I have arrived to El Dorado. It is genuinely the city of gold. Definitely the richest place I've ever served in. We live in the nicest apartment in the mission... it has hot water and an elevator and an American washing machine.
Opening an area is truly the best experience ever. There was literally nothing here. No progressing people, empty carpeta. We are building El Dorado from the ground up. The first several days were mostly finding with an occasional lesson but by Saturday we were able to plan a full day of lessons and that felt good.
The ward has been so welcoming. They haven't had hermanas here ever. Since the ward became a ward, it has only been elders. All of the ward members are overjoyed that hermanas have finally arrived. They all want to feed us (that is not a joke, I ate way too much food this week), they all want us to come visit them, they all want to salir with us and help us teach the gospel. I got to speak in sacrament meeting, which was really good to start off good relationships with the members. I am so excited to be a part of this ward.
And God gave us true miracles! We went from having zero people we even knew to having three people we met this week come to church!
AND GUYS. My companion is from Brazil!! She's from Pernambuco. Her dad actually served in the same mission as my dad! What a small world. Hermana Fernandes is so awesome. She is the one of the kindest people I've ever met and she has such a strong testimony. She is not afraid to tell everyone what she believes and why and I love that. I love her pure desire to share the gospel and that it is not at all influenced by fear of what other people might think. It's been so much fun to get to know her this past week and it's actually unbelievaly fun to both be communicating in Spanish even though it's neither one of our first languages.
It's been so cool seeing how prepared this area is for missionaries. Missionaries haven't walked the streets Hermana Fernandes and I are now walking in years. And people notice. Tons of people are so pumped that missionaries are finally back. Lots of people are practically contacting us. Apparently there's a sister who's basically a member but hasn't gotten baptized because she's been waiting for hermanas to show up to be able to get taught. God is the one running this work. He is so good and I am so hyped that He put me here in El Dorado. Stay tuned for the baptisms 😉
Hermana Cazier
Pics!
1. Streadbeck and I attempting to make a sad face about getting split up (we were laughing too hard to have success)
2. Got my Brazilian comp!
3+ she made me cuscuz and brought a bunch of snacks from Brazil for me to try
Here's another blip on the map of last year, but it was a fun one. Peggy and Bob invited us to go to a play. But the play was out at Snow College in Ephraim. That takes some dedicated time to go, since it takes over an hour to get there. So we made an evening of it.
We drove out in time to get some dinner before. We ate at a Mexican place, although I can't remember which. There aren't a lot of choices in Ephraim, so I think it was one of the two Mexican options there.
Then on to the play. We saw The Foreigner. I've seen it before. I took June and her friends down to Cedar City to watch it for her birthday one year. It is a very funny play. We had a great time.
I will say that the Cedar City version was a little better. The breakfast scene was my favorite and it wasn't done nearly as well at Snow. But every cast has their own spin on a play and it was still very enjoyable.
With the Hale so close, I don't normally think about plays further away, but it is good to know we have many options in this state.
It is always a challenge to decide whether to dedicate an entire post to something or to just throw the pictures into the chatbook. I usually base it on how many pictures I have, but some things are important enough to note, that perhaps it is okay to do a short post on them. It is these hard decisions that are placed on the shoulders of a blogger.
Last year, during Spring Break, we took Ivory's wisdom teeth out. She didn't have all of them, if you recall. She lost one in a previous surgery. (Sounds like it went missing, but never fear, they took it out on purpose.) So she only had to have three taken out. But that is plenty of surgery for discomfort. She came home with the signature head wrap.
I'm sure I don't remember the details of everyone's surgeries, but I did feel like it took longer for Ivory's bleeding to stop. She went through a lot of gauze. Haha, I had to come back and add this because I forgot, but Ivory was convinced that they gave her her wisdom teeth. She said they wrapped them in the gauze and put them in her mouth. I told her that isn't a thing, but she was so certain. She made me roll out all her bloody gauze to prove her teeth weren't in there. And then she was heartbroken that they didn't give her the teeth. She sat and sobbed.
Even though she didn't have any work done on the bottom left side, she still ended up with cute chipmunk cheeks. Isaac didn't seem to mind.
