27 November 2016 - Texas, Thanksgiving, Baptism, Fun and Family

Monday was exciting. After Seminary there was packing and planning and coordinating to get ready for the flight to Texas. Samuel had to be picked up early from school and Brian came over to transport family and luggage to the airport. A four hour flight and time change meant that the plane landed after 9:30 in Texas. Austin was there to pick up the travelers and shuttle them to his home. Stephen and Kathleen picked Emeri's room with the King Size mattress even if it was on the floor. Samuel spent the night in Isaac and Andrew's room. Josiah was staying with Liz and Austin and Kimball was staying with Jon and Jenna. Susan and Cory were enjoying some private time for their anniversary.

A spitting dino that got them wet....

T-rex with Oakley and Grandma.

This dino was suppose to be the pattern
that Jurassic Park used for their Velociraptors.

Triceratops and kids....

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Crawling on a Dinosaur.

  Tuesday afternoon was a trip to the dinosaur park where we met up with Susan and Cory. Stephen went with Jon to "sight in" some rifles for a "wild pig" hunt that he was going on with Nathan Kruse. After a lovely lunch at the "cabin sites" and more exploration in the Museum, we drove back to Jon and Jenna's home for dinner. Elizabeth had Austin bring French bread and Jenna fixed a nice butternut squash soup that we ate with rice. Just after dinner was getting finished, Gary and Finau Furniss and their four kids came and Samuel was having such a great time that he decided to stay at Jon and Jenna's house with them.
  Wednesday was shopping for the food that was needed for Thanksgiving dinner. The Fudgy Pecan Pie was made by Austin and the Banana Cream Pies were made by Kathleen along with some Better than Pumpkin Pie. Everyone was invited to the Heath House to prepare the rooms for the dinner the next day. After some work and great conversation, everyone left but Stephen and Kathleen. It was great talking with Tammy and enjoying her spirit and her hopes for the future. It was hard to leave.

The Basketball players and cheer squad.

  On the way back to Liz and Austin's place, they decided to see Jon and his family, Samuel and the Furniss gang who were at the church playing basketball.  The teams were evenly in number but not in ability. Samuel was with Jon and Br. Furniss against the Furniss kids Gary Jr., Sam and Anna. It was fun to watch but the even more fun to play. Kathleen started playing with the adult side and Samuel went to the Kids. Then Finau started to play along with her daughter Lola. Jenna was trying to corral the kids and keep them from getting hurt when Kathleen took a backwards dive landing on her backside and then smacking her head against the floor with a crack. That ended the game for the evening. Kathleen had some nausea and a big headache but otherwise survived.
  Thursday was Thanksgiving. The annual turkey bowl left Br. Furniss with a bruised shoulder and Katelyn had a bad sprained ankle from being double bounced on the trampoline with her eyes closed. At least it wasn't a break but both went to the emergency room to make sure. Dinner was at 1:00 at Tammy's house but didn't start until 2:00. There were several turkeys, ham, green bean casserole, sweet potato casseroles, salads, jellos, rolls, corn bread dressing and condiments. Everything was delicious and it was a wonderful feeling to be with so many family members and friends. Gratitude for all that the Lord provides for us in our daily lives was evident.

Lights on and cards out.

  After dinner and cleanup, everyone went home to put babies to bed for a nap before the night's activities. The older little ones helped make Thank you cards for the local police and firefighters. Their mothers cooked up cookies and cupcakes and made nice displays to take to the local stations in Prosper. It was a fun delivery to the Police department as they turned on their lights and seemed so happy to see the kids. The Firemen were just as happy and let the kids crawl through the fire trucks.

Capturing the "Thanks" given to those who serve us daily.

Firemen hats and tours through the trucks.

All the families gathered together again in the evening. Dessert was served along with hot chocolate and apple cider. Then the little kids were put to bed and the teens left for the media room and a movie. The adults then got together and played a game of white elephant gifts which was great fun and very memorable as Jon finished the game with a surprise ending giving Jenna the gift that she wanted.

