FAMILY LETTER 07.01.18

Dear Loved Ones,              

It has been a long and busy three weeks and we have had so much fun! We have traveled over 3,000 miles and enjoyed lots of sunshine and lots of fantastic thunderstorms, too. We have visited many loved ones and made great memories…and it’s only July first! As I type this, it’s a perfect sunny 75-degree Sunday with bright blue skies and little fluffy clouds. Nana/My mom is here visiting with Michael and Amber’s kids as they get moved out of their house in Rexburg and look for one in Idaho Falls for Michael’s new job. I subbed in Primary today, but not as a teacher. I conducted the meetings because the whole Presidency is gone doing fun family things, but we had lots of cute little visitors to fill in, including Emmalyn and Autumn who were such good girls in Sharing/Singing Time. It was nice to work alongside my sisterfriend Robyn Jones and Joan Fawcett and be reminded how much Jesus loves the children and blesses them with a special spirit in Primary.

I guess to recap the month, I have to go back all the way to Monday June 11^th, which was a rainy day. Addie and Heidi had slept over at the ranch and tried to mow with the grandparents but much of the grass was too wet. I picked them up around noon and Addie went in and got back on the schedule at Cluck. I know working any job in high school can be a challenge, but she is such a cute, hard-working little chicken lady! And we love her discount and leftovers! On Tuesday 6/12, all I can remember is that I went shopping in Bozeman and Niles had a baseball game that night and it was fun because it wasn’t raining. On Wednesday 6/13, Niles played his final game of the season and hit a lovely homerun to end the season. He played against his pal, Porter Tyner, and they were just happy to be on the field together. After the game we hurried over to join daddy and his scouts at the Speas house for a combined activity bonfire. The kids went to the bonfire and I detailed my car so I could stand to live out of in for the coming week. I remember NOTHING about Thursday except doing tons of laundry and starting to pack for our Heartland Roadtrip. On Friday 6/15 I got up early and drove Addie to Butte to take the exam for her learners permit. She aced it and drove us home—well, to Bozeman where we stopped at Walmart, Harbor Freight, and Macy’s. The girls went to a stake youth BBQ and Dance Friday night while Rich took me and the little guys for a ride in the VW.  It’s so fun! On Saturday 6/16, Rich took the kids to Bozeman with the intent to see Incredibles 2 and visit Museum of the Rockies. The movie was sold out for like 2 days, but they had a good time at the Guitar exhibit at the MOR. I stayed home and got Rich’s Father’s Day/ Birthday gifts and dinner prepped and did more packing for our trip. Sunday 6/17 we attended church and handed out Hershey’s Hugs & Kisses with little Father’s Day messages on them. The kids sang for their dads in sacrament meeting. We gave Rich a Father’s Day nap, and then had the grandparents over for dinner. We gave grandpa Melin a book called “How to Babysit a Grandpa” which he read with the kids and really got a kick out of. Daddy had requested pie for his birthday, so we made him a triple berry pie a la mode with a candle in it. It was a fun night. Late that night, my friend Elizabeth Wright Turner came to sleep over. She had been camping in the Tetons and it got terribly cold and rainy overnight on the 16^th, so she came to our house on Sunday and Monday nights and got her bearings.  On Monday 6/18, Richard turned 47. It was a regular old work day for him, but we tried to make it a happy birthday while we also packed up to leave on our trip Tuesday morning. I told Rich his gift from me was 10 days of peace and quiet to finish working on his car and to sleep with nobody kicking him, hahaha.

