Young Women, Relief Society, and the Luncheon

 

Sophia's favorite color was pink. Claire had the beautiful idea to have the YW all wear pink to honor her. She texted the YW, and word spread. The YW told the YM and they all wore pink ties. I bought Ben a pink tie. The bishopric all wore pink ties. 

It was one of the most sacred sacraments I had ever been to. Bishop gave our ward a Bishop's Blessing- something I had never heard of before. In the blessing he blessed us that we would be able to bear the burdens for what we needed to do.

It turns out, I desperately needed to rely on that blessing.

Due to a cruel twist of fate, Matt's Celebration of Life was also at this time. But as RS President, I was in charge of ensuring there was a luncheon for the family. In addition, I was getting literally hundreds of text messages a day asking every question under the sun. There were so many logistics, but also I had my own mourning to try and work through.

I have organized a lot of large events in my life. And I'm good at it. But this nearly broke me.

On Tuesday morning, I had a very small amount of time that I could get to the temple. I went to the initiatory room and said, "I don't have much time. But I need to be here. Can I please do one initiatory and then go sit in the Celestial Room?" They said yes. After the initiatory, I sat in the Celestial Room and cried and cried. I was blessed that I was alone- just the worker was there. So I didn't feel bad sobbing.

The menu for the luncheon was intense. Another of our best friends in our group is a professional chef. Like me, she wouldn't be at the funeral- me for Matt's Celebration of Life, her because her son was getting married in Hawaii on the same day.

She promised me the menu was simple, and she sent it over to me and I didn't recognize half the ingredients. 

But, I also know I have amazing women in our ward. We have one family who owns Twisted Sugar and they donated cookies for the luncheon. We hand picked 4 women who we know are good chefs to be in charge of the chicken. Then I sent out a SignUp Genius for things like, "10 heads of raddichio, chopped."

I hated that I wouldn't be there, but I obviously couldn't miss Matt's Celebration of Life- that's literally the one thing I could not miss.

We planned for 150 people for the luncheon. 

The planning was intense. Again, literally hundreds of text messages a day. Hundreds of tiny, minute details figured out. Lots of stress and tears on my end. I finally had to remember Bishop's blessing and turn it over to Him and trust it would turn out.

And, it did. The women stepped up- like we always do.

My faith in Relief Society is so strong. I saw it at Matt's funeral and the luncheon the sisters put together for us. I was so grateful to them, and as I saw them putting together a meal for a hundred strangers, I thought, "and my ward would do it, too."

And, the sisters did. Our women are incredible. From everything I heard, the luncheon was absolutely wonderful.

Bear Lake: Day 2

 

Sophia Payne

 While at the lake, I got a terrible text from one of my best friends, Molly, She lives across the street from another best friend, Rachelle. She said there were 4 firetrucks, 3 ambulances, and 2 cop cars in front of Rachelle's house and she was rushing over to find out what was going on.

An hour later I got the devastating news that their beautiful daughter Sophia, a dear friend of our whole family, but who was especially close to Claire, had committed suicide.

Ben was golfing with Mac. I immediately started calling him, but he didn't answer. Finally he answered and I told him. We came up with an impossible plan of figuring out how to tell the girls.

When we got back to the cabin, together we told the kids.

Telling them was one of the worst moments of my life.

We decided we needed to cut our trip short and would drive home Saturday instead of Sunday. I needed to be there for my friend, the girls needed to be with the YW, and I needed to be there as RS President.

While at the beach, I was very distracted as I was on my phone determining what I needed to do as RS President.

I talked to our RS teacher. She said there was no way she could teach a lesson after this tragedy, and she had a beautiful idea to do a testimony/hymn singing instead- sisters would share their favorite hymn and testimony and we would sing the hymn.

There really are no words for this tragedy. We will remember Sophia forever. Our hearts are absolutely shattered.

Bear Lake: Day 1

 

Dance Camp

 Camille started dance! She did a dance camp and had a blast! It was a lot of fun for her, and she's pretty good! Ben and I find her mesmerizing and can't take our eyes off her.

A Couple of Hikes

I was finally able to sneak out and go on some hikes- to Lair O the Bear with my old teammate Kelly Rayburn, and then a few days later with the Neyenhuis' to Maxwell Falls.

It was wonderful to be in nature!

Then with Kelly:

She Passed!

 

Worth It!

 Finally, after almost 4 weeks, our kitchen is FINISHED!

It's beautiful. So beautiful I want to cry.

It's been 17 years of me begging for a new kitchen. 

And now, it's perfect.

I have never lived in a beautiful home. Practical, yes. Functional, yes. But beautiful? No. But this is absolutely beautiful.

Before:

After:

Sweet 16!

 It's hard to believe we have a 16 year old!

Claire's big celebration was last month with her Water World party.

But, we did celebrate with grandma and grandpa and with us on her actual Birthday.

She wanted a large cookie cake:

Here's Claire at 16:

-She LOVES being a lifeguard

-She has big goals- 2 AP classes and 1 IB class for next year, with a goal of doing the Legacy EMS program and attend University of Washington and working at Wild Waves in the summer

-Her favorite shows are Roswell and The Summer I Turned Pretty, with Dance Moms as an honorable mention

-She has a million friends. I can't keep up

-She LOVES Starbucks- she orders the Mocha Cookie Crumble without coffee (basically a cookie shake)

-She is still loving playing basketball. Caitlin Clark is her favorite player

-Most of her discretionary income is spent on clothes

-She loves Benson Boone

-She still has an entire bed full of stuffed animals in her room, and she loves it that way

-She is still super feisty, and when motivated she can accomplish anything she wants. Key part: SHE has to want it

-Brands matter to her. She had to get the Apple Phone like her friends, and Lululemon is also important to her

-Green or pink are her favorite colors

Last Day

 We were so sad to leave! It truly was a perfect trip. I wouldn't change a thing. Disneyland Hotel was so magical and perfect. 

It was made all the worse to come home because we came home to this:

And, to top if off, the AC was broken with 100 degree temps outside.

We should have stayed at Disneyland!

We ended up spending the night at Ben's parents house to escape everything happening at home.