I Can Do This!

Christmas Eve on Temple Square

2011-12-24T22:30:00.003-07:00

Frances was on call on Christmas Eve, and, unfortunately, got called in to work…more than once. We had plans for dinner together, and then going to see the lights on Temple Square. She got called as we were getting ready to eat dinner.

We missed her at Temple Square! Here are a few pictures of our evening…

Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place State Park

2011-12-23T22:08:00.010-07:00

On Friday, December 23, our whole family went to the Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place State Park. It was pretty cold, and almost everything was outside (and dark), so we bundled up!

We loved looking at real reindeer (apparently having a territory battle)…

We enjoyed listening to traditional Christmas stories by the hearth…
Made some crafts...

Watched a puppet show…

Danced…

LOVED the live nativity…

Had fun on the train…
And warmed up with hot chocolate at the hotel…
What a fun addition to our Christmas season!

12 Days of Christmas

2011-12-22T22:29:00.016-07:00

Every year around the holidays, Ryan and I make sure that we do something significant for another family in need. It has turned out to always be a single-parent family, although the circumstances have been very different every year. Most have been single-mom families, who are really struggling financially. Our favorite thing to do is the 12 Days of Christmas, with a different gift delivered every day.

I have a friend in my singles group whose sister passed away a few months ago. She has five children, with the youngest being just a couple of years older than Ryan. All of the kids have obviously had a very difficult time, but especially this youngest son. Although they didn’t have the financial need that most of our other families have in the past, as we thought about who we could do this for this year, we kept thinking that they were the family that needed it the most. My hope was that it would give the kids something fun to look forward to every day during the holiday season.

Since the family wasn’t in financial need, we had a fun time thinking of things that they would enjoy together. The older kids are now away at college and making their own homes, so we also incorporated some things that they could start to use in their own homes. Luckily, I had already been thinking about it for several weeks, and had been gathering things for us to give. Had we decided to do it any later, we would not have had the money to do it because of our own financial challenges in December.

Because we did this anonymously, and the members of their family are not likely to find our blog, I’m going to post what we did.

Here were our gifts to them every day:

On the first day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me...Pear Jelly Bellies and decorations for a tree.

I had a glass container shaped like a tree that we put mostly green pear Jelly Bellies in, but added a few read ones for “ornaments.”

On the second day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…Two boxes of Turtles and two bags of Dove.
On the third day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…Three French Breads and a variety of homemade spreads.

We gave them one loaf of French bread, two baguettes, a jar of homemade garlic herb butter and several jars of homemade jams from our trees – cherry, peach, apricot, and apple butter, as well as a jar of Bear Lake raspberry jam.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…Four Calling Birds.

In our note, we included that the calling birds were often associated with music. We had an ornament of the Four Calling Birds, and also included a box of toffee and a $10 iTunes gift card.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…Five golden rings.

We actually gave them 6 original glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…6 geese-a-laying. Here are a couple of things to have with your eggs for breakfast.

We included a Lehi Roller Mills blueberry pancake mix, Christmas muffin mix, and Christmas muffin cups.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…Seven singing swimmers! Does it really matter what the gift is when seven wet swimmers deliver it to your door on December 19?

I went on to explain that swimmers’ favorite snacks include protein and carbs, and that one of the favorite combinations of protein and carbs is cheese and crackers. We gave them a huge tray of different types of crackers and cheese.)

But the people making the delivery were the best part – seven of my favorite swimmers! The swimmers said that the kids invited them in, and then chuckled at their craziness as they sang. That was the goal!
On the eighth day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…The day calls for 8 maids-a-milking. What goes better with milk than COOKIES?!?!

We gave them an oven mitt set, a mitten cookie jar, sugar cookie mix, Christmas cookie cutters, and a gingerbread candle in a gift bag with a bakery on the front.

We also gave them a plate of our Nutter Butter reindeer and Oreo snowmen cookies, with Hershey’s kisses and Butterfinger bells also on a cute snowman tray.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…The day calls for 9 ladies dancing. Ladies, dancers or not, deserve to be pampered every once in a while. So today’s gift is for the ladies.

We put a bunch of lotion, body wash, soaps, and bath poofs in a basket. Our friend and neighbor, Brenn, a dancer who has been in the Nutcracker ballet, was our delivery girl. She even delivered on pointe! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and didn’t take a picture of Brenn in her ballet clothing.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…10 lords-a-leaping. Today’s gift is for the men of the house.

We gave them several packages of gourmet jerkey and mixed nuts – snacks that men like. :)

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…11 pipers piping.

We gave “piping” hot chocolate, peppermint sticks, and TimTams, along with the “recipe” for TimTam slams.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my new friends gave to me…12 drummers drumming.

We gave a huge “drum” of popcorn and a “drum” of Almond Roca. I didn’t take a picture.

We had SO much fun doing it! We didn’t tell them who we were, and I didn’t even tell my friend that we were the ones who did it for her sister’s family. We will probably never know exactly how they felt about it. But I have a friend in our neighborhood who has known this family for a long time. She last saw them and talked with them at their mom’s funeral. When I told her that we had done the 12 Days of Christmas for them, she also mentioned how much the kids had been struggling, especially the youngest son. She confirmed our thoughts – that our daily deliveries probably really lifted their spirits and gave them something fun to look forward to during the first difficult holiday season without their mom.

It was interesting to observe the literal blessings that came to our family as we went ahead and did the 12 Days of Christmas for this family. On four out of the 12 days of our deliveries, we received money that we had not expected. Two of those times, it was money we had earned (consignment stores, etc.), but the other two were people doing kind things for us. Ryan and I were able to discuss on a daily basis how doing kind things for others brought us ten-fold blessings in return, and not just material blessings. We loved doing it this year, and will try to continue our tradition in the years to come.

Challenges and Blessings

2011-12-21T22:43:00.001-07:00

I really debated whether I should write this post. But since I print this blog every year for our family history, I wanted to include a few things to remind us of how many people love us, and how blessed we are, even among life’s challenges.

We had a rough month with many unexpected expenses, mostly related to the destructive wind storm on December 1. I had to spend the entire amount that I had in our “emergency fund” for the emergency! Our bishop and his counselors have been really concerned about us. I kept telling them that we’d be ok. I’ve been working on our food storage a little bit at a time, and I knew we’d have enough to get us to the mid-month paycheck, when I have a little more spending money in the budget.

On Tuesday, December 13, we were only home for about 90 minutes. We had just gotten home from swim team, dropped Ryan’s swim back and school backpack in the living room, and I was getting something quick for dinner while Ryan changed into his basketball clothes. The doorbell rang, and it was our bishop and one of his counselors. I think I’ve mentioned before how much we love our entire bishopric. All three are men that Ryan has had a great relationship with. They asked if they could come in and visit with us for a while. I noticed that the bishop had a Bishop’s Storehouse food order rolled up in his hand. As we visited with them, I mentioned that I recognized what he had in his hand, and that we really would be ok. We enjoyed our visit with them, and the visit reiterated how much they love us and care about us.

A few days later, I ended up having to get new brakes on the car (both front and back) in order for the car to pass inspection. That wiped out all of that extra money in the mid-month check.

On Tuesday, December 20, I was home for just a few minutes, and getting ready to go pick up Ryan at swim team. Our doorbell rang, and it was our bishop and the same counselor standing on our porch. They chuckled that it was them again. Then they handed me two small envelopes. I could tell that they were gift cards. Before I could say anything, the bishop told me that I couldn’t refuse them. They were from an “anonymous donor” and couldn’t be returned. Our ward has been doing a cash Sub-for-Santa, and it was mentioned that several of our own ward families needed help. I just didn’t think we’d be one of them!

It was difficult to accept the gift cards. They ended up to be a total of $150 at WalMart. I am the kind of Christmas shopper who buys gifts throughout the year. That also ended up to be positive for us this year. We used the gift cards to buy groceries over three different shopping trips.

I am so grateful for so many people who love us and watch out for us. Mom & Dad helped us as much as they were able, as they always do. But since they had storm damage themselves (they had to pay to have two trees removed, and also had roof damage), they were tight as well. I am grateful for our ward leaders who were in tune with our needs and followed through with helping us, even when I wasn’t willing to admit that we needed help. We will always do whatever we can to pay it forward.

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

Ryan & I have made reindeer cookies from Nutter Butter cookies and pretzels for many years. Here's a picture of one we made a couple of years ago.
This year, we substituted mini chocolate chips for the eyes and Red Hots for the noses. We liked them better. I just forgot to take pictures.

This year we tried something new. White-chocolate-covered-Oreo snowmen. We got the mint Oreos. They were super yummy, but super sweet, which was good. You can only eat one at a time!

For the noses, warm an orange Tootsie Roll in the microwave for a few seconds. (Take it out when it's squishy to the touch.) Cut it into as many pieces as you'd like, depending on the size of the nose you want. I cut each one into 8 pieces. While it's still slightly warm, roll the individual pieces into a cone shape for the carrot nose.

The earmuffs are M-n-Ms. The original "recipe" called for a piece of black licorice across the top of the head. We're not black licorice fans, so we left that part off. They're still cute!

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

2011-12-16T22:30:00.005-07:00

Every year, Mom & I both enter the drawing for tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. Not everyone who enters gets tickets, so we both request four. Almost every year, one of us has been selected to receive four tickets. It was my turn this year.

Friday, December 16, Rara, Papa, Ryan and I went to the concert. It was beautiful, as always.

The guests this year were Jane Seymour (who narrated “Good King Wenceslas” and other stories), and Nathan Gunn, who has an amazing voice.

Ryan and I have been talking a lot lately about how many people watch out for us and take care of us. In turn, it is our responsibility to serve others whenever we have the opportunity. Even though we’ve had a rough time financially lately, with some unexpected expenses, we went ahead with our plans to do the “12 Days of Christmas” for a family. As the choir performed the entire song of “Good King Wenceslas” (complete with snow falling right in the Conference Center), I was touched by these words. I even printed them and put them in our living room so we can continue to remember:

Therefore, Christians, all be sure

Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

(Photos from LDS Church News)

Ryan’s Last (AWESOME!) Basketball Game

2011-12-13T22:15:00.006-07:00

On Tuesday, December 13, we were a few minutes late to Ryan’s last basketball game. When we got there, his team was down 14-8. The coach immediately put Ryan in. Ryan alone went on an 8-0 run to put his team up 16-14!

Ryan scored several more points throughout the game, and his team ended up winning 39-22! Even more spectacular, the other team was undefeated! Needless to say, Ryan’s team celebrated a little bit. (Whenever I take pictures of Ryan and his friends, I have them do a silly pose first. That gets out the craziness so they can then do a more serious pose.)

Brigham, Etienne, and Ryan attributed the awesome game to their lucky socks.

Claire's Hair

2011-12-12T21:41:00.001-07:00

At one of Ryan’s basketball games, we sat behind a little girl who had an adorable hairstyle! One day when Rara was tending Alice & Claire, she decided to try it on Claire. It turned out so cute! I’m posting this for moms of little girls who may want to try something a little different than the typical pony tail.

Potica Day

2011-12-10T21:37:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, December 10, Rara, Aunt Dott, Frances, Alice, and Claire gathered to make this year’s potica. Ryan and I hadn’t even put up any of our Christmas decorations yet (because of the storm and power outage), so we stayed home most of the day and decorated. But Alice & Claire helped with the potica, and helped with baby Hannah.

When the potica was done, the whole family went to The Pizza Factory for dinner. Yum!

