A Week of Love and Valentine's Day

I'm making Valentine's Day, and the week leading up to it, its own post to capture all the love. Given we are spreading out as a family, and wanting to keep our unity and love, we tried to make it a little extra special. 

We've always shared love notes the week leading up to Valentine's Day, but as the girl's got older those notes moved to texts, and I was mainly the one leaving them. That hasn't changed, but it is still a good tradition! There were good things shared about the members of our family, a little glimpse into how we see each other. So I took screen shots of those love-posts and will share them here for the family record.

Geoff wrote letters to Tennie, Adele and Ceci telling them what he loved about them and sent them all beautiful bouquets of flowers. I gave them all a sparkly prism to hang in their windows, symbolizing the color they add to the world with their bright light souls.

Ceci heart-attacked my bedroom door with little bits of love, and I heart-attacked Geoff's work space throughout the week.

And other than a heart garland, some Valentine's dish towels and this little mouse, Valentine's Day around here is decorated with love.

The BIG MOVE to New York!

These last few weeks were a blur. Adele changed her flight to NY to a week earlier once she found out she had to quarantine upon arrival. She went through every item in her room creating piles to give away, sell, and take with her. She had one bin to fill with stuff to keep at home, so this was a full-on life move for her. It takes a lot of emotional work to let so many things representing childhood and home go, and she courageously pulled it off in less than a week (with her faithful friend Ceci by her side, who would not miss a moment of Adele's presence).

We found a video of Adele at about age 6 talking about New York, and we found this t-shirt in her old clothes. She has always had her eyes on this moment in her life!

 

Saying goodbye was really hard. Adele is a bright light and so lovable, so we knew she would be missed. She left us this little note (with a little French thrown in).

We sent her off in the new Salt Lake airport:

But we all made it through those first days. Adele was by herself in a dorm room with very little food or belongings, and it made for a hard transition!

I was going to go with Adele, but canceled my ticket once we understood the Covid guidelines for New York. It didn't make sense for me to spend money on a New York hotel to just sit there. But when Adele arrived she was told by the dorm to get tested immediately so she could get in her permanent dorm room. Assuming this was accurate, she got tested the day after arrival, and I booked a ticket to arrive right about the time she would finish up - 5-7 days after her test. Oh! There is so much back and forth and conflicting information to this move and the quarantining restrictions, it would take a long time to tell all the drama. I'll simply say it was a hot mess. When I arrived Adele was given the go-ahead to move in. She came to my hotel to meet me and while there, just a couple hours after being told she was free to leave quarantine, she was told she didn't wait three days upon arrival and her test was considered invalid by the dorm. She had to be retested and quarantine while waiting for the results. Lots of frustration and anxiety later, she got her results a couple days later than she thought and we were able to get everything done we wanted to to get her settled in.

I'll tell you what, getting settled in New York is a whole different ball game! We walked a bazillion miles, lugged heavy bags of STUFF, froze when not lugging, burned up when lugging, all while wearing a mask inside and out. Every store was out of something we needed which required more searching. It was a lot of work, but in there we squeezed in some trips to good bagel shops, restaurants, and quaint book and record stores. She is right in the heart of New York's action with endless neighborhoods to explore. She is going to have an amazing time!

We celebrated her 19th birthday exploring at our own pace. We ended up in a fun, college-age hangout neighborhood near her dorm eating pho soup. As with all dining in New York, the dining is outside, either open air, in homemade shelters with heaters, or one time we ate in a green house! And yeah, it was cold! (But could have been much worse!)

We met up with one of Geoff's old Washington D.C. roommates, Blake, who we were both friends with before we got married. Crazy enough, he is the single's ward bishop! We met his cute wife Estee for the first time. They treated us to delicious Thai food! I also snuck away the night Adele went out with her new roommates and had dinner with more old D.C. friends, Jason and Nichole. It was so fun to see their lives there. (Below is Blake and Estee)

Adele was assigned a dorm and was praying she would get good windows and light. Due to Covid, what is normally a shared room is her own private room. Turns out she was assigned the 16th floor and the end room, which naturally gave her her own bathroom. And the views of the Hudson River are closer than they appear in pictures, and the windows are large and bright! She couldn't have asked for a better space.

I got to meet her two roommates who seem like they are ready to explore and discover the city just like she is. I only got a picture of one when we were out shopping. Her name is Sera, and she is from Turkey.

It was hard to leave a piece of my heart behind when I flew home, but her wings were already stretching and she is ready to fly.

Christmas in McCall

Christmas for our family is now associated with McCall. Geoff's sister Ingrid invited us to stay at her home, so we all got tested for Covid before loading up our cars, and we met up in that winter wonderland that never fails to be perfect.

It was just us, Geoff's sister Ingrid and her family, and Britt and Hunter, with their adorable little babies, who stayed nearby in Trent's mom's tiny condo right on the lake. It was very low key all around. We ate, played games, played in the snow, skied, played with babies, celebrated my FIFTIETH birthday(!!!) and enjoyed a peaceful Christmas.

BABIES! (These two find any occasion to be nuts...)

It felt nice to get away, be with family and be outdoors so much. Until summer, McCall!

