Oh! The Places You'll Go!

You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights!

While Karebear and Dad were having a great youth conference the rest of us decided we needed out of the house. We went to the Chalk Art Festival. Truly amazing!

 We enjoyed visiting Boo's door

The Hundred Acre Woods

And the African Safari

It was then off to Howarts

Where we were able to meet Hagrid

Bud Boy's favorite; he can't wait for the new movie.

And of course this was the girls favorite.

We all loved this one of a girl blowing bubbles

where we spent plenty of time looking at the scenes in the bubbles

Kind of fun to see the work in progress

Norman Rockwell anyone?

This inspired us to spent a few minutes playing on the moon 

and a photo shoot on Mars 

On a rainy Father's Day the girls loved sharing with dad all the places they went  Kind of sad to think all that hard work was washed away the very next day.

The Father of the Ward

My husband served for three years in the Young Mens before he was called as bishop. Part of his responsibilities was once a week him leaving our family to do activities with a bunch of 12-18 year old boys. It also meant camp outs. Most of the time these were a Friday night and Saturday morning deal.  Every summer it was for three or four days. I hated this. I hated having my husband gone.

When my husband was first called as bishop I basically expressed that I didn't see why he needed to go up on youth night. He was not a leader any more. My husband insisted that this was part of his responsibilities and I, like a good wife, supported even though I really didn't understand or like it.

One of the other things he also does is bishop's candy. This means each Sunday hoards of kids gather around his office for a treat. Of course this also means someone has to buy this candy. Yep, you guessed who- me. When I voiced my frustrations, which mostly stemmed around the fact that it was my kids that got lots of candy, my husband patiently said something about building relationships. Whatever, but again I supported. Thankfully, over the years things have toned down a little, for a variety of reasons , and it's no longer every Sunday.

Recently in a discussion on repentance it was shared how some people, especially the youth, feel like if they feel they have repented and been forgiven it isn't necessary to talk with a priesthood authority ie the bishop. For some mistakes this is a requirement and a vital step. As I listened, I thought I'm sure this idea stems from the fact that going to a bishop can be scary and people just want to avoid this uncomfortable situation.

How much easier is it to find the courage to go to a bishop when that person is familiar? When you know he his friendly, when you know he truly cares, when you know he wont judge you, when you know he will keep your confidence. I realized how can you know that about someone unless you have spent time around that person.

I know there are more reason than just this but this is one reason why my husband, and most bishops, spend time with people; especially the youth. Those young men my husband worked with as a leader and keep working with as a bishop know him. The primary kids that come to get candy know him. He knows their names and often things about them personally for he takes time to shake their hand and talk with them as they come in for a treat. Now granted he most likely wont be their bishop when they are older (at least I hope so). But they are learning a bishop is a friend.

I remember when my husband's name was presented as the the new bishop of the ward the outgoing bishop remarked, "I don't know why they keep calling these young bishops, with young families".  For awhile this  bothered me, the fact that we were a young family. The bishops I remember growing up were older. I would often see them accompanied by their wife at baptisms, funerals, weddings. I read stories where people going through trials had "their bishop and their wife" come visit them. I often was not able to accompany my husband. I needed to be at home with my young children. I felt like I was missing out and in some small way not doing what I was supposed to as a bishop's wife. (As if there is some set of responsibilities for a bishop wife). The fact was we where a young family and my responsibility was to take care of that family so he could fulfill his calling.

I don't know why he was called as a bishop now but I do know that the youth he is associating with are kids that grew up with our girls. Many of them have been in our home, playing with our girls. Those girls know him as a dad. It is just another way he is able to be familiar.

The time my husband spends getting to know people hopefully with help in the repentance process but far more reaching will be the fact they he is someone they can respect and trust because they know him. The counsel, guidance, encouragement he gives through everyday interactions will be meaningful because they know he truly cares.

What's for Dinner?

During the summer I have my three oldest each take a night where they are in charge of dinner. As my nine year old puts it "instead of us being mom's helper, she is ours".

I thought I would periodically share what they choose to cook. Since they tend to cook their favorite foods I figured this would be a good way to record  what they liked growing up.

Plus tastes change. Such is the case with my oldest. When she was little she wouldn't touch ground beef with a ten foot pole. Thus she hated this dish. Now it is her favorite. She even made it along with some delicious lemon bars to take over to neighbors that recently had a baby.

Shepherd's Pie

Here's her favorite way of making it

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 lb. ground beef

1 can corn (drained)

1 can tomato soup

1/4 tsp chili powder

2 cups mashed potatoes

grated cheese

Brown ground beef and onion. Put into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Add corn, soup and chili powder. Stir. Place mashed potatoes on top and spread to cover. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes @ 350.

