Dear Loved Ones
Another great week of summer has come and gone. It didn’t feel so
much like the dog days this week—even though I usually hate August and we DID
have to say goodbye to cousins and it was super smoky from wildfires—we did a
lot of productive and fun things. Poor Addie worked like 45 hours!
On Monday I got up and did some laundry and the kids complained
that there was no food and they were right—not even milk for cereal! So we
cleaned out the fridge and loaded the dishwasher and went to the grocery store.
Then we came home and washed and prepped our fruits and veg and had a nice
assortment of fresh nutritious stuff to get us through the week. For family
night we just watched Addie’s Trek video and a few other gospel messages on the
MoChannel, then I spent the rest of the night editing the YM-YW Summer Recap
video for mutual on Wednesday night (it was Rich’s project and he had all the
photos collected and organized, I just did titles, transitions, and music). It
turned out great thanks to beautiful photography and scenery.
Tuesday was our last hurrah with our California Melin cousins, so
it was ranch day all day and we had a blast. The kids played in the water and
the big kids swam in the river. We had sandwiches and fruit for lunch, and lots
of playing until I had to take Addie in for work 4-9. I came in to town and
made some chicken kebabs to grill for dinner and headed back out to the ranch.
We had a BBQ of grilled veg and meat and rice followed by s’mores and playing
with Uncle Jess’ drone. The little boys were filthy and exhausted—just the way
they should be after playing hard all day! Simon and Niles are especially
adorable together—they are just turning 6 and full of enthusiasm and adventure
and still so sweet and adorable. They kinda melt my heart with their stick
swords and grubby faces, defending the pirate ship treehouse and crashing their
remote control monster trucks. ALL of the kids have a cousin buddy their same
age except Lexi (8) and Ammon (3), but sweet little Lex loves to baby Ammon
(and the ranch kitties), so it all works out perfectly! We will miss them!
Wednesday was laundry and chores in the morning, playdates with
friends—Derric and Devon—in the afternoon. It was another day of high
adventure—tramploline tricks and nerf gun wars and xbox and bikes and
popsicles—and then a cub scout swimming activity. Later our whole family
attended the youth activity—Camp video and awards night. The video was a big
hit, and amazing Naomi Johnson, our camp director went the extra mile and gave
out awards to all the campers and then they taught everyone to play Bunny Bunny
and had yummy refreshments. It was super fun and the love in the room was
THICK! What a great summer our youth have had!
Thursday was a promised play day after the kids helped finish all
the laundry. So we went bowling, then played air hockey and video games, then ate
lunch and went swimming. ALL THE FUN! We cut it short because I met my friend
Vicki to talk about middle school and paint rocks and eat ice cream. After
dinner I met poor Addie (who worked 12-9 every day except Wednesday) at the 9pm
showing of “Dunkirk.” I am so grateful for our shared appreciation of dashing
WWII soldiers and 40’s fashion ;)
Friday was yet another Chores-and-Pool day. We got lucky and saw
so many friends there on Friday—all the little boys’ best pals—and they all had
squirt guns, so there was a big long war and not even the moms were exempt! It
was so fun, but it wore us out! I had cooked a pot roast and veg in the crock
pot, but we just ate cereal and laid around. Then we decided to embarrass
Adeline at work and get some gelato and enjoy live music downtown. It was
pretty fun.
Saturday was PROJECT DAY! Daddy’s team detailed the cars and
mopped the garage (it took 7hours). My team cleaned, organized, and stocked the
pantry, cleaned the kitchen, and made peach salsa to can. IT WAS/IS DIVINE! We
were super tired after our work day, so Daddy took us to the Rib & Chop
House where our whole family ate at the bar and cheered on the AZ Diamondbacks.
