best night ever

First, we went to a lovely wedding reception - Kate & Kenny Powell.



Then we grabbed the kids from therapy (oh yeah, we have had proctor kids this week - Dylan and Jeremy) and went miniature golfing. I lost.

But the best part of the night was this:


Lucas bought me a piano. My mom's BFF Deb and her family were cleaning out her mother-in-law's house to sell and they had this awesome piano. According to her husband, it was only played for 6 months when he was a child - the worst 6 months of his life ....

I love it.

Gadianton Robbers

So I was at work today (job #3, at the Journey Impact Ranch), and we were talking about kids with gang involvements and how to deal with that. We were talking about how these kids are born and raised as gang members ... their parents and grandparents are involved in gangs and it's a lifestyle to them, more than a hobby or after-school activity. It's really quite scary how these 14 and 15-year old kids would kill or die for their gang. Scary.
Maddy - the head guru, therapist, owner, etc of The Journey was there and she has the best analogy for this issues. Gadianton Robbers. They're totally like a gang. And what's the only way to get rid of Gadianton Robbers? Love them. Teach them the truth. That Maddy is pure genius.


This is Kishkumen. A leader and co-founder of the Gadianton robbers, he was a deadly assassin who killed Pahoran son of Pahoran as he sat on the judgement seat. He planned to murder Helaman, son of Helaman but is slain instead by one of Helaman's servants. I love this picture, I think it's exactly what he looked like in real life.

President Hinckley spoke just after 9/11.
He said, "The Book of Mormon speaks of the Gadianton robbers, a vicious, oath-bound, and secret organization bent on evil and destruction. In their day they did all in their power, by whatever means available, to bring down the Church, to woo the people with sophistry, and to take control of the society. We see the same thing in the present situation."
The same can be said for our current situation ... we are facing adversary at every turn.
President Hinckley in the same article said, "Occasions of this kind pull us up sharply to a realization that life is fragile, peace is fragile, civilization itself is fragile. The economy is particularly vulnerable. We have been counseled again and again concerning self-reliance, concerning debt, concerning thrift. So many of our people are heavily in debt for things that are not entirely necessary. When I was a young man, my father counseled me to build a modest home, sufficient for the needs of my family, and make it beautiful and attractive and pleasant and secure. He counseled me to pay off the mortgage as quickly as I could so that, come what may, there would be a roof over the heads of my wife and children. I was reared on that kind of doctrine. I urge you as members of this Church to get free of debt where possible and to have a little laid aside against a rainy day."

We're loving Dave Ramsey lately too, the idea of being debt free is so exciting! Maybe someday we'll pay off our mortgage ...

Anyway, back to the original point of this post. We officially started proctor care this week. We're filling in for a family and taking care of their 2 boys, Dylan and Jeremy. We get our first actual proctor boy next Monday and we're super excited. I love that we have great examples to help us through this exciting and kind of scary time in our lives.

#1 - Our own parents and families. We have awesome parents and awesome brothers and sisters who are all great parents.
#2 - Great friends and co-workers who provide great examples to us. I love that Maddy didn't hesitate to bring up the Book of Mormon at work, and that she's obviously thought of this analogy many times. I love that the Book of Mormon goes right along with our currents lives and is the most awesome tool to help us deal with latter-day issues.

We may be getting another boy who has been physically abused by his father. Lucas mentioned that one of the reasons he's excited to be a proctor parent is so that he can show these boys what a good man looks like. That good fathers and male examples exist. I love that. He's the best husband and he'll be the best dad and best proctor dad in the world, I'm sure of it.


President Hinckley talk from the Liahona, January 2002 The Times in Which We Live

a good read

I know I'm probably way behind the popular reading crowd ... but I just finished this book:


I totally loved it. Maybe it's the way Gerald Lund makes it so easy to enjoy the awesome history (which he totally researched the crap out of and made it completely accurate) and also adds a cute little love story. Or maybe I loved it because every single chapter I was checking maps and indexes (included) to see if I could go see the places where these incredible people were risking their lives to fulfill their mission.
Unfortunately, most of the places they went are un-visitable. But I still want to go see what is available.....
Here are some photos from the internet:

"The Chute", from this blog, one of the crazy hills they took their wagons down after building the road.


"Hole in the Rock", from another great website, which is an awesome source for cool pictures and great info about the Hole in the Rock expedition.


If you haven't, you should probably read it.

road trip

We recently went to St Louis for Luke's best friend Kyle's wedding.
I didn't get too many pictures of the actual wedding because I was on backup photographer duty for Kyle's mom, but here are some from our trip:

on the road again

we went from colorado

to the flatness of kansas

we LOVED kansas - no joke, the people were so nice!

I loved Missouri and kind of want to live there for a minute

we stopped at the temple dedication site in Independence, MO - it was -awesome-

Luke at the temple site

Community of Christ temple

St Louis!

St Louis temple, very lovely



We had a great trip, but how embarassing, not even one picture of the bride and groom ... maybe next time!

today is the 4th of june

aka - luke's big day.

He's 30 today, which is a pretty big deal....
Here are a couple of my favorites of him from our recent road trip:





He sports a pretty fine mustache when he wants to...

I'm so grateful to have Lucas in my life. He's my best friend and favorite person in the world. He's the best husband, the best son (and son-in-law I think), a wonderful brother, friend, and everything else. Plus he's really funny. And handsome, even with gross facial hair. I sure love him.

sidenote: My baby brother-in-law is getting married!! July 2nd, congrats Coulter and Lisa!