Conference Bomb Shell

So, because of the race Saturday we missed the big announcement on Saturday. James was trying to listen on the radio, but couldn't hear much. He heard something about "missions" and "young women."

When we got home our son, Johnathan called to get our reaction. He filled us in, and I went to the living room. 

Me: Hey, James. What do you think about going on your mission NEXT YEAR?

James: What?

Me: What do you think about going on your mission next year?

James: WHAT?

I told him that he could go as soon as he graduated from high school. 

James looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Too bad I didn't get a picture. 

I later watched that portion of conference, and it seems that's the common reaction from the boys. The girls on the other hand, were all smiles and excitement. 

I look back on my youth, and I really don't know if I would have been ready to serve at 19. I guess if that was the age I grew up with it would have been ok, but I look at where I was at that time and I don't think it would have worked for me. 

We assured James that it's up to him. He can choose when to go. It just seems so weird that we could have two missionaries out at the same time. If James goes at 18.5 (next October), Hannah will be 19 by the next August...and we're pretty sure she's planning to go. 

I'm pretty sure what Tom would have chosen. He had a similar choice during his mission. He had been in Australia 17 months and was given the choice to leave for home at 18 months. He stayed the whole 2 years. 

What's your reaction? 

Barber to Boise

Hannah and I

Timothy and Hannah

Here we are with Aunt Daryl. She's my inspiration and best supporter. She started running at the age of 50, and says it's the best thing she ever did. She flew to Boise to see us do this race.

Hannah finished next to last in her age group at 41:39, despite having pneumonia last weekend.

Tom finished the 10k race in 1:05:50. He was also next to last in his age group. 

My nightmare was that I'd be last of all the racers, people would have all gone home, and the workers at the finish line would be looking at their watches wondering if I'd ever show up. The closer I got to the finish line the better I felt. I was tired, really tired, but I could see the end coming. I kept telling myself that I was almost done and I could finish strong. 

It's really amazing how much energy you get from hearing people cheer and the loud music at the finish line. I had no intention of speeding up at the end. I felt I was drained and had done all I could, but as I crossed the start point I suddenly had more energy and started speeding up. I ran (not sprinting) the last 100 yards and crossed the finish line. 54.01 was my time. I took 3.5 minutes off Thursday's time. I was last in my age group and next to last overall in running. There were 3-4 walkers after me. So my nightmare didn't come true. 

More details on the other blog Rediscovering Me

Blast from the past

I can't believe this photo. I think the kids were 11, 8, 4, and 3 at this point. It was a bit before we moved to Boise. Now they are 24, 21, 17, and 16. 

What a difference a few years makes!

This one just tickled my funny bone. It's sure been the year for more smokey days than clear ones.  

Just a quicky

I just realized something. 

It took ALOT less time getting used to NOT BEING Relief Society president than it took to get used to BEING the Relief Society president. 

I never felt comfortable with it completely. There was always something I thought I should be doing better, but near the end at least I felt I had grown into the job. Ha ha...thinking about it, I've always had this idea that whatever I do is no big deal. I just don't see how big it is or how important it is...because I DID IT. That's the way I feel with Relief Society president. Towards the end it became NOT A BIG DEAL, and that's why I knew my time was almost done. 

Since about June I was so busy with Relief Society and my parents' 50th party that I had to put some other things on the back burner. After about 1.5 weeks of doing not much of anything, I finally started reading, tatting and playing the piano again. It's nice to pick up the things I had to postpone. 

The Path Less Traveled

Copied from my other blog today...

One of the best things about our 5k training is the route we take. It starts at the top of a hill and connects with the Greenbelt. For the first piece, the Connector (freeway) runs near the Greenbelt, and the noise of the traffic nearly drowns out my music. After the Greenbelt leaves the Connector, things get a bit quieter. The only traffic are bicyclists, walkers and other runners. A few buildings pop up here and there, and once in a while we see city streets nearby. 

We cross a series of three bridges. The second one is my favorite. Just before the bridge there's a sign outlining the laws of the bridge, telling crossers what they can and can't do. My interpretation is...Don't hurt others, but go ahead and kill yourself if you want! This bridge crosses the Boise River, and I often look to the side to watch the river as it flows under me. Today I saw a squirrel on the struts of the bridge. He ran five or six feet and then paused to look at me, and repeated that process several times. I told him, "Yes, even you can run faster than me, but thanks for checking up on me." 

Once we pass the bridges we find the fireman memorial. It reminds us of the firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty. I feel gratitude for them as I pass. 

Then we pass under Americana Blvd and run past a small falls in the river. Now we are at my favorite part of the entire route. This makes the whole trip worth it. The path travels along side the river. I can look over and see the flowing water as it races past me. The sound of the water joins my music to give it a fuller, more satisfying flavor. The noise of city traffic is only a memory. In front of me I see only green grass and trees spreading their branches over the Greenbelt. In this one stretch, I find peace and feel as if I could go on running forever. 

Soon after this we turn around and go back. As we add time and distance we will go farther, but I think I've found my favorite place on the entire Greenbelt. 

