Happy Fourth of July!

While Bella was at scout camp and Benjamin was in Chile, we celebrated a relaxed fourth of July.

Peter continued to practice riding his pedal bike - he's gotten so good!  Kelly worked on projects around the house, and Christian and I played board games.  Then we had our traditional BBQ and sparklers which absolutely thrilled Peter.  I love four year olds!  He was over the moon excited about juice with dinner and sparklers.  It made his whole day.

When I originally told him about the 4th of July and told him the story of English oppression and American revolution, he declared, "That's not as cool as Christmas."  So I explained how had it not been for the 4th of July, we wouldn't know all we know about Christ because Joseph Smith couldn't have done what he did under British rule and we might not be as free to worship Christ as we do.  He acquiesced a bit but remained unconvinced.  That's when I hit him with the "Well, do you know that on the 4th, we BBQ hotdogs, burgers, and ribs?  And do you know that I bought juice to go with it?  And do you further know that I also bought sparklers?!?"  That did it.  He could hardly contain his excitement.  All day long he asked when it was going to be time for sparklers.  They did not disappoint.

I'm going to blow this kid's mind when he's a little older and I buy actual fireworks.

Happy 18th Birthday, Benjamin!!

We have an adult son!! Crazy.  His birthday was quite relaxed and informal.  He didn't want anything special.  He requested brownies for his cake and he went to a party at the beach that evening.  Otherwise, he spent the time in the middle preparing for his trip to Chile.

His presents consisted almost entirely of things for his trip - a camera, a watch (because he won't have access to his phone), clothes, microfiber towels, etc.  We also gave him some money to buy fun things he'd like. 

Then the next day, he was off to Chile.  I accompanied him to his gate, just in case he had trouble.  But everything went smoothly and now he feels ready for his flight to the Mexico MTC in a couple months.  We're excited for his trip.  We hope he has a wonderful experience meeting and serving people in Chile.

His group is posting pictures to their instagram account so I get to see some updates.  He's got multiple layovers so naps are essential.  

The sights look amazing...and cold!

True to form, Benjamin finds the cat to cuddle.  He never liked our cat but he seems to love every other one he finds.

Another Camp and Time with Peter

The week we were gone, my mom took care of Peter for us.  I'm so grateful for her care and willingness to help us so we could go.  When we got back, Bella and Christian went to FSY - another camp about two hours north of us.  Peter came along with me to drop them off and we spent the day in the zoo up there.  It was fun to spend a day with him alone after so much time away.  It was the perfect small zoo and had tons of fun things for younger kids.

Peter wanted to dance in every picture I tried to take of Christian in his FSY dorm room. Ok, go ahead and dance, sweet boy.

They had a lake with stepping stones leading to a bridge that rocked and wobbled around like a raft.  That was so much fun.  Peter loved rocking around on it.

They got money for the zoo by allowing companies in the area to sponsor little displays and gardens around the zoo.  The company was responsible for decorating their little garden area.  There were some beautiful displays and fun, cute ones too.  Peter loved the Nintendo themed one best.

"He's my bestie," he declared when the prairie dog came up to the glass and sat there next to him for a long, long time.

Youth Conference - Kirtland and Palmyra

 Kelly and I had the unique opportunity to be group leaders for youth conference last week.  We led a group of 13 youth (as part of a group of 175) - ages 13 to 17 - on a 5 day tour through various places of historical significance to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was a huge undertaking and required an insane amount of coordination and planning, but it was so worth it.

Our three oldest kids came too, although they weren't in our group.  They each had their own group with awesome leaders and I'm so grateful for the work other leaders put into leading our kids.  We visited historical sights such as the Kirtland Temple, the Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah, the Grandin Building, and the Smith Farm, among many others.  We also taught classes on many different subjects, did ordinance work in the Palmyra temple, and had the pleasure of several devotionals led by the stake presidency members.

In addition to all the sights and lessons, we also got to have some fun at the camp we stayed at.  It is owned by the church and had amazing facilities - clean, well maintain bunk houses, a huge group gathering building with a full industrial kitchen, gorgeous waterfront area with boats, gaga ball, sand volleyball, zip lines over the river, rock climbing wall, obstacle course, amphitheater, and huge fields for gathering.  It was so much fun.

In the evenings we had dances, talent shows, and other organized events.  The stake presidency did an act in the talent show that had us all cracking up - they put on costumes as elephant riders and did stunts and silly tricks.  It was so awesome to see both sides of these men - their spiritual side as they taught and bore powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ - and their silly side as they joked around with everyone. It was so amazing to spend so much time with so many incredible people this week.

Teaching the classes was what had me the most stressed out before going.  We were going to have to teach for over 4 hours over the course of the trip and I really don't do well teaching teenagers.  Give me a group of 5 year olds and I'm set, but 15 year olds are a whole different story.  I find it hard to keep their attention and relate to them. 

I really should have had more faith.  Kelly and I spent a lot of time planning our lessons together and God did the rest.  We couldn't have taught that way on our own.  The spirit was abundant in our lessons and Kelly and I both felt guided in our preparation as well as our presentation. I know that God loves these youth and he wants them to come to know Him in a real, tangible way.  I'm grateful to have been able to play a small part in His work.

Kelly and I both noted that we felt overcome by the holy spirit again and again and again on this trip.  It was absolutely stunning how powerful it was throughout our time there, especially as we sang, as we taught, and as we visited the sites where such amazing things happened.  There were so many miracles on this trip, I can't count them all.  I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is my savior.  I have seen His hand this past week in very powerful ways.  He's changing lives and guiding people to Him.

One small story - there were a group of boys on this trip that seemed determined to disrupt and cause trouble.  They interrupted lessons, disrupted activities, and generally caused chaos everywhere they went.  Every teacher and also many other youth were very bothered by them.  On the last day, during the last set of classes, there were three classes going on simultaneously and the youth were allowed to pick which of the three to attend.  I am friends with one of the teachers and I wasn't teaching that hour, so I went to her area to listen to her teach.  Strangely, not one single youth came to her location.  They all chose one of the other two classes.  She's a great teacher and it was very unusual for her to not draw a crowd.  We sat together, along with her husband and son who were also going to help teach, for several minutes until finally deciding to give up and go join another class.  Just when we stood up to go, those boys came out of their cabin.  It happened to be directly next to her class location.  They had not paid attention to the time and were late picking a class.  They walked into hers because they didn't have time to go anywhere else at this point.  Now they were the only students in what was supposed to be a much bigger class.  They couldn't disrupt anyone else and she could focus entirely on them.  It was an incredible opportunity.  She and her family were able to stand directly in front of them and speak directly to them and the holy spirit was felt by everyone.  They taught with power from God and the boys didn't disrupt once.  They listened, answered questions, and paid full attention the entire time.  It was truly a miracle.  God reached out to those boys individually and found a way to touch them when nothing else had.