Endowed With Power From on High

This evening, Brandt received his endowment. I have been anticipating this moment for a long time, and I was thrilled to be in the temple with our boy. It has been a joy to watch Brandt grow in the gospel, to see his enthusiasm to serve a mission, and his desire to go to the temple. 

We were to be at the Provo City Center Temple at 6:00pm in order for Brandt to receive the initiatory ordinance and instruction. I did the initiatory for the woman I was acting as proxy for, then waited for Brandt and Kent in the chapel. They appeared more quickly than I thought, and we learned from Brenda that there is now a video presentation of the instruction directly from the First Presidency. There is a need to have instruction be uniform and accurate, so a video presentation is now the thing. 

Brandt, Kent, and I were joined by my mom, Mikayla and Guy, Brent and Brenda, Lee and Cammie, and Lydia. I always love being in the temple, and then it's always an additional joy when I am there with those I love the most. To be with Brandt and others I know love and support him, who want good things for all of us, makes the eternal nature of temple worship and service more rich and wonderful. My heart was full as we waited and then proceeded through the session.  

As we met in the Celestial Room and embraced each other, that fullness of joy in my heart expanded. I love Brandt. I rejoice that he chose to make covenants in the temple with our Heavenly Father. I rejoice that he will begin his mission soon. I rejoice that he is progressing spiritually. As it states in 3 John 1:4, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

Date Night - Ramin Karimloo

 

Kent and I went to a Bravo! production at BYU this evening. We went to see/hear Ramin Karimloo and the Broadgrass Band. I knew nothing about Karimloo, but when we got the Bravo! flyer it said he was a Broadway and West End performer who was highly entertaining which sounded like it would be a great evening. Kent said he wasn't interested, so I got tickets for me and Mom. 

However, today, when it came right down to it, my mom decided she had had enough culture for the week (we have been to two other productions this week!) and would attend Crew and Griffin's basketball game with Mikayla instead. Kent agreed to join me today as I was without a date, and we both really enjoyed the show. The music was terrific, the band was lively, and the audience was totally into it which added a great vibe to the show. Karimloo sang songs from Phantom, Les Mis, Big River, and finished off the show with "You'll Be Back" from Hamilton! They also played several pieces the band wrote which were great. It was a fun evening!

Weird Dog

Today I left a box of cereal, a roll of tape, and a pair of scissors on our bed before I went to work. I left these things there because for young women tonight we did a Favorite Thing Night, and everyone was supposed to bring something they liked that was less than five dollars. I quite like Cinnamon Chex, I needed to wrap the present before I went to Young Women, and by leaving it on the bed, I knew I would see it after work, I could wrap quickly, and I wouldn't forget it.

When I got home from work and went to wrap the cereal, I discovered that Moo Moo had chewed up the roll of tape. Bits of plastic were all over the bed, the tape was mangled, and Moo Moo was lying on the bed trying not to look guilty. 

She did not succeed.

What's so funny to me is that Moo Moo hardly ever chews on anything. She'll go months and months without destroying anything, and then suddenly, we'll find something she has gnawed on. Once I found a pencil, another time a wooden dowel, another time a pin cushion with little Chinese cloth dolls on it. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why she chews these things, and it happens so rarely, I don't even think about it. But something must come over Moo Moo and she destroys.

Fortunately, in spite of the roll being mangled, the tape itself was undamaged and still functioned just fine.

Who me?

Gone or Farewell Beloved Friend

To you, this may just look like a picture of our garage and driveway, and it is. But it is also a picture of a largely empty side drive, without the hulking wreck of Kent's truck. I shouldn't really call it a hulking wreck. I should more call it a rust bucket, with a bumper sticker that said, "Honk if parts fall off" which could have happened at any time. Kent inherited the truck, a 1984 Toyota Hilux (preferred vehicle of terrorists everywhere), from our friend Leland Stout. 

The truck was never in really great working condition, but Kent loved it. He was so pleased to be able to haul stuff to the dump, help people move, take large stuff to work, and just be able to do truck stuff. It looked horrible, but Kent looked upon it with love and affection. Last year, he tried to replace some parts. The clutch was very bad; Kent would plan his driving routes so he never ran the risk of having to stop on a hill, worried he wouldn't be able to get moving before rolling backwards into the car behind him. The body was rusted all over. Struts were shot and no good, the transfer case bearing was blown, it needed new rear brakes. But other than that, it was perfect. 

