MaeLyn's Musings

Merry Christmas everyone!!! The year is drawing to a close, and I've been thinking about the many blessings we have received just in the last month. Steven finally found a new job!!! It's with a company called IMA that has something to do with insurance. He wanted to start as soon as possible, but the person who will be his manager is on vacation so Steven won't start until January 4th. Due to COVID, it sounds like he will still primarily work from home, but when he can go to the office, it is right next door to Union Station downtown so the commute is far shorter than when he worked at MDC, and he can take public transportation (the company will pay for it) and be dropped essentially right on his doorstep. We have also been blessed these last three months that Steven has been unemployed to have had enough money in savings and food stored up that we've been able to pay our bills, have food to eat, and even have a nice Christmas. (It will still be a huge relief to have

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Hiatt Family! Every year we make calendars for the grandparents. This was a rough year for us and so we didn't get them printed, let alone bound and shipped in time for Christmas. But here are PDF versions for your viewing pleasure.  Calendar for Hiatts Calendar for McClellans

 Yesterday was Steven's birthday. (He turned 45.) Steven with the birthday pumpkin pie that he made himself. Gifts he received included a few books on bush craft, some paracord, a 3D unicorn puzzle, handkerchiefs, locking pliers and a jacket. Steven worked on the puzzle last night and finally finished it this morning. Last Friday, President Nelson invited everyone in the world to flood social media with messages of gratitude. He told us that "counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems." In response to his invitation, I wrote a message on Facebook yesterday morning about my gratitude for Steven. Later, at church, the sister who gave a talk mentioned the many posts on gratitude that filled her Facebook feed. At one point she turned around to where I was sitting by the organ and asked if she could read my post. I shrugged, and said okay. So she proceeded to read to the congregation: I am thankful for my wonderful husband (whose birthday happens to be

 Peter gave a youth talk in sacrament meeting this last Sunday. Here are the notes he used to give his talk: The Importance of Temple Work (Introduction) I have been asked to give a talk on the importance of temple work. Obviously, temples are closed right now, but that doesn't mean we can't prepare for them to open again. So why are temples important? In the April 2020 general conference, Elder David A Bednar explained. "We do not build or enter holy temples solely to have a memorable individual or family experience. Rather the covenants received and the ordinances performed in temples are essential to the sanctifying of our hearts and for the ultimate exaltation of God's sons and daughters." This means that the things we do in the temple are important for us and the people we do the ordinances for. When we do baptisms for the dead, we give these people an opportunity they didn't have when they were alive. While temples are temporarily closed, we can still pr

The last several months of "safer at home" has meant a lot of time spent within my own four walls. Of course, I'm a homebody anyway, so I'm probably not home much more than I was before COVID and quarantine, but I've had more time with my family around, and less time on the desktop computer that I share with Peter. Of course the usual things like housecleaning and laundry haven't changed much, but I have had a lot of free time on my hands. Here are some of the things I've been doing to keep myself busy over the last few months: Books read:   Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge Series (20 books),  Charles Todd's Bess Crawford Series (9 books),  Jacqueline Winspear's Masie Dobbs Series (Books 1-10... I have 5 more to go).  Miscellaneous Agatha Christy books  The first six or so Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." books  and I don't know what all else I might have picked up to read in an afternoon. The first three above are historic

 It's October already. It's October of one of the strangest years I've ever experienced. I realize I've gotten behind on my blogging this year, so here are some highlights of what has happened since our Yellowstone vacation in July: Last half of July:  a few meetings, a dentist appointment, an orthodontist appointment. Not much really happened as most of stuck around pretty close to home. August:   Josh got a job at the Mile High Flea Market , working in concessions. The flea market is only open on weekends, so he has been working on Saturdays and Sundays. Luckily with home church and meeting at 9am when we do meet at the church, he has been able to attend sacrament meetings either before or after work. He works at "Delectables", a place that sells ice cream, tornado potatoes (like a cross between curly fries and potato chips) and funnel cakes among other things. One Saturday, the rest of us went to the flea market to see what it was like. It's kind of a c

 (by Steven) Last night at 1:30am, MaeLyn and I were fast asleep, as we often are at that time of night. We were jolted from slumber however by a loud, shrieking, piercing sound as something came in suddenly from the window and streaked across the room. We were both out of bed and on our feet in an instant, fearing that maybe the sound had come from a Russian guided nuclear missile, or maybe the lead ship from an alien invasion force, or possibly even a rabid squirrel. We decided to investigate. We turned on the light and the first thing we saw was our cat Lala looking guilty. Had he had anything to do with giving the Russians the coordinates to our house? Had he led the alien invasion force right in through our window? Had he chased in the rabid squirrel? Before we had a chance to ask him he ran down the hallway away from us. Taking a flash light so we didn't wake up the rest of the house we followed him down the hall. He had stopped near the piano, not wanting to go any further.

Yellowstone National Park We first took our kids to Yellowstone park when Josh was around a year old. The kids were disappointed because we said it was a park, but there was no playground where they could play. This time, I think they enjoyed it a little more. Steven's mom rented a cabin in Island Park, ID, and it was a really nice place for the 16 of us to stay. (Kathy, Andy and Megan and their two kids, and Karen's husband Joe and four of their kids plus the six of us. Karen wasn't able to come due to breast cancer and chemo treatments... I hope she enjoyed her quiet time at home that week.) Scenery The best thing about Yellowstone is the scenery. Between the mountains, the rivers and the waterfalls, not to mention the trees and the geysers, there are so many beautiful vistas that it is breathtaking any way you look.  Geysers Yellowstone is famous for its geysers, fumaroles and hot springs. There are some amazing and beautiful things to see here, besides Old Faithful. Thi

Day 1 We weren't in any particular hurry that morning. We woke up at a reasonable hour. We had breakfast, finished packing and loading the car, and headed out around noon. We stopped for a late lunch somewhere in Wyoming, and arrived at our campsite at Boysen Reservoir in the early evening.  The first thing we noticed about the campsite was the bugs. They were everywhere! Blessedly, they weren't mosquitoes... they didn't bite. But they were long, thin moth-like things with no appreciation for personal space. We tried to shoo them away, but they wouldn't shoo. They had no fear and got into everything! We could only brush them away, and then brush them away again a minute or two later when they came back.  In spite of the bugs, it was a nice campsite with a gorgeous view. When we arrived, we had plenty of time before dark to explore the river behind our campsite, set up our tent, and start a fire for cooking hot dogs and s'mores. It was a relaxing, no-stress start to