Updates

What a busy week and weekend we have had!! I've given up trying to do a separate post for each event and am just going to do one big update post.

I.) 

First up, Patriarchal Blessing Part Deux. I will tell you the things that I would want to know myself after reading my last post. It went REALLY WELL. Huge thanks and big hugs to my friend Lucy!! She saved the day; Reilly's nerves; and my sanity. This sweet friend read my post and called her father-in-law who is a patriarch and got some information and insight for us. We received the most wonderful email that was 100 % a calming balm to all involved and was an absolute answer to prayer. Lucy's email took away all anxiety and irritation and just left Reilly and all of us RELAXED about the re-do. It takes a village to raise kids and, in particular to parent teens, and I am grateful for my wonderful friend and all that she did to bring peace to our household. THANK YOU!!

It turns out things like this do happen (all kind of things can be redone if records are lost) although it is rare. Many safeguards are put into place so that things like this do not happen. Our poor patriarch felt horrible. He thinks the record of her blessing fell through the cracks somehow due to transcription error. He was changing typists at the time and it was some how lost. He also hasn't upgraded to the new digital system and that could have played a part. What ever the reason; it happened, and it needed to be redone. Reilly was very worried about the re-do. "It'll be like the book of Lehi!!" she wailed. "You can't do it again!!" She was worried that it would be a testimony breaker. Either it would be exactly the same thus meaning they are all basically the same and he just repeats the same thing every time OR it would be completely different thus rocking her testimony that way. (I am not gonna to lie. We were a little concerned too.). Lucy's father-in-law said that the re-do would most likely be similar to her previous blessing but with some new added insight. That counsel was right on the mark. That is totally what happened.  Big thanks and hugs to Lucy's father-in-law who took the time to provide comfort and counsel to a teen and her family that he has never met and in another state. What a blessing his words and insight were.

Her new patriarchal blessing was similar but not the same. There were parts that I was like "oh yeah, I remember that." This blessing was much more detailed and in depth. There were new insights that added and built upon her previous blessing. What was extra special were a few little things that the Lord included so that Reilly would know that he knew her personally and those were priceless. The first being a reference to something we had discussed in the car not ten minutes before arriving at the patriarch's house. This subject was not necessarily of a spiritual nature but yet the Lord referenced it in her blessing. Chills. Then a direct reference to a funny little thing our family says to one another...not anything anyone else would know...just a little part of our family culture. Quoted and referenced. The Spirit was so strong in those particular moments. Reilly came away from it feeling known and loved personally by her Father in Heaven...priceless.  So who knows why all this happened? Perhaps the Lord wanted Reilly to know something more... What I know even more than I did before is that we have a Father in heaven who knows us personally, as individuals, and that He loves us. And...I stand by my previous statement to Reilly: "Hey!! Lucky you!! Two for the price of one!!"

II.) Reilly's high school dance team goes to State

Photo Credit: Keith Currie

(Reilly is in the 3rd Row down and the 2nd girl from the left)

Not only are these girls cute; they are SUPER TALENTED!! Lucy's email came just in time for Reilly to read it Friday afternoon before she boarded the bus to Yakima, WA. Perfect timing. This was Reilly's first school trip and it was exciting. She had a ball!!

Tyler, the kids, and I left early Saturday morning to drive to Yakima which is about 3 hours away. We had never been there before so we had fun exploring and seeing the beautiful Mount Adams (one of the circle of fire volcanos) before Reilly was scheduled to dance. I found some great stuff for Sisters Creed while there. (Bonus!!) We also made a stop at Miner's which is famous and a must stop if you are in Yakima.

Huge burgers, enormous grilled cheese, gargantuan fish sandwiches. They have been in business since 1948 and are quite the fixture in town. There were tons of cars lined up. Big is the key word here...and good!

We had fun bumming around town for a few hours and then we headed to the Sun Dome to watch the competition. Reilly's high school competed in Hip Hop and Pom. They did a great job!! It was fun to be decked out in her school's colors and cheering the girls on.

These guys did a great job being cheerleaders and supporting their sister even though it was a LONG DAY of sitting and watching. Our girls just did a fantastic job!! It is so neat to see them achieve this goal after a crazy year with a crazy coach. The assistant coach who stepped into the coach's role has done an OUTSTANDING JOB!!

A professional photographer has taken some great action shots so I will refrain from posting my sad attempts. Once I pick and purchase the ones I want I will post them on the blog. I will also post Tyler's recording of Reilly dancing. THAT GIRL IS GOOD!!

