Life in a Northern Town: FAMILY LETTER 08.05.18

Dear Loved Ones,

We sure are grateful for Montana weather this weekend--it was way too hot for us in Utah! But we love the people we went to visit and we made some great memories so all the sweating was worth it.

On Monday 7/23, I was in kind of a funk I really couldn’t get going. But I do remember reading missionary letters and emailing a couple of our missionary loved ones and that made me feel better (Maggie Egan’s letter especially crack me up). I’m so grateful for my friends who share their missionary kids with me—their letters are awesome! Tuesday 7/24 was Pioneer Day! I got myself together and had scriptures and prayers with the kids, got our chores done, ran some errands, then came home and made a big poster to take to the airport to welcome sister Tiffany Parsons home from the California Roseville mission. After lunch we went shopping in Bozeman got the boys haircuts, then we went to the airport to see Tiffany. It was a tearful homecoming, as they usually are. Her adoptive family was there in matching T-shirts cheering her on even though they are not members of the church; it was a beautiful sight!! We’re so proud of her we love her! I read some Pioneer Day memes that reminded me of Tiffany’s courage in joining the church on her own as a high school junior and serving a mission. Sister Bonnie D. Parkin said, “Years from now your grandchildren will tell with amazement stories of your choices which changed their lives. You will be called their Pioneers. Have you ever thought that as you step into the unknown, you are showing others the way?”

And this beauty from Dieter F. Uchtdorf: “I claim the legacies of today’s modern-day Church pioneers who live in every nation and whose own stories of perseverance, faith, and sacrifice add glorious new verses to the great chorus of the latter-day anthem of the kingdom of God.”

I thought it was a great way to spend pioneer day, welcoming home a modern day pioneer!

On the evening of 7/25, Rich took all of the kids to the youth activity at Pine Creek. He made Dutch oven cobblers while the youth hiked up to the waterfalls and back. Several of the youth came home to our house after the activity and watched a movie and I took the last of them home at midnight. On Thursday 7/26, we had another lazy summer day of getting up late and doing some chores and watching a movie. That night, Rich took Addie and Heidi to see Imagine Dragons in concert and Bozeman. It was a double daddy daughter date with the Jones girls and their dad, Lope. I stayed home and got the little boys to bed but I really enjoyed the video clips and commentary I got from the concert. It looked amazing and I’m so glad they got to go. On Friday 7/27 we had to really bust a move and clean her house and get some laundry done as well as getting the girls packed for camp. I can’t remember what took so long but it was such a busy day!!! I got us packed and in bed ready to leave at 8 o’clock in the morning. Saturday 7/28 we took two cars on a trip down to Utah. Rich drove the boys in his outback, I drove the girls in my van. We took Izzi Petry with us as a gift for her 16th birthday and it was so fun to have her along for the ride! We also picked up our great-nephew, Zecklin Oslin in Bozeman and took him to meet up with his daddy and Nana in Utah. We all met up for lunch at Chick-fil-A in Ammon, Idaho, and then we all traveled down to Centerville, Utah to stay over with my sister Rhonda and her family. It was a joyful reunion when we arrived. We really missed those kids! They had made a delicious tamale dinner for us and they had a huge yard with lots of things to play on, so all 14 kids got their wiggles out while we adults visited and enjoyed tamales. Lisa and Cody (Zecklin’s Nana and Dad) could only stay for a little while; they had to get to bed and turn around drive back to Arizona on Sunday to go to work on Monday. But it was good to see them for a few minutes. On Sunday 7/29, we attended church with the Mullins family in Centerville and were treated to a sacrament meeting presented by sisters from the Temple Square mission as well as talks from their president and his wife (the Batemans). It was beautiful to hear how far reaching their work is and to hear their missionary test testimonies. After church we went back to Mullinses’ house and ate leftovers for lunch and had a little nap. Clinton smoked a big pork shoulder overnight and all day for Sunday dinner. Rhonda hosted a Layton family potluck dinner that night. Sam was able to come over with his family, but Will was in Australia, so we missed his family. It was so great to see everybody. Ryan and Kara have a brand new tiny baby named Cody, and their sons Wyatt and James joined us as well. We also got to Josh and Erin and their three kids (Kennedy, Piper, and Max). After dinner and a dessert of many pies and cookies and treats and a few be stings in the backyard, Uncle Clinton busted out his karaoke machine and the cousins sang karaoke songs til nearly midnight. It was a total blast!! We won’t soon forget the cousins’ perfect rendition of the BadLipReading “Seagulls Stop IT Now” song, Addie’s and Heidi’s beautiful “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” or little Mairi Layton singing “Shake it Off.”

