I’ve been thinking alot about family, specifically, at this time of the year. My dad is gone, and Dillon&Renae are in the mission, which leaves Mom and Madison who are coming out on Sunday and I am overjoyed to have my family sort of here. Today is my dads birthday even. My day was sort of long and I’m excited for mom and madi to get here. Luckily I have the best husband in the world. Not even kidding. He is my complete soulmate. So that definitely helps the long days♡

Everyone goes to their families house for Christmas somewhere. Some travel away from home, some to Grandpa’s down the road, and others host in their own cozy house. This Christmas is the first one together for some new couples (it’s our third 😌), or it may be the 43rd Christmas at the old home place. Regardless, lots of traveling and eating and gifting and sledding and caroling is done around the Conference at this time of year. It paints a beautiful picture, doesn’t it?

Then there are the people of the different congregations who can’t afford to go to Mom’s this year. There are older couples whose children can’t make it home for Christmas. There is the single Mom with children that really doesn’t have a place to go for Christmas Day because the rest of the family is in Manitoba. What do all these people do for Christmas? Do each of us think of them in passing and then push them out of our minds with the thought that ” I just want to be with my family alone for Christmas because we are finally all together!” We live at a time when more than ever we should be sharing our blessings with our friends and neighbors, yet this Christmas, there will be the “poor” people from this congregation or that congregation who are just home because we are too busy or too full or too selfish just to invite another few people into our private “family deal.”

I remember living in Center when it was still a small congregation and Thanksgiving and Christmas would find a potluck lunch at school for everyone so there would be no one left out. That’s a pretty amazing benefit of a small congregation where you are a melting pot of people and don’t have 4 family Christmases with all sides of the family that you are with all year long already. I loved those days at Center because lots of people had young families and everyone got together and had a good time. Happy Days.

So now, I ENCOURAGE you to use this Christmas how God used it, and give the best gift you have by reaching out and sharing with those who just need loving. Do it. It will be the most beautiful feeling. And what a way to start the new year for the people you DO invite into your “family”. They will feel loved. And that is why we are here. Merry Christmas.

I love Christmas shopping. This year I’m trying to make changes like reusing different papers to wrap gifts, making homemade gifts and cards, and buying thrift store gifts or small business gifts instead of Target. (although I’m not opposed:)

So with Christmas coming soon, I had this idea to put together a little gift idea guide for this blog post. I thought it’d be a good time to give some of my friends who have businesses a shout out and maybe boost their shops in the meantime. Of course, these are my ideas so for some of you, this may not be down your line! As always, if you have a question, message me! Feel free to share my blog with friends! thanks♡

Gifts for HIM:

• Click here to check out Armored Lighting and their products for all of your man’s lighting wants! Use code Somewhere when you check out:)

• Perfect for your Leatherman carrying family members, this case is made of leather and can be customized! Click here to visit this leather shop.

• Fresh Maple Syrup with pancakes on these cold winter mornings is something worth talking about. Click here to get Maple Syrup delivered to your door!

Gifts for HER:

• This little place is so darling. Click here to visit their website and order coffee or pottery that is simply delightful.

• With cozy coasters and wall pieces for your house or paci clips for moms you know, this store has these and many more items to check out. P.S. I want a lanyard for my car keys.

• These traditional Japanese lanterns are the perfect gift for you. Useful? ✔. Super cute? ✔. Click here to view these, and more handmade wood items!

Gifts for KIDS:

• Click here to see the full potential of these fun and totally addicting magnetic Yimers. Honestly. I’ve seen more adults messing with these than kids.

• Click here to view more options! This new-ish dress store has something for all sizes, not just little girls. Super comfy dresses for the win.

1. How do you decide where you’re going to travel?

• We really just travel how we live our lives which is by the seat of our pants, so we don’t necessarily have a plan for travel most of the time. Italy wasn’t that high on either of our lists but we found tickets for $280 roundtrip so to Italy we went! Since we budget travel, we usually just go where its cheapest! Like I found tickets to Russia the other day that were cheap and we didnt buy them but… you never can tell where we will go.

2. What are some things you can’t travel without?

• Morgan. He is the best traveling companion ever.
• We both bring reusable water bottles with us, and not just for the environment! We have discovered that many cities will require you to pay for any water you request. The restaurants will often charge because the water they do have is bottled so we learned quickly to fill our Hydro Flasks in the morning before we left! We use Hydro Flasks but I have heard these actually do a better job and for much cheaper.
• Our phones, obviously. We use them sparingly for Google Maps and Google Translate and they have saved our bacon!
• A good pair of shoes. The first trip we took I was naive and regretted my shoe choice the entire trip. We literally walk miles in a day and good shoes will make or break your entire trip. I haven’t found a specific pair I’d recommend.

3. What is the best experience you’ve had traveling?

• We have had pretty amazing experiences anywhere we’ve traveled. People are the same all over the world, I’ve discovered. If we talk to them they always talk to us. They are better than any Google suggestion or guide book. But I think I have too many favorites for this question. Some of the best experiences happened with just water and the sun or a good conversation with a lovely gray-haired lady about books or the smells that come out of shops while you ride down gray cobblestoned streets.

