Conestoga Branch AP Overnight Campout

I (Janae) decided to organize the men to go to the Fathers and Sons AP camp out. Kay said if I organize it, he would execute the orders (he did a great job).  For the past several years one dad and one son had gone from our tiny branch (Sacrament meeting attendance is 30-70).

 We provided the hotdogs, smores and chips and asked Brother Caverhill (one of the many who live outside the boundries) to make dutch oven potatoes.  He added a peach cobbler to the mix. Saturday, Kay made Mountain Man breakfast to supplement the doughnuts the stake provided.

We went around in our normal interactions with branch members asking if they wanted to go Camping.   

We had a black  member come that had never been camping, 

2 young black brothers (I visit teach their inactive mother) they had never been camping or near an open fire (see marshmallow sticky hands pic).

A 23 year old tattoo laden inactive son of  one of our home teaching  ladies

3 boys that don't have dad's in the home that come to scouts

one boy whos dad works night shift

a father and 3 sons who joined the church last April

a student father (graduating) and his 2 sons

The branch Pres and wife showed up for dinner

Kay and Bro Caverhill I will call the "anchors"

.= 19!

Kay and I went to the church and picked up the 10 sleeping bags, 2 lg tents and mats and had an errand to run near the camp ground 40 min away so staked out a place for our branch and Seth's ward (2 families came from his)

all in all it was a huge success!  Everyone had a great time and we had a large group there

 The Aaronic Priesthood Camp out was held at Two Rivers Camp Ground.

Branch Art Activity (Art walk)

The primary was in charge of a branch activity.  We called it a Branch Brunch.
When everyone arrived we had them sit at the tables and draw a picture of Jesus, a teaching of Jesus or a parable.  Pencils and white paper were provided and we went around inviting  young and old to draw their creations.  Any really good ones we would get permission to put on the ward bulletin.

RS room

 We had other pictures of Jesus around the room.  After 20 minutes, we sang a song together (hymn books) and separated into 6 groups stationed around the building.  Each group was given a map to follow... for 6 segments.     6 art presenters were given an instruction sheet with 2 paintings (photographs) they were to be familiar with.  Read the scriptures related to the paintings and talk about it asking questions to each group for 5 minutes until the bell rang.  I added some symbolism and some questions to ask... why is his hand pointing that way, where is he looking etc.  We skipped the paintings that were not of Jesus.  We included the branch President with the art in his office.   Because it was Easter we gave  each person a treat bag and a small treat at each station. .

President in his office

Missionaries 

Kay's station is the hallway

Foyer

Foyer

 We ended with a brunch serving mountain man casserole (egg, potato and sausage) cinnamon rolls, oranges, bananas (cheap this week) and milk.  It was really nice and well received.

Sam is baptized

I got an email the other day saying our friend Sam was being baptized   Sam is a single student in his early 20's and was taught by the missionaries. Several Sundays ago,  I thought we had a threesome and planned for 3 for Sunday dinner, it turned out we only had 2 Missionaries but they were sitting by Sam.  I thought he was the new student in the branch and asked him but no he said  he wasn't a member... yet... cool.   I asked him if he would like to come to dinner after church.   He said he wasn't sure but accepted and we had a great visit.

Kay and I were impressed at his deep thoughts and his questions.  He loved talking to Kay and told the missionaries later he felt honored to be able to talk to Kay. He thought Kay was a general authority or something.... he is.... an authority on all general subjects... I like to say.  The next week Sam wasn't at church but had been "handed off " to the singles ward where he was doing well and we were invited to his baptism a few weeks later.

In the baptism email it asked if anyone would be willing to pick his mom up in Lincoln one hour away so she can attend.  I knew we couldn't attend (Temple shift) but there are several temple workers from Lincoln who maybe could help out.  I called 2 supervisors, got several phone numbers and figured it all out.  I started by calling his mom to confirm she wanted to come and was able to talk to her about Sam and how much we enjoyed him and how deeply thought-ful he was.  She was very nice.  Then I called 3 people to arrange a ride and gave each the phone numbers and had my temple supervisor calling people.   I figured if all else failed, I could drive her home.

