Hey Happy Family!
This letter is long over due, but I am going to write it anyway. I am sure you have all been secretly wondering what happened between me and Jeff, and what I am doing with my life over all...because I rarely talk to anybody or write to the BAWB. So firstly I will apologize, it is funny what things make me just miss everything and everyone...and one of them was reading Kristi's post. As I read, I realized just how much I miss Blaine and Kris and their family, and then when I talked ot Mom tonight and she told me about Baby Bret's party tomorrow night, I started thinking about how Nick and Stef are leaving and just how much I am going to miss them...I don't know...and then today just thinking about how I am not going home for the summer made me realize how much I am going to miss Mom, Dad, Jane, and Max at home. I just think that concept of "you don't know how much you love/miss something until it's gone" is very real. Anyway, I love you all and I really do miss you lots...I am excited to be here in Provo for the summer, I know it will be lots of fun, but I really miss everything.
Ok so on to my life. First of all, today is like the first day I feel like I have been able to breathe in like a month! Seriously...my life has been crazy for the past month with finals, mentoring, intramurals (I know...pathetic, but so important to me!), etc. It really has just been a really tough month for me, I have felt more inadequate and weak than ever before. I know this might come as a big suprise to you all, but I would consider myself a very independent person who likes to keep a lot about myself to myself, I don't like to ask people for help (mostly because I usually don't see a huge need...) and I usually feel very in control of my life. But I think I just recently had too much going on and I began to feel a lot of pressure on my shoulders...as well as feeling very stressed (I know it sounds strange but that is an emotion I don't feel often). Anyways, my feelings began changing for Jeff and I just feel like I was not my normal self. I didn't feel happy and the more I thought about it the more upset I felt. I don't know if you all know this, but I applied for a Team Lead position in the Mentoring Program at UVU and got it about a month ago. It will definitely be an awesome opportunity, but it also became very time consuming very quickly. Anyways. So I recognized these feelings and began praying about them everyday, after a lot of prayer, a lot of talk with Mom and Dad, and a Priesthood Blessing from Dad, I felt like the best thing for me was to take a break from my relationship with Jeff. It was not anything he did or changed, but I just needed a break to understand all of my feelings and what I wanted in life. There is a lot more to it, but that is the basis of it. I know a lot of people think I broke it off with Jeff because Daniel was getting home from his mission (2 days after...man was that the worst timing ever!) But that honestly was not it at all. My feelings had been changing for a long time. I still respect Jeff so much and sometimes even wish I could talk to him to see how he is doing, because I really care about him and think of him as a very close friend...but unfortunately that is just not how life works...anyways so I now know how it feels to break up and it totally stinks! Any who...that is the deal. I have seen Daniel a few times (he was a good friend before he left...) his sisters all gave me a make over the other night so he saw me looking bettter than probably any other guy has, but that was just by chance :) We definitely are not in love or anything, but I really enjoy hanging out with him. It is cool to see how much a mission changes a person. He just go home from Spain (Blaine) so I like to hear him talk about it and then tell him stuff you have told me. I think he is going to make Piaya (I don't know how to spell that) soon which makes me way excited. Something fun I did with him the other day was take him to BYU to help him get a letter that proved he was going to be a full time student so that he could get insurance (I know the campus well...thanks to all of our field trips back in the day:) Anyways afterwards I had to study for a final, while I was studying he made me and Amber omlettes...I must admite it was the most delicious omlette I have ever had. It was super nice of him...
So that is my life in a nut shell. I want you all to know that I am doing much better now. This letter might sound like a big downer, but I really am happy. Life has just been crazy, I have learned A LOT in the last few months and am just so grateful to be a member of the true church and be able to pray whenever I desire. I am also so grateful for such a wonderful family that is a great support to me. I love you all so much. There is so much I could talk about but I am sick of writing. So I will end this. Thanks fo all you do. I love you all!
Love, Your long lost sister.....Rosey
P.S. Jane only an hour and forty five minutes until your birthday! Hope you are having fun in California!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Bam Bam! (Kristi)
You know on the Flinstones how Bam Bam is constantly saying "Bam! Bam!" ? Well, if we were to name Bentley for the phrase he says when he is excited it would be, "Yeah Yeah!" If he has a bit of food he likes (including a bite of the sacrament bread) he will yell in a very uncomfortably loud voice, "YEAH YEAH!" If you push him high on the swings "YEAH YEAH!". If you tell him he did good at something? You guessed it..."YEAH YEAH". We hear it about a hundred times a day but it still makes me laugh every time!
He also is such a good boy and when we tell him to get ready for prayers he folds his arms, and then proceeds to bow his head down till it his forehead touches the ground, then his knees give out under him till he is laying prostrate on the ground. It reminds me of in the King and I when the King tells her how she must always be lower than him or something. Either way, it's pretty darn funny.
He sure is crazy. I've heard that boys are crazy, but up till about a month ago he was mostly just sweet. Then he learned how to walk, and without missing a beat he learned to climb! Now we find him on the tops of tables and counters (yes he will push his chair around to get up on counters). He loves to climb and he's really good at it. I can't leave the room for more than ten seconds or when I come back he will be swinging on the chandelier (if we had one).
He's crazy and energetic but still sweet as a button. He always says "thank you" when you do something for him and still gives lots of kisses. He is cute with Ivy. If I let him hold her he just lays his head on top of hers. He knows to be soft and is always trying to put her passey in for her (so what if he jabs it in her eye instead of in her mouth : ) . He wants to play with Gwen all the time but she likes her privacy and shuts him out. He is quick to voice his frustration, but also quick to forgive. I LOVE this kid.
Gwen was the most reverent I have ever seen anyone be in sacrament meeting today. I am not sure what happened, we had our usual hectic morning, but once we got to church she sat and folded her arms and nary made a peep the WHOLE meeting. It was amazing.
She is so sweet and smart, but often gets tired and when she gets tired....whoa baby, get out of her way.
I am so grateful for the night, which somehow acts as a giant reset button on her mood. Three nights this week I actually put her in bed kicking and screaming. She goes to bed furious but comes bounding out in the morning with a big smile and is ready to try again and tackle a new day. I wish we could all be more like that, quick to forget past wrongs or mistakes or hurt feelings and just ready to give the new day our best.
She is doing great in preschool. She is funny in that she wont sing in music time, but comes home and sings all the songs well and loudly. She doesn't do art in art time because she "can't decide which project to do". Sometimes it frustrates me, but mostly I just think it is funny that she has such a unique personality. She went to play at a friends house the other day, she had never played with this particular friend and when I went to pick her up the friend told me that Gwen had just sat on the couch "thinking" the whole time. What a crazy kid.
She's smart as can be and the other day said something about "legumes" for dinner. She retains so much information. I can't believe she still has to wait another year for kindergarten! She is ready for more.
