Sunday Notes

•  "Welcome to the church of joy"
• Everyone can contribute, no matter how old they are or their position, everyone can help and make someone feel loved and joy -- teach the kids that even though they are young, they can still be a contributing member of the ward
• Ask Heavenly Father each Sabbath day "Who needs me at church today? Who should I talk to or sit by?"
• Need to keep working on my attitude about being RS president -- "not my will, by Thine be done in all things"
• Focus on worshipping in the temple -- it's not just serving in the temple

More things that tickled me

 Yesterday, I volunteered to help for Camille's class Christmas party. It was a combined 4th grade party where they gathered to tie blankets to donate to the children's hospital. I had to go get fabric this week to donate, and Camille spent a couple of days cutting the edges in preparation to tie the blankets. So yesterday, right after school started, Sawyer and I went into the school gym and received instructions. I was simply to walk around the tables and see if any kids needed help, if the fringe needed to be cut a little more, and help them tie a little bit. Mostly I feel like I didn't do much. But it was fun to see Camille and help where I could. At one point a group of kids started singing "Jingle Bells," and it caught on and other kids started joining in. After that, the song they learned in 3rd grade for the Christmas singing program came on (a Christmas song by Enya, one that my kids have been listening to on repeat the past couple of days) and they all started singing with it. It was so sweet and cute, and I loved being there to enjoy their sweetness and spirits. They tied a whole bunch of blankets. I thought it was a really cool idea the 4th grade teachers came up with, such a good way to teach the kids to give to their community. 

Last night, after having a Christmas movie night, we gathered for scriptures and prayer, and as we were kneeling, Sawyer announces, "Whoever sits on Dad's lap gets to ask someone to say the prayer!... Jack will you pray?" To which Jack responds, "No, you can't ask people to say the prayer!" (All incensed that Sawyer would even try.) So Sawyer says, "Okay, I'll say the prayer." But all the kids put up a fight about him assigning prayers (as he starts praying). So then Daniel asks, "Who would like to say the prayer?" And I hope I never forget Sawyer's sweet, cute, little, excited voice saying, "MEEE!" And then, of course, he goes ahead and prays.

Camille has started writing notes on our bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker. A few weeks ago, she just wrote a cute little love note for me and Daniel. This week, she wrote this (Daniel wiped it before I could get a picture): "Dear Mom and Dad, I'm sorry I was so snappy tonight. I hope you can forgive me. Love, Camille" and it had a sad crying face next to it. 

After she got in a rage over something. I can't even remember what it was. But afterwards, she wrote this note, apologizing for getting so mad and snappy. 😍

Things that Tickled Me Recently

 Sawyer: "Mom, did you know poop is made out of nuts and root beer?"

Anytime Sawyer refers to something bigger than normal, or something pretty big, he calls it a "big booty." 😂😂 For example, when he is picking out strawberries to eat, he would say, "I want the big booties!"

This doesn't tickle me so much as make me slightly happy and sad. On Camille's christmas wish list, she put "for my siblings to play with me more." 🥹🥹 So sweet and sad. That's my Christmas wish, too. 

For the past few months, Daniel and I have been talking about the possibility of getting a dog. Brooke is desperate for a dog, and recently Daniel has met a few dogs that he liked and considered that we could get. Anyway, it's been a lot of research about dogs by both Brooke and Daniel. Daniel even has a Google doc about dogs, and he looked into a bunch of different breeders. So, what I find amusing is that Daniel has been praying about if we should get a dog and what kind of dog we dog get, etc. He maintains that it's important to pray about it, because it's a big decision and will change our family a bit. I suppose he's right, and I have definitely prayed about the dog issue. But it still tickles me. 

As a side note, we did put a deposit down on a little cockapoo we met a couple of weeks ago. We drove down south of Spanish Fork to where the breeder lives to see the puppies she had avaliable. Most of us gravitated towards a little boy dog, kind of a creamy coloring with a little bit of reddish brown. But we held and cuddled all of the puppies. There were 5, I think. Anyway, Daniel put the deposit down on the dog after we had a special family home evening with the kids where we talked about all the work that was required for having a dog. We asked them specifically if they were willing to put in the work, and the girls were enthusiastic in their desire to take care of a little dog. Jack was grudging in his acceptance to help. 😂 Predictably. I am, admittedly, in accordance with Jack -- grudging, but willing. And I'm nervous about having a puppy. 😬 I keep telling myself it'll be fine and I'll probably end up loving the dog. But that's where I'm currently at. 

