Luke Finishes Flag Football

Luke finished up his flag football season. The team that he was on last year disbanded somewhat as most of the boys were too old to play. This meant that his coach quit coaching because his son wasn't playing anymore. Luke got a new team and a new coach. We realized the season would be interesting when, at the first practice, the coach asked the kids who wanted to play to win and who wanted to play to have fun. Luke and one other raised their hand in the affirmative of winning. Because most of the kids wanted to "just have fun," the coach took a relaxed attitude in coaching and let the kids play whatever positions they felt like. Luke did get an opportunity to play quarterback which was fun to watch. He also scored a few touchdowns through the season. Despite these highlights, his team lost nearly every game. I think he has decided to give tackle football a try next year.

Luke Turns 14

Luke celebrated his fourteenth birthday. I can't believe he is another year older! Time sure flies. He didn't actually get his regular breakfast in bed this year because he has become accustomed to waking up at 5:30 am and I don't wake up that early. (He insists that he feels more refreshed and enjoys the early morning time to himself.) Due to this early morning habit, it was necessary for him to wait until I woke up to make him his birthday breakfast. After breakfast, he opened his presents. His favorite gifts were a Kindle and a Lego Set (those were about his only gifts as the kids' tastes get more expensive as they get older.) When we hit the weekend, Luke had a birthday party with his friends. They came over and hung out, playing games, eating pizza, and watching movies. I've decided that I enjoyed these parties more when they were younger and I could keep track of everyone. Now that all of his friends are teenagers, they like playing night games and running around the neighborhood. I felt like I was continually doing a head count and making sure no one got lost. I shouldn't worry so much as most of them have cell phones and I'm sure could get home if they had to. I just feel responsible when they are here. It's a whole new ballgame at this age, I can only imagine when they are all old enough to drive. The Sunday after his birthday, Luke was ordained to be a Teacher at church. It was a neat experience. They invite the Teacher Advisors and the Teacher Quorum presidency to attend. They are all invited to share some thoughts. I was very impressed that the young men shared their testimonies as they welcomed Luke into the Teachers Quorum. They did this without being asked or prompted to do so. They did a beautiful job inviting the Spirit and getting Luke excited to advance into this new Quorum. Our young men's program has done a great job implementing the Duty to God program. Each week the boys share what they have learned and studied. This gives the boys many opportunities to share their testimonies. Their implementation of this program has come to the attention of the General Young Mens' Presidency who have been in contact with our ward leaders to discuss how they have done it. As I watched these young men so easily share their testimonies with Luke, I knew that their experiences with Duty to God had prepared them for these types of experiences. What a great blessing to experience.

Field Trip to Pumpkin Patch

Matthew and his preschool made their annual field trip to the pumpkin patch. Matthew and his friends had a lot of fun despite one small mishap. One child from a different class was throwing rocks and no one stopped her before she lugged a golf-size rock. We all watched it sail through the air, finding its target on the forehead of one of Matthew's friends. It was almost slow motion watching the rock fly. None of us reacted in time to move the friend and the poor kid ended up with a small gash on the top of his head. This accident didn't stop the kids from enjoying the many festivities at the pumpkin patch. They had fun going down the slides, bouncing in the bounce-house and playing in big tires. Of course, they all came home with a pumpkin.

Journey to the Temple

Luke and Lindsey had the opportunity with the Young Men and Women to bike and then hike to the Bountiful Temple. The girls have been training for some time, going on regular bike rides and building up stamina. The boys just showed up and started the journey. If I understood the distances correctly. They biked close to 20 miles then hiked the 3+ miles up the hill that leads to the Bountiful temple. They started at 6:30 am and arrived at the temple around 11:30 am. Once at the temple grounds, the youth were greeted by their families. Everyone got to listen to a special speaker who did a great job tying in all the symbolism of the journey as one prepares to go to the temple. The speaker had actually made the journey a couple of days beforehand so she would know what the youth had done. Her words related well to what the youth had experienced. Luke and Lindsey both said it was a difficult journey. Lindsey ended up with two flat tires and eventually had to use a spare bike and Luke was just unprepared as were most of the young men, but it was a great experience for them. I really hope it made an impression on them and they will look back at some point with fondness at what they learned and experienced.