The service and mood was great but the food was not. We are so sad. It has been
our favorite place for 15 years, but the past year has been consistently
disappointing. Bummer. We will have to
stick to the yummy food that Addie makes! When we got home we logged on to
watch the webcast of the Tucson Temple Cultural Celebration. We tried to log in on the desktop, the Roku,
the iPad and my phone, but we ended up only being able to stream through my phone,
then later the iPad. But it was excellent and we are so very excited that as of
today, my hometown has its own temple! Hosanna!
I had a
migrane late last night and in to this morning, so I sent the family off to
church and slept in until the medicine finally worked. I had home church on BYUTV
and watched a great address by Elder Stevenson from May 5, 2017 about
Technology and Social Media taking the gospel to every nation, kindred tongue
and people. I gave myself time to ponder
all the ways missionary work has been made easier by the internet, and
especially smartphones and tablets and I blew my own mind. I think about being a literature and history
major, writing papers and checking out books almost every day BEFORE an online
card catalog! Before PCs! Signing up to use the computer lab to type stuff up
in WordPerfect! I think about the ways we did our work in my mission—the time
and expense of mailing media referrals,
the time wasted on getting lost or missing appointments before cell phones, the UNIVERSE of materials at our
fingertips as we study and teach today compared to how we had to scavenge for
materials and conversations with leaders to answer the questions our
investigators and we ourselves came up with...it is DIZZYING to think how
things have changed in 25 years and to witness the speed at which knowledge of
Our Savior and His atonement can be made known to every nation, kindred,
tongue, and people. And that is to say NOTHING about the effect on Family
History and temple work. I think we may
be surprised at how soon “the Great Jehovah shall say ‘the work is done.’” I
loved the prophecies about this tech that Elder Stevenson shared, especially
this quote from President David O. McKay which captured the double –edged-sword
nature of our technology:
“In 1966 President David O. McKay
prophesied scientific discoveries that “stagger the imagination” would make
possible the preaching of the gospel to every kindred, tongue, and people. And
further: "Discoveries latent with such potent power, either for the
blessing or the destruction of human beings, as to make man’s responsibility in
controlling them the most gigantic ever placed in human hands. … This age is
fraught with limitless perils, as well as untold possibilities”
It made my heart so full, thinking of all our loved ones working
full time as missionaries or in the temple, and how efficient and focused their
work has become. My heart is singing that ol’ beloved “hymn” by Jesus Jones: I
was alive and I waited for it…Right here, right now, there is no other place
I’d rather be/ Right here, right now watching the world wake up from history!
The other highlight of the day was seeing all the social media
posts about the temple dedication today. So many sweet thoughts and testimonies
and scriptures and images shared…can’t wait to attend my very own hometown
House of the Lord, and I am so happy that like 80% of my LDS Tucson peeps have
been called to work in the temple—how cool is that? Oh, happy day! We are
excited for our last week of summer and our Island Park camping trip next weekend.
It’s pretty cool that summer ends with a total eclipse. We hope you all have a
great week and know that we love you!
Love,
Jamie, Rich, and Family
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Clean Fridge full of snacks after Monday's project |
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Clean Fridge! Monday's Project |
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COUSINS! Summer, Adeline, TJay-Tues |
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COUSINS! Niles, Simon and Ammon- Tues |
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COUSINS! TJ, Summer, Matthew, Heidi, Daddy, James, Ammon- Tues |
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DRONE! Tues |
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COUSINS! Niles and Simon- Tues |
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YW-Wed |
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Heidi and Sister Johnson- YW- Wed |
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Fun Flier Downtown |
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FRIDAY NITE LIVE!- Heidi and Niles |
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FRIDAY NITE LIVE! Addie and Heidi |
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FRIDAY NITE LIVE!- Hard Workin' Adeline |
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FRIDAY NITE LIVE!- gelato kids |
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FRIDAY NITE LIVE! James and Rich |
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Salsa Prep- Sat |
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Clean Pantry- Sat |
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SALSA! Sat |
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A list of desirable qualities in a mate written by Adeline in YW today... make a list, then go become those things!- so cute. {Compare to my late 20s version: Righteous/Smitten/Ambitious/Vision} |
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