Park City 2017

Yesterday was the first day of our week at Park City. I didn't go up yesterday. I'm going to be at home every night with our sick little boys. But we'll be going up tomorrow and most days this week. I'd rather drive up there and back 7 times than stay there and try to deal with getting two sick boys to sleep when they don't have their usual beds and routines. And this picture I think accurately captures why I will be doing that:

I snapped that picture for Corey to let him know how my first day at PC was going this year. He had to come down to the valley for an important meeting and that is why I went up. I was up there to make lunch. Then around 1 we all went swimming. It was cute to watch Daniel, who went for a little swim in the hot tubs.

Owen didn't want to swim but enjoyed splashing in the puddles by the pools.

I am glad some of the pools are in the shade so I don't have to worry about if they got enough sun block.

After swimming, these two were tired and needed a nap pronto, but we went into "The Mine" for a little bit. They had a movie on, and there are toys to play with, including big legos and a train, which Owen loved.

But he started to get frustrated cause the train cars magnets would come apart pretty easily when he started to move it. I'd fix it, he's play, they's break apart after one minute, he'd freak out and yell really loud, I'd fix it, Daniel was getting fussy, but Owen's freaking out again, and I'm wondering who I can call for help?

Eventually it was time to go. Daniel needed food and a nap. I tried finding one of my kids and/or taking the two tired babies to our room... no luck. Soon, thankfully, Corey's sister Nancy rescued me as she saw me struggling with them in the hall.

Nancy took Daniel and he crashed on her bed, then I was able to find Owen's binky and lay down with him, which I wouldn't have to do at home. But a plus from that is that I got to take a nap too! Still, I almost vowed not to come up again this week. It just doesn't work. My kids say they want to play with Owen and Daniel, but that's like for 30 min, maybe an hour, and then they are no help. They're all off and swimming or playing and I'm left to fend for myself with these two. After we woke up, Corey was back, we all had dinner, and I headed back home. I'm sleeping at home cause I have two sick kids plus a lot of caterpillars to feed. 

This has been our best year yet! I gave them fresh plants yesterday, but there are 18 of these big boys and they eat up the plants really quickly. I drove by the place where I've been picking up milkweed on the way home and after getting the boys in their beds, I ran in with the fresh plants and started to move them over.

Phew! I was glad they were all still on the plant. I seriously thought they'd all be crawling on the walls looking for food.

So, that was day one at Park City. Life is good. I think the kids are cashing in on their activity passes on Thursday. Joseph leaves for a band tour on Thursday morning, but it's okay if he misses out cause he didn't get enough points anyway. Wesley made a little joke about that in the talk he gave at church yesterday. Yesterday morning, I tried to help him write it, but my mind was blank. So we woke up Corey for him to help. Corey was staying home with O&D. When Wesley gave his talk, he did such a great and cute job - he had everyone chuckling. Read it and see if you can tell where we are all laughing. I think Corey wrote most of it (he has such great wit), but he had great delivery and it was really cute. Here's his talk:

Good morning brothers and sisters. I’ve been asked to speak on the subject of “Gratitude on the Sabbath”.

This morning felt weird and different to me because for the past six days we’ve had a work challenge in our family. We’re going to Park City this week and my parents made us a deal that they would buy each of us a pass to the Alpine Slide and other games if we earned 110 points during the week.

It was really hard work! Last Sunday my dad made a list of all the activities we could do to earn points and each of us got to choose the ones we thought we could do. We made a deal and every day my parents would check boxes off on a clipboard. We had to get up early, go to bed early, finish our jobs early, do extra jobs, babysit Daniel and Owen, read books for hours, earn money, practice music for hours and do other hard things. I have a cold-sore on my lip, but still had to practice the trumpet and I even studied for a college entrance exam.

Not all my brothers and sisters did the deal - one didn’t want to clean and another made the deal, but then slacked off and was out with friends when we had our meetings to discuss progress. I’m not sure what will happen to them.

So this morning I woke up and I wasn’t in a hurry to finish any chores and earn points. I had got used to hurrying and working hard, but this morning I didn’t have anything that I had to do (except write this talk). It’s been really nice to rest and I feel extra happy to relax today after having worked so hard the previous six days. I’m grateful that Sunday is a day of rest.

While we were adding up the points last night, no one had reached their goal of 110. We were all at 107 or under. We all tried to look sad. My sister Abi had worked very hard and she was about to cry. Then my dad read this verse from 2nd Nephi.

23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

This verse means “do your best and god does the rest.” This is what it is like at heaven and on our way there, God is not gonna be there with a clipboard and say “You almost made it to heaven but you made these mistakes. You did this wrong, you can’t come in” As long as you did your best to keep the deal until the end, he will let you in. You don’t have to be perfect, just do your best and stay in the church. So my dad decided to follow God’s example and buy us the tickets to the Alpine Slide even though we didn’t fully earn it. He said it was a gift and we should be grateful.

We should be grateful for that. Today as we study the Gospel and learn of more we can do for our deal with God, we should be grateful that Christ will always make up the difference where we fall short.

Elder Henry Enrying has said: "Of all the blessings we can count, the greatest by far is the feeling of forgiveness that comes as we partake of the sacrament...As we partake of the bread and water, we remember that He suffered for us. And when we feel gratitude for what He has done for us, we will feel His love for us and our love for Him. The blessing of love we receive will make it easier for us to keep the commandment to “always remember him.” ...We can count all those blessings every Sunday and feel grateful.” I say these things in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.