Groundhog Sunday

It seriously feels like I just repeated last Sunday again today! Woke up in St George, Hurried to get ready to leave St George and check out by 11am with Henry, Gwen and Jane (Dad and McKay left early for mission prep and an interview with the Stake Pres for McKay's BYU application) and ran over to the same ward as last Sunday (feeling like maybe I should get a calling if I come again next week), stopped at Maverik to fuel up, ordered the same thing at Cafe RIo ahead to pickup in Cedar City, had to go to the bathroom really badly by Nephi, called my parents as we passed through Provo, returned home on a Diet Coke high and now I'm sitting down to tell you HOW MUCH WE MISSED YOU THIS WEEKEND!!!! I know Dad gave you all the details from his perspective...but here's mine. You know that part at the end of "Incredibles" after the school track race with Dash winning and the family is together walking through the city and the "underminer' villain comes into the city and at first the family is all wide eyed and then the Dad looks over and the mom, daughter and Jack-Jack have their masks on, then he looks up and Dash has his mask on, and then the Dad puts his mask on and they go to work as a family? (pictures below) Well, that part of Incredibles always makes me tear up. Seriously. I love how the family comes together. Well, that scene happened at the mountain bike race for the Horsley family and every time I talk about it I tear up. It's like McKay knew he was going to have bike issues before the race. He even asked Dad to bring his bike just in case. Skye said it was the Holy Ghost prompting him and I agree. Well, his chain broke. He was having issues half way through the first lap (falling way back) and by the time he was half way through the second he was running with his bike towards us with tears. Once he got some composure we made a plan and Dad took off to get his bike. On Dad's sprint to get the bike, he called Henry who was closer and met up with Henry who sprinted the bike to McKay. Gwen grabbed the helmet, and helped with Jane while I walked the bike with McKay, undoing his race plate and having McKay work out the math to see what he was up against...meaning Dad had 6 minutes to get the bike to McKay in order for McKay to get back on the trail and not get pulled from the race. All McKay wanted was to finish the race. When Dad and Henry came around the corner, Gwen grabbed the broken bike, Dad, Henry and I started twisting the race plate on Dad's bike, McKay got his helmet on and he jumped on the bike. Kiesen (sp? raced with you) and a couple other alumni cchs mtn bikers gathered around and ran by the side of McKay cheering him along his way up the hill and everyone was clapping and cheering for him. I was crying, of course, and a mother with a Lehi shirt on looked at me with tears in her eyes. And even though you weren't there, I knew you were thousands of miles away praying for your brother. Dad and Henry almost puked but McKay finished the race and didn't get pulled. Mountain biking....there's nothing like it. And having a family come together to get you on your path when you get derailed....priceless. It goes without saying....I was so proud of McKay. Each race he makes a statement. It wasn't what he wanted, but he made the best of it. We were feeling all the feels as we approached the weekend. We miss you so much on race days! And here we are starting into all the "lasts" with McKay. And some of our lasts with mountain biking, which has been such a huge part of the last eight? years for our family. We are hoping that Gwen will like it. I'm working hard to get myself in the right mindset to be a ride leader. It's just the best community! It was Whitney's last race. That was sad. Jack Hanks made a bet with Henry that if Jack won state, Henry would do mountain biking next year. Secretly and selfishly I was really hoping that Jack would pull it out. He got 10th. We stayed at my favorite place to stay in St George....the place with the tiny, private pool that's on the northside of the heart of St George. It's just the nicest place. All in all, it was a great weekend. Some of the St George highlights besides the race were swimming in our private mini pool with the girls, the beautiful weather, our adventurous UTV ride around the Hurricane red rocks (it was SO much fun and beautiful), and eating some of our favorite St George food...mainly Dad's Indian food (we waaay over ordered on naan - as usual) and we found a great ramen place that we will have to hit with you sometime. Did Dad mention that Corner Canyon won state? Did Dad also mention all the tears at the finish line from the varsity boys? James, Tanner, Walker, James, Austin, Caleb and McKay? It was hard to watch. Leading up to our weekend away, I had some fun activities this week. Natalie Montegue and I spent a lunchtime visiting and playing duets together, which was so fun! And I went to a Van Gogh art exhibit with my sisters, mom and Lara to celebrate Lara's birthday. We also went ice blocking with the oldest young men and women on Wednesday, which was fun except Dad, McKay and Henry weren't there and it wasn't nearly as fun for me! Did Dad tell you about Noah Pogue? Well, this is my spiritual thought for the week... So, Dad is awesome...you already know that. He takes things and makes them better. That's what he does as a profession, buys small companies, organizes them, trims the fat, gets the right leadership in place, grows them and sells them for a profit. He makes good things great, right? He's done that with me in our marriage. He does that with our family. He's done that with people - Mason, Tai, Ryan Roberts, Nathan Mackey, etc. I've seen it over and over again in the 24 years that I've known Dad. He's a master at it. Well, I'm watching it again in his new calling over the missionary prep class for the stake. So, missionary prep has been good. But Dad got in there and first of all he started communicating better about where and when the class was and who was invited. Right away the class doubled in size. One of the kids who came was Noah Pogue. Bishop's gave names of potential students for the class to contact and Noah wasn't even on the list originally. I don't think he attends much church. Well, he just happened to come to the first class Dad was in charge of and the class was awesome, as it usually is when he is in charge. Dad told me that Noah randomly showed up but that he likely wouldn't come again. Well, he did the following week, which happily surprised Dad. And then as Dad walked into the mountain bike race on Saturday, who starts yelling Dad's name? Noah Pogue...."BROTHER HORSLEY...." he yells across the way... "Do we have mission prep tomorrow?" Dad shockingly yells back, "Yes!" and Noah yells..."I really want to come but Jamie and Whitney are insisting on staying to ride in the morning so I'll probably miss class, but I'll be there next week!!!" I mean...whaaat? So cool! Dad called me to tell me about this (because I was still at the VRBO with the girls) and he was thrilled. I love this story because it totally goes to show how much the Lord cares about THE ONE!!! And how the Lord works through each of us to find the one and bring them into the fold. It is SO cool to watch. I love having a front seat to watch these things unfold around Dad. Anyway, I thought you'd like that story. I know you are seeing that same things unfold around you! The Lord cares about THE ONE! And he is using you and Elder Crane and the members of the Lviv branch to find the one and bring them into the fold. The gospel is so good. The Lord loves us so much. I am so grateful for you. I love you and miss everything about you. Have the best week ever. I can't wait to see your cute face tonight! Oh, BTW - this is cool, Gwen is going to be on the bantam CCHS 6th grade basketball team this winter. So cool! Oh, and she won student council! Yay! And I'm including a pic of her halloween costume - Ghostbuster. It's super cute. And a pic of McKay and Caleb answering to Winter Formal. Have the best week ever! Love you tons! Mom