The Almost Forgotten Half Birthday

After Kate's mostly forgotten half birthday I suppose that it shouldn't surprise me that I completely spaced Alice's. We were saying goodbye, Alice sleeping over with Lauren, and I took a selfie. I think Alice might have thought that this meant that I remembered, because she asked me why I wanted to take a selfie. When I said (jokingly) it was incase I never saw her again, Alice asked me what the date was. I told her I knew it was August and I knew it was Monday but I didn't know the date. She told me it was the 21st and nothing registered. And then I looked at her face. And then suddenly it dawned on me. It was Alice's half-birthday and I had completely forgotten. I felt so so so badly. It made me so sad. I love this little family tradition and I do not want it to die! 

The just in case I never see you again selfie.

Alice's devastation that I forgot. You can't see my heart breaking in this picture, but it did break.

The next day, Alice still not forgiving me.

Alice's Wakefield Bakery half birthday mini cake. Lemon and blueberry with cream.

I think I'm finally mostly forgiven.

I really don't want this family tradition to die. I put the half birthdays in my calendar with reminders so that this oversight will not happen again! I love my Alice and I love my Kate, so so so much. And I love our half birthday tradition! 
 

FSY

This year Kate had the opportunity to attend FSY - For the Strengthen of Youth conference at Brock University campus in St. Catherine's, Ontario.

I dropped off Kate at the Stake Centre in Oshawa on Monday morning. The stake organized a bus for transporting all the youth to St. Catherine's - I was super excited about this! Kate not as much since it wasn't a coach bus, only a school bus.

Kate's Words:

Monday

I checked into my dorm room and met my counselor and company. We had orientation and set some goals. Company goals: Spiritual - study the scriptures during free time, at least one verse per day. Social - make five more friends and speak to a new person everyday. Physical - do ten pushups if you forget something. Intellectual - learn one new interesting fact about someone. My goals: Spiritual - read Numbers 22 every day. Social - talk to people. Physical - stretch in the morning. Intellectual - learn more about Brock University.

During the first R&R (reflect and review) I was on my phone and I started laughing really hard at a meme that I saw and everyone started laughing really hard too, even though they didn't know what I was laughing at. It was actually really embarrassing. 

Tuesday

We had classes - we had a lot of classes. I got lost. A lot of people got lost. We had a dance and I hid behind a vending machine and scared people. 

For my first two morning classes I didn't take any notes because they were really boring, but the teacher did a really cool ninja demonstration in the first class. My first afternoon class was the warn, invite, nurture - what Jesus does sometimes. Jesus gives a warning, an invite and a nurturing thing. For the second afternoon class I actually paid attention: A true friend is one who cares, listens. A true friend is a person who is willing to take me as I am but leave me better than I was. Show me your friends and I'll show you your future. 

Wednesday

We had more classes. We had games night and pizza. With the games night we had the cheer off. 

For the first morning class I paid so little attention that I didn't even remember the dude's name. For the second morning class there was a parallel between "I Am" "Je Suis" and "Jesus" because some of the bible was translated from French to English because of some weird French church thingy and I thought that was really cool because I speak French. And there was also something about paraphrasing and how it can help you understand the scriptures better. For the two afternoon classes I remember feeling really out of it, so I didn't take any notes.

For games night we played four games: dragon run, tree log bridge, in and out and crossing the sweetwater. We played in and out first and it was just running and holding hands, it was kind of weird. Then we played dragon run and I nearly got my arms ripped off because everyone was way taller and faster than me. Then we played tree log bridge, and I was the first log and it took a lot of trust because I had to trust that people would jump over me and not onto me, I have been jumped on before 0/10 experience, would not recommend. We played crossing the sweetwater and I had to pretend that the side I was being taken from was a candy store and I was a kid and I really didn't want to be taken away from that candy store. I basically got dragged across the field because I was not strong enough to resist the rescue team. I sat there wondering if anyone actually escaped the rescue team and ran away and I witnessed it happen in front of my eyes and it was very entertaining. For the cheer off - my company built a temple out of our bodies and I was one of the doors, because I was probably the second shortest. We had pizza later that night and it was really delicious because it was gluten free, but the crust was as hard as a rock and the cheese kept coming off.

