Lake Marie

I'm a sucker for hikes. Seth knew this when he suggested that he and I go on a hike he and his family discovered a few years ago. Who cares that I'm in the third trimester with our fourth child?! When the opportunity presented itself (read: Seth's parents offered to have a sleepover with our girls), we drove to Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin in Island Park, stayed the night and started out to Lake Marie the next morning.

The 8-mile hike didn't disappoint. We saw spectacular views,

Anyone know how this natural terracing came to pass? We're curious.

gorgeous wildflowers,

It sprinkled on us for about half of the way in to the lake, so I shot some rain-sprinkled lupines.

interesting fossils

A fossilized snail shell we saw on the way out.

and other natural phenomena.

A twisted stump we saw on our way back.

We also, of course, saw the lake.

Seth and Andrea at Lake Marie. The run-off streams running into the lake are bone-chillingly cold.

Andrea and Seth above the lake on our way out. It's hard taking self-portraits with your camera balanced on a rock and set on timer mode.

Seth above the lake.

Andrea, at 28 weeks, above the lake.

Although my right hip ached like crazy any time we were going uphill (that's what happens when your babies sink straight to the bottom of your torso), I had a few bouts of contractions on the way, and I ended up getting sunburned despite the careful sunscreening I SWORE I did before we left the van, I loved it and would do it again. Which is good. Because Wednesday I'm doing a 5-miler in Yellowstone.

Callings

I received a new calling in church a few weeks ago: an event that usually sends me into a frenzy of activity. I read through handbooks to know what I'm supposed to do, flip through manuals if I'm a teacher so I can become familiar with the material, pray fervently to be able to follow divine instruction, talk to others in the organization or who previously had the calling to get the gist of what I'll be doing.

I'll admit that although I've gone through all these steps in the past few weeks, it's not been with the usual feeling of being completely overwhelmed. My new calling: ward music director and chairman. I choose hymns for sacrament meeting and arrange to have special musical numbers performed. I also lead the music during sacrament meeting--something I feel comfortable with, having learned to do so when I was a pre-teen.

I know that the purpose of callings is for us to serve others and to learn and grow, and so I'm looking forward to being in charge of the music. That being said, with my past experience in music-related callings, I have the feeling that this one will be almost easy.

As I was thinking about past callings I've had, I thought I ought to document them and what I've learned along the way.

Youth callings

• 1994-2000 I served as counselors in both the Beehive and the Miamaid presidencies as a 12-15-year-old. I also served as Laurel president toward the end of my participation in the Young Women. All of these helped introduce me to the order and method of church callings. We worked with our adult leaders to plan activities and discuss concerns within our group.
• 1999-2000 Also as a young woman, a friend and I were called to help with the monthly ward bulletin. A lady in our ward was in charge of it, but she had been in a major car accident; the bishopric felt that she could use some extra help publishing the bulletin. I took the gathered information and formatted it as a newsletter.

Young single adult callings

• 2000-2001 As a new freshman attending a church school, I was called to be the ward historian. I had never heard of such a position before, but I soon learned that the historian gathers information about the ward throughout the year and sends it to Salt Lake.
• 2001-2002 My sophomore year of college introduced me to teaching in the church: first as a Sunday School teacher and then as a Relief Society teacher. Even though I had planned to receive my bachelor's degree in education, I hadn't really had the experience of instructing a large group before. These callings helped cement my desire to be a teacher. I actually cried as I was released from teaching Sunday School because I had looked forward to studying and preparing the lesson.
• 2002-2003 I was surprised to be called as one of two Relief Society presidents in our student ward. Even though I was also working as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper at the time, the Lord blessed me with enough time to fulfill this calling, which included presiding at Sunday meetings, organizing visiting teaching with the help of my coordinator and calling counselors to help me. Gratefully, I had the help of a wonderful adviser who basically held my hand and led me through all things Relief Society-related. I gained a great appreciation and love for the organization while serving in this calling.