Everyone in front on the trucks at the station.

  Friday, Jon took the Furniss family out with his boat and Stephen went shopping for boards for some of the projects that he wanted to do for Liz and Austin. The ladies went back to Tammy's house to help put things back in order. After some games, food and fun, people started to go back to their places of sleep. Susan and Cory were waiting for people to get back but there wasn't time.

The smiles were worth the effort.

Cousins on a special baptism day for
Katelyn.

  Saturday was a 10:00 baptism of Katelyn Jenna Ralph by her father, Jonathan Stephen Ralph. Her grandmothers gave talks on the Holy Ghost (Susan Woods) and Baptism (Kathleen Ralph) and her grandfathers (Gary Furniss & Stephen Ralph) were the witnesses. It was made very special by Jenna and a special cake by Tammy Heath. Katelyn was on crutches due to the sprain and was carried down into the water. She didn't was to use the crutches very much so she did a lot of hopping around the room but she didn't seem to mind and it was her special day. After the baptism we gathered at Jon and Jenna's house for pulled pork sandwiches, veggies, salad and the beautiful cake. It was so special.

Cousins after the baptism...

Kimball and Katelyn both had baptisms
this year. 

A special cake for the 8 year old's
baptism day.

Kimball had a great time.

Leaving with Love....

The Furniss family

  Soon after the Furniss family had to leave to make it to New Mexico for the night. They were making their way back to California. Samuel had a great time with them and kept in touch with their travels by text. Susan and Cory left next, going to the airport for their flight back to Boise. They had a rental car that had to be turned in first. It was sad to see them go but great to have them there for such a special occasion.

Goodbyes all around.

Josiah doesn't want to leave...

Brother Love!

  Sunday was a special experience at the church. They had a special musical testimony meeting with members coming up and announcing their favorite hymn and why the love it and how it strengthened their testimony of the Savior. It was such a unique idea. It was very memorable. Sunday evening Ernie and Sharon came through from visiting Lindsey and Dan on their way to Louisana for the night. They stayed for over an hour and it was so fun talking with them and hearing their positions on things.

Sharon & Ernie visiting Stephen & Kathleen and family while
heading back to South Carolina.

25 November 2016 - Touring McKinney

So I thought others would like to see some of the photos that we took in McKinney after Thanksgiving this year.

Santa's sleigh in McKinney with a fun load of
joy!

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Oakley in her ballet outfit over a t-shirt.

Isaac

Joshua

Andrew

Nathan

Kimball

Christmas Tree and sleigh in McKinney.

20 November 2016 - Happy Birthdays and more

Monday started basketball tryouts for Samuel. He spent the first 3 days of the week after school working out and then came home Wednesday having made the JV squad. He seemed pretty happy about his performance.

Trying to get that "tough guy" look.

New uniform for this year.

Tuesday was Katelyn's 8th birthday and she had lots of fun and activities for the day.

What a fun and special birthday for Katelyn.

   Wednesday was Michael Gordon's birthday but he decided to go to school and work instead of celebrating. He got a call late at night wishing him well. Next time will be better.

Getting ready to start.

   Wednesday night was a Mother/daughter activity with Rebekah at a Starbucks in Federal Way. A painting party with all supplies provided along with an apron to stay clean. The venue was full to over-flowing and noisy but so fun with a daughter to enjoy experimenting with different colors and styles. Learned how to use a paper towel to paint a canvas. Enjoyed the day immensely. Left with two unique but similar paintings. Hope to be able to do more in the future.

Adding the finishing touches.

The finished products.

