Hot Chocolate & Lemonade

Hmmm. Well. Now that I have some nine grain crunch bread toast and Italian amaretto hot chocolate, I think I can sit down to the cold keyboard and do some blogging. I have the day off and those that are leaving for school have left and those that have late night play rehearsals are not awake yet. Which means I have a quiet moment to myself - rare indeed.
My Grandpa passed away this week. I immediately thought of the last time I saw him a couple of months ago at my cousin's viewing (the irony is not lost, believe me). He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a big hug and smile, then turned and saw my little Shematite. Her eyes were shiny bright as Grandpa Earl held her face in his hands and whispered, "Beautiful!" His hands stayed on her face as he gazed at her for much longer than I expected. She met his eyes unflinchingly as he seemed to soak in all her glowing-ness and love. I don't know what they were thinking, but I was thinking, "Yes! She is the best part of you and me, and everyone that helped create her, isn't she!" I hope he understood that in some way.
Don't our children need to be smarter and stronger than we are? It seems that we constantly pour all of our knowledge and experience into them when they are "little" and then expect them to "wait for us", "don't run ahead - you'll get lost". Do things this way. It has always worked.
Work, shmerk.
The only thing that has always worked (besides my Dad. And he has yet to make a list!) is having faith in my Savior, and applying the principles of the Atonement as I try to live the Gospel . And understanding that there just might not be any real "trials". Just the adventure of mortality coupled with agency, which we all signed up for. So how do I learn to perceive trials as adventures in mortal learning and experience? Up to now I have HATED what depression has done to my beautiful Shematite. But I am hoping. Because that's all I really have, that .....
Well, no... let me rephrase that.
I KNOW that as the storm rages, she is trying to dance in the rain the best that she can. She is in the middle of the heat of the refiner's fire sipping a glass of lemonade (as we all are). I suppose if I tried to yank her out before she was done, she might not be as shiny bright as she could have been.
I have watched her and her sisters conquer mountain peaks, rappel down the cliffs of insanity, swim through slots of cold pothole water, hike huge sucky sand hills and heft heavily loaded backpacks all with smiles on their sweet faces! And willing to do it again!


So, bring me some lemonade and cheers to Grandpa Earl! I'm going out to dance in the rain.
After all, everybody's doing it.

Good Grief!

Good grief! It's been a month since I posted. We had a beautiful Christmas with the highlights being visits from Scout and Mom & Dad Snowbird, cousin Kelsey's Temple wedding and the New Year festivities with the Watts and Nelson families. Loved it all!
Which means, now that it's January, and the outside-ness that I see every day is either very dark or very smoggy, I have resorted to viewing my DVD collection of Happy Places and getting my exercise by challenging the Rock, Michex, Mayflower or Shematite to a dance- off on DDR. So, that is what's happening in my neck of the woods. If only I were in the actual woods...


And! The girls gave me the most fascinating book for Christmas! A true must-read.
Three Cups of Tea
I would love to write a review, but this book left me truly wide-eyed and speechless. Upon finishing it, I immediately got on Google Earth to see the images of K2, the Karakoram, Pakistan, the Baltoro Glacier and the village of Korphe for myself. The photos of the Hushe valley are stunningly beautiful. I now want to go to Pakistan. Go figure.

2009 newsletter

Happy Holidays! As I look back on 2009 it helps me truly say, "I am blessed."
Here are some of our memorable highlights.

Mayflower - 11! Our cute 6th grader has enjoyed tumbling, piano, swimming, voice lessons-with her first ever voice recital last week, a little bit of baby sitting, serving on the student council, choir, reading, trampoline, playing with friends and watching and listening to everything her big sisters do and say.


Michex - 17! A senior! She is very busy with Chamber Quire performances in full swing, Play Productions, All State choir, being the Stage Manager for the school musical, cleaning Dr. Major's Farr West office for a little bit of cash, Junior Prom, Snow Ball dance, YW Recognition Award, and State Drama. Oh! and lots of friends and flirting!


Scout - 19! Graduated in May and left the next day to work at Jacob Lake near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for the summer, then headed to Dixie State College on scholarship, studying Art and Visual Technology. She is performing with Raging Red, Dixie's show choir and planning on touring with them in the spring in CHINA! Last week she applied for and got a position as a Resident Assistant in the dorms. This will pay for her meal plan so she can save her $$$ for that trip! She also met James, Mike, Tyler and many others, and we all said good-bye to Shane for 2 years...sigh.