About an hour later I got a call from the couple who were driving her that said she cancelled and said she would drive herself..... WHAT? after all that work and effort on my part... I thought maybe she didn't have a car.   At first I was a little miffed but I thought about it and thought about the conversation I had with his mom and how positive that was.... This was the only way I would have spoken to his mom and I think she needed to hear my words about her son.... also the people on the other shift came and introduced themselves to me, so all that was good!  Sam was baptized and I was able to see him at Stake Conference last week.  All is well.

Read the Book.

Kay home teaches a woman who is about our age and had a stroke at church.  Kay is her home teacher and has been helping her.  Three of her four children came  to be with her and have been nearby. None have embraced the church. We have observed her children and their love and concern for their mother. We went home teaching and Kay spoke to her children about her love for them and her love for the church and the Book of Mormon.

The youngest daughter was leaving today so we went over to the house and Kay spoke with her and explained to her, her mother's love for the Book of Mormon. Tiffany is a librarian and appreciates books.  Kay showed her one of his collectible Books of Mormon and then, explaining what the book is, and how important it is to him and her mom, gave her and her brother copies of the Book of Mormon with a charge to read it, he also gave her $100. if she promised to read it. She promised. He didn't tell her mom as he didn't want her to get in trouble with her kids.

New adventure

I received a call on  my cell phone Thursday from the Winter Quarters Temple asking if Kay and I could visit with a member of the Temple Presidency after our next session.  I told him we should just make an appointment now so we did for the very next day, Friday after the 6PM session.  Hummmmm I wonder what he wanted...
After the session we went into his office and he extended a call to be ordinance workers and set us apart single handedly (apparently that is not a word but works for me).  We had several choices (lowoin the totem pole in my book...)
Friday evening
Saturday shift 1
Saturday shift 2
Saturday shift 3

We chose Saturday shift 1 from 7AM to 1PM and that was the very next day so there we went.  It was fun and will be lots of memorizing.  Kay passed off several things... I will need more study time which is built into our schedule.  On our shift there are several people who travel 1-2.5 hours to get there.  We are 10 minutes away.. Lucky us.

I was a bit worried about Kay. He may find it difficult to serve in the temple because of his illness.. he gets sleeping sickness as soon as he sits down in a church or temple but he seemed to be cured today.

The Mormon church in Prague

One of our vacationing highlights is attending the Mormon church when we travel. All 3 hours and we usually meet fun people. We were pleasantly surprised to have headset translation for our meetings and met a handful of Americans working in Prague.  The Prague branch has wide boundaries, the farthest away lives 70 minutes from the church.  
They had Sacrament meeting with headsets.  2 Sunday school classes, English and Czech and one Relief Society class with headsets.  For Primary, they have English and Czech classes and sharing times, with a 20 minute combined meeting.   I brought some Nativity stickers and CTR wristbands and wanted to give them out, no one could find a primary worker. 
After church the YM/YW prepared a small program and I happened to sit next to a primary worker.  I gave her the presents and asked her for her email because I wanted to email a man who talked to me but had to leave early.
Her name was Susan Zmolic.  Zmolic?  I know Zmolics!  "Gennie Zmolic is my mother in law! "she said." you grew up in Short Hills Ward then?"  Yes, I grew up in Short Hills Ward in  NJ.  Susan married Ginnie's oldest son, Martin, who was gone from Short Hills ward by the time we moved there.  What a small world. 

For our Sunday school class, I shared how we have been blessed.  I shared the story of Janell, how she was developmentally delayed. I went through what happened and now she is on a mission. After the class a man, working at the US Embassy came up to me and said his son is 2 1/2 years old and is exactly what I described.  He asked some questions and I think we gave him hope!   He told us how sweet his son is and how he wouldn't hurt anyone..... just like Janell.  Sweetness to the core!

