Sunday, August 13, 2017

FAMILY LETTER 08.13.17

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

Clean Fridge full of snacks after Monday's project

Clean Fridge! Monday's Project

COUSINS! Summer, Adeline, TJay-Tues

COUSINS! Niles, Simon and Ammon- Tues

COUSINS! TJ, Summer, Matthew, Heidi, Daddy, James, Ammon- Tues


DRONE! Tues

COUSINS! Niles and Simon- Tues

YW-Wed

Heidi and Sister Johnson- YW- Wed

Fun Flier Downtown

FRIDAY NITE LIVE!- Heidi and Niles

FRIDAY NITE LIVE! Addie and Heidi

FRIDAY NITE LIVE!- Hard Workin' Adeline

FRIDAY NITE LIVE!- gelato kids

FRIDAY NITE LIVE! James and Rich

Salsa Prep- Sat

Clean Pantry- Sat

SALSA! Sat

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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