or some strange reason Wasatch Waldorf lets first graders out one hour before the rest of the school. So that's fun for the parents that have first graders and older grade kids. 3 other moms and I started doing a carpool where we each pick up one day and hang out at the park with the 4 kids until the older kids get out of school. Which seems easy enough. But sometimes 6 year olds don't really stay together and sometimes I bring Sandie to hang out too. It can be a bit of a circus. Also I think its an awesome way for those kids to end school getting to play at a park everyday for an hour. Lucas comes home happy every day. I should probably thank the school. Wes and Amanda facetimed me last night for awhile about something and per usual I was rolling on the floor laughing. Wes can't stop won't stop. He is so funny. I will be so sad when they don't live here anymore. I'm still working on convincing them. Tuesday night was senior night/last game of the volleyball season. They did not make it to the state playoffs which is pretty sad and total bummer. They started off the season playing so well (I think they won 6 games right off the bat) and then just struggled being consistent particularly the last 6-7 games. For the most part Hallie has played super good this season and really been pushed in a lot of ways. It has been sometimes a mental battle to stay confident and not getting in her head about things. She is a great player. I am not a big fan of one sport in high school. I see kids burning out over and over by junior year. and also schools make it pretty hard to do it any other way. But I disagree with it. I think you are better all around when you have a physical and mental break from a certain sport and coaches and play something else. This week phones have been on my mind a lot. I've read the book "The Anxious Generation"the last few weeks that has been recommended so many times to me and read a lot more research on "play-based childhoods". (our oldest three really truly had a play based childhood pretty easily. It has felt harder but we are still trying with last 3 kids). I feel sad for Blake every once in awhile because he is kept out of the loop not having a phone. I don't personally know anyone else his age that doesn't have some type of phone. But also there have been a few instances just this week where he told me how much drama was happening with friends about Halloween parties and being invited and stuff that was said to each other among a bunch of his friends that he largely was not a part of. AND once you have a phone, you've started that journey of the pros and cons that we all deal with having them and being distracted or wasting time or having to be too connected and holding off on that while he gets a bit older still feels right. Friday night last second we got to hang out with some of the Jordans (They were here so they could fly out Saturday morning to FL for a reunion). Jeff and Anna are these best. we have spent so much time with them for such a long time that its just so comfortable and fun! We went to get Thai food and then icecream and sat in the car just laughing about things. Ryan and JEff are pretty funny together. Saturday Ryan went golfing with several neighbors and I went hiking with Clara (she's the only one I could get out of bed;)) and Sandie. It was a perfect day to be in the mountains for all of us. Amazing weather for this time of year. Clara and I hiked up Heughs Canyon to a waterfall. It was a little under 4 miles I think. Sandie was in heaven. I lost her leash on the hike and ended the hike with a lady yelling at me about my dog being off a leash (that was less optimal;)). I love hanging out with Clara. she is such a chatter and always is so interesting. WE talked a lot about Buddhism(she is studying Indian culture and some about religion and their Gods at school and told me the whole story about how Siddhartha became Buddha and then what life is like for Buddhist monks). I have been taking a worlds religion course online from Dave Butler and it was amazing to me how much CLara knew. Hallie had Monster Mash last night and basically ended up being the planner for their group (sidenote: WHY is planning such a struggle for teenagers. Don't they want things to be planned out and awesome?)6 couples--she went with Jonah Craft. They did scavenger hunt/hide n seek at the mall for their day date, got ready here, pics at Wheeler Farm and then dinner here at our house and then teh dance and an after party at Cora's house (games and movie). I haven't even talked to her about it yet it was last night. She and Jonah went as Ken and Barbie. Ryan, the younger kids and us all watched the BYU game (!!!) and then went to a reception for our good friends from NH, the Spencers. Their daughter Nycoel the was BBFS with Aubrie in NH got married last night here in Riverton. It was fun to see all of them and catch up with some NH peeps. Just love them! Slightly weird to feel like Aubrie's friends can be getting married. Nycole is 20 too. tomorrow we are getting a fireplace replaced upstairs so we will have a working industrial gas insert upstairs and we can be SO much warmer in the winter. I have been counting down the days. We got a good deal through a contact of Helamans. (also, we have paid Helaman to draw up the plans for an addition to the back fo the house and maybe over the garage. We've talked to him several times now over after sending the scans of the original drawings of this house and hes's been here several times to take measurements etc.). I look forward to having a dining room in the future! We threw a Halloween pArty for YW that was pretty good! We love you all so much! Aubrie and Robbie I was on cloud 9 after talking to you on Monday. You both just sounded so happy and dialed in. I am SOOOO grateful you are both missionaries. It is changing your lives and your being an instrument in changing other lives. I just can't be more thankful. Thank you for all the effort your making to be good missionaries. Love, Mama I threw in some classics from Halloweens past for fun!