Thursday was filled with a required CPR class for Kathleen's work and lots of church work for Stephen.
 Friday after Seminary there was a short break before Kathleen left for a New Testament class to help with teaching the New Testament. After the class she headed for the Stake Center where Stephen was on the stand for the funeral of Sean Murphy. Stephen was the last speaker and he spoke on the blessings that await families whose children are handicapped and die young. Sister Carrie Manning spoke before him and covered most of his talk on the Plan of Salvation so he didn't have much time to speak but all the speakers did very well. It was a nice spirit under the circumstances.
  That evening was the wedding of the Jackson daughter. She is not active in the church and they were married at the Lake Wilderness Lodge. We wanted to support her parents, Dave and Melody. They started about an hour late and the music for the groom and bride was from Stars Wars, The Empire Strikes Back. The minister was from Seattle and he never said anything about God or Jesus Christ. The vows were along the lines of "not forget to take out the garbage" and "not forget to cook". It was a little depressing. It was nice to see two people formally commit to each other but it was so lacking in the spirit of the Lord. Gratitude was overwhelming for the sealing blessings of the temple that bind a couple to each other and to their Father in Heaven for eternity.
  Saturday, Kathleen had to work so Stephen spent the day shuttling Samuel to practice, mowing the lawn, working on projects around the house and preparing for Sunday and the departure on Monday.
  Sunday Kathleen worked on her Seminary lesson and Stephen spent the day at the church. Rebekah and Stephen made it to the Adult Singles activity and Samuel had a fireside. It was a great week!

13 November 2016 - Adult Dinner and music performance

A close up of the Trio singing with Rebekah on the piano.

The singing group and a view of the tables.

Another week of work and play at the Ralph House. With Seminary, meetings and school things went by much like every other week. The exception was Friday. It was Veteran's Day and no school and Kathleen had to work but that left the evening for the Relief Society Adult dinner. Rebekah was asked to play the piano for the group of sisters that sang a trio of Old Fashion songs, Moon River, Don't sit under the Apple Tree and Mister Sandman. Kathleen was asked to sing 2nd soprano and Mary Kozy sang alto with Dorothy Simons as 1st soprano. It was a fun night with food and music and good company. They decided to celebrate V-day by wearing Red, White and Blue.

Stephen and Rebekah close to the dessert table.

    Saturday was a special day for Benjamin as he had a birthday and a competition where he and Carli made it to 2nd place in the Pre-champ Smooth competition. Jessica decorated his car and had breakfast ready for him. Carli put up notes and made the day special and the competition was viewed by Jessica and Sarah and action was relayed back to Washington via phone.

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Birthday activities on November 12.

6 November 2016 - Halloween, Birthday and Rain

Rice, veggies and hamburger in a coconut curry sauce.

   Monday was a quick Halloween celebration due to the fact that all of the trick-or-treaters in this house are too old to beg for candy. It made it simple. Dinner was in a pumpkin and FHE had cookies so that was about all that was done.

This guy was all smiles.

   Rebekah did get a nice flower arrangement from her work that made for a nice table display during dinner. It was from her boss who thanked her for all of the work she does for their office. Good Going Rebekah!!!

Rebekah's surprise.

   Tuesday through Thursday was a routine of Early Seminary, work out at the gym, fix things in the house, have dinner, go to meetings and make it to bed before it's too late. Friday was a little different because of No School due to Teacher's workshop and Kathleen was scheduled to work but they called her off until 12:00 then they called her in to work in the mother/baby unit where the Pediatric patients are located. They had 3 teenagers that were on suicide watch. Something is going on in our society when young teens feel so hopeless that ending their lives is an option in their minds.
   Thursday on the 3rd of November there was a phone call to a special young man for his sixth birthday. Andrew mentioned that he was having his cake on Sunday and that he enjoyed his birthday so far with his Grandma Heath taking him out to a Frozen Yogurt place. Happy Birthday, Andrew Stephen Heath!!!

Soaking wet with a full truck of native plants

Both teams knelt in prayer for the injured player.

