Eastern Idaho State Fair

Saturday presented us with an opportunity to do whatever it was we wanted with a free day.  That doesn't happen much these days so we decided to take the kids out to the fair in Blackfoot.  

The kids thought it was AMAZING!  They got to choose a couple rides to go on.

Dad snacked while he watched them laughing their heads off. 

I got to ride a "scary" ride with Alissa because none of the other kids wanted to and she was too short to go alone.  We had fun laughing... well I did.  She said she was too scared to scream or laugh so she was quiet however she did say it was fun.  ha ha

Their favorite was the kid swings.  Ella especially thought it was fun which cracks me up a little.  She is just a mild child and that's just great. 

The girls all had big smiles the whole time.

Dad got to ride the big fun slide with the kids. 

We walked through booths and just had a good time being together.  There is always 1,000,000 people at the fair so we decided it might be better and cheaper to go eat at a restaurant where we don't have to worry about somebody taking off with a kid or trying to eat while standing and holding a paper plate because there is pretty much no where to sit with a family of 6.

We decided on Texas Roadhouse because the kids had earned free meals with the library reading this summer.  When we got there we had about a 30 minute wait and Dustin was upset about it.  After probably 10 minutes he decided we needed to go so I walked up to the counter to see how much time we had left and a table for us came open.  When I turned around to tell Dustin I realized he had taken Lincoln and went to the car.  I had to convince the girls to stand still against the wall and I ran out to get him.  We got seated and Ella decided she needed to use the bathroom.  A few minutes later but not before Ella got back Molly decided she also needed to use the bathroom so Dustin took her and told her to stay with Ella in the bathroom and come back to the table.  They came back and Ella told us she felt sick.  She sat down for only a second and decided she needed to go outside because she needed some air.   After returning and feeling frustrated by the 3+ times somebody has left our table and the other monkeys who won't stay seated I asked the waitress if she can just bag our foot to go.  I took the kids and sat in the car and waited for Dustin to come out with our now to go order.  Of course now Ella is feeling much better and nobody is really hungry because the massive amount of rolls and honey butter and water we ate while sitting at the table for the 10 minutes we sat there.  :)  ha ha!!  Wow.. I think maybe next time we should order a pizza.  This is becoming our normal life with a family of 6.

Canning, Canning & More Canning

This has certainly been the year of canning!  I have canned tons of jam, peaches, pears, apple sauce, grape juice, spaghetti sauce, green beans & pickles.  I have pretty much kept the camp chef set up in the garage for the past month because it seems that every few days I have new produce to can.  What a blessing!  The peaches and pears were the only thing I had to buy and they were at as super great price.  I feel happy to see all my cans being used downstairs and my shelves filled with healthy food.

Miss Molly helped me pull the skins off the peaches after school.  She thought it was pretty great.  The other girls would have too however we were done before they got home.  

Love my little helper! 

Pre Surgery Feelings

I was able to have a blessing a few weeks ago given by Dustin and because it was a Sunday afternoon my brothers, brother in law and dad were all able to stand in.  All the kids and wives were in the living room and I could feel a real sense of unity within my family.  It's interesting as their laid their hands on my head a sense of safety overcame me too.  I won't share too many personal things about the blessing here, they are in my other journal but I did want to share some other feelings I have had.

On Sunday the family had a special focused fast for myself and Lisa and we also included Carol who is having her parathyroid removed the week after me.  My brother in law Kenny encouraged me to share some feelings I had from this focused fast.

First of all it is humbling to have a fast specific for yourself and especially when my sweet kiddos (10 and 6) skip a meal on behalf of their mom, aunt and grandma.  

As we sang the hymn "I Will Go Where You Want Me To Go" today during sacrament meeting I realized I have never thought that cancer would be a place the Lord would ask me to go.  Maybe another country, state or somebody's house but not a medical condition.  However, I asked myself, "Is it any different?"  If I truly submit my will - I will go WHEREVER He asks me to go.

In Relief Society we talked about being genuine and out of inspiration I am sure the teacher shared a story from a book she was reading.  These people were captive in barracks and were surrounded by swarms of fleas which made their lives absolutley miserable.  One night as they were praying the younger sister expressed gratitude for the fleas.  Her older sister did not understand why.  A few weeks later they overheard the guards say they never went inside those barracks becuase of all the fleas.  And because they enver went in they were able to read their Bible and pray  Although they were miserable the fleas now became a blessing.  I realize this is the same with trials like this.  They seem like an unfortunate event or an inconvenience however what one etrial have we left without growth and more understanding?  I realize I am BLESSED with this trial because of Gods great love for me and all His children.  I am anxious to see how it unfolds and the many lessons I can learn from it.

