Oh man. No I'm sorry if that came across as not patient or short in an way, I was just trying to not die of heart failure! The promise of Hawaii is all that is keeping me going some days so the thought of there being a chance of not going is devastating. And I really have a hard time asking for babysitting help (okay maybe to you all it doesn't seem like it haha!) so the thought of restarting the process was stressful and scary to me. And we don't really have anyone else at all to ask except mom ( she's our first choice anyway!), since my mom and Jen will be in Hawaii. We so so very much appreciate the many times you have helped with the kids, especially for times so we can go on a trip. I'm sure you remember how amazing it is to have someone who you trust so completely to help care for your kids when you are away.
So the answer is, definitely no kids. Nick and Stef win the prize for loving their kids the most. We need a trip away from our little darlings, you know...to help us appreciate them more and all that.
Be patient Kris. We are getting to that age where we need regular reminders. This is a good reminder. Another one in August would be good. And one in October. We should be okay by then.Stef, we've been praying for you guys... we were so happy to hear you made it back safe. Now drive safe tomorrow too...On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 4:02 PM K Bass <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Uh oh mom, I'm scared you don't remember about Hawaii, remember how you were going to come watch the kids? I swear we talked about this, ack!Kris, yes come twice this summer! I so want to see Tess, and the other kids, at the age they are right now. I miss them. If you think it breaks your heart, imagine mine!!I'm trying to remember about Hawaii. Are you going with your parents? Are you taking kids?
Sent from my iPadStef, be careful about throwing in a little offer like that at the end. I really will! And then you'll be so satiated with us that you won't want to see us again for another year (which may work out perfectly anyways, ha ha). No really, I am dreading summer here just a little bit! First off, SO HOT. And secondly, I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but there are SO many people moving from our ward. It is literally like our ward is getting cut in half, and they are all moving right as summer starts, so what few friends we have managed to make will not be here to play with in the summer and I have no idea what I am going to do with all of my kids! Bah! I would love to come and stay for a while. I've even been thinking about coming out twice, as weird as that sounds. Once at the beginning of summer and then again at the end of July before the reunion. I think we pushed it too hard to move here and not plan to visit Utah until the next summer. My bad. Plus, holy smokes, I want everyone to see Tess just how she is now! She is at the sweetest age and it's just breaking my heart that you all don't get to see her and know her how she is right now. So, I'll have to call you and get you to pencil us in at hotel Bassett!Speaking of hotels. Wow, another trip! You are a brave woman! Ha ha, only two nights in a hotel for our family and we have determined to never go on vacation again ever ;)I want to hear more about Kauai! We are heading there in November and I want to hear your "must dos!" I wouldn't have thought to take a rain jacket, but now I know!Thanks for the update! Enjoy St. George! (Three of the five hundred families leaving our ward are heading there!).Love,KrisOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:53 PM, Nick Bassett <nick.w.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>Monday, March 30, 2015
Re: The Ants Go Marching-Stef
Be patient Kris. We are getting to that age where we need regular reminders. This is a good reminder. Another one in August would be good. And one in October. We should be okay by then.Stef, we've been praying for you guys... we were so happy to hear you made it back safe. Now drive safe tomorrow too...On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 4:02 PM K Bass <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Uh oh mom, I'm scared you don't remember about Hawaii, remember how you were going to come watch the kids? I swear we talked about this, ack!Kris, yes come twice this summer! I so want to see Tess, and the other kids, at the age they are right now. I miss them. If you think it breaks your heart, imagine mine!!I'm trying to remember about Hawaii. Are you going with your parents? Are you taking kids?
Sent from my iPadStef, be careful about throwing in a little offer like that at the end. I really will! And then you'll be so satiated with us that you won't want to see us again for another year (which may work out perfectly anyways, ha ha). No really, I am dreading summer here just a little bit! First off, SO HOT. And secondly, I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but there are SO many people moving from our ward. It is literally like our ward is getting cut in half, and they are all moving right as summer starts, so what few friends we have managed to make will not be here to play with in the summer and I have no idea what I am going to do with all of my kids! Bah! I would love to come and stay for a while. I've even been thinking about coming out twice, as weird as that sounds. Once at the beginning of summer and then again at the end of July before the reunion. I think we pushed it too hard to move here and not plan to visit Utah until the next summer. My bad. Plus, holy smokes, I want everyone to see Tess just how she is now! She is at the sweetest age and it's just breaking my heart that you all don't get to see her and know her how she is right now. So, I'll have to call you and get you to pencil us in at hotel Bassett!Speaking of hotels. Wow, another trip! You are a brave woman! Ha ha, only two nights in a hotel for our family and we have determined to never go on vacation again ever ;)I want to hear more about Kauai! We are heading there in November and I want to hear your "must dos!" I wouldn't have thought to take a rain jacket, but now I know!Thanks for the update! Enjoy St. George! (Three of the five hundred families leaving our ward are heading there!).Love,KrisOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:53 PM, Nick Bassett <nick.w.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>Re: The Ants Go Marching-Stef
Uh oh mom, I'm scared you don't remember about Hawaii, remember how you were going to come watch the kids? I swear we talked about this, ack!Kris, yes come twice this summer! I so want to see Tess, and the other kids, at the age they are right now. I miss them. If you think it breaks your heart, imagine mine!!I'm trying to remember about Hawaii. Are you going with your parents? Are you taking kids?
