Sunday, June 12, 2016
It’s summer!
We’ve had a wonderful one so far.
We were lucky to start our summer a week early because we went on a
cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico with my Mom, Crystal, Darrell,
Ray, Reggie, Brady and Taryn. Our kids
missed the last four days of school for the cruise, but I feel that the
opportunity to vacation with extended family members is a good reason to miss
school, especially since Spencer was not in high school so his lowered grades
from missing finals won’t affect his college opportunities. The cruise was a lot of fun. Here are our favorite parts:
- Mindy – Watching my kids play and interact with their cousins. Yummy food. Riding the waves at the beach in Ensenada.
- Chad – The food was pretty good. Snorkeling at Catalina Island.
- Spencer – Buffets. Snorkeling at Catalina Island. Playing at the beach in Ensenada. Being chosen to be on the game show on the ship.
- Bryant – Eating. Staying up until midnight every night.
- Karalee – Swimming and eating and staying up late playing cards with my cousins. Finding sand dollars at the beach in Ensenada. Being chosen to be on the game show on the ship.
- Marlee – Going in the hot tub. Playing cards. Eating ice cream cones.
- Tilly – Swimming.
One sad thing about the trip was that my iphone
got wet and ruined and I lost the cute pictures I had of my girls in their matching anchor
shirts and pink shorts on the top deck of the cruise ship. Chad bought a waterproof cast for the phone
so he could take some snorkeling pictures, but it only worked for a minute or
two, even though he tested it twice before we left home. I told him to use my phone because it was
already having lots of problems and because he needs his phone for work. I also lost lots of pictures and videos of
our drive to California and our stay with Kayla and Jeff and their kids. Oh well, there are lots of worse things that
could have happened.
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| Catalina Island |
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| Catalina Island |
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| Karalee found an eel that had washed up on the beach. Creepy. |
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| There were tons of sand dollars in Ensenada. |
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| Poor Marlee and Tilly were cold the whole time. |
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| Heading home. |
Spencer got to go on our stake’s pioneer trek June
1-4. He had a great time. He said he didn’t get too worn out pulling
handcarts and that it wasn’t too hard.
They pulled 13 miles the first day and had only a peanut butter and
jelly sandwich for dinner. He said that
was a really good sandwich. They did 5
miles the 2nd day and had good meals the rest of the time. The third day they didn’t pull handcarts at
all. They had a testimony meeting and
read letters from their parents that morning, had pioneer games and activities
and a mercantile store with candy and snacks during the afternoon, then had a
fireside that evening. The last day they
pulled their handcarts 1 mile to load them up and then took buses back
home.
Chad and I got to go help with a pioneer stick game
on June 3rd. We
had a lot of fun. The trek was the first
time I've seen Chad in a cowboy hat. I
sure liked the way he looked in it!! We
stayed overnight to help cook breakfast the next morning and to help pack up
the cook’s kitchen. The cooks used to be
in our ward before we all got split up and the head cook is getting famous and
gets asked to cook for lots of different stake’s treks. The cooks had a 2,000 square foot kitchen
(Five 20 X 20 canopies hooked together) that included 2 industrial ovens, a
large kitchen sink with hot water and a garbage disposal, another large sink
with 3 sections, 4-5 large camp grills, 4-5 large camp stoves, tons of bowls,
cookie sheets, gadgets and lots more.
It’s better than my kitchen at home.
It’s quite amazing. It was fun
helping out. We ended up needing to pull
a trailer full of cooking gear back home so I’m glad we stayed and could be of
service.
I taught RS and Chad taught
Elder’s Quorum last Sunday, June 5. I
taught Lesson 11 - True Greatness from the Howard W. Hunter manual. (Because of
the trek they changed the lesson schedule around.) I felt like my lesson went well and there was
a lot of good discussion. I enjoyed
teaching it. Chad taught a lesson
based off of Elder
Uchtdorf’s recent conference talk about strong
marriages and strong families.
