New Ward

A few weeks ago they announced in our Sacrament meeting that we would be having a "ward boundary realignment meeting" the following Sunday at 7:30 p.m.  This was not a surprise to anyone since we had been bursting at the seams for a long time.  Senior primary had to meet in the chapel for sharing time because they couldn't fit in the primary room (and that is just senior primary-- 95 kids ages 7 and older is a lot of kids. Add another 60 junior primary kids and you'll start to get the picture) and we knew that getting a seat with a soft cushion and not being in the back of the gym on hard chairs meant that you had to be IN YOUR SEAT 20 minutes BEFORE Sacrament meeting started.  Mormon standard time did not exist in our ward, and you could forget about having your "self assigned seat" like a lot of families do in other wards.  If you weren't there early enough to save your seat it was g-o-n-e.  Many a Sunday I was at the door in a panic, "In the car everybody, there is a baby blessing today! Go! Go! Go!" You would think we were running late, but no, we were still on schedule to arrive 20 minutes early but on those Sundays I knew 20 minutes wasn't going to cut it and we were going to need to be even earlier! Many families in the ward had their "runner" who was dropped off at the door to run in and save a seat while the car was being parked.  You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.  Only about 50% of those in attendance got to sit on the cushioned seats, the rest were in the gym where you couldn't hear as well and the seats were hard. Having small kids on those hard seats was a nightmare! The sacrament always took quite a bit of time so speakers didn't start until about 35 minutes after the hour.  One time we were visiting my parent's ward and arrived within 5 minutes of the start and easily found a seat.  When they started so quickly Korinne was confused. "Why are they starting already?" She was used to sitting for almost 1/2 hour before Sacrament meeting ever began. When the speakers started at 25 minutes after the hour she turned to me and said, "They are already speaking? That's weird."   Yes, Korinne, very weird indeed.

It is an interesting experience to be in a ward that is going to be realigned. We have a lot of great friends in the ward and had an entire week to speculate and boy, did we speculate! The Sunday night it was announced Adam had maps pulled up of all 3 wards involved and our good friends came over and we went through every possible scenario for a few hours in our basement. It was hilarious.  In the end we came to the conclusion that our neighborhood was the one that was going to be cut off and put in a different ward.  By the time the realignment meeting actually occurred I was so tired of running through every scenario I was just ready to find out what was going to happen.  I was ok with whatever it was, I just wanted to know!  Well, we guessed right, our neighborhood was moved to a new ward and we were all released from our callings on the spot.  Adam was released as the Elders Quorum President and I was released as a Gospel Doctrine Instructor.  The YM President and the YW President were also in our neighborhood and the ward that we moved into also lost a big chunk of people including the RS President, the YW President and the Primary President.  The Primary suddenly went from having under 40 kids to have over 100 kids in just a few minutes and all without a President!  So, it's a mess and will take some time to figure out.  The Bishop only knows about 45% of the ward right now which explains why none of us have any callings yet.  Every organization is in 'survival mode' until things can get up and going.

We loved our old ward, but we are all perfectly fine with being in a new ward.  A lot of our good friends went with us so we already know half of the ward.  Britton was even a little disappointed the first week because he was expecting to meet a lot of new kids but there was only 1 kid his age that he didn't already know.  The only issue I have is kind of a silly one, we were moved from a newer church to an old church that was built in 1980.  It will take me some time to get use to it, but it's actually closer to our house (and when I say 'closer' I mean about 1/2 of a block. You can literally throw a rock from one parking lot to the other. Yes, only in this state do you have 2 churches so close together with 3 full wards meeting in each one).

For the past few weeks we have been enjoying our calling-less state of being.  We'll see how long it lasts. :-)

The Return

A few weeks ago we were in American Fork for one of Britton's soccer games.  The game started at 8:30 a.m. but he had to be to the field an hour before the game so after waking in the wee hours of the morning (we stayed in SLC the night before) we found ourselves in American Fork at 7:30 a.m. with an hour to kill.  I said something like, "Too bad there isn't a single place in American Fork we know" to which Adam replied, "Well, we could go and see the place we got married." Do'h! Oh yeah, we got married at the Mount Timponogos temple located in American Fork.  Talk about a major oversight!  I kind of laugh at the fact that we chose to get married in the Mount Timponogos Temple. I understand why we did it at the time as it was a brand new temple and it was more convenient for our families to get to than the Logan temple which is where we really wanted to get married. On the down side we really have no connection to the area and hadn't been back to that temple since the day we got married.  We were a little disappointed that large portions of the temple were covered in scaffolding.  It's not that old, what are they doing to it?? Anyway, it only took 12 years, but we finally made it back.