Zoo Lights

2011-12-09T21:23:00.002-07:00

One of our favorite traditions every year at Christmastime is going to Zoo Lights with our whole family. We not only enjoy all of the fun lights at the zoo (my favorite is the 12 Days of Christmas in the bird amphitheater), but also the deep fried s’mores. They are super yummy, but one a year is enough.

Science Fair

2011-12-08T22:58:00.003-07:00

I know a lot of parents hate the science fair, but I love it!

A few months ago when Ryan’s science teacher mentioned the science fair to the students, Ryan knew exactly what he wanted to do. I had told him about a couple of my science fair projects – one when I swabbed different areas of the school to see which one had the most bacteria, and one when I used different kinds of mouthwash to see which killed the most bacteria. Ryan was enthralled! He knew he wanted to do something similar.

We started collecting his specimens early in November, as I mentioned in this post. We put them in a box lid, covered them with a thick, folded towel, and put them on Ryan’s desk, just above the heat vent in his room. (I know – yuck to have all of those things growing in his room. We were extremely careful in our handling of them.) We then met with a microbiologist that helped us identify each of the different types of bacteria.

The week of the storm, as well as the following week, the kids had different elements of their science fair projects due every day. Ryan was so good to work on each thing, regardless of where we were. I am also proud to say that he did the entire project himself. I know that’s not always the case with science fair projects. His poster turned out great. He organized the layout and did all of the charts, headings, and other information himself.

Thursday, December 8 was the judging and then the open house for parents to come and view all of the projects. Rara, Papa, Claire, Alice & I went to the school to see how Ryan did. As soon as we walked in, his teacher said, “You need to walk that direction,” and pointed toward the stage. The eight kids who had won the school fair (and who would be going to the district fair) had their projects displayed on the stage. And Ryan was there! He did a great job explaining his project to everyone that came by, and Alice & Claire loved seeing Ryan at school!

We enjoyed walking through and looking at all of the projects. And I told as many people as I could that he had done it all by himself!

He goes to the district science fair on February 22. Watch for my report at that time.

Angry Birds

2011-12-07T22:53:00.002-07:00

As you have probably noticed in prior posts, Ryan has an awesome new Angry Birds hat. He has been very much into Angry Birds lately. This was his Halloween pumpkin. (Don’t panic. That’s not what his hair really looks like in public. He styled it especially for the picture.)
One of my former students crochets amazing projects. She posted pictures of a few Angry Birds hats that she was making on Facebook. I knew Ryan needed one! It was one of his favorite (pre)Christmas presents!

Rara & Papa’s Trees

2011-12-06T22:28:00.003-07:00

I normally do posts chronologically. But since so many elements of the storm and aftermath overlapped, I thought it might make more sense to group them by event or process, rather than chronological.

Rara & Papa’s yard has three large pine trees. The back yards on that street are not as deep as ours, so the trees are much closer to the homes. The neighbors across the street lost seven trees, including one that fell on their home. Luckily, Rara & Papa’s trees did not completely fall during the storm. But two of the three were blown partially over. Both trees were threatening their home, or the homes of the neighbors on both sides, depending on which way they finally fell.

They made several calls to tree removal companies, but everyone was booked. Imagine that. Finally, the company taking care of the trees across the street had enough completed there that they could come and take down Rara & Papa’s trees. So, Sunday, as we were getting things finished up at our house, they started the tree removal at Rara & Papa’s. When we went back to their house that afternoon, we watched the rest of the process.

Later, many neighbors then hauled them away (with help from Ryan), similar to what had been done at our house.

Storm Repairs

2011-12-05T22:16:00.003-07:00

Every year, the first Saturday in December, Rara & Papa have an open house for the neighbors on their street. Similar to their ward Christmas party, they debated holding it, under the circumstances. But they also decided to still have it to raise the morale of the neighborhood. Of course, everyone felt badly about our circumstances – that we didn’t have power, and didn’t know when we would, since we also had to have the mast repaired.

As we talked with one of their neighbors (and former bishop), we explained what all needed to be done. He said, “I can do that!” He is a builder, and told us that he had all of the tools, supplies, and experience to fix the mast for us! By this time, it was late Saturday night. We decided to head over to our house Sunday morning to work on it.

So, Sunday morning, about the time that church services were cancelled or shortened, and about the time that the clean-up crew came back to cut apart and haul away the tree, Rick climbed onto the roof. He had his tools, his tar, and Ryan as his assistant. Papa and I stood where we could monitor both the work on the roof and the work in the front yard. We also continued raking and cleaning up smaller debris in the backyard.

As he was working, we suddenly realized that several power company workers (from Provo and Springville) came walking through the yard behind us. He called us over, and said that they were told on the street above that I was still without power and needed help. It turned out that my friend, Sherrie, saw them working on her street. She knew that we were still without power, so she went outside and told them they needed to come and see what they could do to help me. She told them that I am a single mom, and really needed their help. She is also a single mom, and we’ve become good friends. I’m so glad she was looking out for me, and had the courage to go outside and instruct the power workers to walk through the neighbor’s yard to get to my house!

(I forgot to mention in earlier posts that from the very first day, we saw power trucks from Logan to Springville, working through the night to restore power everywhere. It was wonderful to see so many cities from northern Utah rally to help during the disaster, as well as all of the individuals who chipped in to help.)

So, as Rick was finishing on the roof, one of the Provo/Springville guys came over to take a look at the mast and the meter. He verified that there wasn’t any internal damage to the wiring, and since the mast was fixed, they could restore the power! I haven’t seen as many sights as beautiful as the power dude climbing the pole to reconnect the wires!

Something that made me chuckle – as they were finishing connecting the wires, Sherrie drove up, and walked into the back yard to make sure that they had really made it to my house! I hugged her and thanked her, and then I hugged Rick and thanked him. I’m so grateful for such wonderful friends who watch out for our family! We have many.

By the time the power workers finished, the clean-up was done in the front yard. We checked to make sure that the power was on and that the furnace started up. Then, because it was still so cold in the house, we went back to Rara & Papa’s for a few hours. We had picked up Copper the day before (due to the cost of keeping him there, primarily), and had him at Rara & Papa’s. It was nice to finally all be home in our WARM house! I spent the rest of the day cleaning out the fridge, and throwing away most of the food. I try to be so frugal (and even taught a couple of Relief Society lessons on how to be frugal!), that it was hard to throw so much away. But since the power was off for about 80 hours, I decided to be safe. :)

Unfortunately, when the power was restored, we realized that our phone and internet was not restored. When I called to have it repaired, they told me that they could have a technician to my home on Thursday – a FULL WEEK after it initially went out! I explained that I worked from home, and asked if there was any way they could get to me sooner. Nope. The hundreds of other customers without phone and internet wanted it “sooner,” too. So, every day the week following the storm, I took Ryan to school, and then worked at Rara & Papa’s all day. When Ryan was out of school, we’d go to swim team, and then go home for the evening. It was crazy, but it made me appreciate the flexibility I have of working from home.

Storm Clean-Up

2011-12-04T22:22:00.003-07:00

Friday, December 2, Rara & Papa’s power was restored, so Ryan & I packed up our stuff and went to stay there. Since I had hardly worked the day before, I worked most of the day to try to get caught up. School was cancelled on Friday due to all of the damage, including several trees at Ryan’s school. Rara hadn’t seen the damage at our house yet, since Alice & Claire were at their house the previous day. So we went to our house and checked out the damage in the storm-free daylight. (Note Ryan and Papa in the lower right to get a feel for the size of the tree.)
Swim team was cancelled Thursday, but was back on for Friday. Ry & I left Rara & Papa’s to go to our neighborhood to pick up Maddy, the girl we take every day. As we drove by our house, we saw several cars and trucks at our house! Our ward (neighborhood) had rallied, and there were a dozen men (and a couple of young men) working to cut up and clear the tree! Ryan and I took Maddy to swim team, and then went back and helped with the clean-up efforts in our yard until it got dark and the crew disbanded.

This was what our thermostat looked like. Yes, it was 39 degrees INSIDE our house! We had both fireplaces going, hoping things would stay warm enough so the pipes wouldn’t freeze. They didn’t.
Friday night was Rara & Papa’s ward Christmas party. There was some discussion of whether to even have it, under the circumstances. They went ahead and held it, and I’m glad they did. Several people in their ward were also still without power, so the big group of us met for a hot dinner in a warm building, and enjoyed sharing storm stories.

All day Friday and Saturday, everywhere we went, we heard the buzzing of chainsaws cutting up trees. By Saturday afternoon, the majority of the trees that had fallen in the storm were piled at the parking strips of the affected homes. Then Saturday night, meteorologists warned that another wind storm would be coming through the area Sunday night. Warnings were issued about the possibility of debris becoming projectiles in the subsequent storm! So, Sunday morning, word came that church services would either be shortened, or cancelled completely, in order for everyone to help to completely clear the debris from neighborhoods.

Once again, Sunday morning, several cars, trucks, and trailers were in front of our home, and chainsaws were buzzing. Several people worked quickly to cut up the huge pile of branches in our front yard, load them into a trailer, and even rake and sweep away all evidence of the destruction that had just happened. It was amazing!

I was working hard in the clean-up process, and didn’t take any pictures. However, my friend, Becky, took a picture of some cute missionaries helping with clean-up efforts in Farmington. This picture is a perfect representation of what happened that Sunday.

And here’s a picture (I think I got it from KSL.com) of the line of trucks and trailers at the landfill.

Other Storm Damage

2011-12-02T22:13:00.001-07:00

Because we were in the middle of our own crisis, we didn’t really drive around the rest of the city much to see the damage (other than looking for WiFi so I could work). But I wanted to include some of the local damage in this post (and thus our family history/journal). Thanks to my mom and my friend, Melissa, for sharing your pictures.

Damage in our neighborhood…

Damage in Rara & Papa’s neighborhood…

Damage at the cemetery (yet the lone tree by my brother’s grave withstood the storm!)

Damage around the rest of Bountiful/Centerville…

THE STORM!

2011-12-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days of November, meteorologists warned about a big windstorm that would be coming through our area November 30/December 1. Sure enough, that night was horrible. I really didn’t sleep because of all of the wind. We have an addition on the back of our home that makes funny squeaky and pounding noises when the wind is bad. It seems that every time I finally got back to sleep, the noises would wake me up again.

The power went out twice during the night. The beeping of all of the electronics woke me up each time the power came back on. At about 6:30 am, the power went out again, and didn’t come back on. Ryan couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t sleep, and Copper couldn’t sleep, so we got up. Ryan looked out the window, and saw that one of the large pine trees about 3 houses down from us had blown over in the night. That really upset Ryan.

At 7:40 am, Ryan and I were in our kitchen. I was on the phone with Papa, talking about the night and the damage. All of a sudden, in slow motion it seemed, our huge pine tree came falling toward the house. It was very surreal. It looked like it would hit the house, although when we went outside later, it really was several feet away. As it hit the ground, it made a “whoosh” sound, and kind of bounced as the pine boughs cushioned the fall. I said to Papa, “Our tree just fell.” He had to repeat it back to me to make sure he had heard me correctly.

This tree was a piece of Jensen/Inman/Olson family history. As a young girl, Rara planted it as a seedling next to the home where she grew up. When she and Papa moved to this house, they transplanted the tree to our yard. I remember the day we moved it here. The past few years, Ryan and I have enjoyed it as this house has become our home. Seeing it (about 60 feet of it) lying across the yard was emotional for all of us.

It soon became apparent that when the tree fell, it pulled the power lines from the power pole in the middle of the block. Our power lines were lying on the ground under the tree! As we ventured outside after the winds died down, we found that the force of the tree falling had also pulled the mast (where the lines attach to the house) partially over, as well. It was obvious that we would not have power for a while.