Sent from my iPadStef, be careful about throwing in a little offer like that at the end. I really will! And then you'll be so satiated with us that you won't want to see us again for another year (which may work out perfectly anyways, ha ha). No really, I am dreading summer here just a little bit! First off, SO HOT. And secondly, I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but there are SO many people moving from our ward. It is literally like our ward is getting cut in half, and they are all moving right as summer starts, so what few friends we have managed to make will not be here to play with in the summer and I have no idea what I am going to do with all of my kids! Bah! I would love to come and stay for a while. I've even been thinking about coming out twice, as weird as that sounds. Once at the beginning of summer and then again at the end of July before the reunion. I think we pushed it too hard to move here and not plan to visit Utah until the next summer. My bad. Plus, holy smokes, I want everyone to see Tess just how she is now! She is at the sweetest age and it's just breaking my heart that you all don't get to see her and know her how she is right now. So, I'll have to call you and get you to pencil us in at hotel Bassett!Speaking of hotels. Wow, another trip! You are a brave woman! Ha ha, only two nights in a hotel for our family and we have determined to never go on vacation again ever ;)I want to hear more about Kauai! We are heading there in November and I want to hear your "must dos!" I wouldn't have thought to take a rain jacket, but now I know!Thanks for the update! Enjoy St. George! (Three of the five hundred families leaving our ward are heading there!).Love,KrisOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:53 PM, Nick Bassett <nick.w.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>Re: The Ants Go Marching-Stef
Kris, yes come twice this summer! I so want to see Tess, and the other kids, at the age they are right now. I miss them. If you think it breaks your heart, imagine mine!!I'm trying to remember about Hawaii. Are you going with your parents? Are you taking kids?
Sent from my iPadStef, be careful about throwing in a little offer like that at the end. I really will! And then you'll be so satiated with us that you won't want to see us again for another year (which may work out perfectly anyways, ha ha). No really, I am dreading summer here just a little bit! First off, SO HOT. And secondly, I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but there are SO many people moving from our ward. It is literally like our ward is getting cut in half, and they are all moving right as summer starts, so what few friends we have managed to make will not be here to play with in the summer and I have no idea what I am going to do with all of my kids! Bah! I would love to come and stay for a while. I've even been thinking about coming out twice, as weird as that sounds. Once at the beginning of summer and then again at the end of July before the reunion. I think we pushed it too hard to move here and not plan to visit Utah until the next summer. My bad. Plus, holy smokes, I want everyone to see Tess just how she is now! She is at the sweetest age and it's just breaking my heart that you all don't get to see her and know her how she is right now. So, I'll have to call you and get you to pencil us in at hotel Bassett!Speaking of hotels. Wow, another trip! You are a brave woman! Ha ha, only two nights in a hotel for our family and we have determined to never go on vacation again ever ;)I want to hear more about Kauai! We are heading there in November and I want to hear your "must dos!" I wouldn't have thought to take a rain jacket, but now I know!Thanks for the update! Enjoy St. George! (Three of the five hundred families leaving our ward are heading there!).Love,KrisOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:53 PM, Nick Bassett <nick.w.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>Re: The Ants Go Marching-Stef
Yes - very fun report Stef. I'm glad you guys get away when you can. And how wonderful to feel so welcome in your old ward. Thanks for the update.
Sent from my iPadYou guys are going to Hawaii!? How fun!! Who's gonna watch your kids?
