Three Months of Summer - Gone?!? (Which Means it's Over!)

Sayonara, August! 

It was good while it lasted.....yes, children, we DID do something!

Here's how it went down.

Queen of the Kingdom with these lovely ladies.

This song will forever remind me of this weekend!
It cannot be played now without me breaking out into song AND dance - seriously!!

Just playin' in the rain - more like an all out thunderstorm!

Heber Valley Girls' Camp

Haylee and Matt went....Haylee as one of the "girls."  Matt as one of the "Priesthood men."

Cousins "warming up" for the backyard races

ReAL Monarchs soccer game

Farmington City Volunteer Appreciation Night at the pool

Brookelle on the high dive?!?  

(Thanks to "peer influence" she had from a friend she ran into there.)

Desert Star Theatre

"GREASE'D: Happy Days are Here Again"

Splash Pad with friends

Look what I found while shopping at Ross here in our neck of the woods......

a Virginia Tech hat - my missionary son's stompin' grounds now! :) 

Kyle ran the Davis County 5K

(in the time it takes ME to go ONE mile!)  ;)

Brookelle (navy shirt),

Katelyn (grey shirt),

and Haylee (navy shirt) all did the Kids Mud Run on the same day as the 5K.

Flips on the tramp!

Inflatable waterslide party in our backyard with the Fowers cousins!

Off the strict bedtime schedule and fallin' asleep in weird positions.

The results of new school clothes shopping

Finally got to have the full-time missionaries over for dinner!

(as "payback" for all the West Virginia/Virginia families who are feeding my boy every night)

Seven Peaks Water Park ~ jetBlue Day

ReAL Salt Lake soccer game vs. Seattle Sounders FC

School started August 24th

Kyle's first Cross Country Meet for VHS (maroon uni on left)

(an "invitational" meet in American Fork with 40 high schools!)

San Diego with Matt officially finished out August....

 Because truth be told - - I needed a vacation from [the kids and] this Summer vacation. 

{kidding/not kidding}

And, just like that: 1, 2, 3 months of Summer came to an end!

Waaaaaaaa!

and

Yaaaaaaaay!  :)

This Weekend:

* Katelyn went to her Annual Valentine's Tea Party with her friends.

(Her friend's grandma, who lives about 50 miles away, has them over every year for this event.

They go in their "Sunday Best,", use REAL porcelain tea cups/dishes to eat/drink from, 

make big hats to wear, do a craft, pamper & primp, 

and come home with a "goodie bag" of sorts!)

Katelyn feels so lucky to always be invited since it is limited to just the # of friends who can fit into their car!

This year, her friend's grandma had made them all CUTE pillow cases!

Do you like how Katelyn was "Valentine-ing it Up" with her heart night gown & heart jammie pants that match so well?  ;)

* We went to the big "RIVALRY GAME" for Kyle's [rec] basketball team.

It was the "Bearcats" vs. the "Rejects" (kids all from the same High School, but on different teams).

It was very serious.  The Bearcats (Kyle's team) put in an extra practice during the week PLUS a "team bonding" hanging out session to get ready for the game.

The Sophomore class was divided; picking sides, either for the Bearcats or for the Rejects

The Bearcats called for a "blackout" game - all their fans were suppose to wear black.

(which was easy enough for me, I have lots of black in my wardrobe!)

 In addition to us parents, their following of "Bearkittens" (girls their age) and the "Bearcubs" (boys their age) turned out in droves to support the Bearcats in the big game.

We're talking posters, painted faces, standing for the whole game, Bearcat "growls," and lots of cheering!

In the end, I think the Bearcats expending all their energy get psyched up (or psyched out?) for the game, and 

didn't have enough left to actually play the game.

The "Rejects" crashed the boards like crazy, and were able to score from their third & fourth chance shots.

The Bearcats lost.

But, they went out together to celebrate - or commiserate - afterwards anyway!

* Matt & I went out to Ruby River Steakhouse afterwards. (we had a coupon!)

There was a wait, but it was OK.  I still needed to get some Fitbit steps in for the day,

so we went walking around the parking lot and neighboring businesses in the meantime.