Tuesday 6/19, we loaded up the car and packed up some snacks and hit the road like a herd of turtles around 10am. We stopped in Billings for a few necessities, and headed down to Wyoming around 1pm. We arrived at Mark & Elena Melin’s house in Colorado Springs at 10pm. Mark got us all tucked in and everyone was asleep before midnight. We slept in til about 8am Wednesday and were ready for a day of fun with the Marlenas at 9am. Our first stop was a walk around Garden of the Gods in the red rock formations. It was very beautiful and high-desert-y. Our next stop was The Air Force Academy. We got to see Uncle Mark’s office building, Uncle Jess’ B-52, the USAFA Chapel, some cadets and some glider training exercises going on over our heads. We then headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then to a fun indoor go-cart track where all the cousins besides Samantha and Ammon raced go-carts. It was so fun! We went home for a little siesta. Elena made delicious taco salad for dinner, then we went to a park to run it off.  Samantha taught us to play SCUM (a card game) after the playground and some ice cream. We got kind of into it and can’t wait to play again when they come to visit us this week. We finally got all the kids to bed around 9 or 10 pm and got up early Thursday 6/21 to drive to Lindsborg “Little Sweden” Kansas to celebrate the summer solstice. They had already had their Midsommars celebration on the 16^th, but the may pole was still up and we had a Viking-worthy dinner (meatballs! Dill potatoes! Beets! North Sea saffron stew!) at The Swedish Crown. After dinner we went to our hotel and went swimming, then went to Braum’s for ice cream at TEN THIRTY PM! Yes, I am a crazy mom. I had the boys eat some melatonin with their ice cream, though, and everyone was asleep by midnight. Friday 6/22 we ate a good hotel breakfast and watched the gorgeous Icelandic Soccer team play a little World Cup. Then we went back into Lindsborg for a quad bike ride and some souvenir shopping at Hemslojd woodworkers and Trollslanda Toy Store. We gassed up and headed south to Oklahoma to visit our Tucson friends, The Hopkins, at their home in Edmond. It felt like a family reunion when we arrived. Angela and I (and Heidi) chatted while she made a delicious Italian dinner and Jared took his sons Sam and Ryan and Addie, James, Niles, and Ammon to the pool.  They all came home for dinner, then Sam took James and Ryan fishing for a while. Jared suggested we head to Braum’s for some ice cream so Angela and I loaded up the kids and Jared went to pick up the fishermen. Sadly, when he found them, Sam had a fish hook in his index finger and had to go to the ER to get it removed. So Alec brought James and Ryan to get ice cream while Jared took Sam to the ER. Sam was fine, just had a bandage and some antibiotics. That night, we watched “Return to Me” in the media room and hit the hay around midnight.

Saturday 6/23, we lazily got up and got dressed and decided to head into OKC to see a movie. Alec, Sam, Addie, Heidi, James, and Niles all went to see Jurassic World 2; Angela and Jared and I took Ryan and Ammon to see Incredibles 2. It was super fun to be in a giant Cineplex again. After the movie everyone was hungry but it was like 3:30. We decided to just go get some gourmet burgers and have “lupper.” After our meal we came home and chilled for a bit, then went over to The Nutalls’ house to swim. Everyone swam except Angela and it was a blast. The boys got super tired, but we still took them out to Pops on Route 66 to get bottled sodas, and then put them to bed around 10. Sam, Heidi, and Addie watched “The Sixth Sense” while Jared went to sleep and Angela and I stayed up to 2am chatting. We needed more sleep than that for Sunday, but somehow we survived and got 7 kids ready for sacrament meeting by noon. Their stake had just been divided the previous week, and Jared was called to be the president of the new Edmond Stake, so Jared was out doing stake things, Alec went to a student ward, and we attended a newly-formed ward. We just had sacrament meeting followed by a linger-longer (since the ward is new and unstaffed). There was a fierce storm outside and we got soaked just walking to the car, but we got home and got dry and relaxed for a while. At 5, Angela and I made a big chef’s salad and headed over to The Haymore’s house (Jared met us there) to celebrate their youngest daughter Carli’s 11th birthday. We had a fun visit with them. That night we got the little guys to sleep and watched a Captain America movie with the teenagers.