Kids Start School

The kids have gone back to school now. I didn't get any pictures because, unfortunately, my camera was broken. Heather and Savannah were the first to go back. Heather started the fifth grade with Mrs. Wood as her teacher. She is the third in our family to have Mrs. Wood. She was excited to see some familiar faces and Mrs. Wood was excited to have Heather in her class. Savannah started second grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Fitzgerald, a new teacher at our school. Savannah has been playing school all summer to help preserve all she learned in first grade. Her bedroom is covered in white boards, papers, and books. In the beginnin she could get Matthew to play with her but later when asked why he wouldn't participate, his response was, "Playing school with Savannah is exhausting!" She is very happy to be back in school where she can get new material to add to her bedroom schoolhouse. Luke and Lindsey started Junior High a week after the girls. We had some schedule rearranging to do to get things in order, but other than that, everything went smoothly. Luke was happy to be back with friends and no longer at the bottom of the todem pole. Lindsey has adjusted very well to having numerous teachers and opening her locker. For the first year, the junior high is offering honors classes to the 7th graders. Lindsey is enrolled in those classes. After going to Back to School Night, I decided Lindsey's schedule may be more difficult than Luke's (Luke is in Honors too but his don't seem as hard). We'll see how it works out. Finally, a couple weeks after Luke and Lindsey started, Matthew went back to preschool. He is starting at a new school this year. The curriculum at his school is very structured. The kids are required to purchase reading books and prepare to pass them off. I relieved when I found out it is the same reading program I have taken all of my other kids through. We already had the books and Matthew is already familiar with them. I wasn't sure how I felt about having homework in preschool but it shouldn't be too bad.

St. George Temple

Two Weddings

This summer we had the joy of participating in two weddings. Two of our cousins on the Yardley side were married which gave us the opportunity to travel to Beaver and on to St. George to enjoy the festivities. The first wedding was my cousin Cressa marrying Heston and a month later we watched Candace marry Jason. I was asked to do the flowers and cake for both weddings. I haven't had this opportunity in quite some time as there hasn't been a Yardley wedding for a while. The two weddings were quite different from each other but both turned out very beautiful. Cressa had a bright, colorful garden wedding and Candace had a vintage, formal wedding. Both couples were married in the St. George wedding. We realized at the first wedding that all of my Grandma and Grandpa Yardley's grandchildren, 28 of us, have received their endowment. Those that are married, all have been married in the temple, two are currently serving missions. During one ceremony, the sealer asked the 120 odd patrons in attendendance how many had been married in that very sealing room. Over 3/4s of the couples there raised their hands. Our grandparents, all of our parents, and most of the grandkids have all been sealed at the same alter in the St. George Temple. It was a great realization as this was pointed out to us. It made me think of a quote from the story of the Willie Martin Handcart Company, a pioneer company that our great, great grandmother was a part of, "The greatest honor I could receive is to know that my children and their children live in righteousness." The kids had a fun time at the weddings. One of the advantages of having your mom arrange the flowers is getting to present the bouquet to the bride as she exits the temple. Savannah took great delight in this privilege both times. It was cute to see all of the cousins help carry the train of Candace's dress as she walked around the temple grounds. Sharing some of the traditions of a "good, old Beaver wedding" with my kids was fun. From the boisterous wedding breakfast, to the decorating, gift collecting, serving refreshments, hearing the "Moonlighters" play while everyone danced (that's right, they're still in business but we were told Candance's wedding was their last gig), to the final cleanup at the end. A Beaver family wedding is just that, having the whole family involved. I count it a blessing that we were a part of it.

Pictures of the cakes

New Kittens

Last year, around Christmastime, we had a stray cat show up on our doorstep. She was actually a kitten. The kids immediately fell in love with her and thought she was an early Christmas present. This was the time our home was in the middle of a remodel and much of our stuff was being stored in the garage. I thought I could solve two problems at once. The kids had always wanted a kitten and the garage was starting to get a mouse smell. Inviting the kitten to live in the garage made everyone happy (except the mice.) We were actually under the impression that the cat was a male until he had kittens in our garage! That was our Memorial Day surprise.

After eight weeks, we soon had three kittens we needed to find homes for. James took the kids to the local grocery store with a box marked "free kittens". Within twenty minutes they were back home. I was surprised they were able to unload the kittens that quickly--until I heard mewing. The box was still full. Apparently one of the kittens had escaped into the store. James and Heather were back and forth between crates trying to lure the kitten out when store personnel asked what was going on. They quickly caught the kitten and rushed home. We then posted the kittens online but got no responses. Our last resort was to load the kittens up and drive them to Beaver where they became barn cats.