I realize the weight of things like this are too heavy to carry on our own so we hand it over to the Lord.  There are occasions I decide to hold it for a minute and let m tell you I cannot do it!!  I am thankful for the Atonement and my older brother Jesus Christ for helping me carry this load.

I want to be sure I live my life everyday that my family all knows how important they are to me.  They are what gives my life value and joy.  I hope they always know how much the gospel means to me and my testimony of the Atonement and the Resurrection.  

First Day of School

As with every year, Dustin gave all the kids a back to school blessing.  It's always the youngest who is sucking a binki to help from wiggling so much that we get a kick out of and have to take a photo of to remember how stinking sweet it is.  He did not sit still for much longer than 20 seconds, but he still did get a blessing.  :)

This year school starts at 7:55!  Bright and early for these little ones.  We didn't get individual pictures of them on the first day this year because it was a particularly stressful one.  Dustin stayed home to take me to an appointment to meet with the Ear Nose & Throat doctor about having my thyroid removed so we got there a little early and were still in a little bit of a hurry. 

Ella is in 5th Grade with Mrs. Stillman, Alissa in 1st with Mrs. McLaren and Molly is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Moeller. 

We ran in to get a picture of Molly in the classroom.  Just like last year they got to play with play dough on the first day of school.  Molly had no issues saying a big goodbye to her mom.  Something about school starting makes me feel like my kids just got so big!   

Love these kids so much and I miss them so much when they are gone!

While it's warm the Hansen kids ride over and go to school with mine.

Check out this look on Lincoln's face.  He's pretty sure he's part of the clan. 

When I go to help Molly get home I just get excited.  I'm so glad she isn't in full day yet.  She just has the biggest, hugest smile on her face as though she won a prize.  She is the first one ready for school, the first one to get out of bed and get going and just happy to be alive.  I love it!!

Middle Teton

My amazing husband made sure he had his yearly challenge of climbing up a mountain.  This year he went with some friends from our ward and did a quick day trip.  He had a glorious time.  It was certainly something bred into this boy to love hiking and the mountains this much.  LOVE HIM!

Cancer?

So as I mentioned in my last post, the biopsy results came biopsy results were unknown or inconclusive.  They referred me to a specialist but he couldn’t see me for like 3 weeks.  It made me a little anxious and I had a little cry.  I had to regroup and realize that this was absolutely out of my control and the ONLY thing I could do is think positively and turn this over to the Lord.  I realize my life is in his hands anyway.  I did my best to just forget about it and let faith drive me.  When I went to my appointment I wasn’t worried.  I had remembered this whole series of weeks that I had a blessing as Dustin was called into the Bishopric that I would have good health.  I remembered the words to my patriarchal blessing which promised I would find happiness in the physical aspects of my body as I serve the Lord. 

However as I sat in the doctors office with Dr. Baker ENT I heard him say that I had tumors that were growing and they were learning toward the cancerous side because of multiple characteristics which they displayed.  They want to remove my thyroid and do it soon in case it is cancerous.  He said if you do nothing, you will not see your kids grow up.  What?!  The surgery is 2 hours long and there is 1 in 100 chance they can damage a nerve in the back of my wind pipe as they peel the thyroid gland off which would make my voice hoarse the rest of my life.  Wow!  I need to plan to take a week off and not lift anything over 20 lbs.  I will stay the night in the hospital and they will send the thyroid to pathology who will run tests to see if there is cancer in the thyroid and if so how aggressive in case they need to take further action as it may have spread through other parts of my body.  I left there in absolute shock.  I tried calling Dustin and he didn’t answer which is normal for him at work so I called my mom who immediately tried to reassure that all would be well.  I had been saying the same thing this whole time but just needed a few minutes to cry and feel bad for myself.  As I took a few minutes I felt better.  I was able to refocus and regain strength and faith that all is well in the Lord.  The surgery will happen in September and I am anxious to get on with it and get better.  It is another one of those experiences that makes life come into perspective.  This life is short.  This life is the time for us to prepare to meet God through righteous living and repentance.  I realize I can do better.  I don't feel like this will be the end of my life.  There is a 95% recovery rate and I am a pretty healthy person so I have confidence in the idea that I have more to do here.  I just hope and pray I can be better.  I hope I can life with the perspective that every moment matters.  My kids and husband matter.  My relationship with the Savior matters.  I am determined to be better and let this experience be a strengthening in my life.

“Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger the wind the stronger the trees.”

The Octopus...