Monday morning we went shopping at Trader Joe’s. Angela’s friend Ivy and her daughter joined us. Addie and I got a bunch of food for gifts and for food storage and for snacks on the way home. We got home and fed the kids late lunch. We had planned on going to the museum in Norman, but once our evening plans were solidified, there wasn’t time. Instead we went bowling, then got icee’s, then met up with Jared to head out to Okarche to spend the evening with the Waltmans.  We met at Waltman’s ranch, then headed down the road to Eischens’ Bar—“the oldest bar in Oklahoma, est. 1896”—which also serves famous friend chicken.  Dinner was delicious! Afterward, the Waltman’s were kind enough to take each of the kids horseback riding and four-wheeling around their ranch. It was a beautiful night and we had such a good time. I was constantly reminding myself and the kids that we aren’t related because it felt like we were with family our whole visit. I told Angela ours is a “friendship of resumption” as Elder Maxwell liked to say— we were never strangers, and I’m pretty sure the same is true for our kids. Sister Waltman made the kids snow cones and we loaded four sticky, dusty, exhausted, happy boys into Angela’s van and headed back to Edmond (Jared had the 3 older kids). We had a sweet talk on the way home and Ang helped me get my stuff together to leave in the morning, even though I didn’t necessarily want to go. I realized that packing to go home is stressful for me partially because I don’t want to! It’s a mix of not wanting to leave loved ones and being mind-numbingly exhausted and knowing there’s a 1300-mile drive in front of me with no other grown ups! But we gitter done and we are always glad we did it! Tuesday morning we managed to get packed up and eat breakfast and hit the road before 9:30am. Our visit could not have been more awesome. I was overcome with gratitude for all the kindnesses and generosity shown to our family, and for all the memories we got to make with Hopkins. Hopkinses? The Hopkins Family.

Our drive home was surprisingly peaceful. Aside from a few little quarrels, everyone cooperated and we had a good time. Addie drove the last two hours and got us safely to Rich’s cousin, Cindy’s house in Frederick, CO. We had dinner down the street at her mom’s house (Aunt Carol— Grandma Melin’s sister) and I slept there with the two little boys. Cindy took my 3 big kids to her house. Cindy’s daughter, Emily (almost 3) was so delighted to have kids to play with and was so sweet. I hope they can come visit us soon! Uncle Dennis made us a dutch oven Mountain Man breakfast and we headed out around 9:30am. It was already 92 degrees in Colorado, so we were outta there! We stopped in Casper to get lunch at Wendy’s, then Addie drove us to Sheridan. We had a long gas/potty/soda break in Sheridan, then I drove us home. We met Rich here about 8pm and it was a joyous reunion. Niles screamed, “Daddy!” and just about tackled him. We swapped stories and gave daddy his souvenirs and were just so happy to be home and comfy and out of the car.

On Thursday 6/28 I was a useless, tired zombie. I did manage to get unpacked and do some laundry and get some groceries, but I think I was legally brain dead. After dinner, I took a long hot lavender bath and went to bed and was recovered on Friday. The kids got right back on the summer schedule checklists, Addie went to work, and we got things cleaned up enough to have Nana come stay with us with the three little Drews kids. Friday night we had beef tacos and I made 96 mini cupcakes for a wedding reception at the ranch on Saturday night. Addie decorated the cupcakes after work that night. Saturday morning, Rich took all the kids on some errands and out for giant pancakes at Joe’s Diner. I stayed home and did some cleaning up , then went to the post office and the car wash, and back to make breakfast for Nana and the kids. We puttered around until it was time for me to meet Naomi at the ranch and set up for Mark Mills’ wedding reception (he married his new wife, Stacey, back in March, but she just moved to Montana this week). Naomi and Jessi Tyner did a great job planning good food and pretty decorations. It was a lovely evening.

And that brings us back to this lovely Sabbath day. My heart is full and my mind is still spinning from all the great experiences we have had this month. Tomorrow begins the Livingston Roundup (July 2-4). Mark and Elena arrive from Colorado any minute. Tomorrow Michael and Amber and Marshall will be here, too, and we will all meet up for the Roundup Parade followed by a BBQ at our house. At 10-ish, we will watch the rodeo fireworks at the high school football field, all three nights. Lots more fun to be had and memories to make! We wish you all a wonderful week celebrating all the blessings we enjoy because we live in a free country. It means so much to me to be able to choose my education and how I worship and where I live and how I raise my family. I have a million choices because brave people have fought for my rights for 242 years. In sacrament meeting I was touched by the lyrics to “My Country Tis of Thee” as I thought about what we read in the Book of Mormon as a family this week in Alma 2-5…we have ONE king, forever:

Our fathers' God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing;

Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light.

Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King!

May we remember and live worthy of the great sacrifices that were made that we may live free and make choices, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ could be restored and go forth from here. Happy Independence Day! We love you!

Love, Jamie and Rich and Family

This is how summer scripture study looks (June 15th)

Not-very-good, accidental photos taken of our Fathers' Day dinner
of meatball subs and salads. I wish we'd taken a picture of
 Rich and Dad together :( [6/17/18]

ELIZABETH, adventure woman! 6/19

Hitting the road for our HEARTLAND ROADTRIP 6/19

Big Sky country, y'all

Border

Red Wyoming highway

Border

Cousin Hike at Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs 6/20

Mark & Elena Melin 6/20

Niles

My Girls--already hot and sweaty at 10am!

Cousins! Liana, Samantha, Addie, Niles, Heidi,
 Ammon, Sariah, Jared, and James

"Tell Dad I crushed rocks and made sand!"

Nine Cousins at USAFA's B-52, thinking of Uncle Jess flying this beast!

USAFA Chapel

This entire picture is made of inlaid wood...it's beautiful!

Uncle Mark's office at USAFA

Group shot at USAFA before lunch at Chick-Fil-A 6/20

After lunch, GO CARTS!

Niles with Uncle Mark

James at helmet check

Vrrrroooom!

Playground near Melins' house in CoSprings

Leaving Colorado, headed for Lindsborg for Midsommars 6/21

Border #3

Heidi

Summer Solstice- "Midsommars"- Swedish dinner at The Swedish Crown in Lindsborg
This was the meatball dinner with dill potatoes and pickled veg.

North Sea saffron stew with rye knackerbrod--DELICIOUS

Naughty Vikings

The Swedish Crown in Lindsborg

Three boys in the pool at our hotel in Salina, KS 6/21

Happy Solstice! The Longest Day

Shopping at Hemlslojd

Quad Cycling around Lindsborg Friday morning 6/22

The cool Lutheran Dala Horse in Lindsborg.

They're everywhere!

Niles still pouting because he wasn't big enough to drive the Quad.

Toy Store!

Happy viking boys spending birthday money on toys at Trollslanda...
and we are OFF to Oklahoma!

Angela and me when we arrived in Edmond OK
for some Hopkins fun 6/22 4pm

After dinner ice cream at Braums. 6/22
Addie loves her ice cream. Alec hates my camera.

Burgers and shakes at S & B in downtown OKC
after the movies 6/23

Cute Sam Hopkins with his fish-hook-finger

Darling Ryan Hopkins

Angela took the girls to take these pix at a building near the burger joint.

Evening swim with Hopkins and Nuttalls 6/23

A trip to Pops on Route 66 after swimming Saturday night

Ang, Ad, Heidi and Ryan at Pops

Sunday night birthday party at Haymore's 6/24

Monday morning Trader Joe's Run with Ang and The Skinners
Emily (BYUI-bound) and Adeline 6/25

Monday afternoon fun 6/25

Photo booth at the bowling alley

Monday Night riding at Waltman's Ranch in Okarche
Ryan

Sam

Ammon with Brother Waltman

James on 4-wheeler

Heidi

Breathtaking sunset

Angela, with her horse, and Jared and me

Adeline

Ang & Ad

Giddyup, Heidi

James

Niles and Ammon feeding horses

Ringing the barn bell

Ryan

Ammon

We left The Hopkins' at 9:30am  6/26 and headed back north
 through Kansas to Colorado to Cousin Cindy's house

Addie driving through Denver

Taking a walk to Aunt Carol's house with Emily in Frederick, CO.

On the road home 6/27 in Montana!