Father’s Day

 I’m not sure how I forgot to post about Father’s Day. It was the morning after we got back from Florida. I made sure I got up with the kids so they could surprise Stephen before he got out of bed. They were so excited to show him what they made and to shower dad with all the love. The kids made a candy gram for him and a T-shirt with their handprints on it. Lucas made a tie out of duct tape at school and Zander made him an all-bout-dad card. Hannah made him a drawing and she and Grayson spent the afternoon picking ripe strawberries, washing them, cutting them, and putting them in a bowl of cream just for dad. It was so sweet of them, and Stephen ate the whole thing. We love you so much daddy!

Angels Among Us

 I got an email from Stephen’s niece, Sister Elizabeth Kettle, who is currently serving her mission in Missouri. I love getting her emails every week. One my favorite things I always look forward to are her spiritual thoughts. This week she talked about angels and mentioned a conference talk given by Elder Carlos A. Godoy from the October 2020 general conference session. In his talk he quoted Elder Jeffery R. Holland who said, “When we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. … Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind” 

I love that we talk about people on earth being angels because it’s true. One of the most recent examples is two weeks ago I took all the kids with me to Costco to buy food for a busy weekend where we were in charge of feeding a large group for several days. The kids love going to Costco, so I decided to make an afternoon of it and have lunch there with them. All was going great until it was time for me to find my way through the big crowd for the food on my list. It was a holiday weekend, so there were a lot more people in the store than normal. After 10-15 minutes of weaving through people in the isles and telling the kids to stay to the side so they were out of the way I started to get irritated and frustrated because the kids were not behaving how I’d hoped they would. They were playing, fighting, running, and yelling at each other and it was difficult for me to keep my composure. I pulled them aside and reminded them of my expectations while in the store. All was good for another few minutes. When we got to one isle I was looking for something on my list and, so I had to pull over to the side and told the kids to do the same so they weren’t in the way of other shoppers. As I looked down at my list I felt someone gently grab my arm. I looked up and saw an older lady smile at me and she said, “There isn’t anywhere in Costco that you won’t be in the way. Just relax.” She chuckled and walked away. She must have seen my exasperated look of defeat or frustration as I was talking to the kids. But in that moment I knew she was an angel and I am so grateful she was there to bring me back to earth. 

Another experience I had with an angel was back in the summer of 2017 when we were getting ready to sell our house in Midvale. We were told to weed the front flowerbeds so we could take some pretty pictures for the listing. I was 8 months pregnant and not able bend over very easily or very comfortably. I needed help. I asked the youth in our ward to come help us if they could, and told them I’d paid them to come help me weed. No one showed up. So I set off to do it by myself. After struggling with pulling weeds for some time a young man about 15 years old came walking down the road. He stopped and asked if I needed help. I was in disbelief. Where did he come from? The direction he came from was a dead end. He said he was on his way home from wrestling practice. I was confused, but gladly accepted his help. He helped me weed two big flower beds for an hour. He was an angel in my hour of need. 

I know I have had many more angels helping me in my life. I am so grateful for the love of Christ that radiates through people willing to help and serve others. Service truly is the pure love of Christ. 

Cherry Hill and Fireworks

 After Lucas's baptism weekend we spent a couple of days at Cherry Hill to celebrate Halle's 17th birthday. I made a surprise cake for her and she requested peach cobbler for her birthday dessert. We had Brad's family, Joseph's, Scott's, and my family, and grandma and grandpa. The kids camped out in tents while Stephen and I drove home to sleep in our bed, haha. We swam and played at the water park all day on the 4th of July. Stephen and I cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner, and we watched all the fireworks go off around the valley on top of Cherry Hill. I love spending time with my family! I even got to go on some water slides with the older kids which was a blast! 

When it was time to go home after we packed up all the camping gear, everyone was hugging each other. This really got to me because growing up we were not very affectionate toward one another. It was awkward and weird. In fact, the first time I can remember hugging a sibling that I wasn’t forced to, was when Joseph left on his mission. I was 11 years old. The way we showed affection was through teasing and playful hitting. To see my family hugging and saying goodbye to everyone around them was so tender. Something I’ll never forget, and hope that we continue to do.

Lucas's Baptism

 Lucas chose to be baptized and confirmed by his dad on July 1, 2023. He was really nervous yet excited at the same time. We are so proud of Lucas and the young man that he is becoming. He has an infectious personality and radiates love everywhere he goes. We love him so much!

We had Joseph's family and grandma and grandpa from the Pettingill side there, and grandma, Loren and Tirza, Miriam's family, and Rachel's family from the Washburn side in attendance. Grandma Julie and Linley served and witnesses, Mom bore her testimony, and Zander said a prayer. We had a Hawaiian dinner afterwards at our house that was so good! We know more family wanted to come, but couldn't make it. It was so fun to celebrate with everyone and enjoy the evening together. Congratulations Lucas!

Hannah's Dance Recital

 Hannah had her big end-of-the-year dance recital the Monday after we got back from our trip. She missed the last two weeks of rehearsal, so we were afraid she wouldn't want to do it. Getting her to dress rehearsal was a battle and she would not dance at all and frowned the whole time. It took a lot of courage for her to go on the big stage and do her dance even though she couldn't remember all the moves. I was afraid she'd freeze or just flat out refuse to dance again, but she was ready, and she knocked it out of the park! I am SO proud of her for trying her best and doing what she needed to do. This year's theme was around the world, so her jazz class did a Bollywood dance. After her dance Daddy gave her a pretty bouquet of colorful flowers. Her eyes lit up. Love you sis!

