Kalahari 2011

We have been so blessed to have the opportunity to meet, as a Brey family, at the Wisconsin Dells for 5 years. Our first two years we stayed at Treasure Island, it is now some Greek or Roman name. The last three years we have stayed at the Kalahari Resort. This year we stayed in the Kondos. They were fabulous. We had 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, pool table, and home theater with 6 recliners. It was pretty much perfect! Here are a few pictures...


Each time we get together we have some sort of family night. We play games (Do you love your neighbor? is a favorite), share testimonies, sing songs, and share talents. This year we were blessed to have a Skype visit with our Mitchell at BYU. It was so wonderful to be together and feel of the love and support that our family offers one another.

"Talents" shared: H, E, and C interpretive dance to Voice Male's Once There Was a Snowman; Josh juggled with glow in the dark balls; C wrestled me to the floor; Mindy shared poetry; Spencer and his amazing tongue!

H brought music for a sing along, including her own pre-recorded accompaniment. We sang "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need", a song from EFY, In Christ Alone. Also, on a musical note there were a few moments when we had to break out with praise and worship just to get the blood flowing. God is good and it is a blast to lift Him up in song.

We also shared testimony and scriptures that have been written on our hearts. Later, in the pool we girls had a minute to discuss more scriptures we are memorizing. It is a miracle for all of us to be memorizing God's word together. We are really tapping in to the Spirit in a new way. Hallelujah! I feel so blessed to have a family that began with two people committed enough to work things out on a day to day basis.

As we were walking to the waterpark we saw this little sign, "A Kalahari Moment". We had to take a picture.

I just can't believe that we have been able to figure out ways for all of us to be together. When we first start trying to figure it out it can seem difficult, expensive, and overwhelming, but when we all are together it is magical. There is no other way to describe it...wait, yes there is - ETERNAL. After the festivities are over and everyone is settled back into their day to day lives I think back on the memories of our time and seems like a perfect dream. I guess that is what we have to look forward to in heaven - every day is a perfect dream. Won't that be a blast!

Gorgeous Day!

Here in Minnesota we have been held in the icy grip of winter for weeks. Last week we had three days in a row where the kids were unable to be outside due to frostbite warnings. Our current warm up began on Friday and has continued through the weekend. We have little streams running down roads in search of buried storm drains, cleared sidewalks, and our parking lots are slowly gaining more spots.

When I first moved here from Utah I was thrilled to see that there were occasional bright and sunny days during our frigid winters. It didn't take me long to realize that sun and winter in Minnesota usually mean that your nose freezes shut if you inhale through it. Not so today! We had sun, melting snow, very little wind, and we had a great view of our nesting eagle pair on the way to church. We are lucky enough to drive along the Zumbro river on our way to church each week and we have a nesting pair close enough to the road that we can see them feeding their eaglets. I would love to tell you that this picture is "our" nesting pair and that I took it with my camera, but I cannot tell a lie.
I don't believe that any one can appreciate a day like today unless you have lived in winter like we do. Everything seems lighter, all things seem possible, and Spring seems just around the corner. I truly relish days like these because I know that a gray day will come again soon, Spring is definitely NOT around the corner (this is MN after all), but ALL things ARE possible no matter what the weather is because of Jesus Christ and that makes me smile EVERY day. Have a great day wherever you are and live it to the fullest. "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be GLAD in it".

1:00 p.m. Church!

Warning:
This post has been infected with a bad attitude.

Does anyone really LIKE 1:00 p.m. church? Sitting or working through three hours of church on a Sunday afternoon is REALLY a test of faith. Yes, it is difficult to wake up early and make it to 9:00 a.m. church, but at least you have the rest of the day to recover. This morning I got out of bed at the perfect time...when I woke up on my own. If it was up to me, NOTHING would start before 9:30 a.m.

After being awake for a couple hours I thought we should all get dressed for church, but my husband informed me we had a couple more hours before we need to get gussied up. I gave up and went back to bed and read a book. Now, I'm not saying this was a bad thing, but an hour or so later I had to get back out of bed and get going to church. Aaaaagh! Here is what I think Sunday afternoon should look like.



This is what my Sunday afternoons look like currently:During the winter months 1:00 p.m. church is particularly difficult because:

It is cold, dark, and late when we get out of church. Let's face it! It is winter here a lot.

We have just one more Sunday until January will be over. Hurray! I will have just 11 months left. If you subtract two General Conferences, two Stake Conferences, a few weekends for traveling purposes, a couple sick Sundays for myself or a child, and I know I can make it to that golden 9:00 a.m. time slot. I will make it because God has promised that I can do all things with His help. I will not apologize for using a miraculously spiritual concept of being saved to explain the way I feel about 1:00 p.m. church.

Boys on Skates

Normally when I drop the girls at their Activity Days group, C and I have a "date" on our own. Well, today I asked D if he wanted to steal my date time with C to use their new skates. They both have purchased skates in the last few months. D thought it was a great idea and so the boys strapped their skates on and had some fun.
I took a couple pictures and some video, but it was FREEZING cold outside and I didn't want to be out there much. This is C's second time on his new skates and without the "skating walker" you can see he isn't quite upright yet. (Couldn't get the video to upload. Imagine bent over boy.) He is chasing a ball back and forth that D is throwing. We will need to see about getting a puck and stick or something to play with on the ice. Winter Fun!