We kept her in cold food. She tried out the Green Me Smoothies, but she didn't like them as well as June had.
Oh, and she got flowers! We learned last time that they only do flowers for wisdom teeth. So when Ivory had her surgery before, flowers showed up for June who got her wisdom teeth out around the same time, and not for Ivory who had crazy invasive surgery. (And actually one wisdom tooth removed!) So we've learned that in order to get flowers, you have to remove more than one wise tooth.
There you have it. Less wisdom in our house overall. Good thing we still have Pearl and Daisy...
Just a hop skip and a jump away from March. Let's see what little random things we were up to last month.
Guys, I truly have an addiction to these Cadbury Mini Eggs. They are so amazing. Luckily, so does everyone else. So if we open a bag, it is gone within the day, sometimes the hour. We buy way too many bags when these are in the store, but they are only there for a limited time...so you have to.
Here are a couple of my library calendars. Someone asked me what the sheep were for. (They couldn't tell the difference between the lions and sheep.) I said, "You know...in like a lion, out like a lamb." They had never heard that phrase. But you have, right reader? I don't think I'm THAT old.
Ivory and I took an evening out for ice cream at Rockwell. They have such interesting flavors. I tried their signature G.O.A.T. ice cream with a goat cheese base, blackberry and lemon swirls and honey rosemary almonds. You could really taste the rosemary. It was definitely different.
I have no idea why Tyler took this picture, but it is hilarious and super cute.
I'm trying to keep up on my yoga. I'm not consistent, but I enjoying doing it when I have time. Often it is first thing in the morning or at night. Nova seems to sense I'm coming down to her level and she often gets in the way. This is her way of being a part of my session. Little stinker.
Pink socks day again. Didn't get a group picture, again. But I sent my picture to Tyler and he sent his to me. :)
Jorri helped me design some cards with the teachers' pictures and favorite books on them. I really liked how it turned out. I had enough people fill out the survey that it filled up my board and spilled around the corner. Reading is so awesome.
This picture is super cute. Ivory and Isaac were trying to take a picture together every day. This one is proof that she has my duck earrings. I want them back!
I told you that Dad is the lunch bagger now. When we went to Seaquest, we took a lunch and he did a bag for all of us. So nice of him. You'll have to guess what the jokes were. They were your typical dad joke fare.
Sunday selfie. Um...what is Daisy doing??
I really love this picture. The sun was streaming in from the sunroom. I was resting on my bed and enjoying the idea of sun in general. There hasn't been enough of it this month.
I took Daisy and Pearl to see A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. It was a strange little play. I really enjoyed the guy who played five or so characters. He was every character in the one family. It was also a musical, which was weird, but some of the songs were pretty catchy. And yes, Daisy is still making that face.
There is this store called The Painted Tree in our area. It is pretty epic. There are over a hundred vendors in there with their little shops. There are so many fun items. It is where I found the butterfly for Ivory's prom hair. (wait for it...) Tyler came shopping with me and I found this sign that I really liked. It seems appropriate.
Tyler got this picture of a squirrel. I think he took it up at his Air BnB. I'm a little jealous. We don't get many squirrels around here and I really miss them. They are so cute.
Mark borrowed Tyler for a screen printing job. He brought Karen and told us to take some time together. Mark even scheduled a pedicure for us. How sweet is that? We had a lot of fun getting our toes done. I actually chose at random from the color rack. I got a sparkly blue and I put it over a lighter blue. I love it.
I spend quite a bit of time listening to books on my headphones nowadays. Sometimes in the library when there are no students, or at home if I don't want to bother people. (I can see myself as a grandma making treats and listening to books.) Tyler will also put his headphones on to keep his noise to himself. It seems kind of funny when we both have headphones on, but I took a selfie since we are cute anyway.
Apparently Tyler's coworkers play board games on Fridays. I think he is usually too busy to play, but he joined in the other day and liked the game so much that he brought it home. I believe it was called Space Base. I thought it was REALLY fun. It is one I would happily own. Some strategy and plenty of luck. It has the Catan feel where you hope people roll the right thing.
