2012 Summer Trip -- Visiting With Friends and Fun in Salmon, ID

After our week with Beckcy and Ramona, Lee flew back into Seattle. Lee had set up a BBQ in the park with some friends from high school. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of those who came. :( It was really fun to meet everyone, though! I think Lee's effort with the BBQ got his classmates going toward planning an actual 20-year high scool reunion. Hopefully he'll be able to make it back up for that!

We spent our last night in Seattle with Lee's good friend Tom Young. He and Lee became friends in 9th grade. He has three children also, including a daughter who is just a month younger than Melissa. Melissa is normally scared around men she doesn't know, but she loved Tom! Tom's daughter, Emme, was nice to share him. :)

 Here is a picture of Tom and Lee with their kids: Abby, Emme, Jackson, Morgan, Melissa, and Brynne.

Our last stop in Seattle was to Jack and Barbara Jenkins' home for another reunion. We got together with a bunch of friends that were in the same young adult branch at church as Lee and I. I was really excited about the number of people who were able to make it and had a great time visiting with everyone!

We stopped at Lee's sister Katie's house in Ellensburg, WA long enough for a good night's rest and a quick hello in the morning, and then we started on our journey to Salmon, ID. Then we stopped in Spokane to have lunch with Lee's dad, Trout. He took us to a restaurant that is in an old train car, which was a lot of fun. I LOVE this picture of Grandpa Trout and Melissa!



We also stopped in Missoula to have dinner with Shyra Scott, a friend of ours who used to live in Salmon. She is such a fun person and it was SO good to see her and have a chance to visit, even if it was a quick visit!

I wish we would have had time to visit all our friends in Seattle, but we didnt' have enough time this trip. Although we did make arrangements to get some ice cream at the local grocery store with Bob Shine, a guy Lee flew with at Salmon Air; and we also ran into Bob & Kelly Wilkins, Lee's bosses at the end of our time there. The majority of our time was spent making the most of play time with our friends Danny & Ruth Cockrell and their family. We went swimming in the local pool where Ruth tried to get in some Melissa-time:

 Ruth's son Jacob (and one of Jacob's cousins) took Lee bridge jumping, which was tons of fun to watch! I love zooming in on the picture below to see Lee's face! :) Lee mostly kept right up with the two young bucks he was jumping with -- even trying a few flips and tricks.

Lee and I both love Salmon and dream of moving back there one day. Great people and laid back living!

2012 Summer Trip - Friends in Idaho

 The first three weeks of July were spent away from home. This was the year of Lee's big family reunion (held every four years) on the Washington coast. I decided that if we were going to drive all the way up there, I wanted to stop and see a few people. First stop -- Jerome, Idaho to see my friend Andy Prescott and his great family!

While in Jerome we discovered that Melissa has a thing for cowboys! :) Andy's son Porter got down to play with Melissa, and it didn't take her long to steal his hat. Porter loved it - he's the one who grabbed my camera and got a great picture of Melissa in his hat. :)

 We started the 4th of July at Andy's where he and his wife, Janet, were nice enough to invite us to join them at the lake. It was the first time my kids had ever been boating and they loved it!

Brynne loved being the flag girl anytime we had someone skiing. I'm thinking her arm may have gotten a little tired when it was my turn to ski. :) (For the record - I got up the first time I tried regular water skiing 18 years ago, but I struggled a little more with the slalom ski on this trip.)

 The girls got to ride on an inner tube. They loved it until Andy decided to have a little fun. As Brynne puts it, "Their dad was a crazy driver!" Brynne and Porter ended up in the water at one point, which Brynne was pretty upset about; but no worries - she just went back to her duties as flag girl!

 In the pictures above and below, are two of Andy's kids - Liz and Porter. Morgan and Liz had a wonderful time together! Liz loves horses and goes riding most mornings, so she and Morgan had lots to talk about.

