A Science-and-Art Kind of Saturday

Last June I bought us the "SLC Attractions Pass" on Groupon.  It included about two dozen area attractions and activities.  It was going to expire right after our summer trip and there were several items we hadn't used yet, so I twisted everyone's arms into going up to Salt Lake for a couple of activities the Saturday before school got out.  Thank goodness we all had a good time and nobody was upset about having to go to the Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park, and the Leonardo Museum on Library Squre.

We had beautiful weather for our visit to Tracy Aviary.  The highlight was definitely the bird show, with exciting fly-overs and interesting and comical commentary.  After that we enjoyed walking around and checking out the huge variety of birds in the park, stopping to play at the playground for a bit, and even hugging a sweater-clad tree.

We made a stop for lunch, then on to the Leonardo museum.  I was excited to finally see what this museum had to offer.  We explored the downstairs first: a cool interactive exhibit all about flight, and a big art studio with a community art project that Ben, Cat, and I participated in while Jack, Eliza, and Luke sculpted.  Then upstairs it was more fun interactive science displays, which ended up being our favorite area.

Dayna: Mission Accomplished

Our niece Dayna served in the Orem Utah Mission for 18 months, with her mission office just a few minutes from the house we moved into in August.  Even though we've never run into her on the streets, we enjoyed knowing that she was close and reading about our own mission area in her emails and getting an insider view of the work that's been going on.  A pair of her fellow missionaries came to our house earlier this year to share a message about the importance of the work in our area and challenging us to share a Book of Mormon with someone.  This was the first time Ben and I could remember having missionaries in our home since we moved to Utah and we really appreciated the message.  They shared the following quotes with us and challenged us to pray about giving the Book of Mormon to someone.

The Book of Mormon is the instrument by which the promised gathering of Israel will be accomplished - it was written for our day.  It is the tangible and irrefutable evidence that Joseph Smith is the prophet of this last dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times, the dispensation when the world is to be prepared for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
                                     - Pres. Russell M. Nelson

Make no mistake, the Lord is gathering His elect to Utah.  They think they are coming to be near family or friends.  They think they are coming to gain an education.  Some don't really know why they are coming here.  But the reality is that the Lord is gathering His elect to Utah and He expects the saints to welcome them, embrace them and share the Gospel with them.
                                   - Pres. Craig C. Christensen

We were excited to have Dayna and her companion over for breakfast when they were on their way to the mission office for Dayna to get dropped off before flying home.  It was great to see her and find out more about her experiences.  She spent most of her mission Spanish speaking but was English speaking for several months also.  She had many investigators and baptisms throughout the mission, but when we asked her about the mission's push to have missionaries meet with members at the beginning of the year and remind them of their role in and the importance of missionary work in Utah County, she said the results had been dramatic: their investigators tripled and the number of baptisms doubled.  Whoa!

I'm so proud of her hard work!  It might seem like serving in the middle of LDS-Central would be easy but she had plenty of challenges of all kinds in the last 18 months and she kept working and learning and growing and was a great example to all of us.

These are the little messages we sent in our last email to Dayna, a few days before she went home.

You've been gone for so long!  I love you!  You're the best. - Luke

I think that you deserve to think that you did a good mission because you worked hard to serve it and you chose the right thing, so good for you.  I love you and you're my example.  - Eliza

You're a great missionary.  I can't wait to visit you. You're a really great example for me and I think that you're amazing and one of the best cousins ever.  And I love you.  See you later.  - Jack

You are a powerhouse missionary and I'm so proud of you!  Looking forward to seeing you and giving you a big hug soon!  - Brett

Great job getting to the end of your mission!  Have a wonderful week and we can't wait to see you on Wednesday.  - Ben

(Cat emailed separately.)

A Full Saturday

It was a busy Saturday, and it didn't get off to a good start.  Ben took all the kids up to North Salt Lake for Cat's early morning soccer tournament game, in very rainy weather.  While he was sick.  We'd hoped the game would be delayed but we didn't get word before it was time to leave to get Cat to warmups on time.  It turned out, the game was delayed by an hour.  And Ben was most of the way to the field when we found out.  And after finding a place to kill time, we found out it was delayed another hour.  Poor Ben and kids!  It made for a crazy morning but that's the way it goes sometimes.

