Health Days, Mother's Day and a Farewell

What a great weekend! It was Smithfield Health Day's -- and if you are a Downs, that means a National Holiday -- I guess kinda like a Jackson and the 4th of July-- but that is a National Holiday! We had breakfast at the fireman's breakfast. I look forward to that each year. There is just something about hash browns, pancakes and scrambled eggs cooked on a grill. Then it was off to the parade. Kody decided to walk the parade route with his school this year. I was grateful that Sidney decided to walk also so he has someone to walk with. I love the small town (although I don't know if Smithfield is still classified as a small town) parades. After the parade, we headed over to Forrester Acres to the fair. Kody met his friend Carson and off they went. Tyler couldn't find anyone to hang with so he stuck pretty close to Todd and I. I walked around the booths but nothing really caught my eye so then we just sat on the lawn and watched all the people. We enjoyed the afternoon just hanging out at home and enjoying the great weather. That night we had a BBQ with Randy, Shonie, Ryan, Shalise, Eric, Jackson, Dawson, and my parents. We build a fire and just enjoyed hanging out and visiting with each other. The Godderidge's family came over to roast marshmellows before the fireworks. I love having such great neighbors who enjoy many of the same things our family does. The fireworks we fun as always. Again, it's great to have them just across the creek at Forrester Acres and we can watch them from our back yard around a fire.

Mother's Day was good. I'll admit Mother's Day is one of my least favorite holidays. Unfortunately, I got that attitude from my mom, who hates Mother's Day. I tried really hard this year not to get my hopes up for anything and not to expect anything either. Maybe that's the secret. My house was a mess from Saturday, and I didn't even let that bother me. When Todd and I went to SLC about a month ago, I found this music stand that I liked. He said that he'd give that to me for Mother's Day. On Saturday morning when we were getting ready to go to breakfast, Kody wanted to ride our bikes. When I got outside and was ready to go, Todd had our bikes side by side. He asked me which bike I wanted to ride. I thought this was an odd question, since my bike is purple - why would he want to ride my bike. Keep in mind, my purple bike was a little small for me but as much as I ride it worked fine. He quickly went to the shed and brought out my new bike ---

Suddenly, I understood Kody's excitement to ride our bikes! I really like it, the handle bars are up high so I don't have to ride hunched over -- sometimes that was too hard on my back. I've actually gone on a few rides and enjoyed it very much. Thanks Todd and boys! It was a great Mother's Day.

Also, on Mother's Day was Jake's (Todd's nephew) mission farewell. He is going to Madagascar -- seriously I didn't even know there was a real place called this! If I was his mother, I'd be a nervous wreck! It was good to spend time with family at the park after the farewell. We wish Jake the best!

Thanks for the Memories--Elder Aguilar

On a Saturday night in March of 2008, April called me and said she was in a bind and wondered if I'd feed the missionaries on Sunday afternoon. Of course, I'd feed the missionaries. I figured we'd have them over for an hour and life would go. Well, life did go on, plus one new friend.

Elder Aguliar instantly won over our hearts, and we became instant friends. The following week was General Conference. He called to see if they could watch the afternoon session with us. I was very hesitate to say yes, because sometimes there is more napping during Sunday afternoon Conference than watching but I found myself saying "sure, come on over." We laughed, listened, and had a very enjoyable time. Quickly, our house became a place that Elder Aguliar and Elder Jensen liked to hang out. Having never served a mission, I thought this was a little strange. Todd quickly reassured me that it is nice to have a home where you can relax and feel at home while serving the Lord. Tyler and Kody looked forward to the missionaries many visits. On a few P-days they came over and played games with the boys. We had many visits outside while the boys swam in the pool, they went to Black-n-White Days pulling matches with us, we would share slurpee's together, they came to our house for Mother's Day and brought me a cake they had made, we roasted marshmallows together, they cooked us dinner, we laughed, we cried, and we shared our testimonies. We really enjoyed having them in our home.

Of course, we knew that someday transfers would happen but we were lucky to have 4 great months with Elder Jensen and Elder Aguliar. One summer morning in June, the doorbell rang at about 7:00am. As I opened the door, there stood two young elders with a plate full of cookies telling us they were both being transferred. Todd had already gone to work, so the elders stayed out on the porch while Kody, Tyler and I stood inside with the door open and all 5 of us crying.

Elder Aguliar was transferred to Ogden. We stayed in touch and in the fall when Tyler started playing football, we would always take Elder Aguliar and his companion out to lunch if Tyler played close by his area. It was a fun time to keep up on his stories and adventures as a missionary. Shortly, before Christmas he was transferred back to Logan and we invited him to spend Christmas with us. Last night, we invited him back to our house for one last time, before he goes home on Thursday. We gave him a USU sweatshirt to hopefully remember his time here in Logan and us each time he wears it.

After we dropped him off at his apartment last night, we all rode home in complete silence thinking about the fun times and the memories we've made. Todd and I both have wondered why he came into our lives, and why there was such an instant bond between us. Todd and Tyler don't let many people past their personal wall but Elder Aguliar never slowed down for this wall. I know that there is a reason he has had such an impact on us. Maybe it's for the boys and to help them serve missions or maybe we will never know the reason but we grateful for the opportunity we've had to share this time with him.

Good Luck, Elder Aguliar and keep in touch!