   Friday night the Kentlake HS football team played in Bethel and Samuel played in the Pep band. Stephen decided to go to the game and bring him home but he went to the wrong High School at first so he was pretty late and then the had a 30 minute time out for an injury that they called an ambulance for during the 3rd quarter. Stephen and Samuel didn't get home until after 11:00. And they lost also... :-/  Samuel still had a good time.
   Saturday Stephen and Kathleen went to the Duthie Hill Park Nursery in Issaquah where they spent 3 hours weeding the potted plants that were salvaged in March. It rained heavily most of the time that the weeding was done. Clothing was soaked through including shoes and sox. With each hour of work there was a "reward" to take 10 ferns or 6 trees/bushes home. Most of the plants would have cost a great deal of money and they were "free" with a few hours of work. The back of the truck was full of plants so it took an hour to get home going slowly on the back roads. It was a fun adventure. Now we have to take some time to transplant those plants in the front yard to give a more native look to the landscape.
   Today in Fast and Testimony Meeting, Stephen bore his testimony and remarked about what he learned during the visit of Elder Rasband and on the letter that he wrote to his children. He will always remember that wonderful experience and the lessons learned.

23 October 2016 - Kimball's Baptism & Special Stake Conference with an Apostle

   This week was the end of the long stretch of Seminary teaching solo until Thursday. That made the last of the week a little easier which was nice for preparing for family to visit. Wednesday night, Susan, Cory and the kids came in very late and they were very tired. When Kathleen came home from Seminary Thursday morning she noticed a light on in the back bedroom and Kimball was reading some of the books that we had in the bookshelf outside her room. Everything else was quiet and dark so after a little talk and fixing a smaller light for her, the doors were shut and quiet and dark reigned again.

First catch of the season...Stephen
was quite proud of his trap success.

    Stephen did manage to put up some scaffolding that he and Br. Wilden purchased from  Br. Christiansen in the Stake. His plan is the repair and paint the outside of the house. Unfortunately it has rained most every day this past week so there was not much work done outside.

Scaffolding up and ready for work...

He did fix the watering system for the chickens by putting a bucket of water and helped thin out the raspberries and the loganberries. He also purchased some extensions for the downspouts on the rain gutters to move the water away from the house. Stephen is also very proud of the fact that he posted his rooster on Craigslist for free because the rooster was harrassing the hens and not letting them eat feed so they stopped laying eggs. He got a costumer in less than 3 hours that took the rooster for his dinner... :-0

   Samuel had a double header for Volleyball this past Tuesday that they lost and we was not very happy. He also had a band concert on Thursday night and a Scout clinic in  Renton on Saturday so he was busy. He has Spanish homework almost everyday so he gets help and is trying to speak more and more Spanish. When you see him try it out...;-)

   Thursday, Kathleen had a doctor's appointment for her foot and Susan and Cory went to pick up Katherine Jestes at the airport. She was coming to speak at Kimball's baptism and it was so nice to have her stay here at the house. She loved touring the back yard and playing games and watching a movie (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). 

   Friday was spent preparing for a baptism and a dinner after here at the house. Kimball wore a nice white dress and she planned the day.

The font had to be filled early so Stephen was at the church ready while things were still getting ready here, including chili for "Taco Salad" and "Better than Pumpkin Pie". Add to that Lemonade and Limeade with a special cake for Kimball made by Ruth and it was a perfect meal. At the baptism, Katherine gave a talk on baptism and Susan spoke on the Holy Ghost.  Rebekah played the piano and Kathleen led the music. Cory did the ordinance of baptism and confirmation. It was wonderful with the only glitch being that Cory stated her name as Kimball Elaine Brighton but that's not her legal name so that had to do it again. Kimball didn't mind at all since the water was warm.

Showing off the white dress.

A Family shot

Kimball wanted her Dad to do the ordinance.

A threesome pose on a Baptism Day.

After the baptism Brian spent quite a while trying to hook the font's drain with a long hooked pole but it kept falling back. Susan was about ready to hike up her skirt and plunge in but Stephen was given another long handle and Cory had the hook and they opened the drain together. It was definitely a two man job.

   Saturday there was a Family History Discovery Day that Stephen had to go to as the Stake Counselor over Family History and Temple Work. He then went to a leadership training meeting with Elder Rasband, Elder Clayton, Elder Waddell and Elder Call. That was a 4 hour meeting that he just loved. 

Beka's present for Kimball.

