President Nelson Comes to Seattle

President Russel M. Nelson, his wife, Wendy, and President Henry B. Eyring all came to Seattle for a special fireside.  It was just for stakes in the Seattle Area and we almost totally filled Safeco Field.  It was the largest attendance for a non-sporting event they've ever had.  There were more than 49,000 people there.  We got tickets a couple weeks in advance and luckily were able to get a parking pass as well since by that point I could barely walk.  Even with the close parking we had to walk a block or so, wait in a long line to get in, and then try to find seating.  It was so crazy to see that many people gathered together to see the Prophet.  

He told a story about a rafting trip with his family.  As they hit the rapids he instinctively put his arms around his wife and youngest child to keep them in the raft.  Unfortunately since he wasn't holding on to the raft HE ended up out of the boat and bobbing up and down in the rapids before his family was eventually able to fish him out of the water.  He talked about how we need to make sure that we are holding tight to our own testimony so that we can then help others. 

Here are some excerpts from his talk that I found on lds.org.

"During the Korean War, President Nelson was a surgeon in the army and was asked by his surgical nurse why he was different from other surgeons. “I responded: ‘If I am different from other surgeons, it is because I know the Book of Mormon is true.’”

He invited the nurse and her surgeon husband to read the book and loaned them his only copy. “When her husband returned my precious Book of Mormon to me, he casually tossed it to me and said, ‘Thanks a lot.’

“‘Thanks a lot?’ I said. ‘That is a totally inappropriate answer for one who has read the Book of Mormon. You didn’t read it, did you?’”

The couple took the book back, read it, and asked to know more. President Nelson subsequently taught and baptized both of them.

“I plead with you to make reading the Book of Mormon a regular part of your daily life,” he said. “Doing so is one of the surest ways ‘to hang on to the raft’ and learn the truths of the restored gospel.”

President Nelson said life has taught him that “the honors of men, exhilarating as they may seem at the time, fade into oblivion compared to what the Lord has in store for covenant-keeping children—the supernal gift of eternal life. That’s the greatest of all of God’s gifts.”

This came clearly into focus years ago as President Nelson was traveling with four passengers on a flight from Salt Lake City to St. George Utah; during the flight, one of the two engines exploded, sending the small plane into a downward spiral.

President Nelson said he felt strangely calm. “Events of my life rapidly flashed before me. I thought about all the framed degrees, awards, and honors on my office wall and the various uniforms, tuxedos, and doctoral robes that I’d worn in my life.”

In his dying moments those honors meant nothing to him. What did matter was his wife and children—to whom he was sealed in the holy temple.

“Miraculously, the free fall extinguished the flames,” he said. “I plead with you not to let the temptations of the world—including the time-consuming allurements of your occupation—distract you from the real reason you are here on earth. Will you use your agency to choose Jesus Christ and His gospel?”

In 1985, just 19 months after being called as an Apostle, President Nelson was asked by President Ezra Taft Benson to open the countries of Eastern Europe for the preaching of the gospel.

“I had spent much of my professional life opening hearts to perform life-saving operations, but I had no experience that would lead me to believe I could open countries for the preaching of the gospel,” he said. “And yet, a prophet had given me an assignment, so I set out to do what seemed utterly impossible.”

From the outset of the task—undertaken during the Cold War when all of Eastern Europe was “under the oppressive yoke of communism,” obstacles were placed in his way. “Well, the Lord is able to do His own work, and I was privileged to watch the unfolding of one miracle after another—always and only after I had brought my best thinking, my most fervent prayers, and my most courageous efforts to the task,” he said. “I learned that the Lord likes effort. … He blesses our best efforts.”

In the year 1992, President Nelson was able to report to President Benson that the Church was established in every country in Eastern Europe.

“If you are doing your best to make the Lord Jesus Christ the center of your faith, your life, and that of your family—if you will hold on to Him and His gospel as tightly as our family held on to that raft on the Colorado River—He will work miracles for you in your lives.”

President Nelson’s final lesson is that “we are happiest when we are thinking of someone other than ourselves.”

“A fundamental characteristic of followers of Jesus Christ is the desire and willingness to care for others,” he said. “This is why at the last general conference we emphasized ministering as a higher, holier way of taking care of each other.”

