30 years

David and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary by going on a lovely 3 mile hike in Palo Duro Canyon.. And going out to an amazing restaurant called cellar 55. The weather was an absolutely beautiful 78° in Canyon. We enjoyed visiting and looking at the beauty. We shared a lovely Dinner with an amazing charcuterie, dish of cheese and meats. A wonderful date! 

Ready for going out to dinner. 

Just looking forward to another 30 years~Melissa 

Hells Kitchen Take Two

We were flying into Las Vegas to drive into St George Utah for my mom’s surprise 80th birthday.  All four of our children and spouses were coning. We got the idea to go to dinner at Hells Kitchen and take Eliza and Holliauna. This meant Holliauna getting her shift off early and doing the 5.5 hour drive to Vegas. It is past mom’s house in St. George. I loved how excited  Holliauna  was when we called and asked her to join us.  She said “I grew up watching Hells Kitchen, Hell yes I’ll come.” We flew to Vegas from Amarillo. We had a great time gawking over the prices of the food we have seen on tv. We enjoy yummy non alcoholic drinks and delicious food. This was David’s ad I second time here. I think we are over it. 
Just the most expensive meal for four people ever~Melissa 

2024 Thanksgiving

Everyone was able to come home for Thanksgiving this year. So wonderful! 

Lots of pictures with sweet little Addie. She is 3.5 months old during this years thanksgiving but only weights 8lbs. So she is like a newborn. Tiny and still sleeping much of her days. I am so in love with this picture of David leaning or and having a sweet conversation with his granddaughter. He is so in love! 

Of course most everything was about miss Addie. Given her circumstances around her birth, combined with the distance, this has been the first time we have really been able to bond with this sweetie. I feel much more bonded to her. 

The kids did the silly and popular T-shirt exchange. We had lots of giggles. Some are slightly not appropriate. But, mostly accurate and funny! 

Everyone holding her made it so she was almost never put down. But here is a moment of her taking a nap on Grammy’s  bed! So tiny and precious.. lots of pictures of everyone loving on her sweet little soul! 

Thanksgiving was filled with lots of visiting, decorating, Eliza’s temple trip and Food! Lots of food!

Just so grateful for Al the family time~Melissa 

Passing on Elena’s Ornaments

When I was pregnant with Andrew I attended a Relief Society meetings at  Christmas time. One of the activities was sitting in a circle and everyone sharing their family Christmas traditions. A tradition that stuck out to me was, every year getting or making an ornament for each of your children. Then, when they get married they get all these ornaments. I loved this idea. The next Christmas a new Tradition was born. It evolved into keeping things they had made as well. It also sparked our entire journal tree. 

Elena and Devin have been married over a year now and are in their own place. So, we gave her, her box of ornaments. I kept a few meaningful thing for our journal tree. Like the glass ball with her baby bracelet from the hospital. Man, where did the 22 plus years go?

Just grateful for family and tradition ~ Melissa

Christmas 2024

This was a simple Christmas. I did learn and sing an amazing song for church. Son of God by Paul Cardel. I did a really good job. Proud of my self.  I could not get the audio file to connect here. You’ll 

just have to believe me. We of course had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner and games. We gave them each a stocking full of goodies and a couple gift cards.

 

Andrew and Katie sent us a Marco Polo while they opened their gifts. Mostly gifts for Addie. Took a few screen shots. I love her in her new little winter coat! Katie’s says she looks like a care bear. So adorable. 

Eliza posing with one of the new games we got this Christmas. Fun little game.

Just grateful for the season~Melissa 

Thomas is home! Legaspi Philippines

On December 11, 2024 Thomas came home from his mission in  Legazpi Philippines. It was so fun to welcome him home at the airport. We hosted a party at our house on Sunday and had about 30 people come through to welcome him home. So excited to spend time with this awesome kid. 

