In Our Family This Month...
* Nathan's turned 17 this month! We started off the day with (the kids thinking we'd have a regular day of school! LOL) but once they came downstairs, dad and I surprised them with Brunch at the Broken Yolk! It was really fun to do this together! Afterwards, we headed over to Walmart where the only gift Nathan wanted was a new PS5 game controller - so that's just what he got! Later that day, Trenton Rigby, Teegan and Charlie all came over to help celebrate. The boys all came to the girls' Rugby Team Dinner where Nathan ended up asking one of the players (Olivia) to Homecoming! Then it was back to the house for birthday dinner and a triple-layer cake made by Aubrie! Nathan said he had a great day and it was the best birthday ever!
* Rugby is in full swing! We had our first season game on Sept 6 (where both JV and Varsity won their matches!). Practice is every day (dad and the girls typically leave around 4:30pm and get home at 7:30pm - so it's quite the time commitment for sure!) and then JV has their matches every Wednesday and Varsity plays each Saturday. So yes, we are committed to Rugby SIX days a week! Aubrie and Lexi are both Captains for the JV team (along with Rae Yost and Kennedy Jones) and so far (for the month fo September) they have gone undefeated! They also are back-ups for Varsity so they end up playing quite a few matches each week! They are beasts and crazy good! Both girls have taken to being the kicker (Aubrie moreso for the kick-offs and both of them equally attempting the Conversion Kicks).
The Rugby team also put together a Float for the Homecoming Parade. The theme was "Under the Stars" and the float came together so well and looked awesome! The girls also looked extra cute walking in the parade (which dad and Coach Turner drove the truck that pulled the float!). We have team dinners each Friday night after practice and we've all just really enjoyed the Rugby family environment that we're in! 
* BSU games for the season started! Honestly, with the family being so involved with Rugby, BSU games don't have the same attraction that they did before. Don't get me wrong, we still enjoy going but they're not the "full day experience" that they used to be. Mom went to the opener home game against Central Florida. The next game (vs North Dakota) dad wasn't able to go due to a Rugby game so Nathan and Trenton took the tickets and went! Dad has also watched the Away games over at Bill's house on occasion.
* The Swiss Picnic was held in September this year (vs the 1st Sunday in August) and it worked out much better in my opinion (wasn't nearly as hot and much more pleasant!). This year, Aunt Kathryn and family were passing through Boise and popped in at the park it was being held at to visit (and of course try some of the yummy Swiss food!). Aubrie's boyfriend, Charlie, also came with us to the picnic. We made some Zopf (always a hit!) and then we also took a potato casserole, Jell-O salad and some bratwursts. This year they had the longest Alphorn there on display (and to be tested out!). It was made in the 1980's by a Swiss immigrant and was pretty cool to see! Grandma and Grandpa Vogt also attended along with August and his family.
* Homecoming for Meridian High was this month! The kids wanted to go but "not go" - meaning they wanted to have dates, get all dressed up, take pictures, go to a fancy dinner and then have a fun activity but not attend the dance. This sounded like a great idea to me! We found dresses for the girls at the thrift store, found most of Nathan's attire at the thrift store (including pink converses that he really wanted to complete his outfit! and of course they were a fraction of the price and they looked brand new AND were in his size! Blessing!). They went with a huge group: Aubrie & Charlie, Lexi & Teegan, Nathan & Koby, Audrey & Spencer, Hallie & Joe and then Meranna Dinkle also went with them. They met here at our house and we caravaned down to Albertson's Park where I took photo of everyone for about an hour (Joe's mom, Taylor, also came with me and helped with posing the kids). Afterwards, they all went to Izumi's for a fancy sushi dinner and then they went back to Audrey's house for games and a ice cream dessert bar. They even voted for a "Homecoming King and Queen" from their group - which ended up being Nathan and Audrey. Nathan was sooo surprised but lifted his spirits and confidence by quite a bit! We're super grateful that the kids have such a great group of friends to do things and make memories with!
* Ben's big day arrived on September 26th - he had the Sleeve Gastrectomy surgery to help in his efforts for loosing weight. He had to do a 2 week liquid diet before surgery (to shrink the liver so it's not "in the way" during the surgery). Dad accompanied him and they left for an early 5:30am check in at West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell (which is where dad and I both had the surgery done). During all of the many pre-op evaluations it was discovered that Ben had a Hiatal Hernia and so that was also going to be fixed (yay!). His surgery went super well and he was back home that afternoon. I went out to help assist him out of the truck but he literally just hopped down, and got all the way up to his room on his own! He could even roll over onto his side! That blew my mind because it was probably 2 months before I could do that!! He was up and walking every hour as instructed and besides some trapped gas pains in his shoulder, he wasn't in too much pain! He recovered VERY quickly and was able to get all of his recommended liquids in within a few days. Truly his recovery has astounded me! Having gone through it only 10 months ago it was all still quite fresh and while I feel like I didn't have a horrible recovery by any means - Ben's has been miraculous!
.
Spiritually Speaking...
I wanted to share 2 of my Scripture Journal entries:
D&C 16
This was a short section but delivered 2 beautiful truths to my heart:
1. The Lord knows each of us individually! He knows what's important to us. He knows our desires. He knows what' we need and what will bring us joy. How do I feel about this truth? It helps to increase my faith and trust in Him because if I truly believe that - then I'm going to believe that He'll be there for me and help me through whatever life brings my way (both the good and the hard things).
2. The most important thing that I can do is declare repentance. Declare it to my family (since they are the ones that I REALLY want to be with for eternity!) and declare it to myself! The more I am learning about repentance, the greater the shift is to recognizing it as a beautiful gift and mercy from God. Just like I want and desire my children to repent and come closer to God (because ultimately I know that it will bring them peace and joy!) - the same is true for what Heavenly Father wants for me!
3 Nephi 17
Opening my scripture time with prayer, I felt inspired to study 3rd Nephi chapter 17. A few things really stuck out to me, but one of the prevalent themes was about preparing ourselves, particularly our minds to receive the word of the Lord. Going through this chapter in the seminary manual, it broke it down to identify the difference between reading the Scriptures, studying the scriptures, and pondering them. The thought came to me that reading the scriptures is good, studying them is better and pondering them is best! As I take more time to ponder (a quote from President Eyring stated that to him, pondering is the thinking and praying he does after he has read and studied the scriptures - which I really liked this explanation!) and the more that I do this, accompanied with writing down thoughts and impressions that come to me, the more direction and personal revelation I can receive!
No comments:
Post a Comment