Elder Beckstrand is home!

It's been two very short years. Not a lot for us has changed. But for Daniel it's a whole new world. He served in Argentina and looks exactly the same but a little taller. He was able to fly into the St. George airport so we didn't have to go far. It was really fun to see him. Do you see Shayne's sign?


We were quite a sight.


Joel's brother and sis-in-law, Stephen and Katie (On the far left) flew into town and surprised us all. We haven't seen them for 4 years. It was a great reunion.

Daniel got home at the perfect time: Marathon and conference weekend, Josh's ordination and Taye's baptism all this month.

Needless to say, Shayne was very happy.

It's great to have him home!

My #1 Son is 12

Happy Birthday Josh! Tomorrow is his real birthday but today I took him, George, David, Alex, Riley, Logan and Dex to Fiesta Fun to drive the Go-Carts and play golf.



They had a lot of fun. Then we went back to our place for pizza, oreo's and to play on the Wii. We celebrated today because tomorrow Daniel come home from his mission. So today is for Josh. We had oreo's because he'll have cake and ice cream tomorrow too. As part of Josh's birthday gifts we gave him a set of golf clubs and got him signed up for golf lessons from our friend Mike Sandberg 2 weeks ago.



He's been loving it and doing really well. He's watched Sloan golf and has always wanted to do it but we could never find an instructor until now.
Isn't this the cuetest picture. All these little kids' clubs. Josh is one of the oldest in the group.

The rest of his presents he'll open in the morning.
Happy Birthday Joshie or Squashua. I love you!

Relief Society Broadcast

Yesterday was the General Relief Society Broadcast. It was amazing. If you want to read Pres. Uchtdorf's incredible talk click here.


We are truly blessed to have him in our church as a leader of God to help us know what we need to do to return to Him. His talk reminded me of a quote from Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley that I keep in my scriptures.

"I feel to invite women everywhere to rise to the great potential within you. I do not ask that you reach beyond your capacity. I hope you will not nag yourselves with thoughts of failure. I hope that you will not try to set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. I hope you will simply do what you can do in the best way you know. If you do so, you will witness miracles come to pass."

I have had that in my scriptures for many years. It has brought me great comfort to know that I do not need to live up to what others think and expect. I only need to do what I can the best way I can. I hope to be able to instill that in my girls. Life is stressful enough. We need to remember that we are daughters of a King.

Pres. Uchtdorf's talk is much like this saying. It helps us keep an eternal perspective and not over do our daily life. Using the forget-me-not flower as a metaphor for his remarks, President Uchtdorf noted that although the flower is small in size, and easily unnoticed among larger flowers, it is still beautiful and vibrant. Feel free to read it in it's entirety regardless of your gender. Just because he said it in Relief Society it is still intended for all.

Spinning?

First of all why is it called spinning? I'm not a spider trying to make a web. And why is the seat called a saddle? It's definitely not a horse. A real saddle is WAY more comfortable than that thing!

Today was my first spin class EVER, and maybe my last. My good friend Katie Cluff is the teacher and talked me into coming. My first thought was, "Have you seen my legs?" My legs are huge and very define. Not that they have any strength in them but they look super strong. They are my Grandma's and they are just for looks. I think the main reason they are like they are is to hold up our huge upper body. In track my coach used to tell me to lean far forward when I run so I have to run extra fast to not topple over. Anyway, I went. And it wasn't bad. The seat did take some getting used to. The man guy next to me, in a nice way, told me that it was because I didn't have enough "padding". It wasn't a compliment.

About half way through the solid brick room we were in started to STINK! Not just a little either. It was getting bad. They have a bunch of ceiling fans but all that does is move the stinky air around. Then I realized that I was contributing to the sweaty smell. GROSS! For those of you that know me well know that I hate the heat here because I hate to sweat. I don't mind it if I am exercising but if you are trying to look nice and there's a bead of sweat running down your back it just ruins everything. Well, I was a sweaty mess. It was a good thing Katie turned out the lights too. She couldn't see me sit down 90% of the time. I did pretty good but could not get my butt off the seat. Or as sweet Katie would say "up and out of the saddle." It was a really good cardio workout and I guess I'll go again. I'm just glad winter is getting closer so I can wear longer skirts and long pants again!