Holliauna came home for this amazing gathering. We had fun making these three posters and of course we also included the 6 foot cut out of him too. It is hiding is some of these pictures.



I have told David several times this may be "our" only chance to send out a missionary. We loved our weekly calls and visits. Holliauna made him this amazing journal. It is every weeks email and any pictures he included. She also included a picture of our weekly phone calls home. We displayed this at his gathering. He included some of the money from the Philippines.

 We had about 30 people come for Thomas's homecoming party. The really cool part was watching Thomas's dad Julio excited to introduce his son to people from the Spanish branch. He seemed so delighted and proud. We are too of course. I asked Thomas what his favorite part of being home so far was...he said watching his two families bond and get along on his behalf.

Just love being his extra Mother~Melissa 

Eliza and the Temple

Wonderful time in the temple with our family yesterday. Eliza went through the temple, making more covenants with our Heavenly Father. Great day to be a mom!  

Eliza has been feeling ready to go through the temple for a couple months. She had already been through Temple prep and decided there is no reason why not to go. Well, when the family started planning Thanksgiving, she realized all of her family would be here for Thanksgiving, that was the time. We loaded everyone up in two cars and drove down to the Lubbock Temple on a Friday, 29 November and had a wonderful experience in the temple. 

My favorite parts was when we were waiting for Eliza in the locker room. The lady helping us told us we could wait there for her before we went into the endowment room and there was standing with Holliauna, Elena, and  Katie. Very cool mommy moment of course it was lovely to be with everyone in the celestial room.

 

Just excited for Eliza~Melissa 

Day 365!!!!

Wow, so amazing! 

I went on a hike with David in the canyon. We had a little picnic. I also went to Zumba!! I am feeling great. It started out with a little stretching and body resistance for 5 to 10 minutes every day. It has evolved into daily workouts sometimes totaling over two hours of physical activity. Plus my entire morning routine. I looked at the past 15 or so years of my life and decided to change how the next 15 would look. 

My morning routine consist of 30 minutes of grounding outside with my feet on the grass while grounding. I write in a words of affirmation journal. I read aloud a list of words of affirmations to attract good things. I drink 2 cups of water, which is Hydronated . I write in daily gratitude's and I end up reading some sort of health self-help help or health related book on occasion working on the body. All that and 30 minutes super productive timeframe.  Pictures is my outside usual spot. I sometimes sit on the front porch swing. And my inside setup with a grounding mat. So far I have only used this area three times. I am working on being outside in he sunlight if I can. Grounding has so many healing properties to our bodies. It has really changed my life. Connection with the earths energy is awesome. 

Then, I rebound for five minutes every morning, followed by two minutes of straight ab workout. Next, it is on cold plunging and 57° water for 7 to 9 minutes every day. And finally getting completely ready for the day with my hair make up and getting dressed and ending with a few more words of affirmations and making my bed. 

Above in the pictures is a stack of books I have read. I have learned a lot about holistic medicine and natural healing again and I’m applying much of it to my life. I have enjoyed being committed to reading either self-help or health and fitness type books in my journey to heal myself. 

Rebounding is said to be very healing for the lymphatic system and help it flush toxins. It is excellent low impact exercise and can be used and serious cardio if you want to jump your brains out. I have done hard jumping but I mainly do rebounding every morning to help flush toxins.

I started with cold water exposure in January when I learned about the benefits for the brain and body! I started with cold water exposure at the end of the shower and could barely handle it. I continued doing this until August. In August I started adding ice to a bath and getting into it. For day 300 I decided to order myself a recovery ice chiller. It works right with my bathtub! I usually hang out in the 57° water. I hit the 56° window and I was just shivering and miserable. From the books I’ve read and everything I’ve understand about plunging, the 57° water level is still at the highest benefit to my brain and body. I have noticed my brain functioning on more cylinders. I have a lot more energy and functionality from cold plunging. Now, I plunge every single day! I am getting addicted to the benefits of it! Totally worth my time. I will say this is taken serious mind over body power. Lots of me telling myself to stay in the cold water. My feet in 30 degree water in Utah. Hurt so bad.

