Misc end of January

 I picked up Cafe Rio and met Mary in the parking lot so we could have lunch together. I love this girl!

Mary and her friend doing Chemistry homework and Sara making cookies. I treasure this time with my kids at home.

This was the weather on January 31 at 7:00am! What?! That's sooooooo cold!

The last two days I have noticed Demetrius sleeping like this. Plant covering the eye. It cracks me up. We love our pets.

End of January letter to Ben

Hi Ben,

Today was Hudson Greaves farewell at church. He did a great job on his talk. He was really honest about how the senior prank delayed his mission and how upset he was at God when Peyton Hall died. However, he pulled through and I’m proud of him for going on a mission. He gave a sweet testimony and I’m confident that he will do a lot of good if he can continue to endure through the hard things. There were a ton of kids there that I’m sure you know. I pray that they felt the spirit and will be inspired by Hudson’s example.

Michael came to our ward today. Tony Coletti asked him to help teach the combined youth class about missionary work. I slipped away from Primary to listen to Michael. Many of the kids were on their phones and not interested in the lesson until Michael stood up. He asked all of them to pull up gospel library and turn to the missionary handbook. Then he taught a powerful lesson about preparing and being a representative of Jesus Christ. It was amazing and we felt the spirit. Many of the adults were also touched by his lesson. Ken Kammeyer told Dad that he was amazed at how he could learn so much from a 20 year old kid. At the end of Michael’s lesson, Tony asked if anyone had questions for Michael. Nando Estrada raised his hand and asked how Michael is so good at public speaking. It was very sweet. I am so thankful for you boys and your example to many.

Dad and I had a very special experience at the temple yesterday. We did sealings and after we did our family names, the sealer asked if we could do some “temple names”. He said these names belonged to Wendy Nelson. He said she is blessed with the spirit of Elijah. It was such a joy for us to help her complete her family names. There is always a special spirit in the temple but we felt an added measure of love as we did President and Sister Nelson’s family names.

It was a bit of a rough week for me. I was sick for a good part of the week. I’ve been coughing a lot- especially at night which makes sleep difficult. I’m thankful to be on the mend now and we are praying that no one else gets sick. It would be terrible for Dad to miss work or the kids to miss school.

Luke had an amazing Jr. Jazz game this week. He started the game with a basket in the first minute of play followed by a three pointer and another basket. We thought that maybe their team could win a game. Their lead didn’t last long and they lost again. However, Luke scored 9 points! It was awesome!

Please be sure to respond to the questions I sent you last week. Also remember to take a selfie and a picture of something new to you in the last month. I'm excited about our family Project 23 this year. It will be a fun way for us to document our family in 2023

I love you with all of my heart. I can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow for p-day. We pray that all is well with your new companion and your friends.

Love,
Mom
Here’s a picture of my sourdough bread in all its stages. First rise in the glass bowl, proofing in the basket, and baked on the cutting board. The white bucket is full of bread flour. I’m currently using my third 25-pound bag of flour in a month!

Dad and Luke belay certified to climb at the gym.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Letter written to Ben in Spain on January 22, 2023

Hi sweetie,

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. This anniversary is a big one for me because I married Dad a couple of months before my 24th birthday. That means that I have now been married longer than I was single. I’ve been a Stepan longer than I was a Child. I’ve been married for more than 1/2 my life. I’m so grateful. I love Dad more everyday and I’m so grateful we get to go through this life together. Dad has a busy day with 2 ward conferences, so we celebrated our anniversary on Friday and Saturday. Dad and I went skiing at Brighton on Friday. I was a bit nervous because I haven’t skied for years but I was amazed at how quickly it came back to me. Dad and I were both surprised at how sore we were the day after skiing though. We have had sooooooo much snow this year. The piles of snow on the sides of the canyon road were higher than the truck. The mountains are so beautiful. As we were riding the lift and at the top of the mountain I thought about how beautiful this world is. I am so grateful that the Lord created this amazing world for us. So many things for us to enjoy. It was so cold in the mountains! The car registered 8 degrees when we left Brighton! It was only 26 degrees at home but that’s better than 8! Yesterday we took the kids to dinner at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate our anniversary. Unfortuntately, Michael wasn’t able to find someone to fill in for him at work, so he didn’t come with us. We missed you boys.

I now have the head cold that Luke had last week. The coughing is the worst! When I try to lay down to rest, my coughing gets terrible! My ears are plugged too which is a pain. I can’t wait to be done with this nasty thing and I’m praying that Dad and the other kids don’t get it. Aint nobody got time for that!

We received the nicest note and some yummy candy from Brother and Sister LeDuc! That was so thoughtful of them. It really made my day. Also, I’ve been messaging Sister Olson on Facebook. I feel like these other moms are my BFF’s. We are all united in prayer for our Barcelona missionaries. You are serving with some amazing missionaries.

Also, Dad got a text from Brother Duffin that made our day. Thanks for being a faithful and dedicated missionary. We are so grateful for people that provide meals for you. We pray that they will receive blessings for their kindness.

I hope you have had a great week. I can’t wait to hear about transfers. 
Love you so much,
Mom

Second week of January

Hi sweetie,

I had the best surprise last night! Afton and Alyssa came to visit us! They brought muddy buddies. It was so nice of them to think of us. It made my day! We are missing you like crazy and so seeing your friends is a real treat! I pulled up your latest video of the map to show them how well you are speaking spanish. I hope you don’t mind. We can’t understand it but it is super fun!

I can’t wait to talk to you about how Elder Olson is doing. I saw the picture where you were able to visit him. He looks like his spirits are good. I hope that he is able to heal quickly.

