Extended family – Page 30 – Letters from Home

Little Women

Paige and I watched this movie late into the night last weekend. I always watch this movie with my girl. The first time I watched it was in a theater with my mom and two sisters in December 1994, just a few days before I got engaged. That’s a sweet memory.

It was a weekend to celebrate women. My mom spoke at the Missionary Training Center to all of the sister missionaries on Sunday morning and she invited me and my sisters to attend.

We were told that 39% of the missionaries at the MTC this weekend are sisters. That’s a lot of women. There was real power in that enormous arena. There were other sisters assembled at the “west campus” and we waved via satellite. When they all sang I cried.

They took lots of notes and told me they were excited to go to Taiwan or Scottsdale, Arizona and all over the world. My mom’s words were beautiful and reminded us that The Gospel Blesses Families. It’s quite something to be invited to speak to such a unique and historic audience. It might have been the largest gathering of sister missionaries ever. It was a special thing to see my mother speak with confidence and power to that audience.

I went home to my Young Women at church and told them that they look like the sisters at the MTC. They are nearly the same age and they have the same countenance. Do they understand that they have power through their obedience to covenants? I hope so. Do they understand that they are respected and valuable in their roles at church? I hope so. Do they know that it’s a blessing to be a woman? Oh, because it is!

Some of the best women I know

I went to lunch this week with my mom, sisters, and a sister-in-law (not pictured). They are smart, spiritual, tender, and industrious. I can guarantee that each of them is working on one or more of the following things today: Graphic design, music, sewing, quilting, refinishing, remodeling, building furniture, nurturing children, photography, rescuing someone, or party planning… They inspire me.

A Baptism Day

My niece Ruby was baptized this weekend. This was the cousin shot, and this was the best they could do to hold still after the loooooooong program. They love each other. Can you tell?

My parents were there and I’m grateful that I can see them so often. Sitting with family at baptisms was a blessing that I missed when we lived far away. That little Ruby is such a pretty and kind little girl! She is learning to speak Chinese, too. Wow.

A Wedding Day

It’s a good thing that there are so many photos of this bride (our niece) and groom circulating in the world because we didn’t make it home with a single photo of them.

Here is what the kids and Richard took pictures of on the wedding day in Manti.

Oh, look. There is a picture of the bride with her eyes half closed. It was a beautiful wedding in the Manti temple and there was lots of family and love.

Faithful friends

DSC_2338-001 — The Sanchez family dogs at the Weber, photo by Sarah

Last year Sparky chose to spend every day in his kennel, pouting because the kids were away at school. He’s not pouting in his kennel this year. He’s moved on to the living room where he curls up in a ball and waits for his kids to come home.

Men’s Weekend

Half of our family was away this weekend to have a grand adventure at Fish Creek with Richard’s family… and my brother Paul.They camped, rode 4-wheelers, hiked, and explored.

We were all led to believe that it was just for the boys, but the pictures don’t lie. Richard’s sister was there. 😉

They came home dirty, exhausted, and smiling. It looked like a successful trip to me.

Family Day

We visited the Weber cabin for a few hours this weekend to say hello to the kids’ great-grandparents and other extended family.

We visited with my cousin Laura and enjoyed her vivacious spirit.

Timothy, the super-cousin, walking with little David.

Richard and my uncle David talked for a long time. The Stewarts are good company. The following picture is my favorite. My grandpa got up from resting to wave to Sterling and Janice as they drove away.

When someone leaves the cabin, we line up holding dish towels or whatever we can find to wave to them as they drive away.

The kids chose to walk to the gate with their uncle as we drove out of the ranch. They just look so tall.

The end.

My latest wedding gift idea

Wedding gifts put me in a quandary and I’m not good at them, but I have decided to fix that. I think it’s a good idea to have a stash of gifts handy for weddings. Certainly family wedding gifts require a little more thought and love.

