Dear Loved Ones, 03
June 2018
We are just home from an amazing broadcast
from our prophet and it was stellar. We are all enlisted and happy are we! I
told my kids, you don’t realize how exceptional this is—to have a prophet who
is so energetic and so able to connect with you, who has made the effort to pay
attention to what your world is like so he can help you in very specific ways,
who has an equally energetic and intelligent and inspired wife who stands right
beside him—literally. I’ve never seen anything like this (since I started
paying attention in the early 80s) but I know it’s how things are meant to be.
And I know we are entering a very literal phase of the gathering and our
children will be called upon to use their gifts in wondrous ways and
participate in mighty works as our world winds up. I’m super thrilled to have
front row seats.
President Nelson suggested five ways we can change ourselves so we can change
the world:
1. Have a seven-day fast from social media (“take
a break from fake”)
2. Make a weekly sacrifice of time to the Lord for three
weeks
(my mind instantly
thought, 3.3 hours for 3 weeks, 3-fold mission= a perfect Personal Progress
10-hour project!!!)
3. Keep on the covenant path. Do a life assessment with parents or
leaders- If you are off the covenant path, repent
and get back on it.
4. Pray daily that all of God’s children might receive the blessings
of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
5. Stand out. Be different. Be a light. Share the For the Strength of
Youth booklet.
Great counsel for disciples of any age! We are
on it.
It has been two busy weeks since I last wrote,
and I’m sure you can guess why if you’ve ever been a parent in May. All the
concerts, projects, exams, field trips, awards ceremonies, retirement parties,
graduation parties, etc. I think we
survived, but Addie and Ammon still have a week of school, so we shall see. We
already got report cards and know what everybody needs to work on over the
summer. Shout out to Heidi especially for going through some serious crap during
her 8th grade year and coming out with 4 As and 2 Bs. She’s a
warrior. Here’s a quick rundown of the past two weeks.
On Monday 5/21, James had his final band
concert of 6th grade on his French horn. The band honestly sounded
amazing. We are proud of their progress. On Tuesday 5/22 Ammon was sick. I
spent the day snuggling him. His only symptom of illness was a fever that ran
up to 102*in the afternoon, sleepiness, and then he threw up once from the
fever and he got better. Weird 12-hour sickness. Wednesday I made up for
missing Tuesday by finishing the laundry from Monday and weeding the flower bed
and garden in preparation for Memorial Day weekend yard work. That night was
early YW and Scouts and everyone was gone by 6:15, doing service and camp
stuff. The little boys and I did our bath-then-snuggles thing. Thursday was
kind of a marathon day. We packed up dinner (pizza) and we went to Niles’
baseball game. Then we went to Heidi’s last 8th grade choir concert—it
was really beautiful. I am glad she will continue to work with Ms. Curtis in
high school. She really brings out the best in the kids. Friday 5/25 I had
Addie, Ammon, and Niles home with me (Niles pulled a muscle at his baseball
game and couldn’t walk for part of the day). We went to the store and Addie got
some sidewalk chalk and made art with her brothers all afternoon. It was a
perfect sunny spring day. That night Richard and I went on a date—out for a
yummy BBQ dinner and to Costco for our big monthly shop. I had just posted a
funny meme about going on dates to Costco, but you know what? When you’re with
the coolest, rightest person, EVERYTHING is a fun date. Time together, just the
two of us, is such a nice break, no matter what we are doing.
On Saturday we had a classic family work day.
Those used to be a regular, almost weekly thing with us, but these days with
kids running in all directions, they are few and far between. We worked
together to clean up in the house first thing in the morning, then we worked
outside all day. First we cleaned up the flower bed and potted flower boxes for
the front porch railing and back deck railing. We scrubbed down the front
porch, then tackled our little garden patch. I had some tomato and jalapeno
starts, and James chose some seeds to plant. I haven’t done a bunch of starts
for several years because they so rarely survive transplanting. We are hoping planting
them directly will work better, and we will just hope for no frosts til the end
of September! The great thing about spring yard work, at least for my little
boys, is that the hoses are out and that means playing in the sprinkler. Once
the garden was in and cleaned up, the boys put the sprinkler under the trampoline
and had a blast. Sunday 5/27 we had a lovely church meeting and nap. Then we
went to the Johnson’s for Matty Johnson’s graduation dinner. Lots of Naomi’s
family from Idaho was there and some ward friends. It was a totally dreamy
night. Their house is near the church, high on a hill overlooking town. We ate
Hawaiian bbq food (kahlua pork) and visited and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Matty is such a great kid; his family is like family to us.
Monday 5/28 was Memorial Day. It started with
morning chores, then a picnic at Sacajawea Park, then some play ground and
tennis time, then a little hunting for smooth rocks to paint and hide. Rich
stayed home all that time and worked on his VW restoration project, which is
just an hour or two from completion. We came home and made some sandwiches and
salads to take out to the ranch for a picnic with the grandparents. The weather
turned rainy, so we had an indoor picnic. Addie brought her friend Jack from
track and turns out the grandparents know his whole family. After a short visit
and some games, we brought the kids home to bed because it was a school night…argh!
Tuesday 5/29 I had to buckle down and clean up from all the weekend partying.
