I’m sorry I missed posting last week. After a full month on the road, I was just worn out!
When I wrote last, we were still in Portland. We finished out our time there with a visit to the beautiful Grotto. It’s a Catholic church next to a forested cliff area. They have created an outdoor chapel under the redwoods and it is absolutely beautiful. We set El and Adia up with a big haul of groceries. They made us a yummy dinner and we played a board game. Then we bid them farewell–hopefully to see them again in a few months.
Our drive from Oregon to Utah was uneventful (hooray!). We spent a few more days with family–we worked on a renovation project at Nathan’s sister’s place, took Margaret on a walk around Silver Lake and lunch at the Silver Fork Lodge, and spent more time with Max. Since he had a few serious spills, things were a bit rough while we were there this time. We tried to introduce a little joy into his difficult days with a visit from his violin and also joining in the care center’s Chocolate Party one evening. He loved the mint chocolate chip ice cream! I also snuck in one more dinner with my sister Jana. Again, we hope to see all those dear ones in a few months.
We continued our move eastward. Five years ago, I couldn’t imagine driving across the country. Then COVID hit, and we have criss-crossed the U.S. multiple times over, visiting family, seeing national parks, and doing all kinds of touring. We even have a pretty good routine for driving from Utah to St. Louis (there’s a really good Mexican restaurant in Cheyenne, a solid motel that we stop at in York, Nebraska, and Kansas City always serves up a delicious lunch!). We arrived at Alex’s place, excited to meet our newest family member, baby Arthur. He’s a sweetheart!
On September 1st, we got to celebrate our daughter-in-law’s birthday. It’s fun to spoil Hanna a bit, since she works so hard to take care of her brood of boys. I spent the day in the kitchen, whipping up french toast and peach cobbler and cooking up a curry storm with Alex. It’s been a long time since I spent so much time cooking and it was exhausting and delightful. The weather in Missouri has tempered a bit and there have been some lovely cool mornings to counter the warm afternoons.
We have spent the last week in full grandparent mode. Unfortunately, Nathan and I ( and Alex) all came down with a cold a few days after we arrived, so we have had to keep our distance from mama and baby. But we’ve been playing with the older two boys inside (legos, trains, puzzles, and books) and outside (swings, slide, and stomp rockets). It’s been a real blessing to be settled in for a few weeks and to recover from a whirlwind August. We love our traveling life, but we have to pace ourselves! Even though hanging out with Teddy and Peter is a challenge sometimes, it’s a joy. We feel very grateful that we can spend so much time with our grandchildren.
We wish you a wonderful week and hope that you are starting to feel a bit of autumn where you are. Much love!
She’s Here!
Hi! We’ve had a good week here in Northern Utah. The weather is warming up a bit, there are buds on the trees, and…oh yeah…we have a new granddaughter! Daisy Ray Bauserman joined us about 10 days early on Friday night. Lauren had a crazy day of contractions and running back and forth to the hospital on Thursday with no progress. Then on Friday night, little miss didn’t waste any time and was born just before 10 pm. There was a bit of a hiccup in delivery when Lauren’s blood pressure dropped (and of course, so did baby’s) due to an extra dose of pain meds in her epidural. But she recovered and was able to deliver normally, despite being extremely medicated and numb. Miss Daisy’s a cute little thing and looks an awful lot like her big sister. Needless to say, we are tickled with our newest addition.
Marching On
Hello from beautiful Utah and Happy March! We had a good two weeks in Missouri, playing with kids and helping out. After two long driving days later, we are resting up in Utah for new adventures coming up! Although Nathan was fighting illness the whole time, we had a...
A Very Merry Birthday
We’ve had a good week here in Ohio and West Virginia. Nathan is still in a battle with a cold virus, but it’s been great beside that wrinkle. We’ve played with the kids, done some projects around Lauren’s house, and even found time for a trip to the dentist (Bo :)). We just happened to be around while he was off with his brothers and dad on a hunt, so it was a bonus to be able to help Lauren. She’s in her last month of pregnancy number four, so things are getting exciting! Despite being 8+ months pregnant, she prepared me a spectacular birthday dinner, making ramen from scratch (including handmade noodles) and a glorious flourless chocolate cake. I was spoiled to get fancy chocolates from my hubby, texts and calls from lots of people I love, and plenty of grandkid giggles and hugs. It’s been a good one! We’ll be picking up and moving on tomorrow…Missouri is next!