We had a lot of fun learning about the highly competitive world of high school dance and drill. Who knew? Our girls ended up placing 5th in Pom and 7th in Hip Hop. (You had to place at least 4th to get a trophy.) That was out of, I believe, 20 teams. They really did fantastic!! Their pom routine was AWESOME!!

III.) Jazz Band 

Kameron had the privilege of performing with middle school students at a Java and Jazz Night at the middle school. Kids from several different elementary schools were picked to participate in this special jazz band. Kameron attended jazz band practice at the middle school in addition to his regular elementary band. Wow. I was truly impressed. They sounded REALLY GOOD!! Not only that but Kam was having a GREAT TIME!! He is definitely JAZZED about JAZZ BAND!! And...about middle school next year. I am glad that he had such a great experience. All the kids from our elementary school that participated wore their jazz band shirts to school the next day (including the girl) which impressed the heck out of Kameron!! Several kids from our stake participated as did Kameron's best friend, Jonathon, so it turned out to be a really fun experience for him.

Kameron and his best friend since 1st grade, Jonathon. These are two of the nicest, kindest, funniest boys you will ever meet. Such good kids!! Look at those sweet innocent faces...about to be thrown to the wolves of middle school.

Kam with his best church buddy Matt. These two are the best of friends and yet the fiercest competitors as they vie for the love and attention of the cutest girl in the ward like nobody's business!! Matt goes to a different elementary school so they are excited to go to middle school together next year. Their buddy Chad was also in the jazz band (and his sister played the piano and did a fabulous job.) Chad goes to yet another elementary school!! It was fun for this band to bring all these kids together.

IV.) Reilly's Spring Choir Concert

Again...I will post some video later. Reilly's Symphonic choir did an outstanding job at their choir concert last week!! I may be biased but I think they were hands down the best. Reilly particularly loved a song they sang called "David's Lamentation" about King David and the loss of his son Absalom. She told me that she can barely sing it because she can feel the Spirit so strongly.  I was excited to hear it. She was right. Brought tears to my eyes...and I seriously had to muffle a sob. Wow. They are going to sing that song in competition. They are going to do really well. Reilly said that all the LDS kids just love that song. Guess what I love? The fact that my kid knows who King David and Absalom are and were...even before learning this song in choir. Sweet.

Me and my date for the concert

We have another singer and dancer on our hands. Ailey is now participating in a children's choir that meets after school on Fridays. They get to sing and dance and she LOVES IT!! Where did these girls come from? Tyler and I would rather die than sing and dance for an audience. They must be some crazy genetic throw back. Bryn is just like her sisters in this regard as well. Ailey loved the whole concert especially the show choir. She said... "Now I would pay to see a show like that!!" How do we share DNA?

Ailey looking forward to her time on the stage!!

V.) Just I thought we were done with McDonalds



For you poor suckers who have been reading this blog from the beginning you know of my abject  loathing of McDonalds. I hate it. I loathe it. It is revolting. I had completely stricken it from our lives when they refused to be accommodating with their filet-o-fish and Happy Meals. (Anyone remember that rant?) My kids don't eat any kind of beef, pork, or poultry but they do eat fish. McDonalds REFUSED to substitute a fish filet into the stinkin' happy meals...even if I was willing to pay extra... which I was...all for the joy of a happy meal and a cheap toy. They wouldn't do it. So on the rare occasion that I would weaken and let our kids eat there I would have to buy 3 happy meals (this was before Bryn was born) and three filet-o-fish...chuck the three hamburgers in the trash and replace them with the fish sandwiches. It was lame and expensive. By the time Bryn was born McDonalds was but a distant memory. Last week my visiting teaching partner and I visited with one of our visiting teachees at where? McDonalds. It might become a regular thing with this particular individual. As it happened Bryn didn't have preschool that day so she was along for the ride and lunch. I don't think Bryn has ever had a Happy Meal before. I don't even think she knew they existed. Guess what McDonalds will now put in a Happy Meal? Their weird fish bites. Guess who was REALLY EXCITED?

Not only did she find out that Happy Meals exist, she got to HAVE one AND she got to actually go inside McDonalds and eat INSIDE!! Unheard of... A picture was necessary.

So yeah...that's the latest.

Anyone? Anyone?

