Adin's Baptism

I never wrote down much about my baptism day so my memories are pretty vague. The thing I remember most was Grandpa Marchant giving a talk and talking straight to me. I also remember mom braiding my hair so that I would be able to be out fast after the baptism. That's about it. I really encouraged Adin to write down his thoughts on his baptism but I don't think he has. When Meg was baptized I wrote her a letter of my memories from the day. I did the same for Adin. This is it below.

Dear Adin,

We did a lot of talking beforehand about this step in your life and about receiving the holy ghost. We asked you if wanted to be baptized. You said an absolute yes. Your dad and I told you about our experiences with the Holy Ghost. We talked about how oftentimes in the church you are taught about voices people here or profound experiences. We talked about how our experiences with the Holy Ghost have been more subdued and more feelings of comfort and peace. We really tried to instill the significance of this choice.

We live a good distance away in Manti right now. Kory and Charisse drove 5 hours from Idaho to support you. They came the night before. Grandma and Grandpa Marchant flew in from Maryland for the big day. Grandma and Grandpa Droubay drove the 3 hours from Brigham. A friend from the ward, Kenyon, came. You were over the moon happy that your best friend from Manti, Jared, was there. As we sat eating breakfast together (as we do every morning because you insist on eating with me) the morning of your baptism, you talked about how excited you were to get baptized. 

It was a little hectic before your baptism. We only got a few pictures. Daddy forgot his garments for after the baptism so mommy had to rush home. It was a little crazy. Your service was held in the primary room and now that room holds a really precious memory for me. Me, you, daddy and Grace sat down on the front row (Meg was sitting with her cousins). We started singing the opening song, When I am Baptized. I looked over at you all dressed in white. Daddy had his arm on your leg and you had your arm wrapped through his. You sang the song from memory. It was one of those moments where you make a mental picture. My eyes immediately filled with tears and daddys did too. It was a really special moment for me. I hope that mental picture never fades. I feel very strongly about following Jesus in this life and  baptism is a commitment to do just that. I was so proud of you for making that choice. I looked at you and couldn't believe we were at this event. I couldn't believe you were eight. My heart burst with how much I love you.

Grandpa Droubay gave a talk about baptism. He spoke directly to you and talked about being accountable and choosing to follow Jesus. After that we went into the Relief Society room and you went with your dad into the font. You looked a little nervous. It was a beautiful moment. After it was over the thing you remembered the most was that your feet came up (and they did). You were worried. They didn't come out of the water though so you were good.

After the baptism, Daddy and Meg sang Teach Me to Walk in the Light. It was beautiful. They practiced really hard. Daddy sang harmony so Meg worked hard to be able to hold her own notes. It was absolutely beautiful and everyone commented on it.

After Grandpa Marchant talked about the Holy Ghost. He wrote his talk out for you to be able to keep in a memory book. It was a perfect talk about what the Holy Ghost can do and about repenting.

My second favorite part was the confirmation. Grace ended up having to be taken out by uncle Mike so that mommy could accompany Daddy and Meg and she was still whimpering so I was standing in the back. Daddy's blessing giving you the Holy Ghost was beautiful and it struck me that it was very unique to you. He talked about people being in the room from the other side of the veil supporting you on this day. The main thing that struck me about your blessing was that Daddy spoke of the Holy Ghost teaching you to love. He talked about the apostle John. He said that the Holy Ghost could give you the power to seek out and love those in need. He talked about how much Heavenly Father loves you and how much your parents love you. He told you the Holy Ghost would be a source of comfort for you. 

You have always been a leader and kids gravitate to you. Your friend Jared said it best the other day when I was bringing you two home from school for a playdate. He said, I didn't used to like Star Wars and now that I met Adin, I do. He said, Adin has this weird magical power that makes people like the things that he likes. You just draw people to you, and I think this could be a great power of good for you in your life. Your confirmation blessing reiterated that feeling I've had. You can use your ability to love and be loved for a lot of good in your life.
I asked you later at night how the day went and you said it was awesome. It really was.