Satan is Sneaky

 I have come to an interesting realization: Satan is sneaky. I understand that this is something I know and should remember frequently. But sometimes I have to re-realize something easy like this. 

Lately, especially with my very visible calling, I have been overthinking so so much. I told a friend the other day that I feel like the QUEEN of overthinking. It's been really hard and very frustrating. I keep remembering things that happened during social events, or ward councils, or visits with people, and I overthink what happened, what I said, how they reacted. And my mind keeps coloring everything to a nasty shade of humiliation. Everything made me feel ashamed and embarrassed about what I said and what went down. It's very uncomfortable. And it makes me dislike my calling and dislike social engagements, because then, inevitably, a few days later, I would remember everything in stark and humiliating detail and just feel so embarrassed about it. 

Well, this happened again a few days ago. I was remembering something I said at Thanksgiving dinner at Michael and Michelle's house, and how others responded to what I said. And I felt just humiliated and ashamed, and thought about how entitled it must have sounded. I was in the middle of Mommy Time with Sawyer, and I was so distracted by this line of thinking that I wasn't being a very good playmate for him. I for sure was not living in the moment and enjoying my time with my little boy. Part way through Mommy Time, I had this realization -- Satan is reeeaaallll good, and very sneaky. He's been using this weakness of mine (the overthinking of everything) and twisting and turning it to his own advantage and my own detriment. Because, what happens if I remember everything that happens in a way that paints me in a negative light? That makes me feel like a fool or a brat or whatever? That makes me feel uncomfortable and ashamed? It makes me not want to put myself in those situations. It makes me want to hide away from the world. It makes me not want to put myself out there, in any way or form. And what happens if I hide myself away from people? I can't do very much good in the world if I'm not out in the world with people. I'm only effective as an instrument in God's hands if I put myself out there to serve, to visit, to council, to uplift, to build faith. I'm for sure not effective at all in blessing the lives of other people if I don't spend my time with people. 

Sometimes, I feel like we think of Satan as tempting people with the big things. And if we're avoiding those big temptations and sins, then we're avoiding being influenced by Satan. But that's not at all true. He tempts us in little things, even things that seem insignificant and unimportant, like wanting to avoid social situations. If he can get in the way of us serving those around us, then he's succeeded in thwarting God's plan in that instance. Enough successes like that for him with enough individual people, and he makes a significant dent in God's plan. 

Once I realized this the other day, it got easier not to let myself dwell in those thought patterns. I only hope I can keep getting better at not listening to them. I also need to get better at listening for how God speaks to me about myself. Any correction coming from God through the Holy Ghost is not going to leave me feeling so low and ashamed. I think God's correction is going to make me feel encouraged to do better, not wanting to run away from myself and everyone else. If I remember that, It'll be easier to distinguish between when God is prompting me and when Satan is trying to thwart me.

Something Wise and Wonderful from my Dad

 Fw: Letter from Grampa 20241201

jewelsdunnihoo@yahoo.com

What a beautiful last letter from Dad to Drew.  Made me cry a lot and I thought I should share it with you two.  Love you both!

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Rick Fernandez <fernandez.rick55@gmail.com>

To: Drew Dunnihoo <drew.dunnihoo@missionary.org>; "jewelsdunnihoo@yahoo.com" <jewelsdunnihoo@yahoo.com>; "oregonferns@msn.com" <oregonferns@msn.com>

Sent: Sunday, December 1, 2024 at 11:41:09 AM PST

Subject: Letter from Grampa 20241201

Dear Elder Dunnihoo:  Well, it has come down to this.  I have written close to 100 letters in the last two years, and this is the last one.  I will miss this weekly ritual, at least until Roman starts his mission.  And how wonderful it has been to read all of your emails and hear of all your wonderful mission experiences and lessons.  By all that I have seen, your mission has been a great success.  You have served the Lord diligently and with great enthusiasm and faith, and you have influenced many people for good.  But your service has just begun, because now your whole adult life is ahead of you, and the Lord will have further need of your strength, service and devotion.

Your mission has also been of great service to your family.  Your example to your younger brothers will influence their lives forever, and not only your brothers, but many younger cousins as well.  I hope that each one will follow in your footsteps.  Your mother is so proud of you, and your honorable mission has done much to buoy her up through her life's challenges and disappointments.  As you return home to a noisy house and face anew the intrusions and frustrations of normal family life, remember kindness, patience and forbearance as Christ has shown us.  This has been a challenge for me too in times past, and a matter of some repentance, but I am getting better all the time.  You must do the same.

