6 Years in Heaven

Dear Daddy, 

Thank you so much for all the love and support you have given me throughout my life.

You have always been there for me, both when you were here on earth, and even now I feel you as you serve and take care of our family from beyond the veil.

You are greatly missed every day, but I feel your love and your presence so strong and I know that you are up there just cheering us on...after all, we are "all just walking each other home" right?

Right. :)

Love your little girl forever, 

Susette

A Pioneer Day Family Reunion

The 24th of July is Pioneer Day in Utah, and this year we celebrated with Clint's extended family at the Clements family reunion. We drove up to our cabin and stayed the night there with some of Clint's siblings and had a great time.

Every time we go to our cabin we pass this elk farm, and it's so fun to see them with their big antlers!

Kesslyn calls them "Santa's reindeer. "  ;)

There were lots of yard games played, and lots of s'mores made.

And have I ever mentioned how competitive my boys are???

Ya.  

On Saturday morning we met up at the camp ground with the rest of the family and played relay games, had a fish pond, crafts, face painting, LOTS of cousin time (my kids personal favorite;), dutch oven dinner, and card games and yard games, an auction, and did I mention LOTS of cousin time?? :)

LOTS of cousin time. :) :)

We even had homemade ice cream thanks to Grandpa Trickett. :) Yum!

And poor sweet Kesslyn got stung for her first time ever by 3 hornets all at the same time...poor baby girl. She was so sad and I felt so bad for her, but she recovered  just fine and was back to playing in no time.

(Thank goodness for cousins!)

We made it back home late Saturday night and even brought a cousin with us!

We had home church on Sunday morning, and another great weekend went down in the books!

P.S.

Today is the LAST day of July!!!

Whaaat?

Be Flexible and Be Kind

It's wedding season around here and I have been busy helping with Drive-By Bridal Showers and weddings too! This is such a happy time for so many people that I love and I am glad that we still get an opportunity to celebrate in some fashion anyways! During the pandemic life has been altered, and one thing I have learned is to be flexible. Go with the flow, love everyone you see, and be kind!

Congratulations Lindsey!

Grandma Camp 2020

Grandma Camp July 2020!

I joined my kids and Grandma Trickett for her Grandma camp this year!

We spent the night up the Ogden canyon, played games, made crafts, tubed the river, and spent lots of quality time together. My kids LOVED it. :)

We made picture frames out of card board, paint, and puzzled pieces..

The kids tubed the river over and over again!

They are so much braver than me though because the water was FREEZING!!!

But they did it!

Over and over again . :)

We made sun catchers with paper plates, markers, contact paper, and all kinds of treasures!

We visited with each other and solved life's problems together. ;)

And even great Grandma Clements was there with us. I put the front of her hair back into two little braids because the wind kept blowing her hair into her eyes. She loved having it back and out of the way.

Grandpa Trickett joined us at dinner time after he was finished with his cancer treatment for the day. He is such an amazing trooper with all that he is going through and we love him so much!

Here are the girls with their finished picture frames.

Kesslyn made some fun friends with her extended 2nd cousins! Here she is with Liam, Kylee, and Grandpa!

The little girls also had fun playing make-believe and making "fairy berry soup!"

We also had a  Birthday theme Tea party with more sweets than you can imagine!!!

Kambriella, Brier, and Ella

Dallin, Desiree, and Cohen

Each of the grand kids got to have glow sticks for the night hike!

I got to accompany these 2 little cuties on the night hike, and we had an unforgettable time at Grandma Camp 2020. :)

This Crazy Crew

Just take a look at this crazy crew!

Here we have 2 brothers (Clint and Cory)

6 cousins (Dallin, Jacob, James, Gavin, Kambriella, and Kesslyn)

1 photographer (me)

and 1 giant shark hanging from the ceiling at Joe's Crab Shack! :)

All wearing masks (because of  the COVID -19 pandemic.

It's so fun to have family come for a visit, to catch up with each other, and to laugh and play and just be together.