Now, not to leave out any of my workouts when I first started all this I had a goal of strengthening my core so I could roller-skate again and bike in the canyon. Skating regularly has been hard to balance. But God has created the opportunity for me to skate at the rink every Friday if I want to. The local rink has set up Homeschool roller skating during the day. I love skating. So much fun! Now I have a regular opportunity to get out and skate in a roller-skating rink. Skate Fridays it is. 

The biking is still on hold for me, but it’s never far from my mind. I have settled myself  on getting an E-bike over a regular bike during this year. I did buy a cheap bike from Walmart. Which did not work out. It didn’t work. So the goal is still present. I will be buying myself, and my husband e-bikes soon. He can ride with me. So looking forward to all the opportunities this will open for us! 

I have started many classes and tried many things this past year. I even tried Pilates. However, I noticed the Pilates would always make my tailbone and sacrum hurt horribly for a couple days. So I stopped doing it. Have no fear,  I have moved onto many great things that I love. I started taking a Line Dancing Class. I joined the Amarillo Line  Dancers, which is a bunch of older ladies that dance two to three times a week. I learn line dances  with them to all sorts of music. It is pretty low impact. But does get me moving and even sweating at times.  I also take a line dancing class from Neon Dance Company. This class has pop music, country and latin dances. They hosted the dance socials with the Amarillo Line Dancers. And... finally, I’ve settled on Zumba! I feel addicted to it. It’s high intensity cardio dancing workout.  We do toning with weights at half the classes I go to.  I work out with a bunch of ladies in a studio that is set up almost like a dance club. It’s so fun, loud and really enjoyable.  I think I quickly fell in love with Zumba and line dancing because...  back in the day when I used to work out so regularly, I’d loved doing dance aerobics. This these type of classes check all the boxes for dance aerobics.  

On the days when I don’t have roller skating, hiking, line dancing or Zumba, I work out at home. Mainly focusing on weights.  However,  I can’t help but move my body when I hear fun music. I’ve collected a few pieces of equipment from an exercise ball to some hand weights,  stretching bands, half domed ball. Even though I am alone all the time, I get to be social at these classes! 

Music has played a large role in my healing this year as well. It kept my brain busy and my body moving, and my husband pointed out that it fills the silence with no kids at home. I started a new playlist and found much joy in movement with music. 

I have been so committed to working out every day and writing in my journal every day that there have been many occasions where I have gone to bed and remember that I didn’t do these things. Well… I will get out of bed and do the workouts. Those ones tend to be a 10 minute body resistance and strength stretching. I even got out of bed at 2:30 in the morning once when hadn’t done my workout. I did it!!! It’s all about training the brain and body to form good habits. 

I absolutely love hiking and strive to still go once a week however many other fun options often conflict with this and I end up only going hiking about every other week on average. I have learned to be happy doing everything alone and being OK with that. One of the biggest areas that I have focused on being alone, is hiking. I now hike anywhere between two and five miles by myself with confidence, happiness, and my lunch always in my pack.

I am so happy with the amount of muscles that I have created. I feel stronger and I have an overall better sense of health. In the course of this past year I have lost 10 pounds, I am working on focusing on a consistent lower carbohydrate diet. I drink two to four liters of water every day. Amazingly enough… I have stopped drinking soda pop. I went from only leaving my house every day to go get soda and never being with people. To, never leaving my house for soda and going to classes and being with people. I am proud of my new habits. I have read a huge list of books over this last several months about lifestyle and health, and I have implemented many holistic healing options to my life. I have shared a post about letting go of and being let of when it come to people in my life. It is entitled Time and a Season. I would add that it has been so hard to go through. I am stronger emotionally, mentally and physically because of these many changes. 