We were at the restaurant for a while......I ate veeeerrry slowly.  You see, I may or may not 

have been eating cinnamon lips candy lately, and there's an ingredient in 

cinnamon candy/gum that makes my tongue swell, which in turn makes me talk funny and it's hard to move it/eat. ;)

* My sister-in-law invited me to her stake's Women's Conference, so I went.

The guest speaker was Wendy Watson Nelson, wife of Elder Russell M. Nelson.

There were a few things that were impressionable to me that I have already shared many times with others.

She is the author of a book, What Would a Holy Woman Do?

(I'm going to check out the "book on CD" from the library!)

She also had us all stand up and recite, out loud, a portion from Elder Holland's General Conference talk he gave in October 2012.  She had us insert our own name instead of the name, “Peter,” who Christ was responding to, in Elder Holland’s nonscriptural elaboration.)

“What I need, Peter (your name), are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter (your name), for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally...”

It really was impactful to me.  And it was inspiration for a Relief Society presentation that I am currently preparing for.  I have been asked to speak on the topic of "Hastening the Work of the Lord" in an upcoming meeting, and I just think I might use this little bit!!  ;)

* Matt & I had a "date" at the plasma donation center.  Matt & I ended up on the same row, but a few beds down from each other, and the phlebotomis saw me wave & talk to him a bit.  

He asked me if I knew him, and I replied, "Ya, and I kinda LIKE him, too!"  ;)  

Then we went out to lunch at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. (we had a coupon!)

* After a break (3 months) due to the holidays of not doing private dates with our children,

we finally started up again and it was Haylee's turn.

She chose her favorite Gluten Free pizza - David's Pizza.

But, there's no seating there (it's just pick up & delivery), so we got hers from there,

and then went down a few doors to Big Daddy's Pizza (where they do have seating AND we had a coupon!) and

ordered mine & Matt's pizza, so we'd be able to eat at their tables.

Then she wanted to go shopping at the D.I.  - don't be jealous!  ;)

 She LOVES finding $0.50 treasures!

AND we found some brand new, with-the-store-tags-still-on clothes for all of us!

We finished off by going to Menchies. (we had a coupon!)

* Churchy-Church on Sunday.

We had a Missionary Homecoming, which was great.  The returned missionary

was someone who was in Young Men's when I was serving in Young Women's.

He's gone and come home already?  Wasn't that just the other day? 

Time flies......when it's someone else's child!  :)  haha.

*  We had our New Beginnings in the evening for Haylee & all the Young Women.

They did such a good job!  It's so different (& nice!) to just be part of the audience and not

be in charge of it.  I thought it was way better and cuter than the ones we did....probably because I could really sit back and enjoy it - unlike the last three years when I was IN YW!  ;)

Look how adorable our "cruise ticket" (program for the evening) was:

 {front}

{back}

The mutual theme for this year is D & C 4:2, "Oh, ye that EMBARK in the service of God...."

so they pretended we were aboard a "ship" for the evening.

That video presentation can be viewed HERE.

There are GREAT YW leaders now, it's good for everyone to change it up!  

* Finished the weekend (like I always do these days) by writing my letter to Ryan on his mission,

while "Talkin' Sports" was on T.V. in the next room.

The End of my YW Era

I got released from my church calling as 1st Counselor in the Young Womens' Presidency.

Siiiiggghhhhhhhhhh.

Such mixed emotions about all of this.

I've been serving in that position for going on 3 years now.

THREE!
That's 130 mutual activities, 75 meetings, Three Young Women in Excellence events, Three New Beginnings events, Three Girl's Camps (1 with my daughter, Haylee, in attendance!), three youth conference (attended one, helped/supported on the other two), a few culminating events and dinners for all the youth, dozens of hours on the phone and visiting homes, and on & on.....

I have come to love "my girls".  I thought about them and worried about them all the time.  I considered them an extension of my own children who live in my home with me.  Whenever I referred to them in conversation, I called them, "My young women....."

This calling, and each young woman, has been such a HUGE part of my life for the past few years.

I SO SO wanted each girl to have their testimonies strengthened during this very important & amazing time of THEIR life.   AND on various occasions, THEY shared an experience or scripture in class, or gave a talk in a meeting, or bore their testimony at camp & youth conference, and it strengthened MY testimony.

They will forever be apart of me.....I swear, when I am in my 80's, and if I run into one of them, I will hug them, then still call them, "my girl" (even thought they will be in their 50's!!!)