Reflections Awesomeness

We signed Meg up for art lessons this year. We've always wanted to give her opportunities with art because we both could tell that she had a lot of natural talent. Since she was very young she has spent a lot of time creating things and drawing and coloring and whatever else she could get her hands on. We found a great opportunity here in Manti. A girl in our ward just finished her art degree at BYU-Idaho and moved back to Manti. She agreed to teach Meg. She has been learning so much and progressing a lot. We have been so pleased. When reflections came around, Meg absolutely wanted to do it. The thing was, "The World Would be a Better Place If..." We brought Megs idea to her art teacher and she helped her execute it. She did a watercolor. This is the piece below along with her artist statement.

                                                    

 "When I think about what would make the world a better place, I think about picking each other up when we are down and loving everyone no matter their differences. I made an abstract watercolor that shows a person with long arms holding many people. The person's arms represent the world and her hands form a heart representing love. Even though I'm one person, I can make a difference everyday by helping people who are feeling sad or lonely.

We were over the moon please with how well it all turned out. We turned it in and waited for..ev...er. I thought that since we hadn't heard anything that she probably hadn't won. At the kids previous school you heard within a week. Here in Manti, it had been 3 weeks and I hadn't heard a word. Finally I got an email that told us that she had won. Yippee. We were all ecstatic.

Meg receiving her trophy at the reflections award assembly at her school.

                                       

Meg and her art teacher, Shelby. She has been so nice and supportive and wanted to come.

Earlier this week we heard from the Reflections Regional Chairman. The email said that she was selected as a winner and would receive a medal.                                                                                                

Here she is just after having received her award. We were all surprised to find out that she was the only winner in the intermediate division in the entire region. I was sure that each region would get to select a few winners, but that is not the case.  Now her work is being shipped off to Salt Lake to be judged in the State Reflections competition. What is even cooler is that a fancy museum in Salt Lake, The Leonardo, has decided to showcase all of the regional winners in the museum from April to August. So Meg's piece will actually hang on the walls of a museum. 

                               

Meg after getting her regional award. It's a picture that makes me tear up just looking at it. I think Meg is a super fantastic girl, but she doesn't always feel that way. I find a lot of joy in seeing her feel special. 

                                            

 Meg standing by her piece at the regional recognition night. We have big plans to go up to Salt Lake and see her piece in The Leonardo this spring. So proud of this beautiful girl of mine.

Adin's Great and Unfortunately Eight

What? Hooooow did this happen? Meg was just baptized yesterday. Aren't they a couple years apart? Grrr. He did it thought. He went and turned eight despite my pleading, begging, warning and threatening. When I was up doing my treatments I decided to use the time to plan his birthday party. I do them every other year. I called him on the phone and asked him what kind of party he wanted. He really didn't know. I was browsing through ideas of parties for boys and mentioned a spy party and it was quickly decided that that was for him. There are just tons of party ideas online leaving little need for creativity. I'm really good at following directions and just tweaking a few things. It was a huge success. Every single one of the kids showed up and talked about it incessantly for weeks ahead.

These were the invites. They had to use their red decoder to read the information about the date and time. Then they had a key and some symbols to decode to learn the secret password that they needed to enter the safe house where they were reporting. I got all sorts of funny RSVP texts from parents like "Braydon reporting for duty, scheduled to arrive at safe house at time indicated." The password was "The Red Falcon has gone dark." The kids discussed this at school for the couple weeks before the party trying to decide what that meant.

We started the party with the kids having to give the passcode to get in. Then I took pictures of the kids and hurriedly printed ID badges for them. I knew that would be the most hectic time and it was. I don't know these kids very well to know their personalities and I they were getting suuuper hyper while I was in printing off name badges. I really wanted their pictures to be on the name badges so I had to take the pictures, run in and download them, then format them onto the name badge. There were some glitches and it had my blood pressure spiking. I returned to find kids jumping off furniture and standing on chairs to touch crystal chandeliers and kids wrestling on the floor. Oh boy. Then we put their fingerprints on their ID badges. I don't have a close up of the badges, darn it, but you can see them in the picture below. We started with a meeting in the situation room (sun room). I had a world map, a chalk board and the laptop set up. I made Brian videorecord a message giving the agents their mission. Heehee. There was a lot of laughing involved as we made the video.


