8/27/23

So many best days this week, and all of them because of relationships. Our presidency went to a final brunch Monday morning to celebrate the time we've had together (now that Joan will be gone) and managed to catch every one of our birthday visits (which never happens). There are STRONG personalities in this presidency, and that morning together was a tangible reminder to me of the miracle it was that we actually had enjoyed unity (along with a good bit of tension!) together. Then Tuesday, we started visiting some of the new sisters in the ward--it feels awkward knocking on doors of almost strangers for no real reason, but I leave feeling like all the world's problems would be solved if we just took time to connect with each other. THEN I had a hilarious ride to the temple with Aimee & Stef Kierstead for a great RS temple trip & lunch. I was feeling pretty stressed trying to find another counselor, and in walks Parker Cunning---don't know if you knew him in our stake, but he was on my Trek committee, and I LOVE HIM!! He's starting his mission in a couple of weeks, and it was like a personalized Heaven message that I got to see him there. Spent the rest of the afternoon/night up in Logan for Anne's rain-delayed tennis match, but loved connecting to the mom of Anne's opponent (who is SO good--Anne lost badly, but she LOVED playing someone with such good force; they had tons of long rallies, and the girl's grandpa was SO complimentary afterward of Anne's beautiful form). Wednesday was Seth's BIRTHDAY!!!--We got up for cookie crisp & he was that wonderful four-year-old excited opening paw patrol and puzzles for his presents. We went to the parade that afternoon (Anne and Lucy were both in it with their sports teams), then home for dinner and his ice cream sandwich cake before heading to the rodeo that our girls apparently LOVE! Seth LOVED telling everyone "it's my BIRTHDAY!" & would say, "I used to be THIS many (holds up 3 fingers), but now I'm THIS MANY! (holds up 4 fingers)." Weeded at Doreen's with a friend & then mowed our lawn Thursday, then we took in the fair to see Jane's blue ribbon on her hedgehog painting, and ride the Ferris Wheel. Jane also has been begging to ride a carousel ALL summer, and they had one there! Anne had a home match that afternoon (where SkyView's team turned into CHEERLEADERS yelling SO loud through the whole match!!---even with POMPOMS--yikes!--I had a pretty funny conversation with the coach after I tried to encourage them to be respectfully quiet, but the coach said he encourages it since he's trying to change the culture of the sport?!). More visits Friday morning, and then I checked in with LaVonna and her hospice team before getting some cleaning done and joining Dad for date night. Picked up Emily from frontrunner yesterday, then the two of us went up to Idaho since she hasn't seen Grandma since before her mission. Of course Grandpa had a great feast ready, and we had the best time catching up and visiting with them. They are always such a shot in the arm of uplifting and love. There's always so much seeing friends/neighbors with Fair Week--we even had a visit from the old Laurels (Savannah and her husband, & friend Shaena)--we loved hearing of all their travel adventures to Alaska glaciers, Tahiti, Colombia (SAVANNAH HAD A MISSION COMP FROM PEREIRA, SO SHE WAS THERE LAST YEAR!!!!), Dominican Republic, France, and Italy!! I love being reminded of just how many people I love (and am loved by!). Relationships are my Heaven, so it was a great week so full of them. Relationships are also hard though. I was really stressed because Jane's bunny kept getting out AND RUNNING ACROSS THE STREET to our neighbor's house who runs a daycare from her home. She's totally a good sport, and is nice about it, BUT she can lose her licensure if an inspector shows up unannounced (like they do) and finds rabbit droppings anywhere in her yard! No matter how hard we've tried to shore up his cage, it's happened a few times over the last couple of months, and I've been suggesting to Jane that we may have to take him up to the woods or open fields since we can't contain him (to which she asks how I'd like losing my best friend). Anyway, less than 2 days after they brought him home to us this last time, Rex got out AGAIN while they were out of town, and I was FRANTIC that Jane find him before they got back. She climbed over their locked fence to look, checked with all of the surrounding neighbors every day to see if they'd seen him, with NO luck, and I was so mad that they had to come home to another bunny invasion. After too much stressing, I finally realized it was just because I cared so much about my neighbor AND about Jane, and there was just no easy answer, so I woke up and talked to Jane, apologizing for my crazy stress and giving her such a bad time even though she's done all she could and has always worked hard to take care of & love him (even when he scratches her!). This time, on her own, she said, "Mom, I think Rex would be a happier bunny in the wild, so once we find him, we should set him free" We had a teary hug, but it was like all the stress washed away, I confessed to my neighbor about the repeat offense and that Jane had been climbing into their yard to find him, but that we would take him to a new home so it wouldn't happen again. She laughed at my silliness, but they did find him under her stairs, and we drove him over to some beautiful fields by a stream, trees, and a few cows in Fielding (which I hope is not against some country law---I have such a hopeless track record with animals!). She was duly sad, but I told Jane she must really love her rabbit to do something so hard. I was so worried she'd be miserable the rest of the week, but she's been a champ--even seeing the rabbits at the fair was good--she LOVED being around all of the animals, and we're considering options like geckos or fish. Even though it stunk in so many ways, I actually felt closer to my neighbor working through this, and love and trust for Jane grew too, as we shared that hard thing. I heard someone say this week that love includes risk and vulnerability to pain, but IT IS STILL WORTH IT. So, even with the hard and awkward times, I am SO grateful for how ties to people make my life SO rich. These were quotes I loved this week: "The best parts of [God] are in us. All of us. ...Perhaps we need all of us to know all of Him" "The substance [of our existence] is that endless eternal infinite series of relationships that God is trying to cultivate and educate us in" "We want to be partakers in a Heavenly sociality with every man, woman, and child that has every lived." Hope you're being blessed with great relationships where you're at!--Love you SO MUCH!! Love, Mom