 One of us had a tough time staying awake with all the excitement. :)

 This was just after I got done trying to ski. Melissa was not too happy with me that I left her with strangers and jumped in off the back of the boat.

 The second half of our 4th of July was spent in Caldwell, Idaho with our friends the Christensens. I went to Ricks College with Lee and Dee Christensen and have remained friends with their family. (Ricks is also where I met Andy Prescott!) We joined the Christensens for potluck and fireworks before heading to bed after such a long, but fun, day.

The next morning Morgan and Brynne got a chance to ride horses. They had ridden for a little bit at Andy's house but we super excited for the chance to ride more.

 As if riding horses wasn't enough, Morgan learned to drive a "gear motorcycle." We tried to tell Morgan it's called a 4-wheeler, so now she calls it a "gear 4-wheeler." Can you tell someone is excited about the gears? :) Morgan took Brynne out for a ride. I was quite nervous but was thrilled to actually have a picture of my girls doing something together with genuine smiles on their faces!!

When we left Idaho, we drove to Portland to stay with Aleisha Calabrese Harr, a friend of ours from Seattle. We didn't have much time there, but it was so nice to visit with her!

A fun fact: Andy has a daughter who is one day older than Melissa, and Aleisha has a daughter who is one day younger than Melissa. It was lots of fun to watch Melissa with her new friends. :)

Nisha

This is the story of Nisha. Someone who reached out to Morgan -- actually, knowing Morgan, it was probably Morgan who reached out, but Nisha responded with kindness and love. Nisha is the kind of person who makes parents want to cry with happiness!

In the middle of the last school year, Morgan started talking every now and then about her "friend the lunch lady." At first I didn't pay much attention. Then one day she said she needed to take one of our super yummy brownies to her friend the lunch lady because Morgan had promised her she would. I figured Morgan was trying to get her hands on an extra one for herself, but I decided to go ahead and let her take a brownie to school just in case there really was someone she had promised a brownie to.

One day I went into the lunch room to sit by Morgan while she ate. She was excited to show me her friend the lunch lady. We stuck our heads into the serving area, and Morgan waved at her friend. I also waved. That was the first time I saw who this friend was.

A little while later, Morgan started talking about her friend Nisha. I finally asked who Nisha was, and she told me Nisha was the lunch lady. Morgan would tell me how Nisha would save a certain lunch item for Morgan because she knew Morgan would want it and how Nisha was so nice to her. Morgan ate breakfast at the school during this time, and every morning she was so excited to go see Nisha. I honestly think one of the most exciting things about school at this point for Morgan was seeing Nisha.

By the end of the school year, I realized I needed to do more than just peek my head in to see Nisha. I needed to meet Nisha and make sure she knew how grateful I was that she would befriend Morgan, and make sure she knew of the powerful positive influence she had had on Morgan. I went to the school just before the end of the year and took a picture of Morgan and Nisha together.

Apparently toward the end of the school year Morgan talked lots about her birthday and the fun birthday party she was going to have. She told Nisha she was going to invite her. Then summer came and that was the last I heard about Nisha for a while.

The day before Morgan's birthday, Morgan received an email from Nisha. Nisha said she knew Morgan's birthday was the next day and she hoped Morgan had a happy birthday. I was so shocked and impressed! Nisha had remembered what day Morgan's birthday was and took time to send her the email. This wasn't someone who was just extra nice to Morgan when she saw her at school. This was someone who truly was a special friend to Morgan.

Morgan remembered she hadn't sent a birthday party invitation to Nisha, so we sent her one via email. We didn't hear anything back, so I was surprised when Nisha showed up at Morgan's birthday party. She even brought Morgan a present -- a book of horse posters and horse pictures to color. For anyone who doesn't know, that was the absolute perfect gift for Morgan! Obviously Nisha knew and remembered enough about Morgan to get her the perfect present!