Thursday

This was the worst day in my opinion. We had to wear Sunday clothes all day long, sit through a lot of devotionals and activities that I'm pretty sure were meant to be fun but were just boring, annoying and tedious. 

During the variety show I felt really terrible. It was loud and crowded and sweaty and I didn't have a backrest and I hadn't eaten a single thing that day. I went and sat outside for a while and lost all feeling in my butt (a common occurrence throughout the week of FSY).

At dinner I talked to one of the health coordinators and told them that I had a headache so that I could go back to my dorm. I was planning on staying there for the entire night and not showing my face at all, but I came back in time for the end of the musical program and the evening devotional as per the request of Lori LaFrance. That day was kind of hard, really hard, but I didn't die, and that's something.

We also had the testimony meeting on Thursday. I watched SpongeBob on my phone because I was really tired.

Friday

I remembered what it felt like to wear normal clothes again. We did this weird sharing the gospel thing. The #sharegoodness debrief the taking it home showcase, the dance, the taking it home message and the company taking it home. Friday was probably the day where I paid the least attention, because I don't remember any of it, only that it was boring.

Saturday

We got woken up 6:30 to get on our buses and go home. Our bus was half an hour late but as was well in the end. I stopped at a McDonald's and I got a rootbeer because they don't do fries until 11 o'clock and I was sad about that. We went home and I decided that although there were some fun moments I would not be returning to FSY. 

Bates Family - A Special Day

From Matthew Bates Instagram: 

This week, I had the privilege of spending a few hours with my wife and children at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, and it was a visit like no other.

The Class of 2027 — All Earned, Nothing Given — was accepted into the Cadet Wing yesterday during the Acceptance Day Parade. Among them was my third son, Tommy, who joined his oldest brother, Isaac, who was able to welcome him into the Cadet Wing by pinning on his fourth-class shoulder boards and rendering his first salute as an officially accepted cadet.

Yesterday, Isaac became the Cadet Wing Commander for the fall semester, a leadership responsibility that demands selfless service to his fellow cadets, rooted in a deep love for and commitment to the future leaders of our nation’s United States Air Force.

As parents, most of us try to instill into our children strong values and moral character, and we hope that they will embrace the hard work, discipline, and resilience to be able to overcome life’s inevitable challenges. What’s more, we pray that they will be an instrument for good in the world and willingly render selfless service to as many people as possible in their spheres of influence.

When I grow up, I hope to be like my kids. They are good people and make me proud every day, and if you come across their path someday, I hope you will be proud to know them, too. They are loyal and true to one another, to their family, to their friends, and to our country. The future is bright!

Isaac: USAFA Class of 2024
Joey: Soon to be missionary for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving the people of Argentina, future Physical Therapist
Tommy: USAFA Class of 2027
Anna: Future OB-GYN
Ben: Resistance Fighter (with a soft spot for First Order Storm Troopers)

Isaac - front centre

Isaac - centre

Isaac's back

Isaac

Isaac - right

Isaac - front centre

Tommy centre - Isaac right

Tommy left - Isaac right

Isaac left - Tommy right

The Bates Family - Matthew, Joseph, Isaac, Tommy - holding Ben, Anna, Suzanne

The Once Prized Pot

 

Many moons ago Ken and I were in the Don Valley Ward in Toronto Stake. There were several young couples in the ward because of the chiropractic college that was within the ward boundaries. I think one of the couples was called to be advisors of some sort over the "young marrieds". Ken and I were I think the second longest married, and I was definitely the oldest. At the time these things felt highly significant. One night we played a version of the newlywed game. Ken and I came in last place lol. And as such we won the biggest price - the frying pan that you can kind of see which is now in the blue box. The frying pan belonged to Amy and Brian and I think it was a wedding present of theirs. It was a great pan - but as Amy warned - hard to clean. (I used an SOS pad, so it was really easy to clean.) The pan reminded me of the honestly, kind of weird times figuring out how to make couple friends when we were first married. Out of all the couples, I'm Facebook friends with all but one still, and all of the couples are still married. 

The pic below was all of us minus Amy in April 2007. Ken and I were the only ones without a kid by the end of our time in Don Valley ward.

The other thing that I remembered when I looked at the pan was a fight. A silly fight. I did something stupid and thoughtless and Ken banged the pan on the stove and dented it. He doesn't lose his temper very often ever - we both lose it at the kids sometimes - something we're both working on, but before kids, he almost never got angry - at least not that he expressed. 

