June

*20 second cuddles + written affirmations

Scripture study: consistency (brush teeth once a week) and intensity (squeezing an orange)

“Involving ourselves in the lives of others is a “messy business,” but it’s worth the resulting and incomprehensible joy, purpose, fulfillment, and companionship that follow.” -Robin

“Focusing on our weaknesses may hinder our progress.”

Labor in the Lords Vineyard both requires sacrifice and brings great and lasting joy. 

We come to church for Jesus. -Jose Rodriguez 

The commandment of fasting is a blessing.  -Bitter

Can we go speedily without going in hast? People matter in our journey. 

Are we there yet? “I’m hiking. I’m already there.”-DaNae

“I was awake far into the night, expressing my great thanks for such wonderful blessings clothed with a little boy’s body.” M. Hammond

“No righteous man [or woman] is ever taken before his time. In the case of the faithful Saints, they are simply transferred to other fields of labor.” -JF Smith

“ I went on a mission when I was 19 and after a year of college. I wasn’t prepared. I wouldn’t have been prepared if I waited another year. I wouldn’t have been any less prepared if I had gone when I was 18. Missions are just hard.” -Bobby Patterson

Anything can be taken apart and put back together. If we are constantly aware of the seeds of divinity within us, we will better be able to face the challenges around us. -Whitchurch 

Faust: Honor four sacred principles in your lives: reverence for Deity; respecting and honoring family relationships; reverence for and obedience to the ordinances and covenants of the holy priesthood; respect for yourself as a son of God.

Learning laws helps us recognize how we can receive blessings. We often miss out on the blessings that could be ours simply because we are unaware of the laws We must obey. 

At times we may have to obey additional laws or put forth additional effort than our peers. When learning takes great effort, we can rely on heavenly father and Jesus Christ to give us the strength and effort that we need. 

Are we willing to do that work? BYU devotional

By choosing to follow the laws and showing an unselfish love for your neighbor, You will use your nanosecond in mortality to create peace in your community and lead the people around you with integrity. -Weber, BYUI

“In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.” Anne Frank

Approach all tasks with cheer. 

“I had an interruption of my thinking. And this prompting said, ‘tell each one of them that you love them.’ … and I thought, how am I going to implement what I heard in my heart and in my mind?” -Ann Madsen

1- the world beats down on our kids enough. The last thing they need are parents and brothers who do the same. They need love and support from us. 

2- our highland house might be worth $100k more than it was 6 months ago… but we got out at the exact right time as interest rates have risen and this house would be more as well. Additionally, the Bucads are a perfect fit there which may not have happened if the timing had been different. 

Daniel went for 6 months without lying. We’re so impressed with and proud of him. 

“Bless James that he will enjoy his role as friend.”

Focus: how can I make my brothers happy?

3- (Caloric) eating is like golf. You can have a phenomenal game, but one bad hole can really sabotage a score. It won’t destroy the game, but it can negate a lot of good strokes. Same with eating. I can do amazing for weeks, but a few bad days can set me back. 

4- I’m grateful for the generosity of others (Gary and James’s swim coach sub) who took time out of their busy days to teach our children golf and swim. 

5- I just found out that the Robertson family from our highland neighborhood sold their house for $1.14 million. Comparatively, their house was slightly bigger than ours, but was more dated and neglected, had no fence, less of a yard, and few upgrades. It’s easy to think “ if only we could’ve held under our house and rented it for a while.” It’s easy to fix it on the things we don’t have and what we didn’t get. It’s also easy to recognize how incredibly blessed we were to buy this house at such a good time and with such a good price and interest rate. I wonder if in one of the many ways, Satan is attacking the home and family through the fluctuating home prices. It’s been a volatile market for last 15 years with extreme highs and lows. Which have taken its toll on individuals, marriages, and families. 

6- warnings are evidence of God‘s love. D&C 6:1-37

I enjoyed watching Mike with the Radmacher kids tonight. He was so playful with them plus he remembered their names!

