Summer 2016: In the beginning . . .

Happy Fathers Day! (He would be surprised to find all the wrapped Trader Joe meals left in the freezer for him to discover at home)

I'll admit, heading southward to the airport and Janie's house after such a joy-filled 50th Anniversary Celebration, I felt overwhelmed at the thoughts of sticking around another six weeks. Yeesh to the Imposing Moss Family.

We first spent the day in Logan with Darren's newly-returned-missionary nephew, which was just so fun. He delivered an awesome talk, full of confidence and faith.

Then, we headed down to Janie's where she wasn't expecting company. I still feel bad about adding stress to her overflowing plate. But, as always, she handled things like a champ and accomplished what she needed to do, even with the Imposing Moss Family.

Before Darren boarded the plane, we wanted to create a fun family memory so we stopped at Thanksgiving Point and did the ropes course at the Museum of Curiosity.

The pictures show a fun-filled morning in Lehi. I am glad Darren stayed an extra day. The part about this that I especially want to remember is that he wanted to be with me on the 20th of June which is a significant day for me.

The next morning, I went out for a jog. I took the path towards my nephew's school, which I felt pretty comfortable taking. The first run in this mountain setting was truly and literally breath-taking. I couldn't keep enough air in my sea-level-happy-lungs. I saw a guy ahead of me fiddling with his baby's stroller. When I passed by him, he called out, "Hello Colette". It was Cousin Clark!! What a great surprise! He was nice enough to keep at my pace for the rest of the jog and we had a great visit. He lives just a few blocks from my sister. Fun was had by all :-)

Sunday Discovery

I purposely kept the kids' blurred for privacy, I sure love 'em to pieces

Today has been a noteworthy day. First, I was released from my primary teaching calling. I am genuinely sad to not be a weekly part of these kids' lives and will miss teaching very much. One of the boys, whose birthday is in October (I've made a deal about visiting each kid for their birthday) asked me as he was leaving class, "You're still coming aren't you?"

I could go on and on about the many lessons primary kids have taught me over the past four years (!!). One of the girls I taught in my first batch of kids gave a talk as a youth speaker today. Time marches on doesn't it? The class she was in (four years ago), I felt strongly about the scripture that talks about the sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger, where they met up with one another after 14 years and find that "they were still brothers". I told her class they would stick with each other for the next 8 years of church life and someday feel the same way. I encouraged them all to "watch out for one another" and to "have each other's backs" as their friendship would be so valuable.

In one of the other classes, we had a visitor one day, share how he knew Heavenly Father loves him, which was that his dad was able to find a job.  I loved hearing these kids pray, especially when they included the children not present. One boy would say in his prayers, "Please bless our buddy, _____ that he can come next time." Another unforgettable lesson
 was when one boy shared a very scary near-drowning experience he'd had, concluding with the lesson: "We all need a rescuer".

One of the boys prayed today that I would do a good job in my new calling. Isn't that sweet? I had a big discussion with my class about being released. I asked the kids what they think I should have said when asked (by bishopric) to do a different assignment on Sundays. My faithful CTR class agreed I needed to say I would be willing to do a different assignment, even when it meant I wouldn't get to be with these good kids.

Aunt Karen and Uncle Mac

Also noteworthy on this Sunday, and certainly less reverent than what I wrote above:  after wearing this dress all summer on many occasions (I can only pack so many dresses for summer vacation you know), I discovered this morning I've been wearing it backwards all along (study these bottom pictures vs the top picture on this page). Chalk this one up to the many Colette Embarrassments.

Uncle Kenny and Aunt Diane

Aunt Myrna and Uncle Steve

I had these last three pictures taken at my parents' 50th in June. This past year, I have really wanted a picture with my aunts and uncles. I still need to get one with Uncle Heber and Aunt Nancy and do a re-take with Uncle Gaylin and Aunt Edna in addition to starting this process with Mom's brothers and sisters.

Costco

A few years ago, in primary class at church, the leaders posed the question to all of the young kids, "Where would you serve your mission if you could go anywhere you wanted?" One of the youngest kids in primary answered, "I would go to Costco".

The other day, while conversing with a teenager about his upcoming trip to Hawaii, I asked him what kinds of things he was going to do. After telling me he would "rest a lot" in Hawaii, he told me excitedly, "We are going to Costco!"

I think Costco has some kind of magical hold on the world. Is it the gigantic pizza slices? The berry smoothie? What could it be?

Super-Sized Summer 2016

Thus begins chronicling my summer travels. We drove over 3000 miles in our Toyota Highlander, with only a few chips in the windshield, countless car washes, and probably 25 tanksfull of gas to speak of the trip :-). So, I need to get this stuff written down or it will continue to seem as though it were a dream.

First on the agenda: get to Idaho ASAP for Mom and Dad's pseudo 50th wedding anniversary (actual date would be September 12th). After learning results from Mom's most recent scan (more cancer in more places), we (sisters and family) put the anniversary celebration into high gear, moving the date up 3 months.

I say, "ASAP" because my children were still in school up until the 15th of June, the celebration was to be the 18th of June. It takes a day of travel to get there. Needless to say, going through all the end-of-year hoopla in addition to planning a 50th wedding anniversary, AND preparing my family for a six-week long stay was pretty stressful.

Wow though, just WOW! The 50th was sure an amazing, miraculous event. I can't describe the level of joy and satisfaction that drifted throughout the room. My mom, the rock star, was able to make it through the entire reception, and then some! She joined the family that evening for dinner at Curt's house!

The decorations looked simply amazing.

 The entertainment (grandkids playing flute, piano, violin) was just perfect and the guests -- oh the wonderful guests (seems like we served 300 pieces of cake)! It was such a happy occasion and everyone was smiling and sharing his or her happiness of being a part of Mom and Dad's life. For days and weeks after, any one of us family members could be found saying, "I can't believe ______ made it to the celebration". Friends and family traveled from far and wide.

We couldn't have asked for a better occasion. This event is one of those that will linger in our hearts and make us smile forever.

Happy Valentines Day!

Today is February 29th, 2016, technically an "extra" day so with this extra day I will write a post which belonged on here a few weeks ago.

My good mother-in-law loves to send the kids little fun "I'm thinking of you" mementos on holidays. She comes up with original items and always includes a loving note.

This year she came up with what I think is the perfect, manly valentine for my almost-man son :-). This thing freaked me out a number of times while sitting on my counter, so that's a win too.

You can see the fur right?

Wouldn't this spell L-O-V-E for you?

Update 09-24-2026  - the image has gone away. It was of a furry big foot type monster with real-looking hair. It was a Grandma Moss classic.