First a funny attempt, there were quite a few of these.

And the masterful, Oscar worthy final product

I showed the kids this picture of the Red Falcon. I made it blurry and in black and white. Some of the kids still knew it was Meg, but that didn't matter.

After I made them start their physical fitness training. Push ups, Sit ups and jumping jacks.

 At that point Meg rang the doorbell and ran. The kids all ran for the door probably thinking that it was another kid. She left a package on the porch. They were freaking out when they saw the package. A couple of them thought it might be a bomb and they were serious. They very gingerly carried the package to the situation room. Inside there was a key and a walkie talkie. As I was opening it a couple other boys were stepping way back and leaving the room because they were sure it was going to explode. Heehee. It was hard to keep a straight face. We turned on the walkie talkie and it was Meg giving the next clue. They didn't pick up on the fact that it was the Red Falcon giving their next clue.  This is what she said:

The case has taken a turn for the worse. We have intelligence that the Red Falcon  has discovered that you have convened at the safe house. She knows you are preparing to destroy her plot. She knows the location of the safe house and you are no longer safe. We have had sightings of her as close as Ephraim, Utah. We know she is close. She will stop at nothing to thwart our plans to take her down. You are all in imminent danger. More information has been left at the dead drop location. It's protected by high beam infrared lasers so proceed with caution.

 We figured out that the dead drop location might be underground so we decided to try our basement. Our basement is pretty creepy. I put a suitcase way back in the polygamy hall and none of the kids would go get it. Eventually a girl and Adin stepped forward to do it. It was a little suitcase I got at DI a few years back. The key that was in the package on the doorstep opened the briefcase. They carried it back to the situation room and opened it.  Inside was an ipad that I had a voice changing app on. The voice I chose was kind of robotic and reeeally creeped the kids out. They were freaking out at this point. This is the message from the ipad

Hello agents, my handlers have let it slip that your target is hiding in the safe house. You are now in serious danger. As you look for her be careful. She is very good at setting traps to alert when someone is approaching. If you find her journal you will have everything you need to close in on her and save NSA. She will not make it easy for you to get your hands on that journal. Enclosed you will find a map. Follow this map to the location where we believe the journal has been hidden. If you find her, remember your mission is to take her down and dismantle the bomb. Be safe and watch each others backs.

The map led them to the garage area. There is a wooden box in their for toy storage. I installed a lock thingy on it and put a combination lock on it. There were balloons all over the floor that they had to pop and in three of them they found pieces of a puzzle that they put together, which gave them the combination for the lock. Inside they found a backpack. It had another map and silly string and wire cutters. They followed the map which led them to the backyard where Meg was. They were relentless with that sill string. 

 Meg wasn't feeling like a good sport after this.  :) Poor girl. I sure was grateful for her help though.

 Here they are dismantling her bomb.

 Now that the mission was solved we went in and they decorated their own cupcakes at the cupcake bar and drank water that was turned into "truth serum". Then they did presents,

That's Adin's best friend here, Jared.

It was a huge success and made Adin super happy. I was so worried that the kids wouldn't play along with the mission and would be rude or ruin it with bad attitudes. Not so. It did start out with one kid saying, that he knows this is all fake so he was just going to laugh at everything. I thought that wasn't so nice to say. I came to realize it was because he was scared to death. He stuck by me the whole time and kept saying, I'm sticking with you, this is so scary. :)


A few days later was the actual birthday. It was on a Sunday, which is this eight year old least favorite day. :) I'm hoping he grows out of that. The benefit was that daddy was home from work so presents were done early. He's so easy to shop for right now.

Lot's of building stuff for this kid. He got a couple coasters. One was as tall as him. He built it in two days and completely by himself. 

He picked the dinner. Soft pretzels with pizza sauce and honey butter.