Remember to show compassion and love to your father, who struggles with many things as a consequence of a difficult upbringing and the harboring of wrong ideas about life's source, meaning and purpose.  You can be an example of Christ's love and forgiveness and be a great influence upon him as you keep in touch with him often.

I needn't provide much counsel to you about working hard.  You have been a hard worker for several years now!  Let me just say: Keep work in perspective.  Work is two things.  First, it is service to others in ways that they want and need, and second, it is a means to support yourself and your future wife and children.  It is not wealth accumulation meant to inspire envy in others.  It is not a contest to show one's dominance over others.  It is not a means to obtain the glory and praise of men.  It is the secular, yet sacred, pursuit of the happiness and welfare of your family and others.

Well, it's time to go to church.  We all love you, Drew.  See you this Friday.

Love,

Grampa

	Sun, Dec 1, 2:06 PM (3 days ago)
to Diane, me

 "Mom! I'm just a blanket!"

A Note from Jeanne Stricklin

 "My hubby shared a sweet story with me about Brooke.  He subbed in her Sunday school class.  The kids were sharing their exciting news.  One of the boys shared they had their first game this week and Brooke quickly responded good luck. Matt said that Brooke was a good one.  

She is a special girl!  I love getting to know her and serving with her in YW."

Meanwhile, this is what Sawyer was doing at church on Sunday: 

😂😂😂

An Answer to Prayer

 I had a fun and very obvious answer to prayer the other night. I was heading to a self reliance meeting, and as I pull into the church parking lot, I see the woman I'm meeting with, standing by the front doors of the church... and her father standing there with her. Now, I've met with both of them before, multiple times. And this man is a TALKER. Verrry chatty. I'm mostly concerned about his daughter's welfare, and I want to mainly talk with her; she's the one that lives in the ward and I've been working with her for months. Her dad has been living with her the past 5 months, as well. But I knew with her father there, it would be very difficult to hear from her.

As I drove up and saw them both, I groaned out loud and said a quick prayer aloud. "Heavenly Father, PLLEEAAASSE help me here. It's going to be really difficult to get anything productive done with this brother here. Help me to be patient and know what to say and how to move things along." 

I gathered my things and opened the door just as Becky Garcia (my secretary) and her daughter, Brianna, were heading to get into the car parked right next to me. They were at the church printing and cutting fliers she had made for the ward party. She asked me what I was doing there, and I told her I had a self reliance meeting. The Sunday before, we'd had a meeting with Bishop Kimball and the EQ presidency about self reliance meetings, and we were told to have 2 of us in each meeting (which I haven't been doing very well, haha). But Becky asked me if I wanted her to stay with me for the meeting, and I gratefully told her yes. 

It was easy to see that she was an immediate answer to my prayer. She sat next to the brother and kept him occupied for most of the meeting while I could focus my attention on the sister. After they left, I thanked her profusely for being there with me. It was the support I needed that night. 

I had another lovely spiritual experience recently. This one is small. And some would hear this story and think of it as a fun coincidence. But I believe it is evidence of God's love for me and that He is aware of me. 

During one Sacrament meeting a few weeks ago, I was feeling anxious and discouraged. About my calling, about parenting, about lots of things. I don't remember my exact line of thinking, but it wasn't good. Sometimes I just feel the weight of my imperfection. But a scripture came to mind, completely and quickly, and in these exact words: "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." It was a comforting thought. Look to Jesus; there's no need to fear or be anxious. And if I look to Jesus in every thought and do my best to glorify God with my life, things will always work out. I didn't know what scripture it was, so I had to look it up. Doctrine and Covenants 6:36: Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. 

I love how the Spirit brings scriptures to my mind when I need them for comfort or guidance. It's happened multiple times in my life so far. I'm sure it'll happen many more times for the rest of my life. 

Anyway, a week or so later, again on a Sunday, Daniel and I were in our room, laying on our bed, each doing our own thing: personal scripture study, working on calling, etc. Brooke came into our room, for no particular reason, just to hang out with us. We stopped what we were doing to talk to her. Daniel started asking her about young women's, about her own scripture study, and how things were going. He decided to look and see if the church had released next year's youth theme and song. They had. Wanna guess what the youth theme for 2025 is going to be? Doctrine and covenants 6:36. 