This is also why the Church engages in humanitarian service around the globe. “Whether we are digging wells in Africa, providing wheelchairs to those in need in Peru, or among the first to respond after natural disasters anywhere in the world, our efforts are designed to help all mankind,” President Nelson said.

None of the Church’s shipments of relief material are ever labeled “For Latter-day Saints only.”

“As a Church, we need to be doing what the Savior wishes us to do,” concluded President Nelson. “And as a people, we need to be looking and acting like true followers of Jesus Christ.

“Our message to the world is simple and sincere: We invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, to receive the blessings of the holy temple and qualify for eternal life, so that they can have enduring joy now and forever.”"

We really enjoyed being at the fireside and were so grateful that the baby (Timothy as we now know his name.) held off on coming until after the fireside.  It was great to be able to go see the Prophet in person, even if we were watching the jumbotron because he was tiny down on the field. I know that Russell M. Nelson is the Lord's prophet on the earth right now. 

Leona enthusiastically waved at the Prophet as he left the stadium, or rather she enthusiastically waved at the jumbotron, while he exited the opposite corner of the field. :)

Back to School 2018 and First Day of Preschool

When we dropped E & C off for the first day of school Leona was one sad puppy, or rather one sad leopard since she was wearing her costume from last Halloween. :) She had really enjoyed having her sisters home to play with full time and it was a rude awakening when they went back to school.

Luckily later that week there was a meet the teacher at her preschool and the following week she got to go to school herself.  Leona has been going to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Shoreline Children's Center with Teachers Miss Cody and Miss Maria.  Although there is frequent drama about her not wanting to go to school the open secret is that she LOVES it. The first day of school I walked her in, got her backpack into the cubby, gave her a kiss and prepared to leave.  Then I noticed that the other parents were hanging around so I hesitated in case there was something else that I was supposed to do. Leona saw me hanging around and ran back over kissed me, kissed my belly, and gave me a look that said, "Scram." so I did.

She has made tons of friends at school, several of the little girls run over to give her hugs as she leaves at the end of preschool.  It is a mixed age class and Leona is one of the older kids.  She has really helped a couple of the new kids by taking them under her wing as they start preschool midyear.  

There have been a few (hilarious) bumps in the road.  One was at the beginning of the year a little boy could not restrain himself from touching Leona's lovely, long pigtails. This really bugged her so for a solid month she wore her pigtails braided (Anna hairdo, named for the character in Frozen with the same hairdo.) so that her hair would be less tempting.  That seemed to work and recently she has returned to pigtails, her hairdo of choice.  Another day when I picked her up she was all in a tizzy, with her high drama voice going because a boy said to her at recess, "Na na nabooboo, you can't catch me Poopypants." I think she repeated that phrase about 25 times on the way home.  I was silently laughing as I drove home because seriously, how does anyone say that so many times in an indignant, serious tone? We eventually talked her off of that ledge (/soapbox) and she agreed to go back to school but sometimes Collin and I will whisper it to each other when there's a very dramatic situation unfolding.

Bottom line is that Leona is really blossoming in preschool and is kind to her friends and teachers.

Leona with some buddies on the street, lonely no more. :)

Rice's Rainy Campout 2018

We went camping again for the 4th (2nd year for us) Annual Rice's Rainy Campout and unlike last year it lived up to its name.  The kids were undeterred by the 45 degree temperature and the light rain and went down the slip'n'slide just the same. Maniacs. Leona was mad that she was wet, even though she was the one who voluntarily went down the slip'n'slide and also the one who refused to change into dry clothes.

Uncle Jaybob Visits

Back in June Collin and I had our 10 year anniversary.  We wanted to go on a small trip to celebrate but we had to wait until August when Jacob was in between semesters and was able to come watch the girls for us.  We went to Orcas Island for 3 days which was super fun.  We went kayaking, did some (super easy because I was 8 months pregnant) hikes, played games, waited out a 10 hour power outage on the island, and relaxed.  We really appreciated Jacob watching the girls for us.  Everything went really smoothly while we were gone, they played outside, got donuts, played games, etc.  

