March 2015

The month of March was a roller coaster of emotions for this household.  We smiled, we laughed, we cheered, we cried both sad and happy tears and we did it all together as a family.

March brought the first track meet of G's high school career hosted at BLHS.  It was a great day and I loved being there to cheer him on and simply "hang" with my G.  He is competing in the shot put as well as the discuss throw.  Just like his dad.  

Shot Put:

A little flash back to 1992

Garett has competed at Grantsville and Stansbury High schools he is consistently throwing 27' with the shot put and 79' (slowing creeping into the 80') with the discuss.  He is looking great for a freshman but he assures us that he is done with track and will be going out for the soccer team next year. 

March was also a month of the Operations Appreciation Luncheon at the Ogden Golf and Country club for the Bank of Utah Mortgage Department.  The lunch was great and I was given an award for my support of the Mortgage Loan officers and their assitants.  In my 16 years at the Bank, this is my first award.  And I am truly grateful for everyone.  I truly love working at the Bank of Utah.  I have been able to still be a FULL TIME mom and work.   

March 2015 was also the month that C started the mission prep process.  He had his preliminary meeting with Bishop Stringham who found him worthy to begin and opened up the missionary portal on the website.  He asked Ali to snap a photo of him for his official missionary photo, this is the photo that the general authorities will see before they pray to receive revelation on where Colton is needed.

He answered the bazillion questions, he went to the doctor ~ yep his wonderful mom (that's me) scheduled his doctor appointment on his day off from school at 8:30 in AM

Once the physicals had been completed, both with the doctor and the dentist he hit submit on the portal and it now became the bishop's turn

On the night of his interview with the bishop he was looking sharp, tired but sharp

He then had the opportunity to meet with President Christiansen who found Colton worthy to serve a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Pres Christiansen also hit the final submit on the portal and now the wait has begun for his call to serve to arrive.  We are so proud of C and his decision to serve his Father in Heaven and to help spread the word of this true gospel.  I have cried happy tears many days during this process. 

C and Darbie also attended Fremont's Prom.  C put off getting a hair cut until literally the last day and lucky for him his good friend Kenna is attending beauty school and came to his rescue.

The morning OF prom

C looking sharp ~ paused for a few minutes before racing to pick up his beautiful date and took a few photos 

Darbie had made arrangements with a family friend to take their photos at the MTC park so the three of us tagged along before we headed to the Jazz game

Check out this stunning couple!  Simply amazing ~ 

After seeing the dancers off ~ Tom, G and I headed to the Jazz game.  G traded some dog sitting for seats to a game.  However, he did NOT realize we were literally on the last row of the ESA.  When we arrived a family was in our seats so we sat one row down and Tom got his isle seat.  The game was a riot.  The Jazz won and G and I yelled loud for Mr. Gordon Hayward.   The night was AWESOME!

Even during the Jazz timeouts we take time to tend to our "clan"

March also brought college and scholarship applications!  Colton was accepted to both Utah State and Weber State ~

Colton also received a scholarship to Weber State ~ with that being said Colton accepted and deferred his acceptance into Weber State. Colton will be a Wildcat beginning in 2017.  Congrats to him.  He has worked so hard in school and maintained a 3.89 grade point average thus far.  He plans on going into law enforcement.  He eventually hopes to work in the schools as a Peace Officer. 

March is also the start of the boys soccer season at the high school.  I saw the following on facebook and was brought to tears ~ happy tears.  This freshman really looked up to Wes and wears his number in his honor this year.  Wes will be back in time to watch Jake play his senior year of soccer (next year)

Thank you Jake for the wonderful shout out to our #10! 

This month we also said good bye to my Grandma Jeanne.  She was an amazing lady.  I NEVER felt like "one of Kevin's girls" we were her grandkids right from the start. Her laugh was so unique and her heart was of gold.  Thank you Grandma Jeanne for loving me and my family.  You will be missed but I know without a doubt you are among angels.  

With Dale's new job, our Sunday dinner traditions have become almost nonexistant!  Makes me so sad. But he did have a Sunday off in March so we headed to his house for a BBQ.  I had Colton make his delicious marinade and I soaked our pork chops before heading to Dale's.  Dale thru the meat on the grill and we settled in for some good ol' fashion catch up.  Dale soon began to smell smoke ~ he lifted the lid on the BBQ and sure enough our pork chops were flame grilled ~

But don't fear his pork chops turned out just fine ~

We all laughed and enjoyed our dinner ~ we simply didn't eat the black one but enjoyed the others ~ with lots of Ranch and Ketchup.  Love visiting with family and I truly miss seeing Dale and his boys on a more consistent basis.  Darn jobs they mess things up!

To the end the month of March I received the following email from the mission office in El Salvador:

Good afternoon all,

I’m writing you all to inform you, in case your sons haven’t already let you know,  we had to fix a few things that had to do with release dates for the mission, and some missionaries had their release dates changed to the date that was closest to their 2-year mark in the mission field. For this reason, you have all received new travel itineraries. Yesterday we changed the release dates to their “official” date. Now they will all be completing as close to a full 2 years as possible.

I also want to apologize sincerely for the inconveniences that this has made with your plans. I know it’s hard having that long awaited day so close, and then suddenly it changes to be a little farther off, but you can all rest assured your children are doing great things here in the mission field and are making great use of their time.

For anything else I’m here to help! Don’t hesitate to email me with any questions.

Have a great day!

ELDER LOOSLE

Secretario de Migracion/Viajes

Mision El Salvador, San Salvador Este

La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Días

Yep, our missionary will not be returning home on May 28th as we had all thought.  He will be returning home on Thursday, July 9th at 7:30 PM.  When I first opened the email containing *updated flight itinerary* my heart stopped but I was assured with a feeling of peace that my son was needed just a bit longer to finish something he started.  I will not lie I shed a few tears but I know without a doubt that Wes is exactly where he needs to be for as long as he is needed.  (and that is why the countdown has been updated)

Looking forward to April ~ Conference, birthdays, vacations and more Leatherow fun!

Photo courtesy of Cody Loveland.