This weekend I will put out my summer and patriotic decorations. I may be just a little obsessed about this addition to our decor this year. It is so unlike me to buy something like this, but I saw the band playing in the gazebo and the cute food stands and remembered my childhood summers in Provo. Plus, I did at least 17 really difficult things during the week, so I treated myself, 40% off at Michael’s.
Happy weekend!
Timothy has worked hard in woods this year. The electric guitar was his final project and it was fun to go to the wood shop at the school to see all the students’ projects on display. We are really impressed by his guitar! Now, if we just had a guitar amp, he could play it. Oh, my.
This is how he chose to style his cricket table he made in the fall. A round table for a round Millennium Falcon. Perfect.
I am able to keep windows open all day lately, and the sounds of the breeze swirling our great cottonwood trees and the fresh air somehow dispel the busy feelings and replace them with grateful feelings. Consistently, I feel grateful for trees and green and warmer air.
May 7-13
May 14-20
I just spent a glorious two days watching Timothy’s Ultimate Frisbee state tournament. I am proud of him for running constantly (there were only 8 players and 7 had to be on the field at a time) and for being a decent, respectful, kind human. The team did really well, but I find myself most happy about the way Timothy conducted himself.
Richard and I had plans to go to Timothy’s jazz band dinner dance this week, but I was sick and had to miss it. Mark went in my place. I really missed out on a great evening! Timothy was able to play with some seasoned jazz musicians and play some of my favorite big band music. He is the trombone player on the second row in the video.
Today is Mark’s 12th birthday. I am happy for him, and a little sad for me. This week he displayed some work in an art show, played trumpet in a band concert, and sang in a choir concert. I couldn’t get a good photo of him in the back of the band. However, I bet you can spot him easily in the choir. He is ambivalent about the choir experience for many reasons, one being his section.
It’s the Fathers and Sons campout tonight, so we will celebrate Mark tomorrow night with all the good things.
Each day but one this week Daniel or Timothy took AP tests. I tried to warn them, but they took the classes and tests anyway. 😉
Losing trees is one of the saddest things. The previous owners’ daughters called this grove and the stepping stone path through the periwinkle “the beautiful.” I will miss the flicker of light filtering through the leaves. It hurt my heart to see two trees go, but aspens don’t live forever. The trees really called to me when we looked at this house the first time, and I feel some nostalgia for the days when there were tall aspens lining the path.
Speaking of moving to Utah, that was almost six years ago. Leaving Tucson meant leaving the incredible piano ensemble experiences our kids had every spring, where they played duets on a stage with twelve grand pianos. There is nothing on this scale here, but there are “monster concerts” the kids play in the mall with five pianos. It was nice to hear the boys perform duets together one last time before Daniel leaves.
We came home from the monster concert to discover that the corsage Daniel ordered for prom was the wrong color and the flowers were wilting, so I made my first wrist corsage on Saturday. I felt more stress about this corsage than I thought was possible over some flowers and glue. Daniel went to prom with McKenna and I just hoped the flowers would stay on that wrist corsage all evening. I probably should have hoped he would have fun, but that was a given since he was with McKenna and happy friends.
Paige was accepted into the Illustration BFA program at BYU and things are moving forward with her internship in New York this summer.
Mark was awarded three ranks in Scouting. He achieved the rank of First Class, just in time to turn twelve.
Paige and I drove to Cedar City for lunch with Richard’s female relatives to celebrate his mom’s birthday. I didn’t capture everyone in this picture. With so many schedules it was amazing that so many could make it.
Dessert in Beaver
Daniel learned he is Valedictorian of his class and received the Heritage scholarship at BYU.
Not pictured: Timothy in his tux playing at the State Band competition, winning Frisbee points at the tournament on Saturday, and the electric guitar he is making in his woods class.
Richard and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary.
Not every week is a harvest, and I am thankful when one comes along.
I pause at the corner store near my grandmother’s home in California when I visit and feel gratitude for the store owners who simply gave a Book of Mormon to each of their neighborhood customers. The Book of Mormon they gave to the Sanchez family sat on a shelf for years before my dad, a teenager, decided to read it.
Sometimes I think we forget that the biggest tool to bring people to Christ is the Book of Mormon. I loved this account of a BYU advertising project which asked people of all faiths to read one page of the Book of Mormon, highlight references to God, and tell what they thought and felt as they read. The responses were remarkable.
Here is what a few people said after reading:
Danny, Christian, page 4
I’ve never heard of the Book of Mormon before. But it wasn’t foreign. It was more familiar reading it. It’s like I was listening to a song that was familiar, but I couldn’t remember what it was called or who it was by…It makes me want to find out more.
Amna, Pakistan,Muslim, page 397:
This [experiment] is a brilliant idea. You should take out an ad and tell people to be here. I woke up and turned on the TV today, and all I saw was war, refugees, violence, and problems. The world needs to see this [experiment]. To see that there is hope and love in the world and that God is good…I am so grateful to be part of this project today. The whole world needs to see it. Thank you!
The full (short) article is here:
https://magazine.byu.edu/article/an-experiment-upon-the-word/
This is Jordan High School’s 2018 Valedictorian!
To myself:
Take these tender experiences and allow them to take a flight with you in your soul. Above the winds and the pull of distractions and Earth, examine each, and ask, “Does this provide a lesson for the mind or heart?” Lessons of the heart require more time aloft.
Avoid the tendency to land too early in your assessment of the big lessons. “I can’t do it,” and “Why?” are things we say when we have landed too soon. Trust that as you fly, your heart will grow into lessons too big for you right now in your current state.
And the ugly lessons, the ones that tear the heart and torture the mind? The longer you fly, the softer the lesson will seem when you land, aged and wise. What burdened you once will seem like a light thing, perhaps even a sweet thing then. So keep flying.