Friends

The day after our epic bike ride my MTC companion, Millie Carlson, (from the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah) came and visited me. One of her good friends came too--Kristen Erekson. It was so great having them come and visit.  We stayed up late talking that Sunday night.  I enjoyed hearing about their lives, and their candidness about being single.  Two awesome, single ladies here guys!   It was fun talking to them about marriage and kids too. 

Millie, Kristen and me.  Turns out Kristen is distantly related to my brother-in-law!


I haven't seen Millie in about 3 years.  So good to catch up.  She is working on her nurse practitioner's degree right now.  She was a NICU nurse.  Kristen is a nurse practitioner.  I love that these ladies found terrific careers and love their jobs.  I honestly don't know what I would have done career wise if I were single.  Or what I would do now if I had to work.  I never found a "passion" while in college.  Though I did enjoy many of my classes, I didn't find a field I truly enjoyed and loved.  I always wanted to be a mom, and stay home with my kids.  I do feel very blessed both of those things worked out (and we sacrificed to make me staying at home work by going without the normal "stuff" and being frugal). And we've made it a point to protect that.  If Lee is ever disabled or dies young, I can keep doing what I love doing: being a mom, and staying at home.  Having term-insurance and will is just the right, loving, grown-up thing to do for your family. Thankfully we have disability insurance too.  Okay, so I wasn't even going to write about all of that, but there you go.

Millie and me.  We went to the same mission too, but never were companions.  We did have some of the same companions, which was really fun. 


They both had Monday off (and my schedule was free thankfully!) so we all went up to Shenandoah National Park.  We hiked to Dark Hollow Falls and beyond. 




Then hiked out to Stony Man overlook. While we were at Stony Man, Kristen wanted to sing some hymns, so we each picked one and sang them.  The third hymn, How Great Thou Art, two guy hikers were nearby.  They stopped and listened and thanked us for the pretty song.  That was kind of them.  Kristen and Millie are so good at talking with strangers on the trail and networking.  It was great spending time with them.  It's been great too because I've been able to spend time with some friends from church too lately.  Still not as much as I would like, but love the moments together.  Friends are just plain great.


And I ran into a friend on the temple grounds just this morning!  I saw Chris Jeppson first, but thought, no that's not him.  Then I saw Chandra and Ethan and knew it was them!  So fun! I met Chandra at Rick's College. My roommate Kim, and Chandra were really good friends.  Later Chandra and I ended up in the same ward here!  Sadly they have since moved away to South Carolina. So good to see them.  Looking at our June schedule it didn't look like there was a good time this month to go to the temple together.  I decided to just go up during the day while the kids are still in school.  It worked out great. (And driving the Chevy in traffic went well!  I was wondering about that...)  I saw my friend Mary and her husband there too!


Just been thinking about friends lately, and what a great role they play in my life.  And how I would like to spend more time with friends somehow!

Random photos for the post: arrow shooting.  My hope is that my kids will be best friends when they're grown up (and now too for that matter!). I love the terrific moments they have together, but there are rough ones too. 




Shanna is still going around on her crutches. 


We planted our two little garden plots.  Plants are coming up!



Of course I'm thankful for my best friend, Lee.  That was pretty tasty lime pie that we made together!


Okay, last one......major random......this is the circle bread I make using juice cans and whole wheat dough.  I love it.