Not knowing that the power was out in all of South Davis County (Bountiful, Woods Cross, West Bountiful, Centerville, and Farmington), I called Ryan’s school to see if school would be held. The secretary told me that they had not received official word that the school would close, but that if we felt that conditions were too severe to get Ryan to the school, we could keep him home. My conscientious student had a major project at school that day, and was concerned about missing it. Because of the downed tree and power line, I couldn’t let Copper outside, so Papa came and got Ryan and took him to school. Less than an hour after Ryan went to school, he called me. “Mom…there are only about seven kids here in my grade, so the teachers recommended that we call our parents to come and check us out.” Again, because of the conditions, Papa went and checked Ryan out of school. Alice & Claire were at Rara & Papa’s, so Ryan went there to hang out. I was still trying to communicate with people from work to let them know the situation.

We decided that it would be best to take Copper to his favorite home-away-from-home, the Utah Dog Park, for a couple of days until we could get things taken care of. So I picked Ryan up, and we took Copper there. Ryan and I then drove around to see if we could find someplace with WiFi so I could work for the day. That is when we realized how widespread the power outage was. Traffic lights were out all over Bountiful. Restaurants that never closed were closed, with signs on the doors stating that they were closed because of the storm and power outage. We took a few pictures as we drove around.

We finally found that all of North Salt Lake City had power! We grabbed lunch at a NSL restaurant (along with half of Bountiful), and took it to Rara & Papa’s. Then we drove back to a place in NSL that we had spotted with WiFi. I worked there until it closed at 6:00.

Rara, Papa, Ry & I decided to drive into SLC for dinner, and went to the downtown Denny’s. We laughed when we saw how many people from Bountiful were there, including the family of one of Ryan’s best friends. We sat near them, and compared horror stories about the day.

Everyone’s power was still out, so we went home, put on several layers of long underwear and flannel pajamas, started a fire in the fireplace, and slept in sleeping bags in the living room. (The pictures without the flash are blurry, but show the fire better.)

Putting Up Christmas Lights

2011-11-26T21:35:00.003-07:00

Ryan was thrilled this year to be able to help Papa put up the Christmas lights – on the ladder!

After climbing the ladder to string the lights over the bedrooms, he decided to get on the roof, hang over, and hook the lights from above. I had to go inside so I couldn’t see him. It made me nervous.

Shortly after these last pictures were taken, Ryan decided to “test his pass accuracy” by throwing rocks he found on the roof and in the rain gutters at the mailbox. (You moms see where this is going, I know.) His accuracy isn’t that great. One rock hit the back window of Papa’s car, breaking it. We obviously had a lot of opportunities to talk about thinking through consequences before acting. But you know the “7 years of bad luck” for breaking a mirror? Ryan’s decision seemingly started about seven weeks of bad luck for our family (his observation, not my attempt at guilting him). More to come…

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:02:00.005-07:00

Last year, we spent the first part of Thanksgiving feeding dinner to the homeless at the Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Salt Lake City. Apparently there have been some problems in prior years with little kids being somewhat unsupervised by their parents as they served dinner. So they now have a minimum age in order to serve dinner there. Ryan isn’t old enough yet, so this year we delivered meals to people who were shut-ins. We went to one high-rise apartment building with about 20 meals, and delivered them to people.

When we finished, we drove to Orem for Thanksgiving dinner with Frances’ family. There were about 25-30 of us there, with our immediate family, her immediate family, plus aunts, uncles, and cousins. Here is a picture (from Frances) of our table.
Mom made her famous fruit turkey, and Frances made super cute turkey cake pops.

When we finished eating, we all went to see “The Muppet Movie.” We all enjoyed it – even Alice & Claire! We especially loved the cameos by some of our favorite actors and musicians, such as Jim Parsons and Dave Groll.
After the movie, we went back to the Andersons for pie. There were about 8 different varieties…so hard to choose! We had a really fun, full day with all of our activities!

Murray Thanksgiving Swim Meet

2011-11-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

November 17-19 was the Murray Thanksgiving swim meet. This was one of the biggest meets we have ever participated in. There were about 50 kids in each event! It was long, and it was crazy.

On Thursday, November 17, Ryan swam:

100 Freestyle (first in his heat, 7th overall, beat his own time)

50 Backstroke (6th overall, beat his own time)

50 Breaststroke (10th overall)
100 IM (14th overall)
50 Butterfly (9th overall)
On Friday, November 18, Ryan swam:

200 IM (12th overall)

100 Freestyle (23 overall – out of about 50!) The picture is of Ryan’s friends and teammates cheering him on at the end of his lane. Sorry it’s a little blurry.
50 Backstroke (17th overall – out of about 50!)

50 Butterfly (14th overall)

The swimmers do a “Big O” cheer for Ryan. Here’s the daughter of one of the coaches doing the “Big O Cheer.”
On Saturday, November 19, Ryan swam:

50 Freestyle (19th overall) - With his cheerleaders at the starting block.

50 Breaststroke (13th overall)

100 Butterfly (12th overall) and 400 IM (12th overall) – I was on deck to be his timer for the 400 IM, so there aren’t any pictures.

It’s fun to see the swimmers socialize with each other during swim meets. They work the full 2 hours during their daily practices, so it’s during swim meets that they are able to relax a bit and have fun between their events. It’s a great group of kids, and they have so much fun together!

Ryan’s First Term SEP

2011-11-16T22:06:00.002-07:00

Wednesday, November 16, was Ryan’s SEP for his first term. His teacher, Mrs. Schmidt (also the student council advisor) had all excellent things to say about Ryan and his performance at school. She complimented him for not only being an excellent student, but a wonderful leader, both formally in student council, and informally in other school situations.
We also enjoyed walking around the school, looking at Ryan’s art projects and student council picture.

I'm SO proud of Ryan and all he does! He is a hard working kid!

Priesthood Preview

2011-11-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Many of you who read this blog are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So, as an introduction to this post…

When young men turn 12 years old, they are ordained with the Priesthood. They are given responsibilities, such as passing the sacrament in our main Sunday services, collecting Fast Offerings (voluntary donations to the less fortunate) from members of the congregation, and taking those donations to the local church leadership. In preparation for this, there is a Priesthood Preview – an introduction of the blessings and responsibilities of the Priesthood for the young men.

Sunday, November 13, was the Priesthood Preview for our stake. All boys who will be turning 12 during 2012 met together with their families, the ward and stake Primary leaders, bishops, and stake presidency. There were a couple of talks and a couple of musical numbers, but the majority of the time was each ward’s Primary president introducing the young men from their respective wards.

I was so touched by the things that our Primary president said about Ryan. The first thing she said was, “Ryan is a ray of light.” She talked about how much she relies on him as the oldest boy in the Primary to set a good example for the younger kids, and how many younger kids look up to him. She then said, “Ryan will bring the Priesthood into his home. I know his mother is looking forward to this blessing. Ryan has a great responsibility to honor the Priesthood as the Priesthood holder in his home.” She was emotional as she shared this, which in turn made me emotional! We love her, and think she is just awesome. We appreciate her knowing Ryan well enough to share that with the rest of the congregation.

November 11-12 ~ CCAT Meet

2011-11-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

November 11-12 was the CCAT (Clearfield) Autumn Invitational swim meet.

On Friday, November 11, Ryan swam:

100 IM (placed 5th overall and beat his own time)

50 Backstroke (placed 6th overall)
On Saturday, November 12, Ryan swam:

50 Butterfly (placed 6th overall)

50 Breaststroke (first in his heat, 7th overall, beat his own time)

400 IM (first in his age group) – No pictures since I was his timer.

Last June, Ryan met a CCAT swimmer named Payson at the Utah Summer Games. They enjoyed seeing each other again and hanging out between events.

11/11/11 11:11

2011-11-11T23:11:00.004-07:00

I know a lot of people planned cool things to do on 11/11/11, similar to what we did on 09/09/09.

We were at a swim meet.

Swabbing for Science Fair Project

2011-11-09T21:24:00.001-07:00

When I was in junior high, my science fair project was finding the “germiest” places in the school. As the science fair packets were distributed to the 6th graders this year, I told Ryan a little bit about my science fair project. He decided that’s what he wanted to do!

*Ahem* years ago, Aunt Dott Strand had to get petri dishes and agar from her job at a hospital lab for me to use. Now they are widely available on the Internet. Other than taking pictures, that is truly where my work ended on his project. I mention that, since so many parents do much of the project for the student.

Ryan decided the areas of the school that he wanted to swab, and then we went around the school swabbing. I held the petri dishes in a big box while he swabbed three different petri dishes for every area (in order to get a more reliable sample).

We had a lot of fun! Now we’ll just need to put up with the smell while the cultures grow. (I’d make a comment about the smell of a pre-teen boy here, but why do you think I keep him swimming every day?) :)

My Awesome Athlete

2011-11-08T22:48:00.005-07:00

As I mentioned in the last post, Tuesdays are a hectic day for us. Today we added yet another activity into the mix! Ryan has been a little bit frustrated with his swimming performance lately. He recently “aged up,” so he is no longer placing as high as he was. He also doesn’t beat his own times as often as he used to. I think it’s just that he’s growing so quickly! It takes more effort to get his “tween” body through the water.

After a recent meet, we talked with Coach Steve (Steve Doman, the head coach) about Ryan’s frustrations. Steve, a Level 5 swimming coach (the highest level) offered to work with Ryan FREE! He loves Ryan, and respects Ryan’s work ethic. Steve recently wrote an article about Ryan (“Big-O”) in the team newsletter, praising Ryan for his hard work and determination.

So, after two hours of swim team, Ryan stayed in the water an extra hour for an individual coaching session with Steve. I always stand with Steve and take notes, and then type them up and put them in Ryan’s swim bag so he can review them before practice.

Ryan got out of the pool, changed from his swim clothes to his basketball clothes in the car, and ate a quick dinner in the car as we drove to his basketball game, arriving a few minutes after it started.

The coach immediately put Ryan in the game. Even after 3 hours of swimming, Ryan made 4 out of 4 shots. In addition, two would have been 3-pointers, if they counted those in Jr. Jazz!

After the game, the kids had their team pictures taken. I peered over the photographer’s shoulder to take this one.

Answers to Prayers

2011-11-01T20:37:00.002-06:00

Tuesdays are our busiest day of the week. Ryan goes straight from school to swim team without coming home (the case every day but Friday), and then often changes clothes and eats dinner in the car on the way from swim team to his Junior Jazz basketball game. I often wonder if we’re doing too much (as in Elder Oaks' "Good, Better, Best" talk), but whenever I ask him if he wants to drop something, he gets mad at me. :)

Recently, Ryan and I have been spending a lot of time talking about a concern – something that has been kind of bothering both of us. The past couple of days, I have asked Ryan if he felt that we should go and talk with our Bishop, either separately or together. It’s nothing with our relationship, and it’s not anything that either of us has done wrong, but I thought maybe talking with someone else about it might help us feel better. Ryan asked me not to, so I didn’t follow through with anything.

About 15 minutes after we got home from our hectic day, our doorbell rang. It was our Bishop and one of his counselors. We LOVE our bishopric, and Ryan has a great relationship with the Bishop and both of the counselors. We had a great visit with them. Although we did not specifically discuss our concern, we felt better after talking with them. It is always amazing to me that even when no one else knows what we need, Heavenly Father knows what we need. And He always inspires those who are in tune to act in a way that is an answer to our prayers.

Halloween

2011-10-31T23:10:00.000-06:00

On Halloween, Ryan, Rara & I took Alice & Claire trick-or-treating at The Square, formerly known as Colonial Square.
After we made the rounds there, we went to Rara & Papa’s street. A lot of people had mentioned that they wanted to see Alice & Claire, so we took them up and down the street. It was fun to see Alice & Claire with Ivy (across the street) who is about the same age.

