This Weekend:

* While the boys were at Youth Conference...

*The rest of us headed down to Zion National Park for

a Brenchley family reunion in a 7,000 sq. ft. "cabin."

*We hiked the Riverside walk (the trail that leads to The Narrows)

 and had a sack lunch at the end, while some of us played in the water,
then we went back down to catch the shuttles to our cars in the parking lot.

*Some of the ladies stayed up way late talking.

*On Saturday, after our boys arrived (they drove down separately after YC),
we went to another part of Zion's where there are some hieroglyphics

 & more hiking...

*That night we all went to the Ponderosa Ranch for a buffet dinner put out just for our group.

*We moved from the restaurant to the playground. 

{How many grandkids can get on ONE jungle gym?}

Some of the older kids started having a swing contest - to see who could jump out the farthest.

{Kyle won}

*We played the "Loaded Questions" board game - there
were so many people, we only did one round and it still lasted hours.
There's always some real funny answers!  :)

*Some of the ladies (& Ryan 'til he fell asleep on a bench) stayed up really late talking again!
(Even usually-in-bed-by-9:00-p.m.-Julie!!!  Woo Hoo!)

*On Sunday, we drove to a small town, Orderville, about 30 min. away to attend church.
  Interestingly enough, their program was made up of a dozen or so
youth who were reporting on their youth conference they had gone to recently.
There's was called, "Journey to know Him" and it sounded like it was
similar to ours in that there was reenactments and a Christ experience, but
there's covered scriptures in the Old Testament, New Testament, & The Book of Mormon.
(All scriptures about Christ).  My boys were saying they wanted to do
that Youth Conference, too!!
(Except Ryan has run out of "youth" years.)

*Nicole brought us all a "4th of July" craft for the ladies to do.  (Thank You!)
We painted, papered, & mod podged together in the afternoon.

{Here is the finished product on my shelf at home now.}

*Later the USA soccer team was playing their game in the World Cup.
In honor of this, and the fact that the Brenchley's are such a "soccer family",
the reunion "T-shirt" this year was actually a Team USA soccer uniform!

{The Matt & Suzanne Team}

Then we all (well, not all) thought it would be a 'Ton of Fun' to build a grandkids pyramid....


Step 1: Organize the rows by child's size

Step 2: Build it one row at a time.  Base row hold very steady!!!

Step 3: Ta-Da!!!  Hold & Smile until we can get a picture!  (While still pleading the "unsure" stragglers to join the human grandkid [+ a few parents] pyramid.)

Step 4: AND THEY ALL FALL DOWN!
(You knew it was going to happen!)

*I made dinner and I'm proud to say that ALL the food & supplies for dinner made it safely to our cabin at Zion's.  And the 42 peeps were happy they got to eat!  ;)

*Each family took some time to give "updates" on each person,
then we opened it up to questions from the "audience."

*The couples played "The Newlywed Game".
There was some heated "discussion" amongst the players about what was a "correct" answer or not.
If the answers of husband & wife were NOT an exact match in wording,
but kind of meant something that resembled the answer, according to that couple's inside knowledge - was it correct?

*Some of us stayed up semi-late talking.

*On Monday, it was time to pack up and go home,
and say good-bye to the cabin.

EXCEPT WE DISCOVERED WE HAD A FLAT TIRE!
(There was a nail in it.)
We got air put in it at the nearby Ponderosa Ranch - just enough to get us to Orderville again.
WELL......funny (or unfortunate?) thing, when we'd been at church the day before,
we'd heard them announce a funeral of one of the members - and that's where the owner of the service station WAS, and the teenager left to man the place didn't know how to fix our tire.
So, we went down the road to another station.  Well, that guy was way backed up
with so many jobs (because of the overflow coming from the other low-staffed station?) that he said he didn't have time for us.  And that we'd have to move on to the next town!
So, we drove another 50 miles on borrowed air & prayers to Panguitch.
There was a REAL tire shop there, and no line!
A guy came out to help us, got down on the ground by our tire with a couple of tools,
and in no time at all he was all done and said, That'll be $20.
What?!?
We were all thinking we'd have to get a whole new tire and that it would run us
HUNDREDS of dollars!  Instead....Bang, botta, boom - same tire and it's all good!
What a BLESSING!!
Then we felt like we had $$ to eat lunch at Henrie's Drive In which was great
since we were quite hungry (& stressed) by then.

