I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

I've now let a year go by without any updates on this blog.  I doubt I have any readers left but for myself I'm sad because this is my only form of journaling anymore and what a year it's been.  I'm not sure how I let it pass without recording anything except that it has probably been our busiest one yet.  So here's an attempt to catch up on some of the best and unforgettable moments.

Today my heart is tender as my son began a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  While we have all dreamed of this since he was a little boy, it's hard to believe the day is here.  I couldn't be happier for the choices he has made to give him this opportunity but at the same time my heart aches for the time when he was little and was with me all the time.  I never really understood how much love my heart would hold until I became a mother.  I also never could have comprehended the feelings I have today knowing his bedroom is empty and he won't walk in the door in a few hours.

Elder Blackham has been called to serve in the Texas, McAllen mission speaking Spanish.  We have spent a few wonderful days with friends and family who have come to wish Andrew well.  There has been a tender spirit in our home and many tears have been shed.  On one hand it breaks my heart to see Andrew's younger siblings so sad to see him leave but it is also rewarding to see how much they really all do love each other.  Sometimes in the the midst of real family life it isn't so easy to see the love between your children.

Here are some of the highlights of the last few days.

Andrew's mission farewell

Andrew's friends from school

Grandma Thacker and Grandpa Darrell

4 Generations of Blackhams

Here he is bags packed and ready to go to the MTC!

Saying goodbye...

And last but not least here are some of my favorites from his mission pictures we had taken in the spring.

Sao Paulo

By the time we left Rio I was ready to go home.  Although I knew there was no way a four year old could have kept up with the schedule we were on in Rio I was really missing Skyler.  We were so close to Sao Paulo thought that we wanted to take the kids there and show them where Jason served his mission 20 years ago.  We could have spent a couple weeks touring his mission but school had already started at home, Jason needed to get back to work, and we needed to get home to Skyler.  So instead we did a quick tour in four days.  We were welcomed so warmly by people Jason worked with all those years ago.  Many I met last time Jason and I visited but it was great for the kids to get a chance to meet them.  It was incredible to me to see how much Jason loved the people he served and how much they loved him.  We were welcomed at the airport by Moises and his family and went to their home for a delicious meal cooked by Eliane.  Moises and Eliane were very generous to drive us around where we needed to go.  The older kids felt a little awkward at first not being able to speak to each other and used Jason to translate.  Kaitlyn and Pamela were best friends from the first moment!  They used an app to translate but mostly just spent the entire car ride in the back seat giggling and jabbering away even though they couldn't understand each other!  The next day we were headed to Gauratingata where we met with Juceli and toured the big basilica.

  That evening we spent in Lorena where the members of the ward hosted a Brazilian churasco for us.  The food was amazing and Jason was brought to tears by the number of people who kept coming to greet him.  Herma Maloo insisted we stay at her house instead of going to a hotel and treated us as guests of honor.  Even though the kids there couldn't speak the same language they had a great time playing together. They used their phones to translate and spent the evening playing hide and seek.  We even had a suprise visit from Bira and his wife who live in another city.  We had been planning on meeting up with Bira the next day but he was suddenly called out of town to work so he drove to Lorena for a chance to see us before he left.

The next day Andrew, Jason and I went for a short run in Lorena.  Jason loved showing us around the town, the church and where he lived.  We left Lorena later in the morning with lots of tears.  On the way back to Sao Paulo we stopped in Guara again.  We drove up to the mountains to try to find some waterfalls that Juceli had told us about.  We got lost and ended up finding a small restaurant where we asked for directions.  They wouldn't give us directions but offered for us to hire a guide.  We finally decided it was the only way we would ever find the falls.  He looked like a guy straight from the Austrailian Outback and we were soon bush wacking through overgrown trials down a steep mountain side.  It was a fun experience in the lush forest and the views were worth it!

After the hike we stopped at another friend's house, Bruno.  He owned a pizzeria and made some delicious pizza for us.  After pizza at Bruno's one of the cars headed back to Sao Paulo because Natalia had an appointment but Eliane, Jason, Kaitlyn, Pamela and I stayed in Guaratigata to visit with Herma Ruth, Juceli's mom.  She had been waiting for us all day.  It was late and we needed to get back but we just couldn't leave without seeing her.  She was delighted to see Jason.  She kept jabbering away in Portuguese to me then she would stop and laugh and look at Jason and say she forgot I couldn't speak Portuguese.  Then 5 minutes later she was doing it again.  She adored Kaitlyn and it was obvious she was delighted to see us and made the late night worth it. 

