MaeLyn's Musings

Yesterday, as I sat in sacrament meeting listening to my oldest son, John, who was ordained a priest the previous Sunday, offer the blessing on the water my heart filled with joy and brought tears to my eyes. Joshua, who will be ordained a teacher next Sunday, and Peter, who was recently ordained a deacon, stood reverently during the blessing as they waited to pass the emblems of Christ's blood to the congregation. I was filled with joy at the thought that all three of my boys were worthy and willing to participate in this ordinance. As a brother I met on my mission in Brazil often said, "Que bênção!" (What a blessing!) Last week, Steven, Joshua and Peter attended Scout Camp all week, leaving me with Hannah (who is working at Sonic 30-35 hours a week trying to save money for college) and John. It was a very quiet week! I missed my younger boys while they were gone, but enjoyed spending some one-on-one time with John. It was wonderful to enjoy dinner last night with our ...

Friday evening we arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, at the home of Steven's mom and her husband John. There, we found Steven's brother Brian and his family. We were also soon joined by Steven's sister Karen and her family... and Andy and his family who had driven part of the way with us and then stopped somewhere along the way... It was fun to see most of Steven's family. We missed his brother David and his wife, but they were unable to come. That evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner, and then watched the lego Batman movie on a screen in the backyard. That night, the adults checked into a hotel leaving all the grandchildren with grandma Kathy and John to watch over. Saturday, the adults returned to the house to make sure the kids were ready in time for the drive to Cottonwood to attend Steven's Grandma Maureen's 90th birthday celebration. We were saddened to learn on our arrival at Kathy's house, that Grandpa Ray (Maureen's husband) had a stroke early that...

While in California, we introduced our children to the beach. Waves, sand, salt water, sea gulls, shells lying around on the ground, who could ask for anything more? This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip.  On Tuesday, we went to salt creek beach with my sister-in-law Megan, her daughter Angela, our niece Abigail and a neighbor girl. Megan also was kind enough to bring the paraphernalia we didn't have - the beach umbrella, lawn chairs, sand toys, boogie boards, face masks, and flippers. The kids had a blast. Steven, Hannah, John and Joshua enjoyed the boogie boards and caught several waves each. Peter preferred to stay closer to shore, digging holes and playing in the sand. ********************** The following day, we had a picnic at Dana Point with Steven's dad and his wife Yumiko. Megan, Angela and Abigail came too. The water in the harbor was tame compared to the big waves of the day before. I think Peter was th...

We arrived in Rancho Santa Margarita on Monday evening (June 26th), and showed the kids the apartment complex we lived in when Hannah and John were born and the church building we attended in those days. We stopped at the Target across the street for food, and then made our way to O'Niell Park in Trabuco canyon, where we had a campsite reserved.  It felt weird to be in California again. It was odd to see street signs and recognize the names, but not remember where exactly we were. It felt very green. I had forgotten how everything was set back from the streets, and the streets were lined with green belts. Even gas stations were set back a way and almost hidden behind shields of greenery. It was beautiful, but took a while to get used to. In the grocery stores, I had a weird feeling like I wasn't preppy enough to shop there. I felt like some hillbilly hick sneaking into some ritzy hotel, and I was out of place.  We spent Tuesday morning driving around Mission Viejo, re...

I guess I have to back up just a little. Thursday was the day camp portion of 11 year old scout camp. Peter was already twelve, but since John had been asked to help as scout staff this year, Peter attended with him. I dropped them both off at the church that morning, and after a day of fun, I returned to pick up Peter that evening. John stayed and went up to camp that that night at pickle gulch campground. Friday morning, I dropped Peter off at the church again, and then he drove up with the scouts to camp. When Steven got off work Friday evening, he didn't come home, but rather went straight to the camp to join the boys for dinner and the campfire activity and to stay the night. Saturday morning, Steven returned home with John and Peter, we finished loading the car (we'd loaded most of the things Thursday evening, and I had everything else pretty much ready to go), and then we finally began our family vacation. Driving with four teenagers isn't anything like drivi...

Peter just celebrated a very special birthday! He's TWELVE!!!!! Gifts included an entire new set of Sunday clothes including dress shoes, black pants, white shirt, and a yellow tie. He also received a small star wars lego set, a deck of playing cards, and some earbuds.  Due to the fact that we left on vacation just a few days following his birthday, he hasn't yet been to church in our ward since his birthday and he hasn't received the priesthood and been ordained a deacon yet. Hopefully that will happen this coming Sunday. It will be a blessing to have all three of my boys participating in the administrating of the sacrament each week!

So, I had a birthday a while ago. I'm forty something now, I think. Hannah took pictures. Steven made the cake.