The boys earned their Eagles about 18 months ago, just before the pandemic. We wanted to do a court of honor with family at the Weber, so we waited a long time for this. We gathered on a Sunday evening at Pines Ranch during the reunion, and I just love a mountain backdrop for this event. It was a special evening.
Photos by Daniel Ross, Michael McLaughlin, and Richard Jaussi
I think that making these tiny leather pouches with Mark for his closest cousins will be a favorite memory from this summer.
Richard brought in a bowl of fresh raspberries from our yard, and within two minutes he was eating them on top of ice cream.
This week I got a call that my dad’s books were ready. Mark and I hauled out the heavy boxes to the car and took them to my dad. He hugged the one I handed to him and said it was pretty. The books ARE pretty! I also took a copy to Paige who illustrated the book so beautifully.
At church on Sunday, a bishop took time to acknowledge my work the past year with baptisms. With Covid, we needed to schedule baptisms individually, which meant a lot of coordination with bishops and families and many trips to the church. This was a huge piece my life for a year and someone noticed and took time to thank me publicly for some very behind-the-scenes work.
Richard and I have been working on an Eagle court of honor for Tim and Mark. Because of the pandemic we decided not to gather last year to honor them. Last night we finished the slideshows of their Scouting years. Richard’s steady presence in their journey was evident in the photos and videos we sorted. And they grow up right before our eyes in these slideshows.
Life has felt burdensome lately, and these harvest moments have given me a needed lift.
My sisters, mom, and I planned to go to an outdoor concert together, but one by one, people had to drop out. It morphed into a Ross family plus one occasion. The performer said this was the first time in a year and a half that she was able to sing for people. She was pretty emotional about it. We were surrounded by 3500 people on a hillside at Deer Valley and it felt good to be there.
It is our duty for the Sanchez family reunion (later this month) to teach how to shoot a slingshot. I know what you are thinking: How can I be a part of this reunion?
This is literally all I can find to show for this fun weekend reunion with 35 people. Maybe our kids have some photos. I’ll let you know.
I love creating and hosting celebrations. I enjoy thinking about what my guests like to eat and what is important to them. How can I make them feel special? I spent a lot of time during the pandemic looking at beautiful place settings and menus. We kept our tradition of gathering on Sundays with our kids when they could make it, but we haven’t had a larger dinner party for a long time. Today we invited my parents to join us for a Father’s Day dinner.
A few weeks ago we started a Sunday dinner journal. Each week we ask a question and I write down everyone’s responses. Questions are usually about gratitude, such as, “What is something nice that someone has done for you?” Everyone gets an opportunity to share as long or as short an answer as they like. Today we talked about things our fathers have taught us. I loved it. I think it will be sweet to go back and read these notes of our dinner conversations someday.
Summer goes by so quickly!
We sorted my grandmother’s photos and a few objects from her home today. For me, the big treasure was a photo of Alli, my great-grandmother, vibrant and beautiful. There were many things to see: passports, Army memorabilia from two world wars, photos, and keepsakes… It was exhausting to comprehend it all, and it was a very sweet experience.