Ivy Jane is growing tall but not big. She is still tiny and thin and cute as could be. I loved my chunky babies but it is so fun to have a little one. She still fits in newborn clothing and no shoes or socks will stay on her tiny feet. She is a wonderful baby. She has the cutest smile and is so pleasant. She is sleeping well and will usually sleep from midnight till 7, it's so awesome. It's amazing to me how much difference a little sleep can do for a person. When Ben was three months old I could feel myself actually going insane. I had no sleep, I was mad all the time, tired all the time and felt like I had no control of my life. With Ivy I feel like I have the energy and desire to be going all the time...and go we do. I love getting compliments about how great I am doing so soon after having a baby; we go to playgroups and go on adventures, go to the store and just...function and it is so nice!
Ivy smiles a lot now and kind of, sort of, maybe, kind of giggles sometimes.
I used to think that only babies with lots of hair were cute, but man, I love her bald little head. I love rubbing it and kissing it and I don't think there is a more beautiful baby than Ivy Jane. I adore her.
Ivy's blessing was great. We were all a little frazzled as we ran into the church and I missed most of the blessing because Bentley was being a lunatic. Luckily Meleah wrote down a lot of the blessing for me. Apparently much of the ward thought it was funny to see my Dad (about five foot one) standing next to our friend James (six foot seven) in the circle. I missed that too due to squabbling kids. The main message in the blessing seemed to be that Ivy would need to make lots of tough decisions in her life and she was blessed to make the right choices and to stand on the Lord's side.
We had a lot of fun with my parents here. The first few days it was stormy; when there was a break in the intense rain we went to Round Rock donuts. But most of their first day was spent playing Gwen's board games and just being lazy. Blaine took my parents to see "Mall Cop" at the dollar movie, which they all enjoyed. We all went to the riverwalk and the Alamo and enjoyed a tasty dinner at "Rita's on the River" thanks to www.restaurant.com.
I took them to Zilker park, and we ate at the Shady Grove (extra onion rings please!). We went to the nature center and dug for dinosaur bones. Gwen and Grandma rode on the train. I thought I would take that opportunity to spend some solo time with Bentley (Grandpa and Ivy were snoozing in the car), so I took him to the swingset and started pushing him. I noticed there were quite a few bees, but tried to keep my cool. Soon there were too many for comfort so I stopped the swing to get Ben out and as I did a bee landed right smack on Bentley's eye, it was there for a second before Bentley went to rub his eye and ...yep, he got stung on his eyeball. I kind of, well, how do I say this....freaked! Luckily the passersby coaxed me through the experience and I was able to get ahold of Stef who so nicely looked up our pediatrician's info. I thought for sure his eye would be swollen shut for a week or something, but it just swelled for one day and never completely shut. THANK goodness.
We hiked Mount Bonnell, which was kind of a catastrophe. We learned that there was a trail that went up (as opposed to the really long staircase), so we pulled out the stroller, but only got about ten feet into the hike before we realized that the "trail" was mostly just rocks. So I had Ivy in the snugli and Bentley on my hip and was hiking up a mountain. It was also about a thousand degrees. We were all so tired by the time we got to the top that we only spent a little time up there. It was still beautiful though.
We went to whole foods for gelato. Yum.
My parents brought us a fancy box of chocolates for Easter and were very amused watching Blaine and I fight over them and try so hard to be fair and negotiate and so on.
We played many games of some version of Rook which was really fun.
We got Round Rock donuts a SECOND time and ate them at the "Round Rock" park where the actual Round Rock is.
We went to eat at the Hula Hut which is on the banks of town lake (Mom Bassett- just think of it being near all of those nice houses that you can see from the top of Mount Bonnell). It is a funky mix of mexican and polynesian foods, I thought it was yummy and I loved the atmosphere...though I think the atmosphere was a little too much for my parents and Blaine : ) The ladies at the table behind us absolutely LOVED Bentley. They stopped us and talked to us for about ten minutes about how cool he was and how awesome his name is. It was way fun!
We took them to see the bats fly out from under Congress bridge downtown. Apparently Austin is home to the world's largest urban bat colony and at sunset on all evenings from April-September the bats all fly out at the same time to go out hunting. It was SO COOL! I can't believe we haven't gone to do that before. There were seriously a million bats (I read the sign, a million! If you go at the end of summer there are two million because each of the bats that migrates here is a pregnant female). It was amazing.
And we went to Mayfield Park which is next to Mount Bonnell and is SO fun. It had a pretty little courtyard thing with ponds (that had fish and turtles and lillypads in them) and peacocks roaming the grounds. And then there were lots of trails to hike on. We had a fun adventure going on a hike and want to go back really soon someday when we are not all wearing flip flops : ).
I enjoyed having my parents watch the kids while I dropped Gwen off and picked her up from preschool. It was amazing to me how fast that job was done when I didn't have to load up B&I and then unload them at PreK then load them up again and unload them again at home. It was so nice. I skipped all the way into preschool each day.
I also enjoyed going to the gym in the mornings while my parents watched the kids. I have been going at 9PM getting home at 10 and showering and not getting to bed till really late. It was so so nice to go at 9AM...ah....nice.
They watched the kids while we went on a date. We went out to dinner and then walked around Barnes and Noble. We didn't see eachother the whole time we were there but had a lot of fun looking at tons of funny books. It was great.
We dropped them off at the airport today but are so sad to see them go. Thanks again Mom and Dad for all of the treats, dinners, babysitting, games and so on. We'll miss you!
Other than all of this (will this letter ever end?) I have been thinking a lot about how much I love Texas. Blaine got in contact with an old friend early in the week and the friend was telling him about his amazing job....with 16 days of vacation per year, flex time, FREE health insurance and dental insurance, 401k matching (rather than half matching), and so on. Not to mention the job was something that Blaine would LOVE doing. And of all the wonderful things the company was hiring for a position in Blaine's friends group. The only problem? Location, location, location! The job was located in sunny Tucson, Arizona.
I pride myself in being ready and willing to take on life's adventures and experiences without complaining too much. I am willing to uproot my family, we've done so many times. But Tucson, really? REALLY? I spent a lot of the week searching for something positive to find about Tucson. It's really hot, really dry, really barren, termite ridden, rattlesnake ridden, scorpion ridden, and most importantly crime ridden. The schools are poor. I hate to sound so negative but I really really do not want to move to Tucson.
I want Blaine to be happy. I want him to love his job. I want him to have vacation time and flex time to work on his projects and to visit his family. But.....I really REALLY love it here.