Baptism & Homecoming Dance!

Vince's baptism was awesome! Shayne gave an amazing talk and didn't even cry. I thought she'd be a mess. I was.

Enrique said it was a good experience. He may not jump right into the font but one day he will remember this day and look back at it with new eyes and know how important it is.
This is us with Vince, Lily and Keona


Vince was confirmed the next day in sacrament meeting and it was great to see. Shayne and I were the only ones that went because Sophie gave a talk in our ward at the exact same time. So Joel took the boys to ours to support Sophie. Everyone said that her talk was great.

Right after the baptism Shayne and Madi changed into their dresses and headed straight to meet up with the rest of their group for dinner.


When she got home she said that it was the best dance so far. They danced forever. Most of the time they are at the dance for a half an hour then leave. She said they had the best group ever. Everyone was relaxed and comfortable and had a great time. I'm glad she hangs around such incredible people. I never have to worry.

Here is my Jr. year Homecoming dance picture with Jason Fisher. Back then it was a semi-formal which meant Sunday best. I guess gray Wranglers were Jason's Sunday best. Don't you LOVE the purple wagon wheel? I do!

Homecoming game

O.K. let me start by saying the football games were great but it's what happened at half time that matters most.
Pine View played Dixie and it went like this: Pine View Touchdown, Dixie Touchdown, Pine View Touch down, Dixie touchdown, Dixie touchdown, Pine View touchdown, Dixie touchdown. There was absolutely no defense what so ever for either team but it was super fun to watch. At half time we crowned our Homecoming royalty and I walked over to the side to see better when All Of The Sudden.......here it comes.......BRETT ROBERTS came walking up the stairs followed by about 30 teenagers! Brett Roberts! He was nice enough to leave his seat and walk up to the top so his fans could talk to him. It was AWESOME! When I realized it was him I freaked out on the inside and then calmly went over to see what was happening. I asked him why he was here of all places and he said that his wife graduated 20 years ago from Pine View and they were watching the game as part of their reunion. I walked away and let the kids talk to him and texted Shayne like a maniac telling her to "Come here! Emergency! 911!" She came running up and asked what was wrong and I couldn't even explain it. It was pretty ridiculous now that I think of it but I was totally star struck by Brett Roberts. It was so funny. Once she figured out who I was talking about we found Sophie and Shayne tried to tell Sophie what was going on and she got all tongue tied too. It was crazy. So, I made the girls go up to him with me so I could take a picture and he was really nice.

Oh, by the way, I got my camera back from Timmy and it was a good thing because I was the only person with one. Other kids where trying to take picture's with their cell phones but no one had a flash and it was really dark out. Timmy is the kid kneeling in front of Shayne with the curly blonde hair and glasses. He was so excited that he got his picture taken with Brett and asked me for a copy of it. It was great!

If you have no idea who Brett Roberts is then go to You Tube and search for Kid History 4 and watch it. It's by far the best one. Then watch #6. I laugh so hard every time. I want to take partial credit for some of their fame. Kyle sent me an email one day with it saying that it was hilarious. He had gotten it from Lauri. It was so funny. I sent it to everyone I knew and posted it on Facebook a million times. The first time I saw it it had only 380 views. Now they have millions. It's so great. Check them out. It's very family friendly.

We ended up loosing the football game 33-35 but no one was really sad because it was such an exciting game to watch and even play. The boys did a great job and were so tired. Dixie and Pine View both showed great sportsmanship. I congratulated Nale' after it was over. It was a night to remember.

Now that was Pine View's fun night. Here is Desert Hills: It was their Homecoming game also. At half time they were up 32-0. BORING! Courtney was texting me keeping me update on their game when all the sudden I got this text that says, "Two guys just went streaking across our football field. Totally nude. Doing cartwheels."
Really? I was surprised and then I wasn't. If any school were to have streakers it would be Desert Hills. They have such a bad rep it's not even funny. My wonderful nephew Jaden goes there and is the Seminary President this year. He is amazing and has a lot of responsibility this year to set a good example. There is a lot of missionary work to do at that school. I always feel so bad for the good kids that go there because you never hear any positive things coming from that school when you know there's got to be some. They continued to win their game and by a lot but it's only a day later I don't remember how far they won by because I can only remember that their amazing game was tarnished by stupid kids. Crazy.

