Leia's First Birthday

On Wednesday, we celebrated Leia's first birthday by taking her out for a pup-uccino (yes, it's a real thing) at her favorite drink spot. Wednesday also marked ten months to the day that she adopted JB and me as her caregivers and came to our humble home. She is enthusiastic and playful but also loving and cuddly. She has made our lives somewhat less boring.

Arbuckle Family Dinner/June 2020

It was a mild late-spring day Sunday, for which we made the trek out to Grantsville for sacrament meeting with JB's parents, including a Sunday School lesson on Alma and Amulek in the Book of Mormon.

Following our home-centered church meetings, we held monthly family dinner. The menu consisted of tinfoil dinners, along with rolls, fruit, and other goodies.

We also went outside to make s'mores. I may be picking the marshmallow out of my beard for the rest of the week, but I have no regrets.

Mom's and McKenna's Birthday Party

Last weekend (the one that concluded a couple of days ago), we held a family birthday party for Mom and McKenna, who share a birthday---June 5. We congregated in West Bountiful for a shindig that included good times with great people.

This gathering included a piñata for the kids, which most of them took a crack at knocking apart with a (kid-friendly) baseball bat:

Jackson finally broke it and brought it down the goodies.

As the weather began to get more blustery and stormy, we moved inside for cake and ice cream, provided by my wonderful wife, JB. The Three Kathleens (Mom, McKenna Kathleen, and Kate [Kathleen] Marie) posed for this shot together:

The Mish: Mission Reunion over Zoom

Over the weekend, we had a mission reunion---by Zoom. I'd been to a number of mission reunions before, but not like this. Such is life in the year 2020.

The occasion that brought us together: One of our fellow missionaries, Richard Ayón, recently passed away from the coronavirus. At the time, he was serving as a stake president in the city of Chiclayo. He left behind a wife and children. It's a tragic loss, and we miss him.

(Elder Ayón is third from the left in the above photo; yours truly is farthest on the right.)

I'm not sure who ultimately hatched the idea for the reunion and carried it out, but anyway it was wonderful to get together with so many people, including faces I hadn't seen or spoken to in decades. I lost count after a while; there were at least 50 people who joined in on the meeting at one point or another.

Those who were assigned to speak offered messages of hope and faith amid the trials we are collectively facing with the worldwide pandemic.

Pdte. Carlos and Hermana María Cuba joined us for the meeting and, likewise, offered sage counsel like only they can. It felt just like old, unforgettable times.

10/10 - would definitely recommend.

Utah Taste Off

The Utah Taste Off is a thing that takes place each year her in our state, apparently, for which you get to try out delicious food from local vendors. Then, you send in your ratings and vote on the ones you like best. At least, that is how they are doing it this year due to social distancing restrictions.

So, we got together with Ben, Adi, and their boys at their home the other night to try out a series of sweet rolls. I was like, "Twist my arm to get me there," but I still relented and showed up to join in on the fun.

As you can see, we had a lot of goodness from which to choose. Add good company to it, and you've got a recipe for a great evening.