You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

If you have an open Thursday or Saturday evening this week, you might consider tuning in to our high school's production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Jeff and I saw the dress rehearsal on Monday and it is just the funnest show! We loved the music, dialogue, and especially that cute Linus Van Pelt played by our Soren. ;) (Sadie was an understudy for Sally Brown and she is on the stage crew.) The small six-person cast is comprised of all Seniors and they are Soren's best friends. It's been a great experience for them.

Here's a fun preview...

And here's all the info if you plan to watch. (Tickets may not be available within 30 minutes of each night's opening so buy them early!) Also, the 7:30pm start time is Central time zone. 

End of Summer

Oh, why do I procrastinate my blog?? Well, late is better than never so here is a quick recap of our summer.

We started off with four weeks of no major obligations. Those weeks seemed to last forever and we just enjoyed the time together. There was plenty of badminton, progress toward goals (we got a LOT of things accomplished this summer!), and just time together. It was a needed break from the typical demands.

I already blogged about our end-of-June activities, High Adventure and the youth Pioneer Trek.

July was pretty steady with several week-long activities. Jeff and the boys attended a hot and sweaty Scout camp and Sadie attended her first Girls' Camp during the hottest week of the summer. Ugh! We picked her up a day early to head to Utah where we spent the last week of July so Sterling could attend an A Cappella camp - ReMix Vocal Academy - at BYU. I'll post more about that once the videos of the final concert are up on YouTube. It was amazing!! He had a great week and we all loved the final concert.

Sterling and the bros after his awesome concert!

Sterling with Adam, former beatboxer for Vocal Point
(Sterling looks really short here, but Adam is 6'10.)

While in Utah, we were also able to spend time in the temple as a family and we were there when Savannah went through the temple for the first time.

Draper Temple with the cousins! This was Sadie's first time to do baptisms for the dead.

Somehow I didn't get any photos after Savannah went through the temple (rats!!) but here's the whole crew at the Provo City Center Temple after our family did baptisms for the dead.

My mom and all of my siblings were in town so we spent time with cousins as well. We stayed with friends who made us feel like part of the family and, despite our vow NOT to go to Utah this summer, it was definitely worth the drive.

We didn't make it to Idaho this year, but Idaho came to us! Sadie and cousin Ana are BFF's. Little Sawyer is a cutie!

My dad's headstone was installed while we were in Utah.
I'm glad I got to see it. We visited dad a few times.

We hiked the Bonneville Shoreline Trail one morning with our friends and hosts, the Afflecks.
It was a beautiful hike and morning!

The cool, new suspension bridge on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Bridal Veil Falls

A motley crew. :)

A rare photo of Jeff and me.

We saw a full rainbow in Wyoming on the drive home. So pretty!

25 Years Ago Today

Twenty five years ago today was a big day for me.

Saying goodbye to my dad at the MTC. (I've always had a hard time saying goodbye to my dad!)

On July 1, 1992, I entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah in preparation for my service in the Scotland Edinburgh Mission (SEM). I was in the MTC for only 13 days. At the time, missionaries going to English-speaking missions stayed in the MTC for 3 weeks. However, the SEM was getting a new mission president and the outgoing president wanted to get us there before the change to lessen the load on the new president.

The classic MTC picture - my district pointing to Scotland on the big MTC map. I'm in the floral skirt.

I loved the MTC. Two districts totaling 21 missionaries had all been called to Scotland so we were a pretty tight group. 

My MTC district. I'm the one in pink.

I have so many great memories of my time in the MTC and my mission. If I had to do it over again, I definitely would!

Pioneer Trek

My boys have had quite a week! Monday morning they left for Mammoth Cave in Kentucky with their Scout troop. They went caving and hiking and pretty much wore themselves out until they left for home on Wednesday morning. They got home in time for lunch then hurried to repack and switch to pioneer gear before they headed out that same afternoon for our stake's youth conference Pioneer Trek.

