lovely weekend

To see what fun I had this weekend, visit my mom's post over here. Fun pictures over there.

Mom was in town so we went out to eat at Blue Lemon on Friday night and then brought home ice cream for kids. On Saturday, we went to Emma's soccer game at 8:30 am followed by Nathan's at 10. Emma went to a birthday party. I worked on Primary. Saturday night, we went to the temple as my nephew Evan went through for the first time. Then we got to enjoy JCW's afterwards. Yum. On Sunday, Evan spoke in church for his farewell. Dave took the girls up there to hear him. I stayed with the boys to go to my ward since I had the full singing/sharing time in preparation for our program in a few weeks. Afterward we went up and enjoyed good food and company at Keri's. We were going to take Dave to the airport that night but his flight got delayed until the next morning. He stayed and slept at Keri's and we went home. And thus begins a month of him doing transfer.

last days of summer

On Monday, we enjoyed a barbecue in the park for Dave's work. It was a thank you for all the hard work his team has done. The weather was lovely and we enjoyed ourselves. Slade and I had a sword fight with Nerf swords. The boys flew a kite. Emma played kickball. Anne and Sawyer rolled down the hill.

On Wednesday, Dave and I went to see Keri perform in The Pirates of Penzance, which was thoroughly enjoyable. A good show and a great date. Can't beat that.


On Thursday, we were invited to Seven Peaks for a client appreciation event.


Also that night, I made this yummy six layer Fudge Cake for my homeschooling book club. It was a hit. I also made Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes. Personally, I liked those even better.

song of the heart

Doctrine and Covenants 25:12
For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart;
yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me.

We had an interesting sacrament meeting today. Each of the 5 speakers were asked to choose a favorite hymn. They spoke about why they loved the hymn and then we sang each one. I'm still undecided if I really enjoyed the meeting or not. I'm leaning toward not. It isn't that I don't love the hymns, or music, or singing. I really do. I just don't like to sing hymn after hymn. That alone doesn't really help me feel the spirit. It just makes me tired. A sacrament meeting with two or three musical numbers and a couple of congregational hymns would have been entirely different. Know what I mean?

Anyhow, I was thinking about what I would have chosen as a favorite hymn. Tough choice. Since I don't have to choose just one for a talk, I thought I would share more.

How Firm a Foundation, Hymn 85
I love the 3rd verse. We learned it last year in Primary and as I taught the children these words, I told them how this verse is like a love note from the Lord.
Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

I Need Thee Every Hour, Hymn 98
It seems we rarely sing this hymn. I love it though.

Master, the Tempest is Raging, Hymn 105
A rarely sung but powerful song. I especially like the third verse.
Master, the terror is over. The elements sweetly rest.
Earth's sun in the calm lake is mirrored, And heaven's within my breast.
Linger, O blessed Redeemer! Leave me alone no more,
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor And rest on the blissful shore.
The winds and the waves shall obey thy will: Peace, be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea
Or demons or men or whatever it be,
No water can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and skies.
They all shall sweetly obey thy will: Peace be still;
They all shall sweetly obey thy will: Peace, peace, be still.

Come, Ye Disconsolate, Hymn 115
Come ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish;
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts; here tell your anguish.
Earth has no sorrow that heavn' cannot heal.

There is Sunshine in My Soul Today, Hymn 227
There is music in my soul today, A carol to my King.
And Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing.

I suppose if I had to pick just one, I would likely choose this one:
Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee, Hymn 141
Jesus, the very thought of thee
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far thy face to see
And in thy presence rest.

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind thou art!
How good to those who seek!

I won't mention the ones I don't like to sing but there are a few of those too. I am grateful that my church puts such emphasis on music and that it is a regular part of our meetings. I am so glad that I get to teach wonderful songs to the Primary children each week. It is such a joy to hear them bear their testimonies through music.

Doctrine and Covenants 136: 28
If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music,
with dancing, and with a prayer of thanksgiving

we are family

Dave left with Slade and Nathan for Missouri on Saturday, July 31st. They drove to Colorado to stay with my mom on Sunday. Then they drove the rest of the way to Missouri on Monday, arriving late that night. They went to middle of nowhere Missouri for a family reunion on the Daniel side. Hopefully, I'll manage to get Dave to sit down and write a post for that.

WEDNESDAY
We were off for a reunion on my side of the family. I drove with Emma, Sawyer and Anne down to Vegas. We left about 1:00 in the afternoon with the hopes that Anne would nap for a while. Instead she only slept about 20 minutes but thankfully she handled the drive fairly well. After stopping in St. George for dinner, we made it to Vegas after 7 hours. My cousin Shea was nice enough to let us stay with her that night. It was hot especially since I ended up with all the kids in bed with me.

