The Utah Visit - part one - Saturday and Sunday

Saturday - Travel Fun 

Goodness! First of all, finding the right window to book your travel and optimize your travel dollars... this is a game I don't know how to play! Originally I wanted to fly into Salt Lake City, not sure whether I would take the girls to St George, or if the St George people would come up to us. I wanted to take the girls down to St George - but July, in St George?!?! Anyway, by the time we finally booked flights, the cheapest flights were with layovers in and out of Las Vegas. So that's what we did. 

We woke up at 3:00 am on Saturday, got to the airport just after 4 and we were sitting at the gate waiting for the flight at 5:25ish. The first flight departed Toronto at 7:00 am, landing in Chicago 7:55 am local time. Our flight out of Toronto was slightly delayed, but the weather conditions were great so we landed almost on time. The flight was great - the flight attendants were so, so nice. So kind, so welcoming and just generally lovely. Fiona, Alice and I sat in the back row in front of the bathrooms, and Kate sat across the aisle from us with an entire row to herself.

Fiona was adorable - enjoying the flight! The take-off that is. Take off is the best in my opinion. She flew for the first time four years ago. I'm not sure how much she really remembered it.

Once we landed in Chicago we had a 20 minutes walk from one area to another. The Chicago airport is really pretty. There was a really cool tunnel thing that we went through.

On the schedule there was 2.5 hours between flights, but factor in a slight delay, walking from one part to the other, bathroom time, we had to wait just over an hour - it was good. We found a spot to charge our devices in the gate area and we spread out comfortably waiting for the next leg. (Except that Alice forgot her device in the back of the Pilot when we were driving to the airport!)

Our next flight was longer, but just as pleasant as the first. We didn't get quite as chummy with the cabin crew but everything was all good. The better thing I suppose is that everyone had entertainment downloaded. I didn't realize that the inflight entertainment for United was your own device with downloaded material. That was kind of a disappointment, but also fine! I loaned Alice my phone and she enjoyed watching Hamilton on my phone, and the window seat... we were sitting three and one again, but this time Kate didn't have a row to herself. (In retrospect, I should have asked for the window seat, since Alice had my phone...but Alice did take fun pictures for me!)

Gluten free treats!! And they were vegan too - so no dairy! Made my heart happy - and the fact that they tasted good was the icing on the cake!

Slot machines in the airport - weird and sad! 

We had to take a tram from one terminal to another. It was kind of fun.

Getting the rental car wasn't the most fun... We had to take a shuttle to the rental car place - all the companies were in a building off site from the airport. It was super super hot waiting outside in line for the shuttle. We didn't have to wait very long so that was good. There was an uncomfortable exchange between the shuttle driver and one of the people waiting in line - thankfully that was all it was, an uncomfortable exchange! When we got to the rental place I got talked into upsizing and spending more money which as soon as I walked away from the counter I was super mad at myself for. Super mad. Anyway, we got the car and then we just sat for a minute. We were all so tired, and we got ourselves organized for the drive to St George. I was also texting Jon. Jon was dropping off his nephew Max on Michelle's side at the airport in Vegas and he brought Seth and Lovey with him. 

The timing lined up pretty well, and after getting the rental car, we met them at a pizza place called Blaze Pizza that has a gluten free crust - which also happened to be across the parking lot from Raising Cain - a friend chicken place with no gf options - Seth and Lovey were dying for Raising Cain! After eating, chatting and catching up a little we switched some kids - Kate went with Jon and Lovey, and Seth came with Alice, Fiona and I and we were off to St George.

The drive to St George was exciting because I didn't realize we'd go through Arizona to get to Utah and because we had Seth in the car! We went through a cool mountain pass - not high up - but steep mountain sides called the Gorge. I felt so scared lol. And on the way into St George Jon took us past the new temple - Red Cliffs Utah Temple - set to be dedicated later this year, and the original St George Temple set to be re-dedicated after extensive renovations, next year ish. Being near so many temples makes me so happy.

And then we were home! Jon and Michelle's home - home base until Wednesday.

This used to be in my Grandma and Papa's kitchen - my Dad's Mom - Helen, and step-dad Jack Hemmings. I had forgotten about it and it made my heart so happy to see it. 

