CEO- Jane

Jane was chosen from her class to be the Chief Example to Others for the month of February with the value Inspiration.     Here is the write up that is hanging on a bulletin board outside the office. 

She was honored in a short ceremony by a counselor from the district.

I completely agree with her teacher, Jane is an inspiration to me as well.   I'm inspired by Jane to strive to always bring my A game to the table.  She inspires me to buckle down and get the work done and do things right!    I'm inspired to be more particular about everything like Jane including always looking sharp!  Jane inspires me to be more kind and inclusive of others and to look around and see how I can help.   I find her that ability to know where she is needed an amazing gift for only a 9 year old.  As I was talking to a neighbor of mine who has a daughter a few months younger than Jane she brought up how her daughter Macy thinks Jane is the bomb and admires her so much.      Yes Jane you are quite the inspiration to so many around you!!!

Fabulous Las Vegas

Bart has a new position in All state.   I don't know the title but it's basically quality control.  With the new position comes training which happened to be in Las Vegas.   His boss asked Bart if he wouldn't mind driving to Vegas and he agreed.  I've been thinking about an anniversary getaway and a last minute flight back on Frontier was only $35 so I figured it was now or never.   Our parents were so nice to take over parenthood for a couple of days so we slipped away to Vegas.

Sunday we checked into our hotel then made our way down to the strip.   I was hoping to catch a Cirque show but they were all sold out.  Instead we walked around the Aria at the Bellagio.  It was so packed with Asians that Bart leaned over and asked me if we are still in America.   I convinced Bart to treat me to a Crepe.   We then made our way over to the big shopping mall so Bart could walk through the store Antiquities to comment on all the "fake" stuff.  

Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was eating junk food in bed watching Sleepless in Seattle without busy little hand making a mess and noisy chatter from 4 kids.

Monday Bart was up bright and early which left me all alone.  It took me a minute to switch out of mom mode but I managed and found myself shopping at the outlet stores with the only stress wondering what color of shoes to buy. 

A house divided

Not wanting to pigeon hole Jane into only playing soccer,  I ask her if she'd like to try out Jr. Jazz and she agreed it would probably be fun. 

Most of the girls on her team were new to the sport and the first game was a little ridiculous.   The girls including Jane ran up and down the court not sure what to do and not making attempts to get close to the basket.    At some point in the game Jane got fouled and the ref told her to shot a couple free throws.  She just stood there looking at him until he  realized he had to show her what to do.   She stepped up to the line finally and gave it her best granny throw.   It was hilarious!   Her kind yet competitive coach sent out a text saying "Good game the girls played hard.  I have a homework assignment.  Could you have your daughter watch at least 15 minutes of a basketball game either live or on the TV so they can get a feel for the game."   Yep so basically they were  all clueless.

Of course Jane from the get go showed her competitive aggressive spirit and rocked at defense but over time she started to shine on offense as well.   Bart often would talk game with her and give her tips like boxing out and driving into the basket.   Jane listened to the advice and seemed to  enjoy the game more and more especially when she started scoring and winning.   After the last game her coach gave each girl on the team a compliment and told Jane she's jealous of how well she dribbles with her left hand. 

Jane's also continued with soccer this winter.   Her team has been competing in an indoor league each Saturday.  During January when Bart was busy with preparation and being gone to Sundance I became Jane's sole supporter.  I've cheered her on being that mom jumping up and down screaming go go go as Jane stole the ball close to the other teams goal and then proceeded to dribble it down the entire field passing anyone in her way and scored.   Yes I am that mom that can't contain my excitement and probably look like a goof!

If her mom can stop cheering for a second and take a picture

One day we were talking about soccer vs.  basketball.   Jane said Mom you like watching me play soccer and dad likes watching me play basketball.   Do they have professional women basketball players? (We had previously talked about how they are bringing a pro women's soccer team to Utah in the Spring).  I said Yes then she said do they play in Utah.  I said No it's in other cities and then she said well I want to live close to you guys so I'll play professional soccer.  Sounds like a win for all of us except I'm sure women's soccer players don't make a lot of money.


I later told Bart about the conversation and said you realize you only really talk to her about basketball.  Bart said it's because I know basketball and I know very little about soccer.

So I guess Jane's perception is that we are a divided house.  I hope she can handle the division.

