It was a strange week last week for me. Liam went on his first Scout Klondike campout of his life, and then all four kids were gone for a combined Young Men/Young Women activity a few days later. That night I sat by myself at the kitchen table to eat something and read. As I pulled the day's mail towards me I found a clothing catalog for "older" women waiting for me. The models were not the teen or college-age models sporting the latest fashion trends. The women were very pretty women, but the clothing was the hidden elastic waistband, polyester, trying-to-be-youthful attire that I'm sure the models wouldn't have been caught dead wearing outside the studio. I felt old for a few minutes before I cheerfully chucked the catalog in the trash and grabbed a Harry Potter book instead. And I now have a deacon, a beehive, a teacher, and a priest among my children.
That sounds like the start to a strange joke. A deacon, a beehive, a teacher, and a priest are stranded on a boat in the ocean. The deacon says to the teacher...
(For those who are unfamiliar with the LDS Church's lay ministry, there are two levels of priesthood authority. For the young men beginning at age 12, they begin by being ordained to the office of deacon in the Aaronic, or lesser priesthood. At age 14 worthy young men become a teacher, and at age 16 they become a priest. Each office has certain responsibilities and duties to fill in the congregation.)
Justin and I have been starting to have those conversations about what we will do once the kids are out of the house, conceivably in the next six years. Six years used to sound like a long time, but it doesn't any more. After this year we are permanently through with elementary school. In two years we will be through with middle school.
For the moment, though, we are enjoying the kids as they are now. For instance, we went to the Peaks Ice Arena to celebrate Liam's birthday last weekend. And that was a full-circle kind of activity. Twelve years ago I was going to volunteer with the Salt Lake Olympic Games, but I gave birth to Liam instead and watched the Olympics that year from my couch. Twelve years ago there were actual Olympic events happening at the Peaks Ice Arena -- preliminary rounds of men's and women's hockey. And there we were this weekend, with the current Olympic games going in Sochi while we were skating on Olympic ice from at a twelve-year-old Olympic venue. We had a great time.
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| Lacing up the skates to hit the ice (hopefully only figuratively!) |
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| Owen seemed pretty at ease on the ice. |
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| The blur pretty much describes my balance. To my credit I didn't hit the ice, although I came close! |
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| Evan comes racing around the end. |
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| Owen in the lead, Evan next behind Owen, and Liam off to the right |
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| Happy Birthday Boy -- he's been asking to go ice skating all winter |
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| The Peaks Ice Arena had a fun photo area complete with Olympic athlete figures and gear to take pictures with. |
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