Katie and Danny for a visit

Our 3rd set of parents, the southern ones, came to visit but didn't stay long enough! All of us had been missing Katie and Danny; they were the ones that adopted us during the 2nd year of PA school, and thus became Mamaw and Papaw to our children. We had fun watching Trace's soccer game together and swimming at their hotel in Heber. They got to see some Utah sites before heading back to Mississippi. Since then we have been working on a way to get out to see them again soon!

The Fall

Fall in Wallsburg is a beautiful time of year- the chill in the air, the cozy spot by the fireplace, piles of fallen leaves, and winter squash. To make it even more beautiful and memorable, Ronda, Belle, and the kids came to visit. Surrounding the visits to corn mazes and other fall festivities, was a juice fast. All 3 women had some health improvement goals and were committed enough to juice for a prolonged period of time. Ronda juiced the entire trip and continued while home for a total of 21 days... and felt great afterwards. Shayna was asked to present her Jesus Project to a Relief Society group in the valley, that ended up being a large gathering at Gwen Clarks house. Shayna's artistic talents and study of the Saviors life were complemented following this fireside by many of the women that were there. It is a blessing to have a wife that creates beautiful things!

September Farm Trip

While I was in Santa Rosa for an externship, Shayna and the kids went to the farm. As always the kids played all day, running around with the cousins outside and helping Grammy with the farm. Shayna spent 4 of those days learning how to can; a skill that we now enjoy- thanks Ronda and Kraig, for passing this down to her (better late than never Shayna)...oh wait, as I am reading this post to Shayna she informs me that she has had this skill since she was 10... I wonder what other skills she has been hiding all this time?!? Although we missed eachother, the time flew by, and I was able to fly in to Pheonix and drive home with Shayna the next day. 

I spent my 2 weeks in Santa Rosa CA at the True North Residential Treatment Center. I was able to witness the therapeutic effects of medically supervised water fasting, juicing, and strict dietary complicance therapies. This was amazing! I have spent over a year now studying about these things, so when my sister Mary decided to spend 2 weeks at True North as an patient, I jumped on the opportunity. Mary and I got to be roommates- she had a successful water fast for over a week, and my internship was more hands on than I thought it would be. We are both thankful for our experiences there! 

Visitors

This year we were blessed to have lots of visitors! Kolt, Shayla, the kids, and Shayla's sister came for a weekend. We got to see Shayla's other sister Shonna and her husband Joseph and loved talking of our dreams of building in Wallsburg someday. We loved spending lots of time catching up and were sad it wasn't a longer visit.

Warm Valley Market

Thanks to the generous loaning of their amazing greenhouse by my parents, we were able to participate in the 1st every Wallsburg Warm Valley Market. We specialized in Kale and Cherry Tomatoes. Esther Thompson was brave enough to head this up on her mothers land and with the help of Amy Crummett, made this possible. The only catch was customers... Wallsburg is already sparsley populated and the interest in local flair appears to have been lacking that year... possibly every year. Our most frequent visitors were the dogs accross the way, and they didn't have much of an interest in what we were selling. There were 6 brave patrons during this market season: Sam and Erin Hicken, Esther Tompson, Erika Thompson, Kamille Olsen, and Jack Thompson. Among these we made 3 big sales (each one crossing the cent placemark multiple times), faithful support, and some cautioning remarks from one. Thankfully we had lots of fun spending countless Saturdays chewing cud and waiving at unsuspecting passerbys. Our kids liked running around and Esther and Amy had done a nice job making the grounds enjoyable. We look forward to another day when citizens of Wallsburg will find renewed interest in local, however small, events. Until then, we bid the Warm Valley Market, adieu.