Lake Powell ~ Day one

Lake Powell in October

We are home from Lake Powell and had the greatest time. If our Annie had been there,
it would have been pure perfection. Yet even though I missed her too many times to count,
having all of the rest of us, plus the two oldest boys’ girlfriends there, was truly just the best.

Nine fabulous humans, three days on the lake, more laughing and music and
water everything than I thought possible, equals one amazing fall break.

Photos coming soon. After I sort and organize and mostly pare down. By a lot.
Although this one is most definitely making the cut because I love it so.

Ahhh, Lake Powell. It’s kind of the best in October. I’m a huge fan.

This amazing birthday girl

 

Happiest Birthday my darling girl! We are better and brighter and happier and funnier because you are in our family.

Five things I love about Annie right now:

1. She's absolutely hilarious. Just funny beyond words. And she's never lost that humor or her ability to see the fun side of things, even when things feel hard on her mission or someone is unkind or things are awkward or any host of weird or discouraging things happen. She laughs hard and often.

2. She is kind to the core of her soul. She cares about people so deeply and would do anything for them. She notices people, reaches out to them, loves them, serves them. As the Savior would. She connects to people genuinely and consistently. And they feel her love and it changes them.

3. She has spiritual insights that I think about every single day. She has written an email every week of her entire mission and what she shares about her Heavenly Father, her Savior and the gospel is beautiful and deep and thought-provoking. I am a better person because of the truths and insights she shares.

4. And speaking of her emails, Annie is one of the best writers I know. I can hear her voice through her words and she makes me laugh every single week with the details she shares about her experiences. Her one-liners are truly something else and I love that I’ve kept a record of all of emails on her missionary blog. It will be an absolute treasure to me forever.

5. Annie is everything that is beautiful and good. She’s truly beautiful herself, inside and out, she radiates with the light of Christ in a way few others do and she creates beauty and goodness everywhere she goes. Through her actions, her words, her drawings, her humor, her kindness, her love. And a million other things. She’s just plain amazing. And I miss her so much.

We love you Annie girl! More than we could ever convey in words.

Love and light

I spent time in the temple this afternoon and all I could think, over and over,
were the words to a favorite song of mine right now…

He loves you, He loves you, He loves you.

Me. You. Every ONE of us. No exceptions, no exclusions.

And because of that, as I walked out of the temple doors, my heart felt a lot like
that sun at the top of this photo. Bright and light and melty and warm. And also
like the sun, I just wanted to share all of it with the whole world.

Oh I love Him.

One of Grace's favorite nights--ever

I spent last night watching Broadway's The Lion King in Salt Lake with this little love
and I may have gotten emotional a time or two watching her happiness throughout the show.
It seems that this was one of our girl's favorite birthday gifts in all of ever. I would have to agree.
Because spending time with Grace, especially doing something we both love, is kind of the best.

A third grade program for our girl

This little darling had her third grade program tonight at the elementary school
and I loved it so much. Anything to do with music and singing is Grace's
favorite and it shows in her face. Love this sweetheart something fierce.

He’s such a stud

Oh yes, and subtle cleats always. And forever.

The last few days

A baptism last week (well, three to be exact), an incredibly beautiful letter this week (her attitude and
goodness just bring me to tears) and the official thirteen-month mark hit just days ago (I'm not counting
down the seconds of the last five months or anything). This missionary girl of ours is just so amazing and
full of light, I can't get over it. So proud of who she chooses to be and the deep honor of being her mom.

Yesterday (but actually Friday when he was available)

This incredible birthday guy

Happy Birthday my incredible boy! We are the luckiest ever because we get you in our family.

Five things I love about Campbell right now:

1. He is, and always has been, one of the very funniest people I know. His commentary about pretty much everything makes me snort-laugh constantly and the way he sees the world is honestly hilarious beyond words. If you don’t hang out with him on a regular basis, I’m sorry.

2. He loves people. He has since he was little and the way he cares about them and does everything he can to show them that only gets sweeter and more touching with every year.

3. Because he loves people, he is an outstanding leader. He naturally falls into that role and does it well because he just cares so deeply. He was just called as the executive secretary to the bishopric in his brand new ward and as biased as it may sound (doesn’t mean it isn’t true), that is one lucky bishopric.

4. He is so sweet to his mother, it is ridiculous. He regularly checks in to see how I am doing, to make me laugh, to tell me he loves me. I don’t have words for how much it means to me or how grateful I am for this boy of mine.

5. His voice is truly unreal. He doesn’t know how amazing it is and Jacob and I regularly give each other a look of amazement when when we hear him sing. Even if it is for the hundredth time. And he can mimic any singer’s voice with exactness. It is truly something else and I hope he never stops singing. For the world and for his mother.

