lagoon day

Remember Kermit's song "Why are there so many songs about rainbows?'  I used to love that one.  And here's another thing, so many songs about stormy weather, following the sun, stuff like that.  Wednesday night the wind blew heavily all night long and I hoped it was blowing our storm southwest.  In the morning the sky was still dark with clouds. It was still raining and I even saw a lightening strike or two, here where we are.  But in an opposite corner of the sky, and this sky here is so big,  as I've said before, and this was in the northeast corner,  I saw a tiny patch of sun.  So we all agreed that we would drive to Farmington, come what may, because we had been counting down the days all summer for August 5th to arrive, the day of the Grandpa and Grandma's stake Lagoon day. Fourteen dollars off times ten, for our family, was worth waiting for.

So that's when I thought about life and tiny patches of sun among what seem like impossibly dark clouds, knowing full well my thoughts were terribly cliched, but still kind of feeling emotional about the analogy.  Because there we were putting the faith of nine children into that patch of sun, that grew brighter and larger as we headed northeast, and turned into a completely sunny day by the time we got to Farmington.  I thought about so many things that seem hopeless, but are worth pursuing if we put our faith in even the tiniest patch of sun.  Not so original, but it was meaningful to me.

So here are the pictures from the big day. 

Sam took Will on this one. Will was terrified. See Sam back there. He will always be a kid at heart.

waiting to get on the train in the little station

The big kids spent the afternoon and evening with Uncle Joe riding Wicked, the Colossus, exploring the rest of the park.

I spent the whole time in the little kids' section. I was grateful to have Courtney and Zoe's company. Grandpa and Grandma came to help with all the grandchildren too.

On Lagoon day it's easy to convince the kids that  the soda and red vines were our lunch and dinner.  I was grateful that Aunt Judy threw in some ham and cheese too.

What a blessing to get to spend such a fun day with Aunt Miriam and Uncle Bryan too.  I was grateful for their help.

Little cousin Bo had enough of waiting outside of the haunted house.

After a few minutes he cried "He's staring at me" and demanded that we move. Can't say I blame him. 

first days of august

We're past the middle of August, almost to Olivia's birthday.  I can't believe it. I am just posting my first,now memories of August, things to be grateful for.

Sunday, August 1 Ben was ordained as a  deacon.  Grandpa Bob performed the ordination.  Uncle Bryan and Uncle Don, Aunt Miriam, and Grandma Julia were there too. The room felt very small and hot with all our family and all the young men and leaders, Samoan and howlie (not sure how you spell that.)  But the spirit was very strong.  It was a blessing to watch Ben pass the sacrament that day.  We could see Sam giving him little pointers.  They are good brothers.

August first was our last day at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We had a barbecue with Aunt Judy and Aunt Bekah and Rob's other visiting siblings. The cousins started warming up before dinner.

Getting everyone ready for prayer is harder than it looks.

The little cousins were still singing with that microphone we got in a Wendy's kids' meal during dinner, so Grandma suggested we have a talent show following the meal. All the girls were excited.

Trying to set the stage...

a duet...

William's talent was cookie eating.

Aunt Miriam...

Monday morning, I thought I had taken more stuff down during our preliminary move. It seemed to multiply. Here we are ready to load all this, and ourselves in to the van.

William said "Don't forget me."

When we arrived at our new apartment, Granddad and Judith and the Browns were there to help us unload. Granddad and Judith brought us sandwiches, salad, and brownies for dinner.
The next evening Sam cooked our first meal in the new place, spaghetti with red sauce and Italian sausage. Everyone loved it.

Wednesday we had our first guests in the new place, the Carrillo family our friends from Beijing. They are spending the summer here. We were so happy to see them again. We planned to barbecue hot dogs in the park, but there was rain and even lightening. The microwave was faster anyway.  It was wonderful to get caught up.  There is Xotchitl's mother too.

This summer we have had more storms than I have ever seen in Utah.

That night we watched the news with some trepidation.  The next day was our long awaited Lagoon Day.  Everyone went to bed praying for good weather.

raines reunion

Friday at noon we met at Naples park.

The cousins played red rover in front of Naples Elementary.

The cousins (and William) painted each others' nails

and did face painting...

In the evening the Grandparents put on presentations about the Raines ancestors.

William and one of Aunt Jocelyn's girls.

Saturday morning Grandma and Grandpa were in charge of breakfast.  Grandma brought  the green smoothy maker.  My favorite recipe uses whole lemons and green peppers.

Grandpa said Great-Grandma Raines liked to have watermelon at every reunion.

and Grandpa said he wanted to play baseball, because that's what his parents loved to do.

Celebrating Great-Grandpa Raines' 100th birthday.

Grandpa and his sisters

Aunt Jocelyn and her family...

Rob's cousin Marianne.  Everyone says Caitlin looks just like her.

Pizza for lunch...there was plenty.