I am incredibly BLESSED to have had this opportunity!

I knew though...with serving for that amount of time...that this day would someday come.

Being in a Young Women's Presidency is A LOT of work.

It consumes MOST {if not ALL} of your extra time.

Mutual, lessons, firesides, Girls Camp, tending to the girls' needs, supporting the president & making sure she doesn't take on too much work....it is CONSTANT.
And, THAT SERVICE I gave is WHY I ended up loving them.....You LOVE who you SERVE!

And while I have {honestly} had some frustrations & heartbreak along the way (they are ATTACHED to their cell phones a little TOO MUCH!, they are, at times, persuaded by the ways of the world more than the church standards, and sometimes they chose not to join us in our mid-week & summer activities or at church on Sunday) but for the majority of the time, I LOVED it.....

I knew ahead of time I was being released.  My Bishop came to my home last week to extended a release - and thanked me profusely.  But, when it was officially announced in Sacrament meeting before the congregation, it became "official" to me - and I am sad.
I think I'll go into "mourning" - I can joke about that because I'll actually be gone for a couple of Sundays in July due to traveling....but it's kinda true.
I knew I'd be sad, but I also thought I would be relieved.  It was a LOT of work and there were so many other things on my plate that I could not keep up with for the life of me.

But man, I miss those girls already - more than I could have ever realized I would.  I'm thinking about them all individually and am going to write them all a letter letting them know of my feelings.  The relief I expected has not come yet.  It will take a little while to find peace with this big change in my life right now.

Good thing I sobbed my way through my final YW lesson -- NOT!  (little did I know, at the time, it was THE LAST)

I still need to pass off all my stuff to the new Young Women's 1st Counselor, but I might drag my feet a little bit - because maybe I won't be able to bear it?!?

I'll probably linger outside their classroom on Sundays and it'll feel so weird to send off Kyle and Haylee to their activities on Wednesday nights and not go, too.

Gradually I will start to feel how nice it is not to have to worry about all the logistics that went into every activity, every meeting, every group text, everything I was SUPPOSE TO be doing and couldn't quite get to.

Of course, other things will pile into my life and fill up every nook and cranny the Young Women things left behind (like getting Ryan ready to leave on his mission in 5 1/2 weeks!!), but oh, how grateful I am for that experience with those girls and I will always have a special spot in my heart for them and all the wonderful things I learned as their leader.

YES.......

Life goes on.

{We don't get to choose what church calling we will be given, but IF I COULD, I'd want to be the primary pianist for my next calling!  How could I NOT LOVE doing that?  Gosh, ANYTHING after being in the Young Women's presidency should seem like a walk in the park, right?  I would want the piano calling .....IF I could even play the piano well enough!!!  haha!  I don't know how to sight read!  Is that unusual?  I took piano lessons for 8 years - how long do you have to take to actually get good at it???  It maybe has something more to do with HOW MUCH I practiced - or how effectively/consistently I practiced (or didn't) during those years!!}

My faith is a HUGE part of who I am.

I thank my lucky stars each day for the knowledge of the Gospel that I have.

I look forward to what the future has in store for me now.

I hope you'll enjoy the ride with me!!

This Weekend:

*Friday Night was Katelyn's turn for her DATE with Mom & Dad!

She picked everything we did.

We went out to dinner at The Nacho House and

then went to Get Air trampoline park.

* Saturday was Farmington Festival Days!

We started by going to the breakfast in the park.

Still the best city "chuckwagon" style breakfast we've encountered:

French Toast on thick bread, with your choice of maple or vanilla syrup

Bacon AND sausage

Hashbrown patties

Cup of fruit (watermelon, canteloupe, grapes, blueberries)

Orange Juice

Milk

Chocolate Milk

*After that the girls and I like to browse the booths.

There's always this "bag" booth that has some cute stuff,

but this year we actually made our purchase at 

a maxi skirt booth - the girls each got one - very darling!

*We went to the parade.

The other people beat us to putting out chairs and roping off sections,

(It's getting earlier & earlier every year!  Aaugh!) so we were only partially shaded.

 As always, GOOD "candy" (not taffy) was given/thrown out including:  sliced watermelon

from Harmon's grocery, otter pops, gobstoppers, Reeses PB cups, Mrs. Cavanaugh's

Mindy Mints, balls, fans, water bottles, smarties, skittles, etc. etc.