Bryant got braces on June 7th. His mouth was pretty sore that evening and
the next day, but it hasn’t bothered him too badly since then.
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| Bryant's smile is changing forever. |
June 8th
was the eighth anniversary of my Dad's death. I miss him so much. Last week at our stake's
pioneer trek, Brother Ramsey, who used to shoe my dad's horses, was helping
with a roping activity near the activity Chad and I were helping with. Because of my resemblance to my brothers and
sisters, he saw me and said, “That’s Jake’s daughter”. I love being recognized as a Flake and
especially as his daughter. We talked
for a long time and he told me how great my dad was. I love bumping into people
that knew my Dad. It is a comfort to me.
Oh how I miss him. I’m grateful for the things he taught me and
for the reality that I will see him again.
Spencer and Bryant started sports
camps at the school. If you’re in town
it is kind of mandatory to be there and since Spencer wants to play 3 sports
next year he is staying very busy. Spencer
is doing football and weights Monday-Thursday from 6:00-8:30am, basketball Mon.
– Wed. from 3:00-4:45pm, and volleyball Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 –
8:00pm. Bryant is doing football and
weights Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30 – 10:00am and basketball Mondays and
Wednesdays from 4:45pm – 6:15pm and Tuesdays from 8:00-10:00am. Luckily I’ve worked out good carpools and can
drop Bryant and his buddies off when I pick up Spencer and his buddies. Luckily that camps are reasonably priced. Karalee and Marlee are doing a volleyball camp
at the Barney family sports complex Monday – Wednesday from 5:00-6:00pm. I’ve got a carpool for that too thank
goodness. They kids are staying busy
that’s for sure!! The boys’ camps end on
June 28th so we won’t be so busy the whole summer.
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| The kids also stay busy practicing the piano. |
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| and making up games |
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| and Karalee got to attend my friend's craft camp last week. |
Spencer has started a lawn mowing
business. He mowed 4 lawns this weekend.
Three people want him to come back on a
regular basis. He hopes to get more
customers in our neighborhood. His
mission fund is growing!! He saves 50%
for his mission, pays 40% to me and Chad to pay for his half of the football
camp he will be attending this summer, and of course he pays the other 10% to
tithing. Yesterday Chad and I made a
little lawn mower trailer out of our old bike trailer for Spencer. Now we don't
have to drive him to his customers.
The last few Sundays we have been
watching our old family movies. It’s
been fun. We don’t have any family
movies past Jan. 2012 because I haven’t compiled our videos since then so I
need to start working on compiling our more recent videos. After we saw an old movie where the boys had
a big blow up waterslide the girls asked if we could get a waterslide. We decided that would be fun thing to keep
them happy this summer so we ordered one last Monday morning and it arrived on
Thursday. The kids have had a lot of fun
on it already. It’s big enough to hold
the boys and still fun for Tilly too.
The older kids enjoy making obstacle courses on it and timing how fast
they can complete the course.
My quote today is
from Elder Christofferson’s talk entitled Fathers. “Breadwinning
is a consecrated activity. Providing for one’s family, although it generally
requires time away from the family, is not inconsistent with fatherhood—it is
the essence of being a good father. ‘Work and family are overlapping domains.’
This,
of course, does not justify a man who neglects his family for his career or, at
the other extreme, one who will not exert himself and is content to shift his
responsibility to others. … We recognize the agony of men who are unable to
find ways and means adequately to
sustain their families. There is no shame for those who, at a given moment,
despite their best efforts, cannot fulfill all the duties and functions of
fathers. ‘Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual
adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.’” Listening to this
talk last week changed the way I pray for my sons. I hope that they will be guided of what to
study in college so they can be good providers for their families and that they
will do their best to provide so their wives can be stay at home mothers. I pray that they will marry women who place a
high priority on motherhood. I’ve also
started praying for my girls to have a desire to be mothers and that they will
marry men who place a high priority on motherhood and who will be good
presiders, provider and protectors. I
sure hope they will be as happy in their marriages as I am in my marriage to
Chad.
Love,
Mindy
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