Category: Family Time

Boulders, a Wedding Crasher, Pimpernel, and White Gloves

A month and a half ago, the mudslide at Spring Lake looked like this. But after more rain, it became clear that this mud was also full of boulders and rocks. My dad is a master with rock walls. The mountain couldn’t have gifted these to a better recipient.

(The family has been trying to dig out trees from the mud to save them.)

 

While the men and boys worked on the dirt and rock project, I organized the library at my parents’ house. The Sanchez family is a family of builders, minus me. I just like to be zen and organize decor.

I crashed a wedding gathering this week so I could see Paige as a bridesmaid at the Salt Lake temple. I sat in the sun on a bench on the south side of the temple, warm and bright, and couldn’t imagine anything I would rather be doing. I didn’t take any photos of the wedding party because I wanted the moment for myself. Plus, I shouldn’t have been there. The less evidence the better.

A friend took me to see this play this week and we ate Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints. Delightful. Except I can’t erase the guillotine scenes from my mind. HOW did they do that?

Mark had a band concert this week and Tim was a guest artist since they needed trombones. Ha! He and his two friends sat at least a head taller than the middle school kids. But he had his own dressing room with pizza. Mark has taken to wearing white gloves when he plays his trumpet. He is pretty dapper sometimes.

Catching up

Mark was honored as an Eastmont Patriot of the Month for citizenship, leadership, scholarship, and extra-curricular activities. Woot!

I helped make this quilt for a new baby in the neighborhood.

Every conversation at our house includes a status update on my massive painting project and Richard’s apple harvest. I stopped counting gallons of paint, but Richard knows exactly how many pounds of apples were produced.

Court of Honor

Missionary

BYU Homecoming Spectacular 3rd row seats. Awesome!

It’s Inktober for Paige on Instagram.

ONE page of a piece Timothy is working on. Legit!

Did I mention I am painting a lot? It feels like our house is finally becoming our own. I waited a long time to paint because I knew what a big job it would be and I didn’t have the time. So far, I have spent about 17 full days on it. I have not had this kind of time…ever in my life to devote to such a project. Someday I might post “after” pictures, but you could also come and visit.

Bests

The best evenings are Utah summer evenings, and after hot, smoky days, the sunsets burn ribbons of orange and red across the horizon. Just as we have adjusted to a slower pace after the frenzied weeks of travel, missionary preparations, and goodbyes, this week ushers in busy school life. I feel nothing about the school year. It just is. Today as we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to piano lessons, there were leaves on the hill which have lost some of their verdure. We wonder, will the autumn colors be more or less brilliant after this dry summer?

Today is Paige’s twenty-second birthday, and I am on my second attempt at a three-layer cake. The first three layers sit in the trash. I remember the effort for her first cake and my skills are still shaky for her twenty-second cake. My best girl. She is here for a few weeks as she shuffles her plans for housing.

We accomplished a lot this summer, and by we, I mean the kids. There was Paige’s internship in New York and Daniel’s mission, but here’s a shout-out for Timothy who finished drivers ed and Mark who learned to swim properly. Here’s a shout-out for the books we read, the conservative documentaries Timothy and Richard viewed, and all the water in which we have dipped our toes. Our necks craned to see the tops of Redwood trees and skyscrapers. We stopped on the sides of streams to throw rocks and sketch. We boated, biked, hiked, climbed, drove, and swam through this summer. We entered holy temples more often than usual. Summer of 2018 has been one of our best. It’s like we lived the lyrics of This Land is Your Land.

 

 

Payson temple

We decided to attend the temple as a family, all six of us at the same time. My parents came with us and we did ordinances for some particularly dear family members who are deceased. Some spent time in the baptistry. Mark had names he had discovered himself at the family history library plus one other special name we have been waiting for permission to do. Others spent time in a session. Daniel and Richard carried names Daniel found when he was twelve years old. It was an especially sweet day at the Payson temple. The name cards had been well-traveled, with some ordinances in Arizona, others in Draper, and now Payson. I was really affected by the experience and I was glad that I still had tissues in my pocket from a different day in the temple. I wish we had taken a picture, but we got separated and things were a little hectic getting there. My mom figured we had some challenges getting to the temple because it was the right thing to do. Amen.

On the List

We decided that we needed one last Lego building night, so for family night we turned on a Harry Potter audio book and played with sets from the old Lego library. Then we read scriptures and sent Timothy out to the garage with Richard to finish his last driver’s ed. assignment. I think we all felt pretty good about life.

Also, we found this attached to our door. The hearts are covered with encouraging messages from the Jaussi family.

 

Eagle Court of Honor

On Sunday evening at the Spencer cabin, we held Daniel’s Eagle Court of Honor during our family reunion. Thanks to Richard J. and Sarah, we have some great photos from the evening. We were surrounded by family, friends, and special guests, but we were also in a sacred setting. The cabin and mountains, with more than 100 years of family memories, added to the feelings of the evening. Daniel earned his Eagle a long time ago, but the court of honor felt intimidating to do, so we delayed. I’m so glad we decided to do it in this setting before he leaves on his mission.

No

I read a book recently about the power of Christian hospitality. Our homes, our time, and our stuff, is not our own, the author asserts. And we need to get over the idea that our homes need to be perfect to invite people into our lives. We need to move from entertaining to being hospitable. This is how we show a life of faith to others and have the greatest influence. Some of these thoughts will frame the way I will be more free with my time, my home, and my self, but I have only felt terrible this week when I have held myself to a standard I can’t live right now. I am better than I used to be about sensitivity to people and requests, and I have a greater tolerance for social demands now than even a year ago. However, in this coming month of a high adventure trip and scout camp back-to-back (alone); and during this month of final missionary preparations and errands (stretched); and during the last collection of minutes with our son Daniel living with us (sacred), people may be disappointed in my inability to do it all. I have said no, and I will continue to say no occasionally.