We were all crazy tired but we managed to stay up until 9 pm. We all hunkered down in Seth's room - Fiona and I in the bed, and Kate and Alice on mattresses on the floor and we were asleep by 9:30 ish. 

Sunday - A missionary church day

The girls and I woke up pretty early, and enjoyed being outside when it was nice out! It was somewhere in the 80s when we woke up. We said hello to the chickens and just enjoyed being outside without dying! The heat in Las Vegas was unreal. St George is a handful of degrees cooler lol.

We had 9 am church online - Joey gave his farewell talk. He was the second speaker and he did such a great job. I took my obligatory nephew selfie/tv shot! Joey sounded so mature, so ready, so spiritually prepared. I loved his thoughts about his Savior Jesus Christ.

Rubix cube fun!

After first church - online to watch Joe, it was time to go to Jon and Michelle's ward. Their chapel is at the end of their street - but we all drove because it's so hot! It's pioneer day tomorrow and the speakers - a husband a wife new to the ward - spoke. The husband spoke about the attributes of the pioneers. Before launching into his talk, he encouraged us to pause and reflect and think about the attributes we think of. I thought of tenacity. He spoke about faith first. Jon was the impromptu concluding speaker. He messaged to the bishop to ask to fill the final five minutes of the meeting. Michelle had told him to bear his testimony last fast Sunday, and Jon waved her off thinking he had one more fast Sunday with Marcus. He bore a beautiful testimony and it was lovely to hear my brother. He's a good man.

After church we came home for a minute - dropped off Kate, Marcus picked up his car - the last time driving by himself for two years, and we headed over to the stake centre for Marcus to be set apart as a missionary! We waited for a fair amount of time, which was fine for me, but Alice and Fiona sure got a little antsy! The wait was worth it though. 

His Stake President, President Clove was so lovely. He spoke for  quite a bit giving Marcus words of encouragement and counsel. After giving counsel he asked Marcus's immediate family and Grandma for advice. 

President Clove

1) Ask for the best missionary in the mission to be your companion
2) Work hard, be obedient, and learn to have fun doing the work.
3) When the work is hard ask the Lord to show you a better way.

Advice from
Seth - get along with your companion
Lovey - your mission companion was raised differently then you, there's more than one good way to do something
Dad - stay close to the spirit, learn to follow the promptings of the Spirit - as you follow, more promptings will come.
Grandma - stay close to the spirit, don't complain to your mission president
Mom - stay close to the spirit, stay close to the Jesus Christ because his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Then there was some napping.

The chickens hang out near the door - they can feel the cool - and it's amusing to have chickens out the window!

Fiona had her nails done! (Thanks Lovey!) And as per the Stake Presidents advice we watched a movie called "The Errand of Angels" about the experiences of a sister missionary in Austria.

Our first full day in St George was so lovely! Marcus starts home MTC tomorrow. Happy times!

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again

I've been listening to a book by Johann Hari, the title is listed above. It's fascinating and overwhelming. I'm going to list the chapter titles and then maybe add some thoughts.

Chapter 1: Cause One: The Increase in Speed, Switching and Filtering

Chapter 2: Cause Two: The Crippling of Our Flow States

Chapter 3: Cause Three: The Rise of Physical and Mental Exhaustion

Chapter 4: Cause Four: The Collapse of Sustained Reading

Chapter 5: Cause Five: The Disruption of Mind-Wandering

Chapter 6: Cause Six: The Rise of Technology That Can Track and Manipulate You (Part One)

Chapter 7: Cause Six: The Rise of Technology That Can Track and Manipulate You (Part Two)

Chapter 8: Cause Seven: The Rise of Cruel Optimism

Chapter 9: The First Glimpses of the Deeper Solution

Chapter 10: Cause Eight: The Surge in Stress and How It Is Triggering Vigilance

Chapter 11: The Places That Figured Out How to Reverse the Surge in Speed and Exhaustion

Chapter 12: Causes Nine and Ten: Our Deteriorating Diets and Rising Pollution

Chapter 13: Cause Eleven: The Rise of ADHD and How We Are Responding to it

Chapter 14: Cause Twelve: The Confinement of Our Children, Both Physically and Psychologically

Conclusion: Attention Rebellion

This book is going to stay with me for a long time. There were times that it felt a little hysterical. Other times that I felt very hopeless listening to it. But other times it felt profound and so thought provoking. All the way along I've thought - I should write that down - but I didn't. 

