Weekend Warriors: Part One

We've had some very full weekends recently.  We're realizing that we need to pick up our pace and embrace.  My new mantra "Pace and Embrace!"

March 26th was Grandma's 80th birthday (Rhett's 7th) and it was also prom for Star Valley High School.  Drake Green's family was visiting grandparents in Idaho Falls (It was Post Falls Spring break) and he and Esther planned for him to come for prom.  During the planning, Myrisa also was included in the trip.

They arrived mid-morning.  We served a brunch. Then most of that afternoon James, Dad, Esther, Myrisa and Drake all enjoyed a wonderful time on the snowmobiles thanks to Bart.  There was quite a group riding.  The sun was shining beautifully and everyone came back with sunburned faces.

We served a dinner of taco salad.  Then the prom people got ready for the night.

Dad, James and I went to bed about 9:30 and set the alarm for 11 to wake up to greet the prom goers, who arrived home close to 12.  Drake had brought ice cream and I had a chocolate cheese cake also.   Drake was staying at Grandma's and James accompanied him.  Grandma and Grandpa had left that morning to go to Brennin's mission meeting the next day.  Dad drove over to build a fire in the furnace so they wouldn't sleep cold.

Easter Sunday was the next day.  We all rose a little slowly, but made it to church fine. After church, before dinner we had an Easter devotional.  We read some scriptures from the New Testament and watched "Because of Him".

We had ham and cheese potatoes.  Myrisa likes potatoes, so it was a good meal for her.  And Drake learned to like applesauce with the ham.

After dinner, Esther, Myrisa and James went to check on calves while Dad and Drake hid some plastic eggs throughout the house.  When they all came back we had an egg hunt.

Drake and Myrisa left about 5 to drive back.

Esther's stretched out legs, tired from all the dancing!

The next weekend was a trip to Utah to support Esther with her Treble Tones and to let her have a tour of BYU in Provo.

We left Thursday night, Mar 31, and traveled to Vera Lyn's and Scott's.  Brad and Jolene Bradshaw and family were guests, they came last minute, so it was a little busy, but Vera Lyn and Scott seemed happy to host.

Early Friday morning Dad and I went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  We were too late for the 7 a.m. session, and sealings were needed so we did sealings.  There was a very good spirit there with some of the names and the people participating.

Back to Vera Lyn's and then off again to have a tour of BYU.  We met Joshua at the Hinckley, and got a guide who directed us around.  Joshua also added some of his insights.  Esther got a t-shirt.

Next we had lunch at Joshua's apartment.  He had leftovers from his dinner group, only 4 people showed and he had prepared for 12.  Briana came too and it was fun to visit with her.  Joshua served tacos with more authentic tortillas that he bought at a Hispanic market, I think.  He had also made some yummy guacamole and pico de gallo.  Then he had a Thai rice pudding dish for dessert.  Rice pudding with mangoes.  It was very tasty and it was fun to try something different.

Off to Salt Lake to get Esther there in time for her warm up with Treble Tones who were singing the national anthem at a Jazz game. She had to be there early.  We liked the parking spot we had, so we decided to walk to Temple Square and do a little sightseeing.  We ended up going to the Church History and Art Museum.

 I forgot the camera and didn't think to use Dad's phone to take a picture of the big screen.  We were way up in the highest seats and there was no way I could have gotten a photo from there.  But we could have gotten a nice shot of the screen. The girls sounded great and there was a nice close-up of Esther.  I tried to find the video that was posted on facebook, but can't seem to find it now.

The Jazz won.  Scott, Kenyan and Cameron came too a little later - they hit traffic - and used our three extra tickets.

Jared was in the area that night and we planned to have breakfast with him the next morning.  We thought of taking him out to eat, but Vera Lyn suggested just have breakfast there.  She and I planned and she showed me where all her ingredients were, so Saturday morning while she was out on a 10 mile run and Scott and Cameron were doing a 2 mile swim.  I made a couple of breakfast casseroles, which I should have done three - and a couple of batches of muffins - pumpkin and berry.

It was fun to briefly see Jared.  He was a hit with one of Brad's little girls (heartthrob!)

After breakfast, we were  on the road again back to Star Valley - listening to conference on the way.
We stopped at a Chick-Fil-A on our way out of Salt Lake.  With our Jazz tickets we won a free chicken sandwich because the opposing team missed two consecutive free throws.
We stopped in Evanston at a Wal-mart and picked up a few things we needed.

We got home Saturday afternoon.  Dad, James and Grandpa went to the Priesthood session and then came here for ice cream shakes.  We had to keep up the tradition of an ice cream treat after the Priesthood session and there are no Dairy Queens, Baskin Robbins or Coldstones nearby.  Grandma was here too, she came so I could interview her for a class assignment and also so I could share with her my power point I gave as part of my class at a Women's Conference we had in the stake.  Which I don't know how to attach to this blog, but maybe I can email it somehow.  The shakes turned out nicely.

The next day Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch conference.  We had dinner between sessions, lasagna.  General Conference was wonderful.  We feel so blessed by such inspiring leaders.

Go to the Mountains

How glorious a greeting 

the sun gives the mountains!

-John Muir

I took these pictures this last week in the morning. It seemed like such a day to "go tell it on the mountain". 

Or like Isaiah says, "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord..." (Isaiah 2:3)

Mountains are a symbol of higher learning, taking on the challenges, stretching ourselves, and receiving inspiration as we draw near to Father.