Nova is such a goose. Every month there are dozens of pictures of her on people's phones. (Not mine.) Pearl just got a phone for her birthday at the beginning of this month. I was actually curious if she had more pictures of Nova or herself. Any wagers? It was actually a close race. There were 52 pictures of Pearl and 58 of Nova. Clearly two subjects she loves dearly. :) Nova is entertaining. I like when she sticks her butt in the air and looks like she's about to pounce on the ball. She'll hold that position for quite a while if she thinks you are playing with her.
She will chase a ball for hours. But she also loves being cuddled and loved. What can I say? Such a goose.
We are currently at the end of April, and I think we've put the snow behind us for the season. I'm sure there will still be a few chilly days, with a dusting of snow (it is Utah after all) but hopefully no more drifts and icy roads. Snow and ice are beautiful, but 5 months is plenty.
Our family book group has been a little lax this year. It is hard to get everyone reading since school is busy and life is busy. We added Analena and she picked Frankenstein as her book. I had actually never read it before. I was super annoyed at the book, but happy to have finally read it. I made some treats for the chat and Daisy helped me decorate. Analena had this freaky bunny at her house. It seemed like a fitting monster for Frankenstein to have made. Thanks for hosting Analena.
Ivory took the ACT test in early March. She really wanted to get at least a 29 so she could get a full ride scholarship to Utah Tech. We went to Jurassic Taco to celebrate after her test and our number was 29. I told her it was a sign that she was going to get a score she liked. I actually guessed she would get higher than that. Sure enough. She got a 33! Superb Ivory! What a brainy kid.
I know this picture is Beau and Baby together. But it was also a game night where we had Basil over and we played Mysterium. That was an interesting game. I'm not sure I was very good at it. It kind of had Murder in Hong Kong Vibes mixed with Dixit vibes. It was fun to try though. I love that the Orem library lets you check out games. It has been such a blast.
I missed an entire ballroom competition. I found pictures on Ivory's phone. I think it was the same night as Pearl's birthday so I can see why I didn't attend. Ivory doesn't take video of her performances since she is in them, go figure. But she did take a video of another group. They were so good and it was such an awesome performance because the music stopped in the middle, but they still finished strong. That has to be so hard to try and stay on beat when there isn't one.
Guess I'm going to mention our walking challenge here. Ivory is trying to walk more. She has a goal for 365 miles this year. That can be biking, walking, or running. To inspire her to go more, I told her she should join one of the Conqueror Challenges. (Do you remember my Lord of the Rings one?) I told her we could even compete against each other. She was so confident that she said she could beat me AND Tyler combined. Oh...it's on. Let me just say. We are slaughtering her. I may have stopped recording our miles so she can catch up. Poor thing. But she is much better about taking pictures on her walks. There's that. (Oh, we are doing the Great Barrier Reef challenge. It is 100 miles.)
Hahaha. Also, she was really dying for the Fruity Pebbles cake I made ages ago. She's never forgotten it. So she tried making it herself. Well...it was close. She mixed up the ratio of krispies to marshmallow and it was WAY too much marshmallow. The cake sort of sunk down on itself. But it still tasted okay and Ivory finished it all. (With help of course.)
Ivory still volunteers at Primary's frequently. They asked her to help paint the window in an Easter theme for the upcoming month. That bunny is all sorts of freaky. It actually seems fitting for what I think of the Easter Bunny, but I'm hoping no kids were harmed in the seeing of it.
Red and Gold week happened at the high school. That is when they vote on Student Council for the next year. I'm not quite sure what this picture is all about. Something about Ivory and her three bears. The mascot, Isaac, and some bear on her phone? Please see Ivory for more details.
Let's wrap up with some Beau deets. She and Analena gave each other some more ear piercings. Beau got another up high. Analena got several, on each side. Poor thing. She couldn't sleep well on either side of her head. But they look cute and I like the matching pink pigs.
Finally, you made it through. This last picture is genius. Daisy and Beau agree that frozen Cool Whip is better than ice cream. They like to eat it straight out of the carton. In this case, Beau carved out a heart in her ice cream and filled it with Cool Whip and froze it again. It looks pretty and probably tastes great. I don't think I'm patient enough to try it.
Kudos if you made it through this long chatbook. Always fun to have lots of weird things going on. March was a great month, but I'm glad to see all its snowy goodness in the rear view mirror.
