Welcome to the Hood

August 14, 2023

 

The Good News...

My baby is a Junior in high school!  What??? 

Aubrey is taking AP Physics, Dual Credit Business II, Dual Credit English, Dual Credit History, Dual Credit online Pre-Cal, Students in Philanthropy, and volleyball.  

She has been coming home for lunch some and bringing friends, which I like.   It's fun to get to know them better and of course, to see my girl in the middle of the day.

Her locker in the volleyball locker room.  I was up at school for some reason, so she gave me a sneak peak.  They have couches in the center of the room, and this is where she ate lunch most of last year.  I loved that she could avoid the craziness of the cafeteria and just enjoy being with her teammates who had her same lunch.

The bad news....

Our high school is beyond overcrowded and there was a bomb threat and a gun threat the first week of school.

Welcome to the HOOD.

The citizens of Odessa won't vote to pass a bond.  It's frustrating and so sad.  We need to take better care of our future.

These texts/emails were sent on back to back days.  I don't consider myself an anxious person, but these situations bumped me up a few notches.  Aubrey does have some anxiety, so I was especially worrying about her emotional state.  Tanner happened to stop by just after the bomb threat had been cleared, and I said, "I need a hug."  He gave me a big hug, and I started crying.  Poor guy.  He was great to hug me a long time and pat me on the back and say, "She's fine.  Everything is okay." 

I felt much better during the lockdown on the second day, because Aubrey had been emotionally fine during the first one.  This generation has to be a little more numb about things like this in order to function, I guess.  

There are two girls on her volleyball team who just moved here and had never been in an actual lockdown before.  Aubrey and friends were shocked.  Aub told me, "I think I need both hands and feet to count how many I have been in."   We started counting and there was at least one lockdown in Middle school and at least one a year since she started High School.  

I am definitely praying for school safety here and throughout the world, and for Aubrey to have a good Junior year.

Pre-wedding Prep

My baby boy is getting married.  Aaaahhhh.  Crazy and exciting.  I very happy for him and Erin and Kaide.

My dad put together the sweetest video to play at the family dinner and wedding reception.  It was fun gathering pictures of my Tan-man and hard narrowing it down to just a few.  Here are three of the ones we used.  

An umbrella, the perfect three-year-old b-day gift.

Love, love, love this one with Grandpa Gwilliam on his baptism day. (photo credit Grandpa V)

I think he was 11 or 12 in this awesome picture that Grandpa Vore took.

And some cute pictures of Erin Noel!

Erin with big sister Dina

Look at that smile!!!

About a week before the wedding, Tanner decided he better figure out exactly what he was wearing.  Erin, on the other hand, had been making all kinds of wedding decisions for weeks and weeks.  Ahhh, the blissfulness of being the groom.

We went to the mall to find a black suit.  He kept sending Erin these options to tease her just a bit.

He looks good in pink though, right?!

We found this one that he liked at Express.  He looked sharp.  We also purchased a bow tie, black shoes and new brown shoes for his navy suit since he has been wearing Parker's the past year.  Trying to send him off into adulthood with a little love.

He also found this car in NM for a great deal.  It's a 2014 Toyota Corolla with really low miles for being nine years old.  It's a little worn on the outside, but I think will be great for the many years to come.  We drove to NM four days before the wedding to purchase it.  That was not in my plans of things I wanted to accomplish the week of the wedding, but we made it work.

Also, Erin was packing up her room a good week or two before the wedding.  Tanner got busy two days before and made it happen.  Crazy boy.

Erin moved into their apartment, which is about two miles away(!), a week before they were married.  They night before, when they got the keys, they were a little disturbed.  The carpet was gross.  The fixtures outdated.  The walls were dingy etc.  I just laughed to myself because, to be honest, it's a pretty great apartment for newlyweds.  I know they will adjust.  They haven't had any in between though: college dorms, apartments with roomies, mission apartments.  They went straight from their parents' very nice homes to an older, dingy apartment with a variety of neighbors and gross carpet.

In reference to the carpet, Tanner took matters into his own hands.   After working all day doing door to door sales, he went over and vacuumed and carpet cleaned the house until about 1:00 am.  I was impressed.  He and Erin make and great team and will be just fine adulting on their own.