Married callings

• 2003-2004 For the first several months of our marriage, Seth and I attended a married student ward on campus. I was called to be a visiting teaching supervisor. I called sisters in the ward to see if they had completed their visiting teaching, then reported to the coordinator.
• 2004 When we moved to Seth's grandparents' house (they were serving a mission in Salt Lake and asked if we'd like to house-sit for them), we switched wards and started attending a family ward. I was called to be the Young Women music director. As the bishop extended the calling to me, I'll admit that I was caught off-guard. I had never heard of such a position, and I've never been in a ward since that had anyone serve in that calling. It's one of those callings that the bishop can choose to extend should he see fit, but that isn't necessary for the running of the ward. This was one of those callings that, frankly, scared me to death. The ward's previous YW music director had been a music major. My formal music education consists of a couple of years of piano taught by my mom. I directed the Young Women in special musical numbers in sacrament meetings and New Beginnings (something that required me to learn something besides the melody of the songs) and conducted music at their week-day meeting.
• 2005 After we moved to Iona, I was called to be the Relief Society chorister. I chose songs and led music in Relief Society. After teaching parts to the Young Women, this calling was a cinch.
• 2005 When Rebekah was born, we moved to our current location in Coltman. I was almost immediately called to be the Relief Society chorister once again, but I only had the calling for a month or two until I received a different call to serve as the ...
• 2005-2006 Young Women 2nd Counselor. The previous counselor had moved out, and the presidency needed to fill the position. I'll admit, given the charge of overseeing the 12- and 13-year-old girls in our ward was daunting. I was in a presidency with incredible women who had been serving in such a capacity for a while and definitely knew what they were doing. They were all so patient with me as I learned the ropes of working with the youth.
• 2006-2008 Since the rest of the YW presidency had been in for a while, it wasn't too long before the bishopric reorganized the whole presidency. I was released from being a counselor and called to be the Beehive adviser, where I would still be working with the same age of young women. My duties shifted from being in charge of Tuesday activities to merely attending them, and I got to teach the Young Women almost every week. I thought I had found my absolute favorite calling in church and was very sad to be released.
• 2008-2011 I nearly fell out of my chair with the member of the bishopric extended the call of Primary chorister to me. Although I was hoping to have a call in Primary, I wasn't expecting to be in charge of the music. It had been years since I had attended Primary, so I had a million questions after receiving this call: What is the Primary schedule? What does the chorister do? What are the kids' names? As I thought back to my Primary days, I remembered the music more than anything else, and the thought of being in charge of such an integral part of Primary terrified me. The cherry of top of the panic sundae was that the Primary program, when the children sing eight songs they've learned throughout the year during sacrament meeting, was just a month or so away. I thought of all the people in our ward who were so much more qualified than me for this calling (all of whom I'm sure have already had this calling several times). Although this was probably the most labor-intensive calling I've had, it turned out to be another one of my favorites. I got to watch Rebekah come into Primary, I got to learn and grow to love the Primary songs, and I learned to rely on the Lord and trust that this was the right thing for me to be doing at the right time.
• 2011-2012 For more than two-and-a-half years, I got to serve as a Primary teacher for the 10- and 11-year-old boys. It was quite eye-opening for me, a mother of all girls, to work with a class full of young men, but I relished the chance to study the scriptures (New Testament and Book of Mormon) and prepare lessons for them. Which leads us back to ...
• 2011-? We have a smallish ward (for living in a predominantly LDS area). So it's not too unusual to see people with more than one calling at a time. I got to join the ranks of multi-calling people when I was asked to be an Achievement Days leader. The program has changed since I was in Primary (when it was called "Merrie Miss"), but I've enjoyed getting to know the little ladies in our ward as we hold semi-monthly activities and work on passing off their Faith in God award requirements.
• 2012-? Ward music director and chairman. I've had the opportunity to lead the music in sacrament meeting before as a substitute chorister, so that part of the calling doesn't phase me. I look forward to getting to know the hymns better as I choose music for the meetings.

It's interesting to me that so many of the callings I've had since being married deal with music. As I said, I have next to no musical training; I sing soprano not because I've got a good set of pipes (because I really don't), but because I can't find the harmony. I barely play piano well enough to accompany Seth and the girls during Family Home Evening. Yet through these opportunities to serve others, I've grown and learned more than I ever could have without having to jump straight into the fire.

I love this quote from President Monson: "Are you ever guilty of murmuring when a calling comes to you? Or do you accept with thanksgiving each opportunity to serve your brothers and sisters, knowing that our Heavenly Father will bless those whom He calls?"

I can say, without a doubt, that my family and I have been blessed as we have tried to serve faithfully in the church. The Lord has given us so much, and I see callings as a small way to return that favor.

Ana-ism #20

Ana wanted to look at some of the pictures I took on my mission, so I was sitting down with her and explaining them to her. We got to a picture I took of the huge mosaic at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan and she was a little confused. I decided it would be a good opportunity to explain a little bit about different beliefs/religions to her (since she's 5, she's not really aware of all the differences out there).