Stef- super fun report. Thanks.On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 8:01 AM, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Stef, be careful about throwing in a little offer like that at the end. I really will! And then you'll be so satiated with us that you won't want to see us again for another year (which may work out perfectly anyways, ha ha). No really, I am dreading summer here just a little bit! First off, SO HOT. And secondly, I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but there are SO many people moving from our ward. It is literally like our ward is getting cut in half, and they are all moving right as summer starts, so what few friends we have managed to make will not be here to play with in the summer and I have no idea what I am going to do with all of my kids! Bah! I would love to come and stay for a while. I've even been thinking about coming out twice, as weird as that sounds. Once at the beginning of summer and then again at the end of July before the reunion. I think we pushed it too hard to move here and not plan to visit Utah until the next summer. My bad. Plus, holy smokes, I want everyone to see Tess just how she is now! She is at the sweetest age and it's just breaking my heart that you all don't get to see her and know her how she is right now. So, I'll have to call you and get you to pencil us in at hotel Bassett!Speaking of hotels. Wow, another trip! You are a brave woman! Ha ha, only two nights in a hotel for our family and we have determined to never go on vacation again ever ;)I want to hear more about Kauai! We are heading there in November and I want to hear your "must dos!" I wouldn't have thought to take a rain jacket, but now I know!Thanks for the update! Enjoy St. George! (Three of the five hundred families leaving our ward are heading there!).Love,KrisOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:53 PM, Nick Bassett <nick.w.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>Re: Letter 04- BAWB: New Calling
Dad,I was so grateful that I got to be a part of your fun day. I truly marvel at your commitment and devotion to the Lord, and to this gospel. I am so grateful for your example of making the Lord your number one priority, you never whine about the time you have to commit, or how uncomfortable it must be sometimes to do what you have to do. You just do it. I loved hearing you speak, and especially enjoyed your thoughts on family. I also loved spending the evening with everybody just hanging out. It was a great day!I sure love you, and am so so grateful for you and Mom.RoseyOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:15 PM, bret bassett <bretbassett@gmail.com> wrote:--Letter 04 - BAWB - new callings
Sunday, March 29, 2015
10:15 PM
I'm just going to write about today. It was momentous for mom and I. And it was so nice to have Rosey/Max/Janey/Warner/Griffen/Grandma W/Brent and Nancy/ and Pres. Tobar (home stake presidency) close-by to hug. But then there was a lot of hugging going on
It started by my going to the Gr1st YSA ward bishopric meeting at 8:00. Normally the meeting was at 7:00. It was a calm wonderful meeting. We talked about all the normal things happening in the ward. We reviewed sacrament meeting agenda. WE talked about handing off my responsibilities to Cornell Porter, the 2nd counselor in the ward. And he seemed to not need a lot of orienting…
I then went downstairs and sat in the chapel with mom and the kids in the congregation. The Taylorsville 1st YSA Ward (my new ward) Sacrament Meeting was great. The Stake President (Berne Broadbent) released Bishop Troy Dial, and Gordon Burns, and David Perkins as counselors. He then sustained me as Bishop, Dave Perkins as first C and Karl Thorup as 2nd C. Then the farewell, welcome aboard party started. Speaking was as follows: Bishop Dial, Sister Dial, Gordon Burns, Sister Burns, Me, Mom, Dave Perkins, Sister Perkins, Karl Thorup, Tina Thorup.
I can't describe how confirming it was to hear them speak. These are my people. They are about mom and I's same age. They have been faithful their whole lives. That means that They got married about the same year we did. They have kids the same ages (approx.) as our kids. The went to college the same time we went to college. They progressed in their callings about the same time as we did. But it's their faithfulness that is so endearing to me. They love people. They love the gospel. They love the book of mormon. They are disciplined in their lives and how they live the gospel. Mom will like the fact that they are also loves of the outdoors…and physical activities like hikes, etc.
And yet these are not wimpy church-boys. One plays semiprofessional basketball and golf. He actually wins money playing both. The other is a scientist, and he writes his own patents. One of which he foresees could be worth $1 Billion. I know it sounds like this guy is living out in la-la land. And I anticipate telling him that unless he has an army of lawyers who can fight an army of all the other lawyers from big companies, there isn't a prayer in heck that he'll see even 1/4 of it. But they are both successful men in so many ways. And yet their greatest strengths is their faith.
I anticipate just the joy of working with these men and their wives will be fulfilling and satisfying.
After speaking in Taylorsville 1st YSA, mom and JW waited around and stayed for our Granger 1st YSA ward sacrament meeting. This was a wonderful satisfying meeting where mom and I both got to say goodbye to the ward where we had served the last 8 months .I could look around and name nearly every name in the sacrament meeting. Which is about how long it takes me to learn names like that.
Anyway, a young man in our ward spoke (his name was actually Josh Powell) I spoke, then mom spoke. I love speaking with mom. She has the perfect spirit when she speaks. It's honest, touching and always makes me so glad to belong to her. She thinks so much like me, that it makes it fun to hear her.
After our testimony's then the new counselor spoke. His name is Pres Summers. And then Sister Summer spoke. They both have a wonderful spirit having served as Stake President only recently.
After Sacrament meeting I was set apart as Bishop of the Taylorsville 1st Ward. And my counselors were set apart after that. Then my counselors and I went and had a bishopric meeting and dismissed for the day.
I came home, did some writing on a book about spiritual metaphors, fell asleep and had a nap. Then we ate dinner where I got the red plate (You Are Special) and JW came over. We ate, played games, and watched some videos which to me is the perfect day.
Anyway, my heart is settling down after a long anticipated day. It's not totally settled because I know how much work there is ahead. But the YSA look great, and I hope to get to know them quickly.
Here are some of the thoughts I shared during my talks.
Smoking:
I remember a story of Monroe McKay who was a Bishop in a YSA Ward, who smelled his favorite smell coming into church. .
- His comment was this… "I walked into church today and I smelled my favorite smell… Cigarettes"
- It is the Lord's way of telling me, "I'm going my job".
- The interesting things with smoking, as a sin, is that it stinks. Everyone knows you've been sinning.
- But imagine if the greater sin of pride, or being dishonest, or of immorality had a stink to it. IF we all came in with the stench of pride, we'd have to open all the windows and doors just to breath.
- We can't judge.
The Gospel is not a sanctuary for saints, it's a hospital for sinners.
