Scotland

Jared was able to go on his Scotland trip.  Since Alex was already there, Jared had to fly over on his own.  Jared has been on several flights with us, but this was his first time on his own.  I didn't even take him to the airport.  I dropped him off where he took a bus to LAX.  It was a little weird sending him off.  He flew to London, where he had a 7-hour layover, and then on to Inverness.  We tried to prep him for what to do in London and what to do with his phone when he got there.  We told him to put it on airplane mode so he wouldn't get charged for calls or messages from anyone.  But then we wanted him to connect to the Wi-Fi at the airport so we could check in with him on WhatsApp.  Well we didn't hear from him at all - he did what we said but then couldn't connect to the internet.  He made it to meet Alex in Inverness though.  (We joked about his possible adventures in London during those 7 hours... guess we'll never know... he actually just sat there bored.)  

Jared went to help Alex with his field work, so it wasn't much of a vacation.  They did have a little fun for a couple of days, hiking to the top of Ben Nevis and visiting a filming site from Andor (Cruachan Dam).  The trip wasn't without a little drama.  The clutch on their car burned out one night about 25 miles from their destination, so they had to wait for it to get towed (and eat peanut butter sandwiches again since all the restaurants were closed by the time they got in).  The trip was a nice break for both of them, despite working hard most of the time.  It's a beautiful place to work!

17 years

We celebrated Jared's birthday over a couple of days.  Alex left for Scotland a couple of days before Jared's birthday, so he missed dinner and cake celebrations.  We did his requested breakfast while Alex was still here (also since Jared had something else the morning of his birthday after seminary).  Presents aren't as exciting when you hit 17 - we had a hard time getting him to tell us anything he wanted.  We finally got out of him that he could use some free weights.  So that's what he got - two 25 lb weights.  It was pretty hard to wrap those things up... I managed to wrap them in a box on the floor in my room, but then it was really awkward to move it anywhere. So I had Owen haul them out the night before his birthday.  He also got a couple of books and the rest was cash.  One of the books was a running book called "How to Make Yourself Poop and 999 Other Tips all Runners Should Know." 😀 

Jared's dinner request was a little random - BBQ sandwiches, vegetable fried rice, and rolls. 

Here is the main story for Jared's birthday this year though.  He was supposed to fly to Scotland the day after his birthday.  About 2 weeks prior to the trip, he still didn't have his passport.  He applied for the passport in early February.  We were told the maximum time would be 10 weeks, without expediting, so we went with the normal option since that meant we had 4 extra weeks before his trip.  Anyway, after about 12 weeks since submission and 2 weeks before his trip, we didn't have the passport.  Alex spent the next 1-2 weeks trying to figure out how to get the passport.  He ended up waiting on hold on the phone for about 1.5 hours every day for a week, with no hope. We tried to expedite the process, but they couldn't offer any hope.  We tried everything we could think of - looking for a place we could walk in and get it that day (even in neighboring states) and even emailing our senator.  The only options for same-day appointments were Seattle (at 8:30am the morning of Jared's flight) and Honolulu.  Those weren't do-able options.  Really our only hope was prayer.  Four days before his flight we found out his passport was being printed.  Three days before it was being shipped from Tucson, AZ.  When the tracking came out, it was expected to arrive by 9:00pm on the day of his flight (3 hours AFTER his flight), so that wasn't going to work.  But we knew it could arrive before that expected time.  The day before his flight, on Jared's birthday, we saw that it had arrived at our local "distribution center" in the afternoon - no address or information on exactly where it was.  Jared and I headed over to our local post office to see if we could find it.  The first person we talked to said the distribution center was a large facility that thousands of pieces of mail go through there and we wouldn't be able to get it from there.  When I pressed about getting it sent from there to pick up at our local post office in the morning, they just said to step aside and "wait next to a door" where someone else would try to help us.  We stood for another 15 minutes without anyone trying to help.  Finally another postal worker saw us and asked if we had been helped.  We explained the situation again and he took our tracking number to see if he could find out where it was.  After about 10 minutes, he walked out holding the package.  It was already there at our post office!  I know this was another tender mercy of the Lord, in being able to get the passport in time for the trip.  So Jared got his passport on his birthday, which meant he would be able to take his 10-day trip to Scotland as well.  Memorable birthday for Jared!  

Volleyball

We did have one more sports season left for this school year.  Our local sports club added volleyball this year, so Owen was happy to try it out.  He's planning on trying out for the 9th grade team next year, so this was a good introduction to the sport.  They didn't have regular games - just practices and one tournament at the end of the season.  He got to play 8 games during the tournament.  He's pretty good at serving the ball; they had to really be ready for his serves.  He usually got 3-4 points in a row because they couldn't return his serves.  He likes setting the ball to his buddies to spike over.  He's fairly tall, so that helps.  He hopes to make the school team next year.  I'm much more excited about volleyball season than football season (he wants to try out for the football team too.) 