* We got home with just enough time to unload and head over to Katelyn's
primary class SHAVE ICE party that her teachers were having for Family Night treat.
She even put vanilla ice cream in the bottom of the shave ice cups!
{YUM!}
It's good to be home again.

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.

Dinner Insurance

Because Ryan & Kyle have Youth Conference Wed.-Fri., they are going to drive down to an extended Brenchley family reunion later in the week.
And because Ryan is not allowed to drive Matt's car, we have to leave him the minivan.
Which means the rest of us (5 people) are driving down in the car.

CAR = VERY LITTLE STOWAGE ROOM

So, the plan is that we will just take our bags of  "essentials" with us, and the boys will bring everything else with them, like the coolers and boxes/bags of FOOD!
We're suppose to do dinner for everyone Sunday night, and I am leaving everything I need to make it at home for them to bring.

Brave, no?

Pretty much, dinner for 42 people rests on the boys' shoulders!!  ;)

If they do it right, the family gets dinner, if they don't, no dinner.  And I'm pretty sure that would cause a bit of mayhem!

So, even though I verbally gave instructions, multiple times......I KNOW firsthand just how good their listening skills are.....

I provided some additional helps!

{This note was left on the kitchen counter.}

But, sometimes, they still don't get it.  They might listen to the very 1st thing I say, but everything else is lost.  Or vice versa.

I spelled it out the best I could.  

There were FIVE written notes, with a Sharpie, hung in various places in all.

And, instead of just giving them a list of things to pack from the fridge, I put all the items in a grocery bag for them to pull out of the fridge to pack, so there was less of a chance of leaving something behind.

There were 10 grocery or ziploc bags inside the fridge/freezer that were labeled for their convenience.

Short of flashing lights, talking computers, robots, or brightly colored arrows, 

I tried to cover all the bases.

;)

Crime of Opportunity

Years ago, Ryan rode his bike to our church for an activity. Later that night, when it was over, he'd forgot he arrived via bike, and walked home instead. The next time he went to go use his bike (at least 1+ weeks later) he couldn't find it in our shed.....and he remembered he'd left it at the church! Unfortunately, when he went to retrieve it, the bike was no longer there. And it hasn't been seen ever since!

Come on! Really?  Theft at a church?!?  Don't people have a conscience?

Well, it wasn't locked up. No one is there 4 out of 7 days of the week.  Bikes are fun. 

Crime of Opportunity.


Present Day:  Sometimes Kyle, also, rides his bike places (to school or the baseball park) and forgets how he got there, too.  And either ends up walking home or getting a ride in a friend's car.

Recently, our family was on a Sunday walk around town, and we happened to go by the City Hall/Swimming Pool/Elementary School/baseball park complex and Kyle saw his bike locked up at the bike rack.

Oh Yeah! it dawned on Kyle, I rode my bike here last........whenever (a week or so ago).

He went over to get it while we waited up at the corner for him.

It took him a really long time to come.

How long does it take to ride a bike to the corner?!?

We even sent someone to go get him and tell him to HURRY UP!

When he [finally] appeared, he wasn't even riding it, he was walking it.

Get on your bike and hurry we called.

He didn't.

And when he got to us, he showed us why:

One handle bar brake had been cut and was hanging way down.

And the other handle bar brake had been completed cut off and was no where to be seen!

AND both tires were completely flat!

THANKS TO SCREWS THAT WERE STUCK INTO THEM!

Thus, it was unrideable.

Come on!  Really?  In Farmington?!?  In our pure, upright, uncorrupted small town?
My bubble has been burst.