And since we are not perfect, since we are all sinners, we all belong here. WE all BELONG.
So I hope you'll feel comfortable here. That when you come you'll check your judgement at the door, and just come to be strengthened. And to strengthen others.
Perfect Families/People
- When I grew up there were 2 families that we watched on TV all the time… Leave it to Beaver, and The Addams family.
- If I were to ask you which of these two families had the most in common with typical LDS families, which would you say?
- I suspect if you knew both families, you'd think that Leave it to Beaver had the most in common. But I think in reality, the answer could be the Addams Family.
- A lot of dysfunction, but a lot of issues.
- I don't know what kind of family you come from, but most every family I know in the church or out, have some interesting dysfunctions to work through.
- In fact as you look through the scriptures, there are lots of examples of people with issues:
- The Bible starts off with the Story of Cain and Able - jealousy so strong it led on eto kill the other.
- The Book of Mormon starts off with the Stories of Lehi's family and his dysfunctional sons. Two of them hated the third so badly that they sought to kill him over and over again.
- Then there's the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors.
- Even if you look at the family of Elohim, 1/3 of his children rebelled against him, and so powerful was their hatred toward their father, that they waged war.
- And on and on.
You belong.
- Why do I share this story of people with problems.
- It's because we all have issues. We all have dysfunctions. We are all damaged goods. We are all sinners.
- That' okay. We have a savior. We have someone who will find us even when we are lost. Someone who will fix us when we realize we need fixing. Someone who has taken on the most terrifying trials we all face, and made them so they are doable…when we lean on him.
- So I am happy that I'm here, and I'm glad you're here. I hope we will learn and help one another grow.
- I hope I can help, and I know you can help me.
- So feel good here. That's what we do here. Help and strengthen us as we strive to overcome our various issues.
I am delighted and humbled to have been called to serve in this ward. It reminds me that the Lord loves me to entrust me with you great YSA.
A lot of people have talked about how great I am.
When Karen Nordgren is talking, she will say all the time "Oh this is the greatest story, you're going to love it." And then Nancy will say, "I'll be the judge of that."
When people talk about how 'great' Bishop Bassett is, I can almost see people cross their arms and say "I'll be the judge of that."
I pray that I can serve diligently.
Or something like this…anyway, I think it went better than my rough notes above. But they don't want us writing our talks out, so I am never quite sure of what actually came out.
Anyway, thanks to all for the support. I appreciated texts from those who couldn't come. And could feel your support the entire day.
I love you all. And am so proud of the way each of you serve in your callings.
And in case max doesn't announce his new calling, he's been called as Ward Exec Secretary. Wow. That will be a big calling for him. We sure pray for him as well.
Looking forward to conference this week.
Loves.
Dad
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Re: The Ants Go Marching-Stef
You guys are going to Hawaii!? How fun!! Who's gonna watch your kids?
Stef- super fun report. Thanks.On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 8:01 AM, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Stef, be careful about throwing in a little offer like that at the end. I really will! And then you'll be so satiated with us that you won't want to see us again for another year (which may work out perfectly anyways, ha ha). No really, I am dreading summer here just a little bit! First off, SO HOT. And secondly, I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but there are SO many people moving from our ward. It is literally like our ward is getting cut in half, and they are all moving right as summer starts, so what few friends we have managed to make will not be here to play with in the summer and I have no idea what I am going to do with all of my kids! Bah! I would love to come and stay for a while. I've even been thinking about coming out twice, as weird as that sounds. Once at the beginning of summer and then again at the end of July before the reunion. I think we pushed it too hard to move here and not plan to visit Utah until the next summer. My bad. Plus, holy smokes, I want everyone to see Tess just how she is now! She is at the sweetest age and it's just breaking my heart that you all don't get to see her and know her how she is right now. So, I'll have to call you and get you to pencil us in at hotel Bassett!Speaking of hotels. Wow, another trip! You are a brave woman! Ha ha, only two nights in a hotel for our family and we have determined to never go on vacation again ever ;)I want to hear more about Kauai! We are heading there in November and I want to hear your "must dos!" I wouldn't have thought to take a rain jacket, but now I know!Thanks for the update! Enjoy St. George! (Three of the five hundred families leaving our ward are heading there!).Love,KrisOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:53 PM, Nick Bassett <nick.w.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>Re: The Ants Go Marching-Stef