We actually had 2 games in Utah county that day (like), the only problem was that they were about 8 hours apart (dislike).  Our pass of all passes really helped us out.  Free day at Trafalga anyone?

As you can see it was super crowded that day.  That's what you get for going to a kids establishment in Utah County on the same afternoon as a BYU game. Score!

Jameson didn't get to go on anything, but he got to be outside so he was very happy.

Joy in the Journey

In the last week I've attended 2 funerals.   One was for my good friend and neighbor's father who died very unexpectedly in a horse accident.  He was only 58 years old. The other was for the infant daughter of a friend who was born on Thursday and only lived for 5 1/2 hours.  When tradegy strikes it help you to realize what is really important in life, when it strikes twice it's another reminder that each day is a gift and we need to use our time wisely.

President Monson summed it up like this,
"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now.  The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief.  Opportunities come, and then they are gone.  I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not.  I plead with you not to let those important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do.  Instead, find joy in the journey—now." 

My friend, Brianne, found out at 16 weeks that her baby girl had a condition that would not allow her to live beyond birth.  They decided to find joy in their journey and named their baby girl Joy.  If you would like to read their story you can check her blog http://ourjourneywithjoy.blogspot.com but you may have to have a box of kleenex handy.

My close friend Carrie is the kind of friend I can call day or night and is the only friend I feel comfortable enough with to just walk into her house unannounced.  We're that close.  I had seen her dad just 5 days before the accident and he was absolutely fine so when she called me and told me he had died I was in absolute shock.  At that point they weren't really sure what had happened.  He was out herding cattle with some other cowboys and they split up for a bit.  When Neil wasn't at the meeting point they went looking for him and found him on the ground.  The only one that saw what really happened was his faithful dog, Mia, but they think he was probably bucked off the horse and was kicked in the chest.  He was a seasoned horseman, but this horse was feisty and had a reputation.  It really was just a freak accident, but to his grieving wife and 5 children it was absolutely shocking and unbelievable.  It will be awhile before they adjust to their new normal and her Mom's life will be completely different from now on.

This is a reminder to everyone to make sure they have their life insurance up to date!!  Don't take a chance on the "I'm never going to die" mentality.  Sometimes it doesn't work out and your family is left struggling.

On a side note Jameson went with me to both funerals and I must say he is NOT a good funeral companion. :-)

2012 Pictures

Last year we didn't get family pictures taken because we were in the middle of the adoption process and had no idea what would happen and when.  Now that everything is finalized it was high time to get a few shots.  Jameson was 7 months old and smiled in every single shot.  The photographer declared him the easiest baby she has ever photographed.

Open House

We had tickets to go to the Brigham City Temple open house at 4 p.m. on Labor Day.  We arrived all dressed and ready to go, unfortunately so did about a couple thousand other people.  The line to get into the parking garage where they were showing the short video before going inside of the temple was around the entire block and there were still several hundred people waiting to catch a bus from the other parking lots.  Start to finish time in the hot blazing sun? About 3 hours.  So, we all got back in our car and went home determined to come at a time when it wasn't so crowded.  Just so you know, Thursday mornings at 7:30 a.m. are not as crowded.  We got up early, got to the temple at 7:30 a.m., walked right in and had a lovely experience without any kind of a wait. The kids were 5 min. late for school, but it was worth it.

My kids have been spoiled, this is the 3rd temple open house they have been able to attend, and they were able to go inside the temple when Jameson was sealed.  Jameson was really good going through the temple right up until we hit each stairwell and then as if on cue he would let out an extremely high pitched and VERY loud squeal.  Every time. Wow. This kid has some lungs and he knows how to use them.