Temple with Tyler

 Tyler received his endowment in the Manti temple today. He had some great support from people who love him. 

 His best friend Kelton was his escort. Kelt leaves on the 19th for his mission in Oregon, so it was awesome that they got to share this experience before he goes. 

 McKenna and Tami had the exact same color on when they arrived. SO CUTE!! 

 Tami is always so supportive of everything my kids do. She drove a long way this morning to be there for Ty. Love her:)

 My boys and their dad

 Us:)

I'm blessed with two amazing sons. I love these guys beyond words. 

Tyler's Mission call

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zLqkji99_Q

I seriously hope you can open the link to Ty's mission call video, 'cuz it's really awesome!!!
I don't even know where to start to describe the amazing things I've felt and seen over the past few weeks as we prepared to receive Ty's mission call. Even going back YEARS, so much has led to this moment, it's hard to describe it all.

Let's start here. Every one of these guys has received his mission call. These are the kind of people my son chose to have in his life for the past 19 years. Amazing young men, on and off the football field, in and out of the classroom. Just a really great influence on each other. Most of them drove home from SUU the weekend before finals just to be there for Ty when he opened his call. They all love and support each other so much, it's a blessing to know that Ty has them in his life. 

So to the weeks before his call finally came. Ty has been terrified that he'd go to Asia or a country where he'd have to deal with snakes (his biggest fear in THE world) or spiders or rotten meat hanging in the streets or any number of other challenges he could have faced. He would have served the Lord wherever,of course, but he really wanted to stay in the United States. Well, he got his papers in, and the wait began. 

Every Wednesday we walked out to the mailbox to see if that big white envelope was here. And week after week, it wasn't here. Just in case it was a day or two late, we did the same thing on Thursdays and Fridays, then by Saturday we had given up all hope of it arriving at all. Kurt was getting irritated, because we were planning to open it at Tracy's house, and she had a nice dinner, cute decorations and fun stuff planned, so they really needed to know WHEN to plan the event. We checked with the Bishop every Sunday, and for like three weeks, his status said "Call has been assigned", so we knew it was coming. On Wednesday April 24th, I went over to the Manti temple to do an endowment session. I wanted to pray in the celestial room about Ty and also about Ashli and Mack as they are in the process of moving to St George and I needed to accept the fact that I won't see them every day:( 

So, anyway.... as I left the dressing room at the temple, I saw sweet little Norma Bramall, from the old Nephi 3rd Ward. I love when I see 3rd warders in the temple. It is the ward where I raised my kids, and there are so many wonderful people there.  As I turned the corner, Sister Ora Mae Mellor was sitting at the desk. She is the wife of our former 3rd ward bishop, Chuck Mellor. So that was another amazing moment. Then I went to get the name of the person for whom I would be serving that day, and Sister Dixie Boswell, also from the Nephi 3rd ward,  was the one who escorted me through the new name curtain to begin my session. The new name that day was SO special to me. I cried before I even left the cubicle. Dixie hugged me and told me how much she loves our family, asked if Ty had his call yet and told me to be patient. Her husband, Lynn, was Tyler's cub scout leader when he was 8 years old. Ty was the ONLY boy in the den, and week after week, Lynn planned amazing projects for Ty, while Dixie made treats and handled it as if there were a den full of boys. They had a tremendous influence on Tyler's life. 

About two years ago, their son, Brent, published a book "Brother's Bones"and asked Ty to be the cover model for his book, so the family means a lot to us, and it was so great to share that moment with Dixie on Wednesday. As I entered the chapel, I saw Adria Packard, Tyler's first stunt partner from the Snow College cheer squad. I was struck by the fact that on the day I was there to pray about Ty, I was surrounded by people who have had a profound influence on his life in the past, present and future. It was an amazing, humbling feeling. In the world room, I looked up to see the painting of Christoper Columbus, which always reminds me of Ty because he played Columbus in the Nephi Elementary School 1st grade play (of which Dixie Boswell was the director). So it was an amazing temple session, and I was just sure that I would find a mission call waiting at home when I returned from Manti that Wednesday. 

But alas.... 