Jr Jazz Man

Aaron started Jr. Jazz this season even though your technically not suppose to start until kindergarten.  But heck he's taller than most 1st graders so would anybody know?   Each week he happily woke up bright and early with a smile on his face for his 8 AM games.   

He ran his guts out and was always good to stick to his man with his hands up,  even if he should have been on offense (see below)  😬😕.

Practices were right before the game.    The last practice Aaron was so excited when he made a couple of baskets.

Later during the game in a huddle before the 4th quarter the coach encouraged some of the big shooters to help out the others who hadn't gotten a basket.   He said who still needs to score a basket and Aaron didn't raise his hand.  The coach said "Aaron did you make a basket".   With full confidence he said Yes.  The coach knowing Aaron didn't even shoot during the game ask him again and Aaron was sure he had made a basket.  I was giggling inside thinking I bet he thinks those shots he made at practice count for the game.  Either way he was always happy and excited and felt like a superstar and that's all the matters.

Soccer + ball

I'm not sure if  Spencer is completely obsessed with soccer or just completely obsessed with his idol Jane but there's no doubt about it Spencer loves her soccer stuff.    When we were buying Jane's new cleats he found a small soccer ball in the soccer store and wouldn't let it go.  The store keeper said for him to just keep it and he was thrilled to bring it home and seldom lets it out of his site that was until Jane got a new one for her birthday and now this has been taken over by him. 

Now anytime we walk through the door he calls out soccer (pause) ball (it's adorable to see his little mouth formulate  that two word phrase).  He isn't happy until one is in his hand and he won't let it go and carries it everywhere. He will often track down Jane's cleats  and proudly exclaims "soccer (pause) shoes" and walks around with the ball in hand and cleats on his little feet.    He keeps them on until it is time to go and has to be threatened to either leave the shoes and ball or he stays home with it. Nothing is worse to Spencer than being left home so he drops them but searches again we arrive back home.

 Last week as I was doing laundry I look up to find Spencer like this.

He had sifted through the piles of laundry and found Jane's soccer jersey and soccer shorts. He took off his pjs,  somehow dressed himself, then found her cleats and ball.  Pretty smart cookie if I say so myself.   When I said "Spencer what are you doing" he said soccer (pause) clothes.  I let him play like it for a while happy as a clam but oh you should have seen him howl, kick and tantrum when the batch of colors came due to be washed and he had to give them up.

Since then he is always on the look out for soccer stuff.  Her unattended soccer backpack is a gold mine.  He likes to accessorize his outfit with her water bottle and will exclaim when he find it "soccer (pause) ba ba."  We've had to hide the clothes and cleats or else he scatters them around and it turns into a stressful mess when carpool is coming and Jane can't find her outfit.    That doesn't stop Spencer he continues to be on the look out for her outfit and is often digging through her room looking for it.  One morning when I got him up for the day,  I noticed he'd been snuggling with her jersey and shorts all night.    He's also been throwing fits when we put on his PJ's declaring he wants soccer clothes instead. 

He was tickled pink as he tore her doll clothes out of the dolls wardrobe chest and found a little pair of doll soccer shoes.   For a while he kept trying to get them on his feet.   He finally gave up that battle and resorted to simple carrying them around in one hand all day.

We all can't help but smile and cater to our Crazy Soccer loving boy.  Bart calls him his baller,  Jane and Emily are constantly kicking the ball to him,  Aaron is always helping him find his ball and I broke down and bought him this mini soccer goal for valentines day.   

 So Here's to lots more "SCORES" in our house

My Temple

For  the past almost 14 years I've been scheming a way to get Bart to take me back to do a session in  the Manti Temple where we got married.    When my anniversary rolls around in my mind I think how nice it would be to go back to where it all began.   I sometimes want to make a weekend of it and I'll look into a couple of bed n breakfast places.    I start to plan the details of the weekend and realize that there is absolutely nothing to do in Manti Utah in the dead of winter and then I talk myself out of the weekend retreat.  I've tried to convince Bart to just take me there on a day trip but he drives around all week for work and tells me  "A temple is a temple lets just go to one close by".  It's also a hassle to arrange babysitting for the kids so I'd put it off 'til next year'. 


