Monday, May 18, 2015

The Perfect celebration weekend

April 26 - May 2, 2015

Sunday 04.26
Today Kurt's business partner, Cortney Forsberg was sustained as the new bishop in our ward. It was an emotional and exhausting day. I will miss Bishop Froerer. He is an amazing man and has been a wonderful bishop. I will forever be grateful that Kurt had the opportunity to serve with him. It has been a fabulous experience for Kurt and for our family for Kurt to serve in this capcity for the past 5 years. Kurt has been blessed with a comforting assurance that the Lord is pleased. He feels peace and is ready to move on. Ready for change and a new opportunity to serve and grow. The Forsbergs are wonderful people and I am so excited for them!

Austin was able to pass the sacrament for the first time. It was such a sweet experience. He sat on the bench and was reverent, sang the hymns and nervously passed. When he sat down, "Mom the tray was shaking!" I sure love that boy and sharing this important milestone moments with him.



Monday 04.27
That morning I challenged the kids to give as many "high fives" with a positive saying as they could. The winner would receive a special treat at FHE. :)

Katilin Hasler watched the girls for me because I had a DR. appointment. Full physcial, pap smear and lots of blood {all came back great.} The appointment was early and done fairly quickly so it allowed me the chance to get errands done with out the constant rush or little helpers. That was a quiet treat.

I met Kaitlin at the school and then we had Girl Scouts {ballet and tennis.} The girls sure like our good babysitters. Lucy was overjoyed to have her hair in two braids.



PS Ruth rocked the "High Five" challenge with 211!! Way to spread JOY Ruth - it is so contagious!



I came home and was frustrated. And so the kids and I weeded. Its one of the best ways to get rid of frustration right?!! It turned into a mud party for the kids which is a much happier alternative than fighting or whining!




Tuesday 04.28
Down on the farm day at preschool. Of course Lucy requested the two braid hairstyle {now that she knows her hair is long enough to do it.} Luckily we have enough animals to be considered a "farm" and we took an exploration walk down to the barn.



The usual after school activities continued {Drum and Piano lessons, Scouts.}

I stayed up late to finish up preparations so I could attend Women's Conference. The Stake YW/YM recognition dinner was the next day and I needed to make sure everything was ready. It is always SO much work to get ready to go out of town! Especially when you leave others behind.

Wednesday 04.29
Thankful for late start as I packed for the little girls & I. After dropping the kids off at school we stopped at the stake center to drop off all the center pieces, decor and presents for the YW. I had about 40 minutes of finishing/assembling work before we could leave. The girls were patient and we finally got on the road. As I was pulling out of town Kurt texted that he had an interview with the Stake President when I got back.






Can you see the excitement to be driving?!

I brought both the ipad and kindle so it made it nice. We stopped in Twin to gas up, use the bathroom and buy dinner supplies.

I love that Lucy finally passed out but Jane was going strong

We arrived in WJ - happy to be out of the car and happy to see FAMILY! This picture might be one of my favorite of all times. It. Is. So. Perfect.



 Love grandma's new slider



Roger captured us trying to capture ourselves - selfies are so hard! ;)

Roger took over dinner {THANK YOU} and Karen finished an amazing fruit pizza while Elaine and I spread some sunshine in the dining room. We went with the line from Stevie Wonder's classic, "You are the sunshine of our life" as the theme for mom's 60th birthday celebration. She truly is that, it was fitting. 








After dinner we played the game Karen had prepared, a fun varation on "Name that Tune" of some of mom's favorites. Sadly I was terrible but Sam rocked it! Our singing was inspiring, just saying. hahaha;)

Thursday 04.30.15
The first day of Women's Confernce. Huge Thank You to dad and Sam {and Roger on Friday} who watched my girls so I could enjoy some uplift and strengthening with my girls. Ever since the first time I attended I have wanted my sisters to come. I am SO glad it finally became a reality this year. Women's Conference with sisters and mother is the way WC was designed to be. Perfection. I loved every minute of it. Mainly because I was blessed with THE BEST family ever.



I have to admit that I was very nervous about attending Women's Conference. I have been so super emotional. The Lord is working hard on me. Humbling me. I am grateful He is taking the time to help me become a better person. I packed a lot of kleenexs in preparation for the water works. It started out with a bang with Sister Wendy Nelson's opening session. I could have left right after that a happy woman. I loved what she said: as covenant keeping women angels will not be restrained from your aide. ASK for angels to help you. There is a very real power from heaven for covenant keepers.

The other classes I attended were:
- Hidden Reservoirs of Strength Through a Covenant Marriage {with Karen}
- Conversation Guided by the Spirit: Teaching in the Savior's Way {with Mom and Maren}
- You will never know how much GOOD you do {with Karen - we didn't get into our first choice and kinda just jumped into this class.}


I may have lost my name tag {after I reminded everyone at home not to forget it!} 
Luckily Karen had two {??} I was happy to be Karen Mc for 2 days


No this is not our vehicle but they are trying to do the epically cool "Rachel pose." Not sure if they nailed it.

We went to dinner at P.F. Chang's after the conference. The food and conversation were yummy. Jane was already in bed when we got home {and she had been asleep when I left that morning.}

Friday 05.01.15
I was very excited about the classes this day. Elder and Sister Worthen {BYU President} were the opening session.

- Rooting out Pride, Selfishness & Anger {with Elaine}
- The Empowerment of Humility {by myself} Maren pointed out this class to me and I'm so grateful that she did. It was THE CLASS for me this year. They covered starting a branch AND learning a language. What are the chances??!! Mainly it was an answer to the pleading of my heart. The feeling of being heard and loved is powerful.
- Oh How We Need Each Other {by myself} Honestly I was tapped out after the humility class. I was spiritually overloaded. I did my best to focus.

Andrea and I met up and she saw with us for the closing session, Elder Ballard. I'm so glad we made time to see each other - love that girl!


Back at home it was Dia de los ninos. I am so grateful to Angelica who has taken pictures the past TWO years for me when I'm out of town at WC. They had a wonderfully fun day! Austin didn't win his tennis matches while I was away but he continues to improve AND enjoy it. Most important win for me!






 apparently it was CRAZY hair day for the prep school

Back in West Jordan during the day there was lots of love happening.



The rest of the story is sad. The girls played with Adelaide and Gwendolyn for a bit and then I got busy loading up the stuff. Sadly I'm always the first to leave. It seems like I'm my own swirling tornado. But mostly I'm grateful I could come. Its always hard to escape during the spring. So to everyone THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!



I left WJ at 8:30 pm. The drive home got hard after Twin. At the rest home right before Boise I pulled over to sleep {at 2:30 am.} I started driving again at 4 and we got home at 5:30 am. I slept till about 9 when it was time to get ready for Emma's dance pictures in Star. That evening we attended Emma Ruf's baptism.


~~~Romans Reflections~~~
- I love the way Spencer's transports laundry to be folded

- On the drive home Lucy and I were playing "I Spy." She started giving me clues. The color was green and the clue: something Spencer loves to hug .................. answer: A TREE!
Silly, clever girl!

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