Everything of Sarah in Kenya all at once

This is my blog, not Sarah's blog, so I will not do it justice to share Sarah's experience in Kenya. Here are all the pictures and a bit of what I know.

She was miserable on the flight over. She was nervous about going and had a little bit of regret. Most of her anxiety stemmed from not knowing anyone. Most of the kids were in the same ward, a few were granddaughters of leaders. That left Sarah as the only one without a friend. She was so worried about that. But Bro Bell knew she would do well and she did. She got to know everyone really well and even though they stayed in their groups, she melded well with Bro Bell's granddaughters and they took good care of her. All the leaders were amazing and looked after them.

I was a nervous wreck until I knew she had landed safely. We said goodbye as she left the airport in Nairobi and turned over her phone. I looked forward to the picture updates each day. The 9-hour time difference messed with my head. 

This is Cheri who's job it was to take pictures and post them to the parents' group. And she was everyone's mom away from home.

I asked her if she felt like a tourist or a missionary or what. She said a service missionary. They read books to kids, painted a school, taught line dancing, taught lessons, led church discussions, tried new food, bartered, zip-lined, dispersed food, swapped stories, served in the temple, went on a safari, held babies, held hands, had their hair touched a lot, played games, played instruments, sang songs, saw lions, made new friends.

This was at a cerebral palsy group home. She said this was her favorite.

On safari at Masai Mara National Reserve

Look at her go!

I'm so proud of her. I'm so impressed by her! There's no way I could have done this at 16. I missed her so much every day but then I'd get more pictures and be like, okay, I'm glad she's there. 

We are all part of one big family and God is our Father. Ask Sarah how she knows.

The End

Back to School 2025

4 kids in 4 schools this year. It's the only time it will happen. Next year they'll be in 3 schools and then Sarah will be in college or on a mission so I guess from then on they'll always be on their own unless some of them go to college together. Oh, that would be so cute!

Anyways, Erica is new to the middle school this year and has been stressing all summer that she is going to hate it and get lost and have no friends and her teachers will be trolls and no one will help her and that she'll just miss elementary school so much.

I was just concerned she would get an upper locker and not be able to reach it. The open house settled that anxiety. We practiced until she could open it with no troubles and I even helped other students with theirs too. Take that, locker dream. I've still got it!

Later that afternoon James and I went to the elementary school so he could meet his teacher.

I knew her face but never met Miss Willis before. This is her 3rd year teaching and seems very nice. James likes friendly nice teachers so I think he'll do well. And he has like 12 friends in this class so he should be good.

4 schools, 4 start times. Henry left first. He's riding his bike to the junior high again this year. He leaves super early. I have my suspicions he's playing games on the one unblocked game site on his chromebook before the bell rings.

9th grader and officially a high schooler. He loves seminary and all his classes except for history because his teacher is a little angry and crazy. Which is too bad because now he won't like history and history is the coolest. He had his first football game tonight. Practice 4 days per week and games on Saturdays. Here we go again.

Then Sarah left in her car. She's a junior this year. She's taking 3 college classes this semester (plus 5 others next semester) and has joined the swim team. She's hoping to get a job as a lifeguard at the rec center instead of working at the grocery store. 

She's still on the city youth council and is also on the stake youth council, the ward missionary council, and serves in her YW class presidency. Sheesh, girl! They haven't even started sign ups for clubs yet.

And then Erica went on her way. She rode her bike to the middle school with her friend Ellie. (Ellie and her family lived in England the past year and we are so glad their whole family is back.) She's super excited about dance and orchestra.

She was really hoping to have the bus this year but they changed the boundary again and we live too close. She'll ride her bike until it gets cold then we'll see. This summer she decided her room was too young looking and wanted some of the pink things gone. We changed out her pink curtains and she went back to an old bedspread. We swapped out a broken bookcase and the little white cupboard for a larger bookcase. Then she got rid of a lot of clutter and toys but won't part with a single stuffed animal. She's done such a good job keeping it clean which I told her was a true mark of a more mature room.

Jamers! There's another James in his class again so he's Jamers again. Sounds so much better than James D plus it reminds me of when he was a toddler and thought that was his name.

I thought he would be sad going to school without an older sibling but I think he really likes it. He has the TV to himself in the morning since he wakes up early but leaves last. He also gets to leave on his bike whenever he wants. He rides by Calvin's house and then they go together to Eli's and then they are off. He's super pumped for flag football to start in September. I found him $3 football cleats at DI so I'm feeling like a pretty good mom.

Since school started at an unholy early date, it was still blazing hot when they got home that afternoon. I was going to have cookies ready for them but decided smoothies were a more appreciated snack.