When we got invited to my brother in law's Luke's surprise birthday party I figured we are headed south anyway without our kids and my anniversary is coming up so why not detour through Manti and attend the temple.     I frankly told Bart that he owes me a birthday present so we are having an all day date and told him the details and then explained there would be no discussion about it.   I should have guessed I'd have a great experience because I could feel Satan trying really hard to stop us from going.   The night before Bart and I were both short on patience with each other.  I was needlessly critical about dumb stuff like what PJ's Bart put on Spencer and Bart was emotionally drained from a long work week and shut me out by going to bed early and acting all grumpy about our temple date.    I remember feeling like I didn't even want to spend the next day with him as I fell to sleep and then to make matters worse I had one of my insomnia wake up at 2 AM restless and anxious and I laid there wide awake until finally at 3:30 I got out of bed and was up for the day and proceeded to blog and do laundry until  about 6ish  and just when I needed to start getting ready for the long day head and extreme tiredness hit me.  I wanted nothing more than to go back to bed for the rest of the morning.  I forced myself in the shower and thought maybe I'm forcing this too much and we shouldn't go.    Instantly I had another thought that said "Are you going to let Satan win today?"    That was enough to give me the motivation to force myself to not go back to bed.

Pauline and John so nicely took the kids for the day and we headed south.   The drive was so pleasant.  It was wonderful to just be with Bart and talk without any little people interruptions.  Once we got out of the city inversion it was nothing but clear blue skies and open space.   When I was little I loved driving towards Manti and the excitement I felt when I first spotted the temple.    I always including today get the same little tingle when I first spot the Temple.

It was so nice to be back to "my temple".  Ok it's really not mine but its the temple where dreams were made and precious experiences took place. 

The overall quietness of the temple outside and in was so profound for me.    I think I'd grown a little too accustomed to the Draper Temple which has become a mad house since the closing of the South Jordan Temple for remodeling.    I'm usually in a mad dash to get there in time to get a session card in hopes that I can get on the current session just to discover that I'll have to wait for a couple more sessions.  As much as I try not to care it does damper the mood.   I then squeeze into the chapel with all the other hundreds of people and wait and wait and oftentimes get distracted by all those around me.  But Manti was so still.  There was hardly anyone around, including temple workers.  (A few apologized for being short staffed but I rather enjoyed the emptiness.  There was maybe 20 others on our session  and being a live session the pace was naturally slower and allowed me to contemplate some memories in this dear place. 


I remembered being a little kid (7 to be exact, I read on the door that it was rededicated in 1985) and although I don't remember a lot of details I remember it was a big deal when the Manti Temple was rededicated.  I have a very vague memory of walking through it during an open house before it was dedicated and then feeling left out that I wasn't quite old enough to attend the dedication.

Walking up to the entrance brought back a memory from when I was a teenager and with a group of us young women.  We walked out of the baptistry along the side of the hill.  I think it was Lisa Hiskey who mentioned about how wonderful it would be to someday being married there and how romantic it would be roll down the big Temple hill with her future husband in her wedding dress.   Seems silly now and I had no inclinations when I married Bart to roll down the hill but the dream of being married in that temple stuck with me and was realized on a Sunny February some 10-12 years later.

Being inside the temple brought back so many wonderful memories and emotions.   Instantly as I walked into the grand pink hallway I thought of my Grandma Morrell and how she loved the color pink and decorated her house with it. Or maybe she decorated in pink to bring a little of the temple back home.  Either way it felt like I was in my Grandma's heavenly home.  Is it strange to think a hallway is my favorite room in a temple? 

I was given the name Sarah James from Indiana.  How ironic.  It was going to Indiana on a mission that instigated my first visit to this temple.  When I walked into the chapel the organist was playing a the hymn "Dearest Children, God is near you" which I've always loved since it was played at my farewell.  So naturally I thought about the day I received my own endowment.  It was Christmas break and the temple was so busy that day with weddings and such that I got shuffled around accidentally forgotten and then finally was given the right clothes and such and rushed to complete the initiatories and instructions before my first session.   Wow was I not prepared for the all the new information.   I'm not sure if I could have done more preparation but it was the little things like hearing the name Elohim  (who knew he's called that in the old testament) for the first time overwhelmed my simple brain.   I left exhausted with the biggest headache and doubted the phrase in my patriarchal blessing that reads "As you go to the temple you will desire to return often to do work for those who have come before."    Thankfully my attitude changed after going back a few more times (watching the video helped) and becoming more familiar with it.