We stopped at the home of Jerry and Linda Davies, long-time friends. It is a tradition to see them on Halloween. Jerry used to work for Hostess, and gives Twinkies and Ding Dongs for Halloween. The pictures are blurry – there was so much movement and excitement!

Rara took Alice & Claire home, and Ryan went trick-or-treating for another couple of hours with friends.

Boo at the Zoo, Hannah Strand's 1st Birthday

2011-10-29T20:02:00.002-06:00

Our family has a tradition of going to “Boo at the Zoo” at Hogle Zoo every year. Since we are members, we can go considerably earlier than the general public. Even then, it is still pretty busy. But what can possibly be better than getting candy WHILE you’re at the zoo?

After we finished at the zoo, we went to Aunt Dott & Uncle Randy Strand’s house for the first birthday party of cousin Nathan’s daughter, Hannah.
Claire, who loves babies, mothered Hannah most of the time. Alice, who loves animals, enjoyed finding all of Uncle Randy’s animals.

School Costume Parade, Trunk-or-Treat, Friends Party

2011-10-28T19:52:00.003-06:00

Friday, October 28, was Ryan’s last elementary school Halloween costume parade. I didn’t even go. I had some projects that I was working on for work, and asked him if it was ok that I didn’t come and watch and take pictures. Macho 6th grader that he is, he was ok with it. This year Ryan dressed as BYU’s Jimmer Fredette.

We had a fun evening. It was our ward Trunk-or-Treat and carnival, the last one where Ryan will be a Primary kid trick-or-treating. Starting next year, he’ll be one of the Young Men who is running the carnival. I took one last picture of Ryan with his good friend, Matthew, who is moving this weekend. (Matthew was working the doughnut booth and had sticky hands.)

Ryan left the carnival early to attend a Halloween party with a group of swim team friends. The kid goes from one party to another. I wonder where he gets that?

Scout Campout @ East Canyon

2011-10-15T21:50:00.000-06:00

Ryan’s scout troop had a campout scheduled for the weekend of September 16-17. It was going to be Ryan’s first campout with his good friend, Zack, who came into the troop at the end of August. The Fall weather had been beautiful the first half of September, but it rained HARD the entire day of the 16th. Literally at the last minute, the leaders decided to cancel the trip. They knew the gear (and the boys) would be wet, it would be difficult to get a fire going, and they would all be miserable.

The campout was rescheduled for October 7-8. The weather had been perfect since September 14, so everyone thought we were in the clear. It ended up raining most of the weekend of the 7th and 8th. The leaders once again decided to cancel the trip.

During the next week, the temperatures dropped considerably, but the weather was dry. They were going to try to get a spot on Antelope Island, where it would be a bit warmer. Apparently a lot of other people had that idea. It was full. They ended up going to East Canyon, where they said it was pretty chilly. But it was dry, and they had a great time. They made foil dinners on Friday, and went on a couple of hikes (one was 5 miles). I’m grateful that Ryan has good leaders who make every effort to help the boys have a fun and worthwhile experience.

This was already Ryan’s third scout campout. I know they try to get in four a year. That helps the boys get the Camping merit badge more quickly, which is a required merit badge for the Eagle Scout award.

October 11 ~ Ryan’s Crazy Day!

2011-10-11T22:19:00.000-06:00

I’ve mentioned before what a hard-working kid Ryan is. He is so committed to so many things, and works so hard to be good at everything he does. On Tuesday, October 11, I took Ryan to school at 8:30 (our typical time, except for Student Council morning once a week, which is earlier). He was at school from 8:30 to 3:30.

I picked him up at Rara & Papa’s at about 3:45 and took him to swim team, where he swam from 4:00 to 6:00. Coach Steve had asked to spend some one-on-one time with Ryan, doing some stroke development. We were with Steve from 6:00 to 7:00.

We left the rec center at 7:00, and Ryan changed from his swimming clothes to his basketball clothes IN THE CAR, and also had a little snack. We were a few minutes late to his basketball game, where he played most of the hour, as usual.

By the time we finally got home, it was almost 8:30 pm. Ryan had been away from home for almost 12 hours. Thank goodness, most of our days aren’t like this!

October 7 ~ My Birthday

2011-10-09T22:04:00.001-06:00

We had fun celebrating my birthday with the fam. Ryan enjoyed lighting my candle so much, and Alice & Claire enjoyed helping me blow it out so much, that we went through the “light, blow out, light, blow out” routine a few times.

Claire found one of Ryan’s “poppers,” and Ryan & Claire had a lot of fun figuring out different places to put them to see how they would pop. Claire was such a good sport!

Celebrating Alice & Claire’s 3rd Birthday

2011-10-02T21:54:00.003-06:00

After General Conference on Sunday, October 2, we celebrated Alice & Claire’s birthday with our family and many members of Frances’ family. Frances made lamb cakes (now a family tradition, since I had one and mom had one when we were little).

The girls got SO MANY PRESENTS! We gave them pink digital cameras, which Claire really took to.

The girls also enjoyed some down time reading their new books with Mimi and Rara.

Short Course Kickoff Invitational ~ Day 3

2011-10-01T20:01:00.004-06:00

Saturday, October 1, was a crazy day. Although it was General Conference, we had the final day of Ryan’s swim meet. So…we set the TV to record the morning session, and were at the pool by 8:00 am.

Ryan swam the 50 Backstroke…

100 Butterfly (4th place overall)…
And 50 Breaststroke…

Just to put it all in perspective, some of Ryan’s events had as many as 40 kids entered! It was a pretty well attended (read: competitive) meet.

Friday night after the meet, we went to Ryan’s second favorite restaurant (Pizza Factory) for Ryan to “carb load.” We finished Saturday’s meet at about noon, so we went to Ryan’s favorite restaurant (and one of mine) – Brick Oven – to celebrate my birthday as well as Ryan’s great meet. We made it home just in time for the afternoon session of General Conference.

Short Course Kickoff Invitational ~ Day 2

2011-09-30T22:10:00.005-06:00

Even though I am the Volunteer Coordinator for the swim team (and get all of my volunteer “credits” with that position), I always try to help with something at each meet. This meet, I signed up to do “hospitality” – taking water and snacks around to the officials, judges, and timers. I was able to do my shift with my good friends, Cherie Hunsaker (Gates’ mom, for those of you who know Gates and his story), and Paula Sheridan (Thomas’ mom). We had a lot of fun.

I signed up for the earliest shift, so I was done with my shift by the time Ryan started his events. He swam the 50 Butterfly…

100 Breaststroke…

And 100 IM…

As always, there were plenty of opportunities for Ryan to socialize with his friends, too. The kids work non-stop during practice, so meets actually provide them with more down-time to socialize. They always have a lot of fun together.

Short Course Kickoff Invitational ~ Day 1

2011-09-29T21:22:00.002-06:00

September is the beginning of the new “short course” swimming season. We started the season with a home meet – the Kickoff Invitational.

Thursday, September 29, was a short day, with only a few events. Ryan had one event – the 200 IM (50 of each stroke). He beat his own time by about 3 seconds, and placed 4th overall.

We often invite friends to come and watch Ryan’s home meets. We were excited to have our friends Linda, Melissa, Jonah, and Sophie join us to cheer Ryan on! Jonah (6 years old) was a little bit disappointed that Ryan didn’t “win,” but his mom said it provided them a great opportunity to discuss other elements of being an athlete (good sportsmanship, performing at your own personal best, etc.).

Primary Program

2011-09-25T20:25:00.000-06:00

Sunday, September 25 was a bitter-sweet day. It was Ryan’s last Primary program. Ryan is such a great kid. As the oldest boy in the Primary, he always sets such a good example for others. He has a lot of kids that look up to him. Even at 11 years old, he is already a wonderful role model to others.

Ryan's First Court of Honor

2011-09-14T21:07:00.005-06:00

On Wednesday, September 14, Ryan had his first official Court of Honor. We attended one in the Spring, right after Ryan had started in scouts.

Ryan has been working so hard the last few months to earn ranks and merit badges. At the Court of Honor, he was presented with his Tenderfoot rank.

He also earned the Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, Family Life, and Swimming merit badges (all required!). His scoutmaster, Steve Cohen, complimented Ryan on his desire to start the merit badges early. Most scouts don’t start working on them until they turn 12.

Ryan is well on his way to being an Eagle Scout!

Money Saving/Money Making Presentation

2011-09-13T22:53:00.000-06:00

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet – just a couple of months after Papa was released as the bishop of the Young Adult ward, Rara was called to be the Relief Society president in their home ward. I guess they won’t get that break they were looking forward to!

Their Relief Society activity committee is also new, and they had an activity night scheduled for Tuesday, September 13. They were thinking of people they know who have great information to share. Rara recommended me. :)

I did a presentation on great ways to save money (and make money!) on the Internet, using sites such as Swagbucks. I took all of the things I have gotten free (shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, other cleaning products, toothpaste, cereal, gas cards, and dozens of other gift cards) as my visual aids.

I had prepared a presentation that would take about 30 minutes, but with all of the questions, it ended up to be closer to an hour!

Rara had many compliments, and many people expressing their excitement to do some of the things I discussed.

A few days later, the person over activity nights gave me this incredible plate of treats as a thank you gift!

Dog-a-POOL-ooza

2011-09-10T20:37:00.001-06:00

Another one of our Fall traditions is the South Davis Recreation Center’s “Dog-a-POOL-ooza.” Every September, they close the pools for two weeks, drain them, and clean them. The outside splash pad is the last thing they do. So right before they drain it, they hold the Dog-a-POOL-ooza, letting doggies run wild in the splash pad and pool.

I’m pretty sure Ryan & I enjoy it more than Copper does.

Greek Festival

2011-09-09T21:42:00.004-06:00

There are so many local Fall activities and traditions that we enjoy. Once school starts, I always know that the Greek Festival is close!

We have found that our favorite time to go is Friday afternoon (before people get off of work). We can walk right up to the food line (for those of you who go to the Greek Festival – no, we don’t wait for hours in the serpentine line under the tent), get our food, and sit close enough to actually see the dancers. This year we sat right behind the stage. The back is open, so we were able to see quite well. The dancers were great, as always!

They came off the stage right by us. Rara kept trying to convince Ryan to go over to the “pretty girls” to get his picture taken. No, he is too cool for that now.

I debated buying tickets for the bounce houses. Ryan doesn’t enjoy most of them as much as he used to. But he spotted a couple of his favorites, so I bought a few tickets. He decided that he wanted to do the boxing, but two people are needed for that one. Ryan turned the tables on us as he then tried to convince all of us to go do the boxing with him. As we were talking, we saw two kids going in. There were three sets of gloves, so Ryan ran over and asked if he could join them. They said he could. However, once he got in and they realized how much bigger he was (they hadn’t even started boxing yet), they hopped out. Ryan was devastated! He came back over to us in tears. Most of you know that Ryan is really a softie. The thought that he may have scared younger kids away really bothered him.

As we were consoling him, we spotted a kid that looked a little bigger than Ryan. He was a volunteer at the Festival, but it looked like he was on a break, and was looking around to see what he wanted to do. We convinced Ryan to go over to him and ask if he wanted to box. Ryan was hesitant due to the prior experience, but he did. The kids had a lot of fun.

Interestingly, Ryan’s principal (Ms. Jan Rawlins) always goes to the Greek Festival on Friday afternoon, too. We have seen her every year. I volunteer in Ryan’s classroom every Friday, so that morning she asked if we were going. We told her we were, and that we’d watch for her. We looked for her the entire time, and spotted her as we were leaving.