Over the years I have been slowly typing up my recipes and putting them in a binder so they are all accessible in one place. When the kids move out I can print out the recipes that they want and send them off with their own recipe books. It occurred to me that I could share these recipes with my niece who is getting married next month.

I bought a small binder and small sheet protectors from an office supply store and some pretty scrapbook paper on clearance. I have used a normal sized binder for recipes for years, but it is bulky and wastes counter space, so I think the smaller binder is better. I printed out each recipe on a half sheet of paper and assembled the binder with lots of pretty paper dividers. I took pictures because I will miss it when I give it away. I still need to make one for myself.

What is it about recipes and memories? Every time I use a recipe from a friend from Texas or Arizona, memories of them surround me as I cook. My aunt compiled family recipes a few years ago into small binders and I experience the same thing when I use them. Suddenly I’m back in Grandma’s kitchen.

I know the recipes won’t mean much to my niece for sentimental reasons, but hopefully she can make some great memories of her own as she prepares these. I wasn’t much of a cook when I got married, so cook books were some of my favorite wedding gifts.

My most requested recipes over the years have been our whole wheat bread, decadent brownies, chocolate chip cookies, butternut bisque, Mexicali pie, and black bean salsa.

So much, but nothing

I feel a bit burned out. It’s the last week of summer and I am so glad that we canceled our trip to Yellowstone this week. We need a chance to breathe before school begins.

I’ve been thinking about all we have done since school got out in June. We sent Paige to EFY, Girls’ Camp, and Youth Conference to paint a house and spend time in the mountains on canoes and a ropes course. I went with her to Youth Conference. We sent Daniel to Scout Camp and Richard went along for part of the week. We traveled to St George and sped around on wave runners. We went to Fish Creek and rode motorcycles. We camped in our backyard, read The Hobbit aloud, and made about 20 trips to the library. We spent several days at Spring Lake, celebrating with family and working on projects with concrete. Richard overhauled two motorcycles and fixed up the tent trailer. I painted doors and baseboards. Daniel painted the walls of his bedroom. Richard and I got new callings at church (ward missionary and YW secretary) and spent many late nights editing my book. We sent Timothy to Cub Scout camp and Richard went with him. We spent about a week in the mountains at the family cabin with 20-40 people, depending on the day. We saw moose and a bear. Mark started piano lessons, so piano music is almost always in the background with four piano students practicing each day. I finished my first quilt. We watched the neighbors’ quadruplets. We read a lot of books. Daniel joined an orchestra and mowed the lawn each week. Timothy tended the garden. Mark and Timothy hunted almost daily for wasps. We have had a steady queue of guests stay in our home and we have learned that Salt Lake City truly is the Crossroads of the West. This is where our energy has gone this summer.

Perhaps I have earned the lethargy that I feel this morning.

I wrote, nurtured, and edited 120 pages about my grandmother. I wrote 14 posts about my experiences as a Mormon and why I love my church. Perhaps these were all of the words I had to give this summer.

It’s been a good time and I get emotional when I think of school taking the kids away each day. We’ve been in Utah a year now (as of this weekend) and one of my favorite things about Utah is that there are distinct seasons and something special to look forward to in each. My task today is to find something to look forward to about school beginning. It might take me all week to do it.

Weber 2013

We had a wonderful time at the Weber cabin with the Sanchez family, with lots of cousin play and sibling reconnection.

One morning Paige took a group of little girl cousins down by the spring and they found a bear… 10 feet away from them. Later that day we spotted the bear again. We think it was attracted to all of the wild raspberries in the grove. Scary. Richard got 3 photos as it ran away the second time. The kids spent a lot of time in the river.

We raced rubber duckies in the river and three of our kids won medals.

We danced the Virginia Reel. The dogs joined us.

(I fiddled.)

I distributed my grandma’s history. Richard and I stayed up so late every night leading up to the week of the cabin trying to finish it. For me, the week was spent recovering (napping and going to bed early) in our tent trailer.My parents were the rock stars of the week. They planned activities with vision and they served us and loved us in hundreds of ways.

Happy, happy memories.