find joy in the journey

a life story

One day I received a phone call from my brother Kent in Utah.

Hey, Shannon how's it going?

Great!  How's the kids?

Good.  Hey, I'm working on an app for a competition and it's all about family history and I was wondering if me and my buddy could drive down to Vegas and film you talking about family history & blogging for our promo video.  Oh, and if we win the competition we get to present the app and this video at RootsTech.  

Wow, sure!  That sounds great!  (and my mind instantly shifts to the real possibility of stuttering over my words or having absolutely nothing to say on camera and having that shown on a huge screen in a conference hall all while my eyes are shifting left and right because that's what they do when I know a video camera is on my face.)

He assured me that we would talk through it, script it out if necessary, and it would all be good.

But this post, this video isn't about me.  Like I mentioned, my brother and one of his tech buddys  collaborated on building an app to enter into a competition for RootsTech - a big family history and technology conference.  Heck, Laura and Jenna Bush are the keynote speakers this year!

I can't give the details of what the app does - the competition is not over yet.  But I can tell you that it was so cool to have them in my house for an afternoon working, brainstorming, and tinkering over the app . . . making the final touches.  And then we talked about family history and what it means to people.  And then they whipped out the video camera and interview questions, and I talked and sorted through family photos.

This week I got to see the final result, and it is so fantastic!  After watching what they did while here I am so impressed with the editing and the way they made it all flow together so beautifully.

Here it is!

 

anniversary narrows hike

Scott and I had our first date at T.G.I. Friday's.  It was a lunch date.  We were just getting to know each other and he asked me what kind of things I liked to do.  I listed a couple things which are now forgotten but I clearly remember saying "I like to play the piano and I like to go hiking."  Which is somewhat funny, because I wasn't a big hiker.  This is not something I did on a regular or semi-regular basis.  But anytime I got a chance to do it I just LOVED being outdoors and stomping up a trail.

We went hiking once together that summer with a group of roommates up the side of Mount Timpanogas.  But then . . . we never went again.  Kids happened.  Hiking with toddlers isn't really awesome.  

But the last couple years, especially since being in Vegas, we have been hiking up a storm!  And I just love it!  And Scott knows that I love it.  So when HE suggests that we go exploring/hiking for the weekend I know that he is doing it to feed my love language. 

This weekend we grabbed some water bottles, a few directions from Yelp, and hopped in Scott's truck in search of Anniversary Narrows.  It is an unmarked, unlisted hike in the Lake Mead area.  I know a family in our ward that has hiked there and I had a very small magazine article about the hike taped to my fridge for the past few months.  It shouldn't be that hard to find, right?

Well . . . . let's just say there was plenty of trial and error as we drove back and forth on gravel roads in the desert, trying to pay attention to landmarks so we didn't get lost.  But we found it and it was well worth it!  At the bottom of this post I will share more accurate and helpful directions than the ones we started out with.  

The hike area begins near some old abandoned mines (you can see one on the left-center of this photo).  They are fenced off and although other people went up close to peer in (and some ridiculous people have gone inside the mines and posted photos online), we were not in that group.  In my opinion, dark abandoned mines are on the bad list.

After a short walk around the mines you get to a wilderness marker (a pole in the ground) that marks the beginning of this amazing hike through a slot canyon.  We were in for a treat!

Beautiful, right?

We hiked as far as the end of the canyon, rested a minute, and then turned around and came back.  Another family kept going on the trail, but I don't know where or how far it continued.  Round trip the hike was roughly 1.5 miles.

Here's a short video that shows what the hiking terrain was like.  (The boys are absent from the video because we let them run ahead to the truck on the return trip.)

Anniversary Narrows from Shannon on Vimeo.

 And here are the GOOD directions that I promised:

*From Henderson take Lake Mead Parkway east all the way out to Lake Mead.  Pay the $10 fee at the entrance.  Soon after you will turn LEFT on Northshore Road.

