A Missionary Christmas

A Missionary Christmas

(author unknown)

I skipped the sales after Thanksgiving.

      The thrill just wasn't there.
 No pictures taken with Santa Claus, 

      my decorating has no flair.
 His presents are shoes, shirts, and ties, 

      two suits and socks...no fun. 

We've bought him all white clothes because,
 this year,

 I'm giving Christ my son.


 I've spent more time in the temple,

      my testimony stirred.
I've reread November's Ensign,
felt strength come from His words.
Our family prays more frequently.
My tears are quick to run.
Abraham seems closer because, 
this year,

I'm giving Christ my son.


I wonder how those Lamanite mothers, 

     gave their sons to war?
Or how the pioneers chose Zion, 

     their sacrifice was so much more.
My loss will be his presence, 

     I'll miss his smile a ton

For two years we will pray for him,
this year,

I'm giving Christ my son.

I stared at his face when he wasn't looking,

I memorized his eyes, their shine.

He's always hungered for the part of him,

that makes his soul divine.

The stories and lessons he always heard, 

     his choice and mine are one. 

      I'll put my faith in God's hand, 
this year,

I'm giving Him my son.


Past gifts have lost their glitter; 
I think I finally understand Christ's birth should be celebrated by giving Him a hand.
It's because I know Christ lives and reigns, 
that all his packing's done.
My gift has taken years to make, 
this year,

I'm giving Christ my son.

I know there's One who understands 

the sacrifice I'm making,

Who knows the gift I willingly give,

the toll it will be taking.

For He has done it all before

Greater love - there could be none. 

For years ago God gave to me, 

His only begotten Son.

The hands I washed, the hands I held,
the hands I taught to pray;
Now knock on doors to find the ones 
who will listen to what he'll say.
Because I know Christ needs him,
until all the gathering's done, 
My gift has taken years to make. 
This year...

I'm giving Christ my son. 

I'm Going There Someday...

Too Legit

Much has happened since the last time I posted but I haven't had the time just yet to get caught up.  Hopefully soon
(can't promise though!)

In the meantime, I want to share this goody taken at Midway's Swiss Days Saturday...

Yeah, it speaks for itself!

Tradition! The Freedom Festival Grand Parade

One of our favorite family traditions is the Provo Freedom Festival Grand Parade on the 4th of July.

We are parade people.

Some people don't like parades but we do.

Lee and the boys go and stake out our spot early every year and spend the night out on University Avenue in Provo.  The girls and I go over with dinner in the evening and stay until the police start clearing the street of parked cars (about 11:00 pm).  The girls then go home and come back the next morning with breakfast and stay for the parade.

This year was a little different for our family.

Jake and Scott weren't there.  

Scott was in the MTC (of course) and Jake was in Minnesota for an I.W.W. conference.

It was still fun, but definitely not the same.

This year was crazy.

The boys usually head over to our usual spot (east side of University Ave. between 1st and 2nd North) at about 12:00 noon on July 3rd every year to stake out our spot.  This year, Lee decided to go check things out at about 8:30 am and people were already there!  He called me and I brought him a couple chairs, his work bag, a drink, and Max for company. :)  It was his weekly day to work from home so he just did his work from the parade route.  (He went inside the car to make phone calls).  They were allowed to have chairs they were sitting in as long as they were inside a building alcove and not on the sidewalk until about noon.  

Lee is such a good sport when it comes to this!

He's done this for many years and we have made "parade friends".  

There's a ward from the Grandview area of Provo that is always next to us and Floyd is their fearless organizer.  Floyd knows the kids' names and is quite the joker!

It's a lot of fun but it is super hot!  

Lee staking out our spot.  :)

This year, we borrowed a canopy and were able to set it up around 3:00 which helped a little with the heat of the sun. 

 It was still super hot!!!

The girls and I usually bring dinner to the boys but this year Craig and Sarah were awesome and brought us pizza and bread sticks!  (yum! Thanks!)

Beth and Emma having dinner at the parade spot.

Emma and Max waiting at the parade spot.  Max brought his ukelele  to entertain. :)

Jonathan and Ethan joined the boys and spent the night.  Also, our friend, Rob Merrill, and his daughters spent the night this year.  Emma decided she wanted to spend the night also.

The next morning, Elisabeth and I brought donuts and orange juice for breakfast.  

