The Hope Chest

As Kierra's 16th birthday was approaching, I began thinking of different ideas
of what I might want to give her...
I knew that it would be fun to give her a Hope Chest since she always seems to be interested in things that pertain to her future.

She is always making comments like, 

"Mom, I really want to put together a cookbook of all of our families favorite recipes so that when I move out I can still have your yummy food!" :)

As the kids get older, it also gets a little harder to think of good gifts to give, and so I knew that if she had a Hope Chest, I could also give meaningful gifts at Christmas time (like her nativity that she got this year) or other special occasions so that she can have a nice little collection of things when she is finally ready to leave this nest...but NOT too soon, right? ;)

So, I began quite a search looking for just what I had in my mind...
but believe me when I say that there was nothing that I could find that would be as beautiful as what I had pictured in my mind without spending a TON of money!

I looked in all the unique stores that I could think of, I looked into special orders, I looked at the D.I. thinking I could just do it myself... 

and then I looked on KSL and hit the jackpot! :)

I found this beautiful antique Hope Chest that sat in the basement of an elderly couple out by the Timponogos Temple...it only had one owner over the last 65 years, and all it ever held in it was a
 wedding dress.
The inside looked brand new and it smelled so fragrant of fresh cedar.

This picture is quite blurry, but I just loved the details of the wood and the handles that made it appear to have drawers...it even has a little push button to open it with a lock and key.

Now, I wanted to keep this a surprise from Kierra so I had it hidden out in my garage with a blanket over it and bikes and different things all around it so she wouldn't try peeking...;)

And these are the colors that I used to try and achieve the look I was going for... although the end result looks quite a bit darker too because I decided to stain it with a black stain after
 I was through sanding and painting it.

The whole project cost me about $170 and took me about a week and a half to finish mostly because I would have to wait a little longer for each coat of paint to dry because it was so cold out in my garage where I was working on it. (Plus the fact that I would only do a little at a time because most of the time it was midnight oil that I was burning when I would have time to work on it ;)
I took off the handles, sanded it, painted it the light turquoise color, then painted it the tan color...then re-sanded it to let some of the light turquoise color show through...then finished it off by staining the entire thing and putting back on the original handles after painting them black.

I was so pleased with the finished product!
 I had Clint get it up to her bedroom where I decorated it and had it all set up for her as a surprise to see when she would get home from school.

To make it extra special for her, I developed the pictures that we took of her and Clint and I when we went on our "Dating Date." I framed them in some black frames, added a lace table runner and tied the whole chest up with a long strand of white tulle. I tied a white ribbon onto the key to the chest, and topped it all off with a dozen fresh roses and a love letter from her parents.
 I hope she will always treasure this gift.
It's representative of so many things that we have taught her, and it is something that she can always remember that her mother did...just for her. :)

(Kambriella was also sooo excited to be there when Kierra first saw it because after all, she was my BIG helper working on it part of the time! :) Sooooo fun! ;) 

The Dating Date :)

Beautiful Kierra Nicole...

I can hardly believe that this day is already here! :)

 Am I old enough to have a child that is ready to DATE and DRIVE?

Apparently so! :)

In a continual effort to do everything in my power 

to arm my children with knowledge and testimony of WHO they are,

 I am constantly looking for ways to make "life's little lessons" ones that they will NEVER forget! 

And so as Kierra's 16th birthday was approaching (all too quickly;) I knew that I wanted to take her on the "Dating Date!" 

This would be a date with Clint and I where we would enjoy a special night out, just the 3 of us. 

We would enjoy a spectacular dinner with an even more spectacular view of the temple.

 We would talk about dating and answer any questions that she may have, and also share personal experiences of dating in our own lives and how setting goals and setting your sights HIGH...(Like marriage in the temple) will bring such lasting happiness.

Not only have we been teaching them since the day they were born, but as long as we have their tender spirits in our care, I feel such a deep need to give my children meaningful opportunities, experiences, and reasons to LOVE and EMBRACE the gospel and all that is good in their life.

 I want to make sure that my children know WHO they are, and WHERE they are going, and just HOW they are going to get there!

So, it only made sense to me to take them to the only place that I know of,  where they can have the best view EVER of just where they want their dating experiences to take them...

to finding an eternal companion who will love them and cherish them and 

marry them in the Holy House of the Lord.

So, 

Not only is 16 a totally awesome birthday for SOOOO many reasons...but it is now officially the birthday in which each of our children will get to go on the "Dating Date" with mom and dad. :)

This is the view of the Salt Lake temple from the window of The Roof restaurant where we went for our "Dating Date." :)

Kierra Nicole Trickett

Clint and Kierra ~ ooo I love them!!!

Susette and Kierra (She is my mini-me!)

This was the view from where we sat for dinner :) Absolutely beautiful.

