Finally got this week done!

A beautiful lake on Oil Creek Rd.

So sorry about being so late.  Our usual relaxing Sunday’s have turned into getting ready for Monday seminary lesson.  This week we also visited Renee for a couple of hours.  She has digressed (disease progressing) and is needing some time in the hospital to “train” the staff as to how to care for her.  It also gives Richard time off from constant care.  It gets harder and harder for him.  So she went into the hospital on Sunday and will go home today.  The hospital is in Newcastle and is only 3 minutes away from us.  So we have been seeing her everyday.  

Monday was lesson prep day for Walt, and I did laundry and some local grocery shopping.  Seminary is starting to take a toll on us both; with the constant preparing of lessons and lack of sleep.  We keep hoping it will improve.  Friday, we took a nap right after we got back.  I had only slept 4 hours and was just so overly tired.  Plus with it being a Friday, was just feeling so done for the week.  We also overslept for the first time on Friday, only had 10 minutes to get out the door.  It was a low day for us.

We did decide to take a drive that afternoon, down a road we had only traveled a little ways on.  It’s a dirt road but goes pretty far, as do most roads outside of town.  We have a couple of families that live on this road and had only gone as far their house.   We had dinner with one of the families on Tuesday. We are always so grateful for members that feed us.  This family  - the husband is not active and his wife was just released from 7 years as Relief Society president.  That’s a tough job- especially for 7 years. It’s a  beautiful place in a canyon.  We found about 5 ranches on the road, and various other roads that lead off.  

Sign we came across at a cross roads .  Now you know which way to visit anyone.

This looks like chocolate cake with frosting

Driving down Oil Creek rd

There was one sign that had all the ranches listed.  That little ride did us good.

Saturday, the Relief Society had an activity - making stone soup.  We all brought 2 ingredients and then as small groups had to come up with a recipe that only included those ingredients.  It was pretty fun and both recipes turned out quite tasty.  After returning home, I suggested to Walt we go on an adventure.  We haven’t gotten a real p-day in weeks ( I think since Kate and Drake had their reception).  Hiking helps Walt a lot.  We stay inside a lot with lesson planning.  So we went off to Mallow trail - at the Mallow Camp.  It’s in a forested area and is just so pretty.  It was good stuff - especially for Walt.  I am not in good a shape as him and have shorter legs (that’s my excuse).  We also saw an amazing sunset from on top of the mountain.  That is one of my uplifting things.  So we were truly blessed with renewal by God’s wonderful creations of nature.  That’s one of the things we love about here.  There’s lots of unspoiled nature.  Not enough people to spoil it. :)

All the next pictures were from our hike on Mallow Trail

Wednesday we had a cold front come through and it rained almost all day.  That’s not something that happens very often here.  Since we can have a cozy home, I turned on the heat.  It wasn’t getting any warmer and noticed the heat would cut on, but not stay on.  Walt took a look since he is experienced and saw the fan wasn’t turning on.  So I text Leo, our landlord and neighbor.  I feel so bad lately, there’s been a few text about various things.  He’s so kind, and comes over that day to check things out.  He needs to order a new fan. 

My genius husband also turned out portable a/c into a heat pump and gave us some heat in the bedroom. He just amazes me sometimes with the things he thinks of.  He also fixed the broken A/C fan with gorilla glue and zip ties.  We had some over 85 degrees days this week as well. He's definitely a McGiver.  We’re grateful for that cold day that helped our discovery of the problem.  However - something not good came from this cold snap - MICE!!  

Walt working on the broken A/C unit

Our "Heat Pump" - worked pretty good

Oh my goodness this has become such a nightmare.  I think there has been a problem before we got there, because we found bait traps on the shelf in the mud room.  We consulted the mission home first - we weren’t sure if we should try to fix it or have Leo.  They suggested a particular bait that is supposed to work great.  They said they would reimburse us for any cost.  Awesome.  So we got the baits.  We had seen mouse poop near the stove; ound a bunch in the drawer underneath where my baking pans are kept.  Super nasty. It gets worse.  We cleaned up all that and found more the next day.  Then we started checking out other spaces.  We’ve had candy in the house for months for “rewarding” youth in our classes.  Mice are loving that.  We found poop in our bedroom, my closet, the bathroom, under and in the couch (where Walt had popcorn), and the kitchen.  Now we are really freaking out.  Yesterday, (Monday) we spent the entire day cleaning and disinfecting our house.  It is now iterally spotless!!  The mice didn’t seem interested in the guaranteed baits, so we got some traditional ones.  Walt set them last night all over the place with crunchy peanut butter.  We were grateful to see no new poop, but not caught mice either.  We are hoping they found other options.  We had noticed poop in the basement but aren’t messing with that.  They can stay in the basement.  Just stay out of our upstairs.   We also bought a bunch of plastic containers for food.  Glass jars were great for smaller amounts of food.  We’re buying more containers - bigger ones today while we are in Gillette for District Council.  

Clean up from mice

(Update- previous stuff written on Monday - it is now Wednesday.). I won’t go to bed tonight until this is sent out.  We’ve made it through lessons each day this week and have quite busy with other stuff as well.  The mice took ALL day Monday.  Tuesday we had District Council and shopping Gillette and then picked Richard up on our way through Upton and took him to town, so he could ride back with Renee in the wheel-chair van.  I had cleaned and disinfected all my shoes and bags from the closet and they were out on the porch air out.  As we are coming home from Upton, it starts to rain!!  We dropped Richard off where a friend was watching their 4 yr old, and dashed off to save my shoes.  The Lord was watching over us, my shoes were totally dry!  Blessings!!

I won’t go into today’s adventures, or I won’t have much to write this coming up Monday.  We will still try to send out our email on Sunday, but I have a feeling it will change to Mondays. Thanks for your patience with us.

Life is trying lately, but we trust in God and know that He will always be there for us.  This is nothing compared to other trials and tribulation we have experienced in our lives.  We just figured we share it all - the good, the bad, and the mice!

We love you all, miss you and love the support you give us.

Trust in Heavenly Father - He’s there for each of us.

A bat snuggled in the corner of the church

We saw these turkeys in our driveway.  Notice how smooth the driveway is.  It's crazy bumpy!

We were taking a final picture of our current zone.  Can you find Sis Vann?  I realized at the last minute that I needed to move my head to be seen at all.

Random thing - my tomatoes are finally starting to turn red.  Two by Two.  I’ll take it.