 

Moroni's Quest

Youth Conference, July 26-29, 2023

This post is tricky to write.  I could go in about six different directions.  The most important one is Moroni's Quest was amazing.  The amount of work put in by the Stake leaders was truly a sacrifice.  I can't even imagine all of the hours--literally hundreds, I am sure.  Many other ward leaders, parents, and stake adults gave a lot to make this happen.  I left feeling grateful, humbled, and wanting to consecrate my time and talents more fully.

The back story on how I got involved.  Parker was wrapping up his mission in Ghana and heard about MQ.  He immediately was like, " I want to go!  I will help."  I was a bit surprised.  He would be home for less than two weeks and then leaving for to be a part of youth conference.  I decided right then and there, if my boy who had been gone for two years was planning on leaving our house, I was going to find a way to be where he was going.

We also ribbed Parker that he may not be welcome to attend.  He went to MQ when he was 14 and was a troublemaker.  It's awesome to see and know of the maturity that six years can bring.

I volunteered to go, if needed, as a ward chaperone.  The YW president was grateful.  She had been looking for another leader, and I was thrilled to have some more time with Parker Bryce.  It was also  nice to have the shared experience with Aub Daub.  We didn't interact much during conference because the youth were with their tribes pretty much at all times except to sleep, but afterwards, it was fun that the three of us could share about it with Brian and Tanner.

What is Moroni's Quest?  I tweaked a description I found on the web:  It is an immersive four-day experience that invites youth to develop a deeper testimony of the Book of Mormon and build a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ as they watch and participate in reenactments from The Book of Mormon.  There were epic battles, powerful small group (tribe) discussions, and challenging games.  

Words cannot do it justice.  It's awesome.  It was inspiring.  It was life changing for many of the youth.

The time commitment, attention to detail, manpower, love, sacrifice and so much more needed to make Moroni's Quest a success was unbelievable.   I am really grateful I was able to go and play a small role in helping.  I am so so so much more grateful I was not one of the stake youth leaders, and I hope I never will be when this happens again in the future!

Ella, La, Aub, Charlotte, Me, Brit, Adam, Hudson and Parker (Braddock was with friends.)

Brit and Adam were tribe leaders and so Hudson, Char and Ella were able to participate.  Hudson got to be in his own group, and I was really impressed with how great the girls did.  There was a lot of walking and honestly, a lot of sitting through Book of Mormon reenactments and group discussions.  They were troopers.

The gold plates passed down through the generations.

The Tree of Life activity was AMAZING.  I was asked to be a part of this one.  It was getting dark.  As the groups were walking from one area to the area, they were blindfolded and holding on to the rod of iron.  They passed the great and spacious building.  There were about 15 of us up in the building yelling at them to let go and join us.  We would yell things like: "You're missing all of the fun!" "You look so weird in your costume.  You don't have to wear one up here."  "You're never going to make it.  Give up."  "Just let go for a second and then you can go back."  "No one will know." "We have X-Box" "Free Wi-Fi, come join us!"

It was dark.  We were loud, and it was chaotic.  But when those youth came around the bend, it was quiet.  There was peaceful music playing.  They took their blind folds off, and this is what they saw. 

The Tree of Life stunningly lit.  Standing underneath dressed in white were the bishops from each unit.  It was a beautiful moment, and my eyes still fill with tears when I think about it.  The youth reverently filed past the tree of life and received a hug or handshake and an apple from their bishop.  

 

Alma the Younger and the four sons of Mosiah.  (Parker was Ammon. He is 2nd from the right.)

Seva Kalmazon was Alma the Younger.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the angel, Bro Dickman.

This flyer is hilarious.  A member of our bishopric, Bro Lesuer, acted out Amalickiah as a pre-recorded segment was played.  I love the promises they came up with if he was voted king: reduce tithing by 7%, no early morning seminary (They had kids voting him in!), modify the WOW to allow Starbucks, paid ministry for high performers, and last but not least, make your wildest dreams come true.

Steve Lesuer and Josh Hardt

I was part in part of this re-enactment as well.  Several sisters were given purple sashes and baskets of packets containing Skittles.  We were part of the king's court I think.  The youth were sitting in the Ampitheater, and we handed each one a packet of Skittles.  They were told not to open them yet.

About 10 minutes later, when wicked King Noah collected taxes from the people, we went back through the youth and made every other person hand back their Skittles.  They were NOT pleased.  We then lavished the king with the goods.   He sat on his throne at the front adorned in gold and acted out eating all of the Skittles and more.  It was pretty funny and also much more relatable than taking their pretend flocks.

