Good-bye May

May memories: Maryn graduated, we watched the solar eclipse, celebration cupcakes, Memorial Day hike, back wall complete, Mickenna is engaged and Jordan gets married!
What a great month it has been!

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Memorial Day Weekend

We didn’t do memorial day right.

We had a great day…awesome weekend actually, but we did very little remembering.

Maryn came home for the weekend. She and Kelsey spent most of the day on Saturday together without Kelly and I because we were helping the Hunts put in a sprinkler system in their backyard. Saturday was perfect for working outside. Amazingly cool temperatures. I had a small tinge of regret that we didn’t have a whole day to on our fence, but John has been so supportive of our backyard, that I was so happy to help in his.

Sunday we spend most of the day without Kelsey, but it was nice to have the time with Maryn. Last time she came it was a short visit. Then Monday—NO ONE had to work! We haven’t been all together for an extended period of time in…too long.

We got up early and set out for Catalina State Park for a short hike. We did the Canyon Loop Trail. We didn’t see any wild life, but there were many more human creatures out than I thought there would be. Here is a shot of our group-minus a few. We were with the Richardson-Tenney and Murdock families. After our hike we went to the Murdocks for a pot-luck breakfast and then went swimming in their pool. The water was pretty cold! That is kind of unusual for end of May, but I am not complaining. That would be blaspheme because I am so thankful we have not had “normal” weather and these cool days keep popping up. We spent a couple of hours splashing around, with Kelly being the favorite target for most of the time. We did get a little sunburned, but not too bad. The next thing planned was to barbecue some steaks, but after changing our clothes, we opted to have someone else do the cooking!

Here are some of my favorite shots along the hike--

YW Swim Party

Sister Jenne Meyers hosted our activity tonight at her beautiful home. Look at the view from her pool—incredible! We have had such a weird spring, that the water was a bit chilly! But we had fun anyway.

7 Days in May

I am participating in a week long challenge over at Jessica Sprague. I am a big fan of that website. Each day I do a layout to complete the challenge for that day. It has been so fun. Here are the results.

Failure Quote

I found this quote from CS Lewis. Maryn and I  love it and want it on our walls somewhere. Looks like a good excuse to do some pse. (Like I need one)

“No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it the very sign of His presence.”

Solar Eclipse

The last solar eclipse I remember was back in 1978-1979. I don’t remember the exact year, but I know it was in Great Falls and those were the only two years I lived there. And it was a weekday, because I was in school.

I was excited to witness another and we planned a trip to St George to see what is called the “ring of fire” --the full eclipse. Our plans got canceled so we did the best we could from our own backyard.  Kelly set up the binoculars with a way to capture the shadow of the eclipse onto poster board so we could watch the progression of the moon  overshadowing the sun. Pretty ingenious, at least I was impressed. And I love the photo we got out of it! We weren’t totally prepared, no special sunglasses, so the only way we could actually see it was looking through several pairs of sunglasses. As the sundown came, it became easier to look at with our naked eyes. Kelly even caught it on camera from the roof.

Mother Nature is amazing!

I love the beauty and awe that our Father in Heaven’s creations bring to my life everyday.

Maryn Graduates

Thursday was an exciting day for Maryn and we are excited for her. She finished her associates degree at Pima in December and decided to come home for graduation. The ceremony was a bit long, but it was worth the memories of the effort that she put in to finish. And it was a good excuse to have a simple celebration!

Maryn asked for just the family to get together, so we had them over for a an early (and quick) dinner and some cupcakes! I tried to make it a little festive, so I created a banner to help decorate the cupcake stand.

We took a few quick pictures and then we drove downtown to the TCC. There were so many graduates! But we kept looking and soon we found her in the crowd! There was one speaker and then they started reading the names. I readied the camera so we could catch her as she came on the huge screen…success! After all the names were read they pronounced them officially graduated and the ceremony ended with music and confetti—which of course, Maryn loved!

And here is my lo for the scrapbook!

Perfect Message for Today

I just watched this video:

It’s message filled my heart with hope. It was perfect for today. Remembering that I am doing what I can to be more faithful. I have improved. I know I am not perfect, but that is not required of me today.

Just improvement.

No matter how many times I fall short of what I want to be, if I turn to the Lord and ask for His help in getting back up, I will make it eventually. I need to remember that He has calmed my fears, and soothed my aching heart and given me strength to carry on, so when I feel that way again—and I know I will—He will be there. Again. And again and again.

I believe what Elder Nelson says:

“If you have faith, you can handle difficulties.”

“Be patient with yourself.  Don’t demand things that are unreasonable. But demand of yourself improvement.”

“As you let the Lord help you, He will make the difference.”

More Practice Needed

I want to be one of the good guys, yet so often I find myself like Laman and Lemuel. I haven’t plotted to kill anyone, nor have I beaten anyone up lately, but  I see the same lack of faith. As I read about their journeying in the wilderness, I can’t help but recognize how faithless they are each time difficulties arise. How quick they are to murmur and blame God, rather than turn to Him for strength and guidance. I see myself reflected in their behaviors. But my soul yearns to be more like Nephi, steadfast and full of faith with confidence in the Lord’s plan for him--me.

When I read in the study manual, I did find some comfort and hope in words from Neal A Maxwell. He said  that undoubtedly Nephi’s broken bow brought to him some “irritation, but not immobilizing bitterness”. I fall somewhere between those two, my bitterness is not immobilizing…at least not for very long. (hee hee) He then said “irritation often precedes instruction”. And I recognized that as true in my life. So that gave me hope that, if nothing else I am on track to being able to respond more like Nephi, it just may take (years?) of practice.

Elder Richard G Scott said this “When trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more.”

I think that needs to be hung up where I can read it regularly!

Reading that should help me not to murmur when irritation comes to notify me that some instruction is on the way.

Chillin’ Out

This is how I found myself last night…around 6:30 or so.

Perfection.

Kelly rushed in, ate, changed his clothes and rushed out. Which was oddly familiar! Kelsey was gone and I found myself alone for the evening. I had had sort of an off day, so I wasn’t in the mood to…do anything actually. As Kelly left, I said I was going to get into my pj’s and chill and next thing I knew I found myself out in the chilly air, with a book.

Slippers in May…who would have thunk? But it was the perfect prescription.

We Turned A Corner

In the yard, that is! We have got most of the sides done in our wall. And we put in some lights. We can’t wait for this to be done. Not because of all the work, but to see our vision become reality.

We had some help on Saturday from the teachers quorum. They are needing to earn money for scout camp and we need some laborers. So it is a perfect pairing.

Celebrating Maryn

We went up to Mesa to celebrate Maryn’s birthday!

She turned 27 years old. So twenty-seven years ago, Kelly and I earned the titles “dad” and “mom’. And while that is worth celebrating, what we really wanted was to spend the day with her, so we could celebrate our sweet daughter. It was hard to get all of the schedules to coordinate, so we celebrated a few days early. We had the celebration in her neck of the woods. It was fun to see her apartment and help her hang some pictures and just spend some time together.

We are so proud of the woman Maryn is becoming. We have loved her forever and will continue to love her forever.