This was such a fun way to begin the 16th Birthday celebration!

Kierra felt so special too :)

And this was her "birthday cake" :)

Our dinner was magnificent...the food and the atmosphere, the backdrop of the temple, the piano music playing in the background, the company we were with, and the conversations that we shared made it literally a night we will never forget.

Knowing that there were many exciting surprises coming up in the next couple of weeks when Kierra would have her real birthday, I felt so good inside about taking care of this important thing first. 

We actually went on the "Dating Date about 2 weeks before her birthday so that we could really enjoy the time...I'm so glad we did. 

And so is Kierra. :)

This was the view as we left our date.

What a perfect night...

and we know that Kierra has her sights set HIGH. :)

Love you girl!

A Priceless Gift

  I have a friend.

Her name is Deborah.

 Deborah Finneran.

I met Deborah a few years ago as she served as one of the teacher chaperons for 

Kierra's student ambassador trip to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales with the 

People to People Student Ambassador programs.

Deborah was Kierra's "mom" while she was over in Europe. Deborah gave help, encouragement, praise, and even hugs when needed. She took a sincere interest in the students that she traveled with, but I was particularly impressed with Deborah when they had returned from their trip.

 We went to a reunion party where all those who traveled together came and we had food, games, and time to visit. I distinctly remember running into Deborah in the bathroom where she complimented me on my cute purse! Later, we sat outside on the grass with our husbands sharing in the conversation too...just getting to know each other a little better, and finding out even more just how much we have in common.

After catching up, and learning of some of her next endeavors, Deborah and I became even closer. 

She began a home business where she began selling beautiful European scarves

 (which she happened upon during her student ambassador trip, where we both know this was no coincidence, but a blessing from the Lord.)

I like to think of myself as one of Deborah's biggest fans!

 I bought 10 of her beautiful scarves right from the trunk of her car that very day! I was so inspired by what she was trying to accomplish that I felt a deep desire to support her and to try and spread the news of this business that she was about to embark upon.

Years later, and many scarves later ;) ...Deborah and I have kept in touch, 

and continue to encourage each other along through life.

This is where our story gets good....:)

Early in December 2013, I was going about my day as usual.

I had just gotten home from running some errands and Kierra had just walked in the door from school. 

As she came in the front door she carried in a package that had been left there from the mailman.

I was so interested to see this large envelope with the words 

"FRAGILE"

written all over it. I was even more surprised to see the name of the sender as "Deborah Finneran."

I had just spoken to her a few days before and we exchanged addresses for which I wanted to send her a Christmas card, and for which I thought she was doing the same.

Boy was I wrong.

My heart rate increased as I began turning the package to find where to open it. As I did, I could hear the rustling of broken glass coming from inside the package.

"Oh no" I thought to myself as I began to carefully tear away the packaging...whatever the "FRAGILE" contents were...it sounded as if they were not going to be salvageable at all. As I pulled back all of the packaging, I could feel my mouth drop and my eyes immediately swelling up with tears.

Although anyone else may have only been able to see the broken frame and shattered pieces of glass piled on top of each other...underneath it all there was an image so unmistakable and so recognizable to me that I immediately knew what it was and could see just what it was that Deborah had needed my address for. 

Before I even cleared away all of the broken pieces, I cupped my hands to my mouth and held my breath just for a second. I began to cry and told Kierra, 

"Oh my goodness, this is such a priceless gift! 

This place we are standing is literally sacred ground right now."

I was so overcome with emotion that Kierra just put her arm around me and hugged me for a minute. 

Within a few seconds I took a deep breath and regained my composure. 

I began making a pile of broken glass and pieces of frame, and within a few seconds had uncovered one of the most beautiful gifts anyone has ever given to me.

This is a copy of an oil painting that Deborah had painted of one of my all time favorite pictures of Kambriella that I had posted from the Christmas before. 

Although to some people it may be just a picture, the memories of that day that I spent with Kambriella was one of the happiest days I have had as a mother. 

This beautiful and thoughtful gift represents so many things to me, and Deborah had no idea just how much it would mean...

the day we built the snowman, before we actually went out,

 I kept on trying to convince Kambriella to let me get some"work" done before we went out to play, but she proceeded to teach her mother a real life lesson on priorities.

 My sweet children and family are way more important than any "to-do" list will ever be!!!

It's exactly what Kambriella was wearing that day...

it has the same trees in my front yard, and the lace curtains in my windows...

the appearance of multiple little rocks for the snowman's eyes was really a little bunch of berries that we had picked off of the vine in our backyard earlier that day...

Kambriella had named her snowman "Sassy" and she really loved her! 

She was hugging it all day, just like in the painting...everything about this picture means something to me!

As soon as I knew exactly what I was looking at I went straight to my car and drove to Hobby Lobby where I purchased this new frame, came home and put the picture inside of it, and hung it on the wall.