One of the things we did this summer was make sure the kids read a little bit all summer long.  Mostly I read to them but that's ok.  We signed up for the summer reading program and each week we would report to the public library with what we read.  We followed their program to read a book from multiple different genres and types and award winners, etc.  It was a great experience.  Each week when we would report the library would give you a "gift" from a sponsor.  This particular week they had earned 1 free ride at Funland in Tautphaus Park.

We went here a few times as kids and thought it was fun.

Molly and Lincoln decided to ride the airplane. 

 Lincoln thought it was great until it started to swing and then he looked more like this.  Molly was trying to console him.  :) 

Ella and Alissa immediately decided they wanted to ride the octopus.  Mostly because they had never seen it run before I think.  I didn't discourage, I thought it would be good for them.  ha!   So they looked like this getting on.

And about 10 second before they turned it off this is what Ella looked like.  Her hand was straight in the air trying to catch attention of the attendant running the machine because she was sure she was going to die.  I couldn't help myself, I was laughing pretty hard at her.  Sad I know.  It's good for her to try some hard things though.

See, smiling as they got off.   She got upset at me for laughing at her for only a few minutes and then she joined me in the laughter.  What a good time!

Bishopric

Dustin was outside taking care of the lawn on Saturday and he came to the back door and said, “Brother Lee just called and we have an appointment with the stake president tomorrow after church.”  I knew exactly what this call was.  A member of our Bishopric was moving and I had been feeling like there was a good chance this is where Dustin would end up.  My immediate response was to cry.  

I sat through sacrament meeting that week and cried.  The following sacrament meeting I sat and cried.  I love when Dustin has calling like this comparing to his calling as Elders quorum president.  I love to watch the Lord magnify him in his calling and he is social.  He develops real love and concern for the people he has stewardship over and I think it’s amazing.  This is not how he naturally wants to be.  He likes to keep to himself and do his own thing.  I love the extended blessings I see and feel when we sacrifice all we can for him to serve at this capacity.  However, I was sad to be sitting alone with the kids in church.  I figured his time away during the week was not going to be much more than it had been as he was Scoutmaster.

Dustin was calm as can be and felt confident this was not the call that was going to be extended to him.  I told him he was humbly nieve.  As the calling was extended, Dustin cried.  The Stake president reassured him that Heavenly Father knows him personally AND his circumstances and that he still called him into this calling.  There is a reason he is here serving now.  We found out we would need to leave the family reunion on Saturday night instead of Sunday and the stake president also advised us not to tell anybody including our kids until Saturday besides our parents and the person ordaining him to High Priest.  We immediately went to his brother Brian’s house to ask him if he’d ordain Dustin.  He is the only one of Dustin’s siblings that is a High Priest.  He would also have to leave the reunion a day early in order to make it back in time for the ordination.  Thankfully he was ok with it.

In hindsight as I look back over the past few months I felt strongly that our family needed to make some changes.  I felt like we were becoming so stagnant where we were at and that the answer was for us to move away and have some new lessons.  Dustin had the opportunity to apply for a new position so we decided to try for that instead.  Now that he has this calling and new position at work and we have this new “trial” of faith with my thyroid I’m wondering maybe this is what the Lord was preparing my mind for.  These opportunities for growth.

I think it was surprising to him how many people in our ward came to him once the sustaining took place and said “I knew it was you.”  It was humbling again to hear this, especially to him who felt there was others who could better fill this calling.

We went to the stake building after church and Brian ordained Dustin and then President Johnson set him apart in his calling.  My favorite part of the whole day, besides I guess reminding him to prioritize his family and work and church calling was that President Johnson told him he would be a disciple of Jesus Christ and there would be no question who he served.  I loved that!  I feel so thankful for a good husband who is worthy to hold this calling.  Who holds and honors the Priesthood and does is best at all things. 

There were lots of concerned people inquiring about who would take his place as Scoutmaster, but our friend Mike Hansen – whom Dustin replaced, was put in this calling.  They will all have a good time with Mike.

A friend of mine who’s husband was recently in the Bishopric was talking to me about my only real concern of sacrament meeting and she told me, “angels will sit with you and help you and the kids”.  I felt the truth of that and in the 3 weeks we have sat alone, either I have been more patient or the kids have behaved better.  Either way it has been a great blessing to us.  I am thankful for this opportunity our family has to serve and look forward to the blessings and adventures ahead.

Dustin, Bishop Fred Gooch & 2nd Councelor Brock Ball

Brock, Dustin, Fred, Mike Hansen (previous 1st councelor) & Jaren Layton (previous 2nd councelor)