I don't think it was a coincidence that the youth theme scripture came to my mind a week before we talked about it. Not only was it the scripture that I needed at that moment, but it felt like a little love letter from God when I came across the scripture again a week later. Just a little nod from Him, telling me He's aware of me and helping me when I need it. 

October Fun

Here are some things we did in October: 

• Took Sawyer to the aquarium
• Went to parent teacher conferences. The teachers had really good things to say about the kids, and the girls are doing really well academically. Jack's teacher said that he sometimes struggles with anxiety if he doesn't know how to do things. And he is still catching up to his classmates in reading. We really like all of their teachers. It's been a good school year so far. 
• Got new furniture for the family room. We got a big sectional at the beginning of the month and a big entertainment center at the end of the month. We like how our family room is coming together. We want to get a rug for it eventually. But it's hard to pick something we both like, and we have different tastes, and we'd have to go shopping again. 
• Brooke had a bunch of soccer games
• Crazy hair day at school. Camille's was the best hair I've ever seen. 😂 Such a cute and clever idea. 
• General conference weekend was nice. We went to Brian's house for the Sunday morning session. And we had Bowman and Stephanie over for dinner Sunday night. 
• I hosted a Relief Society activity one night and had a bunch of ladies over for s'mores. It was very fun and we had a pretty good turnout. 😊
• We had our Halloween Feast and watched Casper. 

• Went on our family BYU date. We rode our bikes around, went into the library, watched a bit of the football game in the bookstore, and had dinner at the creamery. Delightful.
• Melanie and I took our kids to the Dino museum together.  

• I took the kids to the ice cream shop at Thanksgiving Point one day. That was the activity Camille wanted for her birthday. 
• We had our ward Halloween party. Relief society was in charge, and I wasn't stressed at all about it until the very day of the party. And then I was an absolute basket case. Everything went fine, but I felt underwhelmed by it. I'm so not a party planner, it's not in my skill set. It's not something I love doing, either, so the whole thing was kind of 'meh' for me. 
• We went to the school's pumpkin walk for family home evening. The students bring their pumpkins to display at school and we go and walk around and look at them all. They have a fun scavenger hunt for the kids to find specific pumpkins. 
• Book club
• Carved pumpkins with the kids. Mostly basic pumpkins faces. 😊 Some years I just don't feel like putting forth the effort. 

• The school's Halloween costume parade was cute. And cold. We watched for our kids and then left. 
• I volunteered in Jack's classroom for their Halloween class party. I brought some books to read to the kids, and mine was just one of 5 rotation activities. I had fun, but I could tell some of the kids were unenthused and distracted. A handful of kids probably would have sat and read with me for longer. Sawyer came with me and was pretty good. 
• Trick-or-treating was fun, but I wasn't feeling it as much this year. When Sawyer was ready to go home, I was more than happy to take him and put him to bed. 

Stake Conference Notes

Notes from Saturday leadership session:

[  ] Important to teach the youth how to find answers to their questions -- look to the scriptures and words of the prophets; turn to the Lord for answers and help
[  ] Study the appendix of come follow me manual
[  ] The whole goal for youth is teaching them to be leaders now
[  ] Make more intentional effort to prepare the youth to make and keep covenants
[  ] Talk about ministering... talk about experiences, help people recognize the blessing that ministering is
[  ] Are we talking of Christ? Are we turning others to Christ? Step out of your comfort zone and share a scripture, a testimony, a thought about Christ
[  ] It's time to love God with all your mind, might and strength in your calling -- stop holding parts of yourself back from your service; remember that you were called of God, He has things He wants you to do and learn "with an eye single to the glory of God" single minded focus
[  ] Go above and beyond in including the youth in ministering-- include the yw presidency in making assignments-- help them learn how to do it
[  ] Think about the quality of time in service the youth are spending
[  ] We lead-- we invite others to come with us; help the youth know the WHY
[  ] Teach them how to find out for themselves
[  ] Formula for teaching: teach the doctrine and words of prophets; invite them to participate in the gospel; promise blessings (find this formula in fsy pamphlet)
[  ] Take TIME to be still and ponder, so that I can receive revelation
Raise your vision when it comes to the youth, when it comes to being part of a council, when it comes to ministering

My main takeaways from the Saturday sessions of conference that I attended (the leadership session and the adult session) were:

