September Part 2: Literally Everything Besides Brian's Birthday

September had a LOT going on--consistently, daily, nearly hourly. It was a fun logistical puzzle to try to get Rachel to school, dance, and her MDT class, Gabe to school, basketball, flag football, and Code Ninjas, and Michael to early morning seminary every other day, school, football practice and games every week, but we got into a pretty good groove with all of it, and feel so accomplished that everyone, for the most part, got to all their things on time. 

In addition to that, I watercolored this giraffe, 

Brian got the "Y" plate on the front of the Mazda (Utah stopped requiring a front plate, so they only gave us one for the back), 

And Michael had to make a meal using only ingredients found in the New World (but anciently). He made chili. 

With a side of corn on the cob. 

We finally checked on our garden and we were surprised by the number of giant cucumbers that were out there. 

Sophomore parents got to run the Concession Booth at the Varsity games, so Brian and I signed up for two nights of Concessions. We even made it to watch one of the Varsity games for our date night. This meant we needed new Lone Peak Shirts! Go Knights!

Michael worked in the woodshop in between all his things. 

Gabe worked on his basketball skills. 

Gracie got a new hat (just kidding, we got a new rug for our front room, and this was the cover for the rolled up rug, which was made in Turkey. Too bad we don't know if they double knotted the strands when they wove it. 

The kids worked on homework. 

Brian worked on his golf game. (Brian's note: this was the annual Adobe golf tournament, which some people from my team "compete" on every year. Meaning we just go out and have fun and never have any kind of chance of winning. This is a photo of me actually beating out my coworker Ben's shot, which was impressive because he was easily the best of us. He let me have this moment in memoriam.)

We picked up the kids' ski/snowboard rentals for the year, and tested out the divider in the Mazda. And by we, I really mean Brian because I wasn't involved this year. 

Brian and I got to go to a BYU game with Lea and Shayne, and we ran into Amy and her husband, Ethan. Now Brian is going to expect to run into Marching band friends anytime he goes to a game. 

I made us all matching shirts for the white out. 

Michael had a football game in Farmington, and Chelsea and Amber came to cheer him on. 

I got some more amazing transcripts from Marco Polo. Taryn, watch your language! 

I think this was the Varsity game we went to at Lone Peak. 

It's fun to feel a part of the community and do something different for date night. Plus, we know some of those kids on the team now! 

Michael loves being in the high school, and he loves going to the games. 

Michael went on his first date to the Homecoming Dance. Here he is picking up his date, Sophie. 

Here he is with Noah and his date, as well as Sophie. He was actually in a group of 12 couples. They did their day date the week before and this was the dinner and dance on the actual HOCO night. 

He's so handsome! 

Right after Homecoming, he got asked to Sadie Hawkins, which wouldn't be until after Halloween! 

Kleber came to visit and played chess with Rachel. He may have taught her how to play. We enjoyed having him visit us. Kleber was the Saville family's foreign exchange student from Brazil, and he's like a brother to Brian. 

He came for dinner, and we remembered to get a picture with all of us afterwards. 

He was in town for work, and left his car in the Conference Center parking lot at Temple Square in Salt Lake, so Brian and I drove him back to his car after dinner (he'd come down with Kirt and Julie after Music and the Spoken Word.)

Gabe's constant stream of ear infections over the summer led to allergy testing since most of his infections were caused by allergies. 

Turns out, he's basically allergic to everything! Poor guy! 

Rachel and Gracie are really bonding since they're roommates now. Gracie always trusts that Rachel will be gentle with her, and so she'll happily play with Rachel. 

Rachel made great progress on her violin. 

Gabe is studying Utah history this year, and he got to make a map of Utah out of cake, which was very exciting for him. 

With September, our stake switched up times (and building assignments) for the year. We now have sacrament meeting starting at 10:30 on Sundays (the best time, and I can't remember the last time we got to go at that time!), and that means our ward has the building cleaning assignment. Our first time cleaning came in September, and I was proud of how willing our kids were to show up and get to work. 

Our cantaloupe from our garden actually grew! We got two juicy, delicious cantaloups. 

We got season passes to Cornbelly's again, and we went once with Gabe and his friend Ford in September. 

Gabe and Ford went off to explore together, so Brian and I got to hang out sans kids, which was super strange. 

They had duck races, and after not getting picked to race a duck, Brian let me pay to race one. I loved this so much. If you didn't already know, I adore ducks, and my first email address had my nickname "Ducki" in it. 

My duck didn't win, but I loved being able to hold a duck for a few minutes. 

We lost Ford momentarily, and after finding him again, Brian and I rode the wagon around, and then met up with the boys again and headed home. 