...
Seth: So you see, Ana, the members of this church don't just pray to Heavenly Father, they believe you can pray to Jesus' mother, too.
Ana: Heavenly Mother?
Seth: Um, no. Mary. Jesus' mother on Earth.
Ana: (looking very confused) Huh? Is Jesus okay with that?

Fourth of July

We started out our mid-week holiday by packing up the necessities (sunscreen, water, wagon, treats, sunglasses, empty Ziploc baggies labeled "Analee" and "Rebekah" ("... to put our candy in, Mom.")) and heading to the annual parade. Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott, Aunt Jessica, Aunt McKall, Uncle Tyson and Bennet had arrived early enough to save us a place along the parade route so we could park our stuff and watch.

Analee brought a flag from home. Rebekah made her flag. Grandma and Grandpa Scott watch in the background.

The big girls watch a car on three wheels. I made both their bows specifically to wear on the Fourth, thank you very much.

Miriam waves the flag a man gave her before the parade started.

Analee doesn't like the loud sirens. Every year when I take my kids to the parade and they cover their ears for the sirens, I think of the parade scene from Mr. Holland's Opus when Cole doesn't wake up and Iris realizes that something is wrong with his hearing. I'm glad my girls don't like the loud noise!

The first time the sirens sounded, Grandma Scott covered Miriam's ears. Every time a big vehicle drove by after that, Miriam put Grandma's hands over her ears just in case.

After the parade, we met up with Seth and my parents' house (he had gone golfing with his dad ... they're both parade grinches ;-)) and had a barbecue. Tyson made some incredible Dutch oven chicken, Mom made awesome Dutch oven potatoes, and I brought along a contribution in the form of Jell-O.

The kids ate and played in the inflatable pool and on the swing set. The rest of us ate and chatted and gave underdogs.

When we had had enough sun and fun, we went home and eventually ended the evening with the Grover fireworks extravaganza (which consists of $28 worth of fireworks bought from a roadside stand). Bekah and Ana loved it, and Miri slept right through the 20-foot blazing inferno that we set off outside her window.

Plus one

For the past several months, I've been helping my little brother and his wife by watching their son while Tyson works and McKall goes to school. It was funny to go on walks around the neighborhood or see friends at the store who would undoubtedly ask, "Whose is this? I thought you only had girls!" Countless times I had people mistakenly assume that Miriam and Bennet are twins; their birthdays are only two weeks apart, and they're both little towheads.

I took these pictures of the wee ones while they were playing on the trampoline a couple of weeks ago.

Miriam knows exactly what to do when the camera comes out: pose for pictures. And Bennet assumes that his skateboard goes everywhere ... even on the tramp.

Sometimes these two play nicely together.

Sometimes they don't.

Bennet really loved playing with the big girls.

I have no idea what Bekah is doing in this picture, but it makes me laugh.

Let me root, root, root for the home team

This June we experienced two baseball-related firsts for our two eldest daughters. Analee played her first season of T-ball, and Rebekah played her first season of coach pitch. The girls were, of course, on separate teams, but they both ended up with exactly the same blue T-shirts. Ana's team was the Blue Angels; Rebekah's was the Blue Lightning.

Highlights of Ana's season:

• The ump realizing that the tee can, in fact, be raised the lowered. Poor Ana had to swing crooked for the first game because she was too tall for the tee. When they figured out the tee could come up to her height, things worked out better for her, and she quit knocking the tee over.
• Getting to actually touch the ball once in a while. When you're playing with 3- to 5-year-olds, the ball doesn't travel very far. So if you're playing any position besides pitcher or catcher, chances are you're not going to see much action in the field. Poor Ana was so bored playing any base.
• Learning to line up with her teammates and give high fives to the other team after the game. You'd think this wouldn't be such a hard skill set, but believe me, it is for these young'uns. Half the team would end up at their rival's bench, thinking that the green team's treats were their own.

The many faces/poses of Analee, the Blue Angel:

Sometimes being a baseman is boring.

Her reaction when she knocked over the tee and was instructed to run to first base.

Running home with her hands in her pockets. It was a cold day.

In her sassy stance on first.

Showing the runner where to go.

Dancing on/around her base as a baseman.

Dancing on her base as a runner.

Jumping up and down on her base (hence her hair flying).