These are the other items that came in the package as well...

Deborah surprised me with this letter and painting...she had never said a word about painting it until it showed up in the mail...and then this small picture of the painting and a poem that Deborah wrote to go with it is attached to the back of the painting...

And here is another beautiful poem that she wrote and enclosed in the letter just because she knew I would love it! 

After taking a couple of days to think about what kind of a "Thank-you" would be appropriate to send to Deborah, I decided that I didn't really have one that I felt would be special enough, so I just wrote her a letter and sent her the link to the post on this blog from last year that I entered that told the whole story of "Our snow~girlfriend Sassy"

I told Deborah about how special that day was that I had spent with Kambriella building that snowman, and about how I had learned one of the best life lessons that day from my little girl...

I also told Deborah that she will never know just how much her special gift meant to me! Not only is it a reminder of something very special in my life, but it is also a reminder of all that I have that is good, my family, my priorities, and this sweet little angel that has gone through so much in her short little life, and that has a heart of gold and has already touched so many peoples lives for good.

Words are hard to come by to express my love for this sweet and tender mercy. A beautiful gift from Deborah, and a beautiful gift from Heavenly Father placing such miracles and friends as these in my life.

(Read the blog post titled "Our snow~girlfriend Sassy" published on November 12, 2012)

I recently went to visit Deborah where we once again talked about this special gift...shared tears of friendship and joy, and spent time looking at some of Deborah's other beautiful paintings, saw the ORIGINAL oil painting of Kambriella and Sassy, and I even went home with a few new scarves! :)

Our "Nativity" Gift of Time

After months of having a "broken" blog...I am so excited to be able to sit down and write once again!!! :)

My life continues to be full and blessed and wonderful, and I love being able to record it all.
This blog is a benefit to me, my family, and my posterity...and I am going to do my best to do a little catching up from just a few highlights of the past few months! Yippee! :)

Christmas time is one of our most favorite times of the year, and each year one of the highlights of our holiday season is when we receive

 "The Gift of Time."

I don't know how he does it, but Santa ALWAYS knows just what our family needs! 

This year our Gift of Time was centered all on the theme of "The Nativity."

It all started when Santa spotted our family at a church that had one lady's personal collection

 of nativities on display for everyone to see. It was the weekend right after Thanksgiving and we were so excited to ring in the holiday spirit so we went and looked at this awesome collection.
This lady had over 450 of her very own nativities on display that she had collected from all around the world! They were so beautiful and it was amazing. After we finished looking at them, a friend of our family was there who's dad was there with a real life Monster Truck! My kids were so excited that he took them for a ride in it and THAT is where they saw Santa spying on them! The very next week Santa delivered our Gift of Time with a challenge extended for our family to be on a mission this Christmas to tell the true story of the birth of the Savior EVERYWHERE they went!

Soooooo, 

Santa showed up at our house A LOT throughout the whole month of December! 

Everything that he delivered, left us with an activity to go and do, or someone to invite to join in the fun, and treats or gifts to go along with it all.

Our first activity was to go to the live nativity in Draper where we took some of our cousins and their family...gingerbread cookies, chocolate Santa's and mugs of hot cocoa were a must for this event! :) 

I have never seen such an amazing and authentic nativity as this! We were transported back in time and straight to Bethlehem for this event! It was awesome!

My parents were visiting during the holidays too, so we also invited them  to

 come along with us to some of these celebrations. We also watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional with them, other Christmas movies that Santa left, and journeyed to LOTS of live nativities!

We were sent to one live nativity in Alpine where we rode on a hayride to get there, participated in the "city of Bethlehem" activities such as tool making, wheat grinding, petting camels, sheep, and donkeys...and we even received widow's mites for souvenirs! It was a magical night. When we walked into the barn where the little baby Jesus was, it was warm, the babe was smiling and laughing at the children, and we felt the spirit so strong. We of course had hot chocolate at the end and stopped for dinner on our way home.

THEN...

I don't know how he does it but Santa knew right where we would be and made the "Nativity" celebration special for us everywhere we went! He even found us up in Porterville at Cherie's home for the Trickett family Christmas party! 

We had a blast with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents at Blake and Cherie's house...sledding, laughing, and having fun in a winter wonderland!

At some point in the midst of all the fun and games, Santa snuck into our car outside and left us yet another letter from our Gift of Time. Tied to the steering wheel... it said to drive down the hill and look for red ribbons to lead us to our next letter...This is what we found...

The red ribbon tied on the barn door was the clue to go inside and this is what we found...

In a simple barn reminiscent of a place where the little Christ child was born, we found more letters and gifts. The letters told us of the tradition of the nativity and how and why it was started. A man named St. Francis felt that the world was focusing too much on the gifts than on the Savior's birth, so the nativity was started as a reminder to the world of what Christmas is all about. 

