Morgan's Countdown

Morgan is 15 and counting her way to 16. She's down to less than 3 months until her 16th birthday. (She can tell you the exact days!) She's been busy studying hard at UCAS and enjoying her friends. She's best friends with Connley at the moment and they sure are silly. Morgan can't wait to officially get her driver's license and go on dates!
Connley and Morgan dressing up for a multi-stake dance in the middle of the winter. It was a snowy cold night!

Two Teen Family

It's true, we now have two teens residing under our roof. Heaven help us! Kelsey turned 13 on January 10th. She is the only kid in our family that has to attend school on her birthday, poor thing.
She's been wanting a bigger bike, as her knees were touching the handle bars of her old bike. Now she's cruising in style.
We sure love you Kelsey and all the wonderful qualities you add to our family!

Holiday Cheer 2011

The holidays were here and gone in a blurr! As usual, we were here, there and everywhere during December. Jake's 5th grade class singing at their Christmas program. Mr. Drummond was leading the way!

No coal under the tree this year (even though some of us may have deserved it!)

Youngest to oldest line-up!

I think the dog was more excited and awake than the kids!

We were very spoiled and blessed for Christmas. Joe surprised me and bought me a beautiful ring. I was shocked and amazed at how wonderful he is. After 17 years of marriage, it just keeps getting better. Love you Joe!

Cultural Event

The youth of the Lehi South Stake put on a production honoring the lives of President Thomas S. Monson and his wife, Frances. The event built on the long Lehi-area tradition of producing annual roadshows, dance festivals and other cultural activities. The youth met together on a weekly basis starting September 28, 2011, to rehearse and prepare the program. Performances were held in the stake center on November 4th-5th.
On September 25th we had the privilege of kicking off the event with a fireside by Sister Ann M. Dibb, Second Counselor in the General YW Presidency and daughter of President Thomas S. Monson. We also had Elder Craig B. Terry, of the Seventy, in attendance. What a wonderful evening it was! Sister Dibb was so kind, uplifting and entertaining.

We had a corsage made for Sister Dibb and she wore a beautiful black sweater that we didn't want to ruin. So, instead of pinning the corsage to the sweater, we tried to pin it to a long, pearl and black ribbon necklace. The thought was better than the actual result! During her talk, she kept looking down at the corsage, which had taken a turn South and the pins were sticking up like sharp daggers. I think she was too nervous to move. She was too lovely to ever complain but we were giggling/cringing at the sight.

The planning started back in March of 2011. During the final 6 weeks, I had many sleepless nights as the YW Presidency helped plan the weekly activities, arrange for refreshments, write curriculum, prepare decorations, prepare programs, etc. I can't think of another event during my adult life that took so much time and effort. There was happiness, frustration, tears, joy... you name it! We worked closely with Ross and Michelle Boothe, Anna Standage, Amanda Riggs and Josh Rich from our stake, who wrote the production. There are way too many leaders involved to mention all their names but they are incredible men and women of faith! I must say though, that I was amazed with my dear counselors and especially our secretary, Danielle Spangler. She was deep in the trenches with me putting in hours upon hours of time, sacrificing sleep, family fun, food, etc. I think we felt like we were put through the refiner's fire and came out purified (or perhaps just crazy. It's hard to tell the difference some times).

Heather Haynie, Wendy Weight, Danielle Spanger

During each of the 6 week practices, we focused on an area of President Monson's life. We discussed Faith; The Spirit; Rescuing; Service; Balance; and Being a Doer of the Word. We sent the youth home each week with a challenge which focused on that theme. Each week we heard amazing, faith promoting stories from the youth as they put these lessons into action.

McKell Haynie, Heather's Daughter

The end result was an amazing program that was filled with the Spirit! I was brought to tears multiple times during each of the performances.
On opening night, November 4th, we were thrilled to have David L. Beck, General YM's President and Sister Elaine S. Dalton, General YW's President, join us. The youth were ecstatic to have general authorities watching their performance.
These youth bore testimony through song and dance and I couldn't have been more proud of them! The final song of the performance was "I Believe in Christ," and all of the youth came in to the cultural hall singing it and bearing powerful testimony. Many of the youth had tears pouring down their faces as they were so touched. It was amazing!

Morgan and Kelsey were able to participate in this large event. Morgan was a narrator for the Military portion of the performance.
Kelsey narrated the part of President's Monson's life when he was called to be a Bishop and she also helped narrate the closing.
Finally, Kelsey got to make her singing/soloist debut in a song about the widows that President Monson served. The song was written by Josh Rich and three girls sang through out the song. It was beautiful and I'm still wondering where Kelsey got her talent? She was amazing.
I am blessed to have been a part of such an incredible experience. I am confident that the youth of the Lehi South Stake will never forget the Spirit they felt as they testified of a living prophet of God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The final words of the production, sang simultaneously by all the youth were, "We Believe!" And they do.

Halloween 2011

Heather Haynie, Wendy Weight, Diana Nelson, Danielle Spangler

On October 22, 2011, the Lehi South Stake hosted a multi-stake youth dance. It was a full-costume dance and we had a blast.

Connley Samuels, Morgan Weight, Taylor Gregory

Morgan wasn't thrilled that I got to attend the dance, but some day I'm sure she'll look back with fond memories. Nothing more embarrassing than seeing your mom try to shake her booty at the ripe age of 40!
Kelsey was a creepy zombie this year. She and her good friend, Ashton, were both zombies and looked scary! All credit goes to Ashton's mom, Rachel Hunt, who has the talent and ability to make them look this great.

Jake was Thor this year. One tough boy!

Todd Driggs, John Darrington, Jae Darrington, Joe Weight, Wendy Weight, Susie Holdsworth, Mike Holdsworth

Mike and Susie had another Halloween party this year. Fun times! We laughed hard and ate lots!!

Nope, Not It!

Quick update! I've got to tell you, I'm getting kinda tired of talking about Jake's medical issues. We are just ready for it to be over and have our son back to normal. Quite frankly, he's much more sick of it than we are. Jake started the new medication (Reglan) on Monday evening. He vomited 4 times on Monday but Tuesday he vomited 19 times and Wednesday 18 times. After a discussion with the doctor Wednesday, we stopped the new meds and I finally got brave enough to try the Valium. 5mg Valium, and the boy barely flinches! I was expecting a full-on nap and craziness, but he says he just feels sleepy for 15 minutes and then "kinda" dizzy. That's it!

Yesterday he was down to 10 vomits and we'll see what today holds. We started the application process for a tutor, but who knows what will come. I'm still hopeful. We've taken him down to a liquid diet for a few days and other than feeling starved, it seems to have slowed things down.

We're at 18 days straight and 117 barfs. Quite frankly, I think we'll just stop counting. Perhaps that will fix it, since nothing else has. Thanks for all the love, concern and prayers.