   Saturday Kathleen spent the morning at the Tribal Life Trail "Make a Difference Day" with the Master Garden program. She was also able to bring home some plants, Hardy Cyclamen, and plant those in the garden and move some other plants around. Hopefully they'll survive "but if not" it's OK. After planting there was thinning out of the strawberries that needed to be finished and some weeding a picking more butternut squash. It was a beautiful day for working outside. Susan, Cory and their kids went to visit a friend from Susan's school days at BYU up in Bellevue. She was gone until 3:30 and when they got back they were all hungry and wanted to try out the Cafe Rio here in Kent. 

   That evening the youth had a face to face with Elder Rasband that was tele-commed to the Maple Valley Stake Center but the internet cut out 4 times during the broadcast. Samuel and Joram weren't too upset but some of the other kids were. They need to be sure to get better reception.

After the baptism dinner and dessert.

    Sunday was a special conference with Elder Rasband. We made it to the church about 8:20 AM. There were people already filling the chapel. Thankfully Samuel, Rebekah and Kathleen were in the choir so the didn't need to worry about their places. Br. Sumpter was in charge of security along with a collegue of his from the Federal Way Police Dept. Stephen said he could tell they were armed but it wasn't obvious. Stephen toured Elder Rasband around the building meeting people that were in the RS room, the Primary room and the YW room in the stake center then he started in the back and shook hands with people in the back of the room. As a choir we were instructed to stand when he came up on the stand so we all stood and Stephen took his place in the front with all the rest of the Stake Presidency and leaders. After the choir sung the prelude music "The Lord is my Shephard"and the prayer and announcements, we sang our other musical number "How Firm a Foundation". Pres. Stroud spoke then about the importance of strengthening our conversion by helping strengthen others and the importance of Love, Service and Action to invite others to  Christ. Elder and Sister Call then spoke and Elder Rasband invited Elder Walker (our previous area 70) to speak since he knew him. He spoke on Moses and the Lord's answer of who was sending him. The Great "I am" which as a prepositional phrase means "has everything, is everything" and that we are the children of God and should not lack confidence as a Child of God. It was a great thought.

   After the rest hymn, Elder Rasband had the rest of the meeting. He first spoke of President Monson's love for us and what he would say if he came... "I love you" and "thank you". He spoke about these last days and used scriptures that described the last days including "perilous", "rage", "calamity" and talked about standing in Holy Places, including our homes. He said he wanted to talk to the children and brought up the reference in Mosiah 26 about the "rising generation" not understanding the words of the prophet and leaving the traditions of their fathers. He spoke about the importance of teaching children the gospel and he brought up the quotes of 4 prophets that he had known. He said David O. McKay stated, "no other success can compensate for failure in the home”  and when he was asked 'what is failure in the home?' He stated that "failure only occurs when you stop trying." Harold B. Lee was the grandfather of one of his missionary companions in the New York City mission and he picked him up at the airport. Pres. Lee stated, “The most important of the Lord’s work that you will ever do will be the work you do within the walls of your own home.”

Then he said President Gordon B. Hinckley said "In terms of your happiness, in terms of the matters that make you proud or sad, nothing—I repeat, nothing—will have so profound an effect on you as the way your children turn out." Then he finished the quotes with President Thomas S. Monson who stated, "When the seas of life are stormy, a wise mariner seeks a port of peace. The family, as we have traditionally known it, is such a refuge of safety."

    Elder Rasband then quoted from the scriptures in 2 Nephi 25:23, 26 "we labor to persuade our children..." and children were before "brethren" and he said it was so important to put family first. Family was before, job, callings, everything but God. Stephen mentioned that the Leadership meeting was on the same line that Bishops were to delegate those things that others could do and just do what the Bishop only had to do. He finished with the importance of strengthening our families while the world is swirling around us. It was an inspirational meeting. Elder Rasband was in tears much of his talk as he spoke of his family life and personal experiences with the prophets and his testimony. He ended with giving the congregation an apostolic blessing and his testimony. He said "I know Christ" which was an amazing thing to hear. What a Special Witness of Christ.