"Cruisin" JV Colorguard Family Show, New Cars, Trip to St. George, and Swim Team Regional Competition

After Marching Band Season is over the color guard team goes right into Winter Guard season.

Melanie dances, spins and throws around a rifle and a flag.  She is a good dancer and is getting some good muscles in her arms.  She loves the costumes for their show.  Competitions begin this weekend.  On Monday evening the color guard did their show for their families.  They also tried to raise money for the season by selling concessions at the show and having a silent auction for donated gift baskets.  They said they made about $4,000 dollars.  The Lehi JV and Varsity shows are darling.

We were a one car family for part of the week which was tricky.  Jessica bought a Nissan Sentra on Wednesday evening and drove herself to her RMTC class.  She took Tyler and Maria to school the rest of the week which was very helpful.  Warren bought a '14 Dodge Grand Caravan on Thursday evening so now we have 3 cars between 4 drivers.

Warren had his annual scout meetings in St. George this weekend.  He and I left about 1:30 to make the drive.  We had a little trouble getting into the hotel as they lost our reservation so we were a few minutes late to dinner.  It was raining on Friday but it was warm enough to go hot tubbing and swimming in the heated pool that night.  On Saturday, Warren went to his meetings while I hung around the hotel and then made a visit to the St. George temple.  The sun came out on Saturday and we decided to take advantage of a beautiful day before driving back to Lehi.  We drove up into Snow Canyon and did a couple of short hikes.  One of our favorites was "Jenny's Canyon" a short hike into a small slot canyon.  We might make our way back to Snow Canyon over spring break.

Inside Jenny's Canyon looking out.

While we were in St. George, Melanie was having a "homework retreat" at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house.  

We decided to move Tyler's phone number to Sprint so we could get Tyler a new phone.  He was thrilled to get an I-phone 6 and got it set right up.  Jessica will also get on the Sprint plan but she choose to get a Galaxy 5 (cheaper).

Tyler and Maria both swam in the Regional Swim meet this weekend.  Tyler shaved his head to try and help him swim faster.  He looks terrible but he did swim 2 seconds faster on his butterfly than he has swum all season.  He was very happy about that.

Dad Henrie's 80th Birthday Party

Endings and New Beginnings

Mary's Talk at Jessica's Homecoming

It is interesting how the end of something makes you look back to the beginning.  It has been really great to have Jessica back with us.  It is wonderful the spirit a returned missionary adds to your home.  I have been reflecting back on when she was getting ready to leave on her mission.  Lots of people asked me if it was hard to send two missionaries at the same time.  The answer was “Yes” but it was also an exciting time for our family. 

At the time, I found comfort in this scripture: Mosiah 28: 6-7 (I personalized it a bit to match my circumstance.)  “And king Mosiah went and inquired of the Lord if he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word. And the Lord said unto Mary: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy [son and daughter] out of the hands of the Lamanites.”

Reading the Book of Mormon with the Relief Society these past few weeks has me thinking about covenants.  I know that God always keeps his promises.  I know that often, God fulfills those promises through his servants.  I have been reminded just how much the Book of Mormon prophets are speaking to their decedents in the latter days.  Those prophets say that God promised them that their children would have their words.  In 2 Nephi 26:15, we read that “those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten.”  I believe many of the Book of Mormon prophets saw our day, that Mormon carefully choose their words to be of most value to us, and I can imagine how thrilled those prophets were to see the armies of missionaries who would take their words to their children.

Speaking of our day, Christ had this to say in 3 Nephi 16:11&12.

11 And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them.

 12 And I will show unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you; but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fullness of my gospel.

We learn in Primary that a covenant is a two way promise between us and God.  As part of the Abrahamic Covenant, God promises us the promised land, posterity, and priesthood blessings.  As part of the tribe of Joseph, which includes Ephram and Manasa, we were given the Book of Mormon and we made pre-mortal promises to help prepare the earth for the second coming, help gather Israel by sharing the gospel, and to build Zion in our self and our family.  Personally, we are responsible to enter into the baptismal covenant, seek a Patriarchal Blessing, receive our temple endowment, share the gospel with the living, do temple ordinance work for the dead, get married in the temple, and help prepare for Zion and the return of Jesus Christ. We are all part of the Abraham Covenant.

Ezra Taft Benson said, “The world needs the gospel, and we are charged by command of the Lord and through our Abrahamic lineage to spread it.”