Stef, be careful about throwing in a little offer like that at the end. I really will! And then you'll be so satiated with us that you won't want to see us again for another year (which may work out perfectly anyways, ha ha). No really, I am dreading summer here just a little bit! First off, SO HOT. And secondly, I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but there are SO many people moving from our ward. It is literally like our ward is getting cut in half, and they are all moving right as summer starts, so what few friends we have managed to make will not be here to play with in the summer and I have no idea what I am going to do with all of my kids! Bah! I would love to come and stay for a while. I've even been thinking about coming out twice, as weird as that sounds. Once at the beginning of summer and then again at the end of July before the reunion. I think we pushed it too hard to move here and not plan to visit Utah until the next summer. My bad. Plus, holy smokes, I want everyone to see Tess just how she is now! She is at the sweetest age and it's just breaking my heart that you all don't get to see her and know her how she is right now. So, I'll have to call you and get you to pencil us in at hotel Bassett!Speaking of hotels. Wow, another trip! You are a brave woman! Ha ha, only two nights in a hotel for our family and we have determined to never go on vacation again ever ;)I want to hear more about Kauai! We are heading there in November and I want to hear your "must dos!" I wouldn't have thought to take a rain jacket, but now I know!Thanks for the update! Enjoy St. George! (Three of the five hundred families leaving our ward are heading there!).Love,KrisOn Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 11:53 PM, Nick Bassett <nick.w.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>Sunday, March 29, 2015
Letter 04- BAWB: New Calling
Letter 04 - BAWB - new callings
Sunday, March 29, 2015
10:15 PM
I'm just going to write about today. It was momentous for mom and I. And it was so nice to have Rosey/Max/Janey/Warner/Griffen/Grandma W/Brent and Nancy/ and Pres. Tobar (home stake presidency) close-by to hug. But then there was a lot of hugging going on
It started by my going to the Gr1st YSA ward bishopric meeting at 8:00. Normally the meeting was at 7:00. It was a calm wonderful meeting. We talked about all the normal things happening in the ward. We reviewed sacrament meeting agenda. WE talked about handing off my responsibilities to Cornell Porter, the 2nd counselor in the ward. And he seemed to not need a lot of orienting…
I then went downstairs and sat in the chapel with mom and the kids in the congregation. The Taylorsville 1st YSA Ward (my new ward) Sacrament Meeting was great. The Stake President (Berne Broadbent) released Bishop Troy Dial, and Gordon Burns, and David Perkins as counselors. He then sustained me as Bishop, Dave Perkins as first C and Karl Thorup as 2nd C. Then the farewell, welcome aboard party started. Speaking was as follows: Bishop Dial, Sister Dial, Gordon Burns, Sister Burns, Me, Mom, Dave Perkins, Sister Perkins, Karl Thorup, Tina Thorup.
I can't describe how confirming it was to hear them speak. These are my people. They are about mom and I's same age. They have been faithful their whole lives. That means that They got married about the same year we did. They have kids the same ages (approx.) as our kids. The went to college the same time we went to college. They progressed in their callings about the same time as we did. But it's their faithfulness that is so endearing to me. They love people. They love the gospel. They love the book of mormon. They are disciplined in their lives and how they live the gospel. Mom will like the fact that they are also loves of the outdoors…and physical activities like hikes, etc.
And yet these are not wimpy church-boys. One plays semiprofessional basketball and golf. He actually wins money playing both. The other is a scientist, and he writes his own patents. One of which he foresees could be worth $1 Billion. I know it sounds like this guy is living out in la-la land. And I anticipate telling him that unless he has an army of lawyers who can fight an army of all the other lawyers from big companies, there isn't a prayer in heck that he'll see even 1/4 of it. But they are both successful men in so many ways. And yet their greatest strengths is their faith.
I anticipate just the joy of working with these men and their wives will be fulfilling and satisfying.
After speaking in Taylorsville 1st YSA, mom and JW waited around and stayed for our Granger 1st YSA ward sacrament meeting. This was a wonderful satisfying meeting where mom and I both got to say goodbye to the ward where we had served the last 8 months .I could look around and name nearly every name in the sacrament meeting. Which is about how long it takes me to learn names like that.
Anyway, a young man in our ward spoke (his name was actually Josh Powell) I spoke, then mom spoke. I love speaking with mom. She has the perfect spirit when she speaks. It's honest, touching and always makes me so glad to belong to her. She thinks so much like me, that it makes it fun to hear her.
After our testimony's then the new counselor spoke. His name is Pres Summers. And then Sister Summer spoke. They both have a wonderful spirit having served as Stake President only recently.
After Sacrament meeting I was set apart as Bishop of the Taylorsville 1st Ward. And my counselors were set apart after that. Then my counselors and I went and had a bishopric meeting and dismissed for the day.
I came home, did some writing on a book about spiritual metaphors, fell asleep and had a nap. Then we ate dinner where I got the red plate (You Are Special) and JW came over. We ate, played games, and watched some videos which to me is the perfect day.
Anyway, my heart is settling down after a long anticipated day. It's not totally settled because I know how much work there is ahead. But the YSA look great, and I hope to get to know them quickly.
Here are some of the thoughts I shared during my talks.
Smoking:
I remember a story of Monroe McKay who was a Bishop in a YSA Ward, who smelled his favorite smell coming into church. .
- His comment was this… "I walked into church today and I smelled my favorite smell… Cigarettes"
- It is the Lord's way of telling me, "I'm going my job".
- The interesting things with smoking, as a sin, is that it stinks. Everyone knows you've been sinning.
- But imagine if the greater sin of pride, or being dishonest, or of immorality had a stink to it. IF we all came in with the stench of pride, we'd have to open all the windows and doors just to breath.
- We can't judge.
The Gospel is not a sanctuary for saints, it's a hospital for sinners.