Oddly enough, the only picture I could find of the truck was of me driving it to pick up dead Christmas trees to burn. 

I did not drive the truck regularly. It was scary.

Once, I took Cora someplace in the truck and she nearly hyperventilated she was so nervous. She was certain it was going to fall apart under us.

That was not an unreasonable concern.

After taking things apart, Kent realized that he could put a lot of time and money into the thing, but it wasn't going to work well and would still be dicey to drive. So, he gave up and left the thing parked in the driveway. His history with taking things apart and then putting them back together hasn't always been stellar, so I was concerned that years from now we would still have a hunk of metal sitting in the side drive, an eyesore for our neighbors. 

In his praise, Kent is making an effort to get rid of things that we don't need or use, things that have been hanging around for a looooooooong time. I looooooooove this direction and support him wholeheartedly. Just last week he contacted a salvage yard and asked how much they would give him for the truck. I was astounded to hear that they were willing to pay us $800 for the thing. $800!! And as a bonus, they would come and haul it away. WHAT?! Amazing!!

So, when I returned home for lunch this afternoon and pulled into the cul-de-sac, I was thrilled to see an empty side drive. The truck was great while it lasted, and now it's great to have it gone.

The truck being driven away.

sob sob

REJOICE!

 

30 Years

How does a person adequately sum up thirty years of marriage? Over the past three decades, we have had some really good times together, and we've really struggled. The last seven years in particular have been very hard. It has been dark, and I've wondered if we were going to make it. I've wondered if we even wanted to make it. Parenting challenges, financial issues, marital discord have made me ask myself why we continued when it was just so miserable. I have keenly felt my imperfection, inability, and deficiencies in many important areas of my life. And I have felt that Kent's and my differences were driving us apart. 

All those feelings have made our past several anniversaries celebrations of endurance rather than rejoicings in our union. I have found myself lowering my expectations about what success in marriage looks like as ours has become less than I hoped. 

But Kent and I are trying to make things better. We are going to counseling and discussing ways to give each other grace. We are having more open conversations about our feelings rather than ignoring issues (Kent) or bottling up anger (me). We are trying to look forward with hope that because we love each other, we can make our marriage better this year than it was last. We go to the temple together each week, we read scriptures and pray together daily, we go to concerts and plays, and we play pickleball practically every week. We serve each other and we are trying to find less fault and more good. And we are asking Heavenly Father to help us along the path of parenthood and partnering.

The picture above is not what I wanted for our anniversary picture. I wanted to be in New Zealand on a 30th anniversary trip. Isn't that where you go when you've been married 30 years? Then, when we didn't go, I hoped for a picture in our Sunday finery, looking happy as the winter sun shone down on us. That didn't happen either. Instead, we stood on the front porch in the dark to mark this milestone. Not what I had hoped for, but still something good. Like our marriage. 

Because today is Sunday, Kent and I went to dinner last night (Indian food!) and then came home and watched a new Wallace and Gromit movie, Vengeance Most Fowl. It was delightful. Today we did lots of Church stuff including choir practice and a stake young women's training for me. I made a delicious dinner for all of us, and we are happy to enjoy the blessings of the Gospel.

Shopping Buddies

Mikayla took Brick to a soccer game this morning, and because was shooting with Brandt and Blake, she was going to take all five of her children with her. I was planning on going to the grocery store and probably Costco, too, and I asked if she wanted me to take some or all of her children besides Brick. They all wanted to come with me, so I picked them up and we braved Costco.

Costco on a Saturday with FOUR children, the unruly hoards, three separate shopping lists (mine, Mikayla's, and Suzan's), and a big cart made for a tricky shopping experience. I had to continually tell people to keep their body parts on the cart, stay by me, and watch where they were going. Fortunately, I didn't lose a single one and we were able to watch the roast chickens coming out of the large rotisserie oven.

Costco is currently selling a very soft, very enormous chair that converts into a bed and the children all wanted to try it out. They also all wanted me to take their picture. I do enjoy being with these kids.

Delish Salad in New Bowls

Eugene gave me these really great bowls for Christmas. He was my secret Santa. They are wide and shallow, just the right size for individual portions of salad. Tonight, I made Steak and Mango Salad (link here) and served it in my new bowls. Dinner was both tasty and beautiful.