* Renting a boat with the Perry family and spending Labor day out on the lake at Lucky Peak! This was seriously so much fun!! We rented a big tube as well and spent the day hauling kids all over the water!
* Finally Tuesday, September 11th came and we were off to pick up Seth from the airport! (Keep scrolling down to the next blog post for a detailed account of his Homecoming!)
* Dad took a couple of days off of work after Seth arrived home. We decided to take a quick day trip to Jump Creek Falls as a family. It was beautiful... but COLD! And it was fun to be there... but it was COLD! We'll definitely be back next year (earlier in the season)
* We also went and supported Ben and his football team in their game against Ridgeview (another high school here in Nampa).
* Then on Saturday (the 15th) we celebrated Nathan's 12th Birthday!! He requested a birthday breakfast of French Toast Bake (which we happily did!) and then for dinner he asked for Seth to make his famous Honey Sriracha Chicken and Fried Rice. Seth slaved away in the kitchen for 2+ hours but the end result was DELICIOUS!! Nathan had also requested a "white and chocolate cake" and the girls delivered exactly what he wanted! a 4 layer cake with alternating layers of white and chocolate cake with corresponding frosting layers. The girls really did an amazing job and the cake was super moist and scrumptious! Nathan had been planning for months (literally months!) to take all of his birthday money and pay for all of the siblings to go spend the day at Wahooz! He knew it would cost about $200 and was adamant that that's the only thing he wanted -- which is exactly what he got! The kids waited until Tuesday (when it was cheaper and when no crowds would be there since it was a school day) and then they spent from 11am - 10pm having a blast on the rides, bowling, mini golf, bowling, playing arcade games, Lazer tag and riding Go Karts! He was also super spoiled since in addition to the excursion to Wahooz, he got the brand new PS4 Spiderman game and headphones (from Grandma and Grandpa Carlson), the PS4 Batman Arkham Origins game (from Grandma and Grandpa Vogt) and new PS4 controller chargers, Fortnite battle passes and treats from the family!
* Sunday, September 16th, was the day for Seth to speak in Sacrament meeting from returning from his Mission (he was also presented with his plaque form the Bishop during Sacrament meeting). We had several family and friends join our Ward to listen to him speak (the Coburn's, Perry's, Beath's, Hixon's, Jenk's, Grandma and Grandpa Vogt, Grandma Carlson and Carly Cahoon - who serves with mom in the Stake YW). He spoke on what a true testimony is and how to gain one. His talk was so good (although short since he wasn't left a whole lot of time - but it was still a good 12+ minutes) and he weaved in great stories that pertained to the gospel principle of gaining a testimony! After Sacrament meeting, we all headed home for an open house to celebrate Seth (along with all of those above mentioned families! It's a good thing that Grandma and I had already done all of the prep work and were ready to start serving the food!) We had a really nice time and several other family and friends stopped by throughout the afternoon (including Tony and Heidy, the Rigby's and the Clemente's). Seth was able to share more experiences from his Mission and we had a 30+ minute slideshow playing on the big screen in the living room.
* Our time with Grandma Carlson came to an end too quickly! Looking back, we really had an amazing time and just moved from celebration to celebration! I absolutely loved every minute of having her here with us - from the morning exercising at the track to the menu making and grocery shopping to the birthday plans and homecoming celebrations - having grandma here made it all the more better! She flew back home on Monday evening (Sept 17th) and then the following morning dad flew out to North Carolina for the week (we had to leave at like 4am to get there on time for his flight!)
* Dad's flight arrived back into Boise at 10:30pm on Friday night - which also happened to be his BIRTHDAY!! The kids and mom had everything all set up awaiting his return so we could celebrate with him! The girls had made a delicious German Chocolate cake (dad's favorite!) and all of his (unknown and unexpected!) gifts were awaiting him on the table when he arrived!
* On Saturday, the 29th we went and had a gathering at Bill Belau's for the Boise State game! This is definitely a BIG positive of being back in the Boise valley - BSU football! There were 5 families that came to cheer on the Bronco's!
* Weekly Presidency meetings for Mom
* Mom and Dad chaperoned the Stake Dance
* Nathan had his first very campout with the Scouts! He got a little freaked out by noises he heard in the night but said he had a good time!