The drive back to Sao Paulo was an adventure to say the least.  Eliane was driving and Jason was in the front seat helping to Navigate.  I fell asleep but woke up at one point and realized even though they were speaking Portuguese we were lost.  Apparently at some point we were headed towards Rio instead of Sao Paulo.  We eventually made it back to Moises's apartment and Omar was waiting for us.  He had found the biggest car he could find but the 5 passenger vehicle was not big enough to fit all of us and the luggage we had brought along for two weeks.  In the end, we left a couple large suitcases with Moises and then we crammed in the vehicle the best we could.  Omar and his family welcomed us into their beautiful home for our last couple days.  They treated us like family and his mother made us a delicious meal.  Kaitlyn didn't get along so well with one of the cats who scratched her.  Omar showed us around the city the next day and it was such a better experience than my first impression of Sao Paulo five years ago.  Omar lives in a very nice neighborhood and knew how to get us around to the best sights.  It wasn't at all the dirty, scary city I remembered from last time.  We went to the top of one of the tallest buildings and enjoyed the view from the top of the massive city.  We wandered through the central market where vendors were anxious to take advantage of American Tourists.  We left some pricey but very tasty produce.  We walked through Japan town, the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.   When Omar had to go close up his shop he dropped us off at the big park in the city center.  We were planning on walking around but then spied some bikes to rent and decided we could see a lot more of the park that way.  We had fun zipping around on the bikes and the kids found some of the best climbing trees ever.  The last stop was Avenue Paulista, somewhere Jason had wanted to take me last time but we hadn't made it.  It is the high end shopping area and happening place in downtown.  We had fun strolling through the malls and the city streets after dark.

On Saturday morning we went to the Sao Paulo temple with Omar and Moises' family.  What a perfect way to end our time in Brazil!  Over 20 years ago Jason had the opportunity to baptize Omar and Moises.  Before he left to come home he was able to attend the temple with them.  In our church one of the most joyful beliefs is that through temple work families will continue beyond the grave and those who have passed on can still accept and receive saving ordinances such as baptism when we perform them for them.  It was so wonderful to have our children and Moises' children with us.  Moises and Omar both served missions and have influenced so many lives for good.  It was such an amazing experience for Jason to see the fruits of his labor.

After the temple it was time to start saying goodbye but the kids convinced us that we had to get some ice cream first.  I guess some traditions don't have any culture boundaries!  It was so hard to say goodbye knowing it will be quite some time before we will see these good friends again!

After the farewell with Moises' family we headed back to Omar's to say goodbye to his family and get everything packed up to go to the airport.  We had just enough time to take a walk around the park near Omar's house.  His brother lent us a bigger car and it was still a tight squeeze but we managed to fit with all the luggage.  It was time to go home but we left our with our hearts full and precious memories.

Photo credit to Andrew for this last shot and many others during the trip.  He had a great time developing his photography talent while we were there.  I love this glimpse of the city he got as we walked around the park just before sunset.  Goodbye Brazil until we come again!

Fall Fun and Halloween

Jason was excited to have his mission president who is from Mexico in Utah this fall.  One of Jason's mission companions arranged a reunion while he was here.  It was a fun time for Jason to catch up with some of the people he served with over 20 years ago!  Jason's mission influenced his life so much and the Espinoza's are a couple that he looks up to so much.  It was wonderful to see them again.

Our family with Pres. and Sis. Espinoza

When the kids were off for fall break we took a trip to Black Island Farms.  Skyler loved the hay ride on the trailer that was pulled by a tractor.  He was so excited to pick out his own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch!  It's sad for me to see the older kids out growing some of the fun activities they have there but they had fun playing with Skyler.  And they aren't too old to enjoy a corn maze.  Unfortunately we really got lost in one and that was about the time Skyler got tired and was ready to go home!  We finally managed to find our way out!

Kaitlyn and I enjoyed going with her cousins, aunts, and grandma to Gardner Village for breakfast with a witch.  It's a fun girls outing that we get tickets to every year.  Kaitlyn loved the show the witches put on and all of their fun costumes.  She also had fun getting her face painted.

Skyler loved carving pumpkins!  Every time he looked at the pumpkins on our porch he would point and laugh.  Our neighbors made totem poles out of jack o lanterns and he spent half the week looking out his window across the street laughing at their pumpkins!

