Extended family – Page 24 – Letters from Home

Provo City Center Temple Open House

This picture is a a memento of a day which was very sweet. We toured the newly completed Provo City Center Temple on Saturday, hosted by my parents, who are on the open house committee. I loved the wood work, stained glass, staircases, and stencils. (Richard and Timothy were camping with the Scouts.)

I spent a lot of time in the Provo Tabernacle growing up and I have good memories of the pews and organ and walking around the grounds after church meetings. We visited Provo just days after a fire destroyed the building. It was so sad to see the ruins.

Here is a nice video of the transformation from burned tabernacle to temple.

Christmas 2015

1-DSC_0039 — Nativity kids at my parents’ place in Spring Lake on Christmas Eve

1-DSC_0021 — The smallest shepherd with his sheep. This is my nephew and this is my favorite picture from Christmas. Richard got a new camera. so we have no photographs of him because he was the photographer.

1-DSC_0036 — No worries, this angel is pretty cool. This is the last photo of the younger boys because they received video games for Christmas and we didn’t see much of them after that.

1-DSC_0045 — Paige was with us again and Daniel was the piano man providing background music.

1-choir — Richard and Daniel participated in the ward choir. Photo from Janine Clarke

1-DSC_0052 — View from the front porch on Christmas morning

1-DSC_0051 — We had no place to go, so it was great.

1-DSC_0055 — Sitting in this chair, bundled up and cozy, I watched the entire Roosevelt documentary series over two weeks. 14 hours, people. Richard and Paige joined me for the last 10 hours. I often bundle up like this in the house.

Paige's paint doodles — Paige’s paint doodles

1-DSC_0073 — For the upstairs tree we used mostly red and white ornaments and it was one of the prettiest trees we’ve ever had.

2-DSC_0053 — Richard was eventually able to dig us out.

Christmas cheer

I don’t have much to say about last week, which included a death in the family, a basement flood, a canceled vacation to visit family, a funeral, and blizzards to drive through, except that we are still smiling. The role of the Savior in our lives has everything to do with it.

I shopped for religious, non-photo Christmas cards in many places this year. Most were too expensive for my budget. I read recently that we should reevaluate how we use our family pictures as Christmas cards. Sometimes a person in mourning doesn’t want to see a smiling, complete family in a Christmas card. And if we are celebrating Christmas, where is the Savior in such a card? I have decided that the Savior is in our smiles. He is in the growth that we have accomplished during the year. He is in the beauty of the surroundings, and the source of joy in our lives. Truly, we smile because of Him.

Merry Christmas, dear readers. Smile, give cheer, and rejoice. The Savior lives.

Grandpa

I was blessed to have 41 years of time with my Grandpa Stewart. I will miss my grandpa’s deep blue eyes, funny stories, requests for violin music, boots, and the way he always talked about his wife JoAnn. On the night that he died, I lay in bed awake, remembering his voice speaking her name, again and again over the years. Oh, how he loved her! That’s my favorite part of who he was…and is.

Dinner Party

You know it’s a good time when your dinner party guests stay through breakfast the next morning… We love the Withams!

We spent a lot of time together in Arizona. In fact, the Google Maps image of our house included Melinda parking her van in front of our house. Ha!

Fish Creek Hike

One day this month, Richard took our boys to Fish Creek for a hike. They met up with Richard’s dad, brother, sister, and their families. I can’t narrate because I wasn’t there (my toe isn’t ready for 7 1/2 mile hikes), but the pictures tell a good story.

A Day at the Weber

We tubed, we danced, we ate. We played, we talked, we rested. The cousins are growing up together and it’s pretty entertaining. Daniel didn’t have anyone his age to talk to, so he ferried cousins in the canoe and gave scooter pushes. Learning how to interact with people of all ages is an important skill you learn in a family. It was a nice Saturday retreat at the Weber.

Art, Science, Wildflowers & Family

It was a social week for us, with house guests in many corners, a science camp, an art camp, full evenings, and a family reunion. I ate a burrito from Freebirds with Richard and Nancy. Mark and I were stung by wasps and Richard and Daniel came to the rescue, vacuumed them up as they flew around their nest, and sealed up the entrance to their nest beneath our house.

My knowledge and interests have expanded over the years as I have waited in my van for kids at music lessons, school, church activities, and ballet. This week I read a lot at the University of Utah while I waited for Timothy at science camp. My van is almost the only place I could read this week. At this rate, I should finish my book by Christmas. Something I did for myself was attend the New Testament Commentary Conference at BYU on Friday afternoon to hear my friend Julie speak. I stole the photo of Julie from Facebook.

