Family Time – Page 35 – Letters from Home

The Weber Carnival 2016

We gathered at the family cabin for the first time since the death of my grandparents, who were so good at making these gatherings special. In loving memory (and instead of a funeral) we held a parade and carnival for my grandmother. My mom carried Grandma’s patriotic umbrella and we all decorated our bicycles, hats, and scooters… and the handcart.

I wore my grandmother’s red boots.

For carnival games, we had a fishing pond, doughnut eating contest, darts, ball games, and face painting. The kids made little boats to race in rain gutters.

My aunt showed up wearing the old fox stole and the dogs went crazy over it.My aunt and uncle brought their own brand of silly to the party, which is always expected at a gathering at the Weber.

We revisited the tradition of a sawdust candy hunt.

Next came the rubber ducky races down the river.

The winners were all adults.

Once the duckies came out of the river, we watched the kids tube down the river for hours.

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Oh, that Paige and her winning ways.

Mark and Timothy had a good time in the river. Daniel was at youth conference this day.

One theme of the gathering was gratitude, for a legacy of family traditions, a beautiful cabin, and one another. This day would have made my grandmother and grandfather smile.

Fish Creek 2016

For several months, Richard’s extra time has been used to acquire, repair, and outfit two four-wheelers. It has been a serious endeavor, requiring lots of grease, parts ordered online, phone calls, a visit to Elko, and time. One four-wheeler is for his dad, and one is for our family. They are ideal for exploring Fish Creek. It was nice to see many of Richard’s siblings on this trip and to watch the cousins have fun together.

Flag Day

Flag Day is the inauguration of summer for me. It reminds me that it is time to put out my red, white, and blue plates on the shelves, and fill my containers with flags and flowers. It is a heavy reminder that June is almost half over. (Don’t waste your summer, Angie!) Richard has been gone quite a bit on Scout camp outs and trips to buy four wheelers, so I updated our living room while he was away.

Summer reading for me always includes a biography. I can’t believe this has been out for twelve years and no one told me how good it is. I am also working through a book to help me with Isaiah, which isn’t nearly as good. No offense, Isaiah. Sincerely, a modern reader.

There are many summer projects. For Family Home Evening on Monday, we read Luke 2:52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” Each of us made summer goals in the same four areas: wisdom, stature, in favor with God, and in favor with man.

I need these goals. Summer is my least productive time of year. My grandmother says it’s our Scandinavian genes that make it so difficult to do anything when it’s hot. I fight every day to stay active during the summer, even if it just means I am redecorating shelves, hemming new curtains, or taking notes on a book. When the day is over and I have contributed to the house and made some notes from my studies, I can call it a good day.

Some of our week

Daniel was off to BYU for an Especially For Youth summer camp last week. Our house felt really empty with just two kids around, but we didn’t hold still for long. We planted pumpkins in a front yard flower bed because I get a lot of entertainment from seeing pumpkins grow in a front yard in our piano teacher’s neighborhood. We played with a couple sets of cousins and enjoyed time with friends. Timothy watered flowers and took care of pigeons for a neighbor.

We watched my niece and nephews one day, and since my niece was left out of the boys’ activities, we colored and made crafts. Later when she confessed she loved math and science best, and had been trying to make something interesting by mixing kitchen liquids, I showed her how to mix baking soda and vinegar. We shot off film canister rockets over and over on the back patio.

My friend gave me the loveliest brown and blue-green eggs. The color doesn’t show well in this picture. They tasted delicious.

On Saturday the whole family attended an L-3 open house and we got to see where Richard works for the first time. His work requires security clearance so this was a rare opportunity. His work space is not what I expected. Richard created a presentation to demonstrate how they can change audio signals to a laser signal, and back to audio. Trying to explain what Richard does at work really shows my ignorance. 🙂

It was a good first week of summer.

History was made.

I won a game. I actually won a game for the first time in my life. Maybe I don’t hate games, after all. (Inner voice: Let’s not be hasty, Angela.)