4. What are the requirements to travel with you?

• I laughed at this question. First, you need to be flexible. We decide where we’re going with just ideas of places we would like to hit but are open to not doing them all. We have to give and take. Being flexible also covers things like sleeping in hostel rooms with other individuals you quickly get to know. Sometimes the hostel is full and it’s St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin and you sleep under a plant in the airport. If you like to plan out where you’re staying and every part of the day, you probably shouldn’t travel with us.
• Secondly, you need to be on a budget. Budget travelers are sort of rare these days. Everyone likes to go to the resorts or Airbnb’s or luxurious cabins. These all have their place but the best way to get the whole experience is to travel cheaply. We buy cheap tickets, take the cheapest trains or buses, and don’t buy trashy souvenirs. We like to find things from the beach or hikes or the odd painting I can’t live without. We eat two meals a day instead of three, usually late breakfast and early supper because food gets expensive. When we stay at hostels for a couple nights in a row, which is rare, we buy stuff for spaghetti or something else cheap and it usually results in saving money and food sharing. If you like to spend money and have set meal times, you probably shouldn’t travel with us.
• Thirdly, you should be able to pack for two weeks in a backpack you will carry most of the time. This is a tough one, but necessary. If you bring even a carry on roller suitcase, you will have to possibly lug it through the streets as we go because rarely do we spend night in one place and leave our bags. I am so used to bringing only a backpack that it’s the only thing we use to travel anywhere now, weddings and all. Who knew I could change so much? haha. If you like your luxuries and can’t fit them in a backpack, you probably shouldn’t travel with us.

5. What is the best food you’ve eaten?

• Pizza in Naples, Italy, hands down. Wait. There is also a place called Mediterranean Breeze in Olympia, Washington that is the best Turkish food you will ever eat outside of actually going to Turkey. I wrote about it in a previous post when Morgan&I went up there for a job. If you’re near there you need to check it out!

6. What is a country you want to visit?

• Mauritania, Africa. Big goddess style women like myself are revered there so that’s basically the only reason I want to go there. I think it’s mostly desert. haha In reality, I just want to see as many places in the world as possible so I’m not really picky at all.

I guess that’s it for now..thanks for reading. Message us if you have any more questions!

I’m drinking french press coffee on this cold California day out of my least favorite mug but i’m wrapped in my favorite warm mustard sweater which makes up for the mug. the fridge is making funny noises in the kitchen. my weekend high is over and dreams of favorite people from Alberta spin through my mind.

We went to Pincher Creek for Joel&Jenna’s wedding time. It was too short, basically. What else is there to say? We saw as many people as we could in the weekend and it was worth it but now in my little house I’m sad I’m away from all those favorite dears again.

The chili supper is coming up this weekend. Last night we met with James&Jenn to finalize some stuff and then it’s on! We have lots of different chilis coming and cinnamon rolls too. I think we have most of our unsuspecting judges rounded up as well. As a foodie, I’m very excited to try all the things. Bison, shrimp, chicken, and beef chilis are all on the menu. We decided to try this out this year and if it is successful, maybe there is an opportunity for next years to be a fundraiser sort of deal.

in other news, we bought a bus! we drove up by redding and looked at it and drove it home. to say we’re excited would be an understatement. It’s going to be a TON of work but we have the seats out and are working on removing the floor and walls. our game plan is to live in it full time as a house by late next spring. The bus is 30 feet long and 7.75 feet wide with about 165 square feet of living space.

I think we are sort of crazy but we also believe its possible to live simply and still have a fulfilling life. It goes against human nature to have less, I think. We all want to keep things that we slowly gather. I’m in the process of going through our house and getting rid of stuff we don’t need or haven’t used recently. I get in this mindset that because I don’t want to offend anyone, I have to keep everything people give to me whether I’ll use it or not. This should not be the case so I’ve recently worked on myself and if I don’t use it, out it goes. Storage in a bus is very limited, so I think we’ll store our few sentimental boxes somewhere like at folks. They don’t know this yet. And I definitely have a few sentimental boxes. I keep cards from old friends, and dresses from childhood, and shirts that my Dad wore, and notes from my Mom. I suppose everyone has different things they think are special. My mom thinks I get rid of too much.

Anyways, I am going to be working on getting back into the blog here. It’s been sort of touch and go the last couple months but hopefully I can get it back to normal. I have had a new opportunity present itself so I may be doing more blogging than just here, which is super exciting. have a good week everyone! chey