With the kittens in a new home, we decided to "fix" the stray cat that has made our house its home. I decided I couldn't make a trip to Beaver everytime she had kittens. The vet insisted we give the cat a name so they could identify her. We are now the new owners of a stray cat we call "Kitty."

Girl's Camp

As many of you know, a lot of my time this summer was spent preparing for Girl's Camp. I was called to be the Camp Director back in October. This should have been plenty of time to pull it all together, but there are a lot of things that can't be done until later and our schedules had to work along with the stake planning. It all came together in the end and I felt like it was successful and a good experience for the girls.

One of my favorite parts about our camp was the Personal Progress challenge that we put together. I had been looking through the Camp Manual and came across the section that encouraged leaders to incorporate Personal Progress. I started thinking about it and realized the boys go to scout camp and come back with a bunch of merit badges, why shouldn't the girls be able to pass of Personal Progress goals while at camp. I began praying and going through the Camp Manual and Personal Progress books. I also enlisted the help of one of the Young Women leaders. I explained to her what I was trying to do and asked her if she thought we could make charm bracelets with a charm that represented each value. As they accomplished a goal, they would receive the charm. The theme for Girl's Camp was Eternal Treasures so I thought jewelry would be a fitting keepsake for camp. This Young Women's leader volunteered to do the bracelets for me-- that was a huge help. I put together a booklet with a goal from each value that could be accomplished at camp and coincided with what we were doing. I gave the girls an outline a couple of weeks before so they could set the goals in their books beforehand. While at camp, they had opportunities to reach the goal if they chose too. Once one of the girls started earning the charms for her bracelet, they all got on board because they wanted the cute bracelets. It turned out to be a really good experience. The most rewarding part for me was when one of the girls bore her testimony and related an experience she had had while working on one of the goals. That made it all worth it.

I was also proud of the girls because they all certified. This is the first year all of the girls have certified. They usually get some of the things done that are offered by the stake but none had completed their certification. We had an awesome Priesthood leader who would step in and help me teach the girls what they needed to know. He was great to work with them. I wouldn't be surprised if we are the only ward that can claim to have all the girls certify. I discovered certification hasn't been a big priority in this stake.

It may sound like we were busy doing all of these projects, but there was plenty of free time and the favorite thing for the girls to do was float the river. We had tubes and were able to go down the river together. The leaders even got to get in on the action. The girls actually enjoyed going with the leaders because they thought it was hilarious when we would flip over or get stuck in the trees. My assistant camp director was nicknamed "Pinball" because she would go from one tree to the next and bounce off and flip over. She was a good sport and kept going down numerous times. Thank goodness we had life jackets because I think she would have drowned for sure.

Lindsey told me she had fun her first year at camp. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her because there was so much to do. I don't think she had much desire to hang out with me though. She had friends up there and was busy running back and forth to visit and enjoying the river. I got to have some priceless "mother moments" as I watched her interact with the other Young Women, especially being sensitive to those that may be left out. One of the highlight moments was getting to hear her bear her testimony and see how much she is growing. That was the greatest blessing of all.

Summer Picnics

Heather, Savannah, and Matthew took the time this summer to spend some days at the park. They discovered how much fun it can be to pack a few snacks, grab a blanket, and head to the park. It reminded me how important it is to enjoy the small things and stay young.

Trip to Bear Lake

Over the 4th of July weekend, we had the opportunity to borrow a friend's cabin and spend some time at Bear Lake. We were very excited to take our boat out for the first time this season and spend some time on the water. We invited some friends to go with us and we were all set. We pulled into the dock, backed the boat in, and tried to go. The boat wouldn't go over five miles an hour. Our friend had to go right back and get the trailer to load the boat back up. It was a boating trip that lasted about two minutes. Needless to say, everyone was disappointed. We didn't stay disappointed for long, however, because the men soon found a place to rent ski-doos. We all had a blast taking turns on the ski-doos out on the lake. Those who weren't on the water, played on the beach. It ended up being a great day thanks to some quick thinking by the dads.

That evening we were treated to a great fireworks show over the water. This is the first year fireworks that leave the ground were legal. We found a small, private beach and asked if we could use it. After shooting off our fireworks, another family put on quite a show. It lasted about an hour. We all enjoyed sitting on the beach enjoying the fireworks.

The next day our friends had to go home and another family came up to spend some time with us. We went to the Minnetonka caves. None of us had been there before. It is a very short hike to the cave but quite a long walk through the cave. By the end Matthew and James were running back to get Matthew to the bathroom. I think you have to go up and down about 400 stairs. We decided it's better than Mt. Timpanogas but doesn't compare to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and the caves we saw in Virginia. We enjoyed being up in the mountains where it was nice and cool.