I’m a Cougar!

2011-09-03T22:25:00.001-06:00

I am SO proud of my team! They played an amazing (but stressful) game against Ole Miss, and won 14-13.

I loved this ad that ran during the game.

"Smash the Baby"

2011-08-31T21:19:00.002-06:00

Ryan was a pretty physical baby boy. He loved to play ball and wrestle. Uncle Marc started playing a wrestling game that he called “Smash the Baby.” They’d wrestle, and then Marc would wrap his arms around Ryan and roll with him (leaning on his arms rather than on Ryan, just to be clear). I believe other families refer to this game as “steamroller.” Marc & Ryan played “Smash the Baby” until Ryan was probably 5 or 6 years old.

Now Alice & Claire know about “Smash the Baby.” Although, recently when the grandkids were together, it turned more into “Smash the Papa.”

Papa decided he had enough, but the kids hadn’t. So the game became “Smash the Ryan.”

Swim Team Party & Awards ~ August 27, 2011

2011-08-28T21:53:00.004-06:00

At the end of every summer (long course season) the swim team has a huge party. The rec center closes early, and it is just swim team and families in the pools and splash pad. In the grass area around the splash pad, we have a big BBQ and sit and chat. After dinner, we have games, family relays (Ryan was “adopted” by some friends of ours to participate in their family relay this year), a slide show of the prior year, and awards.

Last year, Ryan was awarded the “Most Improved Swimmer” by the coaches. He joined the team at the very end of August 2009 (after the summer party), and one year later, had moved up two team levels!
This year, Ryan received the “Coach’s Award.” I’m sure it’s because of Ryan’s commitment and dedication, as well as his courage to try things that most kids his age won’t – like the 400 IM! Here is Ryan proudly accepting his plaque from Coach Steve Doman.

Videos from Back-to-School/Welcome Assembly

2011-08-27T22:20:00.001-06:00

Ryan doing the flag ceremony; pledge; Star Spangled Banner:

The school song (“We are the Loyal Lions”):

And the student council dancing:

Back-to-school/Welcome Assembly

2011-08-26T22:02:00.008-06:00

As I mentioned in my prior post, instead of having a Welcome Assembly at the flag pole on the first day of school as in previous years, that happened the first Friday of school.

The student council (10 6th grade kids, including Ryan) did the majority of the assembly.

The principal welcomed everyone, and talked a little bit about the 100 year anniversary of our school district. Then Ryan and the only other boy on the student council did the flag ceremony…

Said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang The Star Spangled Banner…

And sang the school song…

Before, during, and after the assembly, I had the opportunity to talk with each of Ryan’s prior teachers (at different points during the program, as I was running from one area to another for pictures, etc.), except his 4th grade teacher, who has retired. Here’s the recap of my conversations with them:

Mrs. Noyce (2nd grade): “Ryan has always been such a cute kid. He’s still a cute kid!”

Mr. Bacall (3rd grade): “Look at your big 6th grader on the student council!”
Mrs. Busk (5th grade): “It’s so fun to see Ryan on student council this year. He’s such a great kid!”
After the assembly, I went into the school to do my volunteer time in Ryan’s classroom, as I checked in on the computer in the office, the principal said, “Ryan is such a great kid! You have taught him well. He is always very respectful.” And as I went into Ryan’s classroom, his current teacher, Mrs. Schmidt, said, “I love Ryan. He is such a wonderful kid!” (I haven’t taken a picture of just the two of them yet, but I will.)

I always joke that more people know me as “Ryan’s mom” than my own name! I don’t mind. It’s an honor.

SIXTH GRADE!

2011-08-22T23:13:00.002-06:00

Ryan’s school did something new this year. They had back-to-school afternoon the Friday before school started. As a member of the student council, Ryan had to be there about 30 minutes early to help direct parents and students to their appropriate classrooms. I should have taken my camera, but I didn’t even think about it that day!

The fairly-new principal has also made some changes so that the first day of school is not so crazy. Instead of having a welcome assembly at the flagpole (that will happen Friday), parents just dropped off our kids. It was kind of weird! I did take a picture at our usual spot.

As I was walking back to the car, the mom of a girl Ryan’s age approached me. She said, “Do you like this new ‘first day of school’ routine?” I told her that Ryan was disappointed that, as a member of the student council, he wasn’t involved with the big welcome assembly on the first day of school. She said, “Oh! I didn’t even think of the poor student council members! That is one of their big things!” Even though they are having the assembly Friday, it just doesn’t have the same excitement as it always has on the first day of school.

Ryan and I have talked over the summer about the importance of being kind and friendly to everyone. He usually is, but (as with all kids that age) there are a couple of kids that he sometimes makes fun of. His campaign when he ran for student council was that he would help make his school the friendliest school by his own friendly actions, and by encouraging others to be friendly.

With that in mind, here’s my favorite back-to-school song – it’s by The White Stripes, but you may recognize it from Napoleon Dynamite. This is my new favorite version (by the PS22 chorus - found on YouTube).

WE’RE GOING TO BE FRIENDS

fall is here, hear the yell
back to school, ring the bell
brand new shoes, walking blues
climb the fence, books and pens
i can tell that we are gonna be friends

walk with me, suzy lee
through the park, by the tree
we will rest upon the ground
and look at all the bugs we've found
then safely walk to school
without a sound

well here we are, no one else
we’ll walk to school all by ourselves
there's dirt on our uniforms
from chasing all the ants and worms
we clean up and now it's time to learn

numbers, letters, learn to spell
nouns, and books, and show and tell
playtime, we will throw the ball
back to class, through the hall
teacher marks our height against the wall

we don't notice any time pass
we don't notice anything
we sit side by side in every class
teacher thinks that i sound funny
but she likes the way you sing

tonight i'll dream while i'm in bed
when silly thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphabet
when i wake tomorrow i'll bet
that you and i will walk together again
cause i can tell that we
are going to be friends

Spinach Basil Pesto

2011-08-20T22:01:00.003-06:00

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. baby spinach leaves
¾ c. fresh basil leaves
½ c. toasted pine nuts
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon lemon zest
½ c. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

Blend the spinach, basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, lemon zest, and 2 table spoons olive oil in a food processor until nearly smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Drizzle the remaining olive oil into the mixture while processing until smooth.

I shared some, kept some in the fridge for immediate use, and froze some in an ice cube tray for use later.

Corn and Tortellini Toss

2011-08-19T22:01:00.002-06:00

Two of my favorite things are in full harvest in my yard right now – tomatoes and basil. I love Caprese salad, and could eat that every day, but I wanted to try something new. I found this recipe on the internet. Since it is currently 100 degrees here, something hot did not sound good. I made my own cold version and shared it with the family. It was a big hit!

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated cheese and roasted garlic tortellini
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 c. chopped red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c. fresh corn kernels
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
12 cherry or grape tomatoes, cut into halves
4 tablespoons crumbled ricotta or grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (I used Parmigiano Reggiano)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Reserving ½ cup pasta cooking water.

(After the pasta was thoroughly cooked, I put it in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours.)

2. Melt butter in large skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add corn; cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add basil, cooked pasta and reserved pasta water to skillet. Cook until thoroughly heated. Top with tomato halves and cheese.

(Instead of this step, I mixed everything together in a large bowl, adding olive oil as needed.

The recipe says that it serves 4. But my “cold” version was easily 6-8 servings.

My Review of “The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes” (Published on Goodreads)

2011-08-18T21:42:00.001-06:00

The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes by James L. Ferrell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by a friend going through some challenges in his marriage. It was a quick read, but at the same time contained many wonderful thinking points. The story of a marriage in trouble can be adapted to pertain to any relationship. The real-life application of the Atonement is very touching and somewhat sobering. This is an excellent book for anyone who is committed to bettering themselves, and more fully understanding the blessings of the Atonement.

View all my reviews

My Review of “Canyons” by Gary Paulsen (Published on Goodreads)

2011-08-17T21:39:00.001-06:00

Canyons by Gary Paulsen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We read this book as a family throughout a recent vacation. It was a creative, thrilling book that encouraged all of us to think ahead and predict outcomes. It was especially fun to read about the box canyons, rock fissures, and yucca plants as we were experiencing each of those. This book is appropriate for older elementary school and junior high/middle school students. Younger readers may need help pronouncing some words and discussing some ideas and concepts.

View all my reviews

Chocolate Raspberry Rice Krispie Treats

2011-08-16T21:32:00.002-06:00

I have a book written by a man who grew up in the Bear Lake area. The book includes all kinds of fun recipes using raspberries and other Bear Lake-area foods. I saw this one and wanted to try it.

Raspberry Rice Krispie Treats

1 ½ bags large marshmallows
5 cups Rice Krispies
¾ c. butter
4 chocolate bars
1 ½ c. fresh raspberries

In a large saucepan, melt marshmallows, butter, and chocolate bars, stirring continuously. Take off heat and add raspberries and Rice Krispies. Form into a log, let cool, and then cover with plastic wrap. Serve a big slice at a time.

As I was adding the raspberries, I noticed that the mixture quickly turned to a different texture than normally seen with Rice Krispie treats. I worried that they wouldn’t set up! I even added more Rice Krispies than the recipe recommended in order to thicken it up a little bit. It would have been absolutely impossible to form it into a log as the recipe recommends, so I poured it into a casserole dish as is done in the traditional recipe. I also put it in the refrigerator to see if that would help them set up. That did help. However, the juice from the raspberries had already seeped into the Rice Krispies, so they were not as crunchy as the traditional version.

Overall, as much as I love raspberries and chocolate and Rice Krispie treats, I don’t think I’ll combine them again. Perhaps raspberry jam would work better than fresh raspberries. I’ll save my fresh raspberries for straight eating!

If anyone has tried/tries this recipe, please let me know if it works for you!

Roasted Peeps

2011-08-15T20:51:00.005-06:00

I believe this tradition started when I was in college. Now, so many years later, I can’t even remember exactly how it came about. But every Easter, I buy extra Peeps so I can save them to roast over a campfire in the summer.

Step 1 – Put Peeps on roaster

Step 2 – Roast the back of the Peeps first. As they start to get gooey in the center, gravity takes over and the faces automatically turn toward the fire.
Step 3 – Roast the front of the Peeps
Step 4 – Carefully remove Peeps from the roaster
Step 5 – Enjoy the caramelized sugary goodness. Roasted Peeps are like marshmallows with crème brulee topping on top.
I do not recommend using roasted Peeps in s’mores. That’s just WAY too much sugar! Roasted Peeps are best enjoyed with no additions.

Raspberry Shake Research

2011-08-14T20:29:00.005-06:00

Everyone knows that when you’re at Bear Lake, you have to get the raspberry shakes. We’ve had our favorite spot over the years, but I’ve recently heard other people (and a local TV show) saying that others are better. So, we decided to conduct our own “shake study” this year. Here are our thoughts. If you feel differently, I’d love to hear!

Merlin’s: We were disappointed to find out that Merlin’s, although right in Garden City at Bear Lake, does not use fresh Bear Lake raspberries in their shakes. They use syrup. We asked. We automatically disqualified them from the study. In fact, we didn’t even stop at Merlin’s this year. We found out last year that they didn’t use fresh local berries, so we didn’t even bother this year!

Hometown Drive-In: There are always long lines here, often out into the street and winding around. Although they were made with fresh local raspberries, we didn’t feel that there were quite enough raspberries. The shakes are good, just not our absolute favorite.

