Blessings

So today I don't have any fun pictures to post, but as I sit here thinking about the upcoming changes in my life, I thought that I could let the world - and my memories - know how blessed I am.  Our time in St. Louis is drawing to a close.  We load up the truck this upcoming Thursday and we'll be hitting the road to head west next Saturday.  Our house is nearly packed, thanks in part to the group of women from church who came and helped me pack up my kitchen and bathrooms on Friday.  We've already been able to get rid of most of the furniture that we're not taking with us and by working slowly and methodically for the past two months, I've been able to sort through all of the boxes that we didn't unpack when we moved to St. Louis.

Although being 33 weeks pregnant is a bit of a hindrance, I've been able to get so much done. Before we head west we will be joined by my brother, Bradley, and my brother-in-law, Jonathan, so I won't have to drive the whole way on my own and I'll have help with the kids.  We will be able to stay at a friend's house for a couple of nights after our truck is packed up, so we don't have to rely on good weather for camping next week, and friends are going to be feeding us dinner for most of the next week so I don't have to keep my kitchen unpacked so we can eat.

When we do get to Utah, we are going to be able to stay with Mom Allen for a while, so I can have the baby without having to get a house set up first.  I already have my first appointment with my new doctor scheduled, so I don't have to worry about who is going to be taking care of getting my baby here safe.  We have many friends and family who are looking forward to us returning "home" to Utah, and I'm looking forward to being able to spend more time with them then we have been able to in years.  Bryce has already renewed his contacts with the Utah Festival Opera in Logan, so his professional as well as academic career can continue.

We still have unknowns and uncertainties to face as we leave our home and the friends that we have come to love here in the Midwest, but I know without a doubt that this opportunity is a blessing from our Heavenly Father.  Seven years ago, with fear and doubt, we left our home in Utah behind because of our faith that The Lord wanted us to.  We moved to southern Illinois where we were blessed to be able to make many good life-long friends. We were also blessed with our first child, Owen Henry.  Bryce was able to advance his career and develop the talents and skills that he needed to be able to support our family so I can stay home with our kids.  I was given the opportunity to become a piano teacher for the first time and discovered that I love teaching kids how to play the piano. We also were once again able to put our trust in the Lord as we accepted Bryce's first teaching position here in St. Louis.

During our nearly four years here in St. Louis we have been blessed to live in a great neighborhood and a great ward where we've made many wonderful friends. Our daughter, MayLynn Elizabeth, was born here and Owen started kindergarten.  Bryce has been blessed with more work than he knows what to do with, and I have been blessed to have many wonderful piano students that I have come to love and whom I will miss when we are gone.  We have gotten very involved in our ward and stake, and Bryce has thrived in the young men's program while I have discovered the joys of teaching primary.  Our ward has become our family and I feel more at home here than I have at any other place I have ever lived.

But just as the Lord brought us to St. Louis, he has blessed us to be able to return home to Utah where we can live closer to our families and where our kids will get to know their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  As I have thought about the past seven years of our live and how the Lord has directed our path, the words of Hymn #97, "Lead Kindly Light," have come to my mind several times:

"Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom;

Lead thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home;

Lead thou me on!

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene—one step enough for me. . .

So long thy pow'r hath blest me, sure it still

Will lead me on

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till

The night is gone.

And with the morn those angel faces smile,

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!"

As long as we are willing to put our trust in the Lord and let him guide our steps along the path of life, we will never be without his help and support. We will continue to be blessed with people who will love us and help us along life's path. We will also be blessed to help others as well.  I am so very grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves his children enough to be concerned with our everyday lives.  

The End of Another Chapter

As our moving date draws nearer, we are seeing more and more chapters of our life come to an end.  Four years ago this wonderful group of Seniors, and Bryce, started their time in the theater department at SLU.  Now they are all moving on and get to see what their future has in store for them.

A couple of evenings ago, the kids and I joined Bryce at "Piglets," the annual award ceremonies for the theater department at Saint Louis University.  We had fun and we got to say good-bye to these students that have been such a big part of our life for the past four years.  We also got a chance to get a couple of pictures taken:

The four (almost 5) of us together

Owen and MayLynn

MayLynn and Bryce

Now we're going to be moving on to Weber State University and life back in Utah.  We'll just have to see what the next four years have in store for our family.

Take Me Out the the Ball Game

There are several things on our "bucket list" to do before we move from St. Louis.  Going to a Cardinal's Baseball game was one of them, and so we went to one last night.  Busch Stadium is right downtown near the Arch and close to the river.  Owen was especially excited that we could see the arch really well from the stadium.  We even decided to take pictures with the arch to show where we were.  Owen was also really excited that they had an arch mowed into the ball field's grass.

