Give Me This Mountain

Life has lots of mountains to climb. Sometimes they're more like hills, sometimes it's like climbing Everest. Sometimes you get a rest in between, sometimes you only make it back down to the saddle before you have to start climbing again. There are times when I climb, times when I sit and rest, and times when I turn around because the mountain's too big, only to try again the next day.

At times I say to God, "No more mountains!" or better yet, "Take this mountain away. I'll climb any mountain but this one." Most days I don't feel like I have the faith that Caleb did. At 85 years of age when faced with fighting giants to inherit the promised land he didn't turn around, he didn't even sit down and rest, he said, "Give me this mountain" (Joshua 14:12). I don't think my faith is strong enough for that, especially today.

Our family's been climbing the mountain of Linz's death. Pretty hard mountain, definitely an Everest if you ask me. I think we've been doing better. Maybe we finally got down to the saddle, but there's no time to rest. There's another mountain ahead and it's bigger than ever. This mountain is my mom's terminal cancer. How does that happen? How can we be expected to climb this mountain when we're still so tired from the last? And then I know. We're not. We're never expected to climb life's mountains alone. There's no way we can do it alone. We climb with the Savior. We climb with Linz and everyone else we love who isn't with us anymore. Sometimes we walk next to them, and sometimes they have to get behind and push. But together we can do it.

How do I live without my mom? She's not just my mom, she's my best friend. I tell her everything. She listens and gives good advice. She laughs and plays. Someday, in my wildest dreams, I'll be a mom like her. So right now I don't know how I'll live without her, but I know I will because I have to. Because at the top of every mountain waits my Savior, my mom, and my sister cheering me on. I have to keep climbing so I can make it back to them. So I will. In faith I will climb on.

This scripture is my testimony and I think the testimony of my family. This is what we believe.

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." Mosiah 4:9

So because we believe, we will climb this mountain. It might not be pretty, but we will make it to the top. Because that's what our mom taught us to do.

Another Witchy-Poo Party?

My kids loved the witchy-poo party so much that they decided to do one of their own. This is how it happened...I got a phone call saying that I had left my wallet somewhere in Heber (smart, I know). I didn't want to load the kids in the car for such a quick trip, so I called Jake who was at the house he's building down the street. He assured me he would be home in "two minutes". I should have known better seeing as that house is a black hole that won't spit my husband out once it sucks him in.

About ten minutes later I got home to see Jake's truck still down the street. That meant my kids had been alone in the house. Not good. I walked in the door and followed a trail of white into the kitchen. My kitchen was covered in flour, my kids were covered in flour, and there were various baking utensils on the counter. The kids excitedly informed me that they were making witches' brew. They were sooo proud of themselves. Kate was so excited she was jumping up and down. I don't think it ever occurred to them that they were doing something wrong. What could be wrong with making witches' brew? They got flour from the containers in the pantry into some bowls on the counter. They were in the process of adding water to the flour. They had wisks and measuring cups out. Zack also got four paper cups out so we could all have some brew. After I cleaned up I asked Zack if the brew tasted good. He said he didn't know because he didn't get to finish it. Duh! Of course it would have been good. This was witches' brew after all:)

Witchy-Poo Party!

This is documentation of the third annual witchy-poo party. My parents do this every year and the kids love it. The kids get to dress up in their costumes and my dad dresses up as a witch (I didn't know men could do that). They sing halloween songs and eat more candy than any kid should eat in one night. The highlight of the party is the witches' brew. This is made from dry ice and the kids love it. They take their jobs stirring the brew very seriously. A good time was definitely had by all. We're already looking forward to next years party!


Zack and Kate are wearing costumes Jake wore when he was little. Super cute!



Good looking pirate.


Very focused on stirring.


How cute is that?

England!

I finally got pictures of my trip to England. Now you get to hear all about it! If you come to my house I'll let you watch the twenty minute movie Alicia made:)

It was the trip of a lifetime. Definitely bitter sweet, but more sweet than bitter. This was my first trip to Europe. It was beautiful. It was amazing to see such old, beautiful buildings. Here an old building was built in the 1800's, there an old building was built in the 1100's. Pretty amazing history. I loved the trimmed hedges and trees and the beautiful flower gardens. The little town of Stroud was the best though. I must be a country girl at heart. Beautiful green rolling hills with sheep grazing and narrow cobblestone roads. We toured London in a day. Only Spjutes can see London in one day. The best part of London was seeing Wicked. Amazing! I loved it more than I thought I would ever love a musical. They did an amazing job. Loved it!

Even with all of those wonderful things we saw, the best part of the trip was feeling close to Linz and meeting the people she loved. What an amazing experience to be able to take part in a little bit of her mission. We were able to see where she was running when she passed away. I'm sure Linz couldn't have picked a prettier spot if she'd been able to. That will always be a sacred grove for our family. We saw where she lived, and met wonderful people and families. The Virchande family in Coventry truly found a place in our hearts. They are wonderful people and friends for life now. The Turners and Holly in Stroud went out of their way to make our visit enjoyable. The acts of love people showed us will never be forgotten. We spent an unforgettable night in the mission home with the Mofets. All in all the trip couldn't have been better. The Lord truly poured out his blessings upon us. I know Linz was with us and loving that we were meeting so many people she loved. It was hard to come home. Hard to try to move forward, feeling like we were leaving Linz in England. I will be forever grateful for the memories we made. They will last a lifetime and bring comfort in the days ahead.

Hard-Working Hubby

I just had to send a shout out to Jake, the hardest working husband ever. I always thought I was a hard worker until I married him. He works me into the ground. His dad definitely taught him how to work.

Here's an example of his hard workingness. We have a lot of wood siding on our house. Looks nice, but requires upkeep. It's been needing a new coat of stain, but I was secretly hoping Jake would put it off until next year. Painting is one thing I really, really don't like to do. Well, no such luck. He started working on it a couple of weeks ago. On Saturday he really tackled the project. He worked a little bit Friday night and seriously all day on Saturday staining our house. We were using a bucket thing to lift him up to be able to reach the top, so only one person fit. (I'll put pictures up later - Jake has the camera) He got the whole front section of our house done in one day because he worked so hard, all day, in the hot sun. Get the picture?

Not only that, but he works super hard at his regular job and then comes home and works on the neighbor's house that he's building on the side. The poor guy never gets a break. In the middle of all of that he manages to spend time with the kids and help me out too. So I just had to write this so he knows how amazing I think he is and that I really appreciate everything he does that makes it so I can be home with the kids. What a man!

Fetch

No, we didn't get another dog. We don't need to, we have Kate.

Jake and I had to run up the street for a second, so we left the kids playing outside. When we were walking back I saw that the kids were pretending to be dogs and playing fetch with one of Nestle's old toys. Kind of funny, just figured I would wash their hands. Then I saw Kate get down on her hands and knees and pick it up in her mouth. Ahhh! I was too far away to do anything but think about the millions of germs that just entered her mouth. Maybe I need to get them their own bones:)

Princess Kate

I couldn't resist. I had to buy this dress for Kate at Swiss Days. She loves to wear pretty clothes and walks around all day saying, "I'm a princess." She did look cute if I do say so myself.

On a side note, the excavator Jake's using came by to get his check today. I left Kate outside with him while I ran inside to grab it. After he left Kate said, "That guy's cute." That's right, my two year old is already calling guys cute. This is not a good sign. Hopefully the next one will at least be closer to her age.