Hearts Full of Joy

8 weeks of grace

gracie is 8 weeks and 1 day old today, and she is so irresistably sweet that another photo shoot was called for. among her many recent accomplishments she has grown long, fluffy eyelashes, loves to have little conversations with lots of facial expressions & smiles, reaches for and occasionally grabs objects, has found her fist and thumb, and she has slept through the night three times, including last night when she went for 10 hours! she still loves to gaze endlessly into our eyes. what a treasure, what a joy! and have i mentioned how cuddly she is?

our days of summer

f our summer days have been filled with gardening,

*mia & noah enjoying the garden in early july

we are getting zucchini (of course), lettuce, beets, tomatoes, various peppers, watermelon, summer squash, and onions daily, with lots more (corn, melons of squash in all varieties, etc)soon to come!

enjoying the yard ,

*july 19th

caring for the pond, (or should i say caring for the yard, and enjoying the pond?)

accidents,

*noah with stitches over his right eye, july 11th. this injury was incurred after swimming lessons, when he ran for the toilet with his swimming suit around his ankles, tripped, and hit his head on the toilet. he was unbelievably brave and good during the stitches, not making a peep or a squirm, even during the shot. he kept repeating, "the doctor is fixing my owie". he did get tears in his little eyes, and it almsot broke my heart.

swimming lessons,

*mia coming off the slide

gazing at and cuddling with gracie,

* gracie LOVES to look at brock. when she first heard his voice in the delivery room, she whipped her head around to find him, and couldn't take her eyes off of him once she found him. her fascination continues. she will gaze into anyone's eyes longer than any baby i've ever experienced, and she seems so wise and serene as she's doing it.

notice her little hands....july 5th

plenty of silliness,

*tash & lex, july 21st

and pool parties

my nephew benji at a cousins pool party, july 13th.

wildfires continue

last night as darkness fell, i looked directly west from our home, and saw a line of fire running north and south. it looked 10 miles away or less. i wondered if i should just get the kids out, and not risk having to evacuate in the middle of the night. but when i prayed, i felt as i have every time i have prayed since saturday, that our town and our home will be protected. so we stayed, and we were still here in the morning. at 6 a.m., the fire was reportedly 17 miles west of us, and winds have blown towards the west all day. over 320,000 acres have burned, and the fire is still only 10 % contained.

this photo shows how the fire surrounded cove fort, but didn't burn it or the missionary residences - amazing and miraculous.

another cove fort photo

4th of july

we enjoyed a good old fashioned small town 4th of july, just the way we like it. it began with the parade in the morning,

noah & mia watching the parade with cousin hannah

.....then food (gotta love those navajo tacos) and games at the park,

*mia & noah, smeared with yummy food, ready for horsey ride, tractor rides, and games at the park

......more yummy food at home as a family (the only time our teenagers were with us), and then a fabulous 30 minutes of fireworks, viewed from our side lawn. The best part of the day for me was when we were waiting for the fireworks to begin and watching small fireworks displays around our neighborhood, seated in camp chairs on our lawn. Noah sighed and said, "oh man! this is fun, huh?" pure magic.

lex and tash had a blast with friends, playing in a pioneer softball "rounders" tournament, pool party, etc.

tashi & lexi with friends at the park

a friend remembered

this topic has been so deeply emotional for me, that i have hesitated writing about it, not knowing how to express what i feel.

*wife millie, son shawn, and grandchildren at the cemetary after receiving the flag that draped steve's coffin.

steve anderson, a friend and neighbor to brock's family for over 30 years, was tragically killed by a white supremist prisoner in the line of duty as a corrections officer. there is so much to said about this man, his family, and his death. and i could not do it justice without writing volumes. as brock's sister emily has said, it is difficult to write about steve and his family without sounding "cheesy or overplayed". they are THAT GOOD. i first became aquainted with the anderson family when brock & i married, and i got to know them better when we spent the second year of our marriage house sitting for steve's sister and her family who were sent to japan for a year. the anderson's were our neighbors for that year. they are a family of infinite strength, kindness, humility, and goodness. their two youngest daughters were best friends with brock's two youngest sisters, growing up.

*steve anderson

brock received a phone call from his mom on monday, June 25, to tell him of his death. brock was so saddened, but our first response was to comfort each other in the thought that steve was more prepared for death than anyone we know. then we thought of his family and the sadness grew. his wife millie is pure sweetness, and one of the world's most beautiful people, inside and out. They have five beautiful children, and sixteen grandchildren.

we are priviledged to know this family, who gathered in prayer for the killer and his family on the day of the murder, and they inspire us to be better than we are.