*Drive to milepost 16 and pull over on the left-hand (north) side of the road.  This is Callville Wash "road".  I use the term "road" very loosely as it is about 3 feet of asphalt followed by desert gravel.  

*When you get to the first Y in the road stay LEFT.  There should be a sign that says "Anniversary Mine Road 94A".  You're on the right track!

*Continue for a while . . . . When you see a big white sign with red lettering that says "WELCOME TO THE ORE CAR MINE" take the road to the LEFT (or rather, straight).  Do not take the nicer looking road to the right. It leads to Anniversary Mine which is gated, private property.  We know this because we went that way first.

*Then, about 3/4 of a mile down the road you will come to a T in the road.  Turn RIGHT.  (Going left will also take you to some gated private property.  We also know this because we went that way first.  Noticing a trend here?)

*About 100 yards down you will see a crumpled up chain link fence.  I thought it looked vandalized and we turned around the first time we came to it.  But no, this is exactly where you want to be. Go through the gate and you have reached the mines!

*You can park right there, or if you have a high-clearance 4x4 vehicle you can continue driving all the way to the wilderness marker (a pole in the ground) that marks the beginning of the Anniversary Narrows trail.

Can you see why we got turned around so many times?  It is not an easy place to find if you're a first timer with sketchy directions from Yelp.  

Visiting Teaching // january 2015

Every month I get to be a visiting teacher.  What is Visiting Teaching?

A visiting teacher is a woman assigned to watch over and help another woman in her Latter-day Saint ward or branch.  Two visiting teachers are assigned to each woman; they contact her at least once a month and encourage her efforts to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Included in this regular visit is a message of spiritual instruction that is adapted to meet the needs and concerns of the individual woman.  In addition to the spiritual aspect of their calling, visiting teachers also help with the temporal needs of the woman and her family.  For example, visiting teachers may provide meals after a baby is born or assist with housecleaning if a woman is sick.  Quoted:  Mormonnewsroom.org

I have two wonderful ladies who come to visit me each month - Katie and Charris.  They are so great!  And with my VT partner, Jenny Lynne, we have 3 women - Susanne, Stephanie, Jean - that we visit and check on each month.  If I'm being totally honest, my commitment to Visiting Teaching ebbs and flows over the years with my own busy schedule, commitments, desire to make the effort, and the struggle of trying to fit in one more thing . . . especially when the kids were little.

But there have definitely been some blessings as I have been able to visit some great women in their homes on a regular basis over the years.  What I love most of all is the variety of women in a wide range of life stages that I get to be friends with!  Like the 90 year old widow, a young expectant mother, a middle-aged single woman with the most cheerful attitude, and the superstar moms of teenagers busily rolling through life and setting a great example for others to follow.  There are also those who have dealt with some serious life struggles - a son's suicide, a husband's trouble with the law, and personal choices that take them away from the church.  

It is a big mixed pot!  Because life is different for everyone. But the thing that is consistent across each visit is the spiritual message that we share each month.  To teach, to lift them up, to inspire, to share testimony.

Along with the January visiting teaching message I made a little handout to give to the ladies I visit.

Each month this year, the message will focus on an attribute of Jesus Christ.  For January it was, "obedient Son."  So this small handout is meant to go inside your scriptures to keep track of the attributes of Jesus Christ with space to jot down scripture references that go along with it.

And because our bishop just challenged the members of our ward to read the New Testament by Easter, I added a reading chart on the other side:

Use this link to download a PDF of the handout.  Use the hash marks as cutting guides, and then fold it in half.

Download VT_JANUARY2015

 

"Is it any wonder that Christ chooses first and foremost to define himself in relation to his father -- that he loved him and obeyed him and submitted to him like the loyal son he was? . . . Obedience is the first law of heaven."     -- Jeffrey R. Holland.

stratosphere tower insanity

One evening Scott's brother was in town for a convention so Scott and Conner decided to go visit him at his hotel.  The plan was to hang out and maybe get some food.

