February 8, 2015 - Sierra is Driving! and Some Valentines Love

Sierra is driving!!! Sierra took both her skills test and her written text on Friday and she is driving!!! Truth be told, I am both scared out of my mind and so excited that I am jumping up and down for joy!  I think she feels the same way.  She will enjoy her new independence and I think she is ready for the added responsibility.  Now, to find her a job??? :)

The after school program at the elementary schools started up this week.  I have been busy getting classes put together and finding teachers.  I am excited to have about 13 BYU-I students come this way to teach classes.  I hope that it will be a continuing part of our program because so far, they are awesome!!  Cutler is taking a "Mission Impossible" class and Jenika is feeling extra important because she is teaching a jump rope class.  One Wednesday down and five to go!

This week I sent (actually, I drove one of the teams) Alysa Love on a birthday scavenger hunt.  It was a little stressful to get the clues written and set up, but driving the girls was lots of fun, and hilarious.  Girls that age are just so funny and they loved it!  Then the very next day, I sent Whitney Love on a date scavenger hunt for a girls' choice Valentines Dance.  I don't know if they could possibly have as much fun as the 11 year old girls.... I think they were probably too busy trying to impress their dates to enjoy themselves looking like goofballs.

Basketball (Bryson's, Cutler's, and the highshcool), gym, cheer, jump rope, America's Hope, skiing, and violin lessons certainly filled up the rest of this week.  Valentines day was Saturday and so after the games, we went to Broulim's got sushi, chicken for the kids, chocolate covered strawberries, and a couple of movies for a fun night in.  It was just lovely. :)

Bryson, Kiegan, and Christian getting ready for skiing

In honor of Valentines Day, here is a Valentine's Day love post for all the people I love:

I love Sierra! She is patient, and beautiful.  She doesn't ever stress out too much, and she is always ready to give a hand to others.

I love Bryson!  He is determined and motivated.  He takes the things he does very seriously and wants to be good.  He loves his mom and is always willing to give her a great hug!

I love Jenika!  She is sympathetic toward others and is very responsible.  She is beautiful and she is always concerned with the feelings of others and she knows how to include them.

I love Cutler! He is enthusiastic and happy.  He feels everything intensely and he expresses himself with power.  He loves the company of his mom and gives great hugs.

I love Brielle!  She is the best gift ever!  She is cute and fun and so entertaining.  Her imagination is large and so is her energy level.  Mom is her favorite person in the world!

I love Shawn!  He is strong and smart and good.  He works so hard to make sure that we have the things we need and he supports me in all of my crazy ambitions.  He knows how to have fun and how to keep me balanced.  He is intensely loyal to our family and loves us all deeply.

I love my Heavenly Father, for He has given me the best family!  I am so blessed that they are all my Valentines!

February 1 - A Baby, a Baptism, and a Funeral

If last week was busy, this week was busy on steroids!  We had a funeral, a baptism, a baby blessing, and a bridal shower all this week!

Grandma's viewing was Monday night in Blackfoot and her funeral was on Tuesday in Thomas.  It was so nice to see all the family and to spend time remembering Grandma.  She really left a legacy and her children and grandchildren know that she loves them.  It was fun to see pictures of Grandma and Grandpa together and to see all of her friends from her old ward.  She was important to a lot of people.  We are sad that she has left us, but we are so happy for her and for her reunion with Grandpa and with Jessica, my sister and with her parents and all her siblings who have passed on before her. Shawn gave the opening prayer (he did a wonderful job), Jerilyn, Cam, and Angie gave her life sketch, all the kids and grandkids sang Families Can be Together Forever; Melanie, Casey, Chelsey, Whitney, and I sang "Let Us All Speak Kind Words to Each Other" and "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good", and Josiah spoke. It was a great meeting and Grandma was proud and pleased, I am sure. :)

Grandma had said that she was ready to go long ago, especially when she started forgetting things and not being able to be alone anymore.  She was frustrated that her body wasn't working right anymore, and that she was still here.  She didn't ever want anybody to have to take care of her... She was the one who took care of everyone else.  I am sure that she didn't understand why she was still here when she missed Grandpa so much and felt that she had done all that she was meant to do on earth still.  But as I read my scriptures this week, I remembered Moroni.  He felt the same thing... That he had accomplished his duties and fulfilled his purposes on the earth and that there was no more that he could do.  For the Nephites were all extinct and had all died from war because of their evil and sin and the Lamenites would not listen to his messages - they would kill him if they found him.  He was all alone.  But Moroni said goodbye three or four different times in the Book of Mormon.  After recording the account of the Jadeites, he was ready to die, but Moroni recorded some of the most powerful chapters of the Book of Mormon after he thought he was finished.  The lessons taught at the end of the Book of Mormon were of utmost importance.  I wonder if the lessons that we needed to learn from Grandma were lessons that we needed to learn while we served her and waited for death with her.  I learned that Heavenly Father is in charge and that a few years in Heaven's time is but a blink of an eye.  I learned that we must be patient in our afflictions and keep our eyes and hearts focused on our Savior because He loves us and knows better what we need than we do.