*grandchildren at the cemetary

* millie & family receiving the flag

*steve's son & grandson

because there is too much for me to say, i will quote from family members who shared their feelings on our family webistes these past two weeks.

from brock:

I normally don't eulogize people, regardless of cause of death. I don't elevate people just because they die. But Steve, who was a neighbor and friend for 20 years, was exceptional. He truly was the best of men. He met his Maker more prepared than any I've known.

from brock's mom:

Dad and I just got back from visiting Millie up at their property in Mount Pleasant on Pine Mountain where Gina and Emily went to girl's camp. ........   (Millie) looked very tired and worn out but still smiling the Millie smile.   She told us to keep the key to the gate and come up and get wood whenever we wanted.   What a privilege it is to know such a family.   We have really been blessed with good people in our life.

from jordan:

I personally think of Steve Anderson as one of the most Christlike people I have ever met.

from gina:

I can't believe how much this has changed my life.   I agree with Em, this whole thing has made me want to be a better person, and to leave this life with no regrets.   I want to tell you what Steve meant to me.   I remember their home having peace.   I remember Emily and I spent the night, we were probably typical annoying, and intruding.   We were watching a movie in their basement, and he came and built a fire in the wood stove for us.   Then and always he was deliberate yet quiet in all he did.   He didn't do things for attention, or because it was expected of him.   He did things because he was kind.   There was only a few adults I remember liking, and I looked up to him.   

form emily:

Besides being one of the saddest days, being the funeral of Steve Anderson, yesterday was also a pretty neat day too.   
It felt good to see Melanie at the viewing and give her a hug........  It was really hard to think of the sweet Anderson family in such heartache and pain and in the spotlight at the same time.   I just wanted to hug them all and protect them from all the negative things in the media.   They don't deserve anything like that.   

The internment was really neat and not as sad as the funeral.   The fire dept made a bridge with their ladders, connected by an American Flag, for the procession to drive under.   3 helicopters flew overhead, parting in 3 separate ways just as they reached us.   It was something symbolic.   The bagpipes and bugle were really neat too.

This sounds really cheesy and overplayed, but....Steve's funeral really did make you want to be a better person.   A person that gives more, sharing   your time, talents and possesions.   A person that uplifts, not a nagger or a gossipper.   What a perfect person to have to leave life early.   No regrets or unfinished business.

*police escort to the cemetary, and the arrival of the hearse.

......(continuing from emily) With how Steve died, this is going to go on for a long time.   Whenever there is any court appearances or the trial, when policies are changed, when there are parole hearings, etc.   It will continually be brought up and Millie will have to relive a lot of the same feelings and images.   So sad.   Sweet Millie shouldn't have to deal with this garbage.

.....I guess I have been thinking about Steve a lot lately.   He never was promoted in his job.   He didn't have a fancy title or make a ton of money, but he was frugal and able to provide an fun, exciting life for his family.   Lots of good memories.

from me:

The photos in today's Deseret News are making me so very sad.........the darling grandchildren, the people we know and care for.......
His kids were teenagers and young children when we moved to Bluffdale, and we watched them grow up. He was probably about the age Brock is now at that time. His wife is simply beautiful, inside and out. His daughters are beautiful too, and I always thought Emily and Gina were so fortunate to have them as friends, they are such nice girls. And his son wearing his own corrections officer uniform........

Brock told Mia what had happened after he got the phone call from his mom on Monday, because she wanted to know why he was so sad. When she saw the next day's newspaper, she wanted to know who "that man" was and who had drawn all over his face, and why. When we told her (as gently as we could) that he had drawn on his own face, and he was the man who killed daddy's friend, she said "Oh!", and you could see her brain trying to process it.

here is a link to a news article about steve, his family, and the funeral, including video from the funeral. an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people attended the funeral.

i am grateful for my testimony of eternal families and the knwledge that steve's death is only a temporary separation from his family, and that's where the joy in this posting can be found.

wildfire!

flames outside of our town

friday evening a hazy mist settled in our valley, followed by a smell of campfire that permeated everything. saturday morning, we couldn't see the mountains, only smoke in every direction. brock and i had planned to spend saturday taking him north to stay with his sister to be close to the airport for his early morning flight to japan on sunday morning. there was no information about the fire, so we left in the morning as planned, taking gracie, and leaving tashi to babysit mia and noah and lexi to go to work. as we drove north, the smoke followed us, and we became more and more concerned about the fire, and our children we had left behind. 100 miles north, the smoke was still with us. and soon we had a call from lexi saying that towns near ours were being evacuated, and our town was on alert for evacuation. the sky had become black with an orange glow, and they could feel the heat of the fire.

the sky over our town friday afternoon

the trouble was, i couldn't get back to our kids, because the interstate was closed from 30 miles north to 60 miles south of them. we were very blessed by good friends and neighbors who took our shildren to their home so that they could evacuate them immediately if the warning came, and other friends who offered to do teh same. brock & i felt comforted and at peace knowing our children were with them, and they would get them to us, if it was needed. we eventually got word that citizens of our county could get past the highway patrol barricade, and i left brock at a different sister's house than planned and headed back home. as i drove the sky became more and more ominous, and it was very eerie and disconcerting. after a long wait, i cleared the freeway blockade at about 10 pm last night, and got to our kids about 20 minutes later. our car is still packed with the things they had gathered and taken to our friends' home, because we have been told to be on alert for evacuation for the next three days. our girls handled things very well, although they were very upset. i found the refirdgerator and freezer stuffed with documents, our mail, and some of my quilts when i got home.

flames 15 miles south of us, near a town that was evacuated.

as of last night, 160,000 acres, 250 square miles, had burned, making it the largest fire in our state's history. here is a news article about the blaze.

it's always interesting and surprising to find what your thoughts turn to when something threatens the safety of your family and home....what becomes important, and what fades to obscurity in your mind. we are very grateful for answers to our prayers and wonderful people willing to help our children to safety.