We love you Campbell Allen! So much it is a little ridiculous.

Yesterday

This darling birthday girl

Happiest Birthday baby girl! Everything about our family is happier and brighter because you are in it.

Five things I love about our Gracie right now:

1. She is one of the kindness people I know and is always trying to find someone in her class, at lunch, at recess who doesn’t have a friend so she can include, sit, play with them.

2. She loves art and creating and music and dance to the deepest part of her heart. It comes naturally to her and she can spend hours quietly making something amazingly beautiful.

3. She’s extremely comfortable and confident in her own skin. She doesn’t seem affected by how others view her and it makes her incredibly outward-focused and brave in her actions of wrong and right.

4. She loves Jesus. She has a quiet, strong testimony of Him and it especially causes her to know and love the scriptures in a deeper way than someone her age usually would.

5. She has an amazing ability to compliment others genuinely. It doesn’t matter a person’s age or gender or if she knows them or not—I hear her constantly telling others how she likes their shirt, their hair, their shoes, anything that stands out to her. And the sincerity in her comments does something to my heart every single time.

We love you darling Grace! More than you could ever know.

His children

My beautiful missionary girl. Sometimes my Heavenly Father allows me to sense just how proud
He is of how she chooses to love all of His children and it makes me weep. I think it makes Him weep also.

Campbell's first day

 
And our final family member to begin the school year goes to Campbell. Oh I love this boy
of mine. Even if he sent that second photo as his back to school picture when I requested one.
Okay fine, it made me laugh pretty hard. So I had to include it with this handsome one.
This guy has about four semesters left of his undergrad to go. He’s amazing. And I adore him.

Matt's first day

And this guy officially started college yesterday. I asked him for a picture of his first day of school
and he sent this beauty. I seriously love it so much. But this boy even more. He's just tremendous.

Here we go again

First day of school in the books for these three. Three?
Pure craziness I tell you. Love these chicklets something crazy.

Ninth, fifth, third.

He's off

Fly high my darling boy.

One darling champion

 
Just this morning, this cutest stud and his team won the championship of his
soccer tournament this week. The entire team played so well during each game,
going undefeated throughout and then taking the final game to wrap it up nicely.
So love this incredible boy and his athletic, darling, kind, amazing, happy self.

And that makes three

This really incredible boy of ours moved a good part of his things into his dorm at the U of U
yesterday. And will be moving his amazing self out of our home on Sunday evening. I feel
simultaneously sad beyond words and so excited for him I could burst. I'll miss him so much
I feel overwhelmed just thinking about it. Yet I love his two friends that he is rooming
with and the goodness and fun and hard work that lies ahead for him a whole lot.

How I love this boy of mine. With a fierceness that brings me to tears on a regular basis.
He's just truly something tremendous.

One year

My missionary girl. One year today. I just love her so much.

“God is a God of promises. He makes promises with us every day. He's made promises with His people
since the first day on this earth (even before that actually). And He has (or He will) kept each and every
one of His promises. Every single one. He doesn't lose track, no matter how many He makes.

But how does He keep all those promises? How does He offer comfort to a person with a really big
trial? A friend to a person who's lonely? Peace to the soul of a human who is really stressed or
anxious? As the scripture in D&C 1:38 says, "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse
not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all
be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." I have always
thought about that scripture like, God and His servants (prophets and apostles) can make the promises,
and it is the same. And yes. That does apply. But aren't we all His servants? And doesn't it make
sense that His promises can be fulfilled through His voice or the voice of His servant (you)?
.
Sometimes God fulfills His promises by speaking directly to us, by changing hearts and giving internal
peace. But more often than not, it's through other people that come into our lives and make us better,
bring us joy, and fulfill the Lord's promises through their actions. SO! What if we become those "other
people"? What if we become God's promise keepers? What a cool title that is, no? You. God's promise
keeper. As you are serving, loving, giving, sharing, comforting, YOU are keeping God's promises.
WHAT A PRIVILEGE! So go out there, and look for who in your life are God's promise keepers for you,
and then go become a promise keeper for someone else. Help them to feel His love. Help them to feel
His joy. Help them to find peace. Help them to really know that there IS a God. That HE loves them.
That HE will do anything and everything to keep His promises. And that HE will use YOU in mighty
and marvelous ways to love and care for and keep His promises with all His other kids too.”

This amazing boy

Last night, this athletic wonder suddenly decided he wanted to learn to do a backflip on
the ground. So he went outside with his dad and five minutes later asked me to come watch
what he could do. Seriously, this child is something else. And boy do his legs ache today
from doing several dozen backflips in a row so he would feel less nervous with every try.

Good grief, Nate Allen is the coolest.