Chevron (yes, Chevron): It had never occurred to us to stop at the Chevron for shakes. But a couple of weeks ago, Studio 5 on KSL had guests talking about some of the little-known places around Bear Lake. These particular guests said that their favorite shakes were at the Chevron! We went in and sat at a counter (like in an old diner) while the workers individually whipped up our shakes. We thought that they had that homemade ice cream taste – you really could taste the cream. Again, very good and very sweet with lots of local berries. However, we felt that the cream taste was more prominent than the raspberry taste.

LaBeau’s: Formerly our favorite. Still a very, very close second. Lots of local berries with a flavor more of raspberries than cream.

Quick & Tasty: Our new favorite. The only thing that set it apart from LaBeau’s is that it had more berries. And that’s the main reason we get Bear Lake raspberry shakes, after all! The Quick & Tasty also has a large covered area with picnic tables, and a fun tire swing!

What’s your favorite raspberry shake at Bear Lake and why?

Bear Lake – Saturday, August 13

2011-08-13T20:17:00.006-06:00

We had two more punches left on our mini golf card, so Ryan and I packed our stuff and then went to play a round. On the very last hole, if you get a hole in one, you get a free game. RYAN GOT A HOLE IN ONE! We got the ticket to return for a free game, but we’ll have to use it next year. We were literally on our way out.

While we were golfing, Rara finished the puzzle! Since Rara & Ryan did most of the work, we wanted a picture to commemorate it. It took us a few tries to get an acceptable picture. That’s fairly common with the family clown.

Just like we have traditional stops on our way TO Bear Lake, we have traditional stops on the way home. We stopped at the Pickleville store for a case of raspberries, and we stopped at the Chocolate Bear for our going-home bags of chocolate covered raspberries. We stopped at the Hometown Drive-In for lunch (and our final raspberry shake for the “study”).
When we got into Logan, we stopped at Gossner Foods. I love their mango milk and their dill Havarti cheese, and Ryan loves the rootbeer milk and cookies & cream milk. We always stock up on milk & cheese there, and always pick up a few cases for Marc & Frances & Alice & Claire, too.
As we got to Bountiful, we drove to Ryan’s elementary school (yes, before we even went home). The class lists were posted that morning, and he couldn’t wait another minute to see who was in his class. Four of his very best friends are in his class, so he was thrilled!

After we unpacked, we picked Copper up from the Utah Dog Park. He seemed to love it, and we enjoyed being able to watch him on the webcam throughout the week!

Bear Lake is always a fun way to end the summer. One more week, and then Ryan goes back to school!

Bear Lake – Friday, August 12

2011-08-12T22:20:00.010-06:00

As we were going up and down Logan Canyon Road through the week, Ryan spotted a Go-Cart track and wanted to try it. Papa was the only one brave enough to race with Ryan. Rara & I enjoyed cheering them on and taking pictures.

The workers got Papa out on the track first. Ryan, competitive little dude that he is, wasn’t going to let Papa stay ahead of him for long. See it on his face?
Papa is ahead…
Ry is closing in…
Ry passed Papa!
Victory!
The “winner” at the end…
That afternoon, we enjoyed some shopping and exploring…and mini golf. We had dinner at a fun new place – Cooper’s in Fish Haven, Idaho. (I got a coupon online a couple of weeks ago.) It was at the golf course clubhouse, and had a beautiful view!

Rara bought a Bear Lake puzzle by Eric Dowdle. We have purchased his puzzles on prior vacations, and have enjoyed putting those together. We worked on it for a couple of days, but weren’t quite done Friday night.
Shake-o-the-day: Quick & Tasty (Review to come)

Bear Lake – Thursday, August 11

2011-08-11T22:00:00.005-06:00

We had the waverunner again Thursday morning, so Ryan was in heaven! Ryan chauffeured me around the lake, and we enjoyed watching parasailers and large schools of fish together. Rara & Papa even had a turn!

We spent most of the day on the beach and in the water. Ry & I played Frisbee for a very, very long time. Of course, Ryan swam.

As we were on our surrey ride Wednesday, we found a fun set of shops that we hadn’t ever seen before. We spent some time exploring there Thursday afternoon. We also stopped at a couple of our favorite shops. And we played mini golf.

That evening we enjoyed a BBQ in the shady lawn area at the condo. We roasted Peeps, which I will describe in detail in a separate post.

Shake-o-the-day: LaBeau’s (Review to come)

Bear Lake – Wednesday, August 10

2011-08-10T22:13:00.007-06:00

Wednesday began with Ryan’s reason for being…at Bear Lake, that is. We had the waverunner!!! This is now the second year that Ryan has been old enough to drive it, and he loved it! He enjoyed taking Papa and me out on it, but Rara wasn’t brave enough to ride with Ryan. :)

Ryan loves the water…no matter where it is!

Ideal Beach, the condos where Rara & Papa have their timeshare, has a mini golf course. We buy a punch pass every year, and play pretty much every day.

(Ryan helping me by blowing my ball into the hole.)
On KSL’s Studio 5 television show a couple of weeks ago, a couple of guests discussed some of the little-known things around Bear Lake. We have done most of them (Minnetonka Cave, Paris tabernacle and antique shops, bird refuge, and others). But they also talked about Swan Creek Springs, the largest cold springs west of the Mississippi. We had never heard of them! So Wednesday afternoon we went on a quest! We asked about them everywhere we stopped, including the Bear Lake Marina/State Park. No one knew anything about them. Finally with some detective work and piecing things together, plus a lot of driving, walking, and guessing, WE FOUND THEM! However, we were disappointed to see that they had been completely fenced in. We didn’t want to have gone through all of that for nothing, so we walked down the hill at the base of the fenced area, and Ryan dunked his feet.

Over the years, we have spotted the surreys for rent at the KOA campground. We passed the KOA on our way back to the condo and decided to rent a surrey. We had a great time riding it along the bike trail through Garden City and around the lake. We rode about three miles, and we were pooped! Those little things are harder than they look!

Shake-o-the-day: Chevron (Review to come)

Bear Lake (Actually Rock Springs, Wyoming) – Tuesday, August 9

2011-08-09T21:45:00.013-06:00

Although most of her younger years were spent in Wyoming, Rara’s Aunt Mary now lives in Houston, Texas. She has been traveling a little bit this summer, seeing grandkids and great-grandkids, and even checking in on a tree on the University of Wyoming campus that she donated in memory of the Cieluszak relatives.

The Cieluszak relatives planned a somewhat impromptu reunion for Tuesday, August 9. We drove to Rock Springs, where we all met at the usual spot – The Outlaw Inn.

We had a wonderful time visiting with each other. In attendance: Aunt Mary Jane Berryman, her daughter, Judy, and Judy’s husband, Carl. From Antonina’s family: Mom & Dad (aka Rara & Papa), me, Ryan, Aunt Dott, Uncle Ted & Aunt Jean, Deb & Jason. From Auntie Anne’s family: Tony & Darlene, David.

Ryan took all of his swimming medals and one of the books I made of his swimming to show off…

And I taught Ryan how to properly place his napkin on his lap at “fancy restaurants” like the Outlaw Inn. :)
Ryan also took my iPad in, afraid that he’d be bored with all of the “visiting.” It ended up entertaining more than just Ryan!

After lunch, Rara, Papa, Ryan & I went on a little driving tour of Rock Springs to visit some of the sites from Rara’s youth, such as their house in Blairtown…
The “big hill” where they went sledding in the winter…
And Rara’s elementary school, Yellowstone School…
After our tour, we went back to Aunt Mary’s hotel, where we visited more in the lobby/lounge.
On our drive back to Bear Lake, we stopped at Fossil Butte State Park. Although the Visitor’s Center was closed, we enjoyed watching the chipmunks and antelope.

Thank you to Carl Kurt for the pictures of the tree and plaque, and Deb Miller for the pictures of the gathering, menu, and Carl & Ryan entertaining each other!

Bear Lake – Monday, August 8

2011-08-08T21:18:00.004-06:00

August 8-13 was our annual week at Bear Lake, one of our favorite weeks of the year! It was so packed with fun and excitement that I’m going to break it into daily entries.

Monday, August 8 we took Copper to a new kennel – the Utah Dog Park. Until now we’ve been pretty loyal to Coddled Critters, but I had a coupon for the Utah Dog Park. :)

We left after lunch and drove to our first traditional stop - Aggie Ice Cream at Utah State University.

Our second traditional stop - the Bear Lake overlook. Ryan did a big of yoga, and then I proved my brute strength by giving him a piggy-back ride (on my SHOULDERS!).

We got to the condo, unpacked, and relaxed a little bit. Then we went to our third traditional stop – Bear Lake Pizza. We enjoyed people watching while we ate, and then went next door for our chocolate covered raspberries! We enjoyed an evening of relaxing and visiting with friends who were also there.

Splash Bash!

2011-08-06T22:47:00.005-06:00

Ryan is a member of USA Swimming. I follow USA Swimming on Facebook, and also receive their email updates. About two months ago, I received an email (and saw an announcement on Facebook) that USA Swimming was running a contest to host a Splash Bash to watch either the swimming world championships or the swimming national championships. I entered AND WON! I received an email that I had won (I’m sure several dozen/hundred people did – not just me), and then received a huge box a couple of weeks later! The box contained balloons, plates, napkins, cups, metallic star confetti, posters, magnetic picture frames, thunder sticks, bingo cards & plastic markers, stickers, temporary tattoos, wristbands, water bottles, shirts, towels, and all sorts of other things.

I made an invitation on one of my favorite websites for that sort of thing. It looked GREAT! In fact, as we passed the invitations out at the swim team parents meeting, I was asked if I was a professional party planner! :) That’s what my dad always said I should do. Perhaps I’ve missed my true calling in life!

We invited all of the 11-12 year old kids on Ryan’s swim team. Only six showed up, but that seemed perfect for our little house. We asked each person to bring a snack to share, and we set them all on the red, white & blue decorated table with the cake we bought.

The kids had a great time watching the championships, playing bingo, eating, and fighting with the thunder sticks. Even though I showed them how to hit them together to cheer, they obviously felt that hitting each other was more fun!

Earlier in the week we took a “Thank You” card to Coach Dale. Ryan wanted to give him an invitation for the party. He stopped by for the last little while. The kids were thrilled! It was fun to give the kids an opportunity to spend a little bit of time with him one more time.

I had a huge Thank You card on the counter for the kids to sign for Coach Dale, and a Get Well card for them to sign for Lars. They showed Dale, but I took pictures of the kids with Dale that I’ll print and put in the card and then deliver to him.

Even though we had a smaller group than we expected, it was a lot of fun. A few of the parents called/emailed me and told me how much fun the kids had. Ryan thought it was great, too. And isn’t that the most important?

WSI Aide & Junior Lifeguard Update

2011-08-05T22:38:00.000-06:00

Once Ryan finished his training for WSI Aide and Junior Lifeguard, he started “working” in both of those positions. No, as an 11-year-old, he does not get paid, but he is getting so much great experience! The swim teachers love him, the head lifeguard and other lifeguards love him, and even the aquatics assistant director loves him. In fact, she has promised to officially hire him as soon as she is able.

He has had some fun experiences with people we know. He was able to aide in a class with our little neighbor around the corner. There was another class with two little boys (about 4 or 5 years old) that LOVED Ryan! Ryan would greet them with, “There are my boys!”

We had another neighbor whose nephew was in a swim class (during one of Ryan’s junior lifeguard shifts). Apparently the little boy decided he didn’t like his swimming class and went to hide out in the showers. Ryan went looking for him and found him there. I don’t know what all Ryan said, but he convinced the little boy to rejoin his class, much to the relief of our neighbor.