Shematite - 21! Has been busy climbing the emotional & physical mountain of depression. Medication, kind, compassionate doctors, sunshine, exercise (she kicks some major booty on Dance Dance Revolution), family, friends, Institute, work and theater have all helped bring back her sparkle! After several nights this week of try-outs and call-backs, she learned yesterday that she was cast as the lead role (MILLY) in the Terrace Plaza Playhouse's production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! The show starts its run in February:)

Rock - 40...ish! is up to his baby blue eye balls in his Master's degree, teaching math, instructing wanna be drivers, serving in the Elder's Quorum, and pretty much being the most awesome husband in the world by taking me on my "adventures" and bringing me back home safe and sound. And he knows how to fix pretty much anything! Our bathroom floor started to "bulge" and he ripped out the sub-floor, sanded, patched, replaced and put the porcelain throne right back on. Sigh:) He also took his nephews down to Zion once again to do some canyoneering. He's the best!


Me...Desertbound- 40...! I am working 8-10 hour days for Dr. Major, now serving as Relief Society 2nd counselor(over the activities) and trying to keep up with my family while cherishing memorable moments like...
~Family dodge ball games
~Having my girls singing around the piano with their friends and each other.
~Watching Scout paint.
~ Visiting Arches and then Grand Junction for baby Meg's blessing.
~The marathon games of "Go to Jail" and Bocce Ball in Goblin Valley.
~ Directing the youth choir for Stake Conference in May and getting to meet Elder Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
~Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim in a day with Michex, Scout, Joe, Cindy and Rock! 23 miles of thigh-burning, calf-crunching, gut-puking extraordinary beauty and blessings!
~Mystery Canyon with my honey(of course) and two of my brothers, JT and Maud'Dib! Loved it!
~Re-connecting with my cousins and siblings at the Nelson Family reunion in South Fork:) Amazing.
~ Girls camp at Bear Lake with Michex.
~Jacob Lake and the North Rim to visit Scout for my birthday in August.


~Pine Creek and Spry Canyon in Zion with Aaron, Kim, Cindy and Scout.
~Back to school priesthood blessings for all the Stoffers cousins!
~Thanksgiving dinner with family to start off the wonderful holiday season.

But above all, I am blessed most by my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. My new favorite quote from President Monson is,"Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith. I declare that God lives and that He answers our prayers. His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and our Redeemer. Heaven's blessings await us."

We love you all and hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Family Christmas Card Bloopers

Just for fun, here are the pictures that are not going on the Christmas Card this year!

Head Shot of Michex

Ummm. Yep.

November Kaleidescope Message

Every month a member of my RS presidency writes a message for our little newsletter that goes to every sister in the ward. This month was my turn. I thought I would post what I wrote...



As the harvest season winds down and I look at the rows of bottled tomatoes waiting to be made into delicious stew this winter and the peaches and black berries in the freezer waiting for the cobbler, I am truly grateful to all those who contributed some of their precious harvest to me. It brings to mind the powerful and inspiring words of my favorite hymn...

"Come, thou Fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing Thy grace".

There is a canyon in the back country of Zion National Park that my family and I love to hike through. Just over the halfway mark there is a spring of fresh, cold water where we always stop and refill our water bottles. I have always counted on having the water from this spring so that I don't have to be weighed down by trying to carry a full day's supply. However, this spring is easy to miss if one does not know it's there. Many times I have stopped my hiking group and led them to the spring. Surprisingly, some have refused to drink or refill their containers, I assume because they question the source or they have carried enough water for the entire day. Since this canyon has many obstacles that drain me physically, knowing this source of water is there in abundance is of great comfort to me, just like having the knowledge of my Savior's tender mercy is a sweet and everlasting comfort to my sometimes parched soul that is too often "prone to wander".

The Lord truly is the Fount, the source of the Living Water, not only of every single temporal blessing we enjoy, like water for our gardens, but also of every spiritual blessing that we enjoy; even the blessing of eternal life.

As a new season of Thanksgiving approaches, I hope we all remember the "streams of mercy never ceasing" that come from the spring of Living Water, and all we have to do is go and drink!

Well, there you have it.
I stopped my car on the side of the road near the Mountain Road Nature Center on my way home from work a week or so ago. I had my camera with me, the light was pretty good and the leaves were turning. The above photo was taken of the little spring that seeps out of the ground near the trail. I finally got the right angle to capture the reflection of the gold leaves in the water. Here are some more of my favorite fall photos...

Halloween

Here is a picture of Mayflower and her friend Lauren on Halloween.
Michex was in a fun mystery dinner theater a couple weeks ago. She played the part of Pippa, the snobby heiress and did a great job! I would post more pictures, but....

I am officially asking Santa for a new computer for Christmas. It just took me 15 freaking minutes to do this post with 3 pictures on it! I packed my lunch and cleaned the family room while I was waiting for the "uploading". BTW, I still love my camera:)