Boxes and Other Messy Stuff

Since arriving in Idaho we have mostly done just two things:  unpacked an endless supply of boxes and shopped.  This is a bigger house so more stuff is needed.  Infrastructure you could say.  So the goal is to increase the needed "infrastructure" and decrease the junk.  Have you tried getting rid of your own stuff lately?  It's much harder than helping someone else get rid of theirs.  There are so many emotional attachments to things, it seems.  But I'm giving it a go at giving away some of my formally prized possessions.  Tricky.

We were blessed by a visit from grandson Chase and two of his buddies last weekend.  They arrived late Friday night to help us unload our heavier stuff.  The three of them arose Saturday morning, ate plenty of sour dough pancakes, and worked hard moving stuff our of the last of our Pods and carrying them to desired locations, mostly upstairs.  Layne had a check list for them that he thought would take the day.  Those boys were done before lunch!  Ah, youth!  We loved them, fed them and thanked them.  What a blessing it is to have family and friends.

Layne and I spoke at Church last Sunday.  I won't ask you to guess what our subject was because you never could.  It was death.  I can't imagine ever wanting to speak to that subject.  We had lots of connections with members afterwards, so I think we did a satisfactory job.  At least it exposed us to more people and more connections were made.  So that was good.  We went to an empty nest family home evening on Monday night and met more people.  I think friendships will come easily here.  People seem consistently friendly.  I am finding this area to be embracing; not just the people but also the place.

Grandson Chase, ex-missionary companion Nick, and roommate Andrew.
These guys worked hard for us and were a joy to be around.

View from our backyard.  Note the lack of snow!  Maybe this
is a "banana belt" after all.

But I miss my family.  Happily, daughter Jessica and her family are coming this weekend.  So is my nephew Rus and his family.  They will miss each other but fill our weekend with sweet connections.  The following weekend our Mongolian daughter Brynn and her husband are coming.  So far we have had regular company.  I'm a people girl.  So I like it.