Living Planet Aquarium

Brigham and one of his friends from Washington Terrace wanted to hang out today, so we met Clayson and his Mom halfway (about a 40 minute drive).  Brigham went back to Washington Terrace with them and since we were already in the area, I thought we'd go to the aquarium.

 Ruger was the only one that went with David and I.  Other than at the penguin exhibit, he was pretty impatient with most of it.  He's just a ball of energy and so he never lasted very long at each place that we stopped.  That was a killing me a little because we spent so much money to get in and because I really love aquariums.  I would go to an aquarium over a zoo any day.

 Sea turtles, stingrays, and jellyfish are always my favorites.

 Ruger got such a kick out of the penguins, though.  They really captured his attention.

Being able to spend time with David this weekend has been so precious.  Last weekend, I spent to much of our time worrying about when it was going to end.  Monday and Tuesday of this week was just awful.  I tried and tried to remember that we are doing what we were led to do but I just kept thinking, "But I don't want to do this!" 

Around Wednesday, I had lunch with a friend who is dealing with a lot of loneliness in her life.  She would give anything to have a husband and children.  I'm sure she would even want my situation of only seeing her husband on the weekends...just as long as she had that someone in her life that she could totally trust and rely on.  It was a good wake up call for me.  My situation is not ideal but I am blessed.  I have someone that I can share my worst fears and best ideas with every night over the phone.  And on weekends, I can physically share time and nurture with.  What if that was taken away from me tomorrow?  Would I be a wreck because I didn't cherish what I had when I had it?  I have not cried once since then.

I want to end with a quote from a reading assignment I had from one of my classes.  I thought it was fitting leading up to my realization on Wednesday.  I had read it last week actually.  I would cry and then get out the quote and read it to calm me down.  So I want to journal it in case the lies in my head get louder than reality.

Elder Holland said, "I acknowledge the reality of opposition and adversity that so often come after enlightened decisions have been made, after moments of revelation and conviction, but I bear witness that God has set bounds and limits to the opposing powers of darkness.  And when the 2nd and 3rd and 4th blows come, "fear ye not...The Lord shall fight for you."

Grown Man Child

I posted this picture of Levi in his new and first suit, on Facebook.  A friend of mine from college called him a "Grown Man Child."  A perfect description!  He is still a child in my eyes, but he looks like a man here!  I was "ooohing" and "aaahing" while taking this picture and got a big smile out of him!  I just can't even get over how ADORABLE he is!

 Last week was David's first time down in St. George so I really wanted a picture of us together.  Last week was rough.  I started school and feel so behind because I don't understand what is going on.  Everything is going towards the direction of technology and I just don't get it.  School has been in session, for me, for a week now and today is the first day I have not cried over it.  I finally got to a point last night that I just can't care so much about it.  I have to be both Mom and Dad during the week and I've got to learn to better pace myself.  I have got to accept that this is the way things are.  That was part of my problem last week.  I hated our situation and was bitter.  Yesterday was a good turning point for me to accept His Will.

 After church (Levi gave a talk in sacrament meeting) we went on a hike in the Uinta Mountains.

It was just so beautiful.  I said that multiple times as we were hiking.  I was just perfect.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The entry I recorded before this one was part of this very busy week for me but I wanted to journal this separately because its pretty special, in my eyes.  It was a "first" for Brigham and we both got to spend time with those we love.

 On Saturday, the 14th, was an "Out Of The Darkness" walk put on by the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention in Salt Lake City.  Some time ago, I asked my friend Kristen if she would meet me in Salt Lake and do the walk with me.  Before I knew it, Kristen and I had formed a team and raised $50.00 for the cause.

I knew Kristen from when we lived in Washington Terrace.  Her daughter is Maddie, whom I love very much.  There are plenty of past journal entries with her in them as she was friends with Levi and Brigham and used to be Ruger's babysitter.  

Maddie ended up inviting Brigham to her homecoming dance and it happened to fall on the same day as the walk so Brigham came with me.  An old friend of Brigham's (Clayson) and new friends of Maddie drove together and we all met in Salt Lake.  We had quite the young, fun team!

After the walk, Brigham went up to Washington Terrace with Kristen and her crew.  They played the rest of the day and then got all cleaned up for the dance.

I love these 2 pictures so much!  This was Brigham's very first dance and it happened to be a semi-formal one!  The fact that it got to be with Maddie and that his best friend Clayson got to go as well just made it MY dream come true!  I know this dance wasn't about me at all but I just love these 2 so much!

This was the group that went together to the homecoming dance.

East Coast Visitors

Living in Utah (even if you are not from there) and being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints pretty much guarantees that you will run into old friends eventually.  I love that about living in Utah.  It's where almost every "Mormon" somehow ends up visiting whether it be to visit other family members, coming to see and be a part of General Conference, or sending off one of your kids to a Church college.

I knew Niki from growing up in Jay, Oklahoma.  We became friends in High School.  She started going to church with me, took the missionary discussions, and then my Dad baptized her.  She married a man in the military and so after high school I didn't get to see her much.  When I would come to visit Oklahoma, she usually wasn't there.  But we always kept in contact through the years.  And every great once in a while, we would end up in the same place to be able to spend physical time together.  Last week was one of those precious times.

 She is currently living on the East Coast and was bringing her daughter out to BYU-Idaho for college.  They stayed with our family but before they left, Ruger and I took them to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

 Ruger instantly fell in love with "Miss Natalie" and Niki and we had a wonderful time together.

 After Niki got Natalie settled in Idaho, she came back before flying back home.  She came to church with our family and we were soon reminded of all those years ago when she was baptized.  26 years ago, actually.

 We had time to kill before her plane took off so our family took her hiking near the Sundance/Alpine Loop area.  It is one of my absolute favorite places to go because of 2 reasons.  The first is that is where David and I took our engagement pictures some 17 or so years ago.  The second it that is has lots of my very favorite trees (Aspen).  Specifically, my favorite tree is a Quaking Aspen.

It had to be a quick hike because Levi hurt his ankle with a fall that happened during Cross Country class but it was so nice to be in such a beautiful place with people I love very much.

50/20

David came home from one of his church meetings a while back and told us about this 50/20 race that was coming up through the Boy Scouts of America.  The theme was "I can do hard things" and the object was to run/walk 50 miles within 20 hours.  

Absolute insanity, if you ask me.

But Levi immediately wanted to do it.  David was asked to work one of the stations along the route but after his shift was done, he wanted to join Levi.

So on Friday, Levi began his journey.  I was proud of him for wanting to do it but I asked more than once if he was sure he really wanted to do this.  I knew this Momma wasn't going to get much sleep that night, worrying about all the things that could possibly go wrong. 

But on he went until he met up with Dad at the station David was working.

They kept going until late into the night.  Unfortunately (Or maybe, fortunately for Mom's sake!) Levi started to have major stomach issues.  He walked for hours like that until he finally allowed himself to call it quits at the 25 mile mark.

I know Levi really wanted to keep going and even though I was nervous about the whole thing, I'm so grateful he had his Dad there through most of it and I'm so proud of him for sticking to it for as long as he did.  Such a strong young man he is.

Labor Day 2019

David wanted to go mountain bike riding with his cousin, Zel, on Labor Day but Zel and his family was already going boating on Utah Lake and invited us along!

I guess I don't have to explain each picture.  It was just plain fun the whole time!  It meant a lot that they would invite us (because we really did want to do something fun as a family, before David left for his new job) and it meant even more to me to see David get to spend time with his cousin.  As you can see from this last picture, they played hard too!  I see pictures like this and hope that my boys will still be "playing" with their cousins in their 40's!