Chatting up the baseman.

Being a silly fielder.

See above.

See above.

Happy to either (1) get home safely or (2) take her helmet off.

Her ready stance.

Highlights of Bekah's season: 

• Working with me and Grandpa Scott on her batting stance and swing. Bekah struck out several times early in the season (which is remarkable, seeing as how the umps are extremely lenient with their strikes), but by the end of the season, she was making it onto base every time.
• Getting two outs in a row during one game. When Bekah played short stop against the green team, she fielded two grounders in a row and beat the runner to third base for a forced out. She was ecstatic.
• Learning the rules of the game. When, at a practice, Bekah opted to throw a short grounder to first base instead of home plate when the bases were loaded, she didn't understand why that wasn't the best option. After I explained that runs home determined points rather than how many outs you make, she got the picture.

Rebekah in action:

Running home.

Running to first.

Congratulating the other team on a game well played.

Getting ready to field the ball.

Talking to Grandpa Scott, the first base coach.

Leaping onto home plate.

Trying to make an out.

She beat him to the base!

Chasing a grounder.

Batting.

To see more images (just when you thought there was no possible way there could BE any more pictures), click here.

Bekah is 7

Rebekah enjoyed a birthday celebration similar to Analee: dinner of her choice shared with guests (macaroni and cheese with Mack, Tav, Grandma and Grandpa Scott and our family) followed by present opening, cake and a piñata.

Analee, Tav, Mack, Rebekah and Miriam eating mac & cheese, watermelon and veggies at the kiddie table. 

Rebekah opening a charm bracelet-making set from her cousins. The looks on her face as she opened the presents were absolutely priceless.

The princess dress Grandma Scott made her.

Her array of presents on the ground.

Like I said, priceless.

The cake I made her. Perhaps you remember my last attempt at fondant. (Disastrous.) But I found an awesome fondant tutorial on Pinterest and decided it was worth a second shot. This fondant recipe/instructions: golden. We slapped a Tinkerbell figurine on the top and called it good.

Bekah blowing out her candles. Half of them were already out because of the breeze. I've GOT to remember to take the cake inside next year.

 

Bekah taking the first swings at her homemade Tinkerbell piñata. (Note to self: Sunglasses are NOT a good idea for piñata favors. They will all be broken by the time they hit the ground.)

To see more pictures, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the album.

Miriam's blossoming testimony

Some people may not realize the value of nursery. I'm not talking greenhouses or rooms full of freshly delivered newborns here. I mean the nursery at church (or, Miriam's way of saying it: "Nuh-hee!").

I've heard that some people are reluctant to accept a calling as a nursery leader. I've heard that some people think that nursery is no more than two hours of baby-sitting. But I know that those nursery leaders are teaching important gospel principles to our 18-month- to 3-year-olds.

Case in point: When Seth picked up Miriam after our block of meetings today, she was holding a blossom that had undoubtedly been picked from a bush outside the church. I wondered if she had snatched it while they were getting some fresh air. She did all the things you'd expect a 2-year-old to do with it: hold it up to my nose to sniff it, try to unlock the cupboard doors in the hall with it, twirl it around in her fingers.

She still had a hold on it when we piled into the truck to drive home. And that's when my appreciation for the nursery program deepened.

Without any parental prompting at all, Miriam shared this truth with us while holding up her little sprig: "Jesus Christ made flowers."

I'm so grateful for an inspired nursery program and to the leaders who carefully teach the gospel to our beautiful young children.

Fashionista

Heaven help us. My 2-year-old is already developing a sense of fashion and her own personal taste.

As I was putting away groceries, Miriam came to me in the kitchen and said, "Nakey baby, Mama," as she lifted up her shirt. "Shirt off." So I took of her shirt, wondering what she was getting at.
She seemed happy to be bare from the waist up, but before she could prance off, she turned around with a look of consternation and said, "Pants off, Mama." I took off her pants thinking that she just wanted to run free for a while.

No sooner had I shucked off her drawers, however, than she told me, "Pretty dress." She took my hand and led me to her closet upstairs. I selected one and asked, "How about this one?"

"No. Pink."

So I found one that fit her requirements and asked for her approval. She happily let me pull it over her head and turned around saying, "Pretty dress!"

With two big girls, a toddler girl and a baby girl on the way, I'm afraid this is portentous. How many changes of clothes and shopping trips will we be forced to endure until we're no longer financially responsible for them?