On Monday morning 7/30 we said goodbye to the sweet Mullins family, picked up Izzi in Farmington, and headed south to IKEA to find a couch for the playroom. We also stopped to visit Petersens in Lehi and left the boys there to play with cousins. Jill came with me down to Provo to visit the Bucherts. Ellen and Jenny, and Lily Egan came over to Rob and Georgia‘s house and we had a little visit them and their cute daughter Moxie. We had dropped Addie and Heidi and Izzi at the mall in Provo, so we picked them up and headed out to Tooele for dinner at Sam’s house. We were just late enough to hit the 5 o’clock traffic but we made it by 6:45. We stopped at Brittany Casper’s mission apartment to give her a big hug just a few minutes before she left to go to the mission home to fly home on Tuesday! It was a sweet reunion—I love that girl so much! We headed across the street and around the corner to Sam’s and enjoyed a taco dinner prepared by Kristen and a little family night with Sam’s family and my mom and my sister-in-law Amber and her children (Michael was also out of town). Ally and her boyfriend Tanner also joined us and after dinner, they took Addie and Heidi and Izzi out to Sandy for a sleepover at grandma Petersen‘s house. The air conditioning at Petersen’s house is broken so the girls didn’t want to sleep there. They had fun and ended up back in Lehi in the morning. They wanted to go to the dinosaur museum and so did the boys, so Richard and I decided that would be our activity on Tuesday. Kristen brought her kids and we all met up for lunch at Thanksgiving Point with Uncle Drew and Petersens and Addie and Heidi and Izzi. After the museum we took Izzi up to Murray to meet up with her grandma to have a sleepover in Bountiful, then headed back out to Tooele and had a nice evening with Sam & Kristen. After dinner and getting the kids settled down for bed, Kristen and I and my mom took Addie and Heidi to the theater to see the second “Mama Mia" movie that just came out. It was just a stupid as the first one, but we sure enjoyed the Abba music and being out together. On Wednesday 8/1 our family headed to Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square. We parked at the conference center and went to the North Visitors Center first then we decided to go to the top of the church office building, then we saw a movie and the Joseph Smith building, then we had lunch at the mall and picked up some things at Deseret book. Izzi met up with us there and the girls shopped a little while we took the younger boys to the Church Museum of History and Art and checked out the new children’s exhibit about the life of Christ. We saw some beautiful art as well. At 3 o’clock we headed back to our car and back to Tooele where we had dinner and Rich took Addie and Heidi and James to the USANA amphitheater to find us a good spot on the lawn to watch The Pixies and Weezer concert, which was the main reason for our trip. I joined him later with Sam and Niles after we got Ammon to bed and left him with Kristen. We were a little late but we got to see most of the Pixies’ set and they were amazing. I was a little resentful of the new girl, but she rocks just as well as Kim Deal. The show was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Once the sun went down, the weather was perfect and the kids had a blast. I kept looking around at these familiar, middle aged faces, and thought, I bet a bunch of my college friends are here, but we would never recognize each other after 25 years. The Weezer show was fast paced and funny and over too soon. I thought they would play a lot of songs from Pacific Dream (their latest album), but it was mostly oldies, which was perfect for me and Rich and Sam—all our 1995 dreams came true! As we left the concert, the boys decided to ride together in Sam’s car and I took the girls in the van. They wanted to continue our tradition of going to Denny’s after the rock show, so we stopped in Lake Point at a lame little Denny’s and had some Grand Slams and laughed ourselves silly. This may not have been the wisest choice, knowing that I had to drive like 450 miles on four hours of sleep, but it was worth it for the memories. We got to sleep by 1 AM and woke up at 4:30 AM, loaded up, and left the Layton‘s house about 5:20AM on Thursday, 8/ 2. I was surprised how much traffic there already was, but we got out of the city and up to Idaho pretty quickly. Richard and the boys were right behind us around 7 o’clock but they hit the morning traffic which slowed them down. They got home to Livingston around 5PM. I drove the girls through Yellowstone Park to their girls camp in Cooke City. The drive up to Yellowstone was perfect and beautiful, but the traffic inside the park was terrible. To give you some perspective, we entered the park at West Yellowstone at 11:45 and we got to Madison Junction at 1 o’clock. That road is 14 miles long! Once we passed the junction, we didn’t have any major traffic jams, just pockets of slowness, so we didn’t get to girls camp till 3:30PM. The girls unloaded and jumped right into the activities. I stayed to visit for a little bit with the leaders and put together some little care packages to stick in the girls’ camp mailboxes, then I headed home at 5 PM. The drive through the Lamar Valley up to Mammoth was so beautiful, I didn’t even mind how tired I was. There was a microburst as I was driving and I thought I might get blown off the road. Several trees were down and the rain fell in hard sheets and then suddenly the storm was gone. The whole thing was about 15 minutes, but it left a beautiful sunset behind. I got home around 8 o’clock, ate some dinner and went to bed with my little guys, all worn out from a really great trip.