I knew I liked it here, but I always thought I would jump at the chance to move back to Oregon or on to some new adventure. But this whole experience with looking at the job in Tucson really made me realize how profoundly happy I am here. Of course I get homesick, I won't deny that. In fact I am really homesick today (it happens when family leaves town). But really? I LOVE my life here. I love going to the gym with Betsy, Janssen and Ralphie. I love being in Young Women's. I love the parks. I love the garage sales. I love the weather (when it isn't storming : ). I love my neighbors. Love my house. Love that we have top rated schools. Love that I feel safe. Love that it is green. I absolutely love all that there is to see and do in Austin. And so I am afraid if we ever move I will dig in my heels and perhaps kick and scream, much like Mom Bassett would if you tried to move her out of Utah. I guess what I am trying to say is not that we won't ever move again but that after many years and many moves and many friends and many wards, I finally feel at home. It's a good feeling. And I wish you all would just move here because then this place might just be heaven on Earth : ).
Love,
Kris
Check out our web album!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Almost 29 Years (Mom)
Dear Family,
I actually got on the computer to pay bills, etc. (yes - I do it all online!) but it sounded a lot more fun to write to all of you. I was just catching up on Kristi's blog and felt so happy that Blaine was able to restore the 300 photos that they thought they had lost. Hurray for Blaine! I am loving/missing you all of you today. Even Max at school! I know that Kristi's folks are at their house for the next couple weeks and I'm all jealous about that, too. I know they will have a great time in Round Rock.
A couple of events since I last wrote. On Wednesday, April 8, on the steps of West Valley City Hall, Mike Winder announced his candidacy for West Valley Mayor. About 100 people, family and friends, came to support him. He asked family members to stand behind him on the steps. Stef, little Bret (who were so kind to come from Provo) and I represented our family. It was a quick announcement. He had music going and a podium and gave a little speech and it was all good. Deseret News had a short article about it the next day (no pictures). Dennis Nordfelt is not running again. Mike is not sure who may be opposing him in the November election.
We had a nice Easter weekend. Max was out of school for Thurs, Fri, and Monday. The Yorgs went to St. George and this is the first time in several years that we haven't gone with them. (Dad is saving time off for the Bassett Reunion in July.) Yorgs missed us but now that Keith has the other home down there I don't think it was too painful.
Grandma Bassett had to be admitted to the hospital again on Thursday, April 9. Fortunately Liz was still in town and with her. We spent lots of that afternoon in Jordan Valley hospital with them. Grandma was able to come home the next day and has been taking it very easy since. Curt was with Uncle Royce that night at Rogers Theater and got a good scolding about how all of us were trying to kill our mother because she does so much for us (people staying at her house, having dinner for big family groups, etc.) I was really glad that I had already planned to have Bassett Second Sunday Easter dinner at our house. What Royce said is true. As much as grandma loves to entertain, etc., she really shouldn't be doing that until she gets all her strength back. It will be hard, but we agreed we need to help her.
Sunday was Easter and Nick's 25th birthday. Max and I sang in our ward choir Easter program and Max had his non-member friend Chris join us for church. Janey and Rosey were at our ward, too, so that was fun. Everyone thought Chris was Rosey's boyfriend! After dinner Nick, Stef, Aaron and Jeff joined us and we colored Easter eggs together. Then Nick opened his two birthday presents and we were grateful that he was happy about them (beef jerkey and his old blue GT bike repaired like new!) Then we made everyone stay out back while a special, special visitor came inside. He hid Easter baskets for everyone. (Don't feel bad B&K - you guys got a Valentines package and no one else got anything from us on that day) Max promptly tried to eat all his candy in one sitting. We then got ready for Bassett Second Sunday where about 16 Bassetts and one grandma Winder joined us. I was really glad gma Bassett felt good enough to come. She was still pretty weak and I am glad to know she is taking it easy. We had dinner and dad conducted a very nice lesson about the last week of the Savior's life. The only little ones were Bekah and Kyle and Bret and they did pretty good. Bruce and Jeannie sang a musical number that they had sung in their sacrament meeting that day and that really added to the lesson. Stef had made a lemon cake for Nick's birthday and Curt brought ice cream so we ended the evening with that. It was a nice party.
This week we had a Trek Fireside for participants and parents. It brought back lots of memories for me from last trek and it feels funny (sad) not being involved. They are using lots of our ideas from four years ago. Max's good friend Zach Hansen's parents are the Trek co-chairs. Zach sat by us at the fireside. His parents did this little skit/musical number and I got such of kick watching Zach squirm in his seat while his parents sang this silly song. I love 15 year old boys! Max's friend Chris (who actually lives in our stake boundries) also came to the fireside and he really wants to go on trek so that will be a great missionary tool for him to learn more about the gospel.
Another event, and on a very sad note, is what the Lyn and Jennifer Shaw family is going through. I have been aware of it for about a month but it has all come out in the open the past week. Their oldest adopted girl, Autumn, has lots of emotional problems and deals with something called RAD - reactive attachment disorder. She has been running away, making awful false accusations against her parents, and doing all kinds of awful things. They now have her in some intense therapy and had her counsellor come speak to a group of family/friends to explain everything. Very interesting. It suddenly made any little problem I had with any of you look small. Wow, they are dealing with a lot!
And now, can anyone guess what the title means? This Saturday will be 29 wonderful years married to dad. We will celebrate it by helping Jill and Kyle move into their new home (in neighborhood north of grandma's) on Friday night. On Saturday, dad performs the wedding of Tyson Jolley and we are included on the luncheon festivities. That evening we are taking grandma Winder to dinner for her 79th birthday. So it should be a fun and busy weekend.
Love you all. Time to pay those bills.
Love, Mom
Grandma's birthday is Sunday, April 19. Think how fun if any or all of you called and wished her a quick happy birthday. Grandma is always so kind to remember our birthdays with a little $$.
I actually got on the computer to pay bills, etc. (yes - I do it all online!) but it sounded a lot more fun to write to all of you. I was just catching up on Kristi's blog and felt so happy that Blaine was able to restore the 300 photos that they thought they had lost. Hurray for Blaine! I am loving/missing you all of you today. Even Max at school! I know that Kristi's folks are at their house for the next couple weeks and I'm all jealous about that, too. I know they will have a great time in Round Rock.
A couple of events since I last wrote. On Wednesday, April 8, on the steps of West Valley City Hall, Mike Winder announced his candidacy for West Valley Mayor. About 100 people, family and friends, came to support him. He asked family members to stand behind him on the steps. Stef, little Bret (who were so kind to come from Provo) and I represented our family. It was a quick announcement. He had music going and a podium and gave a little speech and it was all good. Deseret News had a short article about it the next day (no pictures). Dennis Nordfelt is not running again. Mike is not sure who may be opposing him in the November election.
We had a nice Easter weekend. Max was out of school for Thurs, Fri, and Monday. The Yorgs went to St. George and this is the first time in several years that we haven't gone with them. (Dad is saving time off for the Bassett Reunion in July.) Yorgs missed us but now that Keith has the other home down there I don't think it was too painful.