Grandpa Orton drove the Murray wrestling team to Riverton high on Saturday. Rather than waiting for them at the Riverton gym, he drove the school bus to our house and spent the day with us. He gave Sara a ride to dance in the bus and Nana had a chance to “drive”.  I’m sure the neighbors wondered why we had a school bus parked at our house all day but that’s how it goes. 

Mary had her dance 3 performance at Bingham this week. She did amazing! I’ve been thinking a lot about our sweet Mary. This year didn’t turn out how she hoped (not making dance co. and student government), but she has made the best of it and she is having a great year. In fact, I think yearbook is a wonderful opportunity that she might not have done if she had made one of the other activities. I’m really happy about her ability to make the best of her Junior year.

Mary was able to go with Annie’s family to a Jazz meet and greet this week. She loved being able to meet Mike Conley. I’ll include some pictures. Last night Mary went to Evershed’s house to hang out with Will. She said the Evershed’s asked all about you. Also, I walked passed the new student government room when I was at Bingham this week and I took a picture of your picture right above the door. So awesome!

I’ve completed 1,111 days of Italian on Duolingo. I keep thinking that once I complete Italian then I will start Spanish. However, the lessons never stop. Maybe I just need to give Spanish a try. I would love to be able to communicate in Spanish with you, Michael and Dad.

Dad and I celebrate 24 years of marriage next Sunday. I’m not sure how that is possible! Time flies so fast. I am more grateful for Dad and you kids everyday. I love you all more than words can say.

I hope you had a great Sunday. Love you so much!
Love,
Mom

First week of January

I was sick for a couple of weeks during January and I didn't update the blog, so the best way to document January is to use the weekly letters I sent to Ben.

Hi sweetie,

We have had a special week. Sara got her temple recommend last Sunday and she was able to do baptisms first at Jordan River, then at Oquirrh mountain and yesterday at the Draper temple. Three different temples in ONE week! Can you believe how blessed we are?! Michael was able to baptize her at the first two temples and Dad baptized her at the Draper temple. Sara LOVES the temple. She found some family names this week and she was so excited to be baptized for those names. Going to the temple with Sara this week was very refreshing for me. Watching her experience the temple for the first time reminded me about the peace and perspective I feel in the temple. In fact, I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting today about the temple and also about Come Follow Me. I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father knows us well and gives us these things to help us in this life. The Come Follow Me lessons help invite the spirit into our home like nothing else and I am grateful for that.

Sara went to her first Young Woman activity this week too. They found an ancestor and then styled their hair like that ancestor. It was adorable! We can’t believe how much Sara looks like Sophia Law. That’s Melba’s mom (Grandpa Stepan’s maternal grandma). It was such a great activity. I still can’t believe that our Sara is in Young Women’s now. She’s growing up so fast! I can’t believe we don’t have a Stepan in Primary anymore!

Say your prayers for Michael. His new BYU semester starts tomorrow and he’s still on the wait list for a couple of his classes. We are praying that he’ll be able to get into all the classes he needs this week.

Luke’s old phone completely died. Dad took him to AT&T and they had a promotion so Luke got a iPhone 12 mini. Dad traded his phone in too for a iPhone 14Pro. We’re pretty high tech around here now.

Did I tell you that Dad and I bought snow shoes for ourselves for Christmas? Michael borrowed Dad’s snowshoes and we went to Yellow Fork canyon this past week. It was beautiful and Michael was nice to stay with his old lady. I love snowshoeing! It is a workout and I had a lot of fun.

Luke’s Jr. Jazz team is a challenge for him. Brett's mom sent a text to all of Luke’s buddies mom’s about signing up with Brett and I’m the only one that did it. So Luke and Brett are on the same team. All of Luke’s other friends formed a team of their own. Then, Luke’s team didn’t have a coach so Dad is coaching. They had their first game this week and Luke’s team lost 29-7. None of the guys on Luke’s team take it seriously besides Luke and Brett. Some of them laugh when they get the ball. Luke’s “friends” at school give him a hard time about how they are going to crush his team when they play each other. It’s super disappointing but it will be ok. I feel bad for Luke but at least we know we did the right thing by signing up with Brett.

We had a ton of snow and Michael and Luke built an igloo. It’s is really cool. Luke misses you boys like crazy so it was nice to have Michael home over the Christmas break.

Sister Duffin messaged me today. She confirmed what I’ve always known about you. Thank you for having a firm handshake, a bright smile, and for welcoming people to church. I know you are a wonderful representative of Jesus Christ.

I love you with all of my heart.
Love,
Mom

Happy New Year 2023

 New Years Eve was a lot of fun with Matt and Wendy's family. Sam and Brook stayed overnight. We enjoyed playing games. Sara and Brook went to bed before midnight but Mary, Sam and Luke went to the Stake dance. They had a great time.

Happy New Year! After the Stake dance.

New Years Day breakfast before church.

I love that these cousins are such great friends.

Sara went to church early for her temple recommend interview. It snowed about 8 inches on New Years Eve so the boys had a lot of snow to clear before church. Here we are waiting for Todd to come pick us up for church in the truck.

After church on New Years Day

Snow, Snow, Snow!!!! Starting around midnight on New Years Eve and still snowing when we went to bed on New Years Day night.

Talking to Ben on his p-day (Monday, January 2).
Ben said the sweetest thing before we hung up. He said, "Mom, 2023 is my blackout year. I get to be a missionary everyday in 2023. I'm pumped!"
I'm so grateful that he is happy serving the Lord.