Everything went perfectly in fact until the last night when they ate pizza and watched "Pete's Dragon." Everyone was having a great time right up until the movie ended at which point Clara said that she had a migraine, then Eliza said she had one, and Leona said she had one.  Jacob tried to help Clara out while rolling his eyes at the other two (which was in fact the appropriate response).  While he tried to wrangle E & L into bed C crawled into bed and fell asleep face down.  By the time he got the other two in bed Clara was lying in a pool of pizza puke in her bed.  Jacob then got Clara into the tub and helped her wash chunks of pizza out of her hair.  While he wiped handfuls of vomit off of her sheets and got them in the washing machine the other two continued their fits.  Jacob got back to Clara who had fallen asleep in the tub, got her out and into his bed (air mattress) that he had brought upstairs for her, and called it a night sleeping with a sheet on the couch.  What a great uncle!  All three girls definitely owe him some babysitting when he has kids some day.

While he was here we also filmed the next installment of the Princess Bride, picked and ate an insane amount of blackberries (probably close to 15 pounds),went to the beach (where he and Eliza took a dip in the cold water), and he ate sushi.  Nobody was a taker when he offered to share.

Not pictured is Leona in the role of R.O.U.S. She had to be bribed extensively to participate. 

Caldwells Come to Visit

The cousin pranks began almost immediately.  Ollie was totally wiped out from the early flight here but Leona was so desperate to play with him that she kept trying all sorts of tactics to get him to wake up.  The snake didn't work and ultimately she had to just wait out the nap.

The visitor fun continued as the Caldwells all came to visit from Texas.  They got to stay a week and we packed as much fun into that time as we packed people into our little house. :) We went to Edmond's Beach to see sea creatures and ride the ferry.  Eliza was actually at soccer camp for the first half of the week that they were here but she stayed home on Thursday to come with us on the ferry and to play at the beach.  I continue to be amazed at how unimpressed kids are with the ferry.  I think it's super fun and always expect them to like it and yet they never do. Sigh. The beach was a big hit, especially all the little crabs, the big crabs, the crab molts, the loose crab claws, and the other creatures, but mostly the crabs. The water was so clear that we could actually see a crab crawling along under the water from the ferry. 

We also wanted to do some little hikes while they were here.  We went to Snoqualmie Falls and hiked from the bottom to the top and then back down again. The kids pretty much thought they wer going to die going up, until we found the banana slug.  Everybody thought the banana slug was awesome. After the morning hike they came with us to our ward pool party which was a big hit with everyone.

We also went downtown to Pike's Place Market and ate a ton of food.  We of course had to take Uncle Scott to Piroshky Piroshky since it is a Ukranian bakery.  Everybody enjoyed the treats that we got there.  Uncle Scott also got Beecher's mac'n'cheese and cheese curds and everybody shared those.  We tried to tell him that you could buy that stuff everywhere, including Costco, but on the recommendation of friends he got it downtown.  I think Eliza was the only Roueche who really liked it.  The highlight of going downtown was riding the Giant Ferris Wheel.  The kids have had their eyes on that Ferris Wheel since we moved here and we finally rode it! Everybody like it and it was really cool to be up over the Puget Sound in a tiny ferris wheel car.  We got to go around four times and since we were in two cars the kids all had fun taking turns being higher than the other car as we rotated. When we took the photo at Pike's Place we asked a random passerby, who happened to be Asian.  As the grownups stepped out of the photo to retrieve the phone/camera some of the people who were with the photographer stepped in to the photo.  The lady who had taken the photo explained that they were visiting from Asia (I've forgotten where exactly.) and they would like to take a photo with all of the kids.  We laughed and said sure.  So somewhere out there is a tourist with a photo of a "large" group of kids from America. It reminds me of the photos people take in Africa of them surrounded by children.  Apparently that's a universal phenomenon. Hahaha

We also went and saw the salmon ladder at the boat locks and the troll under the bridge but everybody's favorite thing was the beach.  We went to three different beaches while they were here and we had fun at all of them.  At Golden Gardens we buried Junie in the sand and then laid chips on top of her to lure the seagulls to her.  One clearly knew it was a trap and kept up a patrol to scare away any less savvy birds.  Eventually others landed on Junie and she scared them all when after a really long time of being totally still she popped up out of the sand.  

Overall it was a super fun visit and we hope that they come again.

Touching a banana slug