• That Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me and need my service in building the kingdom on earth. 
• God is in the details of my life. 
• I can make my prayers more specific; God wants me to come up with solutions on my own, and then pray fervently for His help and sanction of my plans. 
• I need to start sharing more spiritual thoughts and messages in my calling -- when I meet and visit with people, in Relief Society meetings, in ministering interviews 
• I am keeping a part of myself back from God, not fully turning over my whole soul, my whole life to Him. I am keeping myself back from fully serving in my calling and building the kingdom on earth. I need to take a leap of faith, offering all of me to God. In doing this, I am exercising great faith, and He will transform me and bless my service. 
• I need to commit to working in my calling every day -- think of it as a tithing of my time. If I offer my time to the Lord every day, I believe He will bless the remainder of my time -- help me to work more efficiently, learn to delegate more, find more pockets of time to get things done, become less distracted. 
• Realizing again that living the gospel brings me such great joy and peace and gratitude in my life. I feel an incredible rightness and contentment in my soul.

Sunday session: 

• It is worth any effort to increase our spirituality
• Elder Cisneros invited all to be involved in the gathering of Israel and promised joy and blessings if we do
• Elder Boucher: we should be the happiest people on earth, and sometimes we're not because we are put out with what the Lord asks of us -- do we understand the concept and principle of consecration? 
• Be less concerned about stuff, popularity, comparison and more about our relationship with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. 
• The road to complete obedience starts with repentance. 

Camille's birthday

 Camille's birthday fell right in the middle of our fall break trip, so we celebrated beforehand at home, about a week before. She and I had a combined celebration night. We had a family dinner and cheesecake for dessert. And opened presents. My cute kids bought me a horse necklace and a cow decoration from the Thanksgiving Point farm, even spending their own money. 🥰😂

Things I'm loving about Camille lately: 

• She is so loving. And she loves to snuggle. 
• She loves playing with her siblings. Over the past year or so, maybe more, they have loved playing "the Lego game" together. They each have a quadrant of the Lego table, and they build their own houses and cars and people and then play with them together. 
• She loves books. She can often be found sitting or laying on her bed and reading a book. 
• She feels very deeply and strongly about things. Sometimes this can be difficult, if her emotions get out of control. But I love that she is able to feel so much. And I think it often equates to get loving so much and being so affectionate. 
• She's creative. She loves creating things out of clay, and some of the stuff she makes is so cute. Last year for Christmas, she gave me a nativity scene that she'd made from clay. 
• She's quite a rule follower and frequently feels badly if she things she's done something wrong, or if I get after her for something. On the flip side of this, though, she's quite hard on herself and her siblings, her brothers particularly. 
• She loves joking around, and is always looking for opportunities to make a joke out of something or tell a joke to someone. 

I love my Camille and am so glad I get to be her mother. ❤️

Fall Break

 We went on a small trip for Fall Break, the weekend before last! The first day of Fall Break we had a lovely day staying at home and hanging out and getting ready for our trip. Daniel had to work that day, so we left the next day, Friday. We got up and left first thing in the morning after we got ready for the day and drove down to Arches National Park. It was a beautiful drive down. The leaves were all changing in the hills and mountains we were driving through. It was snowing a little bit while we drove, and it was just so pretty. There was one pass through the mountains that was kind of scary to drive. It was very snowy and icy. But once we got through that, it was all good. 

Once we got to the national park, we stopped first at the visitors center and walked through the museum and gift shop before heading into the park. We drove into the park and stopped at different fun hikes and stopping points. It was little cold and rainy that day, but we had umbrellas and jackets, so it wasn't too bad. We went on a cool hike right near the entrance to the park, Park Avenue trail, where we hiked down into this canyon. We didn't do the whole hike, because it was pretty long. But it was the favorite hike of the day. 

We also saw 

• the Balanced Rock and hiked around it and took pictures. 
•  Double Arch and Parade of Elephants
• Window arches. This hike was a little over a mile, and we did it, even though the kids were kind of done with hiking and walking around arches and rocks.

There was a little trouble with our hotel booking in Moab, which we had to stop and take care of before checking into a room in our hotel. When we finally did, everyone was tired, hungry and grumpy, including me. We found a place to go get dinner downtown in Moab. We went to a local restaurant and ate some delicious food, and then went back to the hotel and put kids to bed. We had 2 rooms that first night, because of the mix up, and it was kind of a stressful night of sleep for me, because we had the kids in one room and Daniel and I were in the other. The rooms were right next to each other, but I was worried the whole night about them being in a hotel room all by themselves all night.