It is my testimony that missionary work blesses families.  Sometimes it is not easy but nothing worthwhile ever is.  If you are wondering how to get involved in missionary work right here in the Dry Creek Ward, here are a few ideas for you:  Get to know your neighbors, look for ways to serve others, invite those you want to fellowship to your home, church activities, and church.  Find ways to share your testimony.  Ask the ward missionaries and full time Elders how you can help them.  They will have lots of ideas for you.

It is my testimony that God wants us to be happy.  He has given us this gospel to teach us what we need to do to return and live with him again as families. Nothing in this life is more important.

I am grateful of the faithful example of all the missionaries in my life.  They truly inspire me to be a better person.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Life Marches On

Watching the Sunset in show hair and makeup

Sometimes as I review a week on a Sunday, nothing stands out to me as being especially "newsworthy".  Sometimes life is just routine.  I do think that it is important to look for extraordinary moments in a routine week.  Here are some things that happened this week I hope to remember.

An old semester finished and a new one began.  We talked about goals at Family Home Evening and hope that our kids will use this new year to look a what they can improve in their lives.

Melanie is getting into show season with color guard.  They did their show in front of some judges who gave them feedback on how to improve.  Melanie was really excited about her performance.  She felt like she did her best show ever and was excited that she caught all of her rifle tosses, even the triple.  The color guard coach has a certain way she wants the girls to do their hair and it is not easy to duplicate with Melanie's long thick hair.  We practiced the hairstyle on Thursday and made a list for the beauty supply store of products we thought would make the hairstyle come together easier next time.  One of my new year's resolutions is to have a "date" with each of my kids month.  Melanie and I had a shopping trip together on Friday night to gather up some things she needs for school and color guard and just some things she has been wanting.  She loves to go shopping.

I have been working really hard to get ready for a UHSA meeting this week.  The new director chair gave me a lot of assignments to get ready for the meeting. The meeting was on Wednesday and on Monday evening I had a stressful moment when I felt like things just weren't coming together.  There were some miracles on Tuesday and things just fell into place for the meeting that began Wednesday morning.  I ended up getting several compliments how how smoothly the meeting went.  Sometimes I say a prayer that goes something like this, "Heavenly Father, I know that [the thing I am stressing about] is meaningless in the eternal scheme of things but nonetheless, it is very important to me right now.  If you could help [whatever thing I am stressing about] to work out, I would really appreciate it."  More often than not, there are little miracles that let me know that God really does care about what I care about, even if in a broad eternal sense that thing seems silly or insignificant.

Tyler got asked to the girl's choice sweethearts dance by Hannah Vanlandingham.  She goes to West Lake.  They have been swimming together for several years.  He took her on a date to see the Utah Symphony at Thanksgiving point over the summer.

We got to have the Valdez Family over for dinner tonight.  Maria and Tyler hang out at their house almost everyday.  We thought it would fun to get to know them better.  The family is Victor, Jamie, Tori, Ciarra, and Hailey.  After dinner we taught them fast Skipbo and blow pong.  Jamie was laughing so hard during blow pong that she was sucking the ball towards herself.  The swimmers with their power lungs were, of course, the best blowers.

Celebrating Epiphany, Tyler braces, Melanie Guard Camp

We decided to save a few of our Christmas presents to open on Epiphany, (January 6).  This is a holiday they celebrate in Spain.  It is bigger than Christmas. It is the day they believe the wise men came to bring gifts to the Christ Child.  Maria's sweet mom hand made Tyler and Melanie scarves and hats.

Tyler decided that he wanted to get braces again to try and get his teeth straight and his bite corrected.  On Tuesday, I met him at the orthodontist, signed the papers, told him "good luck", and went back to work.  He drove himself home after he was finished.  He may to get one permanent tooth pulled to make room for the rest of his teeth in his mouth.  The goal is to get his teeth corrected before he goes on his mission.  He is still the most handsome 16 year old I know.

I love it when I find selfies of Melanie on my camera. Winter guard competition season is about to begin.  Her director was a little stressed at their practice on Monday and there was a little drama but I think that is all behind us now.  I spent most of my Saturday sewing flags.  They got to see and try on their costumes at their all day practice on Saturday.  Melanie is pretty excited at how cute they are. This is the part of color guard she likes, the costumes and the performances.  I watched their practices for a few minutes and was impressed how well she does flipping around that big flag and rifle.  She is getting some definition of the muscles in her arms with those workouts.