In Memoriam: Arlene Mickelsen Waters 1936-2009

(Thanks to Lauren for the picture.)
My dear Aunt Arlene died yesterday after a short battle with cancer (she was diagnosed just over a month ago). I haven't yet written my post about my anchors in Christ, but Arlene was one of them. She is one of the most wonderful people I have ever known. She had the patience of Job in caring for my grandmother. Her marriage was long, deep, and truly unifying. Her love for her family and for the Savior was evident in everything she did. Nate and I have often said that Arlene and Ted are who we want to be like when we grow up. She blessed us with her hospitality, generosity, care, and devotion.

For her sake, I am glad that she did not have to suffer long and that she has returned to her Savior and loved ones. For myself, I am grateful to have had her in my life, and especially to have gotten to know her much better in the last few years. I will sorely miss her, but I hope to eventually become the kind of person that she was.

A week in the life

This is our most recent family photo (thanks for all your skill, Dan!).
I posted a lot of pictures in my Facebook album (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=281188&id=593110721&l=0cea2a5525), but I thought I'd also write a short blog about my crazy busy week last week.

Last Saturday, my beautiful niece, Mandy, was baptized.
It was wonderful, and it was such a great opportunity to feel our Savior's love and to remember those things that keep up us anchored in Christ. In addition to all the family meals on Saturday and Sunday, we also took family pictures (including the one above).

Monday, my mom went with me and the kids to Sundance to pick up tickets to the Utah Symphony concert on Friday night. Then we had a picnic lunch at Bridal Veil Falls.
In the evening, we took a FHE to Battle Creek Falls, which was very pleasant.

On Wednesday, we picked Joey, one of the young men from our Phoenix ward, up at the airport and took him to lunch before we dropped him off at the MTC. I loved getting to hear Nate share his mission stories with Joey and see how he has grown and how excited he is to serve a mission.
Thursday, bright and early, I went up to Camp Mia Shalom with a couple of other leaders. We got to Girls' Camp in time for the five mile hike.

We also participated in the humanitarian project and were there for the testimony meeting. I particularly liked the theme of this year's camp: Anchored in Christ (I'm going to post something about it later).

Friday morning the kids woke up in time to see some of the hot air balloons flying. We missed takeoff, but the sleep was necessary.

After a pancake breakfast, we went to Colonial Days and some of the other downtown festivities. Ryan even got to help Grandpa print out a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

That night we went to Sundance for the Utah Symphony. Ryan and Sofie loved the music (what's not to love? Star Wars, The Planets, swing and patriotic music). Ryan's absolute favorite, though,was Beethoven's Fifth. He could even sing a few bars of it (he recognized it from Little Einsteins).

I woke up with a bad sinus infection on the Fourth, so our activities were pretty low key, just hot dogs for dinner and a $7 pack of fireworks.

However, our neighbors down the street were having a huge fireworks program, so we got to enjoy that, and my mom enjoyed the kids watching fireworks so much that she went out and bought a lot of them for the 24th (which is truly a first in the Daynes family).

After a long week like that, I'm exhausted!! But I'm really looking forward to our trip to Cedar City starting tomorrow and Pioneer Day!