So by Thursday, Kurt was getting really upset. I quit texting him back, because I really didn't know what to say. The Bishop could only check the status and there was not much we could do beyond that except wait. So, what did I do? Took a nap, of course. And dreamed that the mission call was in the box for apartment B because we had put the wrong box number on his mission papers. I jumped up from my nap, called Ty and asked  him to come over to my place so we could just look online and make sure we had given them the right address. I called Ken and asked him to go over to the post office and see if Kevin Bright could get us into the box for B in case the call was there. Ty got online,and sure enough, we had NO box number on his mission papers. He emailed the church to explain what had happened and asked if they could send the call to our PO box.  He no sooner hit "Send" than his cell phone rang. It was the institute secretary, who told him that his call was over at the post office and if he didn't pick it up that day, they would have to send it back to Salt Lake. Kevin had been calling bishops from the YSA wards for the previous week to try and locate Ty, as his call had arrived with no box number. It just didn't click to him that Ty was mine, as Kevin has now been delivering my mail for over a year with my new last name, and just didn't register that it was Allred before. He didn't think to call home wards, because most kids in Ephraim go to singles wards, so our bishop didn't get a call from Kevin that week. Kevin finally thought to call the institute and see if they could locate Ty. So when they called, we jumped in the jeep and headed to the post office. As we turned the corner from  Main Street, Ken called my cell and said that he was holding Ty's call in his hands. He had gone into the post office just as all of this was unfolding and it all finally came together. We met Ken in the parking lot, and Ty finally had his call! Kurt was working in Cedar City, so we waited until Saturday the 27th to open it in Nephi. 

 We all showed up in Yankees gear, because that's what we do. When Riken arrived in his "New York fan" onesie, noone even imagined that Tyler would be called to the ONE mission out of 405 missions in the church where Yankee stadium is located. Sure, he had hoped that he'd go there, but never once did anyone think it would actually happen.

This kid LOVES New York. This FAMILY loves New York. Tracy's family loves New York. We love the city, the state, the Yankees, the whole works. When people talk about their dream vacations, this is ours. Not Hawaii or the Caribbean. New York. And Ty gets to serve there for two years. This is no accident. Our Heavenly Father knows my son personally. There is absolutely no place Tyler would rather go to serve his mission, and I am so grateful that this is the place where he gets to be. It's a blessing that Tyler deserves 100%. He is a good man and he will be an amazing missionary. 

 Lots of people were there to support Ty, but I was especially grateful for my beautiful sister and nieces for being there as I went to Tracy's house for the first time. Tami had run a half-marathon that morning, and the girls had a track meet, but they came to support Ty even after a long and crazy day for their family.

Ah, my amazing kids. I love them all so much. They all bring something different and beautiful to my life, and I look forward to the amazing things we will see from all of them in the years to come. Check out the baseball caps. Not planned. It's just what we wear every day. We are psychotic Yankees fans. In fact, we leave in two days for a vacation to Denver which has been planned for six months. To see the Yankees play the Rockies. We heart New York. His call is no coincidence. My heart is full.

Oh, yeah... and THIS guy. I am so blessed. 

Ty's Patriarchal Blessing

Tyler got his Patriarchal Blessing tonight, as we prepare for him to receive his mission call, hopefully in the next week or two. Our Patriarch here in the Ephraim stake is Brother LeMar Hansen, and he is just an amazing man. 

I love that Ty got his blessing on Easter Sunday, and that all of us (me, Ken, Kurt, and Tracy) were here to participate in this experience with him. Kurt and I were the only ones back in the room with Ty and the Patriarch, but Ken and Tracy were in the front room with Sister Hansen, and it was just a beautiful experience for all of us. I can't remember every amazing thing Brother Hansen said, but here are some of the highlights. 

He told him more than once that Heavenly Father wanted him to know that He loves him. He said those were the most important words he would say throughout the blessing. 

He told Ty that he was placed in a situation in which he would be surrounded by good people to help him. He told him that people would hold his name in high esteem, that he would be confident and do great things to make the world a better place. 

He told him that history would not repeat itself. 

He said Ty would be a great husband and father. 

It was a really powerful blessing. Of course I cried through the whole thing. 

Like I'll cry when his mission call comes, and when he gets married, and blesses his first child, and all of the other times I'm going to weep with sheer love for this boy. 

BUSY-NESS

SUPER DUPER busy around here, which is GGGGRRREEAATTT!!! I used to brag to my kids that "I am the BUSIEST person ALIVE!" but then I heard President Uchtdorf's talk in general conference about not wearing our busy-ness as a badge of honor, so I had to lay off on saying that. lol. 

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions

It is nice to be busy, though. I love it. 

Let's see. where to start? 

 Riken's Blessing was AMAZING! Tyler blessed him in the Moroni 3rd Ward on April 10, 2013, and he did a beautiful job:) I'm so proud of him. 