August - December

Five months in one post! I'll be skimming the surface, with maybe a few details if I happened to take a picture (but I was as neglectful about that as I have been about keeping up here!) It seems if there was ever a year my posterity would like to read about, it would be 2020! Oh well.

Aside from a pandemic, an earthquake and a severe wind storm that took down a good portion of sizable trees here in Salt Lake, Black Lives Matter protests, and a country deeply divided and contentious about just about everything from whether or not one should wear a mask to what it means to be an American, we had an election that heightened all the tension from the year. I'm still not sure who is president, really! Given Geoff and I have removed ourselves from party affiliation, as we agree and disagree with both sides, it has been fascinating to watch the contradictions, misunderstanding, anger, stubbornness, hard heartedness,  and emotion of all of the issues of our time. Given that we have stepped out of the fray, I feel we have maintained some peace and perspective that we are very grateful for at this time in the history of our country. In that regard we were merely warmed, not burned, by the heat this year. Tennie, Adele and Ceci remain thoughtful and observant as they form their own opinions. It is a very confusing time to figure out where one stands on issues!

Ok, I'll go person by person, starting with myself. The fall was super busy with foot zoning classes and studying and practicing. It took most of my focus. Early in November I had a 2-day written test, and last week I took a practical test. I attended a fall conference and some advanced classes, along with my regular classes, and I am astounded at all that I've learned! I completed 100 hours of practice last week. I am official! I am really grateful to have pushed myself to learn something new, to challenge my mind and engage in personal interests. It has been really good for me.

In September I went with a group of women to a retreat in Sedona, Arizona where we meditated on the vortexes and explored the beautiful area. I made new friends and learned good things about myself. Other than that, I have mostly been at home.

Geoff has been working 100% from home and will through June, at least. He loves it, although he has found starting a new job more challenging than he anticipated when there isn't in-person interaction. There have been some bumps in the road, but he continues to be excited about the potential of his organization. Mostly, though, his head has been down working these past 5 months.

He has taken to a nightly walk to clear his head and loves it. We continued to ride bikes until just a couple weeks ago when the air quality got too bad, and we've hunkered down for the winter months taking advantage of our apartment building's gym.

Tennie moved to Provo in the fall and is pretty much quarantining with her six roommates in a house east of campus. This fall she was accepted to the Journalism program, finished up her Sociology minor and continues to work really hard at her Arabic minor, which is very rigorous at BYU. She is one busy student! All classes, except an Arabic lab twice per week, have been online. She's had a job in a graduate program office, which she could do from home, where she mostly answered emails. It is a hard age to have this quarantining life. It is a time of life to have the time of your life (as Geoff's mom used to say), and that isn't the case for these cute college-aged kids, or any kids for that matter.

The New School held only online classes for fall semester, and the dorms were only open to a few students, so Adele remained at home. She managed to make friends as well as one can during her Zoom classes. Everyone seemed eager to connect with one another. She jumped in to her first year of liberal arts study and did remarkably well! While classes will continue to be virtual in the new year, the dorms have opened up to allow freshmen to move in, so off to New York she will go in January!

Ceci's schooling has been 100% online too. Her Zoom classes are more demanding than when they were in person, or it could be that she has cranked through a lot of hard classes her first years...she is on target to graduate after her junior year! She works hard all day, every day of the week. I admire her diligence. I marvel that all three of our girls have fully taken responsibility to get their work done. Not once have we reminded them about homework! I count my lucky stars. Thankfully Adele and Ceci have had each other. They have become the closest of friends, studying together, hanging out in the evenings, taking breaks for "frozen treat", as in, "Time for frozen treat!" (an ice cream cone), going on walks up the canyon and showing great love for each other. Ceci is really dreading Adele's move, with good reason. Her climbing practices have resumed, so at least twice a week she climbs, and thankfully she has a good friend on the team. She has grown past all of the rest of us Davis girls! She is currently 5'7 and probably has a bit more to go.

Over the warmer, fall months we got together with family a few times, at parks, picking berries, and in backyards. We had Tate & Zoey's birthday and baptism, and TK's farewell and first temple visit. Now that the weather is colder and we are confined indoors, I miss those outings!

Ceci and Cam:

 

Adele and I finally celebrated her graduation with a spa day getting massages and pedicures!

During Ceci's fall break, Adele skipped school and the three of us went to Sundance for a nice lunch and hike.

Ceci and I also went to beautiful Provo Falls and loved it so much we took Adele and Geoff back!

Britt had her twin boys, Golden and Max, on Ceci's birthday! They were 6 weeks early - 4 pounds each! I got to go help out a couple times. Oh! What a treat!

We had a low-key Thanksgiving with all of us home. We got our Christmas tree, and Tennie and Ceci got in an 80's mood. Glad to see Covid hasn't robbed them of their personalities!

Mila continues to charm us. Her curiosity gets her into pickles, and she loves all things crinkly. If there is any kind of bag, paper, scrap, wrapper on the floor, she'll lay on it or hide under it, waiting for a passerby to grab.

As we get ready to head to McCall for Christmas, the girl's skis are by the door. Every time we walk by or come in the door we jump, thinking it is a human form, so Adele and Ceci made it a little more official.

That is a very abbreviated update, but an update nonetheless! In the new year my goal is to do a monthly post, unless there is a trip or outing with a lot of pictures. So stay tuned for 2021!