In the morning, everything was fine, so I didn't need to have worried so much. But we did find out that they stayed awake and played and talked for quite a while at the beginning of the night before they finally went to sleep.

The weather was beautiful the second day at Arches National Park. Our main activity that day was hiking out to Delicate Arch. The hike was almost 3 miles round trip, much of it climbing up big hills of sandstone. The kids did great, for the most part. Jack did complain quite a bit, as is his way with hiking. But we all made it in the end. And it was such a cool arch to see! I can definitely see why it's so popular and well-known. The whole backdrop for it is magnificent. It's located in this little sandstone bowl, and it just rises up on one edge. It's very cute. Probably my favorite part of going to Arches National Park was doing the hike and seeing Delicate Arch and hearing Jack call it "the Utah Arch." :) 

We were basically done with National-park-seeing that day after our big hike. So we drove out the park and went to see the Colorado River and walk across a cool bridge on the outer edge of Moab. And we hit a grocery store for dinner and a few extras for the rest of the trip. 

Camille's birthday was on Sunday, and we went to church in the morning and had a birthday lunch out by the hotel pool: black bean burgers and chips and drinks. That afternoon, we drove out to Dead Horse State Park and walked around and took pictures; and then drove into Canyonlands National Park. When we got there, it was just sprinkling the tiniest bit. We went to the visitors center to see their exhibits and do a little souvenir shopping. The boys talked to one of the rangers, as well, and Jack got set up in their junior rangers program, which is just a booklet with activities for them to do. But Jack was promised that if her completed the booklet and brought it back to show them, he'd get a cool ranger pin. He was SO excited about it and wanted to get started and finish it right away. By the time we were done in the visitors center, it was pouring outside. We ran out to the car and started driving through the park, but the weather was so bad that it was hard to see anything. It was very cold and wet, and we did get stop and get out of the car at some of the lookout points, but it was so misty and rainy, we could barely see things. Sometimes, some of our party would just stay in the car (mainly the boys). We didn't stay there long because of the weather. We just drove back to the hotel for dinner and rest. And that was okay.

The next day, my birthday, we packed up the car and headed out in the morning for our last day of exploring. We went back to Canyonlands National Park. The weather was perfect! Cool and clear skies and sun. We drove through the park and stopped at different points to see things. We did a few small hikes to see different formations and views, and we took a bunch of pictures. We had a picnic lunch outside and just enjoyed being there. We left to go home about 4 in the afternoon. 

On the way back, since it was my birthday, we stopped for dinner in Price, Utah. I picked out the place, and I was kind of feeling this little Asian restaurant. It had decent reviews and at least 4 stars. When we drove up, it looked like a dump, just so much ghetto. But people were eating there, so I thought it'd be fine. Plus, with Asian restaurants, sometimes hole-in-the-wall places are the best. But man! I was so wrong! I might venture to say that I have never been MORE wrong. It was so awful! We ordered a variety of Asian dishes, and it came out within 10 minutes ... not a good sign. And it tasted so bad. Kind of like frozen food that they just heated up and then heated up again. So not good. The kids didn't complain at all; they liked it, actually, and I'm glad. Because Daniel and I were essentially choking it down. I think at one point Daniel even thought to himself, "Is there anything in the car I could eat?" It was kind of humorous. And what was with all those people who gave that place 5 stars and good reviews??? Liars, all!

It was a fun and beautiful trip! The perfect way to spend our fall break. 

A Note from Brooke's Teachers

Hey!   

I wanted to send a quick note about Brooke. Every time I look at her, she's always on the ball! She's inquisitive, hardworking, and just darling. I love how she participates in class and works hard to complete her assignments. I love the questions that she asks and her desire to learn. She is an absolute delight to teach, and I was feeling extra appreciative of her today. Thank you for raising such a wonderful daughter :)       

Cara Hansen

And from Tenille Roylance (watercolor paint teacher):

I can't believe how big Brooke is. She's like legitimately turning into someone I would love to have as a friend friend someday. Your kids always bring so much light and brightness into my home. Thanks for sharing them. 

3 Camping Trips in August

 Daniel's busiest time of year for work is July and August, which makes it hard to get in some camping trips. So this August... we had three. Haha!