* An early morning Temple Trip for Ben and the Priests in the Ward
* Ben became the Class President of his Seminary Class
* Had a BBQ with the Davis', Perry's and Hamilton's over at Melanie's house
* Hair cuts for all of the kids
* enjoying the little things with Seth, now that he's home!
* Grandpa Carlson asked mom to edit a picture of him in his Civil War Uniform... I thought it'd be fun to include that here in our family history!
* What about school for the month?! No - the entire month wasn't void of learning, but since we had started extra early (back in July) knowing that we'd be taking a few weeks off when Seth arrived home, it was definitely a lot leaner month in regards to our homeschooling (and I apparently didn't take very many pictures!) But here's what I've got...
Spiritually Speaking...
* Like I mentioned above, Ben became the class president for his Seminary class. His teacher sent me an email recently that I'd like to share. He wrote: "Just wanted to send a quick message to let you know how awesome it was to hear Ben share his testimony in class today. He has been an amazing class leader and he has a light about him that everyone just loves. Thank you for raising a wonderful son. - Brother McKee"
What better compliment could be given!? My mom heart felt overjoyed and happy that another person recognized how amazing Ben is and took the time to share his thoughts with me. Over this past year, Ben's testimony and conviction to the gospel has grown stronger and more firm. He stands for the truth and has a solid foundation build upon Christ. I have no doubt he will continue to be a leader and one who stands for truth and righteousness!
* On the topic of Ben... he received his Patriarchal Blessing this month! Talk about a Spiritual High! He invited Seth to attend and so the 4 of us (he, Seth, dad and I) were all able to be in attendance for this beautiful occasion! We had encouraged Ben to go to the blessing while Fasting and told him that we would Fast along with him - which I thought was neat thing and bring about the Spirit even more so. The Patriarch had both dad and I bear our testimonies to Ben and then had Ben share his feelings with us. He also had dad, Seth and I share one word that described Ben and those words were: Faithful (dad), Leader (mom) and Cheerful (Seth). He encouraged Ben to write those 3 words at the top of his blessing and see how they would impact him and his interpretation of things throughout his life. The blessing was spiritual and beautiful and showed us exactly who and How Heavenly Father sees Ben! We are all super anxious for the hard copy to arrive sometime in the next week so we can re-read it and really ponder the words and blessing promised to him throughout his life.
* Of course Seth finishing up his Mission and returning home was amazing and a super spiritual moment - that extended throughout the week as he gave his homecoming talk in church and shared lots of experiences with us.
* Sunday, September 16th was a highlight for us all as Nathan was sustained and ordained as a Deacon and received the Aaronic Priesthood! Dad performed the ordination and Seth, Ben, Brent Coburn and a couple members from our ward stood in. He has been preparing for this and we are so super proud of him and the great young man he is growing up to be! The following week, he passed the Sacrament for the first time and even though he was a bit nervous, he did a perfect job!
* While Grandma Carlson was here we/she spent time working on Family History! She is persistent, diligent and digs down deep to find the information of our ancestors! She is a great example of working on family history and I'm so grateful for her! We also really wanted to take some time to attend the Temple. Both her, Seth and dad hadn't ever been to the Meridian Temple and so that's the one we wanted to go to. We decided to do Initiatories (about 5 family names each) and then met together in the Celestial Room - which was beautiful and peaceful! I'm really glad that we took the time to step away from the busyness of life and look at the eternal goals we have. And what a blessing that we have TWO Temples within 30 minutes of us! It's wonderful and we need to take more advantage of it! After the Temple, we went to Beehive Clothing and got spoiled! I got a new Temple dress that is absolutely beautiful! It's flattering, flowing and the style is so pretty! Dad got some new Temple pants and Seth a Temple Packet (and grandma got herself a new Temple sweater).
* I truly believe that Seth will continue to see blessing from his service as a Missionary all throughout his life. One came about a week and a half after arriving home in the form of a job being handed to him! One of the owners of American Construction Supply heard that he was looking for a job to earn money for school and so called him up and offered him a 40 hour, 8-5pm M-F job making $11/hour! AND... the job location is only 3.5 miles from the house so he has been able to come home for lunch each day :) After starting, he was offered another job making $15/hour and is praying/fasting today to see if he should take that one. After doing the math, he figures he could make an extra $2,000 between now and leaving for school in January... that's quite the difference! I have no doubt (and hopefully he doesn't either!) that this is a direct blessing from the Lord to have not one, but TWO jobs approach him!
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