We had great seats and could see the game really well, which helped Owen pay attention.  We could also see the scoreboard on the jumbo-tron and Owen surprised me by remembering how to read the scoreboard.  (See Grandpa Royer, he was paying attention :) He kept up an ongoing commentary of how many balls, strikes, and outs we had and kept track of what inning we were in, how many innings we had left, and how many runs both teams had.

During the 7th Inning stretch (when they invited everybody to get to their feet and sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"), one of the fans sitting next to us offered to take our picture as a family, so here we are!  And with only one try we are all looking at the camera!

The game went a little bit long and we ended up losing by 1 run in 11 innings, but it was a good night and fun in the long run.  Both of the kids  really enjoyed the music played on the loud speakers and by the end of the game they were yelling "charge" when prompted by the music and the electronic screens. Owen seemed to enjoy reading all of the screens around the field, and he had me take a picture of Fredbird, the Cardinal's mascot, as he entertained the crowd, so that's what the picture in the lower left below is.

By the end of the game both kids were exhausted, but we were glad that we were able to go to the game and have this fun evening as a family. Owen is now an even more devoted Cardinal's fan and has decided - for now at least - that his favorite sport is baseball.

It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes!

This past week has been a whole lot of fun.  My dad, Grandpa (Bruce) Royer, came to visit.  I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or Grandpa.  One day last week MayLynn and I took Grandpa to the Science Center.  They both had fun exploring all the fun science activities, and they seemed to have fun being there together.

Bryce had a few days off for Easter Break as well, so we took Owen out of school for a couple of days so we could have some fun family time.  One of those days we took Grandpa to the zoo.  We saw a lot of animals and got to spend some good quality time together as a family.

Grandpa also seemed to have a lot of fun playing with his grandkids at home.  He read a lot of stories to MayLynn, and he and Owen had a whole lot of fun playing with Legos.

Last Friday and Saturday we all piled in our mini-van and headed south to Tennessee to watch my brother Bradley play baseball.  We also met up with my Grandma Mary and Grandpa Max.  The kids discovered that bleachers can be fun to play on, and Owen even learned a little bit about the game of baseball as he sat next to Grandpa and kept track of balls and strikes.  It was a very nice visit and I'm glad that we made it down to visit Brad before we moved back to the West.

Yesterday we had a nice quiet Easter Sunday.  We went to church and then had fun as a family in the afternoon.  The kids seemed to enjoy the small Easter egg hunt we had in the back yard, and Grandpa even helped them find a few eggs.  The kids will miss Grandpa after he flies back to Utah this afternoon, but we'll be following him to the west in few weeks - and then the kids will get to have time with more of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on a more regular basis.

Creativity and Other Odds & Ends

So I have a couple of very creative kiddos.  I love to see the things that their imaginations create.  Owen has been especially creative with his Legos lately.  Pictured above are a couple of his recent creations.  The picture on the upper left is of a Lego scorpion whose legs can move.  Just below it is a friendly robot. Then of course there's a picture of the creative genius himself :).

Today we decorated some hard boiled eggs.  The kids colored a bit on the eggs with crayons and then picked the color that they wanted them dyed.  Then we put some fun Easter stickers on the eggs to make them super festive.  MayLynn's favorite part was adding the stickers, and while Owen seemed to enjoy the whole process, he had extra fun putting together some cardboard egg stands for them to be displayed on.

In other news, we are working hard to get ready for our move next month.  One big step was buying a car.  Bryce and I have been married for over 10 years now, but this was our first time buying a car - ever.  We did a whole lot of research, some test driving, and soul searching, and we can now say that we've purchased our first Minivan.  It's a 2002 Honda Odyssey - dark green colored.  I don't have a picture of the car from the outside, but here's a picture that I snapped of the kids yesterday afternoon.

They both like the room that they have, and it will be really nice to have for both the move and after the baby comes this summer. We will be parting with our poor old Ford Taurus before we move out west, but we've appreciated having it to drive for the past 7 years.  

Also, one thing that I'm going to miss from St. Louis when we move is Bryce's calling as Stake Young Men's secretary.  I've enjoyed tagging along with him for the past year or so to help out with youth activities.  Last night we were able to go the Tri-Stake Priest/Laurel Prom.  We had the first picture taken last night, and realized that about 11 years ago we went on our first date and part of that date was also a dance. The second picture is a picture from that first date in April of 2003.  

We may have been a lot younger 11 years ago, but I wouldn't trade those years for anything.  We've finished college, started a career, lived in three different cities, traveled, laughed, cried, and started our family.  We've grown up together and it's been wonderful so far.  I look forward to many more years to come.