ToddlingAroundTheWorld

LeAnn and I went out tonight just to get out of the house for a bit. We headed up toward Lake Tapps and grabbed some teriyaki. Then we drove to a park on thelake (which was closed) because Coronavirus, of course and just parked so we could eat. We drove around some of the fancy neighborhoods there and then came back down the hill to walk on the Sumner Link Trail. We got hit by a bit of misty rain, but were able to get a couple of miles in. 

Some of the intermission missionaries are getting calls stateside for the Interim. Austin is now getting a bit anxious to get his call. The ones that have received them are going to be heading out within the week. Theyare telling these missionaries that they don’t know how long they will be in the stateside assignments, but hope to get them back to their original missions after things settle down with the Coronavírus.  In other news, I walked 11.8 miles today. :)

Spending some quality time with Austin in the evenings. I usually hit the treadmill for 1- 1 1/2 hours each night. Austin has been in the bonus room at that time too. He is usually playing some xbox with his friends fora couple of hours. While I sweat, he is working on callouses on his thumbs with the controller. Since he is issuing the TV, I watch Netflix or Disney + on my iPad. 

I love seeing Austin back home again.  He brightens up our home with his smile and fun personality. A few weeks ago, he grabbed the guitar I got for LeAnn for Christmas a couple of years ago and started just playing around with it. The next thing I hear is him practicing some songs with YouTube tutorials. Now he is able to get through a few songs and sounding pretty good. So wonderful to see him using the Corona down time to improve his skills and learn to play a new instrument. What a great example he is. 

Went with Autumn and LeAnn down to the Tacoma waterfront and walked around the Dune Peninsula Parkand Ruston Landing. It was a beatiful day. A bit windy, but so amazing. Love where we live!

We took a family trip this afternoon out to Tulip Town in Skagit Valley. It’s been a long walk time since we have taken the whole family out there together. It’s a long drive, but fun to be together. We did see one place that was open and selling some tulips. They wouldn’t let us out in the fields, but we had a good view from afar. 

A few days ago, I started watching all of the Star Wars Movies in chronological order. I have been doing lots of walking on the treadmill at night, so am watching those on the iPad usually while Austin has been gaming with his friends. I have finished The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith so far. Once you get past Jar Jar Binks, they are not too bad.  One of the reasons I started this is because we have so many streams going on Netflix each night, thatI can’t get on there. Usually Autumn and LeAnn are on there and sometimes Jaylin. So I started using Disney + instead. Then once I got to ‘Solo’, o found it wasn’t on Disney + and wasn’t supposed to release there until July! Did a little research and found it is still on Netflix, so I am covered there as long as I start streaming befor Autumn or LeAnn at Night!  Here is the list in chronological order: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace  (set 32 years before A New Hope) Star Wars Episode II: A...

It rained all day long. Wasn’t feeling like going out in it, so walked 7 miles on the treadmill. Was going through a lot of pain with my gastrointestinal problems, so that held me back from going farther. Still keeping on track to get to Bahía Blanca in 2021

Went with Austin in the afternoon up to Kelly's house. She needed some help spreading topsoil around her planting areas. We took a wheelbarrow and some shovels and rakes. It was nice to get out of the house and help Kelly and Ruth out. She was kind enough to pay Austin for his work, which is great for him right now while he is in missionary limbo. He has also been going out with Autumn and doing door dash, so bringing in some decent money. The dirt pile at Kellys was pretty large. Took us about 3 and 1/2 hours to get through it. Her yard does look great now. Definitely was sore after finishing up. When we got home around 7, I took a shower and crashed for a couple of hours. Got back up around 10:00 and then got on the treadmill for 4 miles. Ended the day with 8.1 miles. Amazing that I walked close to 4 miles around Kellys house while distributing the top soil.

5 miles on the treadmill. Also hit 8.1 on the trails today for a HALF MARATHON! Sore from the Arthritis in my left knee, but still plugging away.

Slow Sunday until the evening. Hit the streets for the first time today around 7:30 pm. Was out until 9 and came in with 6 miles.  I checked my works walking app, which shows a competition between workers at Denali. I am usually well on top, but someone passed me today, so I decided I needed to get back on the treadmill to regain the lead in steps walked over the week. This is where I ended up. I guess that competitive drive is still going strong! Took a bit of a break and started up again at 10:30 pm to work toward the 10 mile goalon the treadmill for 1:40 and got another slower five miles in. Had started watching the Star Wars series again on Disney +. Finished the phantom Manace on the treadmill and then started up the Attack of the Clones. 