Our last day there was spent relaxing, playing games, and enjoying raspberry milkshakes. Aside from the boat breaking down, it was a relaxing retreat to start our short summer off.

Lindsey Graduates Elementary School

The first part of July marked the end of Lindsey's Elementary School adventure. She has had many good years at Bluff Ridge and celebrated at the graduation ceremony with her class. The last few weeks of school actually seemed like a celebration for the 6th graders. They got to participate in many activities as a send off.

At the graduation ceremony, the students are honored for accomplishments and recognized for what they plan to accomplish. Lindsey won a reading award, the Presidential award (signed by President Obama-- that's a keeper!) and the Hope of America Award. The latter award was given to two students, who were voted on by faculty and students, to honor their academic skills and friendliness to those around them. Lindsey was surprised and happy that her fellow students thought she was so friendly. The Presidential award is given for achieving 95% or above on end of level testing for all elementary years. We were very proud of Lindsey and her accomplishments.

There was a Bravery Award given to one of the students who was recently diagnosed with cancer and has begun battling it. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room as he accepted that award. It has been a good experience for the 6th graders to associate with this young man and help him raise funds to fight his cancer. I think we have all been honored to watch these young people respond to their friend and his family at this time.

The final part of graduation is the awarding of "diplomats" and a quick sketch of where each student wants to be in 20 years. This is always humorous. If they stick to their plans, we will have many pro sports stars and other famous people coming out of Syracuse, Utah, and when they all come back to visit, there will be some pretty nice cars driving around town.

Now it's onward and upwards to Junior High and more adventures ahead.

2 Vans, 12 Friends, 192 Miles

I think the title says it all. That is what Ragnar is. Last year, my cousin approached us and convinced us to sign up as a team for the Ragnar Relay. In a moment of delusion, I agreed to run. I must have thought I was in shape or something. In January of this year, I decided I should see where I was on the fitness scale. Unfortunately, my score was probably in the negative. Knowing that I would be close to forty years old and that I loved my family, I realized I better start training if I hoped to make it through this experience. And so I began.

After months of increasing distance and practicing running on inclines, I thought I would be prepared. Then I increased the workouts to two times a day and realized I was older than I thought. I hobbled around the house for a few days wondering what I was thinking. But, the pain subsided and we lined up to race.

We met at 4:30 am at the starting line. After a quick orientation that involved safety rules, we were off. I wondered if the Man upstairs had forgotten we were close to Summer as we began running into biting cold wind and across frost covered ground. I was in the first van with my sister, Melinda, my brother, Greg, and three cousins, Mariah, Vanessa, and Laraine. We laughed, shared stories, and cheered each other on. We met up with the other half of our team at the first exchange. We felt pretty good we had made it through our first legs.

Too quickly, we were up again for the next round. Our next runs were a little more difficult as we entered the more mountainous areas. Greg had the worst leg that took him up the side of a mountain. As we cheered him on, we were all grateful it was him and not us! We passed of the baton around 9:30 pm. This left the other half of our team to run through the middle of the night and left us scrounging around for places to sleep for a few hours.

The final runs for our van began at 4:00 am. Melinda took off and then met up with me a few miles later. Unfortunately for the people at the exchange, Melinda passed the baton to me and turned to throw up on those around her. I missed the spectacle because I had started running but I heard about it later. I had a discovery on my final leg-- if you just keep going, your legs eventually go numb and the pain goes away. I had a great run at 4:30 in the morning. The sun started coming up and turned the sky a beautiful pink. It was at this moment that I got a little choked up as I realized I had almost made it. All the hard work, training, and pain had paid off. I was overwhelmed and grateful for the experience-- I was also happy to hand the baton and be done.

We all met up at the finish line as we waited for Greg to run in. They call the team up when the lst runner is 1/4 of a mile out so the team can meet up and run in with him. It was all smiles and cheers as we ran in. Of course, we were the only ones smiling and cheering but we felt pretty good about ourselves.

The most impressive person on our team was Aunt Jennifer. She took over the hardest leg of the ragnar a week before the race. She is truly amazing. I know we all sit around and wish we could be her. I realized the pity I felt for myself before the race as I felt the pain of getting in shape had no place. I hope to be able to just jump into a race at the last minute like Aunt Jennifer.

While our name was "Crazy Runs in the Family", we all know that love, support, and pride (the good kind) runs in our family. What a blessing to be a part of such a wonderful family!