Steven's 'Homecoming'

Steven will be speaking in Sacrament meeting at 9:00 a.m. on January 29, 2012. After 30 years we are in a NEW church building that is on 800 North and 575 East. It is the building on the north side. Please come by the house after to visit with Steven.

Elder Gay

Elder Steven Gay has a release date from his mission to Zimbabwe! He comes home on January 23, 2012!!!

It's been a long, long time!

It has been way too long and I have excused it because I hadn't taken any pictures, so now I have some but it isn't letting me put them on so instead of quitting, I am going to post without pictures.

Matt, as always continued to play soccer and had some great opportunities. He spent a lot of time talking to college coaches and finding the best fit for him. It was frustrating because the colleges that would give him a full ride scholarship weren't willing to let him take off two years for his mission. He was struggling with what he would do. Then he got the opportunity to kick for the high school football team with a new coach (the old coach wanted him to quit soccer if he was going to be on the team). He had great success and besides a team that couldn't block he was able to hit a 54 yard field goal during the season. Many of his other tries for long distances got blocked. Anyway everyone started talking about him getting a football scholarship and if he went to any school in Utah, they were familiar with and allowed athletes to take two years off to serve missions. We were going strong when the night before the state play offs, in practice, one of his own team mates took his knee out and he had to have surgery. Worst case was he would be out for 8 to 12 months and he was finished with soccer and football or best case it wouldn't be a total knee replacement and the recovery would be shorter and this is what happened. He is out for 8 to 10 weeks before he can even begin to practice but it beats the alternative. His soccer coach was less than pleased but handled it much better than we thought he would. Of course, this kept him out of two major soccer tournaments for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

However, we were home for Thanksgiving for the first time in probably ten years and were able to spend it with a good part of our family.

We are anxiously awaiting word of Steven's return from Zimbabwe from his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We figure he is less than two months away from coming home.

Fun Elder Steve Update

We got a letter from Stevo and he said he was able to go to a lion and cheetah park. Not only did he get to see lions and cheetahs in the lions in the wild, but he got to pet and play with baby lions! Can you only imagine?

Most of us can only dream of experiences like these and Steve gets to do things like this for his two years in Africa.

Matt's Home!

Matt is home! He got home just in time to celebrate his 16th birthday! It was so great to have him home and yet the reasons he came home were sad.

He stayed for about three weeks. He had moved up to the A team (the traveling team) so he was planning on a trip to New York and one to Italy in the next few weeks. However, as the days went on, it was obvious, he wasn't happy. The soccer was awesome! In the time he was there, he played the U-17 Mexico team and several colleges. He practiced everyday from 8-12:00 and then was in school from 1-5:00 p.m. However, the environment was awful!! They monitored everything about their physical health to a T! He wore a heart monitor, his weight was checked, daily... We had been skyping in the evenings and as each day went by, he seemed to be losing a little of him each day. The coaches and staff made sure the boys were in bed at a certain time and checked throughout the night, but they had several hours in the evening and the weekend, when they were on their own and pornography was what the boys did! He tried to stay away but when he opened his laptop one day and the boys and left a 'surprise' on his laptap, he knew it was time. He has always been one of mine that has had a tender spirit and very in tune to the Holy Ghost. He knew if he stayed, he would be in trouble. His spirit was struggling and that in turn affected his soccer game. He considered talking with the coaches, but (if they even cared, he didn't think they would) but then if they did, he would be the one who told and then his teammates would make his life miserable, on and off the field. We talked about me going out there to live and maybe getting the coaches to let him live off site with me, but he knew he would be labeled 'mommy's boy' and get the same treatment. He made the final decision and then got prepared to talk with the coaches. They tried to get him to stay until spring break but he felt that he needed to flee as in the Old Testament when David knew he had to flee when Potiphar's wife was after him.

When he came home, he knew that there was a very good possibility that he would be out of soccer forever. He knew the Utah Soccer Association would be very angry. He had been the 1st kid out of Utah, ever to not only be asked for a tryout but to make the team. He knew his club coach would be upset, because he didn't even understand when Matt felt he needed to pray about the decision to go out to Florida. He finally made the phone call to his club coach, and he was not pleased! He told Matt that Utah was a bubble not like the rest of the world. Matt thought, Not Really! Look at my own family and tell me Utah doesn't have problems... But he listened to a very long lecture and then was told he could be back on the team. Of course, it is high school soccer in the Spring, so he won't start playing for them for a few months.

He also showed up for the Real Salt Lake, major league soccer team, tryouts for a U-17 team. It was the first time he would see his ODP coaches and the head guy from Utah. The head guy just walked up to him and slugged him in his arm and told him he was a stupid, stupid kid! None of the coaches agreed with his decision, but they seem to have come to terms with it. He didn't know if they would punish him because of his choice, but it looks like having a kid on the team who was on the National Team made more sense.

He made the U-17 Real Salt Lake team and so it looks like he might be back on track for a future with soccer!