I planned our first trip with the Christensens, Freis and Norrises. Well, really we kind of crashed the Christensens' family campout. They were going camping up Hobble Creek Canyon, and they invited all of us to join them. We got 4 campsites relatively close to each other and hung out for the weekend. Daniel had to come up later in the evening, so I took the kids up and set up camp in the late afternoon. We had dinner with the others at their campsites and the kids all hung out with each other, playing by the stream that ran through the campground. It was fun! And the campground was so pretty and fun! Brooke stayed out for most of the night with Claire and Jack Christensen under a bridge by the stream. Jack played with all of the little kids -- Gabe and Grace, Nathan, and Arwyn. They built this adorable little fort out of branches and part of a tree. It was cute. 

The next camping trip we took was actually just for the girls and me. The Stake Women's Campout. I went up early to help them set up at the main pavilion. Sarah and Annette brought up Brooke, Baylee and Camille later, when they were done with school. 

The weekend was so great! That first night, we had dinner and a fireside. Some of the Stake women leaders got up to bear their testimonies, and we sang songs in between. Afterwards, we went back to our own campfire with our ward to have treats and to hear a devotional. That night was rough sleeping. I brought earplugs, but they only helped so much. We were in a cabin with a bunch of other girls and women, and there were quite a lot of noises. One girl woke up with a nightmare at one point. So mostly, I just wove in and out of sleeping (rather, dozing) until my alarm went off at 5am. Brooke and I went on the sunrise hike with a bunch of others. I think there were 70 of us total. We hiked about 3 miles round trip up to the top of a hill. We had to start hiking back before the sun actually crested the mountains, but the sunrise was still lovely. 

That day, there was an awesome morning devotional after breakfast. They had a guest speaker, whose name I forget, but she was a great speaker and talked about growing closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus through trials and scripture study and prayer and stillness. 

We had a bunch of classes for the rest of the day, breaking once for lunch. The girls and I mostly split up and did our own classes. They stuck with their friends, for most of the day. It was kind of weird, I was there with my girls, but I feel like I hardly saw them. But the classes I did were great. There was one about finding stillness, one about internet safety for the family, words of President Nelson, and how to stay strong in the church. They were such great classes. I felt like I learned a lot about how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me and want strong relationships with me, and I can and should put in more effort to strengthen my relationship with them. 

After classes, we went to pack up our cabin and do the required cleaning before heading home.

Our last camping trip was just this last weekend. We kicked it off with a date on Wednesday night. Daniel and I headed up to Granite Flats campground above Tibble Fork Reservoir in the afternoon while Sarah (my sister in law Sarah) came to watch the kids overnight. Daniel and I set up the tent and started a fire to make ourselves a camp dinner of burgers and grilled veggies. Sarah and Matt Frei came up a little after us and set up their campsite as well. They joined us for dinner, and we sat around the fire and ate and chatted. It was a fun date night. 

They left late at night to go back home to bed, but Daniel and I stayed overnight together in our tent. Daniel pointed out that we have never been camping just the two of us before, which seems crazy after 15 years is marriage between two people who enjoy camping. It was kind of nice, just camping the two of us.

We went down the mountain early-ish the next morning. The kids were already gone for school next morning, but Sarah and Sawyer were playing together. She left about the time I had Johnny and Avery over for preschool group. We talked about colors, read books about colors, and did an activity sorting the magnatiles into different color categories. They are such a great group of kids! They stayed engaged in learning way longer than I thought they would. And they played together so well, and it was just delightful to have them. 

Daniel and I spent the afternoon cleaning ourselves up and getting ready to camp for the weekend. It was tricky, because Daniel had hired a paint company to come paint our main floor, and so we were trying to stay out of their way and work around them. 

We picked up the kids from school, as well as the middle Frei kids, and drove immediately up the mountain to our campground. We finished getting camp set up with sleeping bags and things, built a fire and had dinner, all the while, the kids were exploring around the campsite. We just had hotdogs and chips and s'mores for dinner. Sarah and Matt came up with their other kids later in the evening, and we hung out and the kids played and ate treats until bedtime. Everyone stayed up way too late, as is the way with camping. 