We were joined by Papa Peterson (I wish I would have gotten a picture with him in it!), Craig and Sarah's family, the Merrill family, and the Mansfield family (another family from our ward).

It was a good time!

I doesn't look like Emma got much sleep out on the street!  She actually did have a great time! :)

Wahoos!

Cole with the beauties!  Glad I got a picture with Cole in it!

I don't think Jonathan got much sleep out on the street either.  :)

Gotta love traditions!

Yep, it was a good time!

Update on the Houghton's...

Well, we've kinda been in a fog since Scott has left.

We are emotionally and physically exhausted and we've pretty much done nothing for the past week or so.  Hopefully this will pass soon!

We've gotten two letters and an email and he is doing wonderfully!

We couldn't be more thankful!

***

I finally have his blog completely updated.

(www.elderscotthoughton.blogspot.com)

I've added our last few days before he reported and when we took him to the MTC.

I have pictures of all of us hugging him goodbye but I couldn't bring myself to post them.

I didn't want him to see them and get upset or homesick.

***

Life is getting back to normal.

It's kind of weird.

I still catch myself trying to call or text Scott.

I keep forgetting he's not really at school anymore.

But it's all good.

We are trying to get busy with a new project.

(I'll write about that soon.)

***

Cole has applied to a couple of colleges already.

I can't believe that he'll be graduating this year!

It's amazing how time flies!

He bought a used (very used) road bike off of Craigslist and is restoring it.

It's going to be pretty cool when he's done.

He's still working making crepes and golfing like crazy this summer.

His score on his last 18-hole game was a 76!

Pretty darn awesome!

***

Jake will also be graduating from the UofU this next year!

He's going to be applying for graduate school soon.

It's pretty crazy!

He's in Minnesota right now at a conference.

He's attending workshops and classes for the next week there.

It's going to be weird not having him and Scott with us on the 4th of July this year!

***

Elisabeth is doing great!

She was accepted to be an emints teacher (I can't remember what they call it in Granite School district).

This basically means that her class will have ipads at their desks and she will be teaching using extra technology.  She will be training this summer and for the next couple years and learning how to incorporate technology into her class.

It's pretty great!

She's really excited about it!

She will also start teaching English to people who are trying to become U.S. Citizens starting in August.  She's really happy to get started with this.

She's also had a great time Lindy dancing all over the Western U.S.  She just got back from Seattle and will be going to San Francisco this month. She's loving it!

***

Max is totally tan from his million times going to 7-peaks this summer!

(ok, not really a million but he's gone a lot!)

He's been busy having a fun summer.

He's taken Scott's challenge to read the Book of Mormon very seriously and reads every night before bed.  :)

Other than reading the Book of Mormon, he hasn't done anything to keep up his school work over the summer.  I need to get him to review his math and work on his writing so he doesn't lose what he worked so hard on last school year!

***

Emma is keeping busy this summer with one project after another.

She is always making something which I totally love!

She's watched a lot of cooking shows and every now and then, 

she will get down the fancy dishes and serve Lee and me a snack or the other day she made us toast for breakfast and put it on the fancy dishes.

I love this girl!

She was assigned a talk today in Primary and she came right home and wrote it.

She's growing up so fast!

***

Lee's working hard at work and on a side business to earn some extra money.

He's (hopefully) going to be teaching businesses how to use social media and how to set up a marketing plan using social media.  He's got some leads that are really interested so hopefully it will take off!

***

I'm plugging along trying to keep up with everyone else.

I found out I'm getting a pay cut next year because the grant I was paid with is going towards something else now. (totally stinks!) But I still have a job since my principal wants to keep me so that's a good thing.  I am going to try to re-purpose and refinish old furniture and try to resell it.  

I found a couple of fun things at garage sales Saturday so let's hope this can make a little money too.

So this will keep me busy this summer.

***

So, that's basically what's going on with us.

We are looking forward to the 4th of July.

Emma and Elisabeth will be walking in the parade with Emma's Girl Scout Troop.

Emma is so excited and I'm so glad Elisabeth is happy to walk with her!

We will be sleeping on University Avenue Tuesday night to stake out our parade spot.

Good times!

Elder Houghton's Blog

Scott's mission blog is now up and almost completely updated. 

The address is 

www.elderscotthoughton.blogspot.com

The plan is to keep it updated with pictures, letters, and experiences from his mission to Panama.  I'm hoping to make a blog book out of it when he comes home.  Hopefully I'll keep up on it!  

