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This weekend wasn't especially eventful. Kiersten left for Boise for a cross country meet. Our house isn't necessarily falling apart, but it's not the new house it once was. Conference began with the women's session. Nate gave his first talk in sacrament. And we got to see a blood moon lunar eclipse that won't happen again until 2033. Awesome stuff.
Every summer I have my kids make goals they want to accomplish for those three months. Some do better than others at accomplishing things, but all achieve something.
Kiersten had a goal to run 500 miles for cross country. That meant running twice a day for a lot of miles.
Nate set a goal of 250. He kind of blew his out of the water.
As a mom, I love seeing my kids grow and develop and become friends.
A month ago I watch a neighbor's toddler who tried out one of my kitchen drawers. At the time I thought he merely pulled it all the way out and I simply pushed it back in. But no, this week I discovered the screws holding the box to the rollers had been stripped with nowhere to put new screws. I dropped it off at the cabinet place to have a new box made.
And then Alex decided to even things up. His shorts caught on the handle, ripping the door off. The miraculous thing about this whole incident is I maintained my cool. I had just walked in the door from attending the temple when Tyler calmly let me know what had happened. All things can be fixed, right?
Nate gave his first sacrament talk today. I may have set him up for it. When he turned 12, he casually mentioned to me one day that he could give a talk in sacrament. Well, a year went by and nothing. So I casually mentioned it to the bishop and Nate was soon on the speaking docket. He did a fabulous job, talking about his conversion story from his baptism to receiving the priesthood to being challenged by a Sunday School teacher to consistently read his scriptures and pray. Cool under pressure. Didn't read it but spoke from his heart. Told some personal experiences. I had many people afterwards tell me what a great job he did. You wouldn't have thought he was only 13.
All evening we waited for the moon to show and finally as everyone was headed off the bed, there it was. Nate got out his telescope and we tried viewing it through that.
My camera, unfortunately, does not take good photos in the dark of objects far away. I'm always grateful for those who do get good shots and share them. This one below was taken by my friend Mindy Memmott.
Good things
a good, caring bishop
walks around the block
*digital cameras
*I am so grateful for those people in my children's lives who take photos of events that I am not able to attend. I feel like I haven't missed much when they are so kind to share either through email or social media. So with that, here are a few more homecoming pictures I got today.
Eight years ago we had a big tree come down in a windstorm
and several months ago we lost another.
The first was due to a neighbor overwatering on the fence line causing shallow roots. Our other tree had a bore which weakened the tree. So here's my little life lesson from trees . . . sink your roots deep so that when the winds of change, the hurricanes of life come howling in, you will be anchored. And don't let small bugs bore their way into your life, infesting your soul. They will weaken you. Root your life in Jesus Christ with prayer and scripture study and keep a vigilant guard on the bores of the adversary which will try to weaken your resolve to stand tall and strong.
And sometimes you're going to need some support from others when your roots aren't quite deep enough. Accept their help and know that storms don't last forever. The time to jump ship or have a faith crisis is not in the middle of a tempest. Hold on; better days are ahead. Faith will always trump doubt.
A few weeks ago my Laurels and I started planning a movie night for the girls who didn't get asked to Homecoming. Slowly, one by one, I started getting those "sorry. can't make it" texts.
I was so happy for them.
Kiersten was still in our movie club up until a week and half ago.
Then she attended a seminary morningside.
So for all you younguns wondering whether 6:30 is too early in the morning to attend a fireside, you might want to think again.
Broderick Craig simply . . . and I say simply because so many proposals are anything but . . . approached her with a sunflower from off the side of the road and asked her to homecoming and she simply had to say yes.
No fluff. No wondering. No sleepless nights. No homework not done because time was spent elsewhere. My kind of proposal.
Except he didn't leave a lot of time for dress shopping and we were headed out of town for the weekend. That only really left last Monday. So Monday it was. And I prayed desperately that we might find something.
I mean I literally prayed that we would find a dress.
My Facebook peeps came through. Cousin Ash had one she was sending to the DI, so we graciously took it off her hands and set out to find some shoes at JCPenneys.
Found the shoes and took a quick glance at their dresses.
And we found one she really liked and it was on sale and the clerk used a coupon for us. I really love it when they offer to save me more money. And then she gave us a $10 coupon to use again, starting that day.
Returned the shoes and bought them again, using our $10 coupon.
What a great shopping trip.
Savings from great shopping deserves Zupas. I love Zupas, especially their tomato soup. I'm already salivating just writing about it.
Now for next year we have two great dresses to choose from and hopefully I'll be out a shopping trip.
Have I mentioned that I really don't like shopping. I mean it is one of my least favorite things to do. But for this girl, I'll happily oblige.
And now she's off at her first dance ever. Kevin Astill, our neighbor across the street, found me at stake conference and confessed that watching Kiersten leave for her date made him feel quite old.
Ya, well he's not her mother.
Tuesday was my last first day of kindergarten. Oh my how we have been looking forward to this day.
Truthfully, I would say at least a year anticipating this day.
It has been hard having a tail end. All the others had someone to keep them company, but not Alex. I'm just as excited for him as he is. He has Mrs. Burge.
Kiersten's first day 2004: Magna (Pleasant Green Elementary; Mrs. Elliott)
Erik's first day 2005: Stansbury Park (Stansbury Elementary; Mrs. Jensen)
Nate's first day 2007: Stansbury Park (Stansbury Elementary; Mrs. Craig) -- I'm not sure why we sent him to school in that shirt. It's kind of got some attitude for the first day of school.
Ashlyn's first day 2010: Stansbury Park (Stansbury Elementary; Miss Womack) -- We moved to Lake Point half way through, necessitating the need to start riding the bus.
And here they all are side by side for comparison. Eleven years has gone by in the blink of an eye.
As a mom, I love seeing my kids grow and develop and become friends.