We've got a WEIRD situation around here...WEIRDEST OF THE WEIRD. So...Reilly got her Patriarchal Blessing in November. The sweet, yet ancient, Patriarch said it would arrive in the mail in about a week or so. Thanksgiving comes and goes. Blessing never arrives. Christmas comes and goes. Nada. Reilly calls the Patriarch who says she should have received it and that she should try going online to lds.org and requesting a copy. Lds.org says they don't have it in their system yet. Reilly keeps checking...and checking...nothing. A few more months roll around...more calls to the Patriarch...talks with the bishop...calls to SLC. Nothing.

Then last night after Kameron's wonderous Jazz Band Concert we walk in the door to hysteria. The Patriarch has called and Reilly's blessing is LOST. GONE. DOES NOT EXIST. POOF. NADA. NO RECORD. Ergo, Reilly is scheduled to receive her SECOND patriarchal blessing Sunday night. HUH???

So here is my query...has anyone ever heard of something like this happening before? Please de-lurk, come forth, leave a comment, email whatever. Please tell me that some one out there has "heard of something like this happening?" It happened to a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. Your brother's cousin's uncle's neighbor's home teacher's old mission companion's kid had this happen to them...you know...a SECOND PATRIARCHAL BLESSING?!

I'm begging you. My kid's HYSTERICAL. Then realize that she is 16, dramatic, and OH YEAH it's REILLY... then times hysterical by a kajillion. Good times.

She thinks she's a freak? Is she?

(Let it be noted that the opening mouth gaping of her parents did not help. The asking of her father if he had ever heard of anything like this happening in his entire lifetime of church activity and his reply of no...did not help. Her mother's cheery "Hey!! Lucky you!! You get two for the price of one!!" brought forth a scream of rage the likes of which could've been heard in another galaxy and said mother had to dodge frothing daughter and make a run for it. No joke.)

Help!!

 Kameron Johnson SUPERSTAR!!

Kameron is having some wonderful experiences lately. He is knocking it out of the park in doing GREAT things!! First things first...we are now a 4 temple recommend family. Kameron is so excited to go to the temple. He has his first youth temple trip tomorrow evening and he cannot wait. His excitement and enthusiasm is such a great motivator for all of us.

Second, last week our stake had a special priesthood meeting for all the men and young men in the stake. Kameron was super excited to go to this "Man Meeting" with his dad for the first time. Well, two hours before the meeting Kameron got a call from President Frederickson, a member of our Stake Presidency. He called to ask Kameron TO SPEAK at this meeting!! He said that he had heard about a talk Kameron had given in Sacrament meeting a few months before on being honest in your dealings with your fellow men and wondered if Kameron would be willing to give that same talk at the Priesthood meeting that night. We were all crowded around Kameron while he was on the phone wondering what was going on when Kameron calmly and cooly said "Sure, I'd be happy to speak tonight." We were in SHOCK!! (I personally would've come up with an excuse REAL FAST.) Not this kid. He truly feels he has a duty to honor his priesthood and do the right thing and he DOES IT!! We are overcome with gratitude for such a great kid!!

Tyler said that Kameron did a great job and was the only speaker at this meeting who wasn't a member of the Stake Presidency!!  He spoke to a HUGE group...all the men and boys in our stake. Who is this kid? Is this the same boy who attended barely a day of nursery and cried the entire time? Is this the same boy who spent 2 years of Sunbeams sniffling on the lap of his teacher? He is really maturing into such a spectacular young man!!

Third, he signed up to join the Jazz Band at school (this was in addition to regular band.) Jazz band practice is held on Wednesdays after school at the Middle School. He loves it and is doing great on the trumpet!! He has a concert at the Middle school tonight. We can't wait to hear him blow that horn!!

Kameron...you are a stud and a great example to your family!! We love you very much!!

Party-Time! Excellent!

It's been quite the party central around here this weekend. Lots going on. St. Patrick's Day...Birthdays...work parties...you name it we celebrated it.

Friday kicked things off when my Mom and I attended party number one:

It was a Farm Chicks Vendor Event that was held at one of my very favorite places...Sweet Frostings. It was fun to see so many of our vendor friends, Serena of Farm Chicks, and my friend Judy who is a co-owner of Sweet Frostings which happens to be the BEST bakery and makes cupcakes, cakes and other treats that are TO DIE FOR.

After this event we headed over to my friend Michele's GRAND OPENING of her two stores: The Coop and The Nesting Box (one is a scrapbooking store and one carries vintage items.) Both are super cute!! Many friends were there to wish her well and so the party continued. :)

Then my Mom and I headed over to my favorite restaurant Chaps owned by our sweet friend Celeste. It's so fun to have friends that have all kinds of great businesses for us to frequent. We had dinner and strategized about our business and up coming vintage sales.

