CUT THE STRING

As I type my children are in the other room playing a game. They converse, they laugh, they enjoy being together and the aroma of a Sunday night treat is in the air. I write with mixed emotion and consider my future.

Rakai booked his one way ticket to New Zealand last week. He leaves November 30. With Isaac leaving for his mission and Karamea in Salt Lake my household will feel drastically diminished come December.

Magnificent motherhood memories surf the waves of my brain. Walking through the park... pushing them on the swing...stitching matching dresses for me and Karamea...bedtime stories...Rakai loved Little Black Sambo...butterfly kisses...bikerides...hiking in Zion...laundry for the masses...soccer games...piano and violin recitals...songs of delight...puddle stomping...Redwood Trees...Door of Faith Orphanage...ocean breezes and orange sunsets...

This list is endless...

I treasure motherhood it is my joy and my priviledge. The greatest of any of my blessings.

BRIGHT STAR IS BRILLIANT

This is a movie directed by Jane Campion and based on the love story of poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. John Keats was 23 when they met. He died 2 years later. The deep affection the 2 of them shared is brilliantly portrayed in this film. I was captured and held hostage from the beginning as a wooden needle was fed through the fabric by the hand of Fanny Brawne. It wasn't until the credits were complete that I could speak a word. This film is magnificent, a visual masterpiece and a most treasured love story.

BRIGHT STAR, WOULD I WERE STEDFAST

By John Keats

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art---
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors---
No---yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever---or else swoon in death.

1819

GIFTS FROM GOD

My weekend began on Friday morning with a trip to the temple. Moana (my sister) and I attended a session with Eric (my nephew) and Isaac. It was a mother/son excursion. We enjoyed the session together then pictures then pancakes at Cracker Barrel.

Moana and three of her boys stopped by St. George on their way home to Tempe, AZ. It was a timely trip and we were so happy to have them. Eric will report to the MTC on November 4 and is on his way to the Dominican Republic. He will be at the MTC when Isaac arrives on November 18.

What a surreal time this is as I reminisce over childhood memories with my sister and now we send boys into the mission field at the same time. The cycles of life keep us learning and growing.

Southern Utah weather was magnificent this weekend. A complete gift from God. We piled in two cars and took eight of our nine boys to Zion. Brian was missing from Moana's boys as were the two girls Allison and Karamea. It was their first time to Zion so we decided to hike Emerald Pools.

We hiked this trail in May but hiking it in the fall is a new and refreshing experience. The colors were spectacular! It was a wonderful hike and if you are my Facebook friend you can look there to see all the pictures.

When the hiking was done and we were all starving we headed to Springdale Park for some much needed nourishment and a little bit of fun. A picnic in the park and some fall football. What a perfect day this was.

We made it home and decided to have breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, scrambled eggs and ham. By 10:30 I was beat. A little bit of lavender oil to sooth the mind and I was out.

Tomorrow the kids are out of school and I have to work. I think I'll make it an early day so we can go see a movie tomorrow afternoon. Remember Where the Wild Things Are? It's a children's book and now it's a movie. We all want to see it.

Today is October 18. Isaac reports for his mission in exactly 30 days. Oh my.

MOANA LANI SPA

A friend of mine could not find work in St. George so he went to his home on Maui. He applied at every Hotel and Spa on the island and found nothing. He has family on Oahu so he went there and his brother hooked him up with a top guy for Westin Hotels. Kauhi is now the director for the Moana Lani Spa.

The crazy thing about that is that I am Lani and my sister is Moana. Moana Lani means Ocean and Sky. I told my friend that my sister and I should be the spokesgirls for the place and have a lifetime of free accommodations and treatments.

BLOOMINGTON GEYSER

This is what happens when a golf course sprinkler bursts. I was enjoying the land of dreams when there was a loud pop and then gushing water. It was around 2am and I couldn't see what was going on until sunrise. It wasn't until about 7am when the golf course maintenance guy came around and they finally shut it off. It was loud. This happened sometime in September but the battery on my camera died. I ordered a new one and then had to wait for it to be shipped. Now I am back in business.

My boys are so excited that I have the camera back...not. I am always taking pictures or videos and posting them to the family blog. Which pretty much annoys them.

The first week of October is past and gone. The broadcast center keeps me so busy. I feel like I am working all the time. Not exactly what I expected but money is a good thing and helpful when it comes to paying bills and getting Isaac ready for his mission.

We are in the 5 week countdown. He reports November 18 which is the day before my birthday. This is such a time of mixed emotion. I will miss him but the thought of experiences he will have and the excitement that exists for him right now brings joy to my heart. Then a few weeks after he leaves, Rakai will leave for New Zealand. Christmas this year will be calm and strange. Especially compared to the fun we had last year.

Ra's family visited this weekend. It has been wild and crazy. Next weekend Moana and her boys will be here. We're going Zion hiking. Eric and Isaac will have a chance to be together once more before they are both off on their missions.

Life is moving by at what seems to be the speed of light.

FINISH LINE

CMI linked up with KCSG which meant I was back on the Finish Line at the marathon. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about receiving my old job back, but being on the finish line was absolutely wonderful.

There is complete comraderie among the volunteers who have been there year after year, some for all of the 33 years of the St. George marathon. Those crossing the finish line come in order of appearance. First, those who are participating in the Mayors Walk, then the marathon wheel chair particpants, then the anticipated arrival of the one who takes first place. We watch as a combination of wheel chair and male runners cross the finish line and once again - anticipate - the arrival of the first female runner.

She comes through about 3 hours after she has begun. She crosses then crumbles to her feet. Men of the 172nd battalion run to her aid, lift her and carry her to the first aid station. Fourty-five minutes later she stands, with her 6 children, in front of our camera's and does a live interview.

As a mother of 6 children I am amazed at her commitment and dedication to accomplish this goal she has set for herself.

Another St. George marathon has come and gone and I have had the priviledge of being in the thick of it all. This brings joy to my soul. Maybe my job is not such a bad thing afterall.