First Day of School 2015

Our first day of school was on Monday August 24,2015. I can't believe how big my kids are getting! Next year I will have one in college.

Scott starts 10th grade and it's his first year in high school. He is excited to start in the engineering classes.

Diana is starting her senior year! It feels like I just barely took her to her first day at  Challenger School.

Sean is starting his first year of junior high and is in the 7th grade.

Maggie's is the only one left in elementary school. She is going to have a great year in the 5th grade with Mrs. Malloy.

Odds and Ends

I can't believe summer is coming to a close. We are busy getting ready for school to start. Maggie is in Mrs. Malloy's 5th grade class this year and we get the older kids schedules this week. My calendar gets fuller everyday.

Here are a few highlights from the last few weeks.

Sean made the Layton Surfers swim team. He loves it! His tryout was really funny. The coach asked what kind of experience he had and we told him he had only done swimming lessons. He didn't seemed thrilled by our answer. He asked Sean to swim down the pool freestyle and back with a backstroke. Sean jumped in and four strokes later the coach said "He is on the team." There was then a discussion on which team to put him on. Coach Alex then asked him if he knew the breast stroke and butterfly. Sean told him he has difficulties with the butterfly. He swam both of the strokes and the coach was amazed at how good he is just from lessons, especially since he has difficulties with the butterfly.

This week was also South Weber Country Fair Days. Michael, Scott, and Maggie all ran the 5K. Scott PRed and Mike ran Maggie in. 

We went to breakfast as a family at The Cracker Barrel. We have a tradition of drawing names for Christmas over breakfast there, so that is what we did.

Later, while Scott and Diana were at work, Sean and Maggie did the climbing wall.

I hope everyone has as great week.

Nancy

Imagine Dragons Concert

Our whole family really enjoys the Imagine Dragons. We have almost all of their songs. The group has a huge fan base in Utah and they love to come here because this is where they really got a foot hold on the radio and started being well known.  I like them because the songs are great and they started the Tyler Robinson Foundation. The foundation helps children with cancer and their families. 

They came a few years ago to the Dee Events Center, but we didn't feel like we could spend the money on tickets for the concert. We decided when they came again we would go. This concert was announced and Michael bought tickets for all of us to go. It was the first rock concert our kids have ever gone to and they had a blast!

 Scott

 Sean

All of the kids were pretty enthralled with the music and the special effects. I have to say, I was surprised they never got bored. I do wish I had brought ear plugs, but it was so awesome to spend time together as a family at the concert.

 Sean, Maggie, Diana, and Scott

Of course we had to buy t-shirts. I have been to a lot of concerts, but this is the first time I have bought anything at one.

 Nancy and Michael

The whole family (No I can't take selfies)

We are already planning on going again the next time they come to town.

Especially for Youth 2015

Especially for Youth 2015

So Scott and I had the amazing opportunity to attend Especially for Youth (efy) at BYU the week of June 22. Scott went with his friend Gabe from the Seattle area. They met at efy last year. I took a chance and went alone. We both had an amazing week! We learned, grew, and made friends in a way that is only possible at efy. We participated in classes, morningsides and firesides, dances, games, pizza, and more. Scott and I were in different sessions-Scott was in "A" and I was in "B"- meaning we only saw each other in certain classes, at the dances, and once or twice at free time. 

One of the neatest spiritual experiences I have had so far happened this year at efy. On Thursday, we had a reverent day. We wore our sunday clothes and the entire day was more spiritual than fun, which was awesome. The day focused on The Family and our roles in the family. We separated as young men and young women and we studied The Family: A Proclamation to the World. At the end of the day, all the other youth and I knew exactly where God stood regarding the family, and we were able to pretty well decide where we stood. The following day the atmosphere was exuberant as we filed into the Victory Theater in the Wilk for our final morningside. Music played and we line danced. Friday was much louder than Thursday, but the spirit was still there. Our session director Brother Jensen stood up to address us, but the room was not quiet yet. Then Brother Jensen said something that silenced us all immediately. He announced the Supreme Court's ruling from that morning- gay marriage was now legal in all 50 states. The atmosphere changed immediately. Every youth was paying attention. We all knew where we stood and had been prepared only the day before by studying in depth our Heavenly Father's plan for families. I will never forget the spirit in that room as we all knew exactly what we believed and how we felt about the ruling. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and a plan for the family. I know that the world we live in is a fast changing place, but we do not need to change our beliefs or stances to keep up with it. I am so grateful I had the chance to attend efy and surround myself with positive expiriences, good influences, and amazing youth all week.

                                                                                  -Diana

Both sessions got together for dances- Scott asked a girl every time

Scott and friends chilling at Swig

Scott and counselor Jake

Scott and Gabe with photo bomber

Diana and friends at the dance

the girls of  Diana's company

Diana and her roommate Hadley

Diana and her friends Danielle and Hayley

The guys of Diana's Company

Diana and her counselor Danny

Diana and counselor Matthew

Diana and the other counselor Matthew

Scott and friends

"Mom no" - Diana

I took this on the ride home. Scott kept nodding off too.

Wisconsin

Dessert always makes life better, am I right? I got to go on a CAP inspection to Wisconsin last week, To say I was worried is a complete understatement. I had Mike give me two blessings because I was so worried I would mess the whole thing up. He gave me one as I prepared and another the night before I left. It was so comforting to feel the spirit and to know the power of the priesthood.

On the plane ride out, I sat in the middle (sigh) between and really nice man who works for the National Guard. He helps run the incentive programs and was in Utah for a conference. On the other side, was a woman from Canada who had been in Utah for the Young Living Farms oil convention. It was an interesting ride as she asked many questions about the church and sort of argued with me about being a daughter of God. It is sad to think of others who don't feel they are children of God and she didn't really want to hear what I was saying. I was kind of relieved when she turned to the man next to me and tried to sell him on essential oils and their benefits for soldiers. When she first sat down she thought we were married to each other too. It made me laugh.

The inspection went well I think. The system we were inspecting was absolutely floored when we showed up. They thought they were having their pre-inspection phone call. Apparently, putting that off three times just made the professional CAP inspector mad, so there we were. I was one of two transfusion people, Lauren Fredrickson was the other. She is amazing! She has her SBB and found out while we were there that her abstract was going to be on a poster at the AABB meetings in October. She really helped me out. She reminded me they were more afraid of us than we were of them. HaHa.

We didn't get much downtime because a the hospitals were so far away from each other, but when we were in Green Bay we went to the stadium. It is a beautiful stadium! I was so impressed with the architecture and the attention to detail. It is a really pretty place even if you aren't a fan.

It was mentally exhausting. They people were were inspecting were pretty hostile to us because they thought it was unfair of us to come on a holiday week, but they hadn't blacked it out so it was fair game. One of the CAP inspectors named Bessie said she once did one when the 4th of July was on a Wednesday. I think the thought putting off the phone call would put of the inspection. Surprise! It didn't. Some of the transfusion people were absolutely hostile toward Lauren, but she shot them down. Go Lauren!

I'm glad to be home, but I sure have a lot of things I want to make sure I have ready before our inspection and the window opens August 1st.

Milwaukee was a really pretty city and I loved how clean it seemed. I wish I could have seen more.

So I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while. I want to record what we are doing as a family and have a place to put my thoughts. I hope I can figure this all out.