The next day we had breakfast and went on a short hike with everyone. The little kids complained quite a lot, predictably, but it was a pretty hike along a very green path with the stream running along it. We went for about three quarters of a mile before hiking back to our site. We had some sandwiches for lunch before driving down to the lake to hang out and kayak. All the kids loved playing in the sand, digging and building sand castles. Brooke and Claire went on a long kayak ride and explored the island in the middle of the lake for a long while. Camille also went out a few times on a kayak. I was surprised when Jack wanted to go kayak towards the end of the afternoon. He loved it! He was out a whole, and he went a lot further on the lake than I thought he would (and maybe further than I was comfortable with). He was so cute, how much fun he was having in the kayak. Sarah and I went on a short kayak ride together before we left the lake. It was such a lovely day. We went back to the campsites for dinner, and the Smiths joined us for the last night of camping. After dinner, we went to their campsite (which is really our favorite site ever, it's so cool) for a fire and desserts. The kids loved exploring that area! 

Our next day was just taking down camp in the morning and spending the day at the lake again. All the kids did some kayaking together and had a great time digging in the sand. Harvey, Claire and Brooke went out kayaking a bunch together. Cute little friends. I took Daniel and dropped him off at the head of a biking trail, and he biked down and met us at the lake again. We were all exhausted and so dirty by the end of our camping trip. So we went home and unpacked and got ourselves cleaned up. We had some great camping trips this month! I loved being in the mountains so much!! It's so peaceful and lovely. 

Brooke's Birthday

 Brooke turned 12 this week!! What a goon that child is. I both love and hate seeing her grow up. But it's starting to become painful seeing pictures of her when she's a baby. When she's 3. When she's 6. When she's 8. 😭 

Brooke was quite disappointed that she had to go to school on her birthday (one of the downsides of going to public school, of course). She really just wanted to stay home and do fun things that day. But Daniel and I decorated the night before, and I made pancakes for breakfast for her before school. She also opened her presents: new earrings for when she can wear different earrings; a scripture study journal; a stuffed dog (though she wanted a real one 😂); a bunch of books that I love, but that she didn't show much interest in, haha. 

After school, she chose going to the farm for her activity. They finally opened the playground that's been under construction for months, and the kids loved exploring and playing on it. And of course, they loved seeing all the animals. 

When we got home, I worked on dinner and putting the cake together while the kids watched a movie. Brooke did the finishing touches on her cake decorations. She had fun with it. She requested chocolate chocolate cake, but I jazzed it up a little with a chocolate cream cheese frosting, which was delish. 

Brooke wanted alredo pasta with chicken, carrot sticks and garlic bread for her dinner. 

I think it was a good birthday. 

Things about Brooke: 

• She loves her friends. She wants to spend much of her free time with her friends, and she loves it when we do things with her friends. 
• She likes playing soccer. She's asked to be signed up for soccer again this year, and we have her on the same team as last year with the same coach, which will be great for her I think. Every year she gets a little better at soccer. 
• She loves playing the piano, and she's getting pretty good at it. I don't have to bug her to practice much, only every one in a while. She likes playing church music in particular, especially songs she knows. 
• She's a great big sister. She loves playing with her siblings. They have a few games they get really into: Trey and Rey animal game; Lego game; dolls (which they call "sllod" 😆), though she hasn't done dolls much in recent months. She does tease her siblings quite a lot, which they don't like. But she spends time with them, which I love. She's not cool to play with them yet. 
• She is a cheerful and happy kid, almost all of the time. I love how positive she is. It brings such a great spirit into our home. 
• She loves movie nights with the family. 
• She is self motivated and responsible. I do sometimes have to encourage her to get her things done. But mostly she wants to work hard and improve herself. She sets goals for herself. We've been way more comfortable leaving the kids with her and have her babysit. She's just trustworthy and reliable. 
• Lately she's started getting more serious about her spiritual growth as well, reading her scriptures more and wanting that scripture study journal for her birthday. She also asked me to print off all of President Nelson's conference talks to study them. She came with me to the "words of the prophet" class at the stake overnight campout, and she was really inspired. 
• She still loves reading, but she's found other interests too. She likes language arts in school, but not math, although I think she's pretty decent at both. 
• Brooke is helpful, and she is almost always willing to babysit or clean up. It's cute that every once in a while, she and Camille will banish me to my room so that they can surprise me by cleaning up the main floor or making dinner for everyone. 
• She loves being outside and goes out anytime she can when the weather is good (and sometimes when it's not, haha). She likes mountain biking with Daniel, camping and hiking, and exploring outside wherever we go. She's the one that's taken the most interest and care of our garden this year. She loves going out to check on it, to see how things are growing and if they are producing.