And since we are not perfect, since we are all sinners, we all belong here. WE all BELONG.
So I hope you'll feel comfortable here. That when you come you'll check your judgement at the door, and just come to be strengthened. And to strengthen others.
Perfect Families/People
- When I grew up there were 2 families that we watched on TV all the time… Leave it to Beaver, and The Addams family.
- If I were to ask you which of these two families had the most in common with typical LDS families, which would you say?
- I suspect if you knew both families, you'd think that Leave it to Beaver had the most in common. But I think in reality, the answer could be the Addams Family.
- A lot of dysfunction, but a lot of issues.
- I don't know what kind of family you come from, but most every family I know in the church or out, have some interesting dysfunctions to work through.
- In fact as you look through the scriptures, there are lots of examples of people with issues:
- The Bible starts off with the Story of Cain and Able - jealousy so strong it led on eto kill the other.
- The Book of Mormon starts off with the Stories of Lehi's family and his dysfunctional sons. Two of them hated the third so badly that they sought to kill him over and over again.
- Then there's the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors.
- Even if you look at the family of Elohim, 1/3 of his children rebelled against him, and so powerful was their hatred toward their father, that they waged war.
- And on and on.
You belong.
- Why do I share this story of people with problems.
- It's because we all have issues. We all have dysfunctions. We are all damaged goods. We are all sinners.
- That' okay. We have a savior. We have someone who will find us even when we are lost. Someone who will fix us when we realize we need fixing. Someone who has taken on the most terrifying trials we all face, and made them so they are doable…when we lean on him.
- So I am happy that I'm here, and I'm glad you're here. I hope we will learn and help one another grow.
- I hope I can help, and I know you can help me.
- So feel good here. That's what we do here. Help and strengthen us as we strive to overcome our various issues.
I am delighted and humbled to have been called to serve in this ward. It reminds me that the Lord loves me to entrust me with you great YSA.
A lot of people have talked about how great I am.
When Karen Nordgren is talking, she will say all the time "Oh this is the greatest story, you're going to love it." And then Nancy will say, "I'll be the judge of that."
When people talk about how 'great' Bishop Bassett is, I can almost see people cross their arms and say "I'll be the judge of that."
I pray that I can serve diligently.
Or something like this…anyway, I think it went better than my rough notes above. But they don't want us writing our talks out, so I am never quite sure of what actually came out.
Anyway, thanks to all for the support. I appreciated texts from those who couldn't come. And could feel your support the entire day.
I love you all. And am so proud of the way each of you serve in your callings.
And in case max doesn't announce his new calling, he's been called as Ward Exec Secretary. Wow. That will be a big calling for him. We sure pray for him as well.
Looking forward to conference this week.
Loves.
Dad
Re: The Ants Go Marching-Stef
Loved the letter Stef! I want to go do that hike sometime without kids. I think I'll be amazed at how short it is. Haha :)
So glad you guys would come join me for my work travel. Even if we do only have one bathroom (and slightly more chaos) it sure beats being here by myself. Love you!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Mar 29, 2015, at 10:18 PM, Stef's Gmail <stef.m.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
>
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
>
> It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
>
> It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
>
> It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
>
> Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
>
> Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
> -Stef
>The Ants Go Marching-Stef
Yesterday we went on a new hike in St. George called City Creek. It wasn't too long and had an incredible view there at the end. But it was hot and it was nap time and the kids weren't that thrilled. We were trying to give them a nice dry hike because we may have slightly traumatized them by our two muddy and pouring rain hikes in Kauai. But I guess it was too dry. You never win with kids. :). Anyways to help Ned and Clay hike I started singing the ants go marching. It had been ages and I had to work hard to pull back the lyrics but I got some new meaning out of it because of thinking so hard. Have you ever noticed that the little one stops to suck his thumb, tie his shoe, climb a tree, shut the door, take a dive, pick up sticks, go to heaven, shut the gate, I don't even remember what else but that is a lot of stopping! Then I wondered if this song was written by parents to help them cope with the never ending amount of things a kid needs to do BEFORE they can get around to what you have asked them to do. Or maybe even parents on a HIKE with their kids! Lol!
http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-ants-go-marching-lyrics-children.html
It's lame but I thought it and it didn't seem to be offensive- at least there is no ill intent there- so I guess I will share it.
It's been fun to be back in St. George for a few days. Last night I went to the broadcast with a good friend and it was awesome. I thought about Kris and how cool it is that she can go with Gwen. I love having the younger girls there too and especially love their voices in the choir. Today we got to attend our old ward and felt overwhelmed by love from the members there. They all hopefully asked if we had moved back. It felt good to visit there. We also got to visit one of Clay's favorite friends-Mitchell and Bret's best friend Corbin! The two are such sweet friends. Bret gave him a big hug as they were leaving and I told him how sweet I thought that was and he said "Ya we did that like 20 times!" It was too cute. Clay has a little boy crush on Corbin's lil Sis Naomi so that was fun too.
It's also fun to be traveling again. Our family and our bowels can't get enough of this one bedroom one bathroom crazy style living! :).