Lucas is 8!

 Happy Birthday to the happiest and funniest kid I know! Lucas got to celebrate his 8th birthday at Disney World and celebrate with cousins. When we got home he opened the rest of his gifts. Lucas is preparing himself to be baptized, and we couldn't be happier for him. We love you so much Lucas! He got to have a birthday party with his friends at Classic Fun Center and he got a second birthday cake.

Disney World: Magic and Animal Kingdoms

Magic Kingdom was the park I was most excited about because I knew the kids would love it especially Hannah. Stephen and I surprised her with a new pink princess dress complete with gloves, earrings, a crown, and a wand... that broke. I gave Hannah the royal treatment and got her dressed, did her hair, and her make up so she was all ready to go meet some of the other princesses at the park. The Magic Kingdom ended up not being all that magical for the kids unfortunately. From the second we parked everyone was up in arms over one thing or another and we had three frowny kids. It made for a miserable morning. I took Hannah and Grayson first thing to meet Mickey because that's who Grayson wanted to see the most. As we were coming out of Mickey's place Snow White just happened to stop by right outside the door, so we got right in line and Hannah got to meet her as well. The kids were so shy and didn't want to talk or do anything with the characters. That was ok. I'd probably just as shy as they were, but I know they loved getting to meet them and take pictures.

Stephen took the two boys with Beks and Loren and went on Space Mountain without me. After we met up we ended going to the Little Mermaid ride and the spinning tea cups then decided to take the kids back to the house for a break because we wanted to come back later in the evening to watch the firework show. Turns out that no one but Lucas wanted to go back to the park, so it was just the three of us and we took advantage of it! With no stroller or whining kids in tow we hit all the rides we wanted and ended the night with great fireworks. We did Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. Our feet  were so sore by the end of the night though. Lucas a trooper and did not complain once. 

Loren bribed the kids with candy if they smiled. At least he got Lucas haha!

ANIMAL KINGDOM

I was pretty excited for this park. Anyone who knows me knows I love animals and theme park rides, so I was fit to go. This was probably my favorite day. All the kids were in a way better mood than the day before, so that helped lighten the load a lot and made for a fun day. We rode the Mount Everest coaster a couple of times before heading to the African safari jeep ride where we got to see all the animals up close. This was the longest line we waited in the whole trip--it was almost two hours long. Then we had a bite to eat and watched the Lion King show. As soon as we got outside it started pouring rain, so we were frantically trying to open up everyone's ponchos and get them on quickly. By the time I got mine on it stopped raining. But it rained off and on the remainder of the day. 

Stephen and I split up again. He took Zander on the Avatar ride  while I took the other three kids to the Tree of Life where we sat in on the 3D Bug's Life show. It was awesome! Lucas especially loved it; he was roaring with laughter almost the whole time. We got lost for a while trying to find our way to Pandora to meet up with Dad and Zander. We bought some more souvenirs, and were ready to go home, but then the kids wanted to find badges for their animal guide books, so spent some time going to some of the stations where the kids learned about plants and animals to earn their badges which were just stickers. They loved it, and because they loved it, it was fun for me too. We rode one more dinosaur ride before calling it a day. That was Grayson's favorite. 

We finally got a happy family picture!

We had an awesome trip amongst the tantrums and complaining. Overall, it was a time to remember. Stephen's brothers, sisters, and the kids' cousins were so helpful to us. On our last day we went to see "Elemental" in the theater since we had a late flight. We didn't get into Salt Lake City until 11:00 at night. Before we even landed Grayson, Hannah, and Lucas were crying or whining because they were just plumb tired. I don't blame them, but we still had to get off the plane and collect our bags at the baggage claim and then hitch a ride to our car before taking a 30 minute drive back home. Our plane landed at the farthest terminal from the exit of the airport, so we had to walk quite a distance. Stephen carried Grayson and off he went with the boys which left me with Hannah. As soon as we got off the plane Hannah was complaining and crying because she didn't want to walk. I think she was just used to being in a stroller, lol, but I explained to her over and over that I was unable to carry her because I had to carry all our luggage and she was too heavy for me. She walked as far as she could before plopping herself on the floor in the middle of the airport. I begged her get up and walk but she flat out refused, and continued to cry sprawled out on the floor. after about 10 minutes of this a man walked up to me and asked where I was going. He was going to offer to help with my luggage while I picked up Hannah, but I told him we were going home out of the airport, and he said, "Well, sadly I can't help you with that, sorry." I really appreciated the kind gesture because everyone in the airport was watching us on both sides. After another couple of minutes of talking to Hannah trying to coax her into getting up Bekah and David walked up right behind us. David scooped Hannah up off the floor without missing a beat and carried her through the airport taking me to baggage claim even though they didn't need to go there. Hannah is a hefty 55-60 lbs so carrying her through the airport is no small feat. David carried her as far he could until his arms were going to fall off, and then he put her down and held her hand and she quietly walked beside him the rest of the way to meet up with Stephen. I am so grateful for our family and their willingness to help us. We have been so blessed, and loved our two weeks we got to spend with family.

I took this right before we landed. I loved seeing Grayson all snuggled up on Daddy's lap.