Bethesda Institute

I took a quick trip to Texas to attend and present at a conference that was centered around people of various faiths coming together to discuss how we can better support individuals with disabilities in our religious communities. (Above are the love notes I found in my suitcase).

My cousin Shelia lived near where I was at so I got to sneak away and see her and her husband for a bit. I have always loved her and Dale. They always make me feel so special. They took me to Sprinkles and to see The Dallas Temple. 

These preacher from India wants me to come to India and work with his congregation there. He was great to talk with.

I had a tight connection from my flight to presenting, the flight was delayed, we (one of former students who lives in Dallas now was kind enough to pick me up at the airport) hit a traffic jam, I walked into my presentation straight from the airport 3 minutes after it had started (luckily a colleague started a video for me that I planned to show) and everything went perfectly. I knew God wanted me to share this information and He kept me peaceful and confident the whole time. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. 

Evening dance shows

Almost nightly these two favor us with a little show and it is one of my most favorite times of the day. Sweet Sisters

The faculty

We took this picture of our faculty and I thought it would be nice to keep a record of it. I seriously have the best job in the world.

Happy father's Day and Birthday!

Marc made me promise him when we were engaged that if Father's Day and his birthday ever fell on the same day, we would celebrate them separately. Well, that happened this year and I kept my word. We celebrated his birthday the weekend before with a family hike, guys shooting time and a date night in Park City. Then for Father's Day, we spoiled him with breakfast, gifts and a BBQ.

I love Park City and I love it even more with this man.

Bike riding

One of our favorite things to do is to hit The Provo River Trail on our bikes. It is so close to our home and there is something magical about seeing Timp and gliding through my city that brings me strength and peace. I love it! I told Marc that having the trail so close to our home triples our property value in my eyes!

This particular we rode with with my friend, McKenna, and her sweet girls. The kids highlight is to stop at the bridge and throw in a few rocks. (And doesn't David look so cool in this picture).

Rock Canyon

Lucy's school took a field trip to Rock Canyon where they showed us all the things they had been learning about rocks. The kids loved venturing all around. Vivian was fearless! And the parents had to keep looking things up on our phone as the kids asked us questions about different rock formations. Then we went under a pavilion to try various experiments.

Sisters

Lucy's dance recital

Proud Daddy with his little angels

Lucy did a wonderful job at her dance recital. We could put a little something in the program about our dancer so this is what I wrote:
Lucy Kay Steed
"Is today dance day?" is what we have heard from our sweet dancing girl ever since the age of two. Dancing brings her absolute joy. I once asked her, "Where is your favorite place to be?" her reply was, "Dancing on the stage!" Lucy, may you always keep loving life and keep dancing! We love you. Love: Dad, Mom, David and Vivian

She danced with a neighbor friend, Kylie. These two are so cute together.

Her buddy, Lillian, came to support her too.

I could watch this girl dance all day. I love how much you can tell that she loves it.

David's Angry Bird Birthday Party

David LOVED the idea of having an Angry Bird Birthday Party. He told everyone about it.

We filled the party with his some of his favorite things which included: Angry Birds, pizza, apple slices, carrot sticks, chips, cousins and his buddy, Daniel. 

The lifesize Angry Bird demolition with water balloon sling shot was a huge hit!

David is FIVE

Our handsome Jack is five years-old! WOW!

Grandma and Grandpa Sampson surprised him with a fishing pole. He is always so happy when he is around my Dad. I love it.

We tested it right out at a pond at Marc's work. David thought it was great, but a was little frustrated that we didn't actually catch any fish-soon.

Not so: LazyMans IronMan

Marc and I along with our friends, Steve and Michelle, took part in a LazyMans IronMan. You had one month to complete an IronMan (run 26. miles, bike 112 miles and swim 2.4 miles). You did this over time and kept track of your mileage. We did it! And I never worked so hard to have the word LAZY describe my performance.

Last day of BYU Kindergarten

This year was more amazing than we could have ever imagined. Here Lucy is with some very dear friends: Nora and Lizzy.