Grandma Bassett had to be admitted to the hospital again on Thursday, April 9. Fortunately Liz was still in town and with her. We spent lots of that afternoon in Jordan Valley hospital with them. Grandma was able to come home the next day and has been taking it very easy since. Curt was with Uncle Royce that night at Rogers Theater and got a good scolding about how all of us were trying to kill our mother because she does so much for us (people staying at her house, having dinner for big family groups, etc.) I was really glad that I had already planned to have Bassett Second Sunday Easter dinner at our house. What Royce said is true. As much as grandma loves to entertain, etc., she really shouldn't be doing that until she gets all her strength back. It will be hard, but we agreed we need to help her.
Sunday was Easter and Nick's 25th birthday. Max and I sang in our ward choir Easter program and Max had his non-member friend Chris join us for church. Janey and Rosey were at our ward, too, so that was fun. Everyone thought Chris was Rosey's boyfriend! After dinner Nick, Stef, Aaron and Jeff joined us and we colored Easter eggs together. Then Nick opened his two birthday presents and we were grateful that he was happy about them (beef jerkey and his old blue GT bike repaired like new!) Then we made everyone stay out back while a special, special visitor came inside. He hid Easter baskets for everyone. (Don't feel bad B&K - you guys got a Valentines package and no one else got anything from us on that day) Max promptly tried to eat all his candy in one sitting. We then got ready for Bassett Second Sunday where about 16 Bassetts and one grandma Winder joined us. I was really glad gma Bassett felt good enough to come. She was still pretty weak and I am glad to know she is taking it easy. We had dinner and dad conducted a very nice lesson about the last week of the Savior's life. The only little ones were Bekah and Kyle and Bret and they did pretty good. Bruce and Jeannie sang a musical number that they had sung in their sacrament meeting that day and that really added to the lesson. Stef had made a lemon cake for Nick's birthday and Curt brought ice cream so we ended the evening with that. It was a nice party.
This week we had a Trek Fireside for participants and parents. It brought back lots of memories for me from last trek and it feels funny (sad) not being involved. They are using lots of our ideas from four years ago. Max's good friend Zach Hansen's parents are the Trek co-chairs. Zach sat by us at the fireside. His parents did this little skit/musical number and I got such of kick watching Zach squirm in his seat while his parents sang this silly song. I love 15 year old boys! Max's friend Chris (who actually lives in our stake boundries) also came to the fireside and he really wants to go on trek so that will be a great missionary tool for him to learn more about the gospel.
Another event, and on a very sad note, is what the Lyn and Jennifer Shaw family is going through. I have been aware of it for about a month but it has all come out in the open the past week. Their oldest adopted girl, Autumn, has lots of emotional problems and deals with something called RAD - reactive attachment disorder. She has been running away, making awful false accusations against her parents, and doing all kinds of awful things. They now have her in some intense therapy and had her counsellor come speak to a group of family/friends to explain everything. Very interesting. It suddenly made any little problem I had with any of you look small. Wow, they are dealing with a lot!
And now, can anyone guess what the title means? This Saturday will be 29 wonderful years married to dad. We will celebrate it by helping Jill and Kyle move into their new home (in neighborhood north of grandma's) on Friday night. On Saturday, dad performs the wedding of Tyson Jolley and we are included on the luncheon festivities. That evening we are taking grandma Winder to dinner for her 79th birthday. So it should be a fun and busy weekend.
Love you all. Time to pay those bills.
Love, Mom
Grandma's birthday is Sunday, April 19. Think how fun if any or all of you called and wished her a quick happy birthday. Grandma is always so kind to remember our birthdays with a little $$.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
21 minutes (Blaine)
I told Kris I on the phone that I would leave work at 6:00 today so when I finished my work a few minutes early I decided to force myself to just sit and write in the BAWB until 6:00. And that means, yep, you guessed it--you get a 21 minute stream of consciousness letter from me because I have nothing to say but do feel the need to write so I'm just going to go at it.
Well, I haven't written in forever and it's because I really have been so busy and stressed that I have nothing to say. That "busy and stressed" such that I have nothing to say, not "busy, as well as stressed that I have nothing to say", just to clarify... But after reading Kristi's awesome blog post about our day yesterday, and being inspired from Marley and Me about how precious and fleeting life is, I decided that today I just had to write.
So it has been pretty crazy lately. Work mostly has just been stressful. The good thing is that it is not the kind of stressful where I'm putting in really long hours, but more the kind of stress that I feel like I'm kind of set up to fail. I'm in a pinch where nothing I can do is going to get the results that are desired by upper levels of management and the best I can hope to do is cover my...uh...myself and prove that it's not my fault, but regardless I will be the bearer of bad news very soon, which is neither fun nor does it make you stand out as a great employee. Anyway, maybe it won't be so bad, but it's been stressful anyway.
Okay, on a happier note. Let's see if I can think of a happier note... (are you liking this stream of consciousness?) I recently finished the Book of Mormon on CD in the car and that has been an awesome thing. I have so much time to drive everyday and I get to listen to a lot of music during the work day so I decided to make the drive be something more meaningful than music or talk shows. I finished the BOM in less than 3 months and, though I didn't get as much out of it as you would with a careful reading of a chapter a day, it was great and satisfying to finish the whole thing so fast. It really gave me strength and got me started on the right foot (as opposed to wrong, not left) each day which was nice. When I finished I went back to the radio for a few days and was pleased to realize that it just wasn't doing anything for me to listen to these mindless morning talk shows. So I recently started listening to last April's conference on CD instead and that too has been great. Then on the way home I usually just have silence so that I can really think and unwind. I don't like that I spend an hour a day driving but I have to say I really like having that time to unwind and try to switch gears because I usually feel pretty high strung by the time I leave work and I don't like to get home like that. Especially if I get there and kids are crying and freaking out and needing both parents to be strong (Kristi is always strong, you wouldn't believe how strong, actually...)
Three minutes left. Well that truly must be the most random letter I've ever written but seriously, it's a post, right? I was just thinking the other day how many emails I pump out each day with dozens of lines of text, so why is it so hard to just write a few thoughts in a post or letter real quick. Well, this is why, with the emails I have something I need to say. If I have nothing to say, this is kind of how the letter turns out. But hey, is it better than nothing? What do you think of my little experiment? I encourage everybody to give this a try if they are having a hard time writing because they can't find time or a topic.
Okay, 6:00. Gotta go. Love you all!
Well, I haven't written in forever and it's because I really have been so busy and stressed that I have nothing to say. That "busy and stressed" such that I have nothing to say, not "busy, as well as stressed that I have nothing to say", just to clarify... But after reading Kristi's awesome blog post about our day yesterday, and being inspired from Marley and Me about how precious and fleeting life is, I decided that today I just had to write.
