Idaho 2017 Day 1

I'm finally going through all of our pictures from our Idaho trip. We packed a lot in during those eight days and so I'm breaking it down into smaller pieces or I might never finish it! Since we knew were going to spend the week with family, we added some family history stops on our way to Idaho Falls.

We drove through Mantua, Utah. I don't blame you if you don't know where it is because it is a tiny town east of Brigham City. That's where Hans Lars Nielsen and his family first settled when they arrived in Utah from Denmark. His wife Karen died while they were there and he married Ane, Jonathan's great-great grandma. Back then, there wasn't much water and so he moved the family up to Mink Creek, Idaho. Today there is a reservoir there and it is still a little town.

We drove up to Idaho on highway 91 and through Preston to get to Mink Creek.

We ended up behind a tractor along our way to the cemetery.

To get to the dirt road to the cemetery, we had to first drive through the church parking lot. Along the sides of the road were cattle and calves grazing.

After checking the directory of the cemetery, we fairly quickly found Jonathan's great grandpa and grandma Nelson.

Oscar Frederick and Hedvig Jespersen Nelson

It took a bit longer, but we were able to find great-great grandpa and grandma Nielsen.

Hans Lars and Ane Kristine Nielsen

The cemetery is tucked away in a gorgeous little valley.

We loved taking these smaller roads because we saw new scenery and it was beautiful. That same night, Amy R. and her kids made it to Idaho Falls. We had s'mores around the fire pit.

And that was day 1.

Changing Seasons

Things are changing fast for us and I have to say it's exciting!

We are quickly wrapping things up here in Utah. It's been a good experience to live here. We had a lot of good times and are happy to close this chapter in our lives. We still don't know where we will end up long term, but I look forward to seeing where our next chapter takes us.

Faith

A few years ago, I was scraping by. I felt like an empty shell of a person. Two unexpected miscarriages have a way of knocking you down and out for awhile. It was incredibly hard hearing about other people's miracles because I still fully believe that could have been our story and it wasn't. Instead of building up my faith and hope, those stories made me question God more.

I've often felt like I can see the ultimate goal, but the path is hazy.

I still had an everlasting hope in Christ that I will be resurrected and if I do all that I can I will live with Him and our Heavenly Parents. I couldn't hope that all of my righteous desires would be met in this life though and obviously not in the way expected them.

I needed something more than the faith I already had or more hope. I needed something that could handle anything and everything, not just the life I wanted and planned for. I searched various subjects on lds.org to find anything that could help me. Last year, I came across an article by Elder David A. Bednar titled Accepting the Lord's Will and Timing. I encourage you to read it. The story that hit me the hardest was about a young couple he met that the husband was diagnosed with cancer within the first month of their marriage. The husband and wife throughout the experience had faith for him to be healed. When they asked Elder Bednar to give him a priesthood blessing, Elder Bednar asked him if he had the faith to not be healed. They discussed it and "we increasingly understood that if God’s will were for this good young man to be healed, then that blessing could be received only if this valiant couple first had the faith not to be healed. In other words, John and Heather needed to overcome, through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, the “natural man” (Mosiah 3:19) tendency in all of us to demand impatiently and insist incessantly on the blessings we want and believe we deserve."

I had never thought of it in that way before. We regularly talk about having faith to be healed in church, but not about having faith to not be healed. That's what I needed. I needed faith to endure whatever would come and that included not getting my miracle. That way I could honestly say Come what may and love it! I am still weak and occasionally indulge in thoughts and feelings that make it hard for me to be at peace with following the Lord's will. The thing is to keep pushing through the hard times and doing things that bring that peace back to my heart.

Taking my family to the temple helps me reset and remember who God sees when he looks at me.

This has changed my perspective in other aspects of our life. Instead of praying that Jonathan gets the job he interviews for, I pray that he will do his best in the interview and that it will be a positive experience for him. I still want him to get the job, but I recognize that it might not take us down the path the Lord has in mind for us.

I still don't have all of the answers on what our life will look like. I do feel like the fog and haze are thinning. It's still there, but I know we can make it through with each other and the Lord guiding our steps.

June Happenings

Here are some highlights from June.

Jonathan's diploma is here! I need to frame it and hang it with our other diplomas.

Amy R. sent a Mother's day package with all sorts of cute gifts! In it she sent little magnetic frames. Apparently, Garrett is the only person I have small pictures of and so his school pictures are now finally framed!