Mark’s baseball game got rained out last night so we had a game night for family home evening instead. We said we’d only play for an hour, but we all wanted to keep playing beyond that, ignoring electronic devices and bedtime.

Since Paige moved away, family home evening has been a little disjointed. It’s been harder. She is the one in the family to remind us about traditions. Our lessons have been of lower quality. Many nights this year we have just read and talked about scriptures without extra preparation.Even if we don’t have planned activities, if we’re in the scriptures, I call it a win.

A favorite lesson lately came from the New Era from last May and June. There were questions to interview parents, such as what was it like growing up? What was your worst date?….etc.

There are a lot of family home evenings to plan over the 30 years we have to raise our children. We’ve got 8 more years, but around 20 are gone. Did we do enough? Probably not. But we keep trying.

Family update

Richard is a busy Scoutmaster. One night he took Mark with his Scout troop to tour the State Capitol.

1-DSC_0585 — Mark is in his last weeks as a Bear in Cub Scouts.

1-DSC_0598 — Richard is doing an amazing job working with these boys. Recently, all of the deacons completed their requirements for Duty to God. The incentive? Doughnuts.

1-DSC_1137 — Timothy participated in the school district band concert, the only trombone player from his band to be selected.

1-DSC_1150 — Our tree erupted into masses of blossoms, its boughs weighed down in heroic efforts to be lovely. Seriously, we have never seen such blossoms on our magnificent tree.

1-DSC_1191 — We watched our nephew for a couple of weeks and we resurrected the toys and board books from storage to entertain him.

1-DSC_1192 — Mark is our only baseball player this season, and from now on. If the pitch is good you can count on him to get a hit.

1-DSC_1204 — This is the ONLY quilting I have had time to do in a month, but this English Paper piecing project was mostly done by hand, while watching Fixer Upper on Netflix.

1-1-DSC_0630 — Paige moved out of the dorms and into a little apartment on University Avenue owned by my parents. She is attending school this summer. Over the past few weeks we learned that she received a full scholarship and was accepted into two art programs. She declared her major to be Illustration. Sorry, Paige if I have this project oriented the wrong way. I love it in any direction.

1-DSC_2479 — This is an old picture, but Daniel is elusive. Busy with a new job as a clerk at Geneva Rock, playing piano, and studying for an AP test, he has many interesting conversations with friends about Prom coming up in a few weeks.

1-2016-03-12 015 — Photo by Janine Clarke. When I looked at this picture of our Relief Society choir, the first thought was, a stranger would never guess that the little woman with the messy ponytail on the back row is serving as the Relief Society president. I don’t look presidential. I am young. When I sang in this choir I trembled and thought I was going to fall over from fright. See how weak I am? My calling is hard. I hear sad things and the hardest thing is that I want to run to people all the time, but I can’t and shouldn’t. I am not the solution to anybody’s problems, but I do think I can point them to the real solutions in Christ. I do this with hugs, meals, visits, notes, teaching, and prayer. So much of what I do is on my own, but my counselors and secretary are the very best and hold me up in countless ways, whether it’s encouraging words, powdered sugar late at night, driving, taking over when I am too busy with family emergencies, and teaching me. They also make me laugh. I didn’t know them when I asked for them to be in my presidency, but my Father in Heaven knew I needed them.

My Grandmother’s Obituary

1-DSC_0108 — Photo by Rachel Gee. We attended Richard’s dad’s 80th birthday party in St George. Good times.

Washington D.C.

This was our very belated 20th anniversary celebration, and the first time we have been away for more than a night from the kids… ever. It was a good trip and I won’t bore you with captions. Anyone who has been to Washington D.C. has the same photos. We stayed in a basement apartment a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol building. We rode public transportation and walked. We tried our first Nutella shake. We attended a concert in the Kennedy Center. We were cold and bought a blanket, stocking hats, ear muffs, gloves, a thermos for hot chocolate, and a scarf over the course of the week. We saw 7 airports, and were 24 hours late getting home because of a canceled flight. We spent the night in Denver, which was certainly not part of our original plan, but all well.