James came home last and got to eat by himself.

We took them out to dinner the day before school started but I didn't take any pictures. We didn't have time for dessert because we had to get Henry to football practice so on Friday we went out for ice cream.  

What a crazy summer always off in all directions. Let's be home together. When Henry's not at football anyway. And the nights Sarah doesn't work. And when there are no church meetings or activities. That leaves Friday afternoons, Saturday mornings, Sunday evenings, Tuesdays from 5-6pm.....

Apart and then Together

We almost all went our separate ways at the end of the summer. First Sarah left Saturday July 26 for Kenya with RXP for a 2-week trip. But we still tried to have fun without her.

When my kids were really little I used to take them to the park for breakfast, instead of lunch, since it is so hot by midday. It was time to bring back the activity, if just once, this summer. We went to the doughnut shop and then to a park in Spanish Fork we had never been to before.

A week after Sarah left, we went to the airport again. Justin went to Minnesota with his high school friends for a canoe trip. He did this last year but not quite the same group of friends.  I drove them to the airport and man, these boys don't miss a beat. They were all 17 again.

They met Dave in Minnesota then headed to the Boundary Waters for five days of canoeing, fishing, camping, and avoiding mosquitoes. He didn't have service that far into the wilderness so I just prayed each day that he was safe and that I would hear from him on Friday as planned.

He had so much fun and it was such a good trip for him to truly get away from work and church responsibilities. I know he missed me and the kids but I think it's nice to just be yourself with friends and not have to be responsible for everyone. Well, except that he is always looking after others, by nature.

Meanwhile at home, the other kids and I went to our ward's treats on the street. The first house we went to had an ice cream maker! We love Sister Davis. She is so fun.

Monday meant another goodbye. I took Henry and his friend Ross to FSY at BYU. Fun fact: Ross's mom is my good friend from high school. And they are moving 7 houses away from us in a few weeks!

I don't have a lot of details from Henry about FSY other than he loved it all and can't wait to go next year. Counselors: awesome. Food: good. Other boys: fun. Activities and classes: enjoyable. He even liked the dances and asked a girl to dance. 

Wednesday the littles and I packed up and headed to SLC for a couple of days. I didn't want them to sit at home and be sad that everyone was gone or that everyone was having fun but them. So I put on my fun hat mom and tried to say yes to anything they wanted to do.

First stop was the aquarium. I had never been to this new location so I think I was looking forward to this more than the kids. 

The penguins were our favorite. They were so fun to watch and seemed to enjoy swimming up to the glass for attention.

After the aquarium we checked into the hotel and the kids went swimming until dinner. We went to a little hamburger place in the Glendale neighborhood which was near where the Sandlot movie was filmed.

After dinner we went to a grocery store and picked out pints of ice cream that we took back to the hotel. Then the kids wanted to go swimming again and swam until the pool closed at 10pm.

This picture doesn't quite capture the sweet hair James had the next morning. Hotel breakfast was one of the highlights of the trip.

Back to the pool! This hotel had a pretty cool waterslide which is why I chose it. They went down it like 20 times each, at least. 

That afternoon we went to the mall where I introduced them to mall pretzels then we saw the new Bad Guys movie. After the movie we went to Costco to get a fountain soda (this is what happens when I say yes to all their ideas) but first we had to hit up the free samples and check out the stuffed animal situation. Then James got a Sprite and Erica got a root beer and ice cream to make her own root beer float.

That night I took them to Cracker Barrel (we were in the heart of ethnic food in West Valley but they are not Mexican and Chinese food fans like I am so pickings were slim). Then they went swimming again and then watched Disney Channel until 11pm. The next morning they must have been all swimmed out because they just wanted to go home. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then stopped at a doughnut shop nearby and then drove the hour home.

The next morning Henry came home from FSY and it was so great to see him! That afternoon I drove to the airport to pick up Justin and 3 friends. I missed him so much and they all had me laughing all the way home. 

Sunday I taught relief society as my new calling. It went okay.

Yesterday afternoon we went back to the airport (4th time in 2 weeks) to pick up Sarah! I was so excited to see her again. I was so worried the day she left as she had 36 hours of traveling to get to Kenya.  I heard from her during her layover in London (she was exhausted and airsick) and then briefly again when she landed in Kenya but then she turned her phone in. We got photo updates each day from the leaders but I didn't hear from her personally until 15 days later when she left Kenya. 

Even though she had traveled for the last 24 hours, she was pretty well rested. All she wanted was ice cream and ice water.

That evening when everyone came home from friends' houses, we were finally all together again!

Watch for a separate post about Sarah's trip.