President Dan

After really enjoying on the student council as treasurer last year, Dan decided to run for President.
He changed up the lyrics of the popular song "Cheerleader" as the dramatic entrance to his speech and had Emily and Alyssa help out as his backup "cheerleaders."  I missed his entrance as he waltzed out with the cheerleader costume because his youngest fan (Josh) wasn't too excited about sitting down while I did the video.  Dan is excited to have the chance to serve again, this year with two of his best friends who won as VP and Secretary.

Oh, I think that we found our school president, he is always right there when you need him.

Enjoying Peace and Perspective

Mesa Falls

Johhny Sack Cabin

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to join my husband as he traveled to a training meeting in Island Park.  I loved enjoying being together with him as we hiked to nearby tourist attractions and enjoyed many meals together (that I didn't have to prepare!). While he attended training during the day I pursued my addictions passions... family history and piano.  My daughter marvels that I could love something so boring as finding names and attaching source documents for hours on end, but each time I find more links in the chain of my family tree, I am filled with immense gratitude for the life I have been blessed with.
This week I found the families of the cousins of my great-grandmother Kristina Jonsson who emigrated from Sweden.  As I reviewed the records I contemplated the grief and often harsh conditions that some of my relatives endured.  So many dealt with the untimely death of their children and spouses.  One mother only saw 2 of 6 of children live to adulthood. I feel so blessed to live in an age where modern medicine prolongs so many children's lives.
I also spent some time adding to my personal history and enjoying reflecting on my happy childhood filled with so many positive influences.  As a teenager I spent much of my Sunday's enjoying music-making.  Often I was just trying to catch up on violin practice to keep an "A" grade in orchestra, so I practiced hymns for sometimes up to 3 hours.  Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with all the responsibilities that come from being a grown up I yearn to go back for a day of peaceful contemplation like I enjoyed in my teens.  Jared's mom gave me that opportunity this week as she watched over our kids so I could join Jared.
Today I accompanied the Young Women as they sang I Walk By Faith.  Practicing reminded me of one of my favorite Janice Kapp Perry songs "Song of Testimony" which I played and contemplated on those peaceful Sabbath afternoons of yesteryear.  I love it because it so perfectly articulates my beliefs then and now.
"I know God lives
I know He loves me
I know He hears me and
He answers when I pray
I know His son is my Redeemer
And that He died for me
That I might live eternally one day

I daily drink of living waters
For He has promised those who drink
Shall thirst no more
I daily feast upon His teachings
In perfect faith I grow because
I know His promises are sure"

Back then I could dream of my future spouse and children and the idealistic life I hoped to carve out.  As I am now living that dream I recognize that because life is often less than ideal,  I need even more to rely on what I knew even then.  

I ended my weekend with an inspiring Stake Women's Conference.  As the speakers related how their faith had helped them cope with the tragedy's of letting go of family members for a time to early death.  I want to recommit to "feasting" more on the Saviour's teachings in the scriptures, because I expect that life is going to keep on having HARD moments that may test my faith, but I can draw strength from examples of stalwart scripture heroes who also endured disappointments, grieve and despair through challenging life circumstances, but they held fast because of their faith and chose to believe that God knew better than they did what they needed to learn through experience in this life.

Family Reunion

Emy's Number Nine

 Emily celebrated her birthday simply this year.  Since it is typically on the last weekend of the summer her friend parties aren't well attended because families are trying to squeeze in their last bit of summer fun.  So this year she had a lateover with a friend and had fun tumbling at Randy's Adventure Time.  We headed to the new ice cream shop nearby and then came home for the simplest "ice cream cake" ever.  It doesn't take much to please my girl.  I was hoping to surprise her with a keyboard, because she wants to be able to practice piano early in the morning or late at night without waking everyone up.  But being the cautious gift giver that I am, I showed it to her before making the purchase.  She considered getting her ears pierced, because she was hesitant to do it last year because of gymnastics, but she instead chose to get a pair of clip on earrings and a doll (for about 1/4 the price of the keyboard) and was thrilled to also get a movie that Becca spotted for her at the thrift store a few months ago.

Facing Her Fears

 Alyssa was too nervous to count  to 10 at her Kindergarten/screening and orientation, even though she counted to 39 that morning.  But she eventually displayed some of her reading and math skills for the teacher and left clinging fiercely to my arm.

So not surprisingly,  she was not too excited for her first day of Kindergarten either. But fortunately she has a super nice, calm teacher even though all of her neighborhood/church friends were placed in the other class.  Eventually I coaxed her to stay despite her tears with a promise to go on a special outing after school and I held back my tears until after I left the classroom.  I felt so grateful for her friend Claire who played with her at all 3 recesses and her awesome big brother Dan who sat by her on the bus.  On her first day her favorite parts were the educational videos, the Pete the Cat Story and playing at recess.  Fortunately she left happily to the bus stop with her big brother Dan the next day and was perfectly behaved when I came to help at centers later.

These milestones make me reflect on the moments of the past when I held my sweet little girl and enjoyed rocking her ...

 looked at her chubby little fingers...

 and her innocent bright eyed wonder.
Back then I thought she might be my last baby, and I was saddened a bit at ending chapters in my life.

She's lucky to still have a nice helper big bro. to help her with the transition.  Instead of sitting with her friends, he sat by her Since I was a bit late capturing the bus photo, all I caught was  this pic of Dan holding her pink and purple backpack for her.

Fun Friday - History Museum

 Emily decided she wants to keep doing K12 home school this year.  I love how she can move ahead at her own pace, and spend more time exploring music and her new ventures in Spanish, and I get to be more involved in her life and education. Since she's already 25% done with her math and science courses we have a bit more freedom in our daily schedule. Once her weekly lessons are complete we celebrate with "Fun Friday" field trips or activities.  So this week we headed to the local History Museum and then enjoyed the last days of summer weather with a picnic at the park.
 

The kids were delighted to find this little fort under the shrubs.  Josh "defended" them from the enemies with his stick gun.

I thought this clever use of "junk" farm equipment was pretty fun, but hopefully it won't feed Alyssa's passion for hoarding.  Lately while I've been trying to declutter, she's been retrieving junk from our garbage can (like cardboard containers, broken drain gutters, empty milk cartons and other random trash) and stowing it away.  She's pretty insistent and tearful about us not taking her garbage away to the dump.  She still won't let us forget the broken bike that Jared discarded about a month ago.  She claims tearfully that it has sentimental value because it reminds her of her friend across the street, even though it doesn't work and she has 2 other functioning bikes!

 When we arrived at the museum, we were the only patrons, which meant my kids got to get more firsthand experience with the mountain man tour guide as they tried to "escape from a beaver trap" and "prepare the horseshoes" in the blacksmith shop.

Our last stop was the library.  It was hard to pull Joshua away from their new train table.  Sending my last little guy off to school in a couple of years is going to be a sad day for me!