Morgan, Jalen and I drove out to Kansas. We left the 24th of September and got to Texline the morning of the 25th, where we called and invited ourselves to Uncle Dennis & Aunt Jolene for a quick breakfast before we left for Copeland. Mom and Madi and Ann arrived on Wednesday evening and Dillon’s were there when we arrived. We spent the week mostly relaxing at Max&Rose which is like our second home. Morgan did some riding along in the combine since they were in the middle of harvest. Friday the 27th (also my 28th birthday. gah. please stop time.) we invited a bunch of people over for the evening because we couldn’t get to all our friend’s houses! It was so cool to catch up with old friends and meet new ones (Morgan has class buddies who’s wives I got to meet). Sunday afternoon we all left and went to Central. Dillon’s, Mom, Madi, and Ann went to Halstead to be with Renae’s family because Madi hadn’t seen Darvin since she donated her kidney to him and also Dillon’s are spending some time there before they leave. Morgan and I went to Mark&Melody for supper at Hesston with Dani&Becky (I taught with Dani) and Carl&Marsha (old school board). Then we went to Anth&Treva for the night. Monday we met my family for coffee in Galva and for lunch, we all went to Newton for pizza and Julie and Sebastian met us for lunch! I think Morgan was ready to see a familiar face after all the introductions I’d forced him into:) Then we had to tell Dillon&Renae goodbye which was awful of course. You’d think I’d be better at goodbyes by the age of 28 but noooooo. We went to John&Shar for supper at Inman with Rhett&Mel who I remembered from meeting in youth but hadn’t seen for years so that was a good time. When we left there, we drove to Copeland and picked up Jalen and drove through the night to Center where we ate breakfast at Rhoda’s restaurant at 7 am Tuesday. From there we drove straight through home! With a small supper stop for Navajo Taco’s in Flagstaff. You’re only young once as they say so we’re taking advantage of it.

So we saw a LOT of people and missed way more and I hate that because I have such good friends I would like to have seen but it just wasn’t possible. My apologies. Also come to California. But lots of people had questions about this blog and places we’d been and we encountered some of the same questions quite a few times so I thought I’d maybe do a Q and A on here soon because you’ve maybe wondered the same things?

This month has been crazy. I wrote this a couple weeks ago with the intent to post it the next day but…life happened. I flew to be with Madison for a few days to be her “caretaker” and flew home in time to pack and leave for Kansas for a few days. We also got the news that the house we just moved into is being sold so that’s disappointing. After I got home I was working in Turlock and had an accident and totaled our new “used” vehicle and in the process messed up my hand. This week I’ve been pretty down about it all so I haven’t left the house much, partly because I can’t do my own hair or anything else. It’s the first bone I’ve broken and I AM thankful that was all the worse it was! Does anyone else have weeks like this? Luckily Morgan is the best and has made suppers and helped so much! Tuesday Morgan was in San Diego working so I drove up to Glenn for Anthony’s funeral. Today Mom, Kelli and I went out for lunch to this little place called Grub that was delicious so that cheered me up from it all. Tonight we are going to Canaan&Tara’s wedding ceremony which is going to be beautiful I think. Outdoor ceremonies always are.

Anyways. I’ll be doing the Q and A soon so if any of you have questions about how we travel, apps we use, how we decide where to go, how our travel could work for YOU, etc., please email me at cheyzzle@gmail.com so I can answer your questions! I wish all of you a good weekend!

This is a prayer request.

Most of you know that my sister, Madison, donated her kidney a year or so ago. The surgery went fine with no complications, but she had several scary times when she couldn’t breathe. That, in turn, caused her to panic so it was a cycle that happened a couple times in the hospital. Last year while teaching in Oregon, she started having what she thought were really bad asthma attacks. She would cough some but mostly she had chest pain and just couldn’t breathe. It happened at first when she would play sports or be active, but then started happening for no reason. She ended up in the ER a couple times, I think, but they just gave her asthma treatments and sent her home.

Over the summer she did some doctoring in Michigan with little results. They started running a few tests but continued to diagnose it as asthma. She was prescribed with a nebulizer at home and was supposed to do several treatments a day but the medicine made her hands and body cramp up so bad that it was hard for her to do it. Mom would have to massage her legs and hands while she did the treatment so she would get circulation back.

She went back to Oregon a few weeks ago to start another school year, but a week ago again started having intense chest pains and couldn’t breathe again. It went on for several days and finally Monday evening Lanae took her into the Albany ER again and they admitted Madison right away. They ran extensive tests so they could rule out as much as possible but so far have not found anything. She has a very high pain tolerance but says her pain has been a 7 for several days without much relief. They have given her Ativan to slow her breathing but nothing has helped so far. She takes very shallow, fast breaths because she’s in so much pain. Her memory was poor yesterday, from the meds I suppose. She slept better for part of last night but woke up this morning from the chest pain and her shoulder is causing a lot of pain now too.

As of 12:30 here, she has been dismissed from Albany because the doctors had done everything they could at a smaller hospital. Val is on her way to Portland with Madison and is taking her to the OHSU hospital ER to see if they can find out more there. (if she goes home and makes an appointment, it could be several months, so the Albany hospital suggested the ER as a faster way possibly.)  If she is admitted this afternoon, I will drive or fly out to Portland. If not, she will have to go back to Mike’s with no help for the pain so we are praying something can be done in Portland.

Our biggest fear is that they will continue to find nothing wrong, and Madison’s is that she won’t be able to make it to Kansas next Wednesday to tell Dillon’s goodbye before they leave. Please pray that we can all be calm and remember that God has a plan, and that the doctors in Portland can find the real problem. Thank you.