July Heroes - by Julie

Happy birthday yesterday, Andrew John! It was fun to think of you having biscuits and chocolate gravy with all those youth! Wish we could have gotten in on that! So fun. My first memory of you was wondering how such a little body could have such big eyes?! I still wonder! You made it into the family just six weeks before I did and you looked so handsome at our wedding in your little tuxedo! I feel privileged to have witnessed your growing up years (not usual for a sister-in-law). It was incredible how everyone gathered around you and loved you and hung on your every word and chuckle. And you are incredible in how you have loved us back. You are so good-natured and fun to have around. I knew you would do a great job on stage in Nauvoo, but knew you would be even more amazing off-stage, reaching out and making everyone feel included. That is how you have always been with us. And we couldn't ask for a better uncle--you've made life so fun for each of my children--from Susan, who thinks you are her best friend, down to Joseph, who thinks you are the ultimate party! I will forever appreciate how you have helped care for them at every get together we've ever had. You are a giant and I've always looked up to you; and now we all do--quite literally!

Sarah, happy birthday today! Sixteen years ago, Ray was so excited for me to meet you, and you were just as charming and pretty and soft as he had described. One of the things that struck me the most was the music in your voice; I still love to hear you speak or sing, especially to your children. And your dancing had (has!) the same ease and musicality. You were magical with children, first as a sister and aunt to DJ and Susan, and now with your own children. You are so clear and focused on the preeminence of your role as a mother, and make it your greatest priority, above all other distractions. I am sure your children will ever see you as the queen you are.

And Tim, I think we first met you out on Glendale--you were on a boat with Rand and rescued us when our boat quit and we were stranded. You were a blast to watch waterski (still are)--cruising back and forth across the wake with such energy and abandon. You are tireless in using your energy to take care of everyone around you, ever ready with a joke or kind word or act of service. Ray and I can't think of a more important calling than being a seminary teacher and we can't think of anyone who would be better at it. I think Sarah said it best when she said of you, "He's good because he really cares."

July is a month to celebrate heroes! Thanks to each of you for being heroes in our family!

Love, Julie

Girls marry men like their fathers

A friend of mine recently told me after I told her that Kate was her daddy's girl, "Now, no pressure to Dave, but studies show that the largest predicting factor in the kind of man a woman will marry is her father and how he treats her." Not that I have anything to worry about. I married a man a lot like my own dad, and in all of the best ways. One of the best ways that they are similar is that they are both worthy priesthood holders. It's been a wonderful blessing in my life. I often ache for sisters in my various wards that for whatever reason do not have a priesthood holder in their homes.
One of my first memories of gaining testimony of priesthood power happened when I was . . . 9 or 10 maybe? My baptism and confirmation were wonderful, but this experience was different. We were visiting our Christensen cousins in Nevada. I remember those kids seeming to have an affinity for karate/martial arts types of things. I was downstairs in their home doing whatever I thought karate was with Katie and Peter when one of them accidentally smacked me in the face really hard with their forearm. It hurt quite a bit. My jaw felt particularly wrong and it didn't feel better after a couple of hours like I would have expected a minor injury to.
Mom suggested that I could have a priesthood blessing. I quickly agreed to that plan and we asked dad to give me a blessing. I imagine Uncle Jim participated. I don't at all remember the words of the blessing, but I do remember that within minutes the throbbing subsided. It was evening by that time, so I went to bed soon after. When I woke up in the morning the pain was gone completely.
I'm profoundly grateful for a father (and mother) who honored and respected priesthood power, and who lived and continues to live in such a way that he stands ready at any moment to use that power to bless his own family as well as other families. I'm also grateful that I married a man just like him in that regard.

Proposal memory from Angela

Note from Rachael: This response was for the May prompt and arrived to me today via snail mail. Another totally acceptable way to share a submission. I thought this story was cute. I had never heard it before.

At first I thought that Darrin was going to ask me to marry him at this restaurant called Coppermill (after he did propose he told me that had been his plan, but the ring wasn't ready). A few days later he told me that we were going to go roller skating, but instead he surprised me by taking me to the Logan temple (in front of the gate anyway) and parked. The next thing he did was give me a fortune cookie. I thought that was weird, so I just decided to pull out the fortune. I don't remember what it said; I didn't keep it or write it down, but then I broke the cookie some more because I could tell there was something else inside. It was the engagement ring and I asked if he wanted to put it on me, so he got out of the car and opened my door and took me in front of the gate of the temple, got down on one knee and said, "Will you marry me?" Of course I said yes. :)

From our very own Mother Teresa ;)

Note from Rachael: This is May's prompt. I've always loved this story. It just cracks me up! All of the kids have heard it I think, but I don't know that our spouses (or the grandkids) have. Enjoy!

 Ray came to Provo in a little blue vw from California to see me and I had worried it would be so awkward--should I hug him?  shake his hand?  just look at him?  He came and I think it was just NOTHING and then I must have fed him something after his long drive and then we talked on my apartment couch all night.  Then I went to work and he went to a friend's house and slept.  The next night we went swimming and then he drove me over to a little park by where Raymond and Julie used to live and started talking about my boy friends etc. like he wanted to break up and I thought about helping him out and then the thought came to me "no, I'll just let him do this on his own". I have to interject here: growing up the story was that as dad was just talking with no assistance from mom she was looking out the car window either crying or trying not to. HAHA Can you imagine? Her body language should have scared off a proposal! hahaha Then he said, "Well, I'm just trying to say if you'll marry me?"  Well, after all that, I said, "when?"  He said he thought about Dec or Jan.  My response was, "Well, ask me in Nov or Dec."  I figured if he was just testing the water and wasn't sure, I was going to keep dating.  But he said, "Well, when do you want to get married?"  I said, "August".  Well, I guess he had to make up his mind fast, didn't he?  This was July 7, 1970.  We were married August 28--his dad's birthday.  We had to hurry so we didn't back out.

