My goal today is to spend an hour sitting outside in these chairs.
The AP Calculus test is tomorrow. I wonder if bonding over calculus will ever be a sweet memory for these two. They’ve worked hard all year.
Dinosaur Day
Mark and I are on field trip overdrive during this last month of school. Last week was our trip to the Bean Museum. This week was our visit to Thanksgiving Point. I love looking at dinosaur bones and so does Mark. We kept just ahead of the three busses of kids on field trips and avoided being swarmed upon like we were at the Bean Museum.
Mark kept telling me great facts about dinosaurs. I assumed it was from the books he read for his second grade report. When I asked him, though, he said some of his knowledge came from reading Calvin and Hobbes. 😉
We ended by visiting the candy counter at The Emporium, which is a visual delight.
Last walk
It was Paige’s last Laurel class activity before graduation last night and I got to drive these girls up to Temple Square for some pictures. While we were there we saw another group of young women doing the same thing, only they had 8 36-inch balloons in the Young Women value colors. They graciously let us use them. (We learned that it’s $50-70 to inflate this many balloons this size.)
These were just cell phone shots. Here are a few of the Real camera shots by Kelly Nelson, their Laurel class advisor.
Temple Square was nearly empty. An elderly couple held hands on a bench and looked up at the temple. A younger couple was doing the same on another bench. A couple of brides and grooms posed for pictures, but it was quiet. Golden light, air fragrant with blossoms, and a quiet spirit was there. It was one of the best Young Women activities I have ever attended.
Priesthood Restoration
At church on Sunday the Young Women teacher set out an outline for a family home evening lesson on the table. It had the activities from her Sunday lesson and a great quote for the young women to share with their families. Only one girl took a copy. And I did, too. I know the value of a ready-made FHE lesson. Timothy was thankful for it when he drew a blank about what he wanted to teach our family last night.
It was a good lesson. We read scriptures about the restoration of the priesthood. Richard and I talked about the big and small blessings in our lives that have come because the priesthood was restored.
We can be together forever.
We can have power in our lives.
We are blessed by he organization of the church.
We have a prophet and apostles on the earth to guide us.
And much, much more.
The blessings of the priesthood are like a blanket that covers and surrounds us all the time.
It is a humbling thing to be taught by Timothy and to hear his testimony.
We enjoyed some strawberry shortcake and then got back to homework and activities. It’s a busy time.
Brothers’ Hero Factory
Sometimes when these boys spend a lot of time together they fight, but this weekend there was more laughter than frustration. I opened the door and snapped this picture as quickly as I could to capture what they were doing so happily together. They were listening to Harry Potter CD’s read by Jim Dale as they constructed robots. Their theme lately is to make battle scenes with robots. Each night I walk into Mark’s room to find that he has new robots strung from the blind strings, poised for the fight on the ledges of the window. Enemies are posed in heroic battle scenes across the floor; robots scale the mattresses, climbing, spider-like toward the covers. We scoop them up and dump them back in the bin for tomorrow’s play.
The Cacophany that is Spring
Baseball
Construction in the neighborhood. Boom! Boom! Rattta-tat-tat! Sloosh!
Writing my book
Pursuing study
Birthdays for almost every extended family member
Music all the time
School deadlines
AP tests and study sessions
Graduation details
Messy flower beds
Anniversary love notes each day in the mail from Richard
Youth activities
Jazz band practices
A teen with a broken cell phone (The horror!)
Reading something good
Meals on the run
Pink flowering tree views out of the windows
Shorter hair
Ski equipment in storage
Almost finished with the school books
Field trip season
Crowded visit to the Bean Museum this week
First fly in the house
Open windows and bird song
Losing my view of the mountains because the leaves are back
Pastels, not blacks and browns
Snow last week, sunshine this week
I’m only allowed to bring healthy snacks to baseball?
Scout camp
Goodbye, Gilbert Blythe. I’m totally watching Anne of Green Gables this weekend.
Apostasy and Restoration
Daniel taught Family Home Evening last night. He pulled out a puzzle with one of following labels written on each piece.
- baptism
- scriptures
- belief in Jesus Christ
- priesthood
- sacrament
- apostles
We assembled the puzzle. Daniel taught how Jesus Christ established His Church on the earth, but after the death of the apostles, pieces of the gospel and Church were missing. He removed the puzzle pieces labeled, “priesthood,” “apostles,” and “sacrament.” He said many things were lost, and the puzzle was just an illustration. The Church fell into apostasy.
He handed out scriptures from the Doctrine and Covenants and asked each family member to identify something that was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. With each scripture, we were able to return a puzzle piece to its rightful place.
He showed us this video that has the words of one of the living apostles.
Daniel shared his testimony that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. His testimony was the best part of the lesson.
Our family puzzle piece
I was asked to make a piece of a puzzle to represent our family. There had to be space for a 4×6 photo to be mounted in the center. I used some state die cuts to show where we have lived. I placed sepia prints of the kids in bottle caps with a clear glossy stickers over the photos to show where each child was born. What a sentimental journey.
Are you finished with school yet, Mark?
My friend who is a school teacher pulled me aside last night to give me something she had saved. It was a magazine article listing positive things about homeschooling.
Bless her sweet, sweet heart. I didn’t know it until I talked with her, but I needed to feel that support.
Do over
She talked to me for the first time about her mother’s cancer yesterday. I asked her if she had any news (hoping she would share about her mother) and she almost didn’t tell me. But with flushed cheeks, she rushed to tell me details of a new study that her mom began that day.
Because chemo isn’t working.
I told her I was grateful that her mother was accepted into the study. I told her that her mom is a blessing to so many people and that her mother and the girl were in my thoughts and prayers all of the time. And because I didn’t know how to end my open expressions of hope that the new study medication will help her mom, I said, “You never know…”
What?
I should have said, “I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for you and for your mom, and that plan is beautiful.” Because that is what I know.
And I should have hugged her before continuing with the lesson.