On Saturday, Ken and I went to Home Sense looking for a small storage cabinet. We came home with some ideas, some treats, and a proper large saucepan/skillet with a proper lid. Last night Ken deposited the once prized pot in the recycling bin. I just needed to record these memories. My sentimentality knows no bounds! 

Gentle Lessons

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who so often teaches me lessons gently. Today, when I set out to walk the dog I had a feeling to call one of the sisters in my ward that doesn't come to church right now. I call her every so often and I don't always feel very uplifted after the conversations, but I call her when I feel like I should. The last two times that I called her, I felt to tell her that her Heavenly Father loves her, but she loves to talk and I never got the words out.

I went back and forth in my head about whether or not to call today. But I felt like it was indeed something that I should do, so I called. And before we got into a conversation at all, I told her that I felt prompted to call and tell her that her Heavenly Father loves her. She asked me to repeat what I said, so I did. Then she told me, "I really needed to hear that, the cancer is back."

It stopped me in my tracks. We don't always get to know whether or not following a prompting means anything. Often we only find out if we don't follow a prompting. I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that gently leads me along to do good. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve my sisters in Relief Society.

The Utah Visit - Home

It makes me giggle to call this last one the Utah Visit, since most of today - actually yesterday, was not in Utah! 

We said sleepy goodbyes to the Bacons again, and I didn't subject them to pics - just Jon lol. He helped carry out the bags.

Lovey making the high school soccer team in grade 9 is a big deal!

We wanted to drive up the strip in Vegas, to say we'd done it, so we left at 8:45 am to give ourselves enough time to drive there, drive down the strip, get gas, then drop off the car and get to our flight. Alice took a couple pics in the gorge. 

I wasn't surprised by how quickly we were in Arizona this time - or that we were in Arizona for that matter! Jon gave us directions to the strip. The pictures don't do it justice at all. There was so much to see. I was a little sad that I was driving because I couldn't just stare at everything like I wanted to.

The little area where you hop on a tram and get taken to the gate area in an underground tunnel.

We didn't take this pic on the way and I was sad that we didn't. So take it on the way home we did! Welcome to Las Vegas - or in our case, bye.

More goofy Vegas photo ops.

Waiting in the gate.

The first leg was Las Vegas to Vancouver. Kate and I sat together and Alice and Fiona sat together. The flight was 2 h 44 m - something like that anyway. Kate let me sit by the window so I was in my HAPPY PLACE!!

Fiona was right behind me and we were able to hold hands a little.

I took more pics out the window than is reasonable. I loved watching the landscape change. So much desert! And then it slowly became green.

Flying into Vancouver was cool. The girls were excited to fly over the Pacific ocean, although I don't think we actually did - just the channel between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

When we landed we needed to go through customs. We were waved over to the family line and it went pretty quickly. At first we were only supposed to have 1 hr 44 minutes in the airport, but that turned into 3 hours ish? (I texted Nicole that we were there - had I known that we were going to be there so long, and that she was free, I would have texted sooner - silly me!)

We actually had fun in the airport. Fiona and I walked around everywhere searching for food in the gate area. Sadly there was no Tim Horton's, but we were able to find food for everyone for dinner.

This art amused me. So here it is.

Our flight was delayed and delayed and delayed again, but thankfully it took off! At one point the announcement from one of the flight attendants was, please cooperate and get in your seats, otherwise the flight will have to be cancelled because we will have worked longer than we're allowed to!

For the Vancouver to Toronto flight - all 4.5 hours, Fiona and I sat together and Alice and Kate sat together. 

The flight was great - until I realized my water bottle had leaked everywhere - on my new music and on my school laptop. AH! I did everything wrong that I could do wrong. I'm sad, and a little afraid. Who knows. I've prayed a lot - we shall see.

Fiona and I slept a little on the plane - Fiona on my lap, me a little dozing in and out. Kate and Alice watched a movie together on Kate's phone.

We landed just after 2 am. Ken is a rock star and came to pick us up. We were all so happy to see him.

We had a really wonderful trip. We did lots, we saw lots, we were safe, we were healthy, we spent time with beloved family. I feel so very, very blessed. Until next time!