Grandma's legacy continued with Cutler's baptism on Saturday.  He was so excited to get baptized and our Stake baptism was on his birthday (at the same time of Sierra's cheer competition), so we decided to "borrow" my parent's stake and have him baptized in the Tyhee Stake building so he didn't have to wait clear till March.  It was a wonderful meeting and Cutler was awesome!  Sierra, Bryson, Jenkia, and Cutler sang The Beautiful Gift of Jesus.  Melanie and Russel gave a talk about the atonement and baptism.  Cutler was baptized by Shawn, and then Griffin gave a talk about the Holy Ghost.  Cutler was blessed with the gift of the Holy Ghost by his dad too.  It was a beautiful blessing. Shawn blessed him to be a leader and lead others to the Savior, and also a follower of Jesus Christ.  He blessed him to remember the love of his family and of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  He blessed him also to learn to recognize and to listed to the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.  After the meeting, we gathered for lunch of meatball subs and veggies and chips and visited for a little while, and then we were off. :)  It was perfect.

Casey blessed her new baby, Blake on Sunday, so we drove back to Pocatello for that Sunday morning.  It was fun, again, to see familiar faces in the ward, and to spend more time with the family. Blake is adorable and Casey and Luke are such cute parents!

I am grateful to be a member of a true church, the only true church on the earth today that uses and honors the Priesthood for special ordinances that bring us close together as a family.  I love that we gather together to honor special events and share special times together.  I feel that our families time together is short and that our lives go by so quickly!  It seems that my memories consist of fleeting moments of the most special, sacred occasions, and I know that these are the important reasons we are here.

January 25 - Happy Birthday Cutler!

Another busy week behind us!

Grandma has been declining and hasn't eaten anything or been away since Friday or Saturday.  I went to see her on Monday during Jenika's jumprope.  She was sleeping peacefully and Jerilyn had music playing in the room.  It was very peaceful and tender.  I told her that I loved her and that I would see her again someday, and left.  Mom texted me on Thursday that she had passed away around noon.  My dad and Angie were there with her when she died.  She is an amazing lady and I love her so.  She has lived a wonderful life full of service and love.  I can imagine that the reunion with her and Grandpa was very sweet.

Basketball games, lessons, church activities, jump rope, and skiing kept us busy all week and we didn't have much time to be sad about Grandma.  She wouldn't want us to sulk, but to get busy and get to work.  Sierra had a cheerleading competition in Pocatello on Saturday and they did great!  They won first in everything (and they even had somebody to compete against)!

Cutler's birthday was on Saturday!   He turned EIGHT years old!  He got some walkie-talkies and some scriptures, and a basketball.  He played a ball game and then when to lunch with Shawn and Bryson.  When we got home from the competition in Poky, we celebrated! :)

January 18 - Happy Birthday Jenika and Mom!

Happy birthday this week to Jenika and me!  Jenika turned 11 on Monday and I turned 38!  I know it is cliche, but I seriously cannot comprehend how quickly time goes by!

Grandma Noni was here this week and we enjoyed spending some time with her.

For Jenika's birthday, on Monday, because there was no school, she wanted us all to go skiing with her.  It was so much fun!!  I forgot how much I like to ski! She got a sewing machine for her birthday and she was a little surprised, but so excited!

Sierra had a cheer competition in Rigby this weekend and she did great!  They looked really good and won first in everything (even if they were the only group in their level - haha).  Jenika performed with the little girls clinic and I sold cinnamon rolls at concessions so it was a pretty big day.  Cutler and Bryson both had ball games in IF.  Thank goodness that Shawn is awesome so that we can divide and conquer!

Grandma Jackson was admitted into the hospital last week.  She hasn't been doing well, and Shawn and I went to visit her this week.  They brought her back to the Gables and she has been sleeping a lot.  She woke up and gazed into my eyes.  I felt like there was so much that she wanted to say, and was saying in Spirit, but didn't have the words to say them.  She didn't seem to be in much pain at all and I am glad for that.  We are all praying that she might pass quickly and peacefully... She has missed grandpa for so long and she hasn't really been herself for a so long.  We will be happy for her when she can finally go home.