We LOVE our family!

Goodbye to a Brother

Today we celebrated the life of Ray Maynard, a husband, father, grandfather, and a brother in our ward.

It's so heartbreaking to see the hurt in the lives of those who love him and will miss him the most, but as I continue to serve as a relief society president and learn more and more about people, and compassion, and charity, I come to love our Heavenly Father in His great love and wisdom even more.

I have learned that to each of us, our family is our favorite, the most important one of all.

We all long to be with our families for good, and that's what is so amazing about Heavenly Father and His plan...it IS eternal, and although we miss our loved ones something fierce when they leave us behind, we are so grateful that death is NOT the end.

I think about what Ray and others who have passed beyond the veil might be busy doing, and I guess I will forever wonder until the day when I go there for myself...but for now, I sit and try to learn and love and appreciate all that I can, and try daily to become a better person so that I can accomplish whatever it is that Heavenly Father wants me to do.

Ray's life is yet another one where his love for family and faith in God were at the very core of his existence.

I know that Ray loved:

His wife Wendy

His family

Disneyland

His country and serving in the military

Driving his school bus

being with his grand-kids

Donuts and his cowboy boots, just to name a few. :)

Being at the church today, preparing for this funeral for the past few days, and doing it all during the pandemic has been strange and interesting to say the least.

But one thing that always seems to remain constant is that serving and loving others will always bring peace and joy. It's what the Savior would do if He were here.

And it's what we have covenanted to do when we became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints. We mourn with those that mourn. We comfort those who stand in need of comfort.

I love that the Relief Society is able to do this in such a kind and loving way.

After the funeral we set up a luncheon so that the family could have some nourishment for their bodies, while being together with their loved ones "nourished" their souls.

That's where the "relief" comes in, and I love being a part of such a great cause.

I am so grateful for the light that comes into my life as a member of the church, and knowing that there is an army of angels and saints who will always be there for me.

And we'll always be there for each other.

My New Smile!

After 19 months, I finally got my braces off!!!

This was my smile TODAY...and I am so happy with it! :)

You can see all of the before and after pictures below...it's kind of fun to see the difference!

I always thought it was so fun to see my children's smiles transform with their braces, and this time, when I was taking Gavin to get his braces I thought to myself..."Why can't I just do it right along with him?"

And so we did. 
And I'm glad I did. :)

Cherry Hill and Bright Star

Last weekend we went as a family to Cherry Hill to celebrate our cousins birthdays! This is now an annual tradition that has been running for about 4 or 5 years, and everyone loves it...especially now Eila and Kesslyn. :)

This year was a bit different though because of the pandemic. We all had to make a reservation to be there since they were limiting the number of people that could be in there together.

Needless to say, we were together with our family and we had a great day.

I love the smile on Dallin's face here...it says so much without any need of explanation.:)

Clint and I spent the majority of the time in the Lazy River with the little kids, but that is about my speed anymore...stick with the littles and have LOTS of fun without being too crazy. Perfect. :)

The highlight of all of the get-together's that we have as a family though is just being with people that we love. 

And I love these people...like a LOT!

And these two little brownnies. :)

Everyone played so hard that they all fell asleep on the ride home. 

(Except for Kara and me.;)

We got home just in time to get cleaned up and head out to the Hale Center Theater to watch the play "Bright Star" for my sister Tiffany's birthday. It was the first time in 4 months that they have been open, and yes, we had to wear masks while we were there. But the play was SO GOOD, and I kind of forgot about my mask, and life, and the pandemic just for a couple of hours while the play carried us away with it's amazing story...

I was so grateful that we were able to do something fun together to celebrate Tiffany.

I'm pretty sure she knows how much I love her. She's my built-in best friend. (After Clint of course. :)

This life is so interesting and different right now, but I am striving daily to look for God's hand in all things, and today I recognized it many many times. He is my constant in this world of constant change...or maybe I should call Him my Bright Star. :)