 

Mother's Day 2023

The older boys at church did a dinner and dessert for their moms for one of the Wednesday activities.  They made the food (lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and chocolate cake). Then they talked about why they loved their moms and did a little spotlight for each of us.  

Jared's mom speech

Mother's Day was great too.  I sang with a Relief Society and Young Women choir for a song during sacrament meeting.  Jared was one of the speakers.  He talked a little bit about me and also shared part of a story that we now read every Christmas called "The Widow's Might".  He did a great job.  After church, the Elders Quorum (led by Alex) had organized pie and ice cream for all the women, so I got to taste several kinds of pie and chat with the other ladies.  Owen made key lime pie, which I also had for dessert later, along with Mongolian beef and spring rolls for dinner.  I got to talk to Nathan for a little bit and also talked to my mom for a little bit.  It was a great day!   

I had Owen, Weston, and Savannah fill out the questionnaires I made for the young women.  It's fun to read them.  I think we might need some new favorite memories though.  Both Weston and Savannah mentioned preschool with me, which was a little while ago!  I have worked at being more social, but that doesn't mean that I like it (and they all know it).  I had to laugh at what Weston put for what I have taught him and something I'm not very good at.  It is hard to stay awake during a movie!  Owen's questionnaire is a little hard to read, but I like what he says I have taught him:  "Mother knows best. Always stand up for what we believe and ourselves.  Be kind to everyone and to be a good friend to all that I meet."  I don't know if mother always knows what is best, but I definitely agree about standing up for what you believe and being kind.  I'm glad they are learning that! 

                 

May Misc

Weston and Savannah had their back-to-school night in May, so we got to see some of the things they've been working on.

I got to have lunch with my sister-in-law Carrie who was running a nearby race the next morning.  Alex and I got our temple visit in for May.  I made it back that afternoon for a bridal shower for one of my friend's daughters.  Savannah and I had a girls night while the boys were gone camping (or to Scotland). We had BLT's, sweet potato fries, rootbeer, and ice cream.  We watched Tuck Everlasting and Overboard. (The boys need to leave more often.)  

Weston and Owen went on a camp-out to a nearby beach and enjoyed sliding down the dunes.

The youth did a talent show for one of their activities this month. Owen sang a solo that he did for school choir recently.  "Knee Deep" (Zac Brown Band) was Owen's spring final at school.  He was chosen to sing it for the spring concert as well and did a great job.  A few of his friends joined in the song for choreography.  I don't have a copy of that yet - still waiting for them to send me the video.  Owen sang it for the youth talent show too, but he didn't have his friends to join in.  Owen's friend RJ participated in the talent show as well, singing two songs, along with playing the guitar.  He wrote one of the songs - very talented!  All of the youth did well and were very brave to get up there and perform in front of everyone. 

Savannah made sock puppets in her recent Activity Days.  She's been enjoying that, especially since one of her school friends has been going with her as well.  In young women's, I made several lemon and lavender hand soaps to give to the moms.  The girls made the paper lavender flowers and filled out a Mother's Day survey.  

I taught one of the YW lessons this month, on preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  I started out talking about planning a party and how that could be compared to preparing for the 2nd Coming.  First, you'd need a reason to celebrate, maybe a guest of honor, and then you might need to clean and decorate, gather supplies, and send out invitations. We talked about what would make a successful party (lots of friends there, good food, and lots of fun) and the things that could go wrong (people don't come, not enough food, rained out, people get hurt or sick, guests are bored or don't interact well).  The level of preparation determines whether you'll have a successful party and be prepared for possible things that could happen.  Thinking about the Second Coming and the Millennium, that's the "party".  The guest of honor is Jesus Christ.  We are the guests and we need to invite as many others as possible to attend.  The supplies, cleaning, and decorating are the things we need to do to prepare: read our scriptures, fill our testimony "oil in our lamps", prayer, and keeping the commandments.  Birthday parties usually have gifts, so I made some little gift boxes with bows.  The girls had to sit and look at those during the lesson, wondering what was inside.  Towards the end, I gave them each a box and let them open it.  However, there was nothing in the boxes.  I asked them what the empty boxes could represent.  They were empty because they are the guests bringing the gifts, so it's their responsibility to symbolically fill those boxes and bring gifts to the Savior.  What they give is up to them - maybe they are going to be more kind, more diligent, or stop bad habits or behaviors.  I found a quote that I loved:  "What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God."  If we become more like the Savior, that is our gift to Him. Maybe when the girls see those empty boxes, they will be reminded of what they need to work on.  The girls were a little disappointed with the empty boxes, but I did have cupcakes tucked away that I surprised them with at the very end.  So they did walk out with a sweet treat!

The last couple of pictures are from Memorial Day.  Owen and some friends met at the beach to play volleyball, so Weston, Savannah, and I hung out at the beach as well.  It was pretty chilly though.  Savannah had friends over to play during the morning.  We made cookies, talked to Nathan, hung out at the beach, and went to a BBQ in the evening.  I was still "single-mom-ing" it, as Alex was still in Scotland with Jared.  (Weston is carrying around a metal detector at the beach.)