June service project

Oh man, the June service project was so incredibly sweet. I was able to make two visits
to the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Ogden, dropping off several hundred dollars
worth of food for them each time, to use in their weekly sack lunches they make for the homeless
 and others in the community who might need them. And the second time I went, I had our three
 youngest with me, and they asked if we wanted to come in and help. So we spent the morning
there helping make the lunches to be distributed. It was truly the best. I’m so grateful for the
opportunity and for so many good people we are surrounded by that love others so well.

One incredible man

How could I ever fully convey how much this man means to me, how good he is to our family, how hard
 he works, how willing he is to do whatever it takes to help us all to be a better version of ourselves
(while still loving exactly who we are) and how he never stops giving, serving and loving? I simply can't. 

So I'll just say that our family could never be grateful enough to Jacob for this unreal trip I just finished
posting about. The amount of effort, research, money, time and love he put into planning and executing
this vacation could never be explained. All I know is that the hundreds of hours he spent preparing to
make it the most incredible trip ever, didn't even begin to account for how much he gave over the more
than two weeks we were away, to make it the best memory possible, for every single one of us. 

Oh this Jacob Allen, he's beyond something else.
And so far exceeds every expectation I didn't know I could have.

He never stops making all of our lives better and brighter. I never want to take that for granted.

Peru ~ Cusco edition

Our very last stop in Peru and on our vacation was Cusco. And it was a packed day and a half. 

We spent a good part of our time there watching a huge celebration in the city center
(apparently something they do every June for several days), walking a whole lot and taking
 the opportunity at the last restaurant we ate at to finally try cuy, all of us for the first time. 

(Also, do you love Cusco's flag that they fly absolutely everywhere?
Throughout Cusco, but also, it feels like in so many towns surrounding the city.
It's a huge deal and has been for more than five decades. It's fantastic.)

We also loved the sweetness of a little boy in the Cusco airport, Eli (and eventually darling Liam
who joined in), deciding Jacob was his best friend because Jacob kept doing magic tricks with him.
And the joy and excitement on this little guy's face was the cutest ever. I'm so sad that I didn't get
a picture of Jacob with him (although I do have a couple of videos that I love so much). But I did get
 some of him with our kids and the look on his face in that middle one does me in every single time. 

And finally, the very last photo on this post. Oh man, I will love that picture forever.

Those are our friends Maren and Stuart Bunderson. We first met them more than
 twenty years ago, when we lived in Missouri. They quickly became some of our favorite
people and close friends there and we have stayed in touch since that time.

Well almost exactly three years ago, Stuart and Maren were called as mission leaders of
the Cusco Peru Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And when we
found out we would be visiting Cusco, we reached out to them to let them know and to see
if they wanted to get together. We didn't want to put a bit of pressure on them, since we
knew they were finishing their mission soon and would be going home within a few days,
but we didn't want to be in their city and not even mention it to them.

Well, they were beyond kind and quickly let us know they would like to get together and
so the evening before we left, we went to dinner with them and it was the happiest night.
They are still just two of our favorite people ever and it was so, so wonderful to be with them.

Fast forward a couple of days when we were home and we received an invitation from Maren
to join the zoom call that would be their last weekly mission devotional before they went home.
 I was blown away by the privilege of being asked. And I don't have words to share how sweet
and sacred the whole thing felt to me. I shared my feelings with them in an email, so all I
will say here is, what a deeply profound honor that hour was for me. I won't ever forget it.

Peru ~ Urubamba edition

Our second to last stop was in Urubamba, or the Sacred Valley. And it was gorgeous.
The train ride alone, from Aguas Calientes to Urubamba, really was something else. And when
we arrived at the home Jacob rented for us, we were pretty smitten. It was beautiful in and
of itself, but also surrounded by some incredible views and gorgeous nature.

We spent our time there walking to and from dinner and the store in the dark (another incredibly safe
 place to visit), attending sacrament meeting with the good people of Urubamba (and singing the hymn
¡Grande eres Tú!, which touched my heart so deeply in the moment), visiting the markets in the area
(much larger and more colorful than any we had been to), enjoying the wood stove-heated hot tub out
back (at least the two youngest did) and taking a morning to hike to an ancient granary above the city,
followed by a picnic near a beautiful river (just so much gorgeousness in very few hours). 

It was a sweet couple of days in the Sacred Valley and we were thankful for it,
as well as excited to move on to our last area.

Peru ~ Machu Picchu edition

When you have the opportunity to see an actual wonder of the world in person,
it does something to your heart. At least that is the effect Machu Picchu had on me.

I'm honestly not sure how to describe it or put into words how tremendous it was, so I'll just leave
this amazing day we had at Machu Picchu with the thought that people who lived long ago are
absolutely incredible, there is so very much about our lives that is so ridiculously easy compared
to life long ago and that when humans decide not to see really hard situations as too much or
impossible, but instead figure out a solution embracing exactly what seems difficult and finding
a way to make it work, miraculous and inspiring things happen. Also, the unreal beauty of
this earth, combined with the incredible creations of man are something else to behold.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm so grateful Jacob and three of the kids were able to
summit Huayna Picchu earlier in the day and the rest of us were able to join them to explore
Machu Picchu a couple of hours later. I'm also beyond grateful for the absolutely amazing guide
we had for the experience. Because darling Carilia is one of my favorite people I have ever met.
She is brilliant, knowledgeable, kind, funny and absolutely radiates the light of Christ. The day
we spent with her was such a privilege and I'm such a huge fan of who she is and how much
she taught us--both about Machu Picchu and about being a tremendous human.

It was a wonderful day, with the people I love most, experiencing something
I actually didn't know if I would in this life. I'm just so thankful.