So it has been pretty crazy lately. Work mostly has just been stressful. The good thing is that it is not the kind of stressful where I'm putting in really long hours, but more the kind of stress that I feel like I'm kind of set up to fail. I'm in a pinch where nothing I can do is going to get the results that are desired by upper levels of management and the best I can hope to do is cover my...uh...myself and prove that it's not my fault, but regardless I will be the bearer of bad news very soon, which is neither fun nor does it make you stand out as a great employee. Anyway, maybe it won't be so bad, but it's been stressful anyway.
Okay, on a happier note. Let's see if I can think of a happier note... (are you liking this stream of consciousness?) I recently finished the Book of Mormon on CD in the car and that has been an awesome thing. I have so much time to drive everyday and I get to listen to a lot of music during the work day so I decided to make the drive be something more meaningful than music or talk shows. I finished the BOM in less than 3 months and, though I didn't get as much out of it as you would with a careful reading of a chapter a day, it was great and satisfying to finish the whole thing so fast. It really gave me strength and got me started on the right foot (as opposed to wrong, not left) each day which was nice. When I finished I went back to the radio for a few days and was pleased to realize that it just wasn't doing anything for me to listen to these mindless morning talk shows. So I recently started listening to last April's conference on CD instead and that too has been great. Then on the way home I usually just have silence so that I can really think and unwind. I don't like that I spend an hour a day driving but I have to say I really like having that time to unwind and try to switch gears because I usually feel pretty high strung by the time I leave work and I don't like to get home like that. Especially if I get there and kids are crying and freaking out and needing both parents to be strong (Kristi is always strong, you wouldn't believe how strong, actually...)
Three minutes left. Well that truly must be the most random letter I've ever written but seriously, it's a post, right? I was just thinking the other day how many emails I pump out each day with dozens of lines of text, so why is it so hard to just write a few thoughts in a post or letter real quick. Well, this is why, with the emails I have something I need to say. If I have nothing to say, this is kind of how the letter turns out. But hey, is it better than nothing? What do you think of my little experiment? I encourage everybody to give this a try if they are having a hard time writing because they can't find time or a topic.
Okay, 6:00. Gotta go. Love you all!
Monday, April 6, 2009
LOOOONG Greetings from Mom
Hi Everyone,
Stef has inspired me to write. Thanks for the fun post Stef. The only reason I wasn't going to write is so that you would stay on top of the BAWB for more than a day. But I really did intend to write a letter when I got up this morning so I better do it. Actually, I have had that intention for the past couple weeks.
Where to start. I think I reported on my mid-March trip to B&K's in the Bark but never did get my intended detailed letter written to the BAWB. But for the record, I must mention the highlights that have stayed with me. Mainly, meeting dear little Ivy Jane (who I have just learned from Kristi's blog is delightfully "average.") She is beautiful in every way and I even got some of her first smiles. I'm thinking she must be giving lots of them now, but I worked really hard for the faint ones I got. She is beautiful and may just have red hair like her grandma Jan (who gets to go visit next week - I am very jealous!) I also have a sweet memory of a rainy Wednesday afternoon when Kristi was upstairs preparing her RS talk and I sat on the sofa with all three children and read the ENTIRE Dora book - that is 119 pages! And everyone listened, even Bentley who only fell off the sofa one time. It was a sweet hour for me and I don't even have a photo of it. Next memory was the RS dinner where Kristi began the evening with a great talk. Maybe because I knew all the prep she had put into it and how nervous she felt that I enjoyed it so much. She was very brave in every way and it was an excellent talk on her new-found love for the Relief Society program. And the most amazing thing to me was that while she gave it, while she was pouring her heart out sincerely thanking all these dear sisters for helping her, while she bore her testimony so sincerely, she never once broke down into tears. How would it be?? Those of you blessed with the gift of not having to get emotional every time you think of something dear to your heart better be grateful for that gift. If not, you may be the blubbery ones in heaven and I may get the desire of my heart which would be to express myself without bursting into tears (think of Family Meeting last night) But I digress. More memories. The weekends are always fun because Blaine doesn't work. He took Monday off, too, and we just played and played. On Saturday we went to San Antonio and I loved walking around the temple with BK and kids and taking pictures. And every few steps Blaine would tell me that if I thought the stained glass windows were beautiful on the outside (which they were) you should see them on the inside. They had just done some sealings and had just been inside that beautiful temple. Then we did the Riverwalk and ate a bargain dinner at Rita's on the river and that was all grand. We each had "a kid" to be in charge of. I got Bentley to push in the stroller. What a sweetheart. Favorite end to the evening was Blaine gathering all his courage to beg the parking supervisor not to charge us for the three minutes of our final hour. We just barely missed the price going from like $4 to $7 or something crazy and though it was not Blaine's style - he prevailed! Then Sunday church is always enjoyable and Monday we spend the day around Austin, climbing the highest mountain and seeing the beautiful gardens. And we actually got hot, as in it warmed up, eating at the Shady Grove restaurant across from Zilcher Park. It was anything but shady but it did feel good to finally be warm. Oh and I have to add how I enjoy Kristi's great cooking - she inspires me - Blaine is a lucky man. Oh and also scripture study every night where you don't think Gwen is even listening and then she comes up with all the right answers (and I am just glad Blaine hasn't asked me.) Oh, and watching Bentley walk like Frankenstein with his arms out for balance and then sitting in his highchair hollering "mom" as loud as he can. His smile still melts my heart, and it is so much better in person. Oh, and the fun little "party" that Gwen had for all of us, complete with invitations. Oh and I can't forget Texas Day at the preschool. Obviously I could go on and on. But it was a wonderful week for me and I'm so glad they let me come and even act like they enjoy it. It was such a treat for me.
I finally had my first Primary Quarterly Activity on March 21. As a coun. I am over activities and I pretty much planned this one myself. It went really well. It was at the church. I kept it to just over and hour and we learned about President Monson. I showed clips from a video about his life. Then we divided the kids and they went to three stations: basketball (Pres. Monson loves basketball. Caroline, Kath, Elizabeth and Olivia Wynn kindly ran this one) a fish pond (Pres Monson loved fishing in the Provo River. I got prizes from the Dollar Store and the kids seemed to enjoy this) and the checkers (Pres. Monson, while mission pres, would play a games of checkers with his young son almost every night.) I felt good about the activity and because I did all the research, I gained the most and really grew in my love for Pres. Monson.
Another highlight in March was the Ragnar Relay planning meeting at Mike Winder's house. There are 12 Winders doing the race which is 180 miles from Logan to Park City. We laughed and laughed as we planned the event. I'm so glad Janey, Rosey and Max are all involved. Our ages range from 15 to 50. (Max and I) Involved are Jed, Clay, Julie, Andrea, Cristinne, Mike, Tom, Wendy, Janey, Rosey, Max and James. Six boys, six girls.