For the next three days, they pulled handcarts, danced, cooked and ate in the great outdoors, and tried to stay dry during a thunderstorm. And you know what? They loved it! They all had a great time honoring our many pioneer ancestors.

This is my favorite photo from trek. Don't my boys just look the part? I love that Jeff was with them, too.

The whole group:

Here is Spencer (far right) with his trek family.

This is part of Sterling's trek family. It's hard to tell with the smoke (though I love the effect), but Sterling is second to the right. His Ma and Pa are in the center.

Soren (left) with part of his trek family:

A couple of months before trek, the youth were encouraged to submit stories from their pioneer ancestors. Here, Spencer is sharing one of the submitted stories.

Here, Soren is helping his "family" stabilize the handcart as they walk down a hill.

On the last day, on a steep segment of the trail, the girls had to pull the handcarts alone while the men and boys watched helplessly. My boys said that as each group of girls reached the summit, they left their handcarts and hurried to help the girls still on the trail.

Friends on Display

About half of our Christmas card wall.

I love our Christmas card display. In the weeks after Thanksgiving, it makes me so happy to check the mail and clip all the incoming Christmas cards to a wire that stretches the width of our dining room. While I don't really keep track from year to year, it feels like we got more cards than ever in 2016. Rather than overlapping and trying to fit them all in a row, this year after a row was full we just clipped additional cards in new rows beneath the first so they are all visible at once.

I know it's February, but I'm not ready to take the cards down quite yet. These are family and friends - most of them far away - and I like having them close to remind me how blessed we are!

Fifty Years Worth of Family

A big reason we timed our Idaho trip when we did was so that we could see Jeff's brothers and celebrate Richard and Carol's Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary (their actual anniversary was the end of May). The Fourth of July weekend was a good time for everyone to get away so we had about 36 hours where everyone (minus Sam) was in town at the same time. 

The cousins enjoyed time together. There was plenty of singing and creative music making. We ate lots of good food! One highlight was the evening where we sat around and reminisced about life on the farm and all the Stowell family things we remember from the past. There were plenty of laughs and a few tears. I think we all left feeling pretty blessed that we get to belong to such a great family group! I know I do. :)

Cousins

Sadie can never get enough of her favorite cousins. She, Ana and Ruby are three little peas in a pod. We've been staying at their house during the Idaho portion of our trip, but that's not good enough for Sadie. She wants to know when we can move here. I think if we accidentally left her here, she wouldn't mind one little bit! 

Sadie and Ana - crazy girls!

One Last Shrek Hoorah

Shrek is over and done. Weeks of rehearsal culminated in four amazing shows! All three evening performances sold out. Despite the consistent quality of CHS musicals, that is unheard of! I've heard different reports on whether or not the matinee sold out as well. If it didn't, it was close. There is so much talent in our little corner of the world!

Spencer enjoyed his participation in the show and was a big hit as Pinocchio. His voice was perfect and his growing prosthetic nose brought many laughs. It's always sad to see it end, but this show will be long remembered.

I took this photo closing night after the final curtain when the cast was out greeting the audience in the hallway. What a great group of friends!

First Date

Spencer went on his first date tonight and it was a big one... Prom!

He asked his good friend, Adia. These two have known each other since they were five. Both are pretty laid back which made for a super fun, non-stressful evening.

It rained off and on all day long, but there was a perfectly timed window where the sun came out and they were able to take pictures outside.

What a good looking couple!

They went with Spencer's crazy group of friends, a.k.a. "Squad," who welcomed Adia in as if she was one of their own. 

Dinner was at one of the friends homes. His parents went all out with steak and shrimp and all sorts of delicious side dishes and desserts. Sterling and Soren got all dressed up to help serve the meal.

It sounds like everyone enjoyed the meal and the dance. In Spencer's words, his first date was a success! :)

Saying Goodbye

I'm sure I must have several posts with that title. I feel like we say goodbye a lot. We just said goodbye to Savannah - again - as she left for the airport to head back to BYU. :(

But this post isn't about Savannah. It's about our family doctor for the past 15+ years. Doctor Wochner is retiring. I've loved having a family doctor. He has delivered three of my babies. He's met us at the office more than once on a Sunday when I just knew my kids had strep throat or scarlet fever (they did). He's given physicals and mended owies. And he's listened! I've always loved his down to earth approach to medicine.

