The Best Summer Vacation...

The BEST

"In choosing how we spend time as a family, we should be careful not to exhaust our available time on things that are merely good and leave little time for that which is better or best. A friend took his young family on a series of summer vacation trips, including visits to memorable historic sites. At the end of the summer he asked his teenage son which of these good summer activities he enjoyed most. The father learned from the reply, and so did those he told of it. 'The thing I liked best this summer,' the boy replied, 'was the night you and I laid on the lawn and looked at the stars and talked.'"

Elder Dallin H. Oaks

This was one of my favorite quotes from Conference. I love to listen to Elder Dallin H. Oaks. He is such a great speaker. I thought I would put this on my blog to help me remember what the most important things are in life. We had such a great summer with the kids. We did do a couple of vacations this summer but most of all we hung out and had a great time with each other. Sometimes I forget about those little important things in life.

Back to School!!!

Miss Ashley has a little mind of her own... I know shocker! Nobody knew that right? Well this year I won't be picking out any of her clothes... she is in second grade... and you know having Mom pick out your clothes is for littler kids... At least she has pretty good taste. She is a little sassy pants but funny and sweet too. She loves to show me that second graders ALWAYS brush their teeth, floss, make their beds and clean their rooms everyday with out being asked. I won't tell her any different.

She has Mrs. Hyer/Mrs. Snyder split for 2nd grade. I am really excited about that. They are both just amazing teachers. We have a really great class, the kids are fun and so are the Mom's (I like that).

Cameron is my little stud. He really could care what he wears as long as someone else picks it out. I tell him all the time "Bud you look handsome" he says back "Mom you are pretty". I like him he is my self esteem booster. He has Ms. Brakke for 4th grade. I think that she will be a great teacher... He loves her. He has Callin L, Colby W, and a few other friends in there. I am pretty sure that if Lisa... er I mean Callin Jr wasn't in there we would want to change classes.

Alyssa is just beautiful and sweet. She just wants to please me. She tells me every night that she is glad that we are best friends. I love her age. She was so fun to shop with this year. She has her own little style. She has Mrs. Laidlaw for 6th grade. We had her with Shawn too and I just love her. Alyssa has a lot of great friends (and great Mom's) in there.

Shawn is my big eighth grader. I love his age. He is just so dang fun. I love to be friends with him. He loves to be different than everyone, he just has his own little style. I like that confidence. He is a great friend to all and really likes the ladies. He has some pretty great teachers. I hope that we have a great academic year with him. He really wants to get good grades. I love that he is in Jr. High.

I LOVE when the kids go back to school. I love the schedule (oh and the break). I love that we get to have OCD and be organized. My kids love to see their friends everyday. Happy Mother's Day... I mean back to school day!

Pioneer Trek 2009

So we were invited to be a Ma & Pa for our Stake Pioneer Trek. Four years ago when our Stake went we were invited, we had to say no because of Steve's work. So this year when it came around I was pretty much begging to go. I started to get nervous because I had such high expectations that I thought maybe it would be as great as I imagined. I loved it much more than I ever thought that I would.

First of all... everyone kept saying that they had the best family... but in reality, we REALLY did. I loved each and every one of them.

We had Matt, Maya, Jael, Anastasia, Josh, Corina, Rayce & Nick. They were all in between the ages of 14-18. They were all so great. We had one that we hard but only because she wouldn't stay up with the group and she would fall behind and get lost from us. I am pretty sure if she were a real pioneer, she would have gotten lost or died on the trail. I know that is terrible to say but really true.

Steve grew his beard pretty thick for the trek. Then the second day into it he shaved it to look like "Brother Brigham". It was sweet - Well okay it was actually really gross. But our trek kids loved it.

This picture is right when we met the kids. They were all so different from each other. When we all first met I wasn't sure that they would all become friends. By the time we left they were so great together. They were all friends.

This was one of the most spiritual times that I have ever had. As we would walk more and more I would just think about all that the pioneers went through for us. One of the nights we had a huge "company" party. We all square danced together. We were laughing, sweating, thirsty, our legs were giving out from so much walking and all of the sudden we heard gun shots. We heard "bad guys" screaming at us to get out of town move on. Even though I knew that it was pretend I was so panicked. It took me a minute to find all eight kids. I started to think and realize how the pioneers felt. I was getting worried about my 8 kids. Were they safe? Were they looking for me? I really that this was just a drill but I guess being a real Mom it just hit me what they went through.

There were times that Steve and I would just hold hands and talk while our trek kids would pull or push the cart. We would talk about what it must have really been like. They were brave and strong. The trials that they went through were so different from ours. I can't even imagine what it was like. Steve decided that we could have been great pioneers. We would have just jumped in and done it. It was such a different time then. They didn't have the stresses that we have now. Their kids didn't deal with what our kids and teenagers deal with. Our Trek Theme was "Fortify our Faith - Step by Step" they talked a lot about how we are modern day pioneers. They read a quote at one of our stops:

by Elder M. Russell Ballard... It reads "The Lord isn't asking us to load up a handcart; He's asking us to fortify our faith. He isn't asking us to walk across a continent; He is asking us to walk across the street to visit our neighbor. He isn't asking us to give all of our worldly possessions to build a temple; He is asking us to give of our means and time despite the pressures of modern living and then attend regularly the temples already built. He isn't asking us to die a martyr's death; He's asking us to live a disciples life. "

I love this quote. It is so true. We are both pioneers in our own way. We both have different trials. We need to help our neighbors around us.

On the last night we were there we had our little trek family together getting ready for nightly family prayers. Steve was talking to our trek company boss (his name was Jeff Bryan and also happened to have his son in our family). They looked like they were having a pretty serious discussion. All of the sudden Steve comes over to me and our kids and says "Ma - get the kids together. I need to talk to you about something serious. One of our brothers has died. We are going to have to bury him here tomorrow. " I kept saying "what? how? who? why?" I was assuming he was kidding but I guess you never know... He went on for a bit (even saying lets pray for Ma because tomorrow will be a sad day for her leaving one of our kids here). Finally he told us that he had to go to base ball back home, their team got to the finals. It was a weird feeling. I had a little bit of the sick feeling that a Mother or Father got when they had to leave them buried and then move along the trail.

The next morning when we got up as we were walking along the trail we saw on the side of the trail two shallow graves with a couple knelling to mourn the loss of their son. The other one was for our trek son. It was a sobering experience.

I loved going as a MA because I really felt like I could do the real thing, I learned a lot about the pioneers. I can't wait to read some books about them. They fascinate me.

I am so thankful that I was able to go in the pioneer trek. I just hope that they call me to something next time again. I loved it that much.

It you have read until now you are a saint. I mainly posted so that I could remember it. This was a long post... I am sorry!