Growing pains

When we first moved to Saratoga Springs, our stake (group of church congregations) was divided & we became part of a new stake. The area is growing rapidly and there are lots and lots of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here. That was almost exactly 6 months ago.

Tonight we went to a special meeting where the wards (congregations) in our neighborhood were divided and boundaries realigned to create a new ward. In the less-than-one mile between our house and the girls' school, there are three large wards! Unbelievable!

We are still not used to the size of our ward and how actively everyone participates. You have to arrive at least 20 minutes early to have any chance to sit in a soft seat in the chapel instead of a folding chair in the overflow! The girls' Primary classes each had a minimum of 10 kids- and that was generally only half of the age group. I think a few of the age groups had 3 classes! That is a LOT of kids!

With the boundary change, we gained some great families and we say good bye to some! Luckily, they are all in the same place, but we will miss seeing them at church and activities. While it is sad to change things, I am excited to have a (slightly) smaller ward & Primary. The kids don't know each other well because there are so many kids to meet! The smaller numbers make you pull together to accomplish what needs to be done.

It makes me think back to a few years ago when our beloved Parkwood Ward in Kearns was created when our old stake made two wards out of what had been three. We made great new friends and kept working together to meet our common goals. Dear friends came and went, and we were better for having known them!

One amazing thing about the Church is that it is so much the same no matter where you are in the world. The faces and languages may change, but the Gospel is the same. We are all children of God, working to grow closer to our Heavenly Father and trying to make it through this life in one piece.  We sing the same songs, learn the same lessons, read the same scriptures, follow the same prophet. What a blessing it is in my life!

Here's to new friends and the ones that we will never forget!

Two things here...

We're getting more settled in our current place as we wait for our final destination to be ready for us. I'm not 100% sure it will actually happen- probably because we've been waiting so long, it just seems like fiction at this point. I digress...

The kids love the giant tub in the master bath!

This is the view from my front porch. The antelope live in the field across from the park!

Can you guess why they call this area Sunrise Meadows?

The girls love their new school, living across the street from the park, living next door to a trampoline & nice kids, walking home from school, and the lovely weather we've been enjoying. We've found quite a few 4 yr old girls around, most of whom were all born in March of 2007, one who was born on March 20 (same as Lyd) and her name is Claire! Too fun!

Somehow, I ended up as the Leadership Vice President in the PTA already and I'm helping with Jenna's class party on Friday. I suppose it was inevitable.

OK, I'm already beyond two things. What I was going to blog about was a few things about our new ward. We've had some cool experiences in the last few weeks. Our second week here there was a special stake conference where a new stake was created. We are in the new stake and our bishop was called as the new stake president. You don't usually get to meet the stake president your first week in a new neighborhood, but we got to. A wonderful man, that President Gibby!

Last Sunday, a camera man from France was at our ward to tape footage for use in a news story or documentary of some sort. He was there with a PR guy from Church HQ, as well as the mayor, who is also a member of our ward.

We also got to take part in a neighborhood tradition Monday night. Instead of exchanging neighbor gifts, they have a food drive. A family down the street hosts it. You bring whatever you'd like to donate & drop it off on her garage, then everyone enjoys some hot chocolate, cookies, and visiting together. It was so fun!

Other memorable events-
Our third week here we had the trauma of seeing a man Lifeflighted from the park in front of our house. He was riding a motorcycle that ran into the side of a car, which flipped a U-turn in front of him. Jenna had been outside playing & they heard the impact. I ran out with a quilt for the guy, since it was really chilly. Poor guy was in bad shape. I still wonder about him & how he's doing.

We also had a chance to host two of Tim's second cousins (I think). That deserves its own post to come. Very fun & such a blessing! While they were here, we hosted a few different groups for dinners. It was so great to have more space to have a party! The week after, we had my family here for Thanksgiving!

The awesome Turkey veggie plate my mom made!

The kids' table. There was some great art work on the table paper! We missed you, Arveseths!

We are really enjoying being somewhat settled and in a great neighborhood and ward. We feel so blessed to be here and are so thankful for the little miracles that happened along the way to bring us to this point. It was a long, brutal summer, but it was worth it!

We are looking forward to Christmas and we are pretty much ready for the festivities to begin. For the first time in our married life, we have a fireplace on which to hang our stocking! Lydia has been searching for the Care hanging there by the stockings. Tim assures here it's there- she just needs to keep looking.


We hope you are as happy as we are wherever you find yourself! Merry Christmas & happy holidays!