When my kids were small, they called him Dochner Wochner. Once, when Sadie was little and had a fear of the doctor and the dentist, we were driving to see Doctor Wochner and Sadie was FREAKING out all the way there. I think I even had to stop the car more than once to put her back in her carseat. I tried to calm her by saying, "The doctor is our friend." She screamed back, "No he's not! He's a MONSTER!" That was especially funny because Doctor Wochner is anything but. He's so gentle and is always joking around with the kids. We're all going to miss him and I just hope we never get sick again because no one can take his place!

He would always tell us we were one of his favorite families. :) Maybe he told everyone that, but he sure made us feel like we were his favorite and my kids all loved him.

At Doctor Wochner's retirement party

We're sad to see him go, but he's got some great things planned for retirement and we wish him all the best!

{I guess this will be my last post of the year so we're saying goodbye to 2015. It's been a great year!}

Another Family

I remember telling Jeff, before he jumped into the job market over 15 years ago, that I would live anywhere as long as he loved his job. Before long, we packed up and moved to small town Illinois and Jeff has loved his job from the start! Our little corner of the world feels like home and the people at EIU feel like family.

Enjoy this holiday video from Jeff's home away from home. He even has a cameo appearance near the end (2:35).

Happy Holidays from the EIU Family! from Eastern Illinois University on Vimeo.

I'm Silently Correcting Your Grammar

Paul, a good friend of ours, is SO smart! He understands the English language so well that he's the perfect go-to source whenever there's a question about tense or capitalization or any number of tricky grammar situations. (I had to look up whether or not to capitalize "English" in the previous sentence. Paul would have known.)

Paul is also one of the funniest people we know. I've come to the conclusion that it's impossible to be around Paul for any length of time and be in a bad mood. 

When Jeff and I were invited to Paul's birthday celebration, we wanted to come up with the perfect gift. 

Shortly before we had to leave for the party, we remembered seeing a version of the above t-shirt online. Obviously, it was way too late to order one for Paul so I decided to make him one myself. After a quick run to the store for a t-shirt, I worked up a simple stencil with my vinyl cutter. A little bit of gray paint, a stencil brush and about 20 minutes later, we had our gift. 

Paul loved it! I think things are funnier when they are true. :)

Saying Goodbye

One of the members in Mesa posted this on her Facebook page (it made me cry a little bit...):

Oh, how we miss that boy! Today he's onto his next big adventure.

{Love you, Sam!}

Nine and a Half

Sadie is officially nine and a half. Most of the half-birthdays in this family go by without a thought, but Sadie has been looking forward to this. She's my calendar and she remembers everything! I will confess that I had forgotten it was her half-birthday when I made chocolate pumpkin muffins for breakfast, but she was convinced I'd made them just for her special day! :) 

And you know you're special when the schools declare an official holiday and cancel school for your half-birthday! Okay, maybe that's not exactly what happened, but we ended up with just enough ice to make the morning commute hazardous so we were able to enjoy Snow Day #3 together at home.

Sadie has recently taken an interest in sewing and so, last weekend, Sadie made a blanket for one of her favorite babies. Dot loves to snuggle and this blanket was perfect! With elephants (Sadie's favorite) on one side, and flowers on the other, Sadie stitched "Dot" into one corner and then did a blanket stitch by hand all around the outside edge. It was a happy surprise when she learned, just minutes before finishing up on Saturday, that it was Dot's first birthday that day! 

Dot, all snuggled in to her new blanket.

Happy Half-Birthday, Sadie-bug!

