Major Update

Cassin and Brandon as stripling warriors

Last day of Moroni's Quest

Old Faithful

Hi to everyone,

It has been forever since I have done any updates. I could say that life just happens and it seems to get in the way of everything else, but that's just an excuse. Life has been busy and exciting. I have loved the beginning of our summer. I finally feel like I can sit and say "Aaaaah" There are no more deadlines or have to's for the summer and I kind of like it.

Summer began with a blast as we headed out to Island Park to meet up with the our great friends, the Larkin Family. We left on May27th and headed for Ennis, Mt. We stayed in this fantastic motel called the Rainbow Lodge. Little cabin rooms and a very homey feel. The kids all bought fishing poles and fished in the kiddie pond at the park while mom toured the antique shops all down mainstreet. It is a really cute little town. The cabin at Island Park was fantastic. The Larkins and the Tanners fit perfectly. We toured Yellowstone National Park one day. We saw buffalo, bald eagles, Elk, and salmon. Everything was so beautiful. We all loved the hot pots and old faithful. Fishing was on the agenda for the next day. No one lucked out with the fish till they tried the pond that was closest to the cabin. The kids had success and we had fish for supper. I think our favorite part of the vacation was just being able to spend time with our friends, just being together and having fun.

From there we headed to Rexburg to spend the 4th of July with my sisters Lori and Tera, and my brother Brett and their families. We went to the parade in rexburg then spent the day at Porter Park with the splash park and the merry go round the big hits. The fireworks were fun but I think Stirlings are better.

Next on the summer agenda was Moroni's Quest. This was a 4 day stake camp that took us back to Book of Mormon times. We all had to dress as Nephites. We had reenactments of 26 book of mormon events. It was fantastic. I went as a young womens leader but it was great because Brandon and Cassin were also there. We started off building travois and heading off on a hike. We came across Nephi as he went to get the plates from Laban and then when he was building the boat. We were divided into tribes. 12 Tribes of youth and 3 tribes of adults. Each tribe would get together after the re enactments to discuss the modern day applications of the stories. The first night they did the Tree of Life and it was incredible. They had brought in metal railing and put it up in the meadow leading to a tree that was adorned with lights and white balls. They did it at 11:00 at night so it was gorgeous. I didn't get to watch because I was one of the wandering in the dark mists, but Cassin and Brandon both said it was great. They let each of the youth come and grab the iron rod and walk to the tree while we were wandering and those in the spacious building were mocking them and trying to get them to let go. What amazed me was that as I wandered one of the boys that came from our ward who was not a member stretched his hand as far as he could without letting go and grabbed me to pull me back to the rod. A lot of the kids told us in a fireside we had 2 days later that this really touched them and none of them want to let go of that rod ever. WOW! I was so happy to hear that. Another favorite story was that of Abinadi. They had some incredible people from our ward acting this one, and as King Noah decided that they should burn Abinadi some of his soldiers and people in the crowd began yelling"Burn Him! Burn Him" and they got everyone up on their feet as they marched abinadi down and the kids started yelling too. And as I was walking it just hit me that this had really happened. They took the kids down to a lower meadow and there they had a pole and they had a manaquin dressed just like Abinadi and when they put it up on the pole and started the wood on fire there were kids snickering and laughing, but as those sticks caught fire and the body began to burn there was not a sound. Throughout the whole thing no sound but sniffles. At the end, ,Fred Hillyer, who played King Noah picked up a stick that was laying on the ground and threw it in the fire then stalked away. That had not been rehearsed that way but a lot of kids said that was so powerful for them because they realized that King Noah didn't even care that he had killed a prophet of God. The kids didn't even move at the end and it was quiet for anothe 5 min before their tribe leaders led them away for their discussion. I wish everyone could have been there to experience these wonderful stories come to life. My wish as i went there was that it would touch these kids in even a little way, and I wasn't dissappointed. As we met as a ward for our campfire at night on thursday, we had such a special meeting. By the time it was over there were no dry eyes, and I was so impressed with each of our youth and the things they had expressed. I don't think any of them had realized what an impact it would have on them. A lot of them including my own kids had said they didn't want to go or their parents made them , but that none of them would miss it for the world now. The spirit was so strong that no one wanted to leave our little group. It was such an amazing experience for every person there. I can't say enough about it. Other re enactments were from King Benjamin, The anti- Nephi Lehi's, King Lamoni and Ammon, The 2000 stripling warriors all the way through to the Prophet Joseph Smith getting the plates from Moroni. If anyone ever has the chance to participate in Moroni's Quest I encourage them to do so.

July 18th and 19th were our Stirling Settler Days. My sister Tera and her girls were here for that, and my dad's sisters Kay and Muriel came for a visit too. We were being very organized this year and got our float for the Creamery done by 5:00 on Friday instead of starting it at 10:00pm that night. And I have to say I was extremely proud of ourselves. Then we headed down to the park for the big chili cook off and cake walk. They have bounce houses all over for the kids but their favorite is trying to win one of the great cakes that people bring. Just as it all got started a huge windstorm blew in. It didn't last very long, thank goodness but guess what? Our float was torn in half and ripped apart. So much for getting it done early. oh well, we got it put back together in time for the parade the next morning. It was one of the best parades we've had. They throw tons of candy for the kids, but all of our kids wanted to be on Grandmas float for the Creamery and throw the candy instead, so I got a lot for myself. The rest of the day we spend having a BBQ at the creamery. (I mostly got to serve ice cream) The kids love the pool games where they get to catch goldfish to keep. This year it went a little differently because a lot of the poor fishys didn't make it through the night. They had a fish for a ducky and win a fish instead of swimming to catch your fish. They then had the kiddie carnival in the tennis court. All the kids get free tickets to do all the games and win the prizes. I think they had record turn outs. While all this is going on there is also a rodeo too, but we usually miss that. The scouts have a beef on a bun supper in the evening. We round it off with a family street dance in front of the pool. All the kids love that. and then they have fireworks. Most of the time I rave about our fireworks, but this year they changed the location that they shot them off from with out telling us and I think they really screwed them up. so this year they don't get a thumbs up from me. (Like my opinion matters all that much) But all in all it was a great day.

While my sister was here she helped me paint Maddi's bedroom. We had a lot of fun. Maddi picked out new bedding and then we went from there. I think it turned out spectacular. We couldn't have done such a great job without Aunt Tera's help. I am going to post the pictures so I hope it turns out that you can see it.

Well in between everything I've been working here and there.(probably not as much as I should) Making lots of pies and serving more ice cream. Managing lots of cousin sleepovers. Watching Mama Mia at the movies with my mom and sisters.(loved it! Great chick flick though my dad actually liked it too, and I'm listening to my ABBA Gold cd again. I can't get the songs out of my head)

That's it for my major update. I'll try to be better now that life has slowed down a little and update more often.