The Birthday Girls

Then on Saturday we celebrated Stacey and Kelley's birthdays with a girls night at another favorite restaurant Luna's. It's hard to believe my sisters are 35 and 38!! Old ladies!! Dinner was delicious and it was fun to laugh and catch up.

 

Birthday Girl #1

Birthday Girl #2

It sucks having Jordi so far away for Sister Nights and dinners like this...but hopefully not for too much longer. Once she finishes up that Nursing degree she will be headed back this way. We can't wait!!

Then it was St. Patrick's Day which is wholeheartedly celebrated around here as we have Irish Miley blood in our veins and Tyler has some Irish blood as well. The kids tried to catch a leprechaun, we all wore green to church, and then came back home for our delicious St. Paddy's Day feast.

There were festive hats, good food, an Irish dance party (oh yeah) and the traditional viewing of Darby O' Gill and the Little People... a show which traumatized me as a child but is very much enjoyed by our kids. I watched it in elementary school one time and that banshee was CREEPY!! It took me years to recover!! But Sean Connery is HOT!! ;)

We had a great weekend partying it up!! Hope you did too.

Mixing Business and Pleasure

This last weekend Tyler, Bryn, and I packed up and hit the road to Salt Lake City. Sisters Creed was going to be participating in the Vintage Whites Market there. This was our first foray into leaving the older kids home alone...gulp...yet under the very watchful eye of Aunt Kelley who was amazing. She did so much, helped get the kids where they needed to be, AND took them out for pizza!! Thanks so much Kell. We REALLY appreciate it. The older kids did great at home and it was fun to have lots of one-on-one time with Brynnie. She was so excited for her special trip!!

Bryn is a fantastic traveler. She did great in the car. One our way to Utah we caravaned with my mom and Ken. When we finally arrived in Utah, Tyler had but one place on his mind.

Yes, we ate there several times.

Look how happy that double double animal style burger made him!! So much for flexitarianism when In-N-Out is around. Ha ha. I ate two myself. Hard to believe.

The first night we were pretty exhausted but wanted to go check out the venue. The Vintage Whites Market was being held at the Grand building at the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds. The vintage scene is just starting to hit Utah and boy were people excited to have this show come to town!! They couldn't even wrap their minds around an event like Farm Chicks. We also checked out the new downtown sites like City Creek. So cool. Bryn was thrilled to see the SLC temple in all it's glory and kept saying: "There's where Mom and Dad got married!! There's where Mom and Dad got married!!" She was so cute!!

The next morning we got up bright and early and went to one of MY favorite eating spots: Kneaders!!  OH.MY. Seriously Spokane get on the ball with places like Kneaders and Panera. I am slightly ashamed to admit how many times I may have eaten at Kneaders...so I won't...but it wasn't nearly enough. I am now a huge fan of their smoothies. Yum. But my all time favorite food and always my first stop in SLC is for this:

Clutch the pearls!! This is what heaven tastes like. Warm Raspberry Bread Pudding with Vanilla Cream Sauce. It really doesn't get better than that!!

Those are some happy girls!! Bryn scarfed down her enormous cinnamon roll in record time. She was moaning with pleasure the entire time she was eating it. Hilarious. Utah knows their cinnamon rolls and does them well...or so I hear. (Here's a little weird fact about me...I hate cinnamon rolls. The smell of Cinnabon in the mall makes me nauseous. I know. I also don't like toast, pizza, spaghetti, or lasagna, or pretty much anything with marinara sauce.) BUT...I'm glad Bryn could get her cinnamon roll fix. ;)

 Bryn and Ken

After that we had to get some supplies, fresh flowers etc. for our booth and then it was set up time!! The Grand building was beautiful and our booth turned out great. You can read all about it here. Kirk, Meki, her daughter Kayia, and my adorable nephew, Kaiden, stopped in to help and chat.

Kaiden being silly!!

Kaiden is hilarious, just like his Dad, and he made me laugh the entire time. He is so smart and loving and I hate that he lives so far away. He and Bryn had fun together. She thought  that he was pretty cool!!

The booth set-up took quite awhile and we were pretty exhausted when we were done but we did manage to squeeze in a quick trip to Provo to get some BYU gear for all the kids. That was the only souvenier type things they wanted us to bring back. Now they are all decked out!! They went to school on Monday in head to toe BYU blue!!