A favorite moment was with Paige and Richard when we took a drive to the Albion basin to see the wildflowers. At sunset, a bull moose emerged between the trees. Its long legs made its leisurely walk as fast as our truck as we moved along the road trying to get a blurry photo. That evening I saw flowers; Richard saw the slopes he normally visits on his skis. We wove two separate themes as we talked. “Oh, look at that shade of pink…and those purple flowers! I’m dying.” To which he replied, “I can’t believe I ski over all of those boulders!” spoken with an equal sense of wonder.

Another adventure we had was weeding and planting carrots at the Church garden. The missionary in charge of the carrots kept handing us carrots for breakfast. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, we rinsed them with our dirty hands in the sprinklers and munched as we weeded. “They taste like carrots,” Richard said. We spent two hours with our whole family, working and laughing together, so I was happy.

The kids enjoyed time with 20 cousins this week, bouncing, splashing, and running. Ours is a family with cousins in perpetual motion. In the kids’ cubbies at Spring Lake, we found notes that Grandma had encouraged the Sanchez cousins to write to one another. Here are a few:

Dear Paige, I love you.

Dear Mortiky, Hi, I’m David. I love you!

To Timothy [puppy drawing] signed DAVID

A top secret note from Hogwarts School, sealed for Mark

Dear Paige, I love you. You’re my buddiey.

Dear Daniel, I painted you a picture. You’re welcome. <3 Paige

We watched the most lingering sunset ever on Saturday night. As the late summer evening darkened, the Payson temple began to glow. Watching this heavenly Changing of the Guard in silence, the light source changing from sun to temple, fed my soul.

Newport Beach

Are you in the mood to look at beach pictures?These triennial beach trips have become important markers for the progress of our family. Mark was a newborn and produced his first smile on the first beach trip we made with Richard’s family. Over the years, Paige towered over her brothers in height, until suddenly she didn’t. This is the last family vacation before she leaves home. When we go again, Daniel might be on a mission. The early beach trips with Mark kept me in the waves, holding him tightly because he loved the rush and pull of the water. This year he spent most of his beach time in the water, not needing my hand, and not caring how far the water carried him down the beach from the group. I watched him with squinty eyes from a distance, his jaunty walk and hop over the waves matching the imprint I have of him in my mind. Courage and skill have grown in all of the children. Interest in sand castle building has remained a constant, whether their legs are short or long, and whether they own a cell phone or not. I like constants like that. Some years we can find sand crabs. Timothy’s area of interest is always the wildlife. This year the treasure was sand dollars and on the final night, a tiny octopus in the tide pools. The boys are lucky to have cousins that match their ages and interests, and these cousins gathered for card games, baseball, amusement park rides, and electronics. Richard and his brothers always make me smile when they joke around together, which is almost all the time, except when they are working on a computer issue or shopping for something online. Then things get very, very serious indeed.

Walking on sand with a broken toe is a bad, bad idea, so I didn’t do a lot of that. I sat on the deck and looked out over the palm trees, stitched hair on a doll, and thought about Relief Society. On the days that I ventured to the beach, I spent the whole afternoon there to avoid having to walk back and forth over the sand. I’m normally pretty terrible at doing nothing, but sometimes it’s good to be still.

Here we go

Hello, July! We’re off on adventures, every one of us. Richard and the boys’ adventures are the outdoorsy type. Paige’s adventures are of the summer job and preparing for college type. I broke my first bone and was called to be the Relief Society President last week. I found myself saying this over and over as we faced new things, “Here we go…” (kind of like what you say before you jump off the high dive or speak before a crowd) and so far the shock and adrenaline have been great helps. So has my family. Paige and Daniel cooked while I had to rest with my foot elevated. My sister Susan came and sat with me on the day I was so nervous that I was sick to my stomach.

Independence Day is a blur to me, but according to the camera, we had tank wars with my sister’s family. Instead of focusing on the fireworks, my mind dreaded that moment when my name would be read in church the next day and that title would be added to my name and all kinds of expectations and associations over which I have no control would descend on me. It felt heavy, and made me feel a little solemn. I know that many women don’t know me at church because I have been working with the Young Women since we moved here.

Despite the initial shock and nervousness, I feel like I am coming to the calling of Relief Society President with a full lamp. I feel prepared; not fully capable, but strong in my testimony and at peace with the life I have been given, including some challenges and heartache. I know I will have lots of help from many people and God’s grace will carry me. Also, I love serving in Relief Society. I love visiting people and connecting with others on a deep level. I love teaching. So the calling, while heavy, is also a gift; Heavenly Father has said, “Here you go,” and I am glad.