Aurora Borealis

I am so grateful for the women in my life. I love my mom, my departed Grandmothers, my daughters, and those exceptional friends. Mother’s day is a good day. Last Sunday Justin gathered the children and everyone made me a poster with one of my titles! They gave the posters after church, so funny. The titles are as follows: Her Royal Hotness, Giver of Squishmallows, Mother of Mayhem, Super Chef (aka Taco Queen), Mrs Call Snake Yeeter, and Healer of Hearts. Awe! The girls and I were part of a Mother-Daughter group singing a Janice Kapp Perry song. It was cheesy, still felt all the feels through the cheese. Justin and Everett stayed up until 11 pm making brownies for the RS ladies. I only had to intervene three times! Nice job boys. Dinner was nicely managed by Justin, I did make the sweet pork, but he handled the rest. I am one lucky girl. Justin got all teary-eyed in front of the RS ladies talking about how grateful he is for me….ME! Touched my heart.  

The end of school looms closer, that means our calendar is full. This week we had 6 music related concerts. The boys had festival on Tuesday and toured 4 elementary schools to recruit upcoming 6th graders into band, orchestra, and choir! They made a stop at Ronald Reagan. I enjoyed watching them in action. Everett is improving every week at the trombone. Amelia’s Pops Concert was Tuesday evening. The theme was music through the decades. She was singing in a 70s and then 90s collection of popular songs. I think the Pops concert is the best, the kids get out and have fun. Amelia earned 2 bars for her letter this year. Mrs Sene also nominated Amelia as the outstanding choir student of the year. As Mrs Sene told about the award and outlining the student’s qualities I was hoping it was Amelia when she said, “love of choral music.” We are so proud of all her hard work. She is amazing. The girls practiced for the Mother-Daughter musical number Wednesday. 

Thursday the musical theme continued. Danielle Young shared that the Morrison Center hosts a free Broadway Show each year for Music Week in Boise. I was able to get 4 free tickets to see Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and convince Sara to join us. Everett was very bummed he had to stay home. We had a large group of 8 ladies out on the town to see Cinderella. As we pulled into our parking space, Josie noticed a car next to us. “Mom! It’s a car full of Grannies!” She was very excited! The car full of Grannies moved to a golf cart of Grannies to further our entertainment. I was very impressed with the show. We learned part of the stage can be removed to make room for an orchestra pit. Josie was on the edge of her seat the entire show, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Evelyn laughed at all the silly jokes, enjoying the new experience. 

Friday Columbia Con Brio choir performed at Lloyd’s Square as the kick-off event for the summer concert series. The event features many of the local High School and Middle School bands and choirs. I barely made it in time to watch Columbia perform. Justin took Amelia early, I stayed home to photograph a couple homeschool families for end of school photos. The girls sounded amazing. Amelia got to sing “Clear Blue Morning” featuring her solo. Gave us all chills. Good job Amelia. We stayed to watch EVMS travel band. Phillip was looking forward to supporting his band mates. 

Lastly, on Saturday was Mrs Jessica’s recital. Josie played May Song and Devil’s Dream. She did a great job. Josie got hung up on the 4th measure, but muscled through and finished the song. I think the students were most excited to eat “dirt and worms” for dessert. I wish we could continue lessons. I cancelled all extracurricular lessons until after Justin gets a job. Mrs Becky was not very understanding. She usually teaches through June but we told her a while ago that we would be gone all of June. I texted her explaining the job situation, her reply was, “you have to give me 30 days notice before stopping lessons, read your contract.” True, but extenuating circumstances? Then she advised that I hire a qualified teacher that has a music degree and knows how to teach, not to teach them myself. Thanks! I already felt unqualified.  

Justin was able to support Everett’s last match at district tennis. Everett had some great volleys and serves. Many of the tennis parents are very competitive. I just want him to have fun and learn a skill. Done. Justin also went on Josie’s 2nd grade field trip to the Ag Expo in Kuna. He chaperoned Josie, Melody, Hudson, Adam, and Albert. I heard he instituted quacking to keep all his little ducks together. Melody was a very soft quacker. He has Phillip and Everett working on odd jobs after school. I love it. Justin and Phillip worked on the truck this week. Justin had some weird science contraption involving a welding stick, glass jar, baby oil, and tubing. The theory was to create smoke in the engine to pinpoint leaks in the system. The truck has a few leaky spots causing the check engine light to stay on. He also replaced some other imperative engine part. Monday he told Amelia she had to ride the bus because he needed the van. You should’ve seen the look of abject horror on her face, it was remarkable. She got a ride with the 4th worst option (bus is at least 20th on the list)…Carson. 