It was time for lunch by the time they got home, and there was just enough time to cut some grass and practice some piano before heading out for a marathon-o-fun.

First stop: Ben's office to check out the set-up for a work party we'd be missing.  The kids tested out the inflatable in the atrium, made themselves amazing concoctions at the ice cream bar, and had their fill of soda.  We wished we could have stayed for the actual party (the street taco meat was being cooked while we were there and smelled amazing) but we had tickets to a show, so the kids changed in the car and we were off.

The next stop was a cool theater in Sandy where we saw the new(ish) production of Matilda, with a soundtrack the kids and I have really enjoyed the last few years.  Unfortunately, I'd gotten the time completely wrong for the tickets I'd bought us months ago, but we were thankful that the house manager allowed us to sit in unsold seats anyway, and we didn't miss very much of the show.  The musical was very well done and we loved finally seeing it on stage!

From there we drove straight to Herriman to watch a Utah Warriors rugby match.  My cousin works for the team and hooked us up with 6 tickets, and my uncle and another cousin were there the same night so we got to hang out with them too.  We loved the rugby match!  It was so fun!  I have friends who are rugby enthusiasts and I feel like I understand why now.  The season is over but I want to be sure we go to another match next year.

(That last picture is Ben and me with one of the players, Fetu'u Vainikolo, Tonga's all-time leading try scorer.  We stopped and said hello to him at the end, telling him how much we enjoyed the match and he thanked us for coming.  He was so nice!)

Mother's Day

It was a really nice Mother's Day. Earlier in the week I received this box from Ben's office - very cool!  And Luke brought from school these papers and a little sprout that didn't survive long enough for me to get around to taking a picture.

Cat and Eliza made me this cool hanging heart decoration and when I woke up to go to Choir Sunday morning I found this cute card and a carefully selected assortment of chocolates waiting for me.

Luke gave me this paper after church.  It says, in mostly correct spelling, "I kill weeds. I eat weeds. I eat corn.  I love you."  And even though I didn't wrangle the kids for a picture after church, at least I got a selfie with Ben.

I made a loaf of bread, spent some time listening to one of Jack's books, had a Come, Follow Me lesson with the family, then took a good nap.  That evening Ben grilled for us and his brother's family, and Cat made us extra-fancy homemade brownies with ice cream and strawberries.

Then cousins stayed at our house that night so that Joseph and Lindsey could practice taking care of their baby in the hospital before bringing him home.  It took a while to get all the kids to bed, especially the toddler, who required a long drive to fall asleep, and the 7-year-old, who hated being away from home. It was about 10:30 before everyone was settled.  The next task of the night was to fix one of the cousin's blankies that had been torn up by their dog.

I thought it was fitting that on Mother's Day I did a little more mothering than I normally do, and I was grateful that I could help out with my brother-in-law's family.  All in all, it was a great day.

Hope of America

Hope of America is a cool choreographed patriotic musical program for 5th graders at over 100 elementary schools performed at BYU's Marriott Center.  Cat participated when she was in 5th grade and this year it was Jack's turn.  He enjoyed learning the songs and motions at school, practicing them at home, and performing them for an audience.

What we didn't know before beginning the school year at this new school is that this is one of the schools that has a permanent position on the floor.  The 5th graders had extra choreography to learn and were able to unfurl an enormous American flag.  The younger grades at our school participate on the floor as well during the song "All Kinds of People Came to America" representing different cultures and countries in America.  Eliza's class dressed up and did a brief dance as Pacific Islanders, with the girls even using poi balls.

The performance was during a Choir rehearsal so I opted to help Eliza's class during the dress rehearsal earlier in the day and watch the kids then.  The program was great and the kids did a wonderful job!

Look for Eliza at about 4:12, in the back row toward the middle,

and again at the end when everyone comes out and runs in circles.

Ben and Luke watched the real performance that night and it went very well, though it started later than we expected and took a long time with all of the pre-show performances and everything.  It was a fun activity for the kids to participate in.