*We came home in the middle of the day to COOL off!

I read a bit & cleaned a bit.

Matt got the garden weed-free.

Katelyn went to the movie with her cousin.

Then we decided we "needed" some Costa Vida for supper.

I first tried to call in the order, but they didn't answer, so Matt just drove over.

After a little while, I tried to call again, and was able to order.  Great!  Matt won't have to stand in line.

I texted Matt, I called it in, it's under 'Suzanne'

4 minutes went by and I didn't hear from him, so I texted again, 

Did you get my message?  No need to stand in line, it's ready for pickup at the checkout counter.

And then 1 minute later, he called me.  He hadn't gotten my text.  He'd ordered on his own and was driving home with our food.
Ooops!  My called-in order was still there waiting...

(I tried calling back, but no answer.  I called again, and they guy who finally answered couldn't hear me even though I repeated myself 3 times.  Oh well....)

*We returned to the park for the music performances (singers/bands)

as we sat on our camp chairs in the shade.

 The girls spent time on the playground, too.

*While there, we got word that Ryan & Kyle had returned home from their 

4-day high adventure camp to the Wind Rivers (13 mile/way backpacking trip) with the 14-18 yr. old scouts!!
(I've never really worried about the boys going on scout camps before, but THIS TIME I did a bit.
Ryan has his mission call.  He has to go on his mission!  Please don't let him get lost, or sick, or hurt, or worse! 

*They cleaned themselves up and met us just in time for the fireworks to start.

(And Yes! It was a respectable showing, so it help in satisfying my craving.)

But, I'll tell ya - the crowd for that is growing every year, too - not so small town anymore?

*On Sunday, Matt & I were able to go to the Missionary homecoming church service

of the West Virginia Charleston Mission president & his wife who just returned.

Fun Fact: He also used to be Matt's Bishop & Stake President.  In fact, he was the

Stake President who interviewed Matt & I when we were to be married.

(Ryan will obviously have the new mission president when he is out there in a couple months, but we wanted to attend to see if there was anything we could learn.)

We learned there will be:

Squirral gravy

Windy, curvy roads

Missionary-minded local members of the church who make it their life to help the missionaries.

Miracles following a missionary's faith

*Went to our own church, too.

I taught a combo of this lesson and this lesson to my Young Women class.

And I couldn't get through this [true] story without crying.

(Try as I might.  Geez.)

*I cooked a whole chicken (with various seasonings) in the crock pot for dinner.

It was "Haylee approved" - that's always a very GOOD THING.

*I made chocolate chip cookies for Sunday night treat.

*Ryan had a girl FRIEND (two separate words) come over to watch 

the replay of the World Cup final game with us...because she LOVES soccer and missed it during church, too. 

(We hadn't watched it live, nor had we spoken to anyone to find out the results.)

*I worked on my Personal Progress program - I am SO SO close to completing it 

as a Young Woman Leader! (I already did it the first time as a young woman back in the 80's)

GO and DO

".....I will GO AND DO the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

 Youth Conference 2014 theme

During the 3rd week of June, the boys attended Youth Conference

with about 250 other youth, ages 14-18, and about 150 adult leaders/support teams

from our Stake (geographical area consisting of 9 local church congregations).

Every four years our Stake does "Moroni's Quest" for youth conference.

This includes about 38 reenactments from The Book of Mormon,

dividing into "tribes" with tribal leaders for discussions, games, 

spiritual activities, "solo" time to search, ponder, & pray, testimony meeting,

& lots of food.

It is one of those DEFINING MOMENTS in these youth lives!!!

NOT to be missed!  I feel sad for some of my young women who did.  :(

In the past, they have gone to an "undisclosed" remote location

to hold MQ and they camp there the whole 3 days, but this year, 

we had heavy rains the few days before, and it washed out dirt roads and made the fields all muddy.

So, they had to come up with PLAN B the night before.  

They used Woodland Park & the mountain side in our own Farmington,

and returned home each evening to sleep instead.
While disappointing at first to hear they couldn't go to their "regular" place,
WHAT A BLESSING that they will always be able to remember this precious
experience every time they pass by these close-to-home locations!