The next morning my Mom and I headed to the show bright and early. (Stacey was unable to attend this show with us.) We had a GREAT DAY!! We were non-stop busy and had such a great time. We met so many incredible people. The SLC shoppers were so enthusiastic and excited that vintage shows like this were FINALLY coming to Utah!! I whole-heartily agree. I love being able to mix business and pleasure.

We got to meet some wonderful people in the decor publishing world. Ben Ashby, the editor-in-chief for Folk Magazine, was there as was the AMAZING Jo Packham the creator and editor-in-chief for Where Women Create/Cook. She was absolutely fantastic and just as nice and interesting as you would expect. She was signing copies of her book Pie-ology with our dear dear friend Celeste (owner of Chaps and all around woman extraordinaire!!) We love her so much.

Seriously Spokane peeps if you are not eating at Chaps you are missing out!! But I know most of you are because it is my favorite restaurant and I make you all go!! You're welcome.

Ben Ashby of Folk Magazine

 

Jo Packham 

We had many of our favorite vendor friends who also made the trip down to kick off the VWM in SLC. It was crazy to see so many of our favorite Spokane people in SLC. Coquille and Brian, Michele and her husband Jim, Jennifer and Nathan...not to mention other great vendor friends who traveled down just to support the VWM and all of us and didn't even have booths themselves. Gail, Penny, Kathy...you ladies are just the best!!

Jennifer of the Funky Junk Antique Show and Vanessa one of the Vintage Whites Market Girls

We had a ball!! Not to mention all the Utah friends and family who stopped in to say hello. I really wish I would've taken more pictures but we were super busy and there just wasn't enough time. But we love and appreciate all of you who stopped in, texted, messaged, promoted, and shopped.

I was super excited to see these two girls come in!! My sister-in-law, Marissa, (she is married to Tyler's brother Brett) and my DARLING niece Liv. I did manage to sneak away from the booth to hang out for awhile and run around and play with Liv for a bit and quickly catch up with Marissa. There just never is enough time!! We will be back in a few months to do a little college tour with Reilly and I am REALLY looking forward to more time together.

These two cute cousins had so much fun running around together. Bryn can't stop talking about "My cousin Liv!!" So sweet. Speaking of cousins, it was great to see my cousin, Maeris, and wish I would've had more time to chat. THIS SUMMER!! Cousins really are the best!!

By the end of the show Bryn was barefoot, grubby, and running wild with other vendor kids and having the time of her life. She was particularly fond of Glenn...Jennifer and Nathan's son...and kept calling him her "little buddy." :)

Kirk was there off and on during the show and it was so fun to have him there. He was a good sport about being called "Brother Creed" by our friends and lugging furniture for customers!! He was a huge help with tear down which is the worst part and he and Tyler did a great job!! After the show, we headed to Market Street Grill for dinner.

By the time we were eating dinner we were exhausted, crazed, and wacky!! We were laughing so hard and acting like a bunch of dorks in between sucking down oysters, shrimp, mussels...you name it we ate it. 

The next morning we got up early and headed to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon for brunch at the Porcupine Grill. The whole time we were in Utah it was cloudy and cold. The nasty inversion was hanging in there. But this morning it was the perfect Utah winter's day. The sky was blue, the mountains were frosty; it was perfect!! The company wasn't too bad either!!

Kaiden is so ADORABLE!!

(I REALLY need to stop wearing my hair in a pony tail. It is not a good look as all the pictures from this trip CLEARLY show!!)

These two were so sweet with each other. Bryn was smitten!!

Man I hate saying good-bye to Kirk and Kaiden!!

This visit was too short!! I thought I would have a lot more time to do things I wanted to do and see all the people that I wanted to see but it just didn't happen. Our sale was pretty time consuming. Next time I am going to factor in an extra day or two or three.
Then it was time to hit the road and get back home to the kids. But first, we had to take a little detour. The weather was just too darn beautiful not to head to Provo Cannyon. Check out those Wasatch Mountains. They don't come any prettier than these. Especially this one.

Cascade Mountain is my very favorite mountain. It love it because I grew up running around on it.

This is the turn off to my old house. Nothing prettier... love that swirl in the rock. I am so glad I made the pilgrimage...even though it added to our trip...because a daughter of the mountain must pay her respects. I cannot not go to the dell.

It just fills my heart with joy!!

So does this sight!! The back of Timp is just amazing.

The ride home was long and weary but boy were we happy to smell the pine trees again and see those cute faces who were waiting for us!!