Young Women Personal Progress

I am back serving in the Young Women Program but this time I am in the Stake. I enjoy working with the Young Women especially because I don't have any girls of my own. Recently we have been visiting the wards and I am impressed with what wonderful YW there are today. Despite the influences of the world they are standing strong as the theme for this year states,
"Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest."
Joshua 1:9.

As I youth I earned my Young Women awards and later as a ward leader I again earned the YW medallion. Just as I was released from Young Women's, the personal progress program was changed and I missed being able to earn the lastes award, however beginning this year the program has been revised again and I am now starting to earn my new YW medallion.

The Personal Progress Booklet has been updated and the medallion now includes the class emblems from when I was a girl in Mutual and a red ruby for the new value, virtue. I am excited to get the chance to continue to progress in the Gospel. Sometimes I need the extra incentive from an organized plan.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas

It has been a very busy, happy holiday season. It is always wonderful to spend time with family and friends. We have so much to be grateful for as this year comes to a close.
Here are a few highlights of our times spent together.

Reading the Christmas story from Luke on Christmas Eve.

We spoke with Daren on Christmas Day. He sounds so good and is loving Virginia, the people and sharing the Gospel. We miss him but couldn't ask for a better gift than having a missionary.

We live close to both sets of Grandparents and love having them over to visit and eat. That is a wonderful blessing to all of us.

Our children are the most important thing to us. We love spending time with all of them. We were all very spoiled (or "loved" as Steph puts it) this year for Christmas.

Scott even built Rusty a new doghouse for his present.

Doug decided to surprise me with my own 4-wheeler for running around the farm. Then we found a boat unexpectedly and I made a deal on it. Needless to say, we have been blessed with more than enough. Although these THINGS aren't as important, we will enjoy them with the family. The boys can't wait to put the boat in water.

More Swimming

Swimming is officially over for this school year. We spent this weekend in Boise at the State Swimming Championships. There were 426 athletes from 44 high schools across the State of Idaho. Many of these swimmers compete year round on club teams and are very good. Scott had qualified to swim in 4 events which is the limit. He swam the backstroke in the medley relay, the 200 yard freestyle, the 100 yard backstroke, and the 400 yard relay. We were very proud of him. He took seconds of all of his times and swam very hard. The medley relay team placed 15th and the top 16 places swim in the finals on Saturday.
We had a very touching day on Saturday morning. There is a young man on Scott's swim team who has cerebral palsy. He has a hard time walking and you can see that he has had several surgeries. He has been swimming for 3 years and this is his last year. He doesn't use his legs, but he gives it every bit of energy he has and finishes. It isn't fast and he has never qualified to swim at State. The boys on the team wanted to give him a chance to swim at Boise, and so Scott gave up his spot for Saturday to allow him the chance. It was a touching moment when the crowd cheered as he struggled and finished.

Later they gave him a special award for his courage in trying. I was equally proud of Scott for stepping aside and not needing any recognition. He is a great boy!


Channel 8 News did a sports clip of the experience. I am attaching a copy of the video.

Swimming

Lately, if you try to find us on Saturdays you'll have to check at the pool. Scott has been swimming and he has meets every Saturday. Swimming is such a great sport and although it isn't the most exciting to watch we love being there to watch Scott. He practices almost every day as early as 5:30 on a couple mornings. Everyone is welcome on the team and everyone participates. Your biggest competition is to better your own times, and it's just great exercise. Those are just a few of the reasons we think it's a great activity. There's a young boy on Scott's team who has some physical disabilities. Each week he swims and I can really see the improvement. It takes everything he's got to complete his race, but his team and everyone else in the building are cheering him on. Scott has done well again this year and has qualified to go to the State swim meet in Boise in November. I'm excited to go on a ROAD TRIP!

It's hard to get a good picture because of the movement and water, but here are a few tries.


Relay Team Swimming the Backstroke

A Favorite Fall Treat

All of my boys have a love of fruit leather. Doug's mom is always making it and keeps a stash for when they visit. I will make a few rolls now and then especially in the fall when the apples are plentiful. Last week we bottled lots of applesauce and made some into fruit leather. I just spread about 2 cups of sauce on a plastic lined cookie sheet and dry in my convection oven on 170 degrees. It usually takes 5-8 hours. This year we even sauced some plums and dried them. It was gone in a flash. I want to send some to Daren. I might have to hide it.

All Is Safely Gathered In - Harvest

The Fall season means harvest for our family. It is the culmination of months

of hard work and hopefully a successful crop. We are constantly praying that we might see the benefits of our labors without any disasters of hail or fire. This was a good year

with a lot of early rains and mild weather. Doug spends long days cutting grain and the boys are always willing to help.

Scott was invaluable this year as he was the main trucker. Reed and Rod would join us after work to help whenever they were needed. Daren missed out this year, but we know he is engaged in another harvest.

It's a great feeling to have the grain in the bin and next years crop planted. We are grateful for the answers to our prayers.

Bittersweet

Yesterday was one of those days that you pray for but when it comes you aren't sure you want it. We took Daren to the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo. It was a long day of riding since we just dropped him off and drove back home. He was excited to get started and just a little nervous too. They have changed the procedure for new missionaries entering and there is no longer a meeting with the families. Instead we went to the parking lot across the street for a few minutes of pictures and good-byes. Then we drove across the street and unloaded his luggage at the curb, gave hugs and more good-byes and off he went. I think I prefer that to a large room of people crying.

After we were back on the freeway and headed for home, Scott noticed that he had left his scriptures in the back seat. We weren't sure how to get them to him, so instead of turning around we stopped in Tremonton and put them in the mail. Hopefully he gets them today or tomorrow. I'm sure he's lost without them. He will make a super missionary in Richmond Virginia, but I will really miss him. I've been a little homesick today and I know that will get better as soon as I get a letter. For now all we can do is pray for him and write letters.