 We finally got to meet Zack's girlfried McKenna the weekend of the blessing. She's adorable. Super quiet, which is hard to get used to, but we adore her:) 

 Of course there's THIS guy:) LOVE HIM!!!!! 

I had NO idea my Grandma was coming to Riken's blessing, and I was SO excited to see her walk into the chapel. We couldn't do a 5 generation picture, per se, because my Mom passed away in 1987,but my Dad stepped up to stand in her spot for our photo. 

GREAT-GREAT GRANDMA Wilma Rebecca Abrams Freston Swenson Hunsaker 

GREAT-GRANDPA Thomas Jefferies Callister (wife was Rebecca Freston Swenson Callister) 

GRANDMA Tina Rebecca Callister Allred Carlson

MOM Ashli Rebecca Allred Brown

BABY Riken J. Brown  

Super awesome, yeah? 

Last Saturday we had a great Relief Society women's conference here in the Ephraim stake, and I was surprised to see Corinne Jenkins, who had been my visiting teacher for 10 years or so when I lived in Nephi. I went over to say hi to her after the meeting, and she, being 88 years old, had no idea who I was. Kind of broke my heart a little tiny bit. Getting old isn't fun. I'm ALREADY forgetting things and I'm only.... well, you know, only 29 and 15 or so. 

One of Ken's friends passed away this past week, and the funeral was yesterday. His daughter is one of the girls in our Sunday School class, and she gave a beautiful tribute to her Dad at the funeral. Things like this really make me appreciate the ones I love and how fragile life is. Kevin was one of the people who was immediately warm and loving to me when I moved to Ephraim, just because I was Ken's. They love Ken, so they love me. It's a wonderful feeling and part of the reason Ephraim feels like home to me. Kevin will be missed. There wasn't room to hold all of the people who attended his funeral. Chairs were set up clear to the back wall of the cultural hall, then they started lining up chairs in the hallways outside the chapels, the relief society room filled up, and people were standing anywhere in the building where they could hear the speakers from the chapel. It was a beautiful tribute to a great man. 

Then my final thought for this week. Kurt and I have been sending emails back and forth lately. It's easier than texting when we have more than a couple sentences to say,  and a phone call doesn't always come at exactly the right time. Emails can be opened, pondered and answered at the reader's convenience. It works for us. Well, in this one email, I was thinking a lot about how I used to treat people when I was married to Kurt. He is a huge flirt, he knows it, and I don't think it would bother him to know that I said it here. But I didn't know how to handle it, so I ended up just giving people (particularly beautiful young women) the cold shoulder when I knew he was friends with them. We'd be out in public and I'd completely ignore these people. I didn't realize at the time just how poorly I was handling the situation. Recently I've been going through something where someone is doing the same thing to Ashli and I can see how hurtful it is. I hate that I used to act like that, and I'm really embarrassed now that I did it. So if any of you beautiful women from Nephi read this, and I was rude to you because my ex-husband was your friend, I'm sorry!!!! Well, I wanted to tell Kurt I was sorry, too. So I told him in an email, and he responded saying that it was time for us to quit apologizing for the past. He said if he had to apologize for every time he'd hurt me, he'd be very unproductive because he wouldn't have time for anything else. lol. He said he was sorry for all of the hurt he caused me and he hoped we could just move on now and be friends, not just the kids' parents.  I wanted to hear that for a long time. He did hurt me. But I hurt him too. And it truly doesn't even matter anymore. I absolutely ADORE Ken, and he is the perfect man for me. I'm also really grateful that Kurt and I had our kids together, because I think we had the same ideas about parenting, and we did a pretty good job at raising kids. So all of the other stuff needs to finally just be put away. The hurt is gone. I don't like hug him when I see him or anything, but yeah, I think we can be friends. It feels a whole lot better than carrying around all the hatred and bitterness that I had for so long. 

Tyler's Ordination

Tyler was ordained an Elder on February 17, 2013 in the Ephraim 1st Ward by Ken Carlson. It was a beautiful day where lots of people came together to support an amazing young man.

 Kelton and Tyler have been best friends forever. They are both amazing young men and I can't wait to see what the future holds for both of them.

 My beautiful kids make my life complete.

 The men in Tyler's life are so supportive and great to him. This was a good day!

 Yay!! I love having Tyler in our ward and loved hearing my husband ordain my son today. It was beautiful:)

 This picture makes me smile. It reminds me of us straightening Ashli's veil for her bridal photos. We didn't do everything right, but Kurt and I had some great kids!!!!