About an hour later I got a text message with this photo.

And I knew EXACTLY where they were.  The top of the Stratosphere Tower about to go on some of the craziest thrill rides, 900 feet above The Strip!

My response, "Ack!!  Have fun, but please let me know when Conner is back on solid ground!"

Craziness!  

With our Nevada resident discount they paid just $27.99 each for unlimited rides on all 3 attractions.  While they had a great time Conner will admit that he was silently nervous on the drive to the Stratosphere, all the way up the elevator, getting strapped into the first ride, and then teetering over the edge of the Stratosphere tower.

Oh my goodness, I would have had a heart attack!

Which is a good thing this was an experience he shared with his dad and Uncle Randy.  After the stomach-lurching of the first ride Conner was pumped and in the zone.  I believe they went on about 10 rides (with no lines) before calling an end to the abuse.

It makes NO sense to me but if this is somehow "fun" for them then go for it.

striped pajamas - then and now

Have you seen those cute photos when people, as adults, try to reinact a photo and pose from their childhood?  I think they are hilarious.

Well, when our kids put on their striped pajamas on Christmas Eve I KNEW that we had to reinact a photo from a Christmas Eve, 7 years ago, also with striped pajamas.

Four observations:

1.  Legs!!  So many legs.

2.  If only we had some cheetah, dinosaur, and monkey slippers today.

3.  Love that red couch (almost 13 yo) and it still sits in our living room, 3 houses later.

4.  I thought my kids were pretty cute back then, but my goodness they are even CUTER today!

I Know that My Savior Loves Me

At church I have a calling as the first counselor in the Primary Presidency.  I have served in Primary many times over the years (teacher, pianist, music leader, den leader, president) and it is such a great place to be!

One of the things I love about Primary is the way that the gospel is taught and shared in it's most basic form.  Faith, obedience, repentance, family, baptism, the Holy Ghost, prophets, temples, etc.  And to see those teachings come alive in the eyes of these small children . . . it is just magic.

The most basic truth that we teach over & over again to these 3 to 11 year old children is that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves each and every one of them.  It is SO important that they know this -- that we ALL know this -- because this testimony, this understanding will lay a foundation for their self-worth and the choices they make throughout their lives.

This year our theme in Primary is "I Know that My Savior Lives" and it is going to be such a great opportunity to truly focus on Jesus Christ while building these tiny testimonies of Him.

A few days ago we held a Meet Your Teacher activity where the kids could meet their new teachers and see their new classrooms and be all prepared for the first Sunday of the new year.  Along with that activity we introduced the theme and shared a song that will be the center of the Primary program this year.

It is called, I Know That My Savior Loves Me and I made a little slideshow to go along with it to show the children.

I Know That My Savior Loves Me from Shannon on Vimeo.

I've been meaning to share a few Primary related things for a while, so maybe this post will be an opportunity to throw a few things together.

I don't mean to sound boastful, but we have a pretty great Primary Presidency.  :)  Everyone is so on top of things.  But I have to say that our president, Katie, takes it to a whole new level.  She thinks of everything! (and then some) and is so so so good at making the extra effort to show appreciation & thanks to everyone who assists us in and out of Primary.  Kristi has a knack for connecting with the kids, she has a big heart when it comes to helping the kids build their testimonies & understand the gospel, and we love her occasional slip-ups because they make us giggle ("I'm not saying that all hobo's choose the wrong . . . . ").  And Lena (secretary) is just a rock and seamlessly takes care of all that behind the scenes stuff that secretaries do.  I know it can be a lot of work! 

CHRISTMAS CARDS

We thought it would be so fun to give each of the Primary children a Christmas card with our photo on it this year.  Katie had already purchased a bunch of acrylic snowflake ornaments for the kids and found a cute poem to go along with it.  It only made sense for us to do a snow themed picture!  In the desert, no less. 