We went to our car where it was toasty warm before we opened them.

As we watched the children open their gifts, we were so pleased to see that they had each received a beautiful and yet unique nativity set of their own, with instructions to place them in their bedroom and be reminded daily of their "mission" to spread the true meaning of Christmas everywhere they went! :)

There was such a spirited feeling in the car as we drove home from a wonderful day spent with our family, topped off with real treasures that will be cherished for years to come.

Another one of the activities that Santa sent us to do was to go to with some of our friends

 and drive to BYU for the "Sacred Gift" exhibit. Now none of us really had any idea what a true "sacred gift" this would really be to our family...but when we got there and realized what a once in a lifetime opportunity we were having, it truly became a very sacred gift.

We got to see ORIGINAL artwork on loan from their hometown in England of some of the most treasured paintings of Carl Bloch and other famous artists. 

Their artwork is featured in many of our LDS temples and churches...but to see them life size and to read the stories of their meaning and inspiration behind the work was unlike anything that I have ever gotten to experience. I felt almost as though I were standing in the Savior's presence through the displays of the life size majestic works of art. What a blessing and what an awesome experience. Words cannot describe the feeling there, and there was no photography allowed so I cannot share what I saw, only this advertisement banner hanging on the outside of the BYU Arts Center.

After the exhibit we went to dinner with our friends and then shared Christmas sugar cookies on the ride home. We again had a very special spirit in our car on the way home where we each took turns sharing our favorites of the night and also sharing testimony of what "sacred gifts" that we have all been given. 

It was a beautiful night. :)

We also participated in a little nativity of our own at our ward party...:)

And here are the little angels themselves...

We did say "Angels," right? ...;)

Ahhh yes...in all their glory!

Santa also sent us to a live nativity in downtown Salt Lake called "Echoes of Christmas." 

This was definitely one of my favorites! We were guided by shepherds bearing torches to 8 different stops. At each stop we watched a live theatrical event where each different person in the nativity sang about their feelings when baby Jesus was born. We witnessed everything from the excitement of the shepherds and angels...to the inadequate feelings tucked deep inside of Joseph's heart at his inability to even provide a roof over the babe as he entered into this world. It was beautifully done and so neat to see the different take on some of the different emotions that may have existed in the hearts of those who were there. It really made me think about and appreciate how they must have felt. 

After the nativity, we again went out to dinner as a family and then discussed each of our different feelings of the night. I am so grateful that Santa has given us this Gift of Time...the time we have spent together as a family discussing the tiny infant King has truly brought such a deepened spirit to our holidays.

As a finale to our "Gift of Time," Santa gave us yet another surprise letter with an awesome gift! 

Tickets to the Piano Guys Christmas Concert!!!!

I do believe that Santa sent us to EVERY live nativity this side of Utah...and so although this final gift was not a nativity, we discussed together how music brings a most special spirit to our celebrations. 

Our family absolutely LOVES the piano guys!!! Their music is so beautiful and inspiring and it was a perfect ending to the Spirit of the Season!

All of our family went to the concert including my mom and dad...which made it an extra special night as well. Now all of my kids want to play either the piano or the cello. ;)

We received one last letter from Santa on Christmas Eve...

He told us to enjoy the night and to share all of our memories of these nativities with our family that was coming over for dinner that night. Also, he told us to show our own nativities to those who came to visit, and then Santa gave us 2 new nativities to give as Christmas gifts to my parents and to my sister's family who were there for the night. They came and we had a wonderful night together. AND, to top off the whole season, the missionaries randomly stopped in to see if they could share a message with us about Jesus Christ.

They came in and joined our family in the basement where we played some games and then we all opened our scriptures and took turns reading about the real story of Christmas. My sister's boyfriend had his son and his fiance were there visiting too. They are not members of our church, but I know that they were truly touched by the spirit as we all went around the room and shared what we were each grateful for.

After the missionaries left, we all got in our cars and drove over to Thanksgiving Point where we drove through the park to see the Christmas lights on this Christmas Eve. Wouldn't you know, that so appropriately, the last stretch of road and lights there at Thanksgiving Point were the artwork of Liz Lemon Swendle and her depiction of the nativity. The paintings were enlarged to life size and each picture held a caption to a part of the children's Christmas song, "Picture a Christmas."

I can honestly say that Santa's "Gift of Time" is the one gift that our family looks forward to each and every year, and that each new year, the gifts we receive become our favorite. 

And so, this year, this Gift of Time is added to our pool of memories and is once again "our favorite."

I loved that Clint and the children both commented on how Christ centered our season had been, and how much they enjoyed all of it.

Thank you Santa for loving our family enough to make this tradition so magical and meaningful. 

Our Gift of Time is the best gift we could ever hope for!!!