8/20/23

Brent & Lily & I have all had a bit of a cough keeping us up at night all week, but there's still been a lot of good! I moved my organizing efforts to my drawers/closet and cleaned out bags of old clothes, watched Anne in her very hot and sweaty first tennis match, took the girls shopping to DI, had violin lessons in Logan, picked plums, and made zucchini bread. Because my energy was lower, I ended up getting a lot of paperwork/computer stuff taken care of, like checking retirement, updating bills, and filing all of Anne's shot reimbursments (worth over $6000--just in time to order carpet that I wasn't sure we could still afford!). I spent a lot of time with LaVonna this week--she was feeling SO weak, not able to really eat, and I asked her Monday if I could take her into the hospital! She had a blood transfusion and fluids Tues, and when she was still so drained on Thursday, she finally let me take her in, where they admitted her for 2 nights. I never mind being in hospitals--I'm SO intrigued by everyone that has the dedication to go into medicine, and I LOVE bodies and science! They've put her on hospice now-- besides giving her platelets and more fluids, there's just not a lot more they can do. It's pretty sobering facing death with someone like that, even if she does feel ready and has had time to prepare herself a little. Every time she says, "I know, they told me I'm terminal" I want to say, "We're ALL terminal!" Sometimes life is so weird. And while she's facing leaving this life, Nick and Laurie's sweet Baby Heidi just began!! She came EARLY--hours before her scheduled delivery on Monday, and is SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Besides major life changes, we had a stake conference with major boundary changes this week. Our ward didn't change a ton, but it feels huge losing families that we love!--including Joan as my counselor--which is heart-breaking, even though it has also been SO hard balancing things with her as a friend/in a calling. There were a lot of messages of building community and belonging, which is SUCH a yearning I have, and of changes Christ brings to our lives--helping us all to be "new creatures" (2 Cor 5:17), even though the natural man in us tends to resists change. I thought of how valuable missions are for teaching how to get SO good at change! And while we're in change mode, we are up to our LAST week of summer before changing to early school schedules! Glad you had a great zone conference, and hope the rest of your week has gone well--Love you so much! Love, Mom

8/13/23

We're cramming in all the summer fun we can these last weeks! Drove down to Provo after morning tennis to drop Anne off at FSY, then enjoyed lunch and MOA before meeting up with Maddie and Emily for ice cream and then the Bean Museum. Tuesday was bonkers with tennis fundraiser, ward party, and soccer tournament all happening simultaneously! I got 2 salads and a raffle basket ready in the morning, ordered pizza for tennis, and left instructions to Brent and Brian to deliver everything, then took Lucy to Kaysville for back to back games. We did get a fun visit in with Amanda in between, Lucy won both games, and I was so relieved to just sit in the pleasant sun after such a hectic morning! We got back in time to hear how hilarious Dad was playing "Bad Bart" in a dramatic shoot-out at the ward hoe down as we helped clean up, and the kids were in HEAVEN with real horse-drawn carriage rides, cowboy games, and good food. By Wednesday, the house looked like a tornado had struck, Jane was sick with sniffles, and Lucy went to Bear Lake for a birthday party, so I got busy mowing the lawn, cleaning out the gutters and roof dryer vent (nice to have Brent here to help with the ladder!), then visited with Amber, and finally finished putting away all of the bathroom closet mess. There was a baby shower for a cute single mom that night, then I came home and folded lots of laundry without even feeling tired! Thursday I woke up exhausted, but took the kids to see Elemental (hooray for the cheap theater + $5 popcorn!) and got new tires on the car before dropping off dinner to the missionaries, and having a slow night at home. Friday we were back for the final game of Lucy's soccer tournament, and we ran a bunch of errands on the way down. I got home in time to enjoy Indian food with Dad for date night. We had a pretty tame Saturday as more of us have been battling sniffles, Dad worked on cleaning out his shop & I helped Joan take dinner to a couple of families in the ward. Today was Thomas's 3rd Birthday!!! so after church, we headed down to Syracuse to celebrate with Brian's family! Josh Payne spoke on his mission today in church (so did Brian's brother Matt in their ward!), and I loved how he shared that his mission president often taught that the Gospel is a Gospel of Relationships! That carried into open sharing with the sisters in Relief Society, the chance to be with family, and feeling so much of God's love. I also just saw that my cousin Chrissy's son just got home from Colombia! (Bogota). Thinking of you often--Love you so much! Mom p.s. Seth is spending SO much time on this 200 piece puzzle we picked up at the thrift store!--he's finished it 2-3 times by himself! p.p.s. SO excited Nick and Laurie's baby is coming tomorrow!!!!💗