Super Moon

The strawberry super moon hit its peak last night.  I spent some time outside trying to get the perfect shot.

 

Journey to Eternity

My sweet friend Katie and I were asked to be the paparazzi for youth Conference this weekend. It was a two-day event, but I was only able to do Friday because Ava had a dance recital on Saturday. So, after getting lost at the beginning, we finally found the location for kick-off. The youth were walking to the Temple...a distance of 11 miles. We began at a park in Saratoga Springs where the youth had breakfast, were organized into groups, created team names and mottos and then ran through banners to begin their journey.
 

 

 

Once they arrived at their first rest stop (the Lehi Sports Park), they played horseshoes and made some trail mix...all with metaphorical meaning related to the temple, of course.

Then it was off for the longest leg...5 miles to the American Fork Lions Park for lunch. During this leg, the kids had to cross the freeway overpass...it made all the leaders extremely nervous.

The kids then had a quick 2-3 mile jog to the Family History Center and then on to the local Senior Center.  One of the fabulous women in our ward was celebrating her anniversary this day and her husband is a resident...so some of the kids planned a talent to share with all the residents to help Peggy and her hubby celebrate!

 

 

The kids then had a mile of silence.  They were instructed to walk silently for one mile and to reflect on how they could focus their energies on having clean hands and pure hearts.  Then, they wrote their commitments onto tags, attached them to balloons and let them fly!  They were almost at their journey's end!

 

 

 

 

 

It was only a hop, skip and jump up the hill to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  The kids were sent off in their groups, several minutes apart so they would all arrive in separate groups...but they started running and everyone arrived at the same time.  We took pictures of each of the youth holding a door to the temple, symbolizing that they will commit to entering the temple as they reach mission or marriage-age.  Then, it was time for meeting their families at the church pavilion for dinner!  So many families came to support them.  We even had one sweet sister come and help serve dinner, even though she moved out of our ward several months ago.  It was such a spiritual journey and I'm so grateful I was a part of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 







 





Sunday Morning

We were out of town for the Sunday before Christmas this year (Lyle's aunt Kelari was baptized and confirmed) so Sean and Ava wore their Christmas outfits at a ward they've never been to before. But, they looked great!
 

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving this year was amazing! It's always fun to get together with family and recognize your blessings. One thing I'm grateful for every year is that I don't have to or choose to go shopping on Black Friday; I choose to buy throughout the year so I don't have to face that madness!

Started Thanksgiving day out by baking an Apple Pie.  Boy did it make our house smell delicious!  When we finally got to Lyle's parents house I realized I left my memory card for my camera at home.  Boo!  I had rushed around frantically at home trying to get everything ready to go and grabbed my camera at the last minute, without thinking to check if the card was in it.  So, the rest of the holiday was captured with my phone.  But, I'm grateful Lyle recently bought me a new phone so I had a good camera on it to be able to capture these moments with!

Lyle wanted me to do Ava's hair down on Thanksgiving day.  So, I obliged and left it down.  We blow dried it and straightened it so it cascaded down her back.  Everyone complimented her on her beautiful hair and I love how gorgeous it is too!

The kids and Lyle spent most of the beautiful afternoon outside playing basketball with Dad.  It was gorgeous weather until about 4, then it started to get cold.

We had waaaay too much food, of course.  There was so much it didn't all fit in one location and was relegated to additional tables.

Ava loved Aunt Vicki's delicious grape/toffee salad.  She had three helpings!

Sean is at the age where he loves to bug everybody and then get tickled, or sat on...depending on who he's bugging.  Luckily, Lyle's family enjoys every minute of it.

Uncle Scott came over and told everyone about a fun new game on the iPhone.  Hill Climb.  Everyone wanted to play it and they were all downloading it throughout the day.  At one point there were 7 people in the living room playing it on an iPod or an iPhone!  They spent hours playing the game.  It was insane!

In the end, the day was full of warmth, joy, laughter, peace and lots of food.  What better way to spend Thanksgiving?