Lena, Katie, Kristi, Me

I was honestly surprised by how much the children LOVED it!  We got so many thank you's from the kids that day at church.  (The "cards" are just simple 4x6 photos printed up at Costco.)

Here is the poem that went along with the snowflake ornaments (designed by Katie):

Download The Meaning of the Snowflake 

One more thing I want to share . . .

I have a blog friend, Emily, who I was actually able to meet when our lives crossed paths in Vegas for a few months.  She was on her way out when we were on our way in.  :)  Anyways, she runs a blog with her sister and they share some pretty great teacher and education resources. She just shared the COOLEST thing on her blog -- a resource for Senior Primary teachers.  This year those classes are studying the New Testament and she created a Passport to the New Testament.  It is a booklet for the kids to answer questions, write down scriptures, and earn a stamp for each lesson of the year. It is amazing.  Check it out!

christmas day 2014

And Christmas morning came!

The kids woke up around 5 am and paced around their rooms until 6:30 when we showed mercy on them.  Typically we establish 7am as the time for presents.

Santa came through big and gave everyone just what they wanted.

A blue 24" bike for Anna.  A white basket for the front of her bike was wrapped under the tree.

A blue, black, and silver bike for Payton.  Those were his specific instructions.

And completely unexpected there was a Nintendo 3DS for Conner.  We had told him there was no way he was getting one of those.  Santa must be really really nice.

These lazy glasses were so funny!  Thanks Kent & Becca.

Scott held back one of my gifts to the very end.  I opened it to find a bike helmet and simultaneously he came down the stairs with a brand new bike for me!  It had been hiding in Payton's closet allll month.  What a surprise!  I haven't had a bike since I was a teenager and this beach cruiser is oh so cute.

And then there were stockings.  I LOVE the expressions on all the kids' faces.

And Christmas Morning rolls for breakfast.

Payton had asked Santa for metal chopsticks.  So random.

Love these shiny new bikes!

And I'm not sure what we did the rest of the day.  I made some potato skins and candy cane milkshakes. The boys started on their new Lego set.  Anna began her paint by numbers picture - so fun. And I strummed a bit on Conner's ukelele.  Other than that we were pretty lazy!

christmas eve 2014

Christmas Eve is the party day of the Christmas week.  Am I right?  We fill it with activities, traditions, and food and over the years and years of building these traditions with our family it is a well-oiled machine.  Good thing we take Christmas Day off to just RELAX!  :)

As always, we start out by bowling on Christmas Eve.  This was our 11th year of Christmas Eve bowling!  

For all 3 of our Christmas Eves in Vegas we have bowled at the same local casino.  The bowling alley has 64 lanes and it's a great facility.

My parents joined us for Christmas this year.  Aren't they cute?

Payton is always good for hamming it up for the camera.

And I love getting this yearly bowling ball shot.  I wonder how many more years I'll get to do this?!

We gathered several families from our ward to join us for bowling.  I think there were 30 people in all - what a great group!  We are so happy that they want to come.  It's always so fun to see and mingle with friends on the eve of such a special day.  There is just this special magic and buzz in the air.  

Afterwards we made our way to Freddy's for steakburgers and frozen custard.  Mmmm.

Back home we spent some time prepping dinner, the kids played Mario Kart 8, and I tried to grab a few photos around the house.

This year I ordered some photo ornaments with our traditional Christmas Eve pajama photos of the kids.  I love them!  Each ornament is 2 sided, the photos are printed on metal, and I ordered them from Tiny Prints. 

We frosted sugar cookies.  I make the cookies the day before, store them up tight, and then we frost them on Christmas Eve.  Doing it all on Christmas Eve is way too much work!