The Lord has just been teaching "us of his ways" this past weekend. Conference was awesome! I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Tillery's in Sugar City. Briana came with me (I somehow managed to convince her to miss a weekend of doing homework:) We really enjoyed playing with Cody, McKay, Zayne, and Ruby. Ruby was in heaven. She loved having a girl friend around to talk to and with whom to do fun things. On Sunday when Heather came over (John's steady date), she had fun sharing her time between Heather and Briana. 

Saturday we had some "Waff-lets", or omelets made in a waffle maker. They are fun to make and fun to eat. I think Chrystal said we have Linda Lee to thank for that idea! Between the first and second sessions, we had Christian and Morgan Stratford over. It was fun to talk with them and catch up. They are both in marriage and family related majors. We had a nice array of snacks and appetizers to sample from including a cheese ball, chips and salsa, spinach artichoke dip, small pita pizzas, a relish tray, and more! 

Saturday evening John, Cody, and I got the chance to go to the Priesthood Session together. I really liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk. "All families are worth saving." I have been feeling like now, more than ever is the time to band together and be united. We all have hard things in life, we need to rely on each other and work to make our family a forever family. Sometimes that might mean asking for help, even if it is just, "Will you pray for us?" I don't feel like our family is closed, but I think that now is the time to be even more open and humble.

Saturday after Priesthood, we invited Breanna and Ethan Belnap over to play games, Heather and John were there as well. It was so funny to talk with them. They are both good jokers and very easy going. We played liar's dice. For the first few rounds, once we had collected 4 dice, one of the Tillery boys would jump in to play, so the odds of the dice rolling kept going back up. haha!

Sunday Briana was ecstatic to hear that there will be a temple built in the area of her mission in Brazil. Interestingly, Heather and Briana both served in Brazil (completely different parts), and they enjoyed talking about it. 

 My nutritional breakfast!

 "The Oneeders..." "Hey that's O-ned-ers!" Haha...

A couple of weeks ago, Briana and I went to an Argentine Asado! It was really good and really authentic. The guy who did the grilling was from Argentina. They had Argentine sausage, chimichurri, alfajores, argentine potato salad, etc. Definitely super fun! In Brazil, they do something similar, so Briana felt nostalgic and excited.

 Above is a piece of lamb. It was fun to try. 

My new haircut that I got from Dallin Anderson. It came with ice cream and a cookie. :)

 I have had some fun times with Katie and Dallin's family recently. I also saw Bryce and Cherie as well as Trenton and Amber, little Eks, and Lee. I also had dinner with Uncle Eksayne and Aunt Patty. They are so fun and kind.

Most important for last of course.

I won an intramural championship t-shirt.

I did a running program from Jan 1 to Mar 18 where I had to run 150 miles.

The sad part was that I got to my last week and I had about 40 miles left, so I went and ran about 8 miles each day. One day I ran less, so I ended up running 12 miles the morning of the 18th to reach my goal.

PS Here is a good BYU-I devotional about not being too proud. Ya'll should probably should listen to it after seeing me win this shirt. :)

Oh Henry!

Henry.  When you think of this name, you might think of a candy bar that doesn't especially popular. 

Or you might think of the spoiled prince off of Ever After.  "Henry." "Do not address me so informally, madam." 

But when I think of Henry I think of a goat.  Yes, a goat.  You see the children (you can't call your little ones kids anymore now that we're talking about baby goats) named our newest kid, Henry.  Henry is a lovable baby who will let you pet him and hold him.  That's because of his mom.  We called her Gentle.  Gen for short.  She has a sweet temperament and would always let you pet her.  But her milk bag was swollen on one side.  So her kids (Henry and another baby girl) would only drink on one side.  So one teat (its an animal discussion) got really swollen.  It actually got a tear in it probably from all the pressure.  So seeing this to be a potential future problem, we decided to sell her. And only one of her babies.  

And that is when Henry became an orphan. Poor guy.  Only two weeks old and already an orphan.  But we weren't to worried.  We have another mama goat and she can take him on!  Brilliant idea is you could convince a mama goat.  The other mama, her name is Skid.  Her original name was Skittish because she is so afraid of you and will never let you come close or touch her.  (We're pretty original with names, I know) But then we changed it to Skittles.  Either way, we still call her Skid, for short.  

So we penned up Skid and Henry and her other baby (Charcoal) and hoped that she would eventually take to them.  But that is not currently the case.  So now Henry is going hungry.  Well, we can't have that.  So we thought we could take a bottle.  No luck.  Maybe if he was hungry enough.  But in the meantime, we could hold Skid so he could eat.  Not as easy as it sounds.  She won't let you catch her.  And then when you do, she fights and she kicks and then kicks Henry while he's trying to nurse.  

So we built this...

A Milking Stand! It actually wasn't too difficult to build but we realized after we built it that it's a bit short in length for our goats.  We will have to add an extension.
Now every day, I have a new chore.  Three times a day.  I get to go out, catch Skid, wrestle her by the horns till I get her head trapped in this contraption.  And then I hold her back leg as she tries to mercilessly kick Henry.  Henry doesn't even need us to put him up there any more.  No sooner is Skid up there when Henry is jumping on ready for his meal.  Henry, he cracks me up.  He's like the little ugly duckling that keeps trying to come up to the mama with his happy smiling face, not realizing that she doesn't like him.  She butts him away and he come right back with the attitude, "Awe, you didn't mean that.  Let's try again."  He is perfectly fine with the idea of Skid being his new mom and Charcoal being his sister.

 Henry and Charcoal.  (Char for short)

The Children with Char when she was first born.  

So I made this video for Religion class

I know that He can make us whole.