Somewhere I went wrong with these kids. They keep picking rainbow chip for their birthday cakes. They get it from Brian. Eh. It's no fun to decorate with and just takes okay.

We love this kid more than we can express. He brings so much fun and laughter to our lives. He's a bright spot for sure. He is hilarious and witty. He is super smart. He is very thoughtful and kind hearted. He is still a mamas boy and I hope he will be forever. He really is our favorite boy in all the land. We are so blessed that he is ours.

Halloween 2014

We love us some Halloween. Brian reads tons of spooky stories to the kids...mostly ones from his childhood. We watch tons of scary movies. We usually do a corn maze and a haunted house. Its second only to Christmas for us. Manti attempted to put a damper on it all. There is just nothing. We had ambitions of going to a corn maze in Richfield that we found online. We bundled up and drove 45 minutes to Richfield. Followed the GPS and we were out in the middle of fields, but they were plowed fields. Not a corn stalk in sight. We ended up going to Taco Time and coming home. The kids were super bummed so Brian headed right back out with them and told them he was taking them to a Haunted House he heard about in Mount Pleasant. That was another 30 minutes the other direction. All the website claims made it sound awesome. It was in an old historical building. They waiting in a huge line and paid $10 a piece. It lasted all of about 7 minutes and was nothing compared to the haunted house they did last year in Salt Lake. They were slightly pacified. We ended up in Salt Lake a couple weekends later and Grace and I ran to Walmart while Brian took the kids to the Castle of Chaos in Salt Lake. It's a little unusual for kids our kids ages to go, but they love love it. Castle of Chaos did not disappoint at all...something about getting locked in coffins at the end and after waiting a while not know what was happening the floor dropped out from under them and when they landed they were being chased by a chainsaw man. I was so relieved they got a little taste of Halloween fun. Next year we'll just have to make a weekend trip to Salt Lake and do both a corn maze and a haunted house in the same weekend.

We had a rodeo queen, the dark knight and tinkerbell. I took my camera to the Droubay Halloween party and forgot it so I just have a couple and some taken with Meg's camera.

Meg was a rodeo queen because she loooved the rodeo we went to this year and would love to be an actual rodeo queen.

Adin has been batman a time or two in the past. He was specific about wanting to be the one with the black bat, which some research taught me was the Dark Knight. He was really annoyed that people thought he was batman and kept correcting people everywhere we went.

Gracie was tinkerbell because we all love comparing Grace and Meg at similar ages. With their birthdays only a few months apart they hit a lot of holidays around the same age. 

We went to a pumpkin patch in Gunnison to get our pumpkins. It was fun to pick from tons of varieties and colors. They happened to have a little hay bale maze that the kids had some fun in.

Trick our treating here was somewhat of a bust. Manti City does a trunk or treat on Main Street. People come from all the neighboring cities. I was told it was packed and to avoid it. We walked down to check it out really quick because we thought it would be a quick way to get a bunch of candy. Not so. It was the lamest thing I'd ever seen. You stand in this slow moving line that moves up and down main street and walk by cars and get candies. You literally stand in line...not just any line....a huge line. It was so ridiculous it ticked me off. We tried to trick or treat neighborhoods and it was really hit or miss. Since the trunk or treat is so popular most people don't plan for traditional trick or treaters and so it was hard to find candy. It was pretty brutally cold out so Gracie only did a couple houses. The first one we went to, Gracie waited for them to open the door and when they did she just walked right past the lady and into her house leaving me and the kids on the porch. It was pretty cute. I ended up taking her back and putting her to bed with the plan on handing out candy. Literally one kids came the whole night. Pathetic. Thankfully, Brian's friend from the ward, was their last stop and since he hadn't had any trick or treaters either he dumped his bowl of candy into the kids bags. They thought that was so awesome that any lack of candy from other houses was forgotten and I'm sure that will live on their memory forever. I've got to start thinking of a plan for next Halloween and I'm fairly certain it will involve getting out of this town and finding some traditional trick or treating. :)