November 2018

This is the invitation we made to invite friends to Carter's farewell and open house.

Byron ordered two chords of wood for our winter supply this year. It was so much more than we had imagined it would be. He built the wood holder below to hold it.

It looks like art, I love how it turned out but he had to build four of these and then also stack wood in the greenhouse and outside the greenhouse on another log holder we already had. We are going to have plenty of wood for the winter!

I've been experimenting with lavender cooking lately. These shortbread cookies were really good though I would add less lavender in them next time. Also the lavender lemonade I've been making has been great. One tsp. of dried lavender in the lemonade, then let it sit overnight in the fridge and pour the lemonade through a small wire mesh to catch the lavender bits. It's yummy stuff!

Ty cleaning out his closet. He pretty much has grown out of almost everything again. My Dad accused me of only buying Ty one pair of pants because he was wearing shorts in November and Ty told him he only had one pair of pants. Ty was joking. He has at least two pairs of pants!

This is what Carter's closet looks like right now. What should he wear today? Mission prep is in high gear.

Went on a bike ride and ran across this beautiful farm just down the street from our place. I can't get over how pretty Montana is.

Keeping this kid busy for a month. He couldn't handle selling cards any longer so we let him quit and have had him doing home repair/renovation for us. This week he painted his bathroom and bedroom in the basement.  They look much better!

Ally was ill for an entire week in November. She missed all five days of school. She had a headache, low grade fever and every day or so she's throw up. It was bizarre. One morning she came in and said her fever was gone and she was going to school. It was Thursday so we were all glad she could go back. I was telling her how good it was she stayed home until she was all the way better so she wouldn't spread this to her friends as it had been so nasty. When I came downstairs she was sad and mopey and told me she couldn't really go to school because she had already thrown up that morning. What??? She was playing well so she could go to school. Don't most kids pretend to be sick? She got all caught up in no time when she got back to school the next week and now has her straight A's that she is so proud of again. She was worried.

Another project Carter worked on for me. He cut all the shelves so I could finish this built in bookcase. It's pretty nice having another worker around Blue Roof. There is always loads to get done. I did take pity on him though and switched to indoor work when the temps were below 30 outside.

Carter is working on his button sewing skills. We bought a few shirts for $5 that had the buttons sewn on with blue thread. Couldn't pass up the good deal on the dress shirts so we switched out all the buttons and now it's good as new. Added bonus is Carter is a pro at buttons now. 

Rachael, Christopher, Sonja, Jason, Grandma and Grandpa Livsey were all able to fly up for Carter's farewell weekend. We had fun doing various activities including the girls making this gingerbread kit. Apparently my dad was in a piratey mood when we were snapping photos.

Jason wore his jacket zipped up all morning until the opportune moment to do the big University of Utah shirt reveal. Tonight is the big BYU vs. UU game. We are all sporting our colors.

This is the loft full of the belongings of Tyler, Carter and Christopher. It barely holds their three cots/air mattresses but they had fun bunking together in the rafters.

This is part of the crew that came out for Carter's farewell open house. It was so fun to get together and celebrate Carter. He is such an amazing man. We ate Cafe Rio tacos with cilantro dressing and cilantro rice. Luckily it all turned out really well and we even had some leftovers.

Sewing lessons again! Carter's baptism pants needed to be hemmed so I was sitting in the kitchen doing them and Carter came along and wanted to learn how. He figured it was a good idea to know just in case something needed to be hemmed in the next two years. He caught on quickly and can now hire himself out for pant hemming if he needs to.

Now this was really quite awesome. Thanksgiving week was really cold and we had no rain or snow for a long time. This led to the pond freezing over in a perfectly smooth sheet of ice. While we were out on it we started hearing these zapping noises, like a laser gun. It was coming from the ice. We did some research and they call it "wild ice"  it's a fairly rare occurrence as the conditions have to be just perfect for it to form. We all enjoyed scooting around and listening to the crazy sounds it was making.

The boys played a jumping game where they were trying to see who would fall through the ice first. They were near the shore so I just let them do their thing. They each took a turn jumping as hard as they could on the same spot. It took twenty or more jumps before the ice started cracking. Tyler was the one who finally went though. I wouldn't really want to win in a game that ends up with my knees deep in freezing pond water but Chris, Carter and Tyler thought it was good fun.

Thanksgiving we dug out the ice skates and got real. We had to buy a few more pairs from the used athletics store up in Whitefish but we managed to scrape together enough skates for most of us to go out and enjoy a lap or two. The ice was still making the wild ice noise and it was a very memorable addition to our Thanksgiving afternoon fun. Between making pies and stuffing I managed to sneak a few minutes on the pond myself.

Byron did an amazing job smoking our turkey on his new Gorilla pellet grill. It was very tender and moist. He was a little nervous going into it but we were all very pleased with the results. We would definitely do it again next year the same way.

This is the Thanksgiving Dinner crew. We had Julie over as well as my family who had already made it into town for the farewell party on Sunday. My favorite part of the meal was Nanny's chocolate pudding pie. It's a Pollan tradition as Byron's grandma used to make it every Thanksgiving.  The first pie didn't turn out so I had to give it a second go. Worth the effort to make it twice. So yummy!

The kids amusing themselves by braiding Christopher's long locks. I think Carter was glad his hair was to short for this fun and games.