Jonathan and I went up to the airport in Heber to see some cool old planes and swing dance in one of the hangers. It was a great night!

Jonathan had his first interview with a company we would love for him to work with. The night before we went to the temple to get some extra blessings for Jonathan to be able to do his best in the interview.

It did end up going really well! So, we went out to the Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate and for him to tell me all about it.

My parents and Amy R's family came into town before our trip up to Idaho. I decided to go to work while they played the days away. It was tough, but it made the week in Idaho that much sweeter!

Jonathan and Garrett playing catch.

Father's Day Weekend

The "parent" holidays can be rough for us. This year, I decided to own Father's Day (instead of being a crying mess) and spend the weekend doing things Jonathan would like to do.

One of our favorite activities is driving around neighborhoods looking at homes. We try to visit model homes, but that's a purely Saturday activity since they close by the time I'm done at work. We got tickets for the Utah Valley Parade of homes and spent the day going from house to house seeing what we liked and a lot of what we didn't like. (It was mostly awkward floor plans that we couldn't stand.)

I love the grey and the ceiling.

I don't think laundry would be as terrible in this room!

I am now sold on smart thermostats.

A free standing soaking tub is in my future!

This is a fantastic idea for a door stop!

I also see a large creative space for me in the future.

Even though we had a great Saturday, Sunday morning was still tough. These holidays bring up a lot of emotions and inadequacies. I was about to indulge in these thoughts, but then I thought about Jonathan and the father he already is. It's not his fault that both of our pregnancies didn't make it full term (and it's not my fault either) and so there's really no reason for him not to be included on Father's Day. Instead of barely making it through the day, I decided to share the father that I see when I look at Jonathan.

Jonathan's choices have had our family in mind long before her met me while there are men in the world that technically are fathers, but choose not to be fathers. Every so often I see a quote saying "If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart." For us it's "If you think my hands are empty, you should see how full my heart is." We make all of our decisions with our children in mind. We truly, deeply love each one of them. I love J and E and I love the rest of our children, no matter how long they are going to stay with us. It doesn't matter. What matters is they are each an essential part of our family. Our family would not be complete without them just as it wouldn't be complete without me or Jonathan.

Jonathan is the father of our family. That's why I married him. I saw that he was already taking on that role and I liked the way he was fulfilling it. I wouldn't have anyone else be the father of my children.

Poppies

I heard about a place in Alpine that had poppies and that it was magical. Jonathan and I had to wait until they bloomed, but it was worth it!

There weren't tons of poppies, but it was still magical! There were a lot of big, happy bees buzzing from flower to flower.

Of course, we took more pictures together!

I guess you could say things are still pretty serious!

I'm so grateful for people who find and share beautiful places to visit! I got the directions to this place from here.

Spiritual Enlightenment: Consider the Lilies

Idaho Falls Temple Rededication

Jonathan and I went up to Idaho for the rededication of the Idaho Falls Temple. This is a very special temple for my family because my grandpa Machen helped build it after he came home from his mission in Tahiti. It was a wonderful weekend.

It started with Ruby not going to sleep on Friday night.

We played for most of Saturday while Chris and Annie did yard work. Ruby fell asleep before dinner.

We were able to watch the youth cultural celebration about the area and the temple. One of the songs they sang was about potatoes. It was very Idaho! Afterwards, we roasted marshmallows in the backyard.

Sunday morning, we went to the second session of the dedication. It was wonderful. I kept thinking about my grandparents and their example of temple service. My life would be bleak without the blessings of the temple. It gives me real hope for the future both for the coming years and after I die.

I can't wait to go inside the temple again!

My Elder Machen

Spiritual Enlightenment: Honorably Hold a Name and Standing - This talk helped me understand the importance of the temple for me as an individual.

Antelope Island

I've been wanting to go on more adventures with Jonathan for a while. Now that he's out of school and we don't expect to live in Utah much longer, we are really working on getting in as many adventures as we can!

Last month we went to Antelope Island. It's been awhile since we took family photos and so we got dressed up.

I'm very blessed to walk through life with Jonathan at my side.

Naturally, after we finished taking pictures I walked out into the water. It was surprisingly clear and a very comfortable temperature. I did make Jonathan touch the water so he can now say that he has touched the Great Salt Lake.

Spiritual Enlightenment: I Will Stay True - I wholeheartedly agree!