THURSDAY
After breakfast, we followed my cousin Britt on the drive to El Centro. I had Emma in the front seat so that she could help me. It turned out that she was hardly helpful at all. Since I am the one who is usually stuck in the front seat, I completely understand how frustrating it is to be constantly turning around to help those in the back. Emma took her frustration to the extreme though. At one point, Sawyer had peed in his pants and I needed her to go help him get changed and cleaned up. She actually refused. We were in the middle of nowhere in the desert with no shoulder to pull over on. There was absolutely nothing I could do. All three kids were crying and I just kept pleading for her to help. Finally after a long ten minutes she got him changed. Sigh. The drama with Sawyer's bladder control issues continued the whole vacation but that's another story...

the sand dunes about an hour outside of El Centro

We made it in to El Centro around 3:00 that afternoon. And it was hot! 110 degrees. Seriously how do people live here? That evening we met at the church for a-mazing carne asade for dinner. Followed by games led by Aunt Denise.

playing "Have you ever?"

the Lofgreen girls: Mom (Gay), Lani, Laurie, Denise, and Kjersti

FRIDAY
Dave and the boys flew into San Diego this morning. After nearly making it into Mexico, I managed to get to the airport and pick them up. Then we were off to the beach! We spent a lovely day digging in the sand, boogie-boarding, jumping waves, snacking and talking. The weather was perfect and besides losing Slade for about a half an hour it was a truly wonderful day.

We went back to the church that night for pizza, dancing and storytime from Aunt Denise. She told us a few favorites from Grandpa Lofgreen. The kids were enthralled.

photos from my cousin Justin

The down side of the evening was seeing how badly Dave's feet had gotten burned at the beach. He couldn't even stand up. It was a bad omen for the rest of our vacation.

SATURDAY
We had breakfast at Aunt Kjersti's house followed by swimming and visiting with GGma.

four generations

My sister Dana came to the reunion from Boston with three of her girls. Emma was so excited to spend time with Avery. We went back into San Diego in the afternoon. We checked into our hotel and then went in search of fun. Destination: La Jolla Cove. Dave took one look at the rocky steps and knew that he wasn't going to be able to handle it so we traded Emma for Audrey and headed back to the hotel.

at La Jolla Cove (via Dana's iPhone)

At this point, I was beginning to feel the frustration of having a handicapped husband. Dave's feet were so swollen he couldn't put shoes on or walk very easily. There we were in lovely San Diego unable to take advantage of the adventure all around us. The boys were totally happy to go back to the hotel and swim. Emma was happy with Avery and Dana. I was left alone to deal with the disappointment of not being able to do the things I'd planned. Because I knew he hadn't burned his feet so badly on purpose (of course), I couldn't really be mad at Dave. He certainly didn't want to be in that kind of pain. I just had to get over it and make the vacation fun in spite of it all.

SUNDAY
We went to Sacrament Meeting and then headed over to the Cabrillo Monument. While Dave stayed with a sleeping Anne in the car, Dana and I went and explored the rocks and tide pools with the rest of the kids.

Next we went to the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center. We had been told not to bother going here because it was just so boring. Fortunately, we ignored the advice and went anyway. Everything had recently been renovated and the result was fantastic.

Afterward, we went back to the hotel and swam for a little while. For dinner we got McDonald's and took it to a park. We were unprepared for the chilly evening air though and didn't last long. We got Percy Jackson from Redbox and watched it on the laptop in the hotel room.

MONDAY
It was my turn to make a mistake that limited our plans. I had left my camera at my aunt's house in El Centro. I was lucky that my mom was still there and was coming into San Diego later. We had to wait for the camera to get there so we couldn't just head home. We couldn't go back to the beach either. Unable to do much else, we went to see Toy Story 3.

After getting my camera and saying our goodbyes to my mom, we were finally on our way home. We stopped in Vegas that night because who can pass up $27/night hotel rooms? We pulled into the driveway about 5:00 on Tuesday evening.

It wasn't cheap. It wasn't easy. But it was worth it. We were able to attend two family reunions, strengthen family ties, and make lots of memories. What a blessing.

12 on 12 | august

[click to enlarge]

1. Heather invited us to join her for a picnic in the park. We went to Nielsen's Grove in south Orem. Its a huge park with a playground, pond, fountain, flowers, etc. We had never been there before.
2. Nathan and cousins by the pond where they "accidentally" fell in the water.
3. Pretty flowers at the park.
4. We enjoyed a surprise visit from Megan in the afternoon. She brought me money which is always a happy thing and then listened to me to talk about our vacation.
5. Video games in the afternoon.
6. Emma and her friend painted pictures down in the schoolroom. She rarely plays at home so it was nice to have her around today.
7. A few of the books I have checked out from the library.
8. Taco soup for dinner.
9. Slade and his buddy at the swim team awards ceremony. Both these boys were just glad swim team was over.
10. Emma at the awards. She came home with 3 first place ribbons and 1 third.
11. I was at a class so Dave had all the kids. They got to go night swimming after the awards. It was not a terribly warm night but they still had fun.
12. Emma taking the plunge.