Many people have asked me, now that Austin is home for a bit, whether I am still doing my Walking journey.  Absolutely I am! I fully intend to finish what I started and complete the #walktobahiablanca. Austin gave everything he had while he was a missionary there, and I am determined to give all I’ve got to get there as well.  We still don’t know exactly what might happen in the future with his missionary experience. He may end up getting called somewhere else stateside, or even end up back in Argentina once things settle down with the virus. It’s an unknown entity at this point. Hopefully, we will have more information to go on in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, I have so enjoyed having Austin around these past 17 days. It makes me smile every time I see him around the house. We have even been on a few walks together! What a special opportunity to walk with my son on this journey to Argentina! (One exciting post script is that right after Austin got home, our churc...

This girl had a very special birthday celebration today with many fabulous friends and family doing a drive-by celebration with us. From their cars, they threw airplanes with birthday notes written on them through hula hoops and grabbed a ‘never touched by human hands, perfectly sanitary, individually wrapped’ cup cake on their way out! 🙂 Thanks to all who came to help make this an unforgettable and fun 18th birthday for our special Jaylin ! Finished 11.7 miles outside and in today. 

Austin joined us for our morning walk. We went to Sumner and the Foothills Trail. 

After a crazy weird day yesterday, took it down a notch and didn’t even walk outside. LeAnn though the achy ness I was having could have come from over exertion with all of the exercising and walking I have been doing. After all of that, I was feeling strangely normal today. I’m sure it was a result of the blessing I got from Austin.  Walked about 7 miles on the treadmill- slowly, and called it a day. 

Went on a nice walk with LeAnn in the morning. Went with LeAnn to the Milton Interurban, which is beautiful and the weather was perfect. Ended up going about 5 miles. On the way back, my muscles started complaining and my joints were aching. It was pretty rough that last mile. I was relieved to get back to the car. LeAnn had walked a bit further than me so I waited about 20 minutes for her to get back. Then after getting home, I just crashed. It only got worse through the afternoon. I tried to sleep it off, but felt horrible and achy for 4-5 hours. It actually hurt to move. Then my head started aching like crazy and felt like it was going to fall off. I finally took some Tylenol and got a little relief. I felt like I needed to walk and get my miles in, but literally didnt have strength. I took the garbage out. Barely. I tripped over myself on the way to the street. I was exhausted from the little bit of effort and just decided to head to bed. I felt bad for only getting 5 miles in for ...

Had a couple of good walks with today. In the morning, went down Jovita trail with Autumn, Austin and LeAnn. It is ironic walking with Austin on some of these walks while I am walking to Bahia Blanca. Sure do love spending time with them though. I then continued on up to Milton and picked up a prescription at Walgreens and then home from there. In the evening, we played a fun game together for Family Home Evening. LeAnn got 10 eggs, with 7 of the 10 being hard boiled and 3 being raw. We had two people go up against each other, grab an egg and then smash it against their head at the same time. Guess who was lucky on the first try?

It was a beautiful day! We had a fantastic worship service with the whole family. Austin helped me bless and pass the sacrament and Jaylin gave a talk that she had prepared for the ward for Easter. The bishop emailed that out to the ward so that they could enjoy it as well. Here is her talk: When I heard that school might be cancelled for a while, I was truly upset. All classes I had scheduled at Highline have to be continued online or through video conferences. This isolation includes my involvement on the track team, in seminary, continuing with my job, seeing my friends and any activities I would be able to do as a Senior in high school. My first reaction was to be angry at the world for the inconvenience that this has brought all of us. After figuring out that that served no purpose, I quickly turned to strive for a gospel-oriented stand point. I knew that this would allow me to be happier, with a positive outlook on each passing day. Churches everywhere have begun to cancel their...

Went with LeAnn to pick up masks that grandma had made for us. Then we went to Walgreens to find some Easter goodies. While wearing the masks in the store, had a crazy sneeze sneak up on me. Note to self, it is not fun to sneeze into a mask. Went with LeAnn down to Hylebos wetland trail for a walk. Just saw a couple of other families out there. Though we are allowed to walk outside during the pandemic, seems most people are staying home. Got home just in time to get the Netflix Party setup for our Scurvy Dogs meeting. This was historic in that it was our first virtual meeting. We had Jason, Tim, Dennis, and for a couple of minutes, Mike on there. This app allows you to watch a Netflix show with your friends while leaving a chat window up on the screen so you can interact through chat. The book we read last month was ' Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man ' Then we watched " USS ...