Kay and I rented a car and after church made a road trip to Kutna Hora.  We had terrible maps but made it.  I could hardly read the maps putting my glasses on top of Kays! Frustrating!  It was a nice drive and nice to get out of town.  They had some pretty impressive buildings there.   Prague is not for cars so Budget said we could park the car there overnight and take it out again in the morning.  The public transportation is amazing here and there is no need for cars.  Even Kunta Hora and Terezin are more accessible by train than car.  Kay was glad we rented the car because he loves the adventure but if adventure means driving down the one way streets the wrong way, driving through pedestrian only zones, driving down sidewalks and getting lost in a maze with no idea which direction you are going you can count me out. With the difference in signs ( some were not in the Budget guide), sometimes we didn’t know if we were doing something wrong except for the surprised looks of pedestrians.  He followed other cars up and down stairs in the streets. We realized the “Budget Rental Car” huge sticker in the rear window was a kind of “student driver” warning, people were very kind to us. Thank goodness for all the “CENTRUM” signs that point you back to downtown, assuming you are in the right town.

Lauren's Temple Wedding

Saturday September 1, 2012
Lauren has been planning this day for years.  She wanted to have her great grandmother's dress, Zorah Henrietta Horne Jeppson was married in the Salt Lake Temple June 7th 1929.  The roaring 20's, just before the great crash and depression.  Her beautiful bridal portrait has graced our home and has been a conversation piece since I was a little girl.  Lauren wanted that dress.   She put me in charge of finding a dress maker that could do the job.  I found a bunch of websites of wedding dress specialists and was shocked at some of them.  Not THAT great.     We decided on Nancy Barrus of   http://www.nancybarruscouture.com She was excited for the challenge of designing and sewing Zorah's dress.    Lauren had several fittings and had the perfect dress.  Now for the man.

Benjamin Philip Hardy was in some of Lauren's Psychology classes and they hit it off.  Both are returned missionaries and  MTC teachers.  We told her to not tell him of the dress for a while, it could be a deal breaker but not for Ben.

Lauen decided to buy table cloths instead of renting.  Our neighbor, Sherry Neiger put the table cloths in her steam setting dryer getting out the hard creases and I ironed most of them.  Gayle Jorgensen came and did the last half with me on a make shift ironing board.  We put a mattress cover on a rectangle table and it worked much better than the board.  Ben came and ironed for a bit a few days before the wedding.  We also had sashes for the chairs I ironed.  Ironing took about 8 hours for me plus Sherry's time.

Utah County Court House Family Dinner

Friday night we had a setting up party at the court house where we set 16 tables and 4 serving tables.  We forgot about a table for the DJ so he ended up using a sheet I brought.  The table cloths were champagne color (gold) and the sashes were light blue, pink and champagne.  We rolled the table cloths out up and put them in a sheet (used by DJ later).  Each chair had a sash on it and the tables were decorated with DI vases with embellishments Lauren made and Costco flowers.  The tables had place cards on them with photos of the guests of the table at their wedding or vintage photos or ones of Lauren and Ben. They were lovely.

Lauren had Ben had some photography taken by his aunt Jane before the wedding, to be used as some of the decorations. I (mom) wanted a formal bridal portrait to match the one of Zorah, but there seemed to be no time for that.  The day before the wedding we settled on doing it between the sealing and dinner but it didn't sit right with me so I arranged that morning (final plans 10AM)  for us to get the portrait taken at 11:30 before the festivities.  My sister Debbilyn Clark Day, Lauren's best friend Mirinda Pettit Call, Lauren and I drove to Spanish Fork running two errands on the way.  One to the Flower Patch to pick up the babys breath bouquet I decided to order the day before and we check them into the Hines Mansion Bed and Breakfast in downtown Provo.

