Saturday morning was a blur of getting Quayd to Smithfield by 7, Grace to Smithfield at 9, then picking her up at 11 to get her back to South Logan by 11:30. Doug was working all day. Please pass one of my kids deciding that they want to drive! ZJ will get her permit soon and I'm almost certain that will motivate the other two. Up until now, neither has had a desire. Quayd does seem to be more interested, and he passed the test two years ago, but he's never gotten his license, so we haven't pushed it at all. And no, he doesn't have to have a license to serve a mission, so that's fine with us too.
Saturday afternoon, I was privileged to attend a Regional Young Men/Young Women Youth Leadership Training. This meeting was inspirational! Invited were sixteen stakes from our valley and Brigham City...the Stake Presidencies, Bishoprics and all YM/YW Presidencies. It was a full house in the Providence Stake Center! We were instructed and inspired by the LDS General YM President Stephen Owen and General YW President Bonnie Oscarson, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, who is the President of the Quorums of the Seventy and last but not least, Elder M.Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve. The presence of these four awesome leaders alone indicated that this meeting was going to be pretty incredible. We were trained and taught and uplifted by stories and examples of leading the youth of the church. There were questions and answers that came spontaneously. There was such an emphasis placed upon our roll in teaching and leading the youth of the church with a purpose. It was an incredible experience! I could have sat there for two more hours just listening and taking it all in! I could not write fast enough and took pages and pages of notes!
On Sunday, I had been asked to speak again in Sacrament Meeting. As the Bishop sat down, he said, "You just spoke." I responded, "Yes, I did." It was an awesome meeting. The Youth Speaker and the Bishop both shared messages that introduced mine. The musical number was a song that I'd never heard and it basically quoted my talk. Valarie spoke last and she concluded the thoughts of the day. It was as though we'd prepared this program together. I love it when the Spirit works that way!
Young Womens was interesting. We have an incredibly talented speaker for an advisor. She is very involved in college level theater and her voice! I could just listen to her speak all day long! She gave a beautiful and very understandable lesson on the Atonement to the girls. WOW! Just WOW! It was a perfect Sunday! Love it when that happens!
Sunday night was just calm and fun. Lydia was here with Zee. Eric was here with Grace for a bit. The girls made cookies. Quayd napped. Doug read and relaxed after his meetings. I love this Sunday! The girls were clowning in the kitchen while making the cookies, which sound like a great breakfast idea right now!
They made "Will you Marry Me?" cookies. They are pretty good with white and milk chocolate! MMMM!
After the cookies were baked, they decided that they should turn them into F'hizzookies. ZJ was making a face at Quayd when I snapped the picture. She and Quayd and their faces! Help me!
Quayd is taking a body building class at school and lately, he's all about eating a ton of protein, running six miles a day, swimming for hours on end and being healthy. He'd gone to Crystal Hot Springs the night before, after working at 6:45AM, then swimming four hours at the High school pool and was pretty wasted all afternoon! I like this kid!
Doug had been in meetings for eight hours all day, so he enjoyed reading alone in our bedroom much of the evening. I wandered around our home, just enjoying everyone be happy. When we said our family prayer before bedtime, Doug commented twice about the good spirit that we had enjoyed in our home all day long! I love it when that happens!
During Sunday dinner, Doug told me during dinner that we were having Group Home Evening at our home on Monday night. I had planned a menu for the next one already, so it was no big deal, but I was not planning on it until next week. I asked him to bring up the tables and chairs before bedtime so that I could get started bright and early on Monday morning. And was I ever glad! The morning turned into a crazy day!
As soon as we walked into Quayd's ortho appointment, I realized that I'd set my phone down on my desk to grab Quayd's paperwork. I raced back home to get it in a full-fledged blizzard, then back down the hill to Brett's office just as they were finishing. Brett teased, "We think we should leave them on for four more months", knowing that Quayd's mission papers can't go in until he's completely done. Then Quayd smiled his big smile without braces!
It was a celebratory event... not just that the braces were off but that we were ready for Brett to sign off his dental work papers. As we leaving, we realized that Quayd was twelve days past his six month check up and the paperwork says that he has to have had a full dental exam within the past six months. NOOOOO! So, Stacey scheduled him to come back on today, but while we were celebrating at Kneaders, Stacey called and said that their 11:00 had cancelled, so we raced back in for him to get his cleaning. Now his mission papers can be completed! Brett is a wonderful dentist and his staff is absolutely incredible! They are truly our friends!
I dropped Quayd off and ran to grab what I needed for the YSA dinner, picked him up, dropped him off at school, passed Sonic, came home and got ready for the dinner. What a morning! Dinner was super simple...Chicken Mexican Haystacks, so there was very little prep. Doug and Zee helped immensely that last few hours before the kids came.
Can I just say that I absolutely love the laughter and noises that these YSA kids bring into our home! It's incredible. We had a good size group and our own family and Eric were here. It was LOUD and lots of laughing took place. A great night! What a blessing!
SUCH WONDERFUL KIDS!!!
I love the added plate on top of the topiary. Okey-dokey then.
We pack them into the den! I can seat 32. What a blessing to have the space!
I do need to say that being in YW and having Doug in YSA is different than I expected. On Sunday, I worried that I would grieve over not being able to make it to Doug's meetings. But, I was so involved in my own world that I was fine with it. We'll make certain adjustments and figure out ways to do both as much as possible. It's just wonderful to serve!
This morning, I've already hottubbed while visiting with my mother on the phone for an hour and I'm plugging in my Cricut to make some little favors for tonight's YW activity. I'm excited to get to know these young girls better. They are all very sweet girls.
Life is crazy and busy and fun. AND GOOD!
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