2024- Week 30 (Jul 22- Jul 28)

Me and a few of the DUP ladies went to SUPER DUPER Day at This is the Place. We got to meet the Dayzz of 47 Royalty and hear Emily Belle Freeman speak. 

Afterwards we had lunch and explored the village.

Our stake was in charge of a float for the parade this year. Jeff and I went to the Expo Center to see it. It is so cute! I was a little disappointed they didn't let more people help with it. I signed up to help and then they decided with the design they chose they needed to have more experienced people help. 

Jeff and Emily and I went for a hike on the 24th up to Cecret Lake. It was beautiful! Later we had a BBQ with the Hughes family.

Emily, Mom and I went to lunch with John and Revona this week.

Jeff and I went to a Marshall's game to hang out with Mike.

Sunday was Porter's homecoming.

2024- Week 29(Jul 15-Jul 21)

 I worked everyday this week. After work one day I stopped to visit Cherry and meet Buddy her new dog.

Porter came home from his mission on the 18th. We went to the airport to greet him! It was so good to see him again. While we were there I got a call from work but couldn't hear a darn thing so I wasn't very helpful. The airport was so crowded but our family was definitely the loudest.

July 17th was Glioblastoma Awareness Day. Gray is the color of awareness so I wore gray in honor of Joidee. I still can't believe she has a brain tumor. We will fight it! I bought her and her family these shirts to wear. She will have to do radiation and chemo.

I took mom to the doctor on Friday. I have a strong suspicion that mom has Parkinson's. Her doctor agreed and set her up an appointment with a neurologist but it's not for several months.

For date night Jeff and I went to the Conservation Garden Park and walked around to get landscaping ideas. We had never been here before and it is beautiful. Afterwards we stopped and got snow cones from a local food truck. The couple that runs it are the Huntsmans and they are so cute!

Leslie Varner turned 60! Her cute kids threw here a party and we were invited. She is amazing! The party was so cute. She loves to play games so each of the tables was decorated like a different game.

2024- Week 28(Jul 8-Jul 14)

I went to breakfast with Aubrey. We went to Gourmandise of course. It was fun to catch up with her.

I went to visit Julia. We looked up her old house- the one she grew up in online and she loved looking at the pictures. She loves holding her stuffed animals.

I had to work a few days this week to help with Activity Days.

This week is Whitney's birthday! She and I went to lunch at Malawi's Pizza and to Beadology the day before. Cute Brynn her roommate showered her with love at home. Then we went to dinner with Jeff and Ethan on the 10th. Saw this sign as we were leaving.

We went to dinner with the Tanners and Lotts. We went to Outback Steakhouse. I love we have been hanging out with them more this year.

Jeff and I did a session at the new Taylorsville Temple. I am so use to being a worker that I got all dressed and then completely forgot my packet and had to go back to get it. At this temple the chapel is on a different floor from the endowment rooms so you have to exit the chapel and go up the grand staircase. 

Ethan and I went to David Griffiths homecoming on Sunday. I love this family so much! Then we raced home so he could speak in church.

Ian hosted a musical feast for his piano students which include his nieces Ruby and Willow and Maddie and his nephew Corban. They each played several pieces including duets with Ian and Willow even sang. I wish I had had an Uncle Ian when I was a kid. He is so awesome to share his talents like that. It was a beautiful evening held at the Wasatch Presbyterian Church. 

2024- Week 27(Jul 1- Jul 7)

Mom and Melinda's family came over for an impromptu lunch and games on the 4th before we left for Stadium of Fire.

This was our first time going to Stadium of Fire. It was AMAZING! I loved it and definitely want to do it again and again. The guest artists were the Jonas Brothers so how could we resist. We got there early and parked at the BYU laundry on the corner of 900 E then walked to the stadium. Our seats were in the north end zone on the east side and that was the perfect place. If we go again I might even choose the west side of the north endzone so that we are completely out of the sun. During the flyover one of the fireworks went awry and flew into the crowd and onto the field injuring some people which was scary- but we were far enough away to be safe. The girls and I know the words to a lot of their songs so we sang along all night. The fireworks at the end were a combination of real fireworks and a drone show that was so cool. I couldn't have asked for a better night. We loved it! 

We were invited to a 4th party at the Margetts house. They have the perfect yard for a party like that. They have a pool and a pickleball court and a nice big deck and it was wonderful. We grilled burgers and had salad and chips. The other families that were there were the Pooles, McGuires, Bullocks, Nances, Pedersen's, Birds and Roses. Our girls came for a little bit and then it was just us.

Ben was in town so he and Greg came to visit.

Ashtyn had to sew a baby dress for her class. My neighbor Jil helped her. It turned out so cute.

Miss Ruby got baptized this week! She and Ian played a duet on the piano and that was so so cute. Can't believe she is our last Shaw baptism. She is such a fun and darling little girl. I had to leave a little early to get to the temple. When I got home we also stopped by Maggie Sheen's who was also baptized but we had to miss it because it was the same time as Ruby's.

2024- Week 26(Jun 24- Jun 30)

 Jo and Tom were in town so we had a dinner at Tom and Sharon's with Elaine on Monday night. It was fun to see them and catch up. While we were there a fire broke out at the neighbors house so that caused a lot of excitement. We took her dog for her while she talked to the fire men. It started with a rumba vacuum that had stopped working but that they left plugged in.

This is Doug- He is our landscaper at work. He is the nicest person you will ever meet. He is also the hardest working. He will do anything for anyone. 

Another fun visit with Julia.

We built a new fort at the park and the dedication was this week. Brian gave the most stirring talk about how communities worked together and compared it to a piece of rope. The rope starts with individual strands that represent a husband and wife. They are woven together with their children to form a family and a complete strand and then each strand or family is woven together in a community and together we are strong. I'm not even doing it justice but it was beautiful.

This is the most beautiful thought from C.S, Lewis about how all things are made right in the end. 

“Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.”

We had the missionaries over for dinner. Sisters Manakofua and Smith. They are darling.