Sunday, March 22 was the Draper Temple Dedication in our Stake Center. I was glad to attend and felt sorry that only Max made it to the openhouse (we had been in Spain when our stake had tickets)
Another March highlight was our little trip to St. George. Stef did a great job describing their success in finding an apt. I loved tending Bret and teaching him to go down the stairs backwards. Max, Caroline and Kath all got to invite a friend so we had six teenagers and Nancy and I in the surburban (I think "jr high heaven" was the term someone used) but I have to say you probably couldn't find nicer kids. We really had a fun weekend with them. Zach Hansen, Kristen Morrill (yes THAT Kristen) and Hannah Bingaman were the friends. They were all so polite and even did dishes without being asked. Weather was good enough for them to swim outside and Nick and Stef took them rock climbing on Turtle Wall behind the house. The weekend went way too fast. And we came home to snow!!!
I've been going to the doctor with grandma Bassett. You all probably read that she had to quit her temple service and that has been hard for her. She goes to the doctor weekly as they are trying to regulate everything. Keep praying for her. Thankfully her spirits are good - she just doesn't have energy to do what she would like.
That brings us to this past weekend with General Conference. First I want to say how much I missed Blaine and Kristi and family. I feel it more when we are all together. It started Friday night with a party at Grandma Bassett's in honor of Richie's 12th birthday. He and Sid came for conf. Liz was here, too, and we got to go see Jill and Kyle's new second home. It's beautiful. On Saturday we tended Bret while the rest went into the conference center for the morning session. I made a soup lunch for everyone and then Janey and Aaron (who we got to meet for the first time) watched the afternoon session with us. Max even watches on Saturday. (I haven't told him it's not "required") He is such a good boy! Aaron (who we really liked) went to Priesthood and Chinese Buffet with dad, Max and Nick. The girls went to Nancy's for lots of laughs with Aunt Karen, grandma, Andrea and the Yorgs. Sunday we ate waffles for breakfast. Then Jeff, Nick and Stef joined us for the afternoon session and dinner. Then we cleaned up (thanks again everyone) and hosted Winder family meeting where 61 people came. Fortunately the weather warmed up so we excused the kids a few minutes into the lesson to go outside so we could hear each other discuss our impressions of general conference. It was a successful family meeting. Max got to be excused from family meeting to go see Kristin get her YW Recognition Award. I was sad as one by one everyone left for Provo. I'm glad Max stayed! I was soooo tired by last night and so very happy to get into bed.
So life is great and this letter was waaaay to long. But I surely love you all, and I love the gospel and the great hope I gleaned from conference. It may be a scary world, but we have the truth!!!
Love and apologies for the length of this letter, mom
Stef has inspired me to write. Thanks for the fun post Stef. The only reason I wasn't going to write is so that you would stay on top of the BAWB for more than a day. But I really did intend to write a letter when I got up this morning so I better do it. Actually, I have had that intention for the past couple weeks.
Where to start. I think I reported on my mid-March trip to B&K's in the Bark but never did get my intended detailed letter written to the BAWB. But for the record, I must mention the highlights that have stayed with me. Mainly, meeting dear little Ivy Jane (who I have just learned from Kristi's blog is delightfully "average.") She is beautiful in every way and I even got some of her first smiles. I'm thinking she must be giving lots of them now, but I worked really hard for the faint ones I got. She is beautiful and may just have red hair like her grandma Jan (who gets to go visit next week - I am very jealous!) I also have a sweet memory of a rainy Wednesday afternoon when Kristi was upstairs preparing her RS talk and I sat on the sofa with all three children and read the ENTIRE Dora book - that is 119 pages! And everyone listened, even Bentley who only fell off the sofa one time. It was a sweet hour for me and I don't even have a photo of it. Next memory was the RS dinner where Kristi began the evening with a great talk. Maybe because I knew all the prep she had put into it and how nervous she felt that I enjoyed it so much. She was very brave in every way and it was an excellent talk on her new-found love for the Relief Society program. And the most amazing thing to me was that while she gave it, while she was pouring her heart out sincerely thanking all these dear sisters for helping her, while she bore her testimony so sincerely, she never once broke down into tears. How would it be?? Those of you blessed with the gift of not having to get emotional every time you think of something dear to your heart better be grateful for that gift. If not, you may be the blubbery ones in heaven and I may get the desire of my heart which would be to express myself without bursting into tears (think of Family Meeting last night) But I digress. More memories. The weekends are always fun because Blaine doesn't work. He took Monday off, too, and we just played and played. On Saturday we went to San Antonio and I loved walking around the temple with BK and kids and taking pictures. And every few steps Blaine would tell me that if I thought the stained glass windows were beautiful on the outside (which they were) you should see them on the inside. They had just done some sealings and had just been inside that beautiful temple. Then we did the Riverwalk and ate a bargain dinner at Rita's on the river and that was all grand. We each had "a kid" to be in charge of. I got Bentley to push in the stroller. What a sweetheart. Favorite end to the evening was Blaine gathering all his courage to beg the parking supervisor not to charge us for the three minutes of our final hour. We just barely missed the price going from like $4 to $7 or something crazy and though it was not Blaine's style - he prevailed! Then Sunday church is always enjoyable and Monday we spend the day around Austin, climbing the highest mountain and seeing the beautiful gardens. And we actually got hot, as in it warmed up, eating at the Shady Grove restaurant across from Zilcher Park. It was anything but shady but it did feel good to finally be warm. Oh and I have to add how I enjoy Kristi's great cooking - she inspires me - Blaine is a lucky man. Oh and also scripture study every night where you don't think Gwen is even listening and then she comes up with all the right answers (and I am just glad Blaine hasn't asked me.) Oh, and watching Bentley walk like Frankenstein with his arms out for balance and then sitting in his highchair hollering "mom" as loud as he can. His smile still melts my heart, and it is so much better in person. Oh, and the fun little "party" that Gwen had for all of us, complete with invitations. Oh and I can't forget Texas Day at the preschool. Obviously I could go on and on. But it was a wonderful week for me and I'm so glad they let me come and even act like they enjoy it. It was such a treat for me.
I finally had my first Primary Quarterly Activity on March 21. As a coun. I am over activities and I pretty much planned this one myself. It went really well. It was at the church. I kept it to just over and hour and we learned about President Monson. I showed clips from a video about his life. Then we divided the kids and they went to three stations: basketball (Pres. Monson loves basketball. Caroline, Kath, Elizabeth and Olivia Wynn kindly ran this one) a fish pond (Pres Monson loved fishing in the Provo River. I got prizes from the Dollar Store and the kids seemed to enjoy this) and the checkers (Pres. Monson, while mission pres, would play a games of checkers with his young son almost every night.) I felt good about the activity and because I did all the research, I gained the most and really grew in my love for Pres. Monson.