On Friday 8/3 we got up and worked hard on chores thinking we would spend the afternoon at the pool… it’s been a long time since we went swimming. But a big storm blew in in the afternoon so we watched movies and finish laundry. To break up the day, I took the boys to the car wash to wash all the mud off the car and vacuum it out even though it was about to rain. On Saturday 8/4 we all loaded up and went to Bozeman to shop for some school supplies and some new curtains in the living room. Heidi got home from camp around 2:30 just as we were driving home from Bozeman. She had a great experience but she was very tired. We came home and did some chores and our Melin cousins came over to visit while Gram & Gramp went to pick up their parents from a rental car place after they had returned their moving van in Logan, Utah (long story—Penske doesn’t operate in MT). Our California Melin Cousins finally live in Montana! We are so happy! We are so happy to have them here and the kids had a blast together Saturday afternoon. We roasted brats for dinner and Jess & Kelli picked up the kids around 6 o’clock. We got stuff ready for Sunday, watched a movie, and went to bed early. Addie stayed an extra day in Cooke City to hang out with the Denniston girls. They’ll be back in town Sunday night to start the theater workshop on Monday. The only one of my kids doing the theater workshop this year is James, but Cousins Summer and Matthew will be joining him and they’ll be performing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat two weekends from now. I’m really looking forward to that.

We had a nice fast and testimony meeting today and I had a great lesson with my CTR class about preparing for baptism. They’re such fun kids. We just had naps and we’re getting ready to make tortillas and cheese have dinner. We had a lot of cousin time this summer and I feel like there’s no better way to spend the summer. I’m grateful my kids have such a large extended family that loves them and supports them so much. We are grateful for everyone who made an effort to visit us or host us this week and I apologize to everybody we missed. We love you all and we wish you another happy week!

Love, Jamie and Rich and Family

"Reverent" Family Home Evening 7/23

"Nobody can touch my Cheese Nipples!" FHE 7/23

Family Home Evening Stories 7/23

Welcome Home, Sister Parsons! 7/24

Tiffany's whole fan club 7/24

Sweet boys at Dinner 7/26

Daddy-Daughter Date to Imagine Dragons 7/26

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Driving to Utah on 7/28

Lisa and Me 7/28 at Rhonda's House

Zecklin and Ammon 7/28

James and Max 7/29

Max and Kate 7/29

Kate, Carter and Addie 7/29

Ammon and Reese 7/29

Reese 7/29

Aubrey and Ellie 7/29

Nathan and Lexi 7/29

Kristen and Sam Layton 7/29

Clinton and Rhonda Mullins 7/29

Ryan's James Layton 7/29

Sam's Mairi Layton, crying cuz she can't reach the pedals!

Sam's Gavin Layton 7/29

Ryan and Kara Layton 7/29

Josh and Erin Craft 7/29

Erin's Piper Craft 7/29

Rhonda's Carter Mullins 7/29

Our Teenagers : Heidi, Kennedy (Erin), Addie, and Aubrey (Rhonda)

Rhonda's Lexi Mullins

Rhonda's Ellie and Kate 7/29

Our Wild Boys: Owen (Sam), Big James, Little James (Ryan),
Max Craft (Erin), Nathan (Rhonda), and Wyatt (Ryan).

Story time with Addie: Ellie, Max Mullins, Reese, and Addie 7/29

Kara, Baby Cody, and Rhonda 7/29

Cousin Karaoke: Niles singing "Pour Some Sugar on Me"

Cousin Karaoke: Aubrey, Kate, and Addie
singing "We Are Never Getting Back Together"

Cousin Karaoke: Mairi singing "Shake it Off"
with some help from her mom.

Watch out, Taylor!

Cute Mullins Goodbye Squad 7/30
Lexi, Kate, Max with Carter, and Ellie.

We went back for a bag we forgot 5 minutes later and saw this
second Goodbye Squad: Kenedy, Reese, Ellie, Kate, Lexi, and Max

Moxie Bucjert giving Jill a snake treatment 7/30

Mighty Mox! 7/30

Hugs for Sister Casper on her last night in the mission 7/30

Izzi and Addie at lunch 7/31

Izzi Petersen 7/31

Kristen and Mairi 7/31

Gavin 7/31

Bat-Gavin and Niles 7/31

How Rich and I felt in the Utah Heat
(I'm a goofy goober, yeah....)

The Fam at Temple Square 8/1

Forever Family at Temple Square 8/1

James in the JSMB Legacy Theater

Niles in the Children's room at the History Museum

Heidi making art at the museum

Jorje Coco Santangelo's "Sacrocubism" Painting of Sermon on the Mount.

Heidi looking at a breathtaking Carthage painting 8/1

James in front of a gorgeous Nauvoo winter scene 8/1

James' First Concert-- The Pixies! 8/1

Heidi and Addie waiting for Weezer 8/1

Weezer had three sets; this is the second, The Garage.
The first was Al's from Happy Days for their Buddy Holly opener, and the
third was lights a cubes with pyrotechnics like an 80s hairband.
Rivers even donned a muscle shirt (ouch).