Food, Friends & Fun

Whitney's luau birthday party in her backyard was as much fun as you can pack in to a party!

Whitney = 11

Fun with Connor

The Food

The birthday suit! lol

Presents

Friends

{Sweet Josslyn's playhouse}

Wild West Jordan Playground

Markus wanted to play at his favorite park this summer so I took he and Max out there  last night for some rootin', tootin', fun.

Oly

Max is excited to focus on hockey he told me yesterday - after finishing a training session with Coach Oly. In just a few weeks the Lightning team will be getting underway. He also told me today that he doesn't want to play fall baseball this year. So he will have more time for hockey. He was grinning today when he was flying around the rink while I was teaching.

Rocking the Rockwell

{My friend Sharon had to leave for the pageant before the finish line so she isn't in these photos.}

{Jen, Leslie and I finished in record time thanks to her efforts on legs 1 and 5 though.}

Some Rockwell Relay Photos from yesterdays ride. The fact that the storm came in right as we were finishing the race delayed getting the results until today. Top ten finish for our team. Can I get a woot-woot?! lol

Miss Wasatch

My friend Sharon that lives in Heber, invited me to ride in the Rockwell Relay with her again this year. So I did. It just so happened that it also was the day that her daughter Maddie was participating in the Miss Wasatch County pageant. So I asked my mom if she would be willing to help my friend by being Maddie's hostess for the pageant and all that entails. My mom was more than happy to help and was so thrilled for Maddie when she won the title of Miss Wasatch!

{Maddie, Sharon and Hannah}

{My mom and Maddie}

{There she is...Miss Wasatch County}

Too Cool

{Markus putting his shades on Molly}

As I write this post, soon after leaving the dentist office, I am filling my mind and my heart and soul with life. I am doing it out of love. Love for my children. Love for the people I am in contact with. And love for the people of Colorado. I was so saddened to hear about the shootings at the theater there, while waiting in my dentists office. As I watched in shock as the news of the day unfolded, I listened to what the psychologist had to say about not telling our children anything about it. They do not need to know, and not to let them watch the news. It produces fear in children and causes them to ruin the present moment. It wastes precious time. It blocks the flow of life.


So I came home to look up something on a blog that I had read. It was about a Buddhist monk and death. The monk said, “Your relationship will end. One day you’ll die, one day your loved one will die. Maybe something happens and you separate even in life…there is no way out of this. It may happen when you are both old, it could happen today or in two years. You can’t protect yourselves from this. But what you are sure to have is the present moment and all you can do is love with all your heart, be kind, be there, care and cherish, and your time together, every second, every day. So when the time comes, you won’t have wasted your precious and rare time together.”

How can we move forward? How can we possibly release some of that fear in the face of such tragic events? I know the only thing powerful enough to dismiss fear is love. Love helps us to do difficult things. Love for our children. Love for each other. Love for our neighbors. Love for strangers. Love for life.

I refuse to ruin this beautiful life by living in fear. Life is too cool to waste moments of joy, moments of life that we do have. Because no matter how much fear we have, it will not stop death. It only stops life.

HDA

Max has been participating in the Hockey Development Academy all this week. When Markus heard that Trevor Lewis was coming to the camp today to sign autographs he suddenly decided that he wanted to go to camp as well! Lol

Trevor Lewis looked much younger than he did when he won the Stanley Cup.

He was nice to all the boys and talked to them as he signed their skates, sticks, and hats, or whatever they had from the LA Kings.

 

Without his beard he looked about 17.



His visit inspired the boys to play hard and try their best.

Brave

I was at the courthouse filing divorce papers yesterday. It did start me thinking about being brave, though. Because I need to be brave right now and I’m not. I know what to do but I’m not sure I have the courage to do it. To stand in my own truth, immovable. Like my hands, that morning at the bank. The notary was working on stamping the papers I signed. This is not pleasant. But I do feel curiously strong. “How does it feel?” Powerful. Our bodies will tell us what we need in the moment. Standing in my own truth. Immovable. Brave.

I went to the temple that afternoon. I sat with hands on my steering wheel and over and over again, heard words of truth and blessing and promise. My spirit soaked up those promises like the rain coming down because I recognized that for me, today, those powerful words were an infusion of courage, of perspective, of peace. I know what I know. Even when I am afraid to know it, I know.