Another highlight in March was the Ragnar Relay planning meeting at Mike Winder's house. There are 12 Winders doing the race which is 180 miles from Logan to Park City. We laughed and laughed as we planned the event. I'm so glad Janey, Rosey and Max are all involved. Our ages range from 15 to 50. (Max and I) Involved are Jed, Clay, Julie, Andrea, Cristinne, Mike, Tom, Wendy, Janey, Rosey, Max and James. Six boys, six girls.
Sunday, March 22 was the Draper Temple Dedication in our Stake Center. I was glad to attend and felt sorry that only Max made it to the openhouse (we had been in Spain when our stake had tickets)
Another March highlight was our little trip to St. George. Stef did a great job describing their success in finding an apt. I loved tending Bret and teaching him to go down the stairs backwards. Max, Caroline and Kath all got to invite a friend so we had six teenagers and Nancy and I in the surburban (I think "jr high heaven" was the term someone used) but I have to say you probably couldn't find nicer kids. We really had a fun weekend with them. Zach Hansen, Kristen Morrill (yes THAT Kristen) and Hannah Bingaman were the friends. They were all so polite and even did dishes without being asked. Weather was good enough for them to swim outside and Nick and Stef took them rock climbing on Turtle Wall behind the house. The weekend went way too fast. And we came home to snow!!!
I've been going to the doctor with grandma Bassett. You all probably read that she had to quit her temple service and that has been hard for her. She goes to the doctor weekly as they are trying to regulate everything. Keep praying for her. Thankfully her spirits are good - she just doesn't have energy to do what she would like.
That brings us to this past weekend with General Conference. First I want to say how much I missed Blaine and Kristi and family. I feel it more when we are all together. It started Friday night with a party at Grandma Bassett's in honor of Richie's 12th birthday. He and Sid came for conf. Liz was here, too, and we got to go see Jill and Kyle's new second home. It's beautiful. On Saturday we tended Bret while the rest went into the conference center for the morning session. I made a soup lunch for everyone and then Janey and Aaron (who we got to meet for the first time) watched the afternoon session with us. Max even watches on Saturday. (I haven't told him it's not "required") He is such a good boy! Aaron (who we really liked) went to Priesthood and Chinese Buffet with dad, Max and Nick. The girls went to Nancy's for lots of laughs with Aunt Karen, grandma, Andrea and the Yorgs. Sunday we ate waffles for breakfast. Then Jeff, Nick and Stef joined us for the afternoon session and dinner. Then we cleaned up (thanks again everyone) and hosted Winder family meeting where 61 people came. Fortunately the weather warmed up so we excused the kids a few minutes into the lesson to go outside so we could hear each other discuss our impressions of general conference. It was a successful family meeting. Max got to be excused from family meeting to go see Kristin get her YW Recognition Award. I was sad as one by one everyone left for Provo. I'm glad Max stayed! I was soooo tired by last night and so very happy to get into bed.
So life is great and this letter was waaaay to long. But I surely love you all, and I love the gospel and the great hope I gleaned from conference. It may be a scary world, but we have the truth!!!
Love and apologies for the length of this letter, mom
Little update from Stef
Hi everyone. No excuses for why I haven't posted, but I figure the best way to make up for it is just to post:)
First off, I wanted to tell you all how awesome mom is. Last week, she drove all the way down to Provo in snowy weather to come help me with a sewing project and teach me how to make homemade wheat bread without a bosch! We had such a fun day! Bret was an angel and I feel like I haven't learned that much since I have been in college! The bread was delicious and my denim quilt is one step closer to completion. Thanks again Mom for coming down, it meant alot!
Secondly, it is crazy how close to graduation Nick is. Two weekends ago we went to St. George to look for housing, thanks again to Mom for watching Bret, and we were able to get into our dream place. Here is the story: Jessica Nordgren's little sister Amanda and her husband live in these townhomes called SkyHawk Townhomes. They are pretty new, clean, have a one car garage and community pool, and are exactly three-fourths of a mile from Nick's work. Jessica told me about these places a couple months ago and I have been on a mad hunt ever since then. Every time an opening was posted, it was gone in a few days. We kinda went down to St. George thinking we wouldn't get into one (where was our faith?) so we spent our first day looking at 4 places. None of them had everything we wanted, or even anything for that matter. There just wasn't anything close to the hospital. When we went to return the keys to the agency that we were working through, I decided to just ask if they worked with the SkyHawk Townhomes at all. To my surprise she said that one just opened up that very day. She had a good laugh as I lost all dignity and blurted out a "no way" like I was in 7th grade again! They weren't suppossed to hand out keys after that time, but she said she would make an exception if we would leave our credit card. We went and checked out the place and just loved it. It has 3 bedrooms, a washer and dryer, central vac, one of those sweet vents on the floor that sucks up what you have swept off the floor, and a laundry shoot! We are so excited to live there and it truly was a miracle the way it all worked out. I am grateful for the Lord's hand in all we do!!! We will move down on April 27, do a little anniversary getaway to Mesquite the next day, and be back in time for the little man's birthday April 30. Thanks again to sweet moms, we are able to move and celebrate the 2nd anniversary without Bret. We will miss him like crazy, but it will make the move go a bit faster!
I was telling Rosey yesterday about this job I have applied for in St. George. It is through the health department and I would be working with a program called Gold Medal Schools. What I would do is go to some elementary schools once a week and help them with exercise and nutrition. Its a very flexible job that would give Bret and I something to do...yes he gets to come with me!!! I think it sounds great and would be a good way for me to use my major. I would love all of your prayers if you think about it! Thanks!!!
Lastly, I am still thinking about all the things I learned in conference this weekend. It is just amazing to me how the Lord truly just opens up a conduit for revelation as we are sitting there listening and taking notes!! It was awesome to go to the Saturday morning session with Janey and Aaron. I really felt like the Lord not only answered my prayers, but my every thought that I had had recently and for a long time. It was just amazing. Thanks again to Mom for watching Bret so we could go. Conference was a great reminder to me of one of our purposes in life and that is to build the Kingdom of God on earth. It is so easy to get distracted and loose focus, but I am grateful to have those general conferences twice a year to get me focused again. I am so grateful for our Savior. One of the talks said that the Savior could have learned everything by revelation, but instead He chose to come to earth and learn the way we do and experience all our pains, sicknesses, sins, etc. while He atoned for us. For that I am truly grateful. We don't stand a chance without Him!
I love you all and look forward to seeing you all soon!
Love,
Stef
First off, I wanted to tell you all how awesome mom is. Last week, she drove all the way down to Provo in snowy weather to come help me with a sewing project and teach me how to make homemade wheat bread without a bosch! We had such a fun day! Bret was an angel and I feel like I haven't learned that much since I have been in college! The bread was delicious and my denim quilt is one step closer to completion. Thanks again Mom for coming down, it meant alot!