When Nisha left the birthday party, she told Morgan she was excited to see her again when school starts. I told her again how grateful I am that she has been so nice to Morgan. She said that every now and then a child grabs at her heart, and that's what Morgan had done. She said Morgan is such a sweet girl. I LOVE that she saw Morgan for exactly who Morgan is!

I'm sure this isn't the end of the Nisha story, but just the beginning. It's not possible to express how grateful I am for her and for what she has done for Morgan. Thank you, Nisha!!!

(Read about Morgan's birthday party below.)

A Few Good People

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Jack Jenkins letting me know he and his wife Barbara would be in Provo. Jack was my Branch President (church leader) when I lived in Seattle right after graduating from BYU. My friend Denise and I were roommates there, and that's where we met our husbands. Anyway, both Denise and I made arrangements for our families to go see them last Monday evening. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up at the house at exactly the same time, but coming from opposite directions (I followed googlemaps, Denise followed logic). We had a nice visit, and I was very glad for the chance to see them. Here is a picture of me with Jack, Barbara, Denise and Paul.
This is Morgan's last week of school (and wouldn't you know she is sick with a fever and is missing all her fun last-week things...). Her 2nd Grade school program was last Thursday. I took the opportunity to get a picture of Morgan with her teacher, Mrs. Alger. This is Mrs. Alger's last year teaching (she has a one-year-old girl she will stay home with), and we will miss her. She was an AMAZING teacher for Morgan -- I can not praise her enough!!!! Morgan can have a tough personality sometimes, but Mrs. Alger saw Morgan for who she was and really loved her. What more can a mother ask for in a teacher? (tears...)

And here's just a cute picture to round out this blog. Sweet Brynne has been learning to swim. She is becoming a proficient doggie-paddler and is also very good at holding her breath and retrieving items from the bottom of the pool. Lately, she has shown interest in learning to swim on her back. Isn't she cute?! :)

Visiting Friends

I did something fun today. Something I should have done a long time ago... I took a trip to Heber City/Midway to see two really good friends that I haven't seen in quite a while.

I went to see Katrina Brush, who was my roommate at Ricks College MANY years ago. She is my double because her birthday is exactly two days before mine. We have talked on the phone a few times in the past few years, but we hadn't seen each other in about six years. It was nice to catch up on our families and get to say hello in person. I also got to meet three of her six children that I had never met before.
The second friend I met up with was Laura Jorgenson. I met Laura when I went to visit friends at Ricks right after my mission. We only spent one day together and were best friends. She's even quite a bit younger than me, but we were instant friends. The last time I saw her was 4 1/2 years ago, just before she gave birth to her first child. She is now expecting her third. Brynne took this nicely-centered picture for us. :)

I really enjoyed visiting with Laura and Katrina. I highly recommend that you take the leap and go see that friend you've been wanting to visit but haven't seen in forever. You'll be really glad you did!! I hearby resolve to see each of them again before a year is out! :)

Friends from K9

While we were in Seattle, we had a get-together from some of our friends from the Kent 9th Branch (formerly referred to as K9). There were something like 15 weddings the summer Lee and I got married, which was a lot because K9 wasn't a very large branch. The branch president (we love you President Jenkins!) figured he'd get released after so many weddings because that meant he had done his job well. :) Anyway, here's a picture of me with Bekki Park and her daughter Taylor.

Aleisha drove up from Portland (thanks Aleisha!!!!) with her husband Dane. And we had the party at the home of Barbara and Cary Griffin (thanks guys!). Obviously I was taking the picture so I'm not in it. Lee had a great time because planes kept flying over their house. :)
Here's a picture of all the kids. The first two are Aleisha's, then mine, and then Barb's. The Griffins also have a baby boy, but he was inside sleeping. I love this picture because Brynne I captured a look Brynne does a lot. It's like an "I'm trying to be mad and not show that I'm enjoying myself" look.
Some other friends that planned on coming ended up with sick kids, so we were sad to miss them. It was nice to see those we did, however!