My words of affirmation journal has also evolved over the year. Every single day however,  I’ve started out with this sentence. I am healthy, I am fit, I am strong. I’ve also added some of my favorites. Like, I can do all things through Christ with strengthens me. I know God has a solution this problem. One of my favorites… I  am shifting my reality to always feel good. I focus on problems in my body or my mind or my life and I write them down in present tense to get my brain to recognize things and heal. I also focus on all the terminology such as I am, I do, I have, I feel, I love, I speak, I see, I know. This changes one’s mindset. 

At the top of each day I would go back and write down my exercises from the day. I realized I am such a visual person and started a large print calendar. This gave me a good visual of my workouts and goals of working out every day. This calendar has also evolved over time. Putting up month after month and seeing a large picture of my progress has been very rewarding and motivating! 

I am grateful for this journey, and all the opportunities has brought me, taught me and help me love my life. I have Incorporated so many things this past year. From working out every day to using a healing 128 MHZ Tuning fork, gusha,  caster oil and many other natural and homeopathy things I am doing.

But… the biggest and most amazing one is, the Body Code. This is life changing and deserves its very own blog post. Look at all those tabs. I think every pages has notes and underlining. My mind has been blown away and so intrigued! Our brains record everything! I am healing my body with the power of my subconscious brain! 

Changing the common denominator…

This entire year has been affectionally named my Value Project. Which has basically helped me learn my value for myself. Learning to be happy with who I am, where I live, the people I associate with. What boundaries I need and will hold myself to.  Adjusting to being alone all the time is one of the hardest ones. One big thing was and is ME! Changing the common denominator in many aspects of my life. I was common denominator at church or I was the common denominator in family or I was common denominator just in life in general.  I wasn’t happy with how things are playing out for me. One of the hardest things for me to go through this past year, was and is, not giving into to boredom and loneliness by calling people. I have recognized that many of my relationships are way out of balance. I put a ton of energy in to people and  people do not reciprocate it.  I have been working on not being as codependent of a person. I have conquered this. So hard. It has unfortunately showed to me how little of value that most people in my life hold towards me. But, I am learning to be ok with this and move on. I am working on attracting people in my life who want me around. Maybe even like my hobbies.

So many things have been happening in my head over this past year. Many, many positive things! So many blessings. New love of life and habits. My husband said once that me getting healthy is the best gift I could ever give him.  I am looking forward to and excited to see what this next year holds! 

Just learning to be a new person~ Melissa 

I Loved Being Your Mom

I loved being your mom is a huge statement. It holds so many thoughts and and emotions. I love you all so much. 

Just, with all my love~Mom

3 Months and 7 pounds

The title says it all… look at those adorable cheeks! Addie’s is doing so amazingly good! We are so grateful for so many miracles.  We had a facetime call with Adelaide on Sunday. David and I called and asked if Addie was available. She is officially 7 pounds. Crazy considering she is exactly three months old. We had a good visit with Andrew and Katie, while they kept the camera on her. So fun.

Just in love as a Grammy~Melissa 

Line Dance Social

My first social. I invited two of Eliza's friends to join us. I was a little nervous to go to a dance. However, all worries are gone now. You see these line dancing classes I am taking is mostly older ladies. As in, I am the youngest by a good 10-15 years. Haha This social did include the line dancing classes offered by another group too. there was a few younger people. I am not nervous to go again in the future. This is so much fun and a huge work out. I am loving learning line dances. This photo was taken near the end of the social. There was about 15 more people.

