Happy Birthday Week!

Dear Calder, It's your birthday week!!! I am so excited to talk to you! And to hear about your week and your new companion! I've been thinking a ton about you! I hope it's going well. Did you happen to get your birthday package yet? The week flew by as usual. It was such a highlight on Monday to talk to you at lunch with Bill and Susan. You amaze me with your spiritual gifts. What you said to Hunter was perfect! Thank you for making such an effort to help him feel loved and touched by the spirit. And it was fun to get the bonus moment! The days are getting cooler and it's making me sad to say goodbye to summer! Tuesday night we had a beautiful dinner around the pool. Some of the kids jumped in but it's about time to close the pool. Myrna had been at our house cleaning and it was nice to preserve the clean kitchen for another night and eat outside. I typically have a lengthy young women's meeting every wednesday but it was cancelled this week and I had the entire day to myself. Dad was even gone. It felt weird to be all alone at the house the entire day. I got in a great workout and scripture reading...which was so nice because the rest of the week was hard to fit in great scripture study and exercise. I spent some of Thursday and Friday at a mother's retreat. It was actually supposed to be in Victor Idaho but it was cancelled because of covid. We had a smaller retreat that Sally Linford planned. It was nice to be surrounded by other mothers and talking over the good, the bad and the ugly of motherhood in a spiritual setting. I actually woke up feeling kind of sick on Thursday morning and had a difficult time wanting to go to the retreat. Finally I decided to pull it together and jump in the shower. Vlad (the electrician) was at our house installing lights for our eternal bathroom/bedroom project. Vlad is always a favorite and it was good to see him...buuuuut.....super embarrassing to see him when I was finished with my shower and ran from the kids bathroom in my towel to your bedroom and he walked down the hall to talk to me. Yep. Keeping it classy here. Anyway, small world but guess who was at the retreat? Tallon Gaoiran's mom...Jayann. She's very sweet and it was fun to get to know her. I learned a lot about their family. Did you know that Tallon's father is not a member? I grew to love and respect Tallon even more as I learned about their family. They are a wonderful family and his father is very supportive of the church but I learned about Tallon's faith and I'm super proud of what he's doing and the example he's setting. Anyway, we are surrounded by amazing people and we never really know the challenges they have to overcome to get our on a mission like Tallon. Anyway, they are a great family. Another fun side note is that John Gilbert started home MTC last week. Clark and Christine had a mission tour assignment and had to leave on Tuesday after John started. Grandma Ann and Grandpa Jim went up and stayed with the Gilbert kids while Clark and Chrsitine were gone. That was so nice of Gma and Gpa! I was feeling for John and wanted to do something, so Henry and I went up on Thursday night to take him to dinner during his break. It was awesome to see him in his full glory. He seems to be doing well. He definitely is young and has a lot of growing and maturity to do, but he's making improvements by leaps and bounds....as is the case with the home MTC and mission in general. I know that Dad probably gave you the play by play from the bike race. I was so sad not to go. McKay is a machine and I was so proud of him. Especially that he almost called the race when he crashed but then he got back on his bike and came from 31st to 10th. But even more important is that he found the love of mountain biking again. He's been dragging and feeling pretty trashed this week. I'm praying it's a better week. We had a great Friday/Saturday here with Gwen, Henry and Jane. We lived it up....ate at Simply Thai on Friday night, went to Lagoon on Saturday, CPK for lunch and pedicures with the girls that evening. It was wonderful to connect with Henry and Gwen. I rode all sorts of rides at Lagoon....Cannibal, Rocket and Wicked. I'm still feeling sick...hah! But it was a lot of fun and I think it meant a lot to both Henry and Gwen that I did that. Henry had the chance to go to the awesome BYU game (picture included). Today we had the Primary Program. It was fabulous...as it always is. Jane did a great job on her part "I follow Jesus Christ by asking others if they want to be friends." She nailed it but it stressed her out so much that she spent the rest of the meeting crying her eyes out....no joke. It broke everyone's heart. Sometimes you just have to cry I guess. She couldn't shake it off. LeAnn Riser is her primary teacher and she's truly the best. I already loved the Risers but I love them even more after all they do for Jane. We are so blessed to know them. Today in Sunday School we had a great discussion about building the watch tower/following the prophet. It was so interesting because many of the people who were making comments were not wearing masks, which felt so strange. In Utah we've been asked to wear masks again at church but many have taken a hard stand against wearing masks. It feels like such a simple sign that we follow the prophet and wear masks and then we have these discussions in church and those not wearing masks are talking about how important it is to follow the prophet. It's a very strange time in this world and church. I am so grateful for a living prophet. I hope I always follow what he says and don't rationalize why I don't need to follow the guidance that we are so blessed to have in this day. I cannot believe how lucky we are to be blessed to hear from him in a few weeks. I cannot wait! I love you so very much Calder! You make my heart swell with joy and happiness. Thank you for lifting me to a higher plane each week. Keep up the great work and do your best. Forget the rest. You are doing amazing things and changing lives...mine especially. The Lord loves you. I love you! Make it a great week! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my first born. Thank you for teaching me so much and for being so patient with me. You're the best trainer I've ever had and my first trainer for motherhood. I am who I am today because of you. Love you TONS! Mom