About Time!

I know, I know! It is About Time! It is a little sad to see how far behind I am. However, my excuse is that I have been waiting on wedding pictures. I will post those when I get some. This will be a fairly long post, so bear with me. Also, I know Brooklyn is out of order, however, this will be the fourth time I have tried to post this, so if it works, I'm not changing anything, wrong order or not!

Brooklyn wasn't due until Christmas Day, but she decided to show up a few days early, so on December 22, 2009, she was born! She is beautiful! She is our 9th grandchild and 2nd granddaughter.

We were headed to Orlando over Christmas, so we had an early Christmas celebration with our family. I sure love these grandchildren of mine. They don't come any cuter!

The grandkids love these reindeer. I painted them years ago and now they are more than a decoration, they are puzzles!

David and Ashley's flight was canceled due to unprecedented snow fall in the Northeast. They missed Pam & Jay and Jim & Cassie. They will get a chance to see Jim & Cassie in St. George when they head there for the 2nd half of their Christmas.
I was sad to only get a couple days with this cute, cute boy. He is a hoot! What personality! Ashley was planning on making her 'famous' caramel apples with the grandkids, but she only ended up with Ty & Jordo, but they didn't mind.

I know Ty didn't mind some one on one with Ashley. They were delicious, even if we bought the wrong apples!

Off we went to Florida. Matt had been invited to play with the Region IV soccer team in a tournament in Orlando over Christmas. This was a great surprise since he came home early from region camp sick. He was stoked! We went a couple days early to have a 'mini' vacation with Steve and Matt before Steve left on his mission. Matt is definitely on one!

It was one of the best trips ever. I can't remember a single fight between the two of them and that made it awesome! Great memo
ries.
After spending our time together, we dropped Matt off to begin his training and games with he Region IV team.

It was a huge tournament with over 200 college coaches there. Their region won the entire tournament!

We got home home and Steven had his 'farewell' on the 10th of January. His talk was awesome and really showed how ready he is to be on his mission. Our Sacrament meeting attendance was raised by over 100 people! He has definitely touched a lot of lives! Then they all descended on our house!

I'm not sure my house has ever had that many people in it. The line goes all the way down the stairs and there are people in the living room and family room!

So, then Matt was headed to Phoenix for the ODP Championships and it was going to work out perfectly. He would get home Tuesday afternoon, Steven would be set apart as a missionary Tuesday evening and we would all take Steve to the airport Wednesday morning. However, the Missionary department called and wanted to move Steven's departure date up one day. Normally, no big deal, but this meant Matt wouldn't be home! Of course, we didn't say no to the Missionary Department.

So it seemed a little backwards, but we all (Steven, Dad and I) went to the airport to drop Matt off and this was it for Steven and Matt. Steven would be gone before Matt got home. It was a little tough for me.

Tuesday, we went to the airport to send Steven off to South Africa to spend 3 weeks in the MTC there before traveling to the Zimbabwe Harare Mission. He could have pretended to be a little sad for his mom,but he was so ready!

Hard to realize that after years and years of having a houseful, we would be down to one child. Of course, I would want Steven no where else than serving his mission.

Goodbye! I love you. Be safe.

After Matt got home from the ODP Championships, he was called up to a tryout for the United States U-17 soccer team! Unbelievable! He wasn't even supposed to be on the Region team, and now he was being invited to tryout for the US!

He made the team! He came home for a couple days and we prayed about him going. Everything seemed wrong to me about sending my 15 year old away for 18 months-2 years. We thought he would only go for a few months, but they wanted him to live in Florida! He would come home for school breaks and the summer, off and on, but he would basically be gone! I didn't think this fit with my beliefs on family and parenting. However, I got an undeniable answer and knew that he was supposed to go, if only for a short while. It was a real struggle for Matt. He was going to turn 16 in a few weeks, get his driver's license and start dating. This would be a huge sacrifice for him, but this was his dream.

We took him to Florida to check it out and got to see a couple games. It was such an amazing opportunity, once in a lifetime!

On the pitch for the US U-17 soccer team. There purpose for the next 1 1/2 years is to prepare to play in the U-17 World Cup in August of 2011.
Absolutely one of the toughest things I have ever done as a mom, was to leave him in Florida and come home. If I had not received such a definite answer, I don't think I could have done it!

Way to go, Matt! You are awesome and deserve this opportunity. Enjoy every minute of the experience!

Steve's Mission Call

Steven got his mission call on September 30. He has been called to the Zimbabwe Harare Mission. He reports to the South Africa MTC on January 21, 2010. He will be speaking English.
It was a total surprise for everyone, except I actually caught on to one of the vague hints he dropped a couple days before, so I got to be in the know! We knew he was planning on going, he was just very quiet about everything, intent on doing things his way. I think it might have been harder knowing and waiting! Especially, after it came in the mail and we had to wait all day before he opened it. We'll update those that can come to the 'farewell' when we know something.