Take-aways that I remember:
 - alerts - turn as many alerts on your phone off as possible
 - social media - their whole reason for being is to keep people online as much as possible
 - being distracted by phones causes students test scores/academic performance to decrease dramatically
 - ADHD - the rise in diagnosis - what are we doing to children - children have such little freedom, they don't play enough - their diets consist of highly processed food - is there really as high an incidence of adhd or is society set up to destroy the attention of children
- there are things that we can do and responsibility that we can take over our lack of focus, but there are so many things about the way our society works that destroy our focus

The author of the book was encouraging people to find an organization that is working towards societal change in one of the many different areas that he talked about and support the movement. Work towards the change that you want to see. He has a whole website dedicated to the book which I'm putting here so if I want to find it again, I can.

https://stolenfocusbook.com/  

Kate the Volunteer

My Kate! She's becoming her very own Kate. My. I wasn't going to write about MY but maybe I should... I've always been extremely possessive. There is a story about me that my mom would repeat to me fairly often when I was younger. We were visiting a friend of hers. Suzanne was maybe one and I was maybe three? In any case one of the little girls that we were playing with tried to do something to/with Suzanne and I bit her in the face because Suzanne was mine. I'm no longer rabid (jk) but I do still feel very strongly about MY people.

Kate is MINE!! She is my child, my daughter, flesh of my flesh, love of my heart in human form - all my children are this. But she always has been, and always will be her own person - all of the girls are! I know this. 

As Kate has been learning about all that's required of her in high school one of the things that she wanted was to earn volunteer hours this summer. Last summer our friends the Tokarevs told us about Marisol's service hour achievements. She earned all 40 hours volunteering at a town run day camp in the summer before grade 9. An idea was born - not so much camp - Kate regularly declares that she hates children, but the idea that she could attain all or some of her community service hours before officially starting high school.

She told me that she wanted to do community service. I asked her where. She didn't know, I didn't know. Then I remembered Marisol, and I reached out to the town of Ajax to see what our options were. I got an email back about a program that was one week of paid leadership training and one week of service. Kate would earn 20 hours after two weeks. I didn't love the idea of paying for service, but was open to it if Kate really wanted to do it, but something held me back from signing her up.

One day during the school year - maybe May? I was sitting at my desk in my classroom on prep and an email came through from the girls school about camps. I usually always look at the school emails, but if it doesn't apply to me or the girls, I just delete. This day I actually downloaded the flyers from the camps in the community because I felt prompted to do so. As I was skimming and scanning them a "volunteers needed" note on one of the flyers popped out at me. It was a French day camp in Pickering. I sent an email and so began a back and forth that led to Kate becoming a volunteer at Xploration Day Camp in Pickering for three weeks. 

Not only did she earn 60 hours of community service, she also received first aid training - an extra course offered to staff and volunteers, she received a lovely reference letter from the camp director, and she's made some new friends, and she learned she doesn't hate children! (But they are a lot of work!) I'm so so so proud of Kate. She consistently pushes herself out of her comfort zone and makes her Mama so proud! I'm so proud of MY Kate! Today is her last day of volunteering, tomorrow we pack and then Saturday we're off to Utah... the whirlwind summer continues!

Alice the Camper

Alice had the opportunity to go to Young Women's camp this year. At church, the year girls turn 12 they are considered Young Women and they graduate from the primary program and begin the youth program. Every summer for a few days the girls go to Thomas S. Monson Camp and have a special camp. Alice was excited to go and check it out. (Kate didn't go this year, she vowed never to go again after last year - she went once - the mosquitos won that battle.)

Alice was super nervous but also excited. There was a pretty big group that went from our ward, considering that there are only 6-7 girls that come regularly. 

Alice loved the food and the activities. She didn't love the swim test - having to put her face in the water. Her favourite part of girls camp though was the testimony meeting. Her testimony was strengthened. She made some new friends, and she had a great time! The proof, she's excited to go back next year!

Fun side bonus! Alice's cousin Rachael was at camp the same week and Alice got a drive home from her Auntie Lisa.

Kate's Half Birthday

This is the half birthday of no record... Seed cookies were bought and they were consumed, but there is no photographic record of this. Kate is 14.5 and there is no record!