Out of the Refiner's Fire

Recently all the wards in our stake had boundary changes and some had leadership changes. Ours was one of the lucky ones...lots of changes. We lost 38 wonderful sisters to another ward (sad) and gained 153 sisters from another ward (Yay!) I felt very overwhelmed thinking that I was now responsible for nearly 300 sisters instead of only 180. We also got a new bishop, new high priest group leader and new elder's quorum president. 

I lost a counselor and secretary. 

And that's the way it stayed...and stayed...and stayed. 

The Sunday after the big shake up, Bishop met with all the leaders of the ward one at a time. He wanted to get to know us and get a feel for what needed to happen in the ward. 

The next Sunday, the Spirit started preparing me for another change. I sat in Sacrament Meeting quite teary-eyed that week. 

So, finally, about three weeks later, after totally overhauling the visiting teaching, the bishop tells me that he needs to talk to me about Relief Society. I spent the next three hours praying. 

Finally, we got together after church and Bishop told me I was being released. 

I told him, "I KNOW!" 

He said he had known from before the boundary changes, but the old Bishop felt we should wait until after those changes. Fair enough. 

I feel like I did when I came home from my mission. I walked into the President's office for my last interview and said, "Can't I stay longer?" 

He said, "It's time for you to go home, Hermana Bright." 

Once I stepped onto the plane I looked forward to the future and what it would bring. (I also wrote my homecoming talk to be ready for the next day!)

I have very mixed feelings. I did my best, and although my efforts weren't perfect, they were my best and I am at peace with that. I know it is time for something new, but I'm really going to miss working so closely with the sisters in the ward. I love them all so much. 

I look at how much I have grown over the last three years and it amazes me. I know I will never be the same person I was back then. And I'm glad about that. I'm better now. Stronger. Polished. Maybe I'm closer to the person Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

0 to 50 in how long?

This weekend we went to Provo for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. After nearly a year of planning, worrying and family drama from all sides, the thing finally came together and turned out well. 

Steve and Carol on August 21, 1962

Dad told me that he doesn't think that much time has passed until he sees the pictures side by side. He sees the first picture in his mind and then looks at the second one and thinks, "We look so old."

Here's the quilt I made for them. It's hard to see the details in photos, but it turned out very nice. This quilt has hand prints from 43 people...86 hand prints in all. It is a tree with the hand prints of my parents at the roots, with the hand prints of all their descendants as the leaves of the tree. 

Bright Family

Established

August 21, 1962

The youngest grandchild...8 months old now

There are 26 grandchildren and no great grandchildren. 

The oldest grandchild age 24 and his wife. (John and Laney)

We also have teeny tiny hand prints for the two babies we lost at birth, and four sets of hand prints for the two sets of twin grandchildren.  

Tom took the kids for a drive on the Alpine Loop and nearly ran out of gas. 

The Bright family: 

Front: Steve and Carol

Back (left to right): Ann, Linda, Ruth, Ally, Nancy, Leah, Sarah, Nathan

We are pictured oldest to youngest. I'm the oldest and Nate is the youngest. Not pictured (of course) is our brother Paul who has passed away. He was between Nancy and Leah. 

Mom and Dad didn't have a wedding cake in 1962. Ruth's mother in law made this beautiful cake for them. 

Cutting the cake

This shows a very wise man: Get out of her way and let her do what she does best. 

Ahhh! They are such a cute couple still. 

Tom made friends with all the children. He introduced himself as "Uncle Tom" and handed each one a spoon so they could eat ice cream out of his HUGE bowl. 

Hotel from the Twilight Zone? 

Actual. The road was going down hill.

Harry Potter Party

 Yes, my 16-year-old daughter wanted a Harry Potter Party. We had lots of fun with it. (Lots of pictures.)

Our version of Honeydukes

Dumbledore's Lemon Drops, Pretzel wands, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Peppermint Toads, Chocolate Frogs

Dragon Snot Punch

Playing games

Tim's present was silly string

Vicki

We even played Quidditch...complete with an injury

More games

The loot

Giving Matt a manicure and pedicure...He's loving the attention

James: "I'll grin and bear it...if I have to"

School Registration

It's crazy to think I only have one more year of this. James is a senior, and Hannah is a junior. I don't know where the time went. 

The best part of registration was letting James go by himself. He was armed with a semi-blank check. I dropped him off just before 9 am and by 11 am we ran into each other at Fred Meyer. I think I'll make Hannah do that next year. 

Hannah's registration was uneventful, EXCEPT the Hannah JensOn and Hannah JensEn confusion. We had that last year, too, and it got really fun when they had a class together. Our Hannah was always getting call slips for the other Hannah until the office figured out that there was a small difference in their names. 

Last year and this year, this is what happened: 

We finally get to the table to get her locker. The man looks at her ID and types "Hannah JensEn" into the computer. 

Then he says, "We have a problem here. We already assigned you a locker." 

We say, "No, you didn't. Her name is spelled with an O-N." 

He says, "OH! I missed that." 

We say, "No worries. It happens all. the. time."

Funny thing is...it's only adults that have this problem. The kids never get mixed up. 

Proud Mama

Yes, I'm the proud mama of TWO college students...THREE counting Laney. Tim was accepted into the BYU-I Pathway program. He will be studying online and living at home while (hopefully) working! I think this will be very good for him. It's a way to spruce up his study skills and get ready for full-fledged college. 

Ya-hoo! Way to go, Tim!!!