Cousin Lacy arrived that afternoon from a family reunion in Mellstone. Her
flight home didn’t leave until Thursday out of Billings and her reunion was
over Monday, so she came to spend some time with us. Cousin Dave Mayberry is deployed
to Kuwait, and Penelope and Lucy were in Texas with Aunt Marti and Uncle Ralph
at a Mayberry reunion, so we just had Lacy and Naomi. We had a nice dinner
together, then Rich and I took the James to Addie’s final choir concert—which I
had totally forgotten about, but I was so glad to have attended (Lacy stayed
home with little folks and Heidi packed for her 8th grade graduation
camping trip). The choirs sounded great all night, but their acapella rendition
of “The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond” was absolutely stunning. It squeezed tears
from my eyes, uncontrollably. So good. Addie went out for ice cream with
Brianna while Rich and I rushed home to
greet Mary and Natalie Levesque who were crashing at our place for like
9 hours as they drove from Seattle to Indiana so Natalie can go to grad school
at Notre Dame (I served my mish with Natalie’s dad, Ken; we were buds). We got
them tucked in, then got our people settled down. To our horror, our fire
alarms started blaring at 4am intermittently. Rich kept checking them, dusting
them, unplugging them, changing batteries, but they kept going off about every
15 minutes until 6:30. We got up and got the kids off to school, then I went
back to bed with Ammon until about 9:30am. We had breakfast with Lacy and Naomi,
then headed out for a little tour of Paradise Valley. We stopped off at the
ranch first where Ammon shared his swing and tree house with Naomi. The river
is so high and muddy! Next stop was Pine Creek. We checked out the campground,
then did about a third of the hiking trail to the first bridge where Naomi and
Ammon had a little wade in the glacial water—brrr!—and played a little game of Poohsticks
under the little bridge. We headed back to the car, ravenous. We came into town
and had a late lunch at Gil’s where we ate and talked for an hour or so. Then
it was time to go home and rest and cool off and wait for kids to show up.
Niles came home limping, so we decided he should skip his baseball game that
night. We still ate ham sandwiches and grapes and pickles and popsicles for
dinner though, which is what we would have eaten at the ball game. Rich and James
left to go do a youth service project cleaning up a yard, and the little kids
had some trampoline time then got ready for bed. I helped Lacy plan a
Yellowstone/Beartooth highway adventure for Thursday so she could take the
long, scenic, 7-hour way to Billings to catch her plane back to AZ. It was so
great to visit with her! I am glad she gets to go see Dave in Kuwait later this
summer. They are a power duo. Thursday
night we had a GLORIOUS thunderstorm. It just POURED! Addie was out running her
3 miles and got soaked so I picked her up at the 2.7 mark and took her to Albertson’s
and home to get dry.
Friday was the last day of school for Niles and
James, but no school for Heidi, and a full day for Ammon and Addie-who are
usually home on Fridays. I was so dang confused! I thought everyone got out at
11am, and that Ammon had no school. The entire day was a surprise to me! I ran
to Walmart to pick up a few things I needed and hurried home to meet the boys
because I had told them all to meet me at the park for a picnic and popsicles,
but it was pouring rain! So I picked them all up, took them to Mark’s In and
Out for lunch, and home to play some XBOX and celebrate the end of school.
James’ friend Charlie Vermillion came over, too. Later I picked up Ammon and
Addie. Charlie went home at 5 and Rich came home with pizza at 6, then took
Addie and Niles to see Solo. Heidi and James and Ammon and I snuggled up and
watched the “Be One” broadcast on my bedroom TV. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I cried
through the whole thing. I am so grateful for that “Long-Promised Day” 40 years
ago and for our family’s connection to Africa.
Great things are going to happen there in the next few decades that will
blow our minds, I know it!
Saturday 6/2 we did some chores and had lunch,
then I took the boys to the opening day at the city pool so Rich could work on
the VW in peace. We came home at 3 to get ready to make the rounds to some fun
graduation parties. First we went down the valley for Rilyn Pino’s BBQ party at the Mushrush compound. It was a
lot of fun and Heather and TerriLyn did a great with the food and decorations.
After that, we headed in to the Shane Center ballroom for Nick Feldtman’s and
Cameron Reichert’s party. Brianna and Mikayla and Jeanette came over afterward
to watch “So I Married an Axe Murderer” at Robyn’s suggestion. They weren’t
fully prepared for Mike Myers’ weirdness, but they had some good laughs. I forgot
how kooky that movie was! Sunday 6/3 we had a lovely fast meeting and good
discussion about ministering in Relief Society. Right after church I brought
Addie home to change, then I took her to the HS to sing at the graduation
ceremony with Chamber Choir. She and her friends walked down to the Girl Scout
cabin afterward to attend Ellie Mickelson’s grad party. Every year I forget how
horribly hot the gym is! I never bring enough ice water or fans. It’s the
worst. I got home from graduation around 4:30 and took a quick rest. Then we
all got dressed and went to the 6pm broadcast for the youth from President Nelson.
I have already told you how great that was, but did not tell you how frizzy my
hair was from all the sweating at graduation. It was quite the sight. I was
asked if I got a perm…ha! No, not between church and the broadcast, hahaha.
So here we are facing the first week of summer
and Addie’s week of finals. We are excited to wear out our swim pass and to celebrate
Grandma Melin’s birthday this week, then youth conference and Father’s day and
Rich’s birthday and our Heartland Roadtrip Mommy Adventure 2018 followed by the
roundup and Melin cousins and camping and Scout Camp and concerts and workshops
and cousins moving into town, and before you know it, we are back in school!
Slow down the ride! My head is spinning! Looking forward to all of it, hoping
to see many of you on our summer adventures! Remember, we are home all of July
(well, not 7/28-8/1, but…) and you are totally welcome here!
All our love,
Jamie and Rich and Family
