person ever. I love looking over and meeting his eyes at different times during an endowment session and resolving with him to continue moving forwards together, doing our best to keep the promises we've made to God and each other. And sometimes I meet his eyes and blink heavily to indicate that it's nice and peaceful and comfortable in the temple and I am realllll close to falling asleep ;).

And of course, besides DIs and temples, yet another thing that Utah has so many of is nieces and nephews!! In fact, all but two of ours live there which is SO hard for an overbearing, attentive aunt like myself. We were so happy to be introduced to this sweet babe, Emily Sky:

Isn't she a doll? Doesn't she look just like Anna and James? Amanda and Steve have such a cute baby mold: I wish them all the best trying to tell baby pictures apart in twenty years :).

Oh man, Utah can also claim an abundance of my amazing friends living within its borders! Courtney was an excellent hostess who let us crash at her house two different nights... one of which she was out of town! Thanks babe!! 

The next morning Chuck and I left in the wee, snowy hours of the morning to drive south because it was....

Baby Day! A while back Eden referenced my bucket list item of seeing a baby be born and invited me to come to their upcoming birth if the timing all worked out. I was so flattered that she would make such a generous offer but was so hesitant to get excited because I knew it was a long shot... and then slowly, things fell into place and I was more than honored to be there with Quinn and Eden when baby Jethro Ruel was born:

Such a sweet, spiritual, amazing, incredible, beautiful experience. Eden was a rockstar and my big sister heart grew like five sizes watching Quinner support his wife and become a dad for the third time. 

Eden and baby Jett 💙💙.

(For the record, I believe that Eden and Quinn will back up my assertion that I did pretty dang good at staying quiet and out of the way and super chill despite my excitement SO if anyone else feels like a Jana Izatt in the room would really complete their birth experience, please let me know and I will come ;) ).

Chuck and I stayed with the two big siblings that night and had all sorts of fun learning about dinosaurs haha:

and then the next day we got to stop by the hospital and hold the baby! 

Chuck and I traveled a wee bit further south that morning and found the new Provo City Center Temple! We did an endowment session there and loved it. Such a beautiful temple with an incredible history. 

I spent time in the temple thinking about my upcoming gospel doctrine lesson and I will never cease to be amazed by the promptings and ideas and direction that come when I go to the House of the Lord and ask for help. 

At this point it was time to start heading north again, hence our aforementioned stop at IKEA and a stop to remind us that Chuck loves In and Out Burger and I (unpopular opinion alert...) don't really get it. I mean, it's okay. But probably not worth the line/price/hype. There. I said it.

Definitely worth the line/price/hype was Mallory!!! Our talented, beautiful oldest niece was in her high school production of Mary Poppins and since I haven't seen her in a play since like early middle school (and this was her last one as a SENIOR), I decided Chuck and I needed to be there - which is what kicked off the planning for this trip :).

 Holy moly, what a production! Davis has an incredible reputation for their theater department, and it is Well Deserved. It was incredibly well done and Mallory was perfect as Miss Andrew. I kept getting caught up in her onstage presence and wanting to tell everyone around me that she was my niece! Loved it, and I'm so so glad we were able to be there.

The next morning we stopped by for some last minutes squeezes with baby Emmy and not-baby Courtney (ugh, nieces grow up too quickly!!!). And Chuck's mama was there too; I love when we bump into each other in Utah :).

 Okay, I photographed Chuck's special cheeseburgers, so here's my random favorite meal from the trip: bagels! I forget the official name of this concoction, but it was so good! I have a weird thing for special bagels (does anyone my age remember the Brueggers Bagels in southeast Boise when we were in junior high? Man I loved that place...) and this was delicious.

Chuck and I made our way home and arrived to find all four kids happy and healthy (quite a coup since when we left a couple had the stomach flu, whoops!), all thanks to the amazing care of Grandma Pam. I'll recap their adventures in a different post, but I'll just say here that my mama is an incredible grandma and Chuck and I couldn't have gone on this trip without her generosity and service. Thanks Mom.

I've already gotten kind of sappy about Chuck and I can only get so emotional before I have to make a joke (usually self-deprecating) and we are rapidly approaching that point SO, I will just say that marriage is the hardest adventure I've ever embarked on and I've made more mistakes along the way than I care to admit but man, it's worth it. I hope I always remember that. I hope I give Chuck and our relationship the care and attention necessary so that we can continue to thrive together. 

Can't wait for our next Utah getaway together! 

(which is funny because obviously I'm blogging about this nine months later and in the meantime we've already had another weekend trip there without the kids haha! It was also awesome! I'm sure I'll get it recapped in the next couple years!)