The same day that the little boy was “lost,” Ryan also found a princess towel that a child had left. As he was walking down the hall with it, a mom and little girl passed him, and the little girl excitedly exclaimed, “There’s my towel!” Ryan talked with the mom for a minute, giving the lost towel to the relieved little swimmer.

Toward the end of his shift that day, the assistant aquatics director that Ryan loves (Justin), called Ryan into his office. He said, “I heard you had a busy day!” Ryan chuckled. Then Justin gave Ryan a “100 Grand” candy bar with a red piece of paper around it resembling a lifeguard’s “tube,” which said, “Nice Save!”

Ryan is at the pool every day from 7 am to noon! He has swim team from 7-9; WSI aide from 9-10:30; and junior lifeguard from 10:30-noon. Interestingly, many days he comes home for lunch and then goes swimming at a neighbor’s home!

The week of August 1-5, I told Ryan he could take the week off. State swimming championships were over, so the swim team kids were given the option of taking a break from swim team. Ryan was appalled that I would even suggest that he take the week off! I said, “Aren’t you burned out?” Of course not! It’s great to know that he’s doing something he loves!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from his time as a WSI aide…

Taste of the Town & Summerfest

2011-08-04T22:16:00.002-06:00

There are so many summer traditions in Bountiful that we love. Two of them coincide with each other ~ Taste of the Town and Summerfest. Taste of the Town was Wednesday evening, August 3. Several different restaurants from the Bountiful area set up booths and had menu items to sample fairly inexpensively. We have learned to go right at the beginning to avoid lines, for the most part. We always make a beeline to the Mandarin first. This year we had lettuce wraps and crème brulee. We had a variety of other things, all of which were very yummy!

The evening of Taste of the Town, there is also a street dance featuring the dancers visiting from other countries. However, we were not able to stay for that this year due to Ryan’s scout meeting.

Summerfest always runs the Thursday through Saturday the same week as Taste of the Town. We often go a couple of days. But, due to other things on the calendar this year, we went Thursday, August 4. The weather was great (not always the case at the beginning of August), and there weren’t as many people as we have often encountered on Friday and Saturday in the past.

We ate dinner there (we chose the Hawaiian plate special this year) and watched the Opening Ceremony and various country dances. We always buy some type of art at Summerfest, and have it signed by the artist. This year’s “artist in residence” was a man from Japan. His daughter was helping him with his booth, and she served as his interpreter. We had him write Ryan’s name in Japanese on the piece we purchased.

We chatted with the mayor, as well as other friends. It was a fun evening, as always.

Swim Team Shake-Up

2011-08-01T21:31:00.002-06:00

Continuing with Ryan’s emotional past few days, his swim coach has decided to leave his position as the head coach of the team. The kids on the team are devastated, but we understand. He recently completed his master’s degree in special education and will be moving to a position in that field. We will really miss Coach Dale!

On August 1, the aquatics director at the recreation center had a meeting for the parent board of the swim team. He was great to explain what they are doing to look for a new head coach, and he was patient in taking all of our recommendations and suggestions.

Ryan also found out that one of the assistant aquatics directors, the one he has worked with closely in the junior lifeguard position (Justin), is leaving to be the director of another recreation center. In a few short days, Ryan has dealt with some grown-up concerns. Ryan is like me – we get attached to people very quickly, so changes in life circumstances tend to be emotional for us as we lose friends. Thank goodness for Facebook!

Talk in Sacrament Meeting ~ July 31

2011-07-31T22:41:00.002-06:00

I am always careful about what I post here on the blog and on Facebook. I know I have friends from all religious views and all walks of life. But I was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting, and wanted to share some of my talk. I really debated whether or not to post this. There are some things that are close to my heart, and I think we are all a little hesitant to share things that are close to us, for fear that the things we share will not be respected. But I'm taking that chance. Here it is...
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Ryan and I weren’t here in our ward last week. We attended another ward, which I will talk about in just a minute. But I understand that Brother Lemon designated July as “Pioneer Month.” Just in case you’re getting tired of talks about pioneers, or think the messages don’t apply to you, in General Conference April 1997, President Hinckley said, “Whether you are among the posterity of the pioneers or whether you were baptized only yesterday, each is the beneficiary of their great undertaking.”

We’ve had some wonderful talks this month about the pioneers and the patriots that have gone before us, and the sacrifices they’ve made so we can enjoy all of the blessings that we have today. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be one of the speakers who wraps up “Pioneer Month,” and pray that something I share today will touch you, just as I have been touched by other speakers this month.

My brother and his family live up Emigration Canyon. Every year, the Sunday nearest to the 24th of July, the Emigration Canyon ward has “Church in the Canyon.” It is held outside at “Cold Springs,” the last encampment of the pioneers before they entered the Salt Lake Valley. There is a beautiful spirit in the canyon. Every year as we sing “Come, Come Ye Saints” at Cold Springs, I am overcome with emotion. I think of everything that the pioneers sacrificed for their beliefs, and to come here.

It only takes us a few minutes to drive to Emigration Canyon in our air conditioned car. The “Last Camp” site is just a couple of minutes up from This is the Place State Park and Hogle Zoo. But I think about the pioneers camped there, at the end of their long and difficult journey, not knowing how close they really were to their destination.

Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal on July 24, 1847:

"After traveling from our encampment six miles through the deep ravine valley, ending with the canyon, we came in full view of the valley of the Great Salt Lake--The Land of Promise, held in reserve by the hand of God as a resting place for the Saints."

Just a few days before - Orson Pratt wrote on July 21, 1847:

“Brother Erastus Snow and myself proceeded in advance of the camp down Last Creek 4 1/2 miles, to where it passes through a canyon and issues into the broad open valley below. Mr. Snow and myself ascended a hill, from the top of which a broad open valley lay stretched out before us, at the north end of which the broad waters of the Great Salt Lake glistened in the sunbeams. After issuing a shout of joy which almost involuntary escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within our view.”

Thomas Bullock, clerk of one of the camps, July 22, 1847, wrote:

"[We] succeeded in getting thro' the narrow spot of the Kanyon about 4 o'clock, when we turned round the hill to the right & came in full view of the Salt Lake in the distance, with its bold hills on its islands towering up in bold relief behind the Silvery Lake. A very extensive valley burst upon our view, dotted in 3 or 4 places with Timber. I could not help shouting "hurra, hurra, hurra, there's my home at last."

This final journal entry is one of my favorites. We all know William Clayton as the man who wrote, “Come, Come, Ye Saints.” Yet the tender sentiments he expressed in the song weren’t necessarily his first reaction upon seeing the Salt Lake Valley. He wrote on July 22, 1847:

"For my own part I am happily disappointed in the appearance of the valley of the Salt Lake, but if the land be as rich as it has the appearance of being, I have no fears but the Saints can live here and do well while we will do right.”

He does go on to say, “I would choose to dwell here in this wild looking country amongst the Saints surrounded by friends, though poor, enjoying the privileges and blessings of the everlasting priesthood, with God for our King and Father; [rather than] dwell amongst the gentile with all their wealth and good things of the earth to be eternally mobbed, harassed, hunted, our best men murdered and every good man's life continually in danger.”

It’s wonderful to have the journals of so many of the pioneers so we can learn from their joys and their disappointments, their challenges and their victories.

I have many pioneer ancestors, but today I’d like to share the story of one of Ryan’s ancestors on his dad’s side. Elizabeth Xavier was born in Bombay, India, in 1833. She was a member of the nobility of the country, and was raised in wealth and aristocracy. Her father was an apothecary at the British hospital in Bombay. In 1850, she married William Tait – an Irishman who was serving as a regimental drill master in Queen Victoria’s Army, and stationed in India. William had been baptized a member of the church in Ireland by Parley P. Pratt. Elizabeth was baptized by her husband in 1852, against the will of her parents.

Elizabeth and William had two sons in India. One died of cholera as a very young child.

Elizabeth was expecting another baby when William completed his military service in India. The Taits decided to emigrate and be with the Saints, but determined that Elizabeth should stay in India until after the new baby was born.

William and their remaining son, John, sailed for America. After the birth of the new baby – a girl – Elizabeth and the baby prepared to leave India, once again ignoring the pleadings and opposition of her family. Elizabeth’s very wealthy family promised her that she and her baby would never want for anything if they remained in India. But Elizabeth was intent on demonstrating her love for her husband and the restored gospel by traveling to Utah. She gathered as many of her fine belongings as she could take with her, and departed.

Elizabeth and her baby, Mary Ann, traveled to America on the ship “Enoch Train.” Elizabeth’s new baby died during the journey. Some accounts have the death recorded at sea, others in Iowa City. At the time of her baby’s death, Elizabeth was 24 years old. She continued her journey to Zion as the only member of her family in the Willie handcart company. She had no idea that so much pain and suffering still lie ahead of her on her trek across the plains.

I know that most of you know the story of the Willie handcart company, so in the interest of time I will not relate all of the details. But the company left Iowa City late in the season, and found themselves traveling through extremely harsh conditions, and running out of food and supplies. Many died along the way.

Elizabeth’s husband and son were members of the rescue party that was sent to help the Willie Handcart Company. (Interestingly, some accounts say that William knew it was his wife’s company that he was going to help; other accounts say that their reunion was a complete surprise. Their reunion was very bittersweet as they rejoiced that they were reunited, but also mourned the loss of their other two children.

Many family trees are dotted with those who have chosen not to follow the path for which the pioneers sacrificed so much. Our family tree is no different. I feel an immense responsibility as the mother of one of Elizabeth’s descendants to make sure that her story is not forgotten. I feel the need to teach Ryan of the sacrifices she and other ancestors made so that he could have the blessings of the gospel in his life. And Ryan has a responsibility to live his life in such a manner that it honors Elizabeth’s memory and everything she sacrificed.

In General Conference April 1997, President Hinckley said, “We stand today as the recipients of their great effort. I hope we are thankful. I hope we carry in our hearts a deep sense of gratitude for all that they have done for us. With so great an inheritance, we can do no less than our very best. Those who have gone before expect this of us. We have a mandate from the Lord.”

In General Conference October 1997, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “It is not enough to study or reenact the accomplishments of our pioneers. We need to identify the great eternal principles they applied to achieve all they achieved for our benefit and then apply those principles to the challenges of our day. In that way we honor their pioneering efforts, and we also reaffirm our heritage and strengthen its capacity to bless our own posterity and those millions of our Heavenly Father’s children who have yet to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all pioneers in doing so.”

In D & C 136, the word and will of the Lord is given to President Brigham Young at Winter Quarters. As Elder Oaks mentioned, many of the messages have contemporary applications to us.

v. 4 – “And this shall be our covenant – that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord.” While the pioneers exhibited their faith and dedication to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ through physically walking, we show our commitment by honoring the spiritual covenants we have made.

v. 6 – “When the companies are organized let them go to with their might, to prepare for those who are to tarry.” We are all pioneers in our own way. We also need to “go with our might” to be examples of courage and strength for those around us and those who follow us.

v. 11 – “And if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed; you shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your herds, and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families.”

v. 31 – “My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.”

At Church in the Canyon last week, one of the speakers asked us to ponder two questions regarding the pioneers:

1. Why did they do what they did?
Faith in and love for Jesus Christ
Stepped forward into the unknown
Loyalty, obedience, trust in the direction of their leaders

2. How did they accomplish it?
Love Savior gave to them – strength
They knew Him, they walked with Him
Unselfishness, sacrifice – unity; extraordinary capacity to cooperate in a common venture

We are also on our journey finding our way back to our Heavenly Father. Just as with the pioneers, we can incorporate the characteristics of faith and love for Jesus Christ, obedience and trust in the direction of our leaders, and unselfishness and sacrifice in order to enjoy eternal blessings. As we practice these traits and exhibit these characteristics, we will be blessed with the strength to endure the challenges and burdens that we are called to bear.