Our photographer Jessica Myrick, had us drive to her assistant's home.  Christina Curtis has a studio in her basement.  We took the Zorah photograph placing Lauren in the proper position and it ended up being a full bridal session!  I was pleased, this was my only request in having the Zorah dress, a formal portrait.

On the way home from the sitting, Debbilyn said this was the last lunch she would eat as a single woman so we quickly swung into Cafe Rio for a bite to eat.  Meanwhile the family was arriving at our home in Orem.  We had sandwich makings and fruit for them.

We had about a half hour to spare before Ben picked up Lauren to go to the temple.   We all got ready and Kay couldn't find his temple recommend!  I called the temple and found out what to do.  We needed to come early so they could figure it out.  We were there  about 35 minutes before the sealing, it is recommended we arrive 30 minutes early.  Kay sat in the foyer waiting for them to call President Wilkinson, his branch President.  The recommend was signed by former released bishop Wynn and needed renewing next month.  After 3 or 4 calls they got him and Kay was allowed to enter.

Meanwhile I went in and saw Janell and her companion, Sister Mullin.  Janell, at the request of Lauren, was able to attend the sealing.   The MTC mission President called her in to tell her she was approved and could go from 3PM to 4:45PM.  The sealing was at 3:30.  He said her cousin could not attend.

Ryan Day was at the MTC too, getting prepared to go to the Milan Italy mission.  His mom suggested he at least ask and apparently he did and had the MTC President, President Brown, call him in and had a good talk with him.

Janell, Sister Mullin, Mirinda and I went in to help her get ready, she was wearing her own temple clothing and insisted in the brides room she could do it herself.

In the largest sealing room at the Provo temple (75) we had a little over 50 there.  Ben's    Grandpa Rex Hardy sat in the mother of the groom seat.  The sealer was Brother Hullinger.  They were sealed and everything went great.

After the sealing she did need help getting into the silk dress and fitted hat veil.  I had put the bouquet into the refrigerator in the children's waiting room.  We had rain when we walked in and sun when we walked out.  Too much sun where we were squinting.  Janell was allowed to stay for pictures and we insisted her companion was in the pictures too because that is part of the story.

We drove there with Caleb but he had to run to the court house reception center to be our family Representative there so he took our car.  Caleb kept coming back and forth with keys and saying he was getting a ride with someone else and then not but Kay ended up with some keys to a car that wasn't even there so we called everyone but.... they had turned off their phones for temple use so we finally got a hold of Pete's daughter, our niece Kember who came back and picked us up.

Meanwhile Lauren went to the Hines Mansion to get ready, hair done for the reception followed by the photographer and Mirinda Pettit Call. 

We got home and quickly changed and remembered all of the sudden, the costco flowers.  I threw my dress into a bag and we high tailed it over there, got the flowers for the tables and went to the Provo court house.

When we got to the court house it was about 20 minutes to 7.  It seemed like all the men were looking out the front windows.  There was a Latino festival going on at the court house outside.  Lauren was warned about 3 weeks before the wedding about it but she insisted we should have it there in the vintage 1920's building.  At the bottom of the steps of the court house there was a real live boxing ring with fighting going on. Big huge tents and vendors and a concert venue graced the court house lawn. The steps were being used as bleachers for the boxing match.  Just as we arrived, the men inside reported they crowned a winner and they were dispersing.  Yea. We separated the flower bunches and mixed them and Rachael went around making them look pretty just minutes before the party started.

Frances made suggested signs in Spanish stating no bathrooms and wedding guests only.  We had a security guard at the south door, the only door open for wedding guests and a few parking stalls coned for us. No one seemed to have a problem with parking and we didn't hear the party outside until we left the building!

At about 7:05PM I called Lauren who told us to start and pray and they would be there when we opened out eyes.  Kay asked Rex Hardy, Ben's grandfather to pray and just as we were quieting down, Lauren and Ben arrived. We prayed and ate.  The photographer put a back drop where the fight window was and started doing formal portraits.