 I feel so safe and secure having these two in my life. They are two of the best men I've ever known and I am so blessed.

The women:) I'm so glad we're all at a place where we can do this for him and I hope we can start building many more wonderful memories as one big happy family:) 

Riken

My beautiful daughter, Ashli, gave birth to this beautiful baby boy, Riken J Brown, on December 14, 2012 at 6:18 PM. He weighed 6 pounds and was 19 1/4 inches long and he is perfect.

He took his time getting here, though. On December 7, Ashli was dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced, so we were all sure she would have Riken that weekend. Here, she and Mack are waiting for an ultrasound to see if things were in order for Dr Bailey to induce her.

Alas, they were not. So Ashli and Mack went Christmas shopping and did tons of walking Friday night. And Saturday. And did everything that is supposed to induce labor. She bounced on an exercise ball for hours on end. And still went another week without moving beyond a 3.

Then finally, on Thursday, December 13, they decided to admit her to the hospital after her doctor's appointment. She told us not to run right over to Nephi, as it could be HOURS before she delivered him after they started Pitocin. Tyler was at my house when the call came from Ashli, and we managed to wait a whole hour before we headed to the hospital in Nephi, where we waited all day and all night. Zack certainly made it entertaining.

He told me the "You're not a monk" joke at 1:00 in the morning and went until 2:18 am. Official record at 78 minutes before I got mad and Tyler told him he better wrap it up.

Ken was a trooper. He had spent the day Thursday working near the Utah/Nevada border, and had his boss drop him off at the hospital in Nephi on their way back home to Sanpete county. At about 1:30 Friday morning, he was so exhausted, he finally just fell asleep on the floor. I drove him home at 4:00  so he could work that day, then I showered and took a nap before I headed back to Nephi.

We all continued to wait for little Riken to arrive on Friday. Ashli's blood pressure had gone up to 156/95 on Thursday night, so they had to put her on mag and lower the Pitocin. She had a long, rough night Thursday and was so glad to get her epidural Friday afternoon. Once she hit an 8, she was at a 10 and delivering him within an hour. She started pushing at 6:00 and he was here at 6:18. Ken was the first one to hear him cry, and he waved us all over to hear him. It was the most beautiful sound in the world!

My sweet daughter sent Amanda Pay out to get me right after Riken was delivered, so I was there for this amazing moment. Riken was just mad at the world, crying and frustrated. And then the nurse told Mack that he could hold Riken's hand. As soon as Mack touched him, Riken immediately stopped crying. He knew exactly who Mack was, and he calmed down the second he felt his touch. It was a moment I will cherish forever.

 I got to see Mack hold his son for the very first time. Awesome:)

Then this. Ashli and Mack have been married for just over 3 years. She had a hard time getting pregnant. They were just about to start fertility drugs, had the prescription and everything, when she got pregnant a year ago. She miscarried at 9 weeks, and it was devastating for all of us. And then.... she became pregnant with little Riken. Her pregnancy was SO hard in the beginning. She was SO sick, throwing up all day every day, and lost 17 pounds. She's a tiny girl anyway, and she didn't have 17 pounds to lose. But she did everything she could to take care of herself and Riken, and had a great attitude through the whole thing. I think she ended up being less than 10 pounds above her pre-pregnancy weight at the time of delivery, and 6 of it was him. So after all that, the moment she had waited SO LONG for and been through so much to get, was finally here. I love the look on her face when she is finally about to hold her baby for the first time.

 
 
 

Everyone thinks Riken looks like his Uncle Tyler (holding the football). He holds his mouth just like his Mom's and has Uncle Zack's nose, though.

Zack and Tyler are SO excited to be uncles. They love this little guy so much. They spend every moment they can with him. He's a tremendous blessing in our family.

His Grandma adores him.

His Grandpa is proud.

 

And he's a tremendous blessing to our family. A wonderful Christmas present.

And even more amazing than we all imagined he would be.





I have been a terrible blogger lately. I mean, I'm SUPER busy, but everybody is super busy, right? 

We had Ashli's baby shower a few weeks ago, and I think I already blogged about it, but I wanted to go there again. This picture kind of captures the whole emotional experience. He gets it. He's there. I'm so blessed.