The Viver is THREE

She is full of sweetness and loves all things girlie: dresses, dollies, french braids and fancy jewelry

And she is FULL OF SASS!

Vivian's Tea Party

For Vivian's 3rd Birthday we had the most precious tea party I have ever seen. The girls were so excited!!!

The lovely table and chairs all ready for the princesses.

The tray of goodies

The birthday princess

The Tea Party. I was dying the whole time. It was so adorable!

Mother's Day

Me with my babies. They treated me to breakfast in bed, flowers and some lovely gifts.

This year I opted to do all the things that make me a mother instead of feeling like I should be exempt from them and the day was fabulous!

Grandma is NINETY

We drove directly from trek to this lady's 90th birthday party!

All of Grandma's grandkids AND great grandkids

Grandma's grandchildren with their spouses (I am the 10th of 14)

Grandma with her children: Kenny, Jackie and my Dad.

The Leroy Sampson clan (Carl was at sea)

Grandma with her children and their spouses

My sister (Kristi) and brothers (David and Kevin)

Trek 2014

Marc and I had the amazing opportunity to be Ma and Pa again for our ward's Youth Trek to Martin's Cove in Wyoming where we were able to walk some the trails our pioneer ancestors walked as they walked to Zion (Utah).

Our family color was yellow and our name was "The Noble Steeds" Here is Grant working on our family flag.

Turned out pretty cool

We used duct tape to identify our stuff. I found this cool yellow Mac n' Cheese duct tape so we were also known as The Mac n' Steeds. Here our daughters, Nicki and Kaylie are leaving our mark all around camp.

Our darling daughter, Cassidy. We had some tiny daughters, but they were little work horses. I loved them.

Ashley made us on our own personal flags.

Ma with her daughters: Julie, Cassidy, Nikki and Kaylie

Pa with his sons: Marcus, Grant, Jantzen and Joel

A gorgeous sunset one night.

The Noble Steeds

Heading out our first day.

Our kids were great to help with the wagon.

Marc always says we can't go anywhere without me knowing someone. Sure enough, in the middle of nowhere . . .  I run into an old friend I used to teach with-Heather Torgerson! It was so great to see her.

The landscape was really quite breathtaking at times.

Our first of about 6 river crossings

Ma and Pa Steed

Jacob, Kevin and Jared Call-such a great family.

Abby and Ashley King-such good girls

Seattle with her sister-she is such a good example.

Just hanging out with my love

The LaFontaines I admire this family a lot

The Simmonds Family-such awesome people

Our little trek family

I love the baby in this statue

Our youth get along so well. It was so fun to see them interact with one another.

As we were heading to Martin's Cove it began to rain really hard so we took shelter in that group of trees. The weather was actually wonderful. The rain and overcast kept us from getting overheated-when we went two years ago, we were dying from the heat!

Heading to the actual Martin's Cove

We walked single file and did not speak-you could feel the reverence for that place.

I love these girls! Serving in Young Womens is the best calling ever! Kaylie, Ally, Kiira, Audrey, Ashley and Rachel

Square dancing-

It felt nice to put on clean clothes. We were covered in bug spray, dirt and smoke constantly.

This day we were led by a missionary on a horse. That was pretty cool.

My favorite story we heard was about Willie's Cove. Here they were very down and out and 13 people were buried there. They thought they may just all die. Then they saw 4 men on horses come from over the mountains. The men arrived and said Brigham Young had sent them. They said although they did not have food or blankets for them, they did have hope. They informed them that wagons were coming soon with relief. The missionary who told us this story then said, "Often God cannot always give you exactly what you may want physically, but he can send those who will bring you hope."

It rained most of the time we were walking this day too. But everyone was such a trooper.

Lunch with some of our cute daughters

Forging another river-The Bishop challenged the men to carry the women over.

Me with my cute Nikki

The last river, they let the youth play. There was a lot of dunking going on.

We had a great time and left directly from there to Little America where we paid $10 to take the best shower EVER so we could be presentable for my Grandma Sampson's 90th Birthday Party in Tooele which we then went straight to! Such a blessed life.