Caleb was the go-to man making sure things were going smoothly, sound could be heard, keeping the line out of the dance floor for the portraits, inviting all to have their picture taken. Dancing when he felt like people needed to dance. We needed Caleb!

Jessica Myrick and her assistant Christina Curtis did formal wedding portraits the whole evening.  Percy and Anne Smith came through the line and she said they needed separate pictures for their obituary.  Percy made funny faces but had some serious ones and then they had some together. The Neigers said they want to make sure to get a copy of their portrait.  Free formals, who can resist?

Lauren had a relative of the Hale family do the music with her playlist.   Songs from Zorah Jeppson's day on her lists.  The parents said a few words to the crowd about our kids and the dancing started.  The food was done by Utah Celebrations Catering and Yogurt Land (where they had their first date) and people were raving over the yummy food.

The video and photographers all said that was the funnest wedding ever.  Lauren didn't have a cake or a garter or a bouquet throw.  Just a party. We were cleaned up and home by 10PM.  A great day.

Nauvoo, Ill

Nauvoo Ill is off the beaten path, it is  the city Joseph Smith founded, built a temple and Latter Day Saints flocked to Nauvoo after joining the church.  At the time it was bigger than Chicago. Joseph and his brother Hyrum were Martyred near here and the Mormons packed up and left to save their lives.  Mobs were threatening to destroy all Mormons and the governor even put out a Mormon extermination order so they left and traveled by wagon and handcart to Salt Lake City, Utah, out of the United States at the time in the 1840’s.  Nauvoo is a place of remembering today. It is a Williamsburg-like place where you can see the daily living of people in the 1830’s and 40’s.   Janell and I took my grandsons, Ethan and Sean to Nauvoo for a 2 1/2 day visit.

We watched plays and musical groups

Sister Frisby on her 3 month mission.

My first missionary experience

I was in the apartment complex laundry room and struck up a conversation with a Bermese woman who introduced herself as Prayma.  She said she had limited English.  I told her I was a Mormon and asked her if she had heard of Mormons and she hadn't but she is  Baptist.  My goal is to tell everyone I am a Mormon.  She said as we were leaving.... Invite me to church sometime.  I told her I would.   it was Conference and our car was full so not this week. 

The next night I woke up and stewed about what I should do first... invite her to church, take her to the sculpture exhibit of the Savior at the trail center, show her the Joseph Smith movie at the trail center, give her a tour of the history of the pioneers at the trail center or have the missionaries over.....   I prayed about it and decided I needed to have the missionaries over so the next day I went over to her house and told her SHE had made me not get my sleep and would she please allow our missionaries to come over and teach her a lesson about families and maybe I can get some sleep.  She thought about it for a few seconds and said "yes" so I called the missionaries right then and there and set up an appointment for Friday at 7. 

They came and she wasn't home, I was devastated, I felt so good about it.  We tried an hour later and she was  home.  I asked if anyone else spoke English in the house that would like to listen and she got her 15 year old daughter, the husband who speaks no English wandered in for the last 15 minutes and shook our hands and thanked us.  We had a simple restoration and Joseph Smith lesson. Prayma shared an experience of when her prayers were answered and told us she had never shopped on Sunday. And gave the closing prayer in her native tounge. We will go to the Sculpture exhibit on Friday and have another lesson there.  she cannot come to church this week but will be there next week she said.  She told me when she asked me to invite her to church in the laundry room, her friend said "I want to go too"  Let me tell you that was SOOOO COOL!  

Caleb is home from his two year Korean Mission

Caleb and Elder Ballam get off the plane from Korea

Janae, Janell, Caleb and Kay at the Salt Lake City Airport.  We borrowed these nice signs from Elder Ballam's family

Caleb cleans his car gives mom a hug.

And is off to Snow college.  Mom's lists in hand.

Now we are empty nesters