Dear Loved Ones,
The past two weeks have been a mix of some really busy days and
really lazy summery days and it’s all been good!
On Monday the 21st Heidi enjoyed a fun park
activity with the Activity Days girls, including cousin Summer. After the activity, Uncle Jess and Aunt Kelli
brought Heidi home and stayed for Stir Fry Dinner and Family Night. Rich also
helped Uncle Jess get our trailer ready for their family camping trip to Ennis and
Dillon later that week. We filmed all the cousins wishing Grandpa Melin a Happy
Birthday on the 22nd. From all reports, he had a good one, and got
to take a little road trip with Grandma later that week to Nauvoo, which we know
firsthand was AWESOME.
On Wednesday the 23rd, all the youth and Rich’s
scouts plus Heidi hiked to Pine Creek
Falls for their activity. I stayed home with my boys and watched a show about elephants…Heidi
would have loved it.
On Thursday the 24th, we went to play at
Sacajawea Park and eat Food Pantry’s lunch in the park. I saw a bunch of my
Bible Study friends there; it was fun to catch up. After naps and dinner, Addie
and I headed up to the church for Shelby’s baptism. We made punch and Kim
Strupp brought fruit and Shelby’s favorite cookies. Matt Triplett gave and
awesome talk about baptism and I spoke about the Holy Ghost. The same Elder who baptized her mom came back
with his little family and baptized her. It was a sweet service and we are so
happy for her and her family.
Friday night we had a ward barbecue on the church lawn to
celebrate Pioneer Day. Right before it started, Jenn Claar’s nephew Josh (the
sweet boy with cerebral palsy) passed away. Other than that sad news, the
dinner was a lot of fun and it was a gorgeous day to be outside. Jess and Kelli
were back from their camping trip and they came, too.
Saturday the 26th we did some fun school shopping
as a family. We started at Bozeman’s Goodwill because it is so organized and fun
to shop there. I found hoodies for all the boys and some really nice hiking
shoes and converse sneakers for Heidi. We got all the school supplies and some
other necessities at Target and had yummy lunch at Wendy’s. I think Rich took
the kids out to float at the ranch, but I took a nap and got ready for Sunday
with baby Ammon. I was feeling feverish and achy (AGAIN) but I rested up and
didn’t get super sick this time.
I still didn’t feel well Sunday, but Rich had to go speak at
the Big Timber branch, so I had to get our family to church and lead the
Primary music—the kids sang Pioneer songs in Sacrament meeting, plus I subbed
as chorister one last time (I did a lame job, but I did it J). I was so exhausted
when we got home and had a fever of 100, so I went straight to sleep with the
baby. Rich made gyros for the kids and they loved them! He took a rest with me
then took the kids to the ranch for dinner and a cousin sleepover that night.
It was perfect timing (bless Jess and Kelli’s hearts!).
Monday was my mom and Mark’s 25th Anniversary! I got
caught up on rest and vitamins and was able to get some things organized in the
morning before I went out to pick up James, Heidi, and Addie at the ranch. I
literally had to drag them out of the river at the beach where they were having
a blast with their cousins (Addie’s best friend was having a birthday party
that afternoon). That night for FHE we watched “Heaven is For Real,” which was
a nice little movie.
|
Mark & Mom, July 1989 |
Speaking of movies, we had several movie nights this week
for some reason. We also watched “The Saratov Approach” on Tuesday and loved
it. Earlier, Rich and I watched “Tim’s Vermeer” and loved that, too. We also
watched “Noah” on Saturday night and it was just weird. I could have respected
it without the rock people, even though it doesn’t even begin to follow the
story (I kept waiting for Egyptus...hello!?).
I did love some things about it, though, especially the animals coming
and how the seed of Eden from Methuselah provided them everything they needed
to build an ark in a barren land, a symbol
of the truth that God provides; he gives no commands except he prepares
away for them to be fulfilled. Anyhoooo….
Wednesday the 30th Heidi and I had morning haircuts,
then Addie had a physical and immunizations for 7th grade. Her arm
hurt all day! Uncle Mike brought cousin Summer into town when he went to check
out Cousin Sheila’s storage unit. Summer and the kids jumped on the trampoline with
the sprinkler then we headed over to the Farmer’s Market from 5-6pm and met up
with Jess and Kelli and Mike for a few minutes. We gave Summer back, then
hurried home to eat dinner and get Daddy to scouts and Addie to the Bishop’s
Youth Fireside. Everyone was overtired from all the sleep overs and fun, so it
wasn’t hard to get them all to bed that night.
Thursday the 31st I got the wonderful news that
my BFF Erin was pronounced Cancer Free! She still has surgery and radiation to
get through the next few months, but for now there is no cancer in her body and
for that we are grateful!!! I spent most of Thursday finishing up a slideshow
video for Josh Hill’s memorial on Saturday (Jenn’s nephew). It turned out
really nice.
Friday after chores, I took the kids to Museum of the
Rockies. We got a 2-year membership as part of Niles’ Preschool, which is
AWESOME! First we stopped at Costco for gas and lunch, and then we went to
MOR. First we looked at the Gecko
exhibit, and then the big kids saw a planetarium show while I took the little
boys to the Yellowstone playroom. When
we got home, we took naps and had homemade Pizza night (our Friday night
tradition).
Saturday Addie and I got up early and went to do two service
projects. First the Young Women met at Livingston Christian Center to help blow
up 200 balloons for Josh’s memorial service later that day. Then they joined
the Young Men at the animal shelter to build a fence and landscape. I went back
to LCC for the service, which was really beautiful. Again, all my bible study friends were there,
plus the Claars. Julie (Jenn’s sister) was/is so diligent in caring for those
special needs kids—I don’t know how she does it, but I am sure the loss of Josh
leaves a huge hole in her heart and in her daily schedule. Everyone, though,
seems to understand that Joshy’s sweet spirit is now free from his broken body
and he’s “dancing with Jesus.”
|
Balloon Release for Joshy |
This Fast Sunday was a sweet one—a nice testimony meeting
and good lessons, lots of visitors and new people at church. We had a good afternoon
–napped, broke our fast, headed out to the ranch after dinner, but when we
texted Jess to see if we needed to bring anything, they’d already done s’mores
without us and were putting kids to bed. So we turned around and took a drive,
mapping out our routes to school, checking out some new houses. We had a treat
and played UNO as a family and finally hit the hay at 10pm, which is when I
started writing this.
Little Ammon seems to be not feeling well. I’m trying to
figure out what’s wrong. It seems way too early (he’s 12 weeks old!!) for him to be teething, but he keeps running a
fever and has swollen gums and a stuffy nose.
Poor little man. At least he’s fairly
cheerful about all of it—he even tries to smile at me while he’s fussing from
pain, bless his little angel heart. We are looking forward to visiting Utah in
2 weeks, hope we get to see as many loved ones as possible. In the meantime,
there is a ton of summer fun we need to cram into the next two weeks because
school starts right after we get home. Time is FLYING! We loved hearing from
the Holm family, the New Jersey Melins, and Grandpa and Grandma this week.
Sounds like everyone is making the most of their summer. We’d love updates from
any and all of you and hope you’re all well and happy and feeling our love, and
Heavenly Father’s love, too!
Love, Jamie and Rich and Family