Fasted with the world. Fantastic BBQ in the backyard

Bjorn made these Fantastic creations

Trout lake with Autumn

Hit 3000 miles. Trout lake with Autumn. Owl with LeAnn

Had an amazing surprise from Ned Bjorn as he dropped by this fantastic painted rock of a Sumo Wrestler that he painted and water-proofed. We had visited him and his wife a week or so ago as LeAnn and I were walking through his neighborhood and dropped off some of the 'Feet Treats' that I had been delivering. Even though we didnt expect to be invited in because of the Corona issues, they asked us in and we had a great visit. During the conversation, I mentioned how I enjoy watching Sumo wrestling. He then showed us some rocks in his front garden that he had painted for his grandchildren. So, it was the perfect surprise when he covertly delivered a Sumo Rock to us and left it on our porch. What a magnificent gift! So grateful for his kindness and thoughtfulness in bringing us this spectacular piece of art! Later in the afternoon, I was walking around our neighborhood and saw a neighbor who I had not formally met before, that was out raking the moss out of his lawn with a garden...

We had a fantastic Sunday full of conference talks from an empty meeting room in the church office building. It was surreal, but amazing. President Neilson announced that there would be a new temple constructed in Bahia Blanca, Argentina! What an amazing blessing! I did go out on the trail in between sessions and then did another four miles on the treadmill at night, all while Austin was playing Fortnite! Yes, he is adapting well to being a missionary on a 'gap month' :)

Orders out for a Thai food

Played some xbox.  Did some yard work. I am still walking toward Argentina

Been strange for Austin to be thrust back into normality. He still has his zest for life and keeps us all laughing. Just for now, he doesnt have to wear a suit anymore! He slept for a while and even tried playing some video games. Some things that he hasnt been able to do for quite a long time. :)

Seems that this is no joke. Austin got the call from President Keeney today and he was released as a missionary. I know this is so strange for him, where just a week ago he was living in Argentina and expecting to be there for another 14 months. Then the virus. Now he is back home with us and has been released. I think he was a bit relieved for now. So he can resume regular 'normal' person activities. He still has to quarantine, so cant really go out and do anything, but that is pretty much the case for all of us at this point. We all have a 'Stay Home' order in Washington state. No going out for extracurricular activities outside of some exercise or going to the store for necessities. Austin will need to get back to President Keeney with his decision by 4/30, but will likely be sooner. He has said he will definitely like to go back out and though he would love to return to Argentina if they open back up, he would also be excited to be reassigned to the states or some...

Austin was pretty much put in limbo today. We saw the following information come out from the church today about how they would be handling all of these missionaries that have been flown home from foreign missions. Then an email came out that all of the US missionaries from outside of the United States and Western Europe would be temporarily release until things return to normal after the virus subsides. (Hopefully) Here is the official statement from the church’s website: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/service-options-missionaries-march-31-2020 The option that affects Austin is here: Then he talked with the Stake President tonight and he mentioned that they would find out for sure what the expectation was and get back to Austin tomorrow.

After following his flight path and hoping and praying that Austin would make it home safely, he arrived back home on Monday night! It was Such a special day to get this amazing guy back from Argentina for his ‘Intermission’. He definitely helped change lives down there. His heart will forever be with the people of Bahia Blanca, Argentina. We were able to enjoy lots of love, laughter and tender moments together as our family is complete for this wonderful moment in time. We now excitedly wait for his reassignment for a bit while the world heals. With the Spring comes new life and new hope. After the storm comes the rainbow.

Sunday, March 29th, he started making his way home. It was quite an adventure! I am going to post from his letter that talked about the crazy day that Austin had trying to get out of Argentina: Escaping Argentina MARCH 29, 2020 The last few weeks have been a little crazy!! I’m just going to give a quick summary of what exactly went down. A little more than two weeks ago, I was out working as a normal missionary. Out in the street everyday talking with people and making visits. 2 weeks ago, the country of Argentina went into quarantine. Nobody could leave their house, only during the hours to go to the store between 1 and 5. If you were outside at a different time, you would be arrested. Me and my companion came back close to 5 one day and saw a few police buses that had handcuffed people packed inside. It was pretty real. After 10 days in quarantine, we received a call saying that we would be leaving the country the next day! We had to make sure that our stuff was packed and ready...