Spooky Scary Skeletons

As we get ready to welcome in the festivities of October, we have started putting up our Halloween Decorations!

Kesslyn and Kambriella helped me pick out some pumpkins from the Kuwahara Pumpkin Patch, then we brought them home and set them out with our two new skeleton friends, Jack and Davey!

(Jack Sparrow and Davey Jones that is ;)

Kesslyn has been telling me for years that we NEED scary Halloween decorations, and so I finally caved and bought these two "spooky, scary skeletons!"

This is how we do scary...;)

A Bit of Heaven

Easton with his Great Grandpa Trickett

Nothing short of a little bit of heaven...

Kierra, Hayden, Grandpa Trickett, Jill, and Raya

Easton, Riley, and Raya

I really do think that the sunsets at Ko Olina really do look like heaven!

SOOO beautiful!

But so does reading stories at home with people you love, AND....

Going to the temple with the people you love!!!

The temple is the place where heaven touches earth, and that's right where I want to be!

 

Moving Dirt

Monday, September 23rd, 2024, I received another birthday gift!

Today was the day they began the construction of our future home!

We have been working on this for SO long, and to have it becoming a reality almost feels unreal! I almost started crying happy tears when I saw the text message come through from Blair with this picture of them moving dirt!

Whoever would have thought that a picture of "moving dirt" could make a girl so happy?? ;)

Well, along with "moving dirt" I had a family home evening lesson planned for the girls that night that went along SO perfectly with the events of the day. You see, I have prayed about, thought about, and imagined all the things that I want to teach the girls about as we build this home and prepare our family for the good things that lie ahead...more traditions, more growth, more time together with our ever growing family...and there is SO much that goes into us building...

We started out by singing this primary song "I Will Be What I Believe."

We talked about becoming and being what we want to be as daughters of God and disciples of Christ. Then we read 1 Corinthians 3:9-10 which says:

9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a WISE MASTERBUILDER, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

We talked about being a "wise masterbuilder" and clearing away the "dirt" in our lives so that we can have a clean space to build our foundation...

There were so many good ways we tied in the gospel to what is actually happening in our lives right now...

We also read through Proverbs 31:10-31 and talked about building a strong home by being women of virtue...

Verse 16 was so fitting...

16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

We considered the field, and we bought it! And now we are building on it to plant our "vineyard" where all the fruits of the spirit can grow!

I also loved verse 18:

18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

...her candle goeth not out by night...

As a woman of faith, and a mother in Zion, I work hard to strengthen my testimony so that my "candle" won't go out when life gets dark, and when trials and the storms of life are raging...

As we finished our little lesson, we again sang the song "I Will Be What I Believe" but this time, we listened to the words that applied to our lesson...I loved when it said, "...But with the prophets' words, I'll stand on solid ground...

As we are preparing for general conference, I am laser focused on studying the talks from the last conference and trying hard to get my heart soft enough to absorb whatever it is that Heavenly Father wants me to learn...

 And one last thing that I shared with the girls and dad during our FHE lesson was a story that I heard from Emily Belle Freeman, Young Women General President.

In Jewish tradition, the mother of the home lights 2 candles on the eve of the Sabbath (in Israel that is on Friday night) exactly 8 minutes after the sun goes down, and keeps the candle burning throughout the Sabbath. The 1st candle is a reminder to KEEP...to keep the Sabbath. The 2nd candle is to REMEMBER...to remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. I LOVED this idea, and took a 3 wick candle that I had, and lit two of the wicks, to KEEP, and to REMEMBER, and added the 3rd candle wick as a reminder to ALWAYS have His spirit with us. Just like the three things we promise in the sacrament, we can be reminded by these 3 "lights"...Keep His commandments, always REMEMBER Him, and have His spirit to be with us!

As we continually work on building our testimonies strong, we can also build good around us in our lives. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I am so thankful for my relationship with my Savior and my Heavenly Father. As I continue to move the "dirt" out of my life, I will become more ready to build my foundation upon the Rock of our Savior Jesus Christ!

A Happy Birth-week (Instead of just a Birth-"day")

This right here is a bit of pure joy!

My missionary son on a video call during his p-day on the day after his 19th birthday!

