Our family story is punctuated by late summer adventures, year after year. Summer 2022 was important, so we ended it big. Seven of us traveled to Yellowstone in my brother’s 10-passenger van. We stopped short of ordering matching T-shirts, but we were pretty much a tour bus with people that poured out of the doors at each stop.
My heart dwells in so many memories of Yellowstone. But this time, I was a mother of adults and a junior in high school, which is a very different experience.
We are in the final week of summer break. This morning I took some time to look over some snapshots and screenshots from the last few months, and chose a few to share. These are some of people and places I want to remember. Two really good friends passed away. We have been really focused on wedding preparations. Mark was gone a lot, and his social connections got stronger. Richard worked from home. I lived my own version of The Secret Garden, increasing my strength. We planted a lot of flowers, and I am especially proud of reclaiming my favorite corner of the yard, the one that feels like a forest. We sat beneath outdoor lights on many nights. Paige and Michael were especially helpful hanging the lights. Tim made it to Guam. We said goodbye to friends who are going on a mission. Lots of lasts and firsts this summer. This means growth.
Thou crownest the year with the goodness.
Psalm 65:11
Sara and Christopher’s reception completes our summer as a wedding reception venue. I don’t have many photos, but it was a lovely evening. I love celebrating events and milestones at our house.
Besides the happy couple, my favorite memory is the cousins from Shari, Richard, and Rebecca’s families laughing and joking together in our kitchen as we packed up lots and lots of marbles and flowers. Little things.
This is what we have to show for our family’s efforts this summer, a party full of lights and people, a celebration for Daniel and McKenna.
So many people helped us, and I have kept a record of the tender mercies that got us to this day.
Sometimes it is easy to forget to take a photo, or put it off until everyone can be there. I have learned to take the photo, even if Joe isn’t there, and even if we will be together again soon. Just take the photo.
This cold week, I feel more like making a cozy beef stew than anything else. Truly, that’s on the menu tonight. So weird. We decorated for summer, despite the snow and nonsense. Summer decorations in the kitchen signal good times ahead.
Richard and I spent time in Salt Lake City to celebrate our anniversary. The hills north of downtown were verdant and vibrant. These hills are usually straw yellow, but the grasses were young and bright.
The high school flags line the front of the school, the last concerts are over, and a new class graduates this week. Time is so compressed for me lately, it doesn’t feel like a year since Tim graduated. But then again, our lives are so different now, that time must have carried us to this new place. We certainly haven’t arrived at this end of another school year by any conscious, overriding plan of our own. We just kept working and kept moving, and here we are.
Here is an important quote I keep using as I see complexities in how to balance love of God and love of neighbor (thanks to my mom for this one),
âIgnoring the first commandment, or reversing the order of the first and second commandments, risks a loss of balance in life and destructive deviations from the path of happiness and truth. Love of God and submission to Him provide checks against our tendency to corrupt virtues by pushing them to the extreme. Compassion for our neighborâs distress, for example, even when the suffering is brought about by his or her own transgression, is noble and good. But an unbridled compassion could lead us, ⌠to question Godâs justice and misunderstand His mercy.
“There are those, for example, who believe that loving others means we must twist or ignore Godâs laws in a way or ways that advocate or condone sin.â (Christofferson, The First Commandment First, 2022 BYU Devotional)
I work in the yard each day, trying to reclaim sections of neglected areas. It’s so satisfying. Dirt outside and thread and fabric inside are my materials for work lately. In June, I will move to paint as my medium, as we cover more surfaces in my grand plan (many years old) to repaint every inch of the house.
Someone asked me what we are doing this summer. A wedding. Two family reunions. Drivers Ed. A trip to Yellowstone. High Adventure. Pioneer Trek. These are big events, and this is my last morning with Mark at school for a little while. I just keep moving and keep working, and here we are.
Since we had four young adults in the house for Sunday dinner, we tuned in to hear President Nelson’s devotional. So inspiring!
I have begun a cross stitch journey. Mini art masterpieces. đ