fire week

Sacrament meeting was fire today. I loved it. The trio of Elders that are new to this area spoke in church (one is from the Calls home ward and Ashley's long-time crush) and it was an excellent meeting. I had to reach out to his parents to tell them some of what he shared in his talk. There is a spiritual maturity in what they shared about charity and personal examples of how they have learned more about charity. One thing I liked he said "I don't know if you realized when you walked through the chapel doors today into sacrament meeting you chose God. He is so glad you are here." That is what it means to be at church. It was just good. I find my mind and heart turned more than since I was a missionary myself to thinking about gathering, smart, and efficient missionary work and how LUCKY to be able to serve. I cannot WAIT to do it again. It maybe gets glorified in our heads sometimes, and I distinctly remember how many days felt when there wasn't a specific thing planned and we had to be "out". and also just how happy I felt to be a missionary and doing great things, and learning so much. It is the best work! Today in Sunday school I was reminded about the power of keeping a record. I have liked journaling since I was gifted my first journal on my baptism day. I have been pretty good at it my whole life (for sure better at it than other times). But it's so hard to remember without it being written down. we think we will never forget how we felt in a meeting or playing a song and singing on the piano or sharing in a lesson, or a specific experience with one of our kids. But we just don't remember it very well usually without recording it. Katie Poulsen was teaching the lesson. She lost both her parents before she was 30. She said "I lost my dad at 27. He kept a daily journal from his mission throughout his life until he passed away at 65. He wrote about being the first bishop of this ward we are in, and had just opened a dental practice and had 5 youngish kids. that's what stage I am in now in my life. I can't visit my dad and get advice from him now, but I can read his journals and hear about the day-to-day. I love it so much!" (what a testimony). She said, "What questions would the Lord ask you if he read your journal or recordings?" Katie also shared parts of President Nelsons most recent Conference talk (Which was a favorite) and how SO many prophecies we read about in 2 Nephi 2--26 have been fulfilled or restored. And that what we are doing now is "ushering in the Lord". Which means lots of temple work. Right after President Nelson announced 17 new temples he said "do you see what is happening right before our eyes? I pray that we will not miss the majesty of this moment! The Lord is hastening His work...why are we building temples at an unprecedented rate....the Lord has instructed us to do so....the blessings of the temple help PREPARE a people will PREPARE the world for the Second COming of the Lord" I went back to reread President Nelson's talk and when you look at it like--were here, at the cusp of the Second Coming....the talk just screams at you. "Here is my promise to you: EVERY sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find Him in the temple". "the most crucial questions we each must answer is this: TO WHOM OR WHAT WILL I GIVE MY LIFE?" Anyway--go read it 12 times! This was a week of making food for me. We threw a baby shower for Tara and baby Cole, made team dinner for the VB team, faculty lunch at the kids school and then all the Elders for dinner tonight. All good things! The baby shower was so sweet. 40 people came and we all brought our favorite children's books with inscriptions in the front of them of WHY and made a little library for their family. see the pic of Dad presenting in Seattle this last week. He is like a "speaker rockstar". Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall and watch him. He was at Lucas' soccer game talking to himself the other day running through his presentation. I told him all of this memorization is going to add 15 years onto his brain life. I went hiking with Pamela Simon and some friends for her 40th birthday. An early morning fall hike are just so perfect. The colors are finally popping here. Ryan and I went to the BYU football game on Friday night. there was popcorn, soda, people all thrown around the last 30 seconds of the game in pure excitement. It was so. much. fun. We got home at 1:30 and then we had to rewatch the last few minutes with Blake and Hallie (Again) to see it from TV perspective. It was an awesome win. Saturday night about 40 of us all went to the BYU v Utah women VB game. They are both top 25 teams and it was a sold out game. We all were so into it. And it went to 5 sets and BYU won the 5th set 15-13. It was a close game the entire time. I love watching vb so much! our rivalry with Catons continued with a BYU VB sticker on the back of their car window (hopefully they don't notice it for a long while) and a large Y on the lawn with toilet paper. This was at 11:00 PM. Then Ryan and Blake stayed up to watch GA beat Texas (sorry kaden and Cara). but not really. -BLAKE-_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This week was very fun. Mom and Dad went to the BYU game against Oklahoma St and I went to Lagoon that afternoon with my friends Henry, and Kormac, We left pretty quickly because it was very cold so we got back and me and Hallie were watching the game after we put Clara, and Lucas to sleep and we were going crazy, we were jumping up and down on the couch (sorry mom and dad). On Saturday we went to the BYU volleyball game against UTAH and it went to five sets, I invited three kids from my volleyball team, all the Pratts came, Wes and Amanda, one of the kids I invited's family came. we went and hiked the Y and then ate at the cannon center and then went to the game we WON!!!!!! and after we went and TP'ed (toilet papered) the Catons (our neighbor) cause we won and to get them back from them putting the UTAH flag in our tree. we invited the missionaries over for dinner today to meet them. so ya hope yall are doing well, LOVE U MUCHO ❤️❤️❤️🫰🤟 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Clara- I hope all of you are having an amazing time being missionaries some highlights from the past month- I got the part of party girl for the Nutcracker, I won my soccer game (8-0) and me and Abby both scored goals😃 also I invited my friend Izabella to church today it was a lot of fun. Love all of you guys 🫰🩷💕🫶🥰😍❤️

"holas all around"

This morning I was on Family Search with our kids just exploring trying to learn more about it and Hallie was in the bathroom listening to Sunday music and getting ready for church and received a text from our neighbor (I think) that said:I'm sorry to bother you I'm in my office upstairs and on work calls nad the music from the bedroom and some banging is so loud that people I'm working with in the online. meeting can hear it too.  I haven't said anything before bt its been hard to overlook.  Would you mind helping us with the volume? Thanks so much Now there have been at least 2000 times that a phone call felt imminent for us from a neighbor because of the decibel level at our house (a party or a "concert" shower) but this morning was just not one of them.  It left me VERY concerned that such a quiet morning warranted the text.  How mad have they quietly been at us for 10 years.  Also, I don't have the number saved in my phone so its not any of our close neighbors.  Good times good times.  This coming week starts the beginning of Ryan's travel for the season.  I've been a little dreading it, but so far no international travel and that feels nice.   It was fall break for Hallie and it kind of rubbed off on the other kids ;).  Friday Hallie was in Vernal playing VB so the other three kids and I joined the Pratts at the Snowline to swim and then both of our families went to Cross E Ranch and just did all the fall things there, corn pit, corn mazes, huge slides, these fun jumping mats, swings, ropes course, apple cider donuts and after dark they had Top Gun 2 playing on the side of the barn.  It was so enjoyable and really nice weather.  Its still so warm here--like 85.  But its supposed to be 50 this coming week so here we go.  Saturday was Harvest Festival (the huge event every year at Wasatch) and the kids sang and we went to see all the vendors and do the crafts, Blakes soccer game with Dave coaching, BYU game with Lucas, Ryan and all the Pratts (AND A HUGE WIN 6-0 baby!). Side note: BYU football is super fun this year!  (Robbie could you hear the stadium from the MTC.  That happened to me when I was in the MTC and it was a little painful for me to hear and not be able to be there!), Hallie planned a fun night for everyone while Ryan was at a baptism.  We went on a walk up the canyon and then bought fall treats and watched Hotel Transylvania outside on the projector.   