Sonja was such an enormous help to have around for this week! There was much to be done and I was grateful for a second pair of hands to do it. I think she washed every dish in my house at least three times. We really did a lot of baking and cooking. So glad they were able to make it!

So we don't have cable or dish or anything so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the BYU Utah game. It was actually a lot of fun! They put the game on four or five screens for us and it wasn't too crowded that night so they changed the overhead music to the broadcast of the game. Pretty perfect! The waiter was fun and joked around with all of us. He figured out that my Dad, picking up the bill was the tipper so he cheered for the Utes to get on my dads good side. BYU took the lead early on and held it until the fourth quarter and then they just fell apart. The U scored four or fives times in a row to take the win.

Every time the U would score the waiter brought out my Dad a bowl of ice cream to celebrate. By the end he was trying to get all of us to eat his ice creams. It was pretty pathetic for us Y fans. Though we did all have a very fun evening. There was also a Texas A&M game on - Jason starts school there in January so we spent time watching that game as well. It went into seven overtimes and was a pretty sensational game to get to see.

My Dad made this U of U sign the day after the game just to rub it in a bit that they had won. Thanks Dad! There was a sign at the game that a U fan had written that said, "Your loosing streak is old enough to get baptized." Awesome- eight years now of loosing to the U. Its enough to keep us humble.

This is more photos of the farewell open house crowd. Carter did a really good job on his farewell talk. He spoke about Sara's conversion and his part in that. He also read a sweet poem about not giving up when things get hard. He was smiling ear to ear and just so excited. It was hard not to be anything but happy for him.

This was Christopher out testing the ice. The teenagers are braver than I am!

Hugs good-bye at the airport. With any luck Carter might run into Chris down in Vegas where Chris goes to visit his Dad. Carter could drag him out to do splits with him. Two years is a long time for these cousins/friends to be apart.

Carter called Hollie and her crew and gave them a slimmed down version of his farewell talk over Skype. Her kids asked him questions about being a missionary like...Do you have a girlfriend? Walker asked his mom what his question is and she said I don't know what is your question? Then he yelled at her, "Mom, tell me what my question is!" Carter and I were both chuckling. It was very sweet to watch Carter give them a little mini farewell.

Carter asked Byron if he would do a shoe polishing demonstration so all the boys got their sunday best and they went to work. Byron said he hadn't polished his black work shoes in at least ten years. They also had fun joking about Andy on the Parks and Rec tv show who is a shoe polisher for a while. Sweet memories!!

This is photo from Tuesday evening when he was set apart as an Elder. Tuesday was my hardest day. I was a little leaky all afternoon and had a hard time keeping it together while Carter was set apart. He gave us all really good long hugs after his blessing. The drop off at the airport was looming very near. Carter was given an amazing blessing and I am so excited for the adventures he is going to have and the knowledge he is going to gain and share with those he meets.

This is the 3:45am photo of our missionary all set to go. He had a 5:30am flight so we headed to the airport way before the sun was even thinking about rising.

Carter managed to keep track of his boarding pass and his wallet and did everything just right. Got his bags checked and after quick hugs he headed through security.

Seriously-he was so excited!! Probably a little scared to but mostly he was all smiles. It made it easier for me to try not to loose it. I didn't loose it, only little tears, not floods.

His nice new shoes won't stay looking so good for long. I can't wait to see them when he gets home. All the miles they will put on and the wear and tear will tell the story of hard work and lots of service.

Tyler tried hard not to smile to big as he is getting Carter's truck and his phone and his room (queen size bed) and some of his clothes...tough day for Tyler. Though Tyler does get lots of bonuses in the departure of Carter, he is still going to miss him a lot. These two have been really close their entire lives. Not so much the last six months or so but it won't be long until they both realize how much they miss each other.

A squeeze for Ally. She even let a few tears slide today which is unusual for Ally. She's a hard nut to crack.

We watched him through the glass while he made his way through security. There was no line, maybe five or six other people checking in at their airport this early. We did see Patty, Ally's soccer coach who works the 2am shift at the airport.

It wasn't even noon yet when we got a text from Braumlee Boyce with this photo of Carter and her daughter Payge. They ran into each other and since it was Payge's p-day she email it home to her mom. It was amazing to see he had made it to the MTC alright and was actually where he should be. Carter doesn't have the best sense of direction and sometimes can get distracted so Byron and I were both so happy to know he'd made it. Carter was also able to send an email later that day telling us he was there and when his P-day would be for writing a real letter.

This is Connor- He sent his love via this cute photo over a text. Carter's support system is large and strong. They will send him lots of love and support while he's gone.

Ally has been doing a bit of preparation for our trip to Dallas coming up in December. She googled what malls were close to her Nana and Papa Pollan's house. Then she went to their websites and listed all the stores she would shop at in each mall. Then she selected which mall she would like to visit. She is hoping Santa will give her cash so she can shop in Dallas after Christmas. We'll have to see.

Carter sent this photo of himself at the MTC with the vending machines. Also, he asked for snacks. Apparently they feed them three square meals a day but no snacks in between. I've contacted my local sources and he should have a package of snacks tomorrow. I will mail another one tomorrow-the post office is closed to honor Pres. Bush today, then he'll get more snacks in about four or five days. I also bought extra so I have another snack package ready to sent four days later so he should be getting regular shipments of snack food to hold him until he can get to Vegas. He might be a little spoiled as he's our first missionary out.