We sat down to a delicious dinner of pork tenderloin, funeral potatoes, carrots, raspberry Jell-O crunch, and Martinelli's.  And we opened up our Christmas Crackers.  These are always SO MUCH FUN!  I love the paper crowns and the jokes & trivia inside always provide a lot of dinner table conversation.  The set of Crackers I purchased this year were even better because each included a numbered horn/whistle, a conductor's wand, and a few sheets of music.  It was quite comical trying to lead our make-shift band and I don't think we played anything that sounded vaguely familiar or even musical.  But it was fun!

Then it was time for . . . . pajamas!  

Okay, I think that these pajamas are TOTALLY cute.  But, they were a wee bit slim on the boys.  They had fun with it though.  Payton instantly busted out stretching moves as if he were in an old-time workout video.

We read Christmas stories - Twas the Night Before Christmas and Santa Mouse.  Then we read from the fabulous Christ-centered Christmas advent book that a friend gave us.  Then we watched Small One and Mr. Krueger's Christmas . . . . whew!

THEN, it was time to set out our stockings, cookies for Santa, cheese for Santa Mouse, oats + glitter on the lawn to attract the reindeer, and shoo the kids off to bed.

 

Good night!

hello 2015

Well hello 2015.

And hello blog.  :)  It's been a nice winter break.

It is New Years' Day.  Also known as the Pig Out.  Football, summer sausage, club crackers, shrimp cocktail, potato chips with ranch, and Scott's special 3-layer dip have been the theme of the day.  

The kids have been loving this lazy, no-responsibility day.  Anna still has bedhead at 5pm and rosy cheeks from curling up on the couch with a blanket.  They played with the fresh layer of ice in the pool, ran around upstairs like crazy hooligans, and grazed over the pig out spread.  

We all kept our eyes open until midnight last night.  Some of us until 1am to get the report on the church dance from Conner.  It was his first dance!  He had a great time.

Me, I've been working on Primary responsibilities . . . burning 50 music CDs to hand out to the kids at our Meet Your Teacher activity tomorrow, sending emails, updating my binder, etc.  The laundry is done (we just returned from a quick trip to Utah) and I blended up some batter for crepes which is sitting in the fridge for 1 hour.  I think I'm all caught up!  Well, the Christmas decorations are looking at me from the front room, but that is for another day.  Which means I can get on here for a bit to write.  In order to write I am wearing my earbuds and listening to classical music in attempt to drown out the football noise.  Love you, babe. :)

In my social media breaks throughout the day I've been delighted to see so many friends sharing their 2015 goals and declaring their One Little Word for the year.  Yay!  I've been thinking about the very same thing for the past week (well, actually for months).  For me it's a simmering process and I have to think about it a lot, feel it out, and sit with the word for a while to make sure we're going to get along for an entire year.

But first, a little wrap up on STORY - my one little word for 2014.  It has been great!  I have loved thinking about my own stories and discovering the stories of my family members and ancestors.  This word has urged me to do things like start a family blog for the sharing of stories, to attend a family history conference, and go out of my way to visit the graves of my great and great-great grandparents.  Stories are just so so cool to me.  How they connect us, inspire us, make us want to do better, bring on the goosebumps & make our hearts grow bigger . . . . I think I know that this is a word, a passion, a journey of collecting & discovering that will stay with me for a long time.

Now, for 2015

I get nervous when my OLW comes to me in October.  I mean, it has to survive 12 months of ongoing inspiration and motivation.  I worry that if I think of it too early I will be sick of it too soon!  So I put it on a shelf and tried to keep my mind open to other options.  But when it came right down to it I kept coming back to this word.  I couldn't shake it, so it must be the one.

cheer

I'm excited.  Pleased.  Motivated and inspired.  I have begun jotting notes about what this word means for me and what I want to do with it.  I love that there are so many directions I can go.  And I'll share those as they unfold through the year.  I just signed up for Ali Edwards' One Little Word workshop (I'm such a sucker for this class!) and I hope to share my monthly assignments and thoughts here on the blog.

Until then let me part with a non-alcoholic CHEERS to the New Year!  Let's make it a great one!