Keeping Others Warm

When Jeff and I were cleaning out the upstairs during our remodeling project a couple of months ago, we realized we had way more blankets than we will ever be able to use. Jeff knows someone who works at the local women's shelter so he asked her if they might have a need for blankets. She said that, in fact, they happen to be low on blankets right now and could really use more. Jeff asked her how many they need -- and would it be okay if we asked around at church to possibly gather more than we had on hand? She said they would use whatever we could give.

A little over two weeks later, after an overwhelming response from our church friends, we made a donation of almost 50 blankets.

It warmed me right up! :)

Vacation Highlights: Utah

Utah is hard to write about. And I hardly have any pictures. :( I think we were in a fog just trying to balance fun and family with the fact that Sam would be leaving on the 16th and we wanted to make sure he was ready to go (he was) and that we were ready to say goodbye (we weren't).

We arrived in Utah on the evening of July 13th and stayed for a week with my brother Dave and his darling wife, Tanya. The first few days we saw lots of family. Sunday night everyone, minus my youngest brother, was gathered at my brother Dave's house when we arrived. It was so fun catching up and watching the cousins together. They all get along really well. Monday night we went to see my brother and niece perform in Shrek: The Musical. What a fun show! The Herriman Arts Council did a fantastic job putting together a quality production. We loved it!

Tuesday night we had a big barbecue at my brother Steve's house. We were able to get all but two of the cousins together for a picture. (Emma was, once again, performing in Shrek and baby Hank wouldn't make it up from Nevada until Thursday of that week.) What a great bunch of kids. Taylor, near the front in the teal tank top, had so much fun with Sam that night. She even convinced him to perform a little dance with her. When she left that night, she was completely bawling her little eyes out knowing that she wouldn't see Sam again for two years!

Wednesday was rough. After we dropped Sam off at the MTC, we mustered up the energy to head to BYU for a campus tour. Savannah will be submitting her application this fall and the tour was very beneficial in letting her know what to expect as she applies to BYU and prepares to apply to the nursing program at the end of her freshman year. I'm glad we went. It really helped to get Savannah super excited, but we were missing Sam more than I expected. We just tried not to talk about it because every time I opened my mouth, tears leaked out my eyeballs.

That night I was torturing myself by watching things like this and I decided that what I really needed was chocolate. Jeff and my brother were out running errands so we texted them and, boy howdy, did they ever come through! Introducing the chocolate dome from Kneaders: Brownie base, chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, rolled in chocolate shavings with a dollop of whipped cream - just what the doctor ordered. Oh, so yummy and rich and perfect for drowning my sorrows! I was still missing Sam, but at least I was happy about it.

Kneaders Chocolate Domes. The ultimate chocolate comfort food.      Imagesource

Jeff and I spent Friday evening with some of my best high school friends. You know those friends where, even if it's been 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, you can pick up where you left off? That's how it is with this group. It turns out, three of them were in the same boat -- missing their kids who had very recently left on missions, too. It helped to talk with them and hear that a) I'm normal and b) it gets better. We had a great evening and left feeling a lot lighter.

Saturday morning, Jeff and three of our kids went with several other family members to hike the Y. It was a pretty good (steep) hike, but everyone who tried made it! :) I'll post a picture from Savannah when she gets home from Girls' Camp.

I'm leaving out a lot of detail. Once Sam left, everything got a little foggy. But we had a great time in Utah and we're so blessed to have been able to spend time with everyone in my family. It was a great vacation!

Vacation Highlights: Dancing

A few months before our vacation, ideas were submitted for fun family activities we could do together. Someone mentioned a dance and the idea took off. Uncle Randy put his DJ skills to work and we even borrowed a great sound system and turned grandma and grandpa's backyard into a ballroom. Neighbors were invited and the dance was a success. You can see from the photos below that the Stowells (and their friends) have got the moves. It was a great night!

My boys showing off their moves.

Lots of line dances and plenty of willing participants

Grandma and Grandpa. So sweet!

The big girl cousins: Katie, Sarah, Savannah and Briana

Sometimes you just have to twirl.

There was plenty of traditional dancing as well.

Sadie and Jeff danced to their song, "My Little Girl" on Sadie's last 8-year old day.