Secondly, it is crazy how close to graduation Nick is. Two weekends ago we went to St. George to look for housing, thanks again to Mom for watching Bret, and we were able to get into our dream place. Here is the story: Jessica Nordgren's little sister Amanda and her husband live in these townhomes called SkyHawk Townhomes. They are pretty new, clean, have a one car garage and community pool, and are exactly three-fourths of a mile from Nick's work. Jessica told me about these places a couple months ago and I have been on a mad hunt ever since then. Every time an opening was posted, it was gone in a few days. We kinda went down to St. George thinking we wouldn't get into one (where was our faith?) so we spent our first day looking at 4 places. None of them had everything we wanted, or even anything for that matter. There just wasn't anything close to the hospital. When we went to return the keys to the agency that we were working through, I decided to just ask if they worked with the SkyHawk Townhomes at all. To my surprise she said that one just opened up that very day. She had a good laugh as I lost all dignity and blurted out a "no way" like I was in 7th grade again! They weren't suppossed to hand out keys after that time, but she said she would make an exception if we would leave our credit card. We went and checked out the place and just loved it. It has 3 bedrooms, a washer and dryer, central vac, one of those sweet vents on the floor that sucks up what you have swept off the floor, and a laundry shoot! We are so excited to live there and it truly was a miracle the way it all worked out. I am grateful for the Lord's hand in all we do!!! We will move down on April 27, do a little anniversary getaway to Mesquite the next day, and be back in time for the little man's birthday April 30. Thanks again to sweet moms, we are able to move and celebrate the 2nd anniversary without Bret. We will miss him like crazy, but it will make the move go a bit faster!
I was telling Rosey yesterday about this job I have applied for in St. George. It is through the health department and I would be working with a program called Gold Medal Schools. What I would do is go to some elementary schools once a week and help them with exercise and nutrition. Its a very flexible job that would give Bret and I something to do...yes he gets to come with me!!! I think it sounds great and would be a good way for me to use my major. I would love all of your prayers if you think about it! Thanks!!!
Lastly, I am still thinking about all the things I learned in conference this weekend. It is just amazing to me how the Lord truly just opens up a conduit for revelation as we are sitting there listening and taking notes!! It was awesome to go to the Saturday morning session with Janey and Aaron. I really felt like the Lord not only answered my prayers, but my every thought that I had had recently and for a long time. It was just amazing. Thanks again to Mom for watching Bret so we could go. Conference was a great reminder to me of one of our purposes in life and that is to build the Kingdom of God on earth. It is so easy to get distracted and loose focus, but I am grateful to have those general conferences twice a year to get me focused again. I am so grateful for our Savior. One of the talks said that the Savior could have learned everything by revelation, but instead He chose to come to earth and learn the way we do and experience all our pains, sicknesses, sins, etc. while He atoned for us. For that I am truly grateful. We don't stand a chance without Him!
I love you all and look forward to seeing you all soon!
Love,
Stef
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Follow the Prophets...Car Metaphor (Bret)
In testimony meeting last Sunday, an interesting metaphor emerged and was reflected in a number of different testimonies that day.
Scott Harmon started it off by telling a simple story about when the family went to the mall, and the parking lot was very busy with cars coming and going. When his kids got out of the car, his daughter started to wander away out into the busy lanes of the lot. A stranger who was walking by, talked to his daughter and said, "Dear you ought to go back over and stay by your dad, it's dangerous out here."
Scott then drew the analogy of how we need to stay close to the prophet, cuz it's dangerous out here.
That drew me to the mic where I told the now famous story of how a child see's these kind of engagements. Blaine and Nick were little boys -4 and 2 I would guess. Wendy was out in the front yard with them when the phone rang. She told blaine to keep an eye on nick. She was gone just a minute, when she got outside, to her horror, Nick was sitting out on Deno Drive. Wendy dashed past Blaine while giving him the evil eye, to go save Nick. When she came back, with Nick in arms, she asked Blaine why he let Nick go out into the street. His reply? "Mom, it's okay the cars just go around him."
I drew the analogy that kids don't know how dangerous it is, and they may think that all the danger will just go around them. Which may be true occassionally. But the danger is very real, and all it takes is one accident to destroy lives.
A Third brother then stood and added to the now growing metaphor.
He told how 3 months earlier he had tried crossing the street where he shouldn't. He thought, 'certainly the approaching car will stop for me'. When it was obvious that the driver didn't see him and was going to hit him, he thought 'no problem, I'll jump up and roll off the hood like they do in action movies." Wrong. First as soon as his hand hit the hood, it was shattered. When the front end hit him in the knees, it broke them both instantly. Then his chest hit the windshield breaking 4 ribs before discarding him on the road where he is fortunate no one ran over him.
We don't know how an instant of poor judgment can destroy our lives. We need to recognize evil and danger where it exists and avoid it as one would a speeding car. When we look at movies or look at people with challenges, we may feel like the danger isn't so bad. Think again.
Scott Harmon started it off by telling a simple story about when the family went to the mall, and the parking lot was very busy with cars coming and going. When his kids got out of the car, his daughter started to wander away out into the busy lanes of the lot. A stranger who was walking by, talked to his daughter and said, "Dear you ought to go back over and stay by your dad, it's dangerous out here."
Scott then drew the analogy of how we need to stay close to the prophet, cuz it's dangerous out here.
That drew me to the mic where I told the now famous story of how a child see's these kind of engagements. Blaine and Nick were little boys -4 and 2 I would guess. Wendy was out in the front yard with them when the phone rang. She told blaine to keep an eye on nick. She was gone just a minute, when she got outside, to her horror, Nick was sitting out on Deno Drive. Wendy dashed past Blaine while giving him the evil eye, to go save Nick. When she came back, with Nick in arms, she asked Blaine why he let Nick go out into the street. His reply? "Mom, it's okay the cars just go around him."
I drew the analogy that kids don't know how dangerous it is, and they may think that all the danger will just go around them. Which may be true occassionally. But the danger is very real, and all it takes is one accident to destroy lives.
A Third brother then stood and added to the now growing metaphor.
He told how 3 months earlier he had tried crossing the street where he shouldn't. He thought, 'certainly the approaching car will stop for me'. When it was obvious that the driver didn't see him and was going to hit him, he thought 'no problem, I'll jump up and roll off the hood like they do in action movies." Wrong. First as soon as his hand hit the hood, it was shattered. When the front end hit him in the knees, it broke them both instantly. Then his chest hit the windshield breaking 4 ribs before discarding him on the road where he is fortunate no one ran over him.
We don't know how an instant of poor judgment can destroy our lives. We need to recognize evil and danger where it exists and avoid it as one would a speeding car. When we look at movies or look at people with challenges, we may feel like the danger isn't so bad. Think again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)