Hard News

On Thursday my 3 year old nephew Karsen was in a tragic accident and lost his left leg mid-calf. It's been a very hard few days for our family, but mostly for his mom and dad. They are both self-employed and so money is tight and insurance is not so good. Please visit this blog, karsenmery.blogspot.com to read his story. There has been a trust fund set up at Mountain America in his name, and you can donate via paypal on the blog.

During the past 4 days I've been amazed at the out-pouring of love for the Mery's. Nicole is my husband's sister and her and her husband, Rick, have 4 kids. Karsen is their youngest. He is 3 months younger than Keighlee. Anyway, it's been so great to see how many people have stepped up to help them. Their house has been cleaned and repairs have been made. They've had so many visitors and well wishes. Even strangers have sent their thoughts and even their money to help. It's so great to see that there is good in so many people.

I've been thinking a lot about Karsen and what he's going to have to go through to recover. He has a long road ahead of him and his parent's have a lot of healing to do. I know that Heavenly Father will bless them and help them through this trial. In Relief Society today, we had a lesson on adversity. It was such a great lesson. I thought a lot about Nic and Rick and this awful trial they are going through. I was wondering how they were going to get through it. After the lesson I realized that they will come through as better people. This trial will shape them and make them so much stronger in the Lord. I know I already knew all that, but it was so wonderful to be reminded of the reason the Lord lets us go through trials. Watching them go through this has made my trials that I've been struggling with seem so insignificant, and yet I am still struggling and having a really hard time with things in my life right now. It almost makes me feel ungrateful that I'm still struggling when people I love are doing so much worse. I've realized I need to just keep having faith in Heavenly Father. I know I need to put my burdens on his shoulders but it's so hard to do sometimes. I don't even know if I know how to do that. I'm going to try to be more faithful and I hope the Lord will allow me to figure out what I need to do to fix some situations in my life. I don't mean to be poor me, poor me, but with what's been going on the past 4 days, I've had a lot of things put into perspective and these are just some of my thoughts about all that! I hope I can learn from Nic and Rick and their strength and faith and put the same faith into my small trials.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication

Today we had the awesome opportunity to go into the temple for the dedication. It was so neat. Tiaree and I went for the 9:00 session and Tracy went to the 3:00 session. It was amazing. The talks and the whole service made me realize how lucky we are. I love that I got to help at the open house and serve there already. This whole summer has been such a special experience. We've felt the blessings of the temple already.

As I sat in the Telestial room with Tiaree, I realized that the next time I sit in that room with her, she will be going through the temple for herself. It made me excited and sad all at the same time. I hope she remembers the feelings she felt in there today and remembers the talks that were given so that she does make it back. Most of the talks in our session were directed at the youth and how to make it back to the temple as they grow older. It was truly amazing to listen to.

When the dedication was over, we were able to say hi to President Monson. He stopped in the room we were in and asked how we were doing. We were right by the door and so Tiaree got to say hi. He looked right at her and waved at her. She kind of froze and didn't go to shake his hand or anything, even though she would have just had to take 2 steps to be next to him! I couldn't have done it either! Then President Uchtdorf gave us a huge wave and Elder Bednar winked at Tiaree as he walked by. President Uchtdorf also gave us a huge wave as they went into the Celestial room before the dedication. Both waves were with both hands and a huge smile on his face! That was really special to be that close to the prophet of God.

I will always cherish the memories I have of today. That I had a child old enough to go with me was such a great experience. I am so grateful for our Stake President who worked so hard to get us tickets in the Temple. It was so amazing to feel the spirit there. I haven't felt the Spirit that strong since I went through the Temple the first time. I know angels were there today. I kept thinking of the story of the angels walking around the top of the Kirtland Temple when it was dedicated. That story kept coming to mind and I think it was a testimony to me that they were there today. I can not wait to go and do a session and spend time in the Celestial room soaking up the peace I know I'll find. What an awesome day!!

Grocery Smarts

I just wanted to invite everyone who reads this, which I know isn't many :D, to my house on August 25th at 7:00 pm to learn about Grocery Smarts. I've been wanting to save money on my grocery bill for a long time and this is a great way to do it! Here is some more info:

http://www.asweetsale.blogspot.com/

Let me know if you are interested in coming!!

What a month!

July was just as busy as all the rest of the year has been! We had a lot of fun though and took a lot of pictures! If you are interested in what we did, keep reading and I'll catch ya up! :) There are 7 new posts! Don't miss the 7th one, you'll probably have to click on older posts to see it!

Had to share

Had to add this picture in while I'm on the blogging spree! We told Bree to go clean her room. She threw a total fit and went in and slammed the door. Well about half an hour later, it was all quiet in there so we went to check on her. We didn't see her so we figured she had snuck out and was downstairs playing with the other kids. We went down to get her and she wasn't there. We looked all over the house because she wasn't in her room, we'd already checked. Well when we couldn't find her, we looked in her room again, and this is what we saw after we looked a little closer:Her room was so messy that we didn't see her asleep on the floor when we first looked. It was funny, and we finally got her room cleaned and nice again!

Bree's first Day of Kindergarten!

Tuesday Bree started Kindergarten. I was so excited for her but also very sad. I can't believe she is big enough to go to school. I don't want her to be big enough to go to school! She was all ready Monday night. She had her outfit picked out and was anxious to go to bed. She woke up Tuesday and was just wanting to get dressed and go right away. She is in afternoon Kindergarten so that was kind of a hard wait for her! We cleaned her room and then she took a bath and we had lunch and then she was able to finally get dressed! She was so cute! We walked up to school with our neighbors, the Gowans'. Bree and their Cortnee are in the same class. It was cute to see them walking up, holding hands. We got there and Bree was so anxious for her teacher to come. It was hard for her to wait patiently. Then when her teacher came and got them and took them inside, she didn't even turn around and wave! What???!!! I was sad, but also kind of relieved. I don't know which is worse, to have her sobbing and have to leave her there crying or for her to not even seem to care. Well I cried and had a hard time all the way home. Luckily Corntee's mom, Camilla kept me company and we spent the whole afternoon together and went up and picked them up after school. She was so happy when she got out! She loves school and has had a wonderful two days and can't wait to go back today! Here are some pics of her cuteness:Showing off her cute backpack!
Her new outfit!
Her All About Me flower she had to make
Walking up with Cortnee
Going in without even waving bye *sniff*!!

My birthday

For my birthday, Tracy took me to see Transformers 2 and to dinner at Chili's. It was a lot of fun! Our friends, the Gowans' came with us and it was so nice to have an adult night! Thanks to mom for babysitting so we could go! When we got home she had made a cake and the kids had all made me cards and there were flowers. It was so nice. Tracy gave me a spiral bound hymn book so I can practice my piano skills (which aren't very good at all!). He even got my name printed on it. It was a really nice birthday!My cake the kids helped my mom make.


We also had a birthday dinner for me on Sunday at my moms house. It was a lot of fun!