We were looking at monuments and great works of art, then last night I found myself back home making spaghetti. The memories of this trip will keep my mind occupied for a long time. Richard planned the trip and we filled every minute with discovery.

General Priesthood Session

Richard and the boys got to attend the General Priesthood session at the Conference Center. That outtake in the second position just makes me laugh. I didn’t watch the session, but it didn’t take me long to learn there was a Chewbacca reference in one of the talks. They never talk about Star Wars with the sisters, not that I am complaining.

The Tradition Lives On

Richard came home from work last night and said that he thought we should do the Easter egg lesson for Family Home Evening. I had worried that the 15-year-old tradition was too juvenile so we didn’t do it for Easter this year. I am glad we went back and fixed that.

Our Easter lesson isn’t unique. I am sure it’s a popular idea. It is a collection of 12 plastic Easter eggs which I have numbered, each holding a scripture reference and small object related to Christ’s sufferings, death, and resurrection. The final egg is empty to represent the tomb. Inside the eggs are just simple things, such as a tiny cup, a length of rope, a nail, different fabrics, a sponge, a stone, a small angel, etc. Each year we take turns opening these eggs and talk about these objects and the events of Jesus’ last days. Some years we open one egg each day leading up to Easter. Other years, we have opened them all at once. The conversation has matured as the kids have grown. I think the scriptures are the key to inviting the Spirit, and we don’t read long passages. The objects are the key to keeping the younger children’s attention, but handling them does something powerful for adults. Richard was right. We shouldn’t give up this tradition, and as he taught in FHE, we should celebrate Easter all the time.

We sang, “Jesus Has Risen” from the Primary songbook about an octave and a half lower than the music is written. As the deep voices of the boys filled the room, I smiled. It wasn’t long ago that we were singing that song straight from the book, their sweet voices melting my heart. Do you want to hear what they sounded like 7 years ago? Go here. The suits! The little boys! The pale pink Easter dress! I’m dying.

This morning I packed away the lesson in our Easter decorations box, ready to be used in 2017. I may expand the lesson next year, but if I don’t, I won’t use it as an excuse not to do it. Simple traditions are sometimes the best.

Easter Weekend

My new neighbor heard that we were musical so she gave us her tickets to Handel’s Messiah since she couldn’t go. This was a powerful experience. The music felt like heaven reaching out to me.

At the family Easter gathering on Saturday, my dad took the children on an Easter walk around the property. He set up simple objects and food for the children to handle and eat as he talked about the last week of the Savior’s life. He selected scriptures to be read at each stop. The small children were reverent and aware. I followed along and was touched by my dad’s testimony of Christ and his efforts to share it with his grandchildren. He has no pattern to follow in these acts from his own family experience, so one of my Easter lessons this year was how the gospel of Jesus Christ enhances the family dynamic and blesses generations.

Paige came home for a day. It was our eighth year attending the General Women’s meeting of the Church together and we took the traditional picture. We were called to action by our leaders, and that is a good thing.

Easter is changing for our family. Instead of the highlight being eggs and the traditional Easter scriptures in eggs, it was the Sunday meal. I don’t usually cook much on Sunday, but I prepared an Easter feast and enjoyed how the family lingered at the table for a change. Daniel filled the house with Easter music all day; Paige filled the house with art, photographing her work for her portfolio. Mark helped fill eggs with candy for his siblings. It was a good day.

Truths about the Savior I experienced this Easter week include feelings of gratitude for his grace lifting me and accepting me when I knew I could have done better. As I listened to Messiah music, I followed the Libretto, or text. The words were familiar even if the full musical score wasn’t. I realized how many of these scriptures about Christ are fundamental to me, their words framing my testimony. They are the lens by which I view many things, and a beloved guide for how to respond to challenges and try to help others. I feel my flaws in high relief, but Easter weekend reminded me that I can’t and will not fix them alone. Our precious Savior is the solution to everything.