A side shot/not great picture of King Noah.  The bowl in front of him was filled with Trix cereal.  From the youth's point of view, it looked like their Skittles!  So he was filling goblets with the Trix and eating them.  He would let them fall out of his mouth and on the table and ground with greed and no care of the loss.  

The pictures are out of order, but just to give you the general idea of some of the scenes.... Abinadi being burned to death.  

King Benjamin on the tower.  They had each tribe set up their tent facing the tower and then they listened to excerpts from chapter two of  Mosiah.

Braddock Bird

One of the battles.  The kids Loved these!  They were armed with swords and shields and tortillas and rolls.  The person who made 600 flour bombs beforehand accidently left them in their garage.  The kitchen staff at the camp came through for the win.

After reenactments, there was time for tribes to meet and discuss.  Brit and Adam were really good at this.  They had thoughtful questions prepared and really tried to help their tribe relate The Book of Mormon experiences to their lives. (How do you stand up for what is right?  What are challenges youth face today? When is a time...)

It was kind of fun for Parker and me because we were in a few of the reenactments, but mostly we floated.  We could join different tribes and listen to their discussions.  We were able to help out were needed, in the kitchen or supervising a dance, but mostly we observed.

Monica Jackman was the other, or I should say, real Young Women leader from our ward.  We were exhausted tent mates together!  Day one, I had the worst migraine of my life, no exaggeration, and was doing my best to recover in our tent on my cot.  Day two, we were both beat from the early morning, late nights, and all of the hiking up and down the mountains.  Day three, her back was not good, and she had to bow out for a bit.  But our four girls were no trouble at all, and we were both so glad we were able to be a part of Moroni's Quest.

Bro Dickman (Bishopric), Max LaSeur, Hayden Jackman, Tristan Ormsby, Bro LeSeur (Bishopric), Parker, Aubrey, Monica, Lauron Vore, Ali Crissinger, me, Luna Head

This is most of our Odessa 1st Ward group.  Bishop Ormsby was running the whole MQ show pretty much, so he's not pictured.  (BLESS HIM forever for the hundreds of hours of planning and then the hundreds more to make it happen.  I think he said he had over 25,000 steps a day the week of MQ.)

Also, I know I look like a drowned rat, and I was only wearing half a costume, but I Was Clean!  There were 10 showers and hundreds of girls and leaders.  I skipped out on some of Friday afternoon's activities and snuck in a shower.  I looked rough, but I felt like a new woman!

Parker 💕  This is were Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah meet up and rejoice at knowing they are all well.  

After this scene, Parker and the young man in blue bore powerful testimonies as recently returned missionaries--not sons of Mosiah.   The guy in blue had returned from his mission the day before and still hadn't been released.  Parker and this young man sharing their testimonies was one of my favorites and one of the most touching experiences of the week.  They spoke with power and assurance.  They both had a light about them.  I know they were able to relate to and speak to the youth in a way that made a big impact.

Sweet Julie Proctor.  She is a friend and one of my mom's caregivers.

Earlier in the week when I didn't look like a drowned rat.  Love my Parker Bryce!

Far right: Ryan and Hannah Cooner and their tribe.  Ryan is one of Tanner's bosses at Mint Pest Control and Hannah is an early morning seminary teacher.  

Brit with her tribe.  Far right is Char, Ella and Parker

Max and his dad.  (Check out the painted tapestry...so many details...)

Me, Chris and Britney

Chris, aka Pres Vore, came the morning of the last day to be Moroni and give a talk.  Fun to be there as siblings.  

Chris/Captain Moroni

This double rainbow was beautiful and the perfect setting for the last reenactment, which was Christ coming to the people in the Americas.  

This was a beautiful scene.  It felt so real.  We were eating breakfast on the last morning, and a leader excitedly said, "He's here!  He's come!"  The word spread quickly, and we all headed towards a large hill.  The actor playing Christ was dressed in white and making his was down the green mountain.  The youth were absolutely still as he proceeded to lovingly greet and hug each person.  It took 20-30 minutes and most everyone cried quietly the whole time.  We all felt the spirit so strongly and felt our Savior's love for us.

Parker receiving his hug.

I'm so grateful Aubrey, Parker and I were able to experience Moroni's Quest.