Today Bonnie Johnson gave such a good talk about Jesus Christ and the power of the Atonement.  I have learned so much about the power of Faith being her neighbor.  I LOVE our conversations.  She's basically like my aunt.  She just talks to HeavenLY FATHER whenever she feels stuck or not sure what she should do next or who needs help or whatever.  I have talked to her about so many instances when she just prays and the Lord tells her something and she just moves on it.  Over and over.  I think about it pretty regularly and feel inspired to do the same and live so close to the Spirit and just ask for specific help/guidance or answers.  She had reached out 1.5 weeks before Youth COnference because she felt like she should to see if they needed an assistant for the food.  They asked her To DO the food.  All of it.  She felt pretty overwhelmed but she said yes and immediately prayed to ask who could help her.  She felt inspired to ask this woman in our neighborhood that we all know sweetest woman.  She is not a member of our Church.  She asked her anyway that same day and Mia said yes and she was there at Youth COnference joining in with it all and serving and being helpful.  So amazing to me.  I was there at YC and saw it all but still fun to hear her tell the story today.  I had a few extremely hard conversations this week and felt so sad about them.  It was amazing how fervent my prayers immediately became.  I wish experiences don't have to bring us to our knees, but they sure do.  It's almost tangible how much faith I have tried to pray with for something that I think is right.  I read this verse this week while I was studying and felt THAT. ;)

Ryan stays super super busy with Bishop/ward stuff as well as prepping for this new speaking Tour for work.  And when he's not doing those things, I feel like he's harvesting things out of the garden.  Its the best that he does it.  He pretty much exclusively makes sure everything gets picked.  He and Clara did all the grapes and then I made juice out of them.  He's made several batches of spaghetti sauce, and I made 14-15 jars of fermented salsa.  Gardens are a slice of heaven!  I am glad you're enjoying your mini sprouts garden Aubrie.  I am pretty sure Robbie is going to ask me for a mini sprouts garden here pretty quick ;). You are all so missed!  Especially you Aubrie and Robbie!  It's much quieter here (well obviously not according to our neighbor), but it feels like it.   I just want to know EVERY little thing about what you are doing and feeling and experiencing and I know I can't and that's totally good.  I just wish!! Love you all muchisimo!

MTC or BUST for Bob

So many things happen in one week, and I have to go back and look at our family calendar to even write these emails.   This past week felt a little BIGGER of a week than normal.  the virtual MTC devotional last Sunday was actually good at getting us all a lot more excited about the MTC experience.  I was glad we all listened in.   Full week of practices and games for soccer, volleyball, and ballet AND GUITAR (finally Blake started lessons with James' teacher and is LOVING IT even 2 weeks in! He has been so diligent learning through Youtube for several months we decided to get a teacher.  highlights of that: Clara was chosen this week out of the Party Girls by the judges to have an extra dance with Clara in the Nutcracker and she is just so excited about all the stage time and feeling older and more capable, Hallie played so hard in a game this week it felt like she was just so mentally in the game and we were proud of that.  Ill attach a video of one of her swings.  Robbie and I spent several hours going through all of his stuff and deciding what to get rid of, keep in bins for 2 years and what to pack.  He wanted to take one big bag and then this large backpack so we were really stuffing things in there to make it all fit.  Most of this week felt pretty surreal.  What are you supposed to do with someone that's meaningful if you aren't going to see them for 2 years.  I felt the same way with you Aubrie too.  What advice or last-minute conversation would be important?  And I kind of get stuck "loving" you kids by trying to make sure you have every vitamin, bandage and highlighter you could need while your gone.  Its how I funnel loving you I guess before you have left.  Robbie MOSTLY took it in stride even though he was thinking "how is this necessary".  