This evening, I went to a bookstore downtown to read from a new book, When Women Were Birds. Now, there is a brave woman. I read about how Mormon women journaled their lives and their polygamous grandmothers. The author explored the mystery of her mother’s blank journals, three shelves full, and looked deeply at the notion of Voice. She said she’s done only two things religiously in her life: kept a journal and used birth control. I read and loved her beautiful words and wished I were brave enough to be the kind of Mormon woman who would choose to be like that. Brave means being willing to stand alone. It means standing in my own truth. Brave is voicing the truth, no matter the consequences.

We go in and out of brave. Apparently, even the brave do. I was heartened to read of how long it took her to face the feelings that arose when she discovered that the journals her mother had bequeathed to her were all empty. Years, she admitted. Sometimes it takes a long time to conjure the courage to acknowledge the truth. To say it. Or write it. To do the hard thing. To stand immovable – shaking in our boots, perhaps — but standing, nonetheless, in Truth. Brave isn’t fearless. Brave is being true to the truth despite our fear. It’s telling the truth to ourselves first, then voicing that truth to others, no matter what they think of us or do to us. Sometimes brave is being silent. Like all those blank journals.

I don’t know if you ever feel brave in the middle of a brave act. When you raise your hand in Sunday school. When you choose to have a child. When you choose to leave. Or to stay. To speak up. Or stay silent. Brave comes wrapped in fear. But it’s a gift, worth the risk of opening. Because at the heart of Brave is Truth. And Truth is the only thing that can make us free.

Tapping my Soul

As you know, I just returned from the East. This trip renewed my soul.

I had some times that made it hard to breathe, and ones that made my heart just pound. They made me cry then and still do now as I remember them.

One was while I was visiting the 9/11 memorial and I have mentioned it already. And I wanted to add that it changed me forever. I sat at that fountain and just cried as I felt the richness of freedom and life and what we've all experienced. Life truly is beautiful.

Later that day I took the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. I had been inside it once before (I'd only been to NYC once before as a six year old) but this time was different. The views were breathtaking and the sea air so full of life.

On the ferry I was talking to my sister Lara taking in the view and these young girls from Ireland asked us to take their picture before they started talking to us. As we listened to their thick Irish accents it brought to mind my Irish Mooney ancestors that may have been on a boat on a day just like this one coming to America. I felt so grateful for all that they sacrificed to live in this beautiful land and it made me want to give back. And I cried. Right there. With this beautiful city view blowing me away, the ocean under my feet and the beauty of the Statue of Liberty and all that she represents in life, I just cried.

My eyes filled with tears at the opening ceremonies in Cooperstown when I saw over 1,200 12 year-olds file in to the ballpark. What an opportunity of a lifetime for me to see Max so full of joy. Watching Markus last night chasing the fireflies through Central Park and his face lighting up when he caught one, I choked up again.

And then a storm swept in. I said good bye to NYC and walked from the park with rain on my skin, warm air all around me, the lightning flashing and the sound of thunder and the smell of rain and wet pavement. My soul was full of gratitude.

I just read this on a blog I love to read. "I hope that we all will have moments that tap our souls and make us feel something - something that is greater than life. Seek after these moments. See the beauty in your life. It is all around you."

Yankees Game



{Yankees vs Angels}

On the last day of the Tribe's trip to New York, we all went to a Yankees game.





{Max and Markus said it was the hottest they have EVER been! lol 90% humidity and 97 degrees}



{The new stadium}



{The field}

{Tweet}

{A cool welcome}

{The whole Tribe}

{My loves}



I ❤ New York

There's just something about the energy here in New York. It fills the air and my heart.


{Max and me in Times Square}

{Markus after Phantom}

{Morgen's New York hair "design"}

{Pretzels from a street vendor with his favorite Auntie Lara}

{Aunt Lara found these Harry Potter glasses for Markus and he wore them around the subway! lol}

{On the beach at Coney Island}

{Biggest BLT EVER!}

{Amazing views from the Empire State Building}



{Little Italy}



{Lara and Todd took us off the beaten path to their favorite place, Serendipity}

{and to the best pancakes I have EVER had, at the Clinton Street Baking Co.}

{Washington Park}

{Nathan's famous hot dogs}

I absolutely {Love} NYC - I would move here in a New York minute!



Inducted

Max was inducted into the youth baseball hall of fame and awarded his ring at the closing ceremonies. I believe he will always remember Cooperstown.

I know that Markus will remember trading pins. And the fireworks at the championship game.