Everyone dressed up in Book of Mormon era "tribal wear" that we sewed ahead of time.

 

{Katelyn wanted to go up with me to take photos, so she wore Ryan's

old costume from 4 years ago - so she could blend in!}

I couldn't resist photographing *MY* Young Women (past & present).

They LOVED me sticking my camera in their faces every 5 minutes!  HA!

 Alana & Savana

 Ashlyn & Breanne

 Marissa & Elizabeth
(I don't know the girl on the left)

 Taya (& her brother, Grayson)

Jordan (& her admirer - heehee!)

Back in March, they held auditions for parts to play in the reenactments.
Ryan pretty much told Kyle HE WAS TRYING OUT (so he did)
and he got the part of Lehi (the son of Helaman, brother of Nephi from the book of Helaman)
His scenes were on the 3rd day, so I was not there to see him.
Ryan played the part of Moroni.
He was in the opening scenes that were done inside, on the church stage, that 1st day,
so I got to stay to watch him.

Both my boys came back on a "spiritual high."
It's hard to maintain that as they slipped back into regular life, petty worries, & the distractions
of electronics, World Cup, screaming little kids, etc. but they were both CHANGED in some way.
I could see it in their faces the moment I greeted them back.

We tried to extract as much info as possible out of them when they returned.  (Luckily we had some longer-ish drives to do)
I just wanted to soak in their enthusiasm of their experience, their strengthened testimony
of The Book of Mormon, & their overall joy.

I heard about how Kyle had born his testimony in front of and to those in attendance from our ward (our church congregation)
(Something he's not comfortable doing at all.)
He related how, in one reenactment, he was suppose to "act" like one of the angry and hateful Lamanites
who came up to fight against the Anti-Nephi-Lehies who, because they had repented of their past sins,
had made a covenant with God that they would literally bury their swords in the ground and never kill again.
As the Lamanites came against them, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies actually bowed down to the earth and began to pray
and would not fight back - 1,005 were killed, we know from the account in the BofM.
(See Alma 24 for full account)
  Kyle, at first, thought it would be *fun* to reenact this scene as one of the "bad guys" who
would just have "free reign" [with his FOAM sword] to attack, receiving NO resistance from others.
This would be satisfying that "destruction" urge that is an innate part of little boys, I swear!  ;)
BUT, when Kyle was in the moment acting it out, and he saw the others just drop to the earth because they
 WOULD RATHER GIVE UP THEIR OWN LIFE THAN BREAK A COVENANT,
it really affected him - and he started to feel really terrible about being a "bad guy" even though he was just portraying one.
And then, just like what really happened all those years ago in BofM times with some of the Lamanites,
Kyle's heart began to swell with sorrow for what they (the characters) were doing.
It was so impressionable to him that Kyle bore testimony that he knows & understands
that covenants made with God are SO IMPORTANT that they
are worth keeping - no matter the price!

It does my heart good to hear & witness his conviction like that.

Ryan gave me a note/letter he had written during youth conference

 - it was written after they
had reenacted the story of The 2,000 Stripling Warriors.  (See Alma 57)
He quoted Alma 56:47-48 in it "....yea, they had been taught by their mothers, 
that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.  
And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."
He wrote me a personal message of how that applies to him & I, and his feelings about me.
{Needless to say, I CRIED when I read it!} 
That was very BIG and HUMBLE of him to write me such things.

Before they went, they were challenged by our Stake presidency to really be in tune
to what personal message Heavenly Father wanted them to learn/feel/know.

And that happened.

I'm so grateful for the some 150 adults who were involved to pull this event off.
Chairmen, performance directors, script writers, photographers, lighting & sound crew, 
medical crew, costumers, set/scenery crew,  food committee, tribal leaders, letter
delivery people, drivers, recording experts, grounds crew, facilities crew, Stake presidency/wives, Bishops/wives, etc. etc.
It takes so many people!  But, they do it because they know the experience for the youth is SO. worth. it!
It can be vital to their spiritual well-being.
I'm so grateful they had this experience and that they came to know even more that 
The Book of Mormon is true.  
And that they felt the reality of our living Savior.
And through that, they believe they can make it through this life armed with the love, example, & guidance 
of their "friends" they came to know in The Book of Mormon, including Jesus Christ.