Sweet little Rodney is 11 months old, and all smiles!

For part of my birth-week celebration I was able to join Clint on a quick trip to St. George for the annual sheriff's conference. While he was at a golf tournament, setting up for the show, and spending the days at the convention, I was able to spend some precious one on one time with my mom!

This picture is after I cut and colored her hair in the hotel bathroom where I was staying. ;) She even surprised me when she pulled out a mini broom and dust pan to clean up our hairy mess! ;)

Isn't she beautiful?  

Clint and I got up earl while we were there to go to the gym, but it was permanently closed!

So, we decided to go walking around the temple grounds instead. 

The temple was closed while we were there, but even just being near it brings an overwhelming spirit of peace.

I LOVE the temple!

The big and bright full moon shining next to it was so beautiful too!

My mom and I had so much fun together! We went to lunch, got pedicures, went to Costco, the Boot Barn, shopping at the mall, and even went and bought me a new temple dress!

I loved the one on one time that we had. I just need to figure out how to get a little more of it a little more often. :)

on Wednesday evening before Clint and I had to go home, our friends Rulon and Valerie Jones took us to a yummy Red Rock restaurant that overlooked the Virgin River Gorge. It was a breathtaking view! We loved the food, the company, and the conversation too!

We also spent an early morning out in the hot tub before the pool was even open. It was nice and HOT and relaxing!

Thursday evening we got home where I was happy to find a special Crumbl cookie delivery from Kierra and Riley for my birthday!

Maple doughbut, pumpkin spice, raspberry cheesecake, and fried ice-cream flavored cookies!!!

It was also the color run at the elementary school right when we got back, so Clint and I went and met Julia and Kesslyn who were already at the school. 

Kesslyn and Annie had a blast getting colored in chalk as they ran laps around the field for their fundraiser! 

It was also Homecoming weekend!

Kambriella looked beautiful modest, and confident for her first ever high school dance!

Owen was her date, and he was hilarious! He reminded me so much of Dallin with all of his confidence and humor...;)

I know they had a blast on their group date with ALL their friends!

Look at all of the beautiful corsages!

This picture is pretty symbolic of how I see my sweet girl...

She's at the center of attention wherever she goes, she stands out in positive ways with her beauty and confidence both inside and out, and she is learning to be a virtuous young woman whose worth is far greater than rubies...

What a fun group doing the "model" walk!

We LOVE you Kambriella!

Sunday was my birthday and I turned 48!

Whaaaattt???

Clint still thinks I'm the hottest and that I've got it goin' on! ;)

Since my birthday fell on a Sunday, and it's always on the first day of fall, it seemed only fitting that we should celebrate by doing something that I LOVE...so we went on a drive up the American Fork Canyon and up the Alpine Loop over the top of the mountain to Cascade Springs!

The colors were stunning!!!

The springs were beautiful!

The boys all took a drink from the cold natural springs.

We walked around and took some pictures.

Carew even wanted a birthday selfie with his mom! :)

I was happy to have MOST of my people together, but we always miss the Johnsons!

I also needed this picture with little Rodney for my birthday! 

What a little sweetie!

I LOVE my people!

This was such a good day, and I even told the kids in the car on the way down the canyon that I felt like Heavenly Father gave me the perfect birthday present in all of the beautiful things that we saw, and it couldn't get any better, unless we saw an animal too.

Guess what??

There was a mountain goat that came down almost into the road as we were leaving the canyon!!!

;)

Heavenly Father is SO GOOD! He loves us so much, and cares about all of the little things that are important to us, even down to seeing an animal along with all of His beautiful creations on my birthday. 

After we were done we headed home and had a yummy dinner together at the house. Clint cooked a roast with veggies in the crock pot, corn on the cob, we had Jill's homemade bread, fruit, and cake and ice cream for dessert.

We played cornhole in the backyard, and enjoyed the first night of fall. 

While all of this fun was happening here in Utah, there was some fun going down in Hawaii too!

Grandpa Trickett and Jill made a trip to Hawaii and got to go and visit Kierra and Riley!

I'm SO jealous!!! ;)

I know the kids will be so sad when they have to leave...

Thank you Kara for the fun picture collage!

Happy Birth-"Week" to me!