:)

I Love to See the Temple...

"I love to see the temple,

I'll go inside someday..."

While we were walking around the Provo Temple grounds the day Scott went to the MTC, 

I remembered that 17 years ago, when Scott was 2 years old, I had taken a picture of him looking at the temple.  So, Scott hiked up the hill so we could get another picture in about the same spot. 

Priceless.

Scott's Mission Open House

We decided to have an open house for Scott the Saturday before he left that way no one would miss church on Sunday after his talk in Sacrament Meeting.
It was a great opportunity for Scott to spend some time with family, friends, and ward members.
We used the big sign my dad made for Scott and Emma made Panama flag garland for the fence.
We had tons of cookies and treats and it was a lot of fun just having a quiet evening spent with friends and family.
Scott had a lot of friends from SUU and his high school friends come and they stayed late having a great time together.  That was really fun to hear them have so much fun!

Scott visiting with Sister Allen, Lyle Johnson, Lee, and Adam McCune

Ryder, Tisha McCune, Skylar, Cortney, Papa, Grammy, Cristina, Jonathan, Shayde, Emma, Max, Ethan, and Blythe

Scott enjoying himself with some of his friends and Cole, Beth, Jake, Aunt Cristina, and Uncle Jonathan

Scott and some of his friends.  It was pretty funny...the two boys in suits are Cole's friends Bonnie and Calvin.  He told them they could come but it was a formal party so they had to dress up.  They showed up in suits!  I'm sure they'll get Cole back sometime! :)

Family Pictures

Well, life has been super crazy.  

Scott has left for the MTC and as far as I know he's doing good.

(I'll write a post about that very soon.)

I am so grateful that we were able to get family pictures taken before he left.

I'm happy with how they turned out!

Since it will be a while till we are all together again, I am so grateful to see my happy children all together! 

Yeah. It's tradition to take a "pioneer" face picture. :)

Missionary Pictures

It's getting close.

Less than two weeks before Scott leaves for the MTC.

It's hard to believe it's almost here.

This week, Scott's cousin Emily took his missionary pictures.

(Thanks Emily!)

Here they are...

And it wouldn't be a photo shoot with Scott without one of these...

Love this guy!!!

Emma's Big Day

On June 2, 2012, Emma was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

What a wonderful day it was!

I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited to become a member of the church.

Grammy and Papa gave her a baptism memory book and some Russian Stacking dolls.

She wanted to make sure everyone who came signed her book, so 

she set this little "display" up the night before. 

This is so Emma!

I love the stacking dolls, headbands with the flower, and the variety of pens.

She told me when she was getting dressed that she was "so happy" and she was "always going to remember the important things that happen today."

She had a permanent smile on her face the whole day!

She was so sweet and beautiful.

The day was sweet and beautiful also.

Cole was asked to give a talk on baptism during the opening program with the stake.

He did such a great job and I was so thankful he was able to participate in her special day also!

I am so grateful to have a husband and sons who hold the priesthood and were able to participate in her baptism and confirmation.

She was so excited to have Scott baptize her before he left on his mission. 

 I know it meant a lot for her to ask him to do this.

Lee confirmed her and she received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Scott and Jake were able to assist with this (along with both of her Papa's, Uncle Craig, Uncle Jonathan, Brother Harrison, and John Sharapata).

She was baptized in the same dress that my mom made me for my baptism.

I wore it, Elisabeth wore it, and now Emma.

(I love traditions!)

It was a very special day and

 I know she will always remember it!

One of the newest members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

I'm so excited her dress turned out so cute!  She looked absolutely beautiful!

I can't believe my baby is baptized!  We're getting old.

The whole family almost all grown up!
(Time flies for sure.)

Grammy and Papa with their youngest grand-daughter :)

Nanny and Papa with Emma

Mostly everyone who came...
Front: Ezra, Joseph, Max, Ross, and Zach
Second Row: Adam, Julia, Brit, Aunt Cricket, Beth, Emma, Kate, Johnny, Christopher, Noel, and Papa Houghton
Third Row: Cole, Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Craig, Aunt Sarah, Abbie, Natalie, and John
Fourth Row: Scott and Jake :)
Not pictured: Nanny, Aunt Cristina, Uncle Jonathan, Ethan, Blythe, Aunt Mary, Savannah, Sam, and Ruby

Max Graduates

We've had so many important events in our family this year.