In the middle of all the business, there were quite moments like this one. I live for little moments like this. 

Michael needed to earn some more money for his license (he had to save up enough to cover the insurance deductible), so we hired him to build shelves in our shed. Brian and I designed them, and Michael built them to our specifications. 

We were really impressed with him and his efforts. 

Rachel also got allergy testing. She's also allergic to many things, though not nearly as much as Gabe is. 

Meanwhile, Michael worked on the shelves. 

I started to notice acorns on the ground in my walks, which always reminds me of serving in Alabama with Sister Scoresby (aka Joanna), so I sent her this picture to let her know I was thinking of her. 

I took a random selfie. Not sure why, but here's what I looked like towards the end of September. 

September was a tough month emotionally. On September 10, we were at the doctor's office with Gabe when we heard news of a shooting at UVU in Orem. The receptionists in the office had kids at the school, and there were texts flying around about campus being locked down and checks on whether their kids were safe. Until that moment, I had not heard of Charlie Kirk, but the news of a shooting so close to home in a place where I've attended many classes shook me. Then, as more news unfolded, especially the announcement of his death, we reeled and struggled. The comments online were disheartening. I was shocked how many people seemed pleased that a young father was gunned down in front of thousands of young college students. I still don't know all of Charlie Kirk's political views, but I don't think there should ever be any celebration for someone to be killed that way. It was just awful. 

I learned that my nephew and future nephew-in-law wanted to go hear Charlie Kirk speak, but for whatever reason chose not to go to the UVU one and planned to attend the USU event instead. Our former neighbor had a son at UVU who wanted to skip work and attend, but then he felt impressed to go to work after all and was thus spared the trauma. I learned that many students headed over to the Orem temple immediately afterwards, which can be seen from many places on UVU's campus, wearing their jeans and t-shirts, and asked if they could just come in and sit. This shooting totally rocked our little Happy Valley, and so many of us collectively turned to the Lord for the peace He brings. 

Then, on September 27, I woke up to the news that our beloved prophet, Pres. Russell M. Nelson, had passed away at the age of 101. My first thought was that he had earned his rest, but I couldn't help think of how much we will miss him here. I wrote the following on Instagram:

Thank you, President Nelson, for all you have done for the world. Thank you for serving the Lord with all your heart and teaching us how to do the same. Thank you for being our prophet. I’ll never forget the day I met you 19 years ago. I was a missionary, and you were speaking at the Mobile Stake Conference. I was so excited to introduce one of the women we’d been teaching to you, and she was so excited to meet one of the Lord’s apostles. She testified that she felt power come from you into her whole body when you shook her hand. She testified, “I know that man is a man of God.” When I shook your hand, your eyes seemed to penetrate to my very soul, and with that connection, you said, “You are going to be very busy.” I hope that I have been able to be busy in the Lord’s work as you have been, and hopefully when we meet again, I can make a good accounting to you and to Him. Until then, enjoy your well earned rest.

A few hours after receiving the news, we were sitting in Sacrament meeting when we started hearing about a shooting in a similar sacrament meeting in Michigan. A man had driven his truck into the meeting house, opened fire on the people worshipping there, and then burned the meetinghouse to the ground before he was gunned down by law enforcement. The investigation of this horrendous crime labeled his actions as a hate crime against my religion. This news was devastating, and I was saddened how many people online used this event to point out that members of our church "aren't Christians" as if they have the right to define what it means to be a Christian and as if this somehow justifies this man did to people who were just trying to worship Jesus with their families. My heart hurts for my brothers and sisters in Michigan, and I am sure it breaks God's heart to see so much hatred among His children. It was a tough week for our faith, and we were so grateful that General Conference was that following Saturday and Sunday. 

I don't want to end this post on such a down note, but I felt like I would be remiss if I didn't write something about these events. I still think that Anne Frank was right when she said, "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart." I expect things like this to happen more and more, but I trust that the Lord is in control. He will continue to strengthen us and uphold us by Him omnipotent hand. 

I want to end with some quotes from our dearly departed prophet, President Nelson, from some of his General Conference addresses. His words soothed my soul back in September (though not necessarily all the quotes listed now):

“Our Father knows that when we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear, what will help us the very most is to hear His Son.” (“Hear Him,” April 2020)

“Turbulent times are opportunities for us to thrive spiritually. They are times when our influence can be much more penetrating than in calmer times.” (“Embrace the Future with Faith,” October 2020)

“As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to be examples of how to interact with others — especially when we have differences of opinion. One of the easiest ways to identify a true follower of Jesus Christ is how compassionately that person treats other people.” (“Peacemakers Needed,” April 2023--I read this entire talk again in September after all these events.)