Halloween was unusually warm.  It made it nice for trick or treating.  Skyler wanted nothing to do with his costume.  We forced it on him and tried to get him to cooperate for a picture.  As soon as they went to the first house and he realized he was getting candy he didn't mind the costume anymore.  I didn't get a picture of Andrew, although he just wore the same morph suit he wore last year.  He spent the evening helping his friend with a haunted house since he's too old for trick or treating.  Another sign he is growing up too quickly.

Jason's costume needs a bit of an explanation.  He came home from his hair cut with his hair looking just like this minus the orange hair color the day before Halloween (and two days before family pictures.)  He claimed it was his barbers idea for him to dress up as Beaker from the Muppets and he promised he'd fix it before pictures.  He went to work looking like this on Halloween and I'm not sure if his patients thought he was crazy or if they just got a really good laugh!

Brazil: Day 2

Sunday, November 6th we drove to Guaratingueta.  We got lost on the way which made us late but that seemed to be the story everywhere we went during the trip!  When we finally made our way to the church Jason was amazed to see the beautiful new church building there!

When we got inside the church building we discovered that Relief Society and Priesthood meetings were first.  This meant that Jason dropped me off in a room with all the women.  As soon as he left I realized that it was all in Portuguese and there wasn't a single person in the room that spoke English!  The Sisters seemed shocked that I didn't speak Portuguese and tried very hard to communicate with me.  Some of them seemed to think if they kept repeating themselves that I would eventually understand what they were saying!  They kept getting louder and closer but no matter how many times they said it, it didn't mean a thing to me!  I was relieved when it was time for Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting so Jason could at least be there to translate for me!

Words really can't describe how happy Jason was to see the people he had worked with on his mission.  He truly loved these people and was so excited to see them again.  The highlight of the day was getting to see Juscelei and his family.  Jason baptized Juscelei when he was about 14 and he is now the bishop of the ward.  After church we spent a while visiting in the church building with the members.

Juscilei's family invited us over to their house after church for dinner. They fixed us an amazing Brazilian meal and treated us as if we were guests of honor.  They are such an amazing family and we felt privileged to spend the day with them in their home!  It was a fantastic experience for me to experience the culture in Brazil by being invited into the people's homes.  It really gave me a feel for what the Brazilians live like.  What a loving, fun and humble people the Brazilians are!  When it was time to go it was so hard to say goodbye!  They didn't want to let us go and we spent over an hour saying goodbye.



Girls Weekend in St. George

For years Jason and his brother's have gone on an annual backpacking trip.  My sisters-in-law and I decided that we deserved a yearly trip too.  It was tricky finding a time we could go and we still didn't get everyone.  It ended up being me, Jana, Nancy and Melanie.  We decided to go to St. George and see one of the plays at Tuacahn.  We wanted to go before it would be too hot but it kept getting pushed back which is why we ended up in St. George the hottest time of the year!

We saw The Little Mermaid and it was fantastic!  It looked like a storm was blowing in when we arrived at Tuacahn at the outdoor theater and we were a little worried about it getting rained out.  All we ended up getting was some light rain and wind so the show went on and it actually helped to cool the air down a bit.  Aside from the show we ate lots of good food (including ice cream at midnight), wandered through the farmers market, and shopped at the outlets and the mall.  We had a small adventure thinking Melanie's car was falling apart but it ended up not being anything duct tape couldn't fix and we discovered a fun fabric shop in the Ace store in Fillmore.  Mostly we just enjoyed being together without the constant distraction of lots of kids running around!

Wednesday night this week I got a call from a member of our bishopric asking me to speak in sacrament on Sunday.  (I think I may have mentioned before how much I HATE public speaking!)  He didn't get me the topic until Thursday night and since we left for our trip Friday morning that meant most of my preparation didn't happen until I got home Saturday night.  (By the way, the only thing that makes public speaking worse is feeling like I don't have enough time to prepare!)  I stayed up until almost midnight until I just couldn't think anymore.  While in St. George I bought this decorative glass with vinyl that really summed up well the topic that was on my mind.

Kaitlyn loves anything princess.  I think she really believes she is a princess.  All the Disney princesses are her favorite.  In our church we believe that we are literally spirit children of God and have the potential to become like Him.  Our children sing songs about it from when they are just tiny but I hope they can learn what that really means.  My talk was about setting goals and making sure your priorities are in the right place to reach those goals.  The most important goal is to return to our Heavenly Father yet so often we are so busy in life that we let other things become a bigger priority.  That's the message I was trying to get across anyway so hopefully someone got something out of it!

