Summer at last!

It's finally summer! You may say that it has been summer for a whole month now, but for me, this afternoon, summer finally settled in. We set up the little wading pool and slip and slide in the backyard, and spent 4 hours just playing in the back yard. The kids had a fabulous time, and so did I. for the first time in ages, I actually felt relaxed.

sabbath blessing

I think that since we have moved here, I have appreciated the Sabbath day more than at any other time in my life. When God says, six days shalt thou labor, and then to rest and keep the seventh holy, I believe that commandment is truly meant to restore our souls. I feel it deeply now as Trevor, and even the rest of us are working ourselves to a frenzy 6 days in the week to get the business up and running. Sunday is our only truly restorative rest to mind, soul and body.
I am especially grateful today for the blessing of old friends. I attended my dear friend Kristen's blessing of her newest baby boy and was really touched by the strength of old friendship. Trevor and I actually had a chance to talk with several of our old friends there. Isn't it lovely to have friends that really love you for who you are, even after all these years. They don't see the extra pounds and grey hair, but just me. Truly a blessing.
Trevor enjoyed playing in the alumni band concert this afternoon. We're taking turns. Next week I will play while he stays with the kids. I took the kids and met tutu and papasan at the concert. The kids were actually remarkably well-behaved, if a little impatient toward the end, and I enjoyed listening to the music.
We're looking at possibly putting the kids in a charter school. It is K-8, so all three kids could attend the same school. Also, they have a great arts program, advanced academic programs, and small classroom sizes. Emily was especially excited about it. She begs me every day to let them go there. I'm filling out applications and we'll see what happens.

visit with Raquel

Trevor's mom came out to visit us the second week we arrived in Utah and helped with the kids a lot while Trevor and I were working like crazy. The kids had a great time visiting parks and going to a movie, etc. We also all went out to a chinese restaurant with tutu and papasan. The horse pictures are at Trevor's aunt Heather's farm. We had a nice family dinner out there. Beautiful country!

Emily

Emily's bday photo and a photo of her with her friends after their band concert this spring. Meant to post these ages ago, but just found the pictures. A little old, but still wanted to document. She really misses these friends and emails them all the time.

running races

Max has been practicing his running, and my Dad even found a family track meet for him to run in. Max ran in the 400 m, 50 m, and did the softball throw. He ended up taking 1st place in his heat in the 50 meters. I think he also had the 3rd best overall time. Pretty good for his first time out! Sam also got to run in an exhibition race for all kids 8 and under. He actually took 2nd place in his race, and the girl who beat him was obviously a couple of years older. He was thrilled. Today the kids wanted to practice running again, so we went down to the high school track and ran for fun for awhile. Ginny was pretty fast, too! Poor mom brings up the rear. I think I'll stick to walking. Max is going to work on running and maybe golf for a 4H project this summer. Emily is going to work on knitting with my friend Valerie who is an EXPERT. You should look at her blog! shoelessval.blogspot.com While you are there, you can donate to the virtual lemonade stand she is holding to raise money for children's cancer research and read about the miraculous recovery from cancer of her 2 year old daughter. They had a lemonade stand here in town last weekend, and I think they earned over a thousand dollars to support cancer research.

I've been home more this week. Emily, her cousin katie, and I finished up sorting all the pads and corks. We had to measure each individual pad with calipers, which let me tell you took hours, and hours, and hours of time. We finished today! Hallelujah! In other good news...my sister Sandi finished her masters' degree and is now a proud stay-at-home mom! Hard to believe little mannix is nearly 6 months old! She says he is almost crawling.

progress

A little progress. Trevor worked about 70 hours this week to get the first big high school order delivered. I myself worked about 40 hours with him, and his Dad and step mom worked with us diligently for 3 days. Nor can we forget the faithful souls who helped babysit so we could work so much this week...chiefly my diligent Emily, Tutu and Papasan, Raquel, my dad and Ann, my good friend Valerie, cousin Katie, and a couple of Emily's friends. We just feel so much gratitude it is impossible to thank everyone enough. It's like the scripture in Mosiah...when you thank the Lord for your blessings, he pours out more blessings, and you can never catch up! Anyway, this has been one of the hardest months of my life--trying on every level, and I've spent many nights in tears, but we are starting to see the light, and have been supported with time, prayers, and words of encouragement from family and friends near and far. Thank you!!!!! One night this week as I was crying my eyes out, I read in the Book of Mormon about how the Jaredites were being tossed on the waves of the sea, and their little boats would be sunk in the depths, but then be raised up, and through it all the stones provided light. That night I prayed for God to show me the light even as we surrendered ourselves to be tossed on the waves of the sea for awhile. I couldn't see it that night, but after thinking on it for a few days, I think the light is hope; the light is family; the light is friendship; and faith, which although mine seems lacking, is still at the foundations of who we are and what we hope for. I'm holding onto these things while we make this journey--hopefully to our own promised land.

arrived and crazy

Arrived in Utah last Tuesday early in the morning and hit the ground running. Exhausted. Completely exhausted.