Max's big event was his Sixth Grade Graduation on May 25th.

He worked so hard this year and it showed in his grades.

I'm so proud of all he accomplished this year!

He got to speak at his graduation and did a great job.

(I'll post a video as soon as I get a copy)

Max's speech:

       "It's an honor to talk to you today.  I don't know about you but this was a pretty great year!  We had the chance to get to know each other well as we worked together on a lot of different projects.

    One of my favorite projects was when we were learning about Egyptian times. It was around Halloween time and we worked together to decorate the sarcophagus that we used in our King Tut Funeral procession reenactment. Mr. Jeppesen dressed up like King Tut (but we called him King Toot) and he laid down in the sarcophagus and we reenacted the funeral procession through the halls of the school after the Halloween parade.  Mrs. Bunce and Mrs. Gleave also dressed up in Egyptian costumes.  It was a great memory.

     We also learned about the solar system and we worked together on solar system reports.  We got good at using keynote and presenting projects in class.  We went outside and put a soccer ball on a cone that represented the sun and then counted the steps for each of the planets to show how far they are away from the sun. We got to go on a field trip to the Clark Planetarium which was a lot of fun to see the things we learned about in class.

     In Mrs. Bunce's class a couple months ago, we got to look for Trilobites when we got all our work done.  Trilobites are little bugs that lived before the dinosaur times that are inside rocks.  I didn't actually find one but it was fun looking!

      We made movies about the 20th century.  We worked together in groups filming different events from the 20th century like World War 2, the Cold War, and Vietnam. We read a lot of books about these events. It was really interesting learning about all these things. 

      We worked hard improving our reading and writing and our math skills. We learned organizational skills and study skills that will help us in Middle School. 

      We have been lucky to have amazing teachers that have helped us.  Mrs. Bunce, Mrs. Gleave, and Mr. Jeppesen have worked hard to help us learn and get us ready for Middle School.  many others at the school have helped us also.  Thank you Mr. Cox and to all the other teachers and aides at the school that have helped us. 

      Along with our teachers, we'd like to thank our parents for all they have done for us too. 

      I have another 15 minutes prepared for my speech but the longer I talk, the longer we have to stay in school so I'm going to end this now. 

     Goodbye Amelia Earhart Elementary and hello Dixon Middle School. 

Thank you."

Max had one of the best teachers he's ever had this year...Mrs. Bunce. 

She was exactly what Max needed this year and he improved greatly.
Thank you Mrs. Bunce!!!

Max has some good friends that he's been lucky to have gone to school with over the past few years at Amelia Earhart.

Scott and Cole photobombing Max with his friends Zach, Coleton, and Ho'ola.

Coleton, Max, and Ho'ola...best friends!

                            

                   

Priceless

I just love the random things I find on Facebook.

For example, this...

Priceless.  :)

Cole's Legendary Prom

Cole had his first Prom tonight.

He took a beautiful girl (both inside and out), 

Caroline.

They started the day off with their "day" date.  His group organized an Iron Chef type of activity.  Each couple had a bizarre item of food and $10 to spend.  They had to figure out something to make with the food item and then went shopping for the remaining ingredients.  They were not allowed to spend more than their $10.  After shopping, they headed over to a friends house to prepare their menu item.  Then, they ate it all for lunch.  It was a lot of fun!  Although, Cole and his group of friends could have fun anywhere doing anything. 

 They are a good group of kids!

After the "day" date, the girls were taken home to get ready and the boys (at least most of them) headed over to Utah Lake to set up for dinner.  They found a spot at the end of the jetty, set up tables and chairs, and set the tables with fancy dishes, etc.  

They even laid carpet down so the girls' wouldn't get dirty!

Lee (and his sous chef, Emma) made chicken lasagna and they had rolls and salad to go with it.

  

The girls were super impressed! 

 It was pretty much awesome (some may say legendary!) and I'm sure they will always remember it!

After dinner, they headed over to the Promenade -- Provo High's tradition -- over at the Provo City Library.  This is when each couple is announced and they walk down the big steps of the library and everyone cheers and takes pictures.

 

 Once they take their pictures, they head up to the ballroom for the dance.  

They then headed over to one of their friends house for dessert.  

It was a fun-filled, memorable day!