I am grateful for the atonement of our Savior. Especially in the past few years, I have realized that the atonement not only enables us to repent of our sins, but it enables us to cast ALL of our burdens upon the Lord. I am grateful for the peace that I have been able to experience in my life by giving Him my heartaches and challenges.

I am grateful for the leaders of our church who provide us with inspired direction. What a blessing it is for us here in Bountiful to personally associate with so many of them in our daily lives. I am thankful for our bishopric and their families. They are all our dear friends, and we know of their love and concern for our family. I am grateful for their service to us.

I am so thankful for my family. My parents have been such wonderful examples to me of remaining faithful despite heartache and challenges. I am so thankful that our family is so close. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be Ryan’s mom. He is a wonderful example to me of dedication and discipline and “keeping the commandments with exactness.”

I am grateful to each of you in our ward family for the examples you are of faithfulness and love. Thank you for watching out for us.

I am especially grateful this “pioneer month” of those who have gone before, and for the sacrifices they made so that I can enjoy all of the blessings that I have. I am so grateful for everything that I have, for I am truly blessed.

Reality Check – Putting Everything into Perspective

2011-07-31T21:32:00.004-06:00

We had an emotional weekend. We found out that on Saturday night, some kids we know were involved in a car accident. Seven teenagers from the same ward in Farmington had just finished a 3-day youth conference, and were traveling a short distance to swim at the home of one of Ryan’s swim team friends (Tyler). Here is one of the articles about the accident.

Gabe Hanson (15 years old, the son of one of my high school classmates) was killed. A young woman (Kauri) was flown by Life Flight to Primary Children’s Medical Center in stable condition. Lars, the young man who went back out into the water to swim the 400 IM with Ryan that I talked about in this post, was critically injured and taken to McKay-Dee Hospital by Life Flight. He sustained many injuries, including a punctured lung and other injuries to his lungs. He was in a medically-induced coma with a chest tube in order to try to speed his healing. This post on the blog his dad is keeping really touched me, and I left a comment.

Ryan and I have many people close to us dealing with very serious illnesses and injuries the past few months. We pray daily for a friend paralyzed in a snowboarding accident the day before he entered the Missionary Training Center, a 12-year-old friend who recently underwent a heart transplant, Lars and the other kids in this accident, and Ryan’s former scout leader who is fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer. It has been good for Ryan to spend so much time thinking and praying for others. It has helped us both realize how blessed we are to be healthy and happy.

July 30 ~ Marc’s Birthday Celebration

2011-07-30T21:28:00.002-06:00

Marc’s birthday is on August 1. Since that fell on a Monday this year, we celebrated on Saturday, July 30. Marc was such a good sport this year, and very generous with his birthday time and money. Marc & Frances took Ryan with them to see “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” part 2, with them. Ryan and I saw it the day after it was released, but they knew that Ryan would love seeing it again. He did. Thank you, Marc & Frances! (Rara, Papa & I enjoyed hanging out with Alice & Claire while the rest of the fam went to the movie.)

After the movie, Marc treated us all to birthday dinner from Pace’s. It’s funny – a few of my friends who have moved away from Bountiful have recently said that Pace’s is their first stop when they come to town. That was also Marc’s choice for dinner. He got take-out, and we ate in Rara & Papa’s back yard.

Rara made an ice cream cake (another family favorite) for Marc’s birthday. Also per family tradition, Ryan lit the candles and Alice & Claire helped blow out the candles. (Thanks to Frances for the pictures!)

July 28 - Ryan’s Belated Birthday

2011-07-28T10:26:00.001-06:00

On Ryan’s birthday this year (April 25), I was in the middle of my comprehensive exams for my PhD program. It was not a good time to host a birthday party. I have promised Ryan that we could take a few friends bowling for his belated birthday party. We FINALLY put it together! On July 28, we had his friends Etienne, Brigham, Mitchell, and Connor over for a party.

Ryan opened his gifts first: A Transformers sword from Mitchell, two Star Wars building sets from Connor, a football and pump from Etienne, and $11 (for his 11th birthday) from Brig.

The guys had a great time bowling. They were typical 11 year olds, and tried several unconventional bowling techniques. I had to rein them in a couple of times so we wouldn’t get kicked out.

After bowling, we went to A & W for rootbeer floats. The guys also had some sour candies and enjoyed laughing at each others’ silly sour faces.

Ryan had a great belated birthday!

July 24 – Pioneer Day ~ Church in the Canyon; BBQ @ Strands

2011-07-24T21:40:00.002-06:00

Sunday, July 24, was our third annual participation at “Church in the Canyon” with Marc, Frances, Alice & Claire. They live in the Emigration Canyon Ward, and the Sunday on or closest to Pioneer Day every year, they hold their church services at the “Cold Creek Camp,” where all of the Mormon pioneer handcart companies camped their last night before entering the Salt Lake Valley. This year Papa was even able to go with us! He has been serving as the Bishop of a young adult ward for the past three years, and hasn’t been able to attend “Church in the Canyon” with us. However, he was recently released, and was able to join us this year!

We always enjoy the day there. There is always a beautiful spirit, which helps us remember the sacrifices of the pioneers.

And the doughnuts and milk after church make the day even better!

Later that evening, we attended a fun BBQ at the Strands’. We had a great time visiting with family and friends, and were entertained by Uncle Randy shooting toward the pesky squirrels. (Sorry, no pictures – evidence – of the aforementioned squirrel taunting.)

July 23 ~ BC Meet; Ryan helped w/Handcart Days

2011-07-23T22:51:00.000-06:00

Saturday, July 23, we were back in Draper bright & early for day 2 of the BC Beehive Finale.

Coach Dale talking with the swimmers before the meet…

200 IM (medaled)…

50 back…

Talking with Coach Steve after the 50 back…
And 50 fly…

Ry’s strongest event is still the Butterfly, which also definitely helps with his IM. Interestingly, he is also doing very well in the distance events. His last three medals have come in the 100 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM.

Ryan has been working on his Citizenship in the Community merit badge this week. Ry & I even went to the Bountiful City Council meeting on Tuesday. One of the requirements was to do some volunteer work in the community. How lucky for Ryan that his grandma volunteers with the Bountiful Historical Society/Museum, and had LOTS of events going on this weekend! Saturday afternoon Ryan went to the Handcart Days activities and helped with the pioneer games and other pioneer activities.

July 22 - BC Meet; Handcart Days Parade & Carnival

2011-07-22T22:24:00.002-06:00

In age-group competitive swimming, there are “A Times,” “BC Times,” and “All Times.” Swimmers who achieve A Times go to the state championships. Swimmers who have BC Times go to the BC state championships. Swimmers who fall into the All Times category work harder at improving their times so they can go to State or BC the next season. :) Ryan “aged up” in April – he went from competing in the 9-10 age group to the 11-12 age group. “Aging up” is discussed in great length in the swimming culture. It is extremely difficult to make state times (or even BC times) when a swimmer first ages up.

Ryan hasn’t make any state times since he turned 11 on April 25, but he made six BC times! We are THRILLED! July 22-23 was the BC Beehive Finale in Draper. Warm-ups started at 7:00 am, with the meet starting at 8:00 am. Yes, we left home at 6:30 am to get there on time. Have I mentioned lately how much I am not a morning person? I can honestly say that Ryan is the dedicated and disciplined one in the family!

Friday Ryan swam the 100 fly (and medaled)…

50 free…

And 50 breaststroke…
Later that day, Ryan participated in the Bountiful Handcart Days parade with the rest of his school’s Student Council. Rara, Papa & I dropped Ryan off at his meeting spot, and then we grabbed dinner and went to our parade spot. Marc, Frances, Alice & Claire met us there to have dinner and watch the parade.

As we were watching for Ryan, Ryan’s swim coach and his wife walked by us. We talked with them for a few minutes, right as Ryan walked by. Two of Ryan’s best friends, Sarah and Alissia, are also on the swim team and on student council. They were all thrilled to see Coach Dale also waving and cheering for them on the sidelines!

After Ryan walked by, we went and met him, and then all went to the park for the Handcart Days booths and activities. The kids LOVED the bounce houses, especially the obstacle course!

"Last Chance” Meet ~ Saturday, July 16, 2011

2011-07-16T20:46:00.000-06:00

Saturday I wasn’t a timer, so I sat in the stands and took pictures and cheered for most of Ryan’s events.

100 back

50 back (Event 40, heat 2 of 2, lane 1)...

As I was looking at the heat sheet, I noticed that it said the following: “Heat 1 of Event #42 will be combined with the Girls Heat 1 of Event #41." That would mean that Ryan had to get out of lane 1 at the end of his 50 back and run to lane 8 for the start of his 200 IM. Usually the prior heat has to stay in the pool until the next heat starts! I pointed it out to Coach Steve, and he talked to the official. They looked at a couple of different options, but decided to just have a break for a few minutes between the two events for Ryan to catch his breath and get to his lane. I stood down by the start blocks for his 50 back, reminded the official that Ryan was the one that was getting to lane 8 for the next event, and then stood with Ryan while he caught his breath. Once he was ready, we gave the official the thumbs up sign. Interestingly, two of the other boys in that heat MISSED THE HEAT! The coaches were furious that Ryan could get across the pool in back-to-back heats and still make it, yet the other two boys couldn’t make it from the deck or the warm-up pool. That got Ryan mega bonus points!

200 IM (Event 42, heat 1, lane 8)

After the 200 IM, I stayed on deck with him to help him get ready for his 400 IM – physically and mentally. As he was preparing for the 400 IM, one of the coaches looked at the heat sheet and said, “Ryan’s swimming the 400 IM? What’s WRONG with you?!?!” (Teasing, of course.) Ryan’s very first coach on the team said she was so proud of him for doing it because she didn’t think she’d even be able to do it!
The 400 IM is also an extremely difficult event. It’s the event that Ryan won the bronze medal at the Utah Summer Games. He was also the only 11 year old to do it, with two 15 year olds and two 17 year olds! For you non-swimmers, at the pool at this meet, the 400 IM consists of 4 laps of butterfly, 4 laps of backstroke, 4 laps of breaststroke, and 4 laps of freestyle. It is grueling! Interestingly, Ryan Lochte has said that he hates the 400 IM because it is the most difficult event. So, during our mental prep, I kept whispering to Ryan, “I am a medalist in this event…I am a medalist in this event…” to help him psych himself up to do it. As Ryan was getting in the pool, Coach Steve said, “You don’t have to win, Ryan. You just have to beat Lars.” Lars is a cute, outgoing 17-year-old guy on the team that Ryan really admires. We chuckled, knowing that Coach Steve was kidding.

Some of the guys (age 11-14) who were not brave enough to swim the 400 IM…but cheering for Ryan as he swam the Butterfly portion!

Backstroke...

Breaststroke...

The four other guys swimming in the event finished while Ryan still had a couple of laps to go in his freestyle.

Then something happened that you only hear about. After Lars finished, he swam back out into the pool and swam alongside Ryan, saying, “Keep going! Keep going, Ryan!” Coach Dale yelled at Lars to get back to the wall, knowing that he could be disqualified for going back out. But Lars stuck with Ryan until Ryan’s last lap. Lars made sure that he swam back to the wall before Ryan finished.

The cheers that erupted in the natatorium when Ryan finished were overwhelming. Coach Steve once again led all of the swimmers and coaches on the sidelines in the “Big O” cheer. I also applauded Ryan’s tenacity and courage from the sidelines, wiping my tears away between my claps.