Libraries

A little while ago I signed my kids up for the our library's summer reading program. Ever since I can remember the library has been a part of my life. Having lived in the same city all my life, I have seen our library change to three different buildings.

I will never forget "my first library". An old two story building with teal bars running around the perimeter. The second story had a balcony and occasionally on a summer day the french doors would be open. I never did venture through those doors but I remember hearing the sounds of cars driving on the street below as I searched for a book.

The lower level of the library was what I remember the most for that was the children's area. The carpet was flat, industrial carpet with lots of squares of color. There was even a small hopscotch running through the middle. It was here I first discovered the Flicka, Ricka, Dicka books. Stories about three blue eyed, blond hair Swedish girls whose mother made them red and white polka dotted dresses. As I pulled this book off the shelf  and thumbed through it I wondered, "Why haven't we ever read these before?" It was the first time I wanted to read every book written by that author. It also included books about Snip, Snap, Snurr. Three Swedish boys. For awhile I checked them out over and over. A few years back I found those books and have relived them again with my children.

When my oldest two where little we had a little neighborhood play group. Once a week we would attend the library story hour. We attended faithfully every week. (I must admit I think we went more so I could socialize, but the girls loved it). This library was in it's second building. Story hour was in a small kiva area with a few stairs.  It was cozy and personal.

I didn't realize how personal until a few years later. The library once again had moved to it's current location. One of the story time tellers had come back to visit the library and I was there with my youngest two for story time. She recognized me and stopped to ask about my two little girls, who of course are now not so little anymore. I was amazed she even knew us and especially that she remembered specifics about my girls.

With my oldest two we also traveled to visit family in Nebraska twice in the same year. They live in a small town where you could walk a majority of the town and we often did. We would stop at the local library. The children's area was in the basement and we would gather an armful of books and sit on the corner bing bags to read for awhile. It was quiet, cozy and filled with imaginative adventure.

There are times now I can go to our local library and still feel that quiet coziness and other times it is alive with people.

Just the other day, upon my kids request, we packed up a picnic lunch and ventured to our library. During the summer they host story hour on the lawn. We have attended this for years and loved when they used to bring in story tellers. Now it is the local librarians. They can be entertaining but mostly for the preschool age so we don't go near as often. We arrived a few minutes later than our usual 30 minutes early. We could hardly find a spot anywhere on the grassy hill. The mothers, fathers and children seemed to be everywhere. This was often the case with story time, thus why we usually arrived 30 minutes early, but it seemed even more crowded this day.

I am grateful that the library is doing programs that attract a lot of people but I couldn't help miss the days of past when it wasn't as well attended. It was kind of like my little secret.

Two Weeks

Today marks two weeks since the girls last day of school. Our summer is already going way to fast. The first week of summer we just let everyone have the time off.

The second week our summer routine and "chores" start. My nine year old started the week off with "we are the only family that has to do chores during the summer. We never did them last year and you never make us practice the piano during the summer". It's a good thing I have this blog to remind her.

As for the time off part I'm not sure where that went.......

• Prepped the trailer and then hauled this up to our land for the summer. It's the first camping night of the summer and this year we enjoyed it with some cousins. 

• Went through everybody's closet and drawers. Our middle school has a uniform of sorts. (Not a big fan but that's a post for another day). Karebear left middle school and Jolly J starts next Fall. It was time to see what could be passed down. Since we were doing one child, might as well do the rest. 

• Tried potty training. He was in tears. I was frustrated. Give it another go in a few months. Will I ever have a time again without diapers? He assures me when "he is dad's age."

• Hauled a old, worn out couch from our upstairs to the dump.

• Major cleaning of the toy room (where the couch was as well). I've heard of moms rotating toys. The kids then have "new" toys and play leaving mom with uninterrupted time. I guess I do the more natural way of rotating. Clean up the piles and bring out toys that have made it to the bottom of the toy boxes. "Hey, look I haven't seen that in forever" or "where did we get that?". With "new toys" and more floor space (since we got rid of the couch) my kids have spent a lot of time playing. Just might have to do this the first week of every school break.

• Went and visited Great Grandparents. Unfortunately, we were the cause of stumble which resulted in a lot of bruises and a broken toe for Grandma. Her main concern was that we still come back to visit. We'll have to make good on our promise to do so.

• Went miniature golfing (an exercise in patience with a three year old) and saw the movie Megamind (thanks to Cinemark Clubhouse)

• Backyard swimming.  Swim suit on, check. Sunscreen, check. Set up pool, toys, sprinkler for 15 minutes. Sounds of delight for 15 minutes. "It's coooold".  Clean up for 30 minutes. Gotta love swimming when it's warm, but not hot.

• Have already heard, "There's nothing to do." (Sigh)

Taking a Break

  Sometimes on a journey one just has to sit down and rest awhile. 

(Sounds like pretty good summer plans as well).