Earlier this week we got a phone call from Brazil.  It was Moises who is someone Jason baptized on him mission there 16 years ago.  He wanted to arrange a time on Skype that his family could meet ours.  So last night we talked with their family on the web cam.  They are such a wonderful family!  It was fun to see their children acting just like ours!  The kids had fun talking about games they liked to play and musicians and TV shows they liked and finding out that Moises' girls like the same things!  They kept saying how grateful they were that Jason had gone to Brazil and shared the gospel with him.  It made Jason so happy to see what an amazing family Moises has and how faithful he is in the gospel!  He loved talking to him again and before we knew it an hour and a half had passed and it was time for Jason to go to a meeting.  Earlier this week Jason was also able to talk to another family on Skype in Brazil.  I am amazed by technology now.  It was almost as good as sitting in their living room talking to them.

New Years, Scout Camp, Reunion

I wish I had some great New Years wisdom to share but this morning while I was running with my friend, Rachel, she asked if I had any New Years resolutions and I had to admit I haven't really given it any thought. So instead, you get some pictures from the last couple weeks. Maybe, just maybe, if I put more thought into it you'll get something profound later...

This is from before Christmas but it's a cute picture of the kids and their cousins at the Christmas Village in Ogden. We had a great time and got there on a night that wasn't even too cold for December.

New Years has been kind of a pathetic holiday for us. A lot of years we spent New Years Day traveling all day in the car or on a plane on the way home from visiting family for the holidays. It seems like the kids never make it until midnight and when we have tried to go to parties we end up coming home early. This year Andrew had a scout camp scheduled for New Years Eve. Jason decided to go with to help out (which really didn't bother me) but it meant that it was just me and the two younger kids. We enjoyed dinner at my mother-in-law's but again I bailed early to drive home before I was too tired to drive alone. The kids were asleep when I got home so for probably the first time I welcomed the new year alone. Oh well... I think next year I am going to throw a big party to make up for it so plan on it!

Now for the more exciting story...the camp out! After a really mild December it decided to turn into winter just in time for Andrew's very first scout camp! Temperatures in the valley were predicted to be around 0 degrees Fahrenheit for the low, colder in the mountains, and as a mom I started to stress out. I bought a bunch of new winter gear and made Andrew dress in about 10 layers. They did have a cabin to stay in so it turns out they weren't roughing it quite as much as I'm making it sound. He had a great time with his friends snow shoeing and cross country skiing and was thrilled that he finally got to stay up until midnight on New Years Eve. As I was watching my cute 18 month old nephew on New Years Eve that reminds me so much of Andrew at that age I couldn't help but be a little sad that my little toddler has already grown into a boy scout!

Last night Jason had a mission reunion. Pres. and Sis. Espinosa were visiting from Mexico for the holidays. Jason loved the chance to visit with mission companions and see his mission president again. It has been several years since he was able to attend a reunion and I was quite surprised to look around and think how old some of the missionaries were looking. (That's pretty sad when most of the people in the room are close to the same age as us!) It was fun to hear about how many different directions people's lives had gone from a state senator to salesmen and people just finishing degrees and trying to find a job. What was great was to see how positively their time on their mission in Brazil had affected their lives. I wasn't able to communicate with the Espinosa's very well since they don't speak a lot of English but Pres. Espinosa had some inspiring words about their service all those years ago as missionaries and setting goals to serve a mission again later and help our children get ready to serve missions. Pres. Espinosa was a huge influence in Jason's life and he learned so much from him.

Surprise Phone Call

Yesterday the phone rang and when I picked it up someone was speaking in broken English. I assumed it was a wrong number until he asked if Jason was home. I was a little confused until he identified himself as Moises from Brazil! Moises is someone Jason baptized on him mission in Brazil. I have a terrible record with answering the phone when Brazilians call. Several years ago I was woken up in the middle of the night by the phone ringing and when I answered it all I heard was what I thought was Spanish. I yelled at them that they had a wrong number and they had woken me up and hung up on them. It wasn't until I got in bed that I realized that in the middle of the "Spanish" I think I recognized Jason's name. Luckily the caller was brave enough to call back and that time Jason answered the phone.

Anyway, yesterday I managed to get the message across that Jason wasn't home and give Moises his cell phone. Jason came home ecstatic after talking with him! It made me realize how much Jason loved the people he taught on his mission. Jason was able to go to the temple with Moises while he was still in Brazil and in the 15 years since Jason has been home Moises has gone on a mission, served as a branch president once and a bishop twice! I think it really makes the two years Jason gave up to go on a mission worth it to see someone he was able to teach become such a faithful member of the church!