Homecoming week!

This week is Homecoming week at Pine View High. It started off right with having no school on Monday for Labor Day. Tuesday was Paint the Town where the students go all around town painting store windows with Panthers Pride logo's and sayings. Yesterday was the P-raid and the Powder Puff Football game which Shayne played in. This is her and Madi pre-game before it got bad.

She was so fun to watch. She was one of the Captain's of the Sr. team. This is her at the coin toss. And I just want to say right now that Shayne gave my camera to Timmy Lunt to get the video off of it to make a Homecoming video and I still haven't gotten it back! So bare with the horrible picture's. Sophie's camera is all I had.

The Beckstrand came out in her and she was talking some major trash out there on the field. It was Jr.'s against Sr.'s and of course the Sr.'s won. At one point she was on the defensive line right across from the Jr. Student Body Pres. who is a friend of hers and she said, "Megan, if I were you I'd move." Needless to say she did.
Once again - crappy picture - Shayne is number 12.

This is her standing on the sideline waiting for her turn to go in on defense. Shayne can catch a football better than a lot of boys I know. The problem is they don't have a quarterback that can throw like a boy. So Shayne was on defense because she can run and she is tough!

This is post game when the boys where talking to them about how great they all are. Fun stuff!


Friday is the tailgate party and football game against none other that DIXIE High! We will win but, I love Dixie's coach. He's an old college brother of mine and friend of Joel's - Nale' Fakahua. Pine View's coach (Ray Hosner)is an old college friend of mine too. Not near or as dear to me as Nale' but it'll be fun to watch the two battle it out on the field. They battled a little in college too. On the field together for the SUU team and off the field in different frats. One from Sigma Nu and the other from Sigma Chi. Ah, the good old days.
Saturday is the Homecoming dance. Which Shayne is going to with her friend Kyle Wiggins. Who's Mom works with Joel at the BLVD. They have been in the band together and friends forever. It is also the day most of the students -including Shayne- take the ACT at the college. She also has VINCE LUSK'S baptism that night at 6pm! Woo Hoo! We are so excited for that. Vince's wife Lily has been in our lives ever since Shayne started swimming. We were even there when they got married. They are great friends of ours. Lily has always been LDS just not that active. Recently she started back up again and Vince felt the spirit right off the bat and now Shayne is giving a talk on Baptism at his baptism. She is bringing her date and Madi and her date. Madi is going with Enrique. I'm not sure if I've talked about Enrique before but he is another band geek and good friend. But not LDS. He and Kyle -who is LDS- are best friends and talk about our religion all the time. So naturally Shayne saw this as an incredible missionary experience. I love that girl! What a great example she is to all of us. It's like she is secretly trying to out do Daniel. So, we have a great weekend ahead of us. Watch for the next post of the Homecoming Dance and Baptism!

Labor Day at Navajo Lake

My dear friend Carla called and invited us up to her cabin right on the edge of Navajo Lake up Cedar Canyon. It was gorgeous! The cabin had huge windows in the front that looked right onto the lake. We watched a bald eagle fly around looking for fish! She had put some peanuts on the railing on the wrap around porch so we could watch the Bluejays come get them. The were so blue! David loved their mohawks. This is the picture he drew of one.

Joel took the kids to the lake while we got dinner ready and they used their slingshots to see who could make it out further into the Lake. They were having a great time until they noticed some ducks swimming by. Then it turned into a game of who can hit a duck. No one did but Joel came closest. It was beautiful up there and so quiet. Carla, her husband Donald and I took a hike while the kids played games and blew bubbles while Joel took a quick nap. It was a perfect day. Thanks so much Donald and Carla for inviting us up. Let's do it again soon!