 So.. the shower! Ashli and I started talking about her baby shower early this past summer. We said "Let's do it in October" and it seemed SO far away at the time! She wanted a baseball theme and she wanted the men to be there, too. So we tossed around ideas for that. As we talked, we realized that LOTS of people would want to be involved in throwing her this big bash to celebrate little Riken coming into this world. I was still kind of anti-Ashli's dad at that point, and she laid it out for me. She said "If people can't get along, they just need to stay away from the hospital when the baby is born." We were sitting in her backyard, and her meaning couldn't have been more clear. It was time for me to cowboy up and remember what was important. So we wrote out a list of who would want to be involved in Ashli's shower, and we decided that Mack's Mom and myself would do the food. We live the closest and it would be the most costly of the ventures, so the Moms should do that. We asked my sisters to put together some shower games, and asked Kurt's girlfriend, Tracy, to do the invitations and the decorations. She is like a scrapbook store in and of herself. She used to do segments on "Good Things Utah" for scrapbooking stuff, so she was the perfect choice for that. It was important to Ashli that everybody she loves was in the same place at the same time, so I sucked it up and decided to be nice to Kurt and Tracy and just do it for Ashli's sake. They wanted to do their own shower for  Kurt's side of the family, but it's not what Ash wanted, so we all just came together. It was definitely the most unusual shower planning of all time. Tracy would text me questions about colors and tables and stuff, and I texted her back, and it all just came together without any of us actually sitting down in the same room and planning anything. My sisters arrived the night before to help us decorate baseball cookies and binky baby cupcakes, and we all got to the "venue" (the Moroni City park:) several hours early to make sure everything was just the way Ashli wanted it. It was great. The men stayed for the whole thing, we had great food, and people visited with each other. Nobody had to sit in a circle to play games. My sisters just went to each table and passed out the stuff for games, and it was so casual and so comfortable. Exactly how Mack and Ashli like their lives to be. Surrounded by people they love.

And this happened. I NEVER thought it would. We all got together for a family photo, and it was great. We're crazy and dysfunctional and the divorce was ridiculously painful for me. But we're a family and Riken has made us all see what is really important. We can't wait for this baby to get here. He is just what we all need. 

I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!

Ugh.....

I'm not all that interested in dating.

But my friend did send me this "Zoosk" invite thing, so I signed up for it.

And Zoosk sent me a message yesterday morning that they found the PERFECT MATCH for me!!! So I clicked on it and discovered that Zoosk found me a man just 40 miles away.

A year older than I am.

A Yankees fan.

3 kids, just like me.

Wow. Perfect.

So I got to read all about

KURT14

from Nephi, Utah. UGH!!!!

Thanks, Zoosk.

I disabled that account.

In real life, I've made a few minor decisions about the kind of guy I'd like to date

IF I ever decide to date again.

This has happened strictly through the process of elimination.

1. He must be unmarried. Not just separated. Not just unhappy in his marriage. Not merely "thinking about becoming single." He must really be single.

2. He must be younger than my father.

3. He must not purposely ingest carcinogens. I lost my Mom to cancer.

So there you go. Short list.

First Camping Trip of 2011

I love camping. But it's always the busiest time of year for Kurt at work and we never did go camping as much as either of us would have liked to.

So I'm determined to go as often as I can now.

Before I'm too old to enjoy the mountains.

I work every weekend at Wal-Mart, so my camping trips will be mid-week when I have a day off the next morning.

June 7 was the first one this year.

LOVED IT!!!!!

It isn't summer until I've seen my waterfall.

Here it is from last year.

And here it is from June 7.

SO SCARY how fast and furious the muddy water was forcefully crashing down the waterfall. I'm pretty worried about how our world is going to look within the next few weeks when even more snow comes off the mountains.

I wanted to camp at Payson Lake, but the campground isn't open yet, so I went to Nephi Canyon. It is getting beautiful and green again after the Salt Creek Fire raged through there in 2007.

Chose the Cottonwood Campground because it is FREE! Yay:)

Got settled in for the night as soon as the sun went down because I forgot to take a flashlight. No, I didn't forget. I knew there was a lantern in the camping box. I just didn't know the bottom half of the lantern was missing; the half that holds the batteries. lol.

I was very smart about my first camping adventure as a single girl.

Set up my own tent:)

Camped 100 steps from the bathroom.

Close enough to get there quickly, but far enough that I wouldn't have to smell the place all night.



And only cried a teeny tiny little bit when I thought about other camping trips and time around the campfire.

I love camping!

But I also love getting in a hot shower and putting makeup on when I'm done!