The question is, did mom actually ever say yes? Just, "When?" hahaha I'm sorry I just really find the story terribly funny.

Engaged!

Just like our photos, our story is a little cheesy :) Like Rachael, I had pretty much given my answer two weeks before Mike officially asked. In January he walked me around the Provo temple and told me about a conversation he had with his dad and his dad told him to think about "What if I were to marry, April." So on Valentine's Day when he told me to think about if I wanted to get married I thought he was a little slow. If I was going to be scared away that would have happened at the temple the month before. So I looked at him and said I had been thinking about it, "But you still haven't asked, but when you do I know my answer."
About a week later he joked that it would be funny to plan a big date that felt like it should be a proposal and then not propose. I didn't think much of his sense of humor (still wonder sometimes).
On March 3rd there was a dance on campus. We went out to dinner (T.G.I. Friday's) and then to the dance and he was kind of silly all night and kept bursting into a big grin (so I was suspicious). But when the dance was over about 11 at night and he still hadn't asked I was tired and decided he was following through on his joke idea. But he took me back to my apartment and asked me to change into something warmer and go for a walk. He took me down to south campus where we had our first walk together in September and then behind the President's house in the garden where he sang to me (Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton) and then asked me to marry him. Funny thing is neither of us remember me actually speaking my answer. I was so tired by the time I got back that I think I fell asleep on my roommate's bed. She had stayed up to hear the story.

BTW I got in trouble having to write this story because I couldn't remember the details. Including the date!

Happy Mother's Day

Thanks for everything, Mom! You always made me feel loved and wanted and appreciated. The best things I am as a mother are because of the way you always made me feel.
I find myself saying to my kids the same thing you said to us, "I'm so glad Heavenly Father sent you to me." I don't know what you thought about as you said those words, but for me it serves as a reminder to my children and to me of where they come from and that this is a precious stewardship.
You taught me to pray and to trust my feelings as answers to prayers.
You taught me that every child is different and that they don't all need the same things.
You gave me many opportunities to learn and develop and experience things. You were right. It's always the experiences, not the things, that make the best memories and the best gifts.
I love you, Mom. I'm glad Heavenly Father sent me to you.

I am the Luckiest . . .

When Dave proposed to me we had been unofficially engaged for three weeks. He wanted to make his proposal a complete surprise, but I had already told him my decision (we had been praying about it) and he hadn't told me his . . . I was impatient and insecure not knowing exactly where he was at (especially after I had revealed where I was at), so I basically teased it out of him. We were both really busy with school and work - Dave had a hard time finding a minute to go ring shopping, and then finding a little bit of time to get together for him to propose was also hard. As my story makes pretty clear - between my memory and my schedule it was HARD to get it officially done. Just to explain some of the conflicts, I was involved in a dance project, and being a guest performer for a piece in a different dance company. The names mentioned were the directors of those things (Pat's a man, just to be clear). This post is taken almost verbatim from my journal, dated 12 November 2004:

We [Dave and I] were supposed to meet at 2:30 yesterday and I thought that I had until 5 when I have rehearsal with Caroline. But I had forgotten until 11 a.m. yesterday that I had showings for Dancensemble [that afternoon, too]. Pat insisted on going in show order, and the piece I'm in is in the second half of the show. Dave and I met at 2:30 and I told him [the situation] and he seemed more distressed than he usually is by that kind of info, so I knew something was up. [I did try to get Pat to change things up after I'd met up with Dave and observed his unusual reaction to my schedule change, but I couldn't explicitly tell Pat that I thought my boyfriend was going to propose. What if I was wrong? Not sure that Pat would have been sympathetic, anyway.]

Anyway, so since I had at least forty minutes until I had to go [for showings], Dave and I drove around for awhile just talking, and wishing we had more uninterrupted time. I felt so bad - he let me know that he had planned a picnic or something and I was just like, "Can you consolidate your plans into an hour?" So Dave dropped me back off, I performed my piece and I finally got to leave at 4. We went to Wendy's for some food . . . we took the food to Rock Canyon Park and found a picnic table. Dave had a CD player with him and he played The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack (which was not his original intention, but the CD he wanted wasn't with him). I thought it was good. So we were just eating and talking by ourselves there.

Then this cute little family showed up with their model airplanes and soccer ball. They were cute. I totally suspected a proposal was coming at that point and so I wondered how that was going to work with the family there. [Kinda wondered if Dave would just abandon his plans] They left eventually though.

Dave changed the CD to play a song . . . called The Luckiest by Ben Folds. He just held me and looked at me sweetly during the song. It was tender. Then when the song was finished he fished in his coat pocket and got down on his knee and said, "Will you marry me?" and I said, "Yes!" then he put the ring on my finger, a ring that he chose himself.

I needed to go to rehearsal, but had to call the parents before I went so they could be the first to hear the official news. I was subsequently late for rehearsal, but it was super fun to make the announcement. All of the dancers seriously swarmed me for a group hug. :) Also, I specifically chose to post my entry today because it marks the anniversary of mine and Dave's first kiss - not only with each other, but ever for both of us. Eleven years ago. Angela's birthday helped me remember. haha Happy birthday, Angela!