Wednesday was drop off day. Kids stayed home from school and we all twiddles our thumbs/ate/packed waiting for 11:00 to arrive so we could head down to Provo, we ate at 180 Tacos and drove over to the MTC down the ramp and within 5 minutes were headed on our way out.  Its all very fast.  It was hard to give Robbie a last hug.  We were all feeling emotional.  THe car was dead silent most of the hour long ride home.  I looked back after 5 minutes and Lucas was looking out the window and had a few tears rolling down his cheeks.  It just broke my heart for him.  I pulled him up into the front seat to hug him and just feel sad together.  Man its hard to be the youngest and have your siblings leave you one by one.  40 minutes later he says to the van "I still miss Robbie!"  (time means nothing when you are 6) From the few words we've heard from Robbie it sounds like the MTC has already just been LIT ;).  We are trying not to feel pride (truly) but its kind of hard when you are both so awesome and chose to serve missions and are willing to try your hardest and be humble.  Ashley and Tyler spent the weekend here for Conference and we didnt have to have a quieter house for too long;) Ryan etc went to Saturday afternoon session and Clara, her friend Lola (not a member) and I went this morning.  I felt lucky to attend Elder Holland, Budge and Wilcox's talks.  I was furiously writing down ideas of things I want to do better at.  -I think we have leveled up our temple attendance since last conference and can again these next 6 months. I want to consider working there once a week in the morning. I'll figure that out in a few weeks.   -How can I be more focused and mindful during the time I/we have already set aside for communion with Heavenly Parents.  Instead of trying to find MORE time, use the time we've already designated better (sacrament meeting, temple visits, pray (spend more time BEING with God than taking AT Him), etc) -Elder Wilcox... . I couldn't take in fast enough what he was laying down. He was speaking pretty intensely to the youth/YSA. His analogy of being on a cruise ship with passengers and the crew, also quoted a sister from previous Conference talk "you cannot be a lifeguard if you look like all the swimmers".  "Dont let the world change you when you were meant to change the world" "Your commitments demand MOre of you because God is making more of you" "are you better than others because you are different (covenant keepers)? NO, but you have a responsibility to help OTHERS be better".  So many fantastic one-liners.   -When trying to INFLUENCE someone, its tempting to do/say something sensational-but the Spirit can ONLY testify of Truth. ONLY. There is safety in simple teaching (Elder Eyring) -President Nelson called on us to: rededicate my life to Jesus Christ--TODAYHelp gather IsraelTalk, testify and rejoice in Christ -Invitations from President Nelson-Discipleship should be our HIGHEST priority and regular time in the temple will help us do that.  Use the words from this Conference to be a litmus test for the next 6 months.  Okay, this is turning super lengthy. Two last fun items. Gillespies had their baby this week!  Cute little Paul!  He looks just like their other kids.  She had him all natural at a birthing center and it was awesome sounds like. She is so deliberate about things in her/their lives.  Its so exciting to have a new baby in your home.  We all can't wait to hold him! Also,  Ryan planned a date night Friday with Wes and Amanda and we headed to Cherry Hill farm to go apple picking (don't worry it was still 85 degrees don't feel homesick). Then found an awesome park and played pickleball for a long time and then grabbed tacos after and talked for a long time.  Wes told us he was let go (along with many others) from his job last week and we talked through some of the decisions that he and Amanda are making now (just go hard on school and not work which means she likely needs to find a new job).  Love each of you SO much!  You are prayed for ALL. THE. TIME.  Amber From Blake:-Sogger and Aub- This week we had conference and I also hung out with my friend so that was lit I'm really excited to get to talk to u tomorrow/today idk when you get this Me, Xander, and James have been building our greatest creation yet, we took apart the pratts three-wheeled drift cart and are building a sled trik. I'll send some pics, The pratts had some broken skis and/or just one ski so we cut them and made three skis so they could fit on the sled.