Just line dancing~Melissa

Small Homesteading Update

I know I don’t post as many recipes or gardening things. But I am always doing projects. In these photos, I am trying to show that I processed this trash bag full of basil. I made five faggots to hang in my pantry. I love the look of the hanging dried herbs in my pantry. And using the fresh dried herbs. It fits so nicely alongside my dried oregano. Also, in the pictures you can see a teeny canning jar with basil powder that I had freeze dried. Pictured are some of my current projects... processing garlic to be planted in the garden. In the crockpot there is onions that I’m turning into caramelized onions to freeze dry. On both counters you can see squash, tomatoes, cucumbers from the garden. Of course we still have our chickens. Our garden is slowing down, but I am always trying to hang onto to all forms of zucchini! I am still working nonstop on canning and food preservation projects.  My current freeze drying projects include diced onions, caramelized onions and sliced ginger root. Next up I am doing pudding drops. York Peppermint Patty and Dove chocolate/peanut butter flavors. I have so many canning and freeze drying projects in the cue. Ill never run out of ideas or things to work on and use in our pantry. I love it all. 

Just preserving away as usual ~Melissa 

85° October Hiking

I do love hiking in this  beautiful canyon. Today I set out on a 3 mile hike by myself. I hiked 1.5 miles of the Upper Comache Trail. Then, an almost half mile spur to the Paseo de Rio Trail. And along a  natural trail by the Hackberry campsites and creek. It was an amazing 85°. I am sure the surface temps of the trails we over 95°. I stopped near the end of my hike to take a picture to show the temperature. However, it is also the only sign of fall I saw on this day. The cottonwoods have not really started turning yellow yet. I am not sure what this tree next to the temperature gage is. But I noted the pretty fall colors on this one tiny tree. I did see another one on the last part of my hike.  Today I hiked with more weight to help me plan for longer hikes.  I did not even come close to finishing all my lunch. As always I love it here. 

Just hiking away~Melissa 

Holding Little Laide for the First Time

Grandpa got first dibs at holding this baby. We kind of guessed it would be that way. I was fun to watch him engage with her. It was really sweet.

Holding my tiny little bundle of sweetness. 

Grammy and Granpa with Addie. 

I took a couple photos of Andrew and Katie with the baby. I love this one.

We also flew Eliza out to get to meet her niece. 

Holliauna flew out the week Addie got out of the hospital! Elena also came that weekend.

We are all so excited to be able to hold her!!!  Everyone  but Devin and of course Thomas has gotten to hold this tiny little miracle. 

Just happy to have our family growing~Melissa 

Time and a Season

I heard this amazing quote from a preacher.  A tick Tok video. 35 seconds that has changed my entire life right now. I don't have his name. But, let me tell you, this quote had a ginormous impact on me. It opened my eyes to myself and my "Value" project. It literally healed me almost immediately. I saw and understood people in my life differently in just a moment of time. So much sorrow, hurt, loss and desire has been solved. 

"There are people who come in your life sometimes to be there for season, they weren’t meant to be there always.  Sometimes we find ourselves hooked up with people that we think are there for a lifetime, but they were only supposed to be there for a season. There are people who come into your life like boosters for a rocket. If you have ever watched a rocket go into space, the boosters fall off when it reaches a certain altitude. Some people are not equipped to handle the altitudes that you are going to. So don't be afraid when they fall off. They are not bad people! They just couldn't go where your going." 

The preacher goes on to say:

 "Don't hold on to those who can't handle the heights you're reaching. Keep your eyes on your path and let the ones who fall away serve their purpose without dragging you down."

My gosh, I have listened to his 35 seconds over and over. Such profound healing and timing in my life. This year I have been focused on what has affectionately been deemed as my Value Project. During my value project, I have worked out every single day, written in a words of affirmation, journal, and focused on myself. It has evolved into eating healthier. I’ve changed my attitude completely. I have learned to be happy being alone. I have found new classes and activities to enjoy and love. But nothing that I have studied, read, prayed over or worked on this year, has had a bigger impact on me than this quote. I recognize I am the boosters that come off of other people rockets. Or that we may push the boosters off on purpose…I’m grateful for Gods timing in my life. I have changed a ton. I needed to hear this. I needed to learn from this. I needed to heal from this. 

Here is a picture of me today on day 323.

Just healing, changing and moving on~Melissa