I remember being fresh home from my mission.  I was working for a few weeks before started back up at Utah State and had some time one day so I drove the 2+ hour drive to attend a session.   When I got there I realized I had forgotten my recommend.  The front desk then took my information and came back a while later and said they got a hold of the 2 counselor in the stake presidency who was the only one they could reach. None of the Bishopric or the other members of the stake presidency were available and he was my last hope. He vouched for my worthiness and was admitted and throughly enjoyed being back in the temple. Later I ran into Paul Pace that counselor and he told me how he was changing sprinkler pipe on that Saturday morning deep in a field that never gets cell service and he so happened to have his phone in his pocket and was started when it rang and it was the temple.   He then said "The Lord must have really wanted you to serve that day".


I was blown away by the beauty of the murals on the walls.   I thought about my favorite LDS painter Minerva Tiechert who painted one of them and her story of  how she devoted her art talent to the Lord oftentimes without the deserved praise probably because she was a woman but remained so faithful.  Her story has always made me want to have that same type of commitment with what talents I have been given.

As we left the Celestial Room Bart tried to sneak down a hallway to see the room we were sealed in.  So many emotions came back of the day I got married.    After the sealing when I met Bart in that same beautiful pink hallway I remember being so filled with extreme happiness that I had completed the most important covenant I could make on this Earth.  I remember how Bart looked at me with such love and devotion.   That feeling continued as we walked around the gardens taking wedding photos. 

 I'm often reminded of that feeling when I'm back serving in the temple.  Especially when I'm with Bart in the temple.  I feel my love deepen for him each time we are there.   How thankful I am to have such a devoted husband who loves the Lord and willingly will go with me to the temple.  I left the temple with peace and gratitude for the memories of the times I spent time in "My Temple"

Better late than never

Better late than never said no mother ever when it came to putting together a kids birthday party.   But how can I say no to such  a remarkable beauty inside and out as my Jane.

Way back on Christmas we are driving home from Bart's parents house.    The subject of Jane's upcoming birthday the next day came up and suggestions for a promised birthday party.  Every bone in my body cried out in defense of gearing up for another celebration.   I then proceed for the car ride home to convince Jane that birthday parties are over rated.  I even went as far as saying "Jane I'll make you a deal instead of have a birthday party for you  tomorrow on your birthday we can have a "Yes Jane day".   Just picture it.    You wake up and for the entire day anything you want I will do for you.  I will be your personal slave.   We can go eat anywhere you like,   do any sort of activity you want.  I promise you I will say "Yes Jane"  all day long.  Think about it.... Doesn't it sound fantastic?"   Jane paused then said "Will you give me a million dollars?"  I replied  I can only say yes to things I have and I don't have a million dollars so I can't say yes to that.  She then said well then I just want my promised birthday party.     Me:  (silently groan then feel that pangs of guilt that I had her the day after Christmas as well as compassion of middle child neglect)  So I say OK well it won't be until sometime in January OK.  Jane was fine with it and all was good in the world again.

January came and Saturdays were quickly filled up with Jr. Jazz and soccer games.   Bart then scurried off to Sundance and since a pinata was top on the list of party activities we just couldn't do the party without him.    I'd occasionally plea for Jane to reconsider her party but my stubborn girl would not be persuaded otherwise.     We  realized a Saturday  was just too hard so Jane suggested a Friday night instead.     The invitations were drawn up and the party set.

We started with a sloppy joe dinner and then the girls proceeded to decorate and personalize their own water bottle.  (I think the decorating a water bottle was the highlight of the party.)   We then played a couple of "soccer" games.

-Airheads--   A game where you have to keep a balloon up in the air without touching it with your hands.
-Goal-  The girls each took turns kicking a beach ball and keeping it between the goals as each round the goals got smaller and smaller.
-Side lines-  We played a game of musical chairs because all soccer games have a people sitting and watching right?  I know kind of a stretch to make it soccer related but it worked

Bart set up the Pinata and within a couple of hits it fell off the hook.  I think Jane over filled it.    After trying unsuccessfully to hang it back it we finally just let the girls each take turns hitting it on the ground.  Just when I had the idea to let the girls kick it around like a normal soccer ball it exploded and Bart  poured it out on everyone's head.

It was then on to presents and cake.

After the clean up and we were loaded in the car heading home Jane said "Mom thank you so much for the party,  I had so much fun".     Her gratitude touched me deeply and it made all the work worth it to see my Janer's happy.