{It makes me kinda SICK!} 
OK REALLY SICK.

They obviously had cutters, but it wasn't thrilling enough for the punk to just cut the lock off and steal the bike?!?  They had to mutilate it?  And abandon it there to die?  Vandalism just for the sake of vandalism.

Well, it was THERE.  Day after day after day after day.  Abandoned.  School is out for summer.  Baseball games are only held a few hours several day a week.  That's a lot of time when no one is around to witness anything.  A [forgotten] bike just calling their name!
Crime of Opportunity.

Needless to say, these two boys are hoofin' it or bummin' rides these days.

Here's Your Sign

One Friday evening during this baseball season, we found ourselves without one of our three "live in" babysitters available at home - which really puts a damper on our date night!
Ryan had an umpire job down at the ball park.
Kyle was hanging out with friends.
Haylee had gone somewhere with her friend.

So, WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!?

Matt & I decided to take the two youngest girls down to the ball park so we could watch the game Ryan was umpiring - now TRY not to be jealous of our glamorous social life!!!
This way the girls could half pay attention to baseball, half play on the play ground, half eat concession stand food, half run around with the plethora of kids there.
(I guess that would actually be fourths!)

We just randomly chose a set of bleachers to sit on because we weren't really FOR either team - our kid wasn't dressed to play, he was the one behind home plate, dressed in a mask and chest & leg guards, trying to protect himself against repeated crazy, wild pitches coming from these 9 & 10 yr. old boys. (First league of "Kid Pitch")
Oh, and he was calling the game......which made it really interesting to sit amongst one team's fans.  In their opinion, Ryan was either doing a really awesome job - OR - a really sucky job, depending on if the call was in their favor or not!  (Keep in mind, since we didn't have a child on their team, they had never seen as at any of their other games......and did not know who we were!)

Upon arriving at the field, I immediately saw this sign that has been attached to the fence which is right next to the bleachers:

I thought it was awesome!

In fact, at one point in the game, when the coach on the other side (the side we weren't sitting on) was having  a little tizzy fit, I hollered out, "Read the Sign!"  ;)  It was real handy.

So, as mentioned before, this game was being played by 9 & 10 yr. olds who don't have much "Kid Pitch" experience under their belt.....so, potentially they could throw balls all night and walk every single kid who comes up to bat.  Instead of having that happen, Ryan, as umpire, allows a slightly larger than the usual chest-to-knees strike zone.  His mantra (& advise he gave to Kyle when he started umpiring) is PICK YOUR STRIKE ZONE AND STICK WITH IT.  And he does.

So, the parents on the side we were sitting on really liked Ryan's umpiring when their team was striking out the other team (due to the expanded strike zone, this was achieved).  But, when a kid on their team was up to bat, and a pitch that came across between his arm pits & shoulders was called as a STRIKE, they protested loudly to Ryan,  

"What was THAT call, Blue?"

Ryan:  "I've been calling it there all night!"

Me (the unidentified "fan" in the stands):  "At least he's consistent!"

Parent: "Yeah.....consistently BAD!"

Me: (snickers)

The game went into extra innings and lasted super long, but the team on the side we were sitting on did eventually win.  I don't know how she guessed, but the parent who had made the above comment asked me after the game, "Is that umpire your son?"

Me: "Yep."

Parent: (looking sheepish) "He really did do a good job."

Me: (nodding in the affirmative)

Parent: "I was just kidding about the 'BAD' comment." (looking sheepish some more)

Me:  (just smiled)

And she walked away.

GOTCHA!  ;)

What Goes on Behind Playroom Doors.....Shows Up on the Blog!

No Wonder Brookelle wanted a "boy barbie" for her birthday.....

 

Apparently, there's SO MANY girls.....

....who are available to date him.....

......and welcome his affection!

The odds are definitely in Ken's favor - it's about 8:1!

{All photos [& posing] courtesy of Miss B herself}

We never know what "surprises" will show up on our camera!  ;)

At least the barbies are dressed these days.