Justin had his last day at Cascadia on Monday. He went in turned in his monitor and cleaned out his office. He was grateful we never got around to decorating his space. He said it was a touch awkward walking in and back out after only 5.5 months of employment. Since Monday he got his resume updated, had an interview with his headhunter to update his professional needs and wants, and even had a job interview on Friday. The job prospect was very low on the totem pole but according to Justin, a good experience just to interview. 

Justin’s followed sun storms for quite some time. He started tracking storms once he got his radio license because the sun storms interfere with radio signals. NASA predicted the largest geo-magnetic storm in decades over the weekend due to a tremendous solar storm. He tracked the storm on the sun and Earth all Friday. He had a lovely idea to take us all out for a late-night sky party. The boys packed up chairs, tarp, sleeping bags, and Cappy (Copernicus) my fancy telescope. Justin drove us out to Initial Point about 20 minutes south of Nampa. We weren’t the only folks with the same idea! Justin found a semi cleared and flat spot to make camp. Oh the sunset was majestic! I had a lovely time tracking the crescent moon. Phillip got his phone attached to the fancy lens thing for the telescope eyepiece so we could take some photos. Everett and Mia were dead tired, snuggled up in chairs or on the ground and fell asleep gazing at the stars. We lasted until 11:45, with just bare shadows of the Aurora Borealis in the north. We could only see some colors through our phone camera 3-10 second exposures. We broke camp and head home because we had to clean the church early Saturday morning. As soon as we exited the van, one of the kids shouted for everyone to look up! Indeed, there above us visible in the city lights were the Northern Lights. The spectacle was even more pronounced through our cameras. At one point the lights were pulsing and dancing right above our heads. Josie almost went out of her mind with excitement. She had me take a photo of her Arctic Fox in front of the lights. “There! My fox feels right at home now!” I guess we don’t HAVE to make a trip to Canada or Alaska after all. We finally got to sleep around 1:30 on an excited high over catching the Aurora Borealis.   

Saturday morning the boys got up early and cleaned the church. I tried my hardest, but failed. Amelia went to the Farmstead with Jocelyn to hang out for a couple hours. She is working a few shifts in May. Her first day was cut short because the weather was awful. This week she had a normal week at the cookie shop. She learned that her shift was cut for this coming weekend. I think all her pay went to pay for her t-shirt and hoodie! I pulled my body out of bed around 8:30 because I had some homeschool mini sessions throughout the day. The boys excitedly brought up breakfast in bed, disappointed I was not still asleep. Phillip put a plate on my cake stand of pumpkin pancakes and scrambled eggs! Justin carried syrup to freshly coat the pancakes. Everett had a tray of two more plates ready for the little girls. That was so thoughtful and sweet! Josie and Evelyn woke up dazed and confused…too tired to eat their breakfast. We all laughed over their reactions. As I waited upstairs eating my breakfast I overheard the best lecture of my life:

“Boys, this is what being a man is about! Getting up early to serve the Lord cleaning the church, coming home working hard to clean up, decided to serve the women in our family. Make them breakfast, serve them, all before yourself. Men have a dichotomous role a warrior and poet. It’s important to be tender and loving, and protect and support. The best way is to learn to fight without getting physical. The best way to help your sisters find a good husband is to be the type of man your sisters would marry.” 

Ironically, that amazing speech was followed by an episode of Gravity Falls called Dipper Vs Manliness. It oddly relates to the above conversation. 

I had a conversation with RaShel this week. She taught Amelia voice lessons for a few months, is in MCO, and also plays piano for East Valley choir. She is struggling with the church. Her husband left the church, will never return, plus several of her children are leaving. She spoke of her personal issues with the church like the leadership is old, white men. How President Nelson bothers her in the way her tries to address the church in a smarmy manner. Thinks Oakes is off his rocker. She wished the church was like the beginning days full of revelation, no new revelation has come forth in decades. I just nodded my head and listened to her rant. I meet folks all the time with similar opinions, the most prevalent opinion: where is Jesus in our worship services? I spent several days just mulling over all that miasma of opinion. We could do better as a church to bring Jesus in the forefront. No current revelation? That bothered me. Seems like revelation is just not fire and brimstone, rather subtle and pointed to those listening. As Bednar said during conference "the foundation of our lives must be connected to the rock of Christ if we are to remain firm and steadfast. The sacred covenants and ordinances of the Savior's gospel can be compared to the anchor pins and steel rods used to connect a building to bedrock. Everytime we faithfully reveive, review, remember, and renew sacred covenants, our spiritual anchors are secured ever more firmly and steadfastly to the "rock" of Jesus Christ our Savior."