Can I also just say how much I love continental breakfast and someone making my bed and cleaning my room daily. I am used to this!!!! :)
Miss you all and see you soon. Kris come all summer!!! :)
-StefFriday, March 27, 2015
Re: Life in Texas
Thanks for all of your kind replies! Rosey, I think I will take you up on moving here to be a nanny, I think that would help a lot! Ha ha. No, I wish there was something someone could do to help, but honestly I have no idea. Just keeppraying I guess! I hope you guys all write next week! I am excited to hear all about Hawaii, Rosey's new job, Janey's life with Griffen and all the fun we are missingout on back home!On Fri, Mar 27, 2015 at 6:18 PM, Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com> wrote:Thanks dad. I was curious!
On Thursday, March 26, 2015, bret bassett <bretbassett@gmail.com> wrote:Loved your letter Kris. I had to see pictures of Buc-ee's. So for those with similar weird leanings, here's Buc-ee's. The easiest place in the world to lose kids.On Tue, Mar 24, 2015 at 11:14 PM, Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com> wrote:Ditto everything ROSEY said!Way to go to just keeping taking it one day at a time. It sounds like you have your priorities straight and you believe that faith and hope are key to getting through hard times. I'm a bigger believer in those things. If you lose hope.....it kind of gets tough to keep on going. Don't give up. I know this is just a "trial of your faith." I remember the letter Blaine wrote to max when he said that he felt strongly that you should go to Texas. The Lord won't lead you astray. Maybe if nothing else you needed to go there to strengthen your marriage (not that it needed to be strengthened, but it never hurts to make things better.) way to look for the positive.Sure love you guys!
On Monday, March 23, 2015, Rosey <roseybassett@gmail.com> wrote:--Kris,I absolutely loved your letter, every last line! I love your honesty, and your ability to pick out such fun details about all of the things you're doing. You are such a trooper!Is there anything I can do to help make this time of your life more bearable? Regular face timing your kids? You? Move to Texas and be a nanny? :) I really do want to help, please let me know if there's anything i can do. Also, when should Max and I get our plane tickets? Should we do it sooner rather than later?I cannot wait to see you guys! Love you Kris. Way to use this time to connect with Blaine, that says a lot about both of you!-Rosey
Sent from my iPhoneI saw an inspirational meme the other day, it said something empowering about "I am not anyone's better half. I am my own whole." I am sure if I were single I would have felt a swell of pride or something, as it was though, I just felt a huge relief that I have found my better half! I am totally a half person right now. I would be a total and complete mess without Blaine. The more time that goes on, the more I realize that is true. I love and appreciate him more every day. And I know when I write it probably just feels like a gushing love letter to Blaine and is maybe not the most fun thing to read, but it's because I am trying to focus on the positive. There a lot of things going really wrong with life right now, things that are harder than they have ever been, but one thing that is going really right is my marriage, and I am so glad.--This week was spring break. Boy was I ever dreading it. Tensions have been running high in this house on a daily basis. It kind of feels like we are spiraling out of control sometimes (more like all the time). So the thought of having all the kids home for a week was daunting.Luckily one of the YW in this ward was hosting a spring break soccer camp. The fees for the camp were going to help build a school in Belize, and for M-TH 9am-12pm the kids got to go and learn more about soccer. Seemed like a sweet deal to me! It was such a huge blessing. It was really hard to get Gwen to want to participate at first, but even she seemed to really love it. I am so glad we took the opportunity to do that camp. Then each day after camp we had a fun activity planned.Monday we met up with Ralphie and girls at a park. That should have been really fun, but we had some issues come up and it wound up more stressful than anything, which was really depressing. As hard as life has been lately it seems like the things that are stressful have mostly been confined in our home, when I see the behaviors and problems popping up when we are other places it really stresses me out. So Monday, wasn't our finest day :)Tuesday after camp we went and tried a free gymnastics class. Man, all three kids loved it! Gwen had a hard time with the structure of the class. She just wanted to be playing on the bar and was frustrated that she had to do whatever activity the teacher wanted and not just what she wants :). They all really enjoyed it and were begging to sign up, which made it really awkward and hard for me to explain to the lady that we didn't want to sign up until we had talked about it later. Ha ha. Blaine was working late and so we hit up Firehouse subs for dinner. Kids eat free there on Tuesdays. The last time we went all three kids got to eat for free, this time it was just one free kids meal. Which, admittedly, is fair, but it's always hard for kids to adjust their expectations :)Wednesday we were supposed to head to the zoo or something but we just took it easy and I let the kids watch some shows. They had been working hard at soccer camp so I didn't feel too bad letting them have some down time.By some miracle Blaine was able to take half of Thursday and all of Friday and Saturday off. We had booked a hotel room in San Antonio (using rewards points, and discounted reward points no less!). It was the most ridiculous vacation. All of spring break had been beautiful weather and then of course the two days we were going to be in San Antonio it was like a 99.99% chance of downpours and thunderstorms. Added to that that our discount hotel had only an outside pool, which they kept at an invigorating -20dgs, and the hot tub was more like a luke warm bath. The quarters were cramped (two queen beds in a tiny little room, plus our port a crib). It wasn't quite Hawaii, I'll put it that way ;) ha ha.On our drive to SA on Thursday we stopped at Buc-ee's, which is just a gas station, but maybe the biggest gas station in the world. We counted 62 gas pumps. There were shopping carts, something like 500,000 types of trail mix. There are shopping carts. You could buy bbq grills, rafting tubes, anything you could ever possibly want. The epitome of American Excess. You have to see it to believe it. We let the kids all choose a treat and crossed Buc-ees off of our Texas to do list :). I'll tell you where could really use a Buc-ees is the middle of New Mexico, but it would probably take everyone in New Mexico to staff it ;)Thursday evening we took the kids ice-swimming in the hotel pool and then found a groupon for some indoor glow in the dark mini golf. I think Blaine and the kids had a blast, Tess was a little freaked out by the glow-in-the-darkness and very loud music. She didn't really cry, just more looked completely terrified every time I looked at her. I eventually left the rest of the fam and took her outside.After that we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I knew it was a mistake, we weren't even getting seated until 8:30PM and I knew we were pressing our luck with the kids getting along. It went pretty well until the end. We got home at like 10:30 and settled in for the longest night of our lives. Gwen doesn't like sharing beds with anyone, because there's always a chance that the other person will wet the bed. So she slept on the hotel floor (GROSS), and Tess didn't really sleep at all. Not a fan of the port-a-crib. Or carseat. Or bed. Apparently. Big fan of just being home ha ha :)The next day we enjoyed the continental breakfast, then headed to SeaWorld. It wasn't supposed to start storming until noon, so we thought we would eek a few hours out. We bumped in to the "Sea World Surprise Squad" or something, they asked each of the kids a trivia question and rewarded them with a shamu bubble gun. It was pretty darn lucky, and we enjoyed having the bubble guns with us throughout the day. Gwen and Blaine took off to ride the big rides, while I escorted a very disheartened Ivy and ecstatic Bentley to the Shamu show. Poor Ivy, I hope her short little body will grow soon. I promise you, you've never seen a kid so excited to ride big rollercoasters, and so upset when they couldn't. All the ride operators would measure her and then say, "I'm sorry, you aren't big enough for this one, but we have some really fun rides over in the Bay of Play!" which was the equivalent of Nemo's dad, on Finding Nemo, suggesting Nemo go play on the Sponge Beds with all of the baby fish :)And it is just the complete opposite with Bentley. If he catches wind of a big ride coming up he will offer to watch Tess and beg to just sit out and watch. Those two are a hilarious pair, I can't wait to see what they are like when they are in highschool together, ha ha.One thing we could ride together though was one of those river rapid rides. Oh man, it was so hilarious to sit next to Ivy. She just had her head thrown back and LAUGHED AND LAUGHED the whole time. She has such a love of life, I love it. Of course, her love of life was incredibly annoying to Gwen, who spent the ride scowling at Ivy. Those girls will be the death of me.We met up with Gwen and Blaine for a lumberjack show which was pretty fun. Bentley is at the most hilarious age where I think all the jokes in shows like that are geared for kids just like him. He laughed until he cried. Ha ha.We left at around 4 when the rain rolled in and headed to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. It was a fun experience, but one we probably won't ever repeat again :) I think we are more of a "quality of food over ambiance" type of family.We had learned our lesson the night before and tried to get to bed a little earlier. Blaine took the kids down for a quick dip in the "warm tub" while I tried my darndest to get Tess to sleep. Let's just say it was another looong night.In the morning we packed up and headed home, and I've got to say, I don't think I've ever been so happy to come home from vacation! We didn't really want the party to be over so we picked up tickets for Blaine and the big kids to go see Cinderella, and we worked on Ivy's poster for her special week in kindergarten.A few months ago t I had told Blaine that I was going to take Tess on a cruise just to get away for a couple of days, but, I learned a valuable lesson during our mini trip to San Antonio, which is that as long as Tess is still a baby I will be perfectly content to stay home :) We look forward to our next family vacation, which should be in about 2017 or so :)Things are going okay here. Well, let's be real, things have been really really hard. We are so grateful that we have good health, a solid job, a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, we are grateful that we have hope and faith. Things are rough, really, really, really rough in a lot of ways. Which brings me back to the beginning of my letter, and how much I love Blaine. We sit and question, were we really supposed to move to Texas? Why did we take this job? How are we going to help our kids? What can we do to turn things around? What were we thinking adding another baby to this? Are we going to make it? We question a lot of things, but we never question that there is anyone else we would rather be going through them with :) I think days like this, weeks like this, years like this can either make or break your relationships and I am so glad that ours is getting strengthened by the turmoil, not weakened.Anyway, weird letter, but letter nonetheless :)Love,Kris
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Bret Bassett - PMP | International Product Manager |
4268 Sherm Circle West Valley City UT. 84120
Home: 801.968-0760 | Cell: 801.815.5860 | bretbassett@gmail.com
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