7- Arts Express. “We can go to that dark place as long as we don’t leave the listener (children) there. Leave them in aspiration.” -Alston

9- i’ve been wanting to get James orthotics for years, but his feet grow so fast. 

I just recently bought him a new pair of shoes that should last him a year. For some reason I never canceled my follow up appt for podiatrist, and had to show up to it today. It ended up being a productive visit for both of us, but especially because he was able to get a pair for himself. 

• One thing that takes me by surprise as a mom is how much I love and enjoy witnessing the spirit work in our boys’ lives. 

10- James got back from BYU swim camp with Max. He loved swimming at the facility, eating at the cannon center, staying at the dorms with Max, all the drills and pointers, mixed activities and games with others, Carson my counselor, splash summit. 

11- Ama was a God send today. She played with our boys at highland Glen. 

12- Im asking for a blessing even though I don’t feel like I deserve one and haven’t done what it takes to have the spirit in my life like I should (studying the scriptures 15+ min a day, deep prayers, prayer walks, journaling, alone time)… but I do know that God can make up the difference, that he cares about relationships, and that He loves effort. 

13- we are social beings. If Covid taught me nothing else, it’s that we are social beings. I love my alone time and have always viewed myself on the introverted side. But boy have I missed people and boy do I love having them back in my life. Relationships can bring stress, drama, and difficult conversations. But how they bring joy! When asked where the boys are on the social scale, James said 0, Andrew 3, and Daniel 5. But we’ve seen differently. These boys love people and were higher than a kite after having Luke, Tanner and Katelyn spend the night and after hosting the beehives and deacons over for our first of many “crepes ‘n connections.”

14- I woke up at 4:55 today not able to go back to sleep. I thought the words: “I need to talk to you.” So I got up. I don’t get a whole lot of time to communicate with HF. Especially when the boys are home all day. I had a really nice quiet hour to ponder, I think, and write down south impressions. The main take away this morning is to focus on the 80%. And everyone and especially in family members. Some of those thoughts included praising Tammy and Katelyn for all the good that they do. Loving the Nisar children. Being cheerful at Ball get-togethers. Not complaining. And being more positive and cheerful in my conversations with Mike. To focus on, point out, and converse about the good. 

15- If for nothing else, meeting the Bitters has made our move worth it. They are an amazing family. les mis was phenomenal and the best rendition I’ve seen. 

Captain died in James’s loving hands tonight. We got to hold him for over an hour while his little body shut down. Sweet little bird. And tender little James. 

16- Our Ball family campout is combined with the Stewart family. Weather is projected to be 97-99°. And it’s 4 days, 3 nights… our motto for the weekend is: “Everything this weekend is a ‘get to do.’”

17- Mike and I had a really good visit with Justin and Larie. 

18- 2 games of ultimate frisbee in a row! #summerhighlight

19- reunion and youth conference were both great experiences a d provided quality opportunities for connections. 

20- Father’s Day and how lucky we are to have such a good one!

21- * If you want your boys to grow into quality men, inconvenience yourself and serve others. 

22- Andrew came home from an afternoon with Ama higher than a kite because he LOVED his afternoon with her. He said: “Mom, we need to do more days like today. Like just me at Ama’s house.”

Daniel is on fire at scout camp. I think he felt something at youth conference last week. 

23- more and more I’m amazed at the timing of buying this house. 1.2 million seemed like a whole ton of money, and it is, but that’s how much houses not much bigger than our last one are going for now. Our family needed to be in a bigger house, and that was the perfect time to do make the move. 

24- James and Daniel both have a core, solid, and amazing group of boys that they know and belong to because of scouting. Every single effort we have put into the scout troop has been magnified and substantially worth the work. What a tremendous, eternal blessing this troop #20 and it’s quality members is for our boys. 

25- We got to spend our 17th anniversary up at scout camp. What an amazing group of boys we have in our troop 20. how I am loving teenagers. And what a treat it was for me to be able to watch Mike in action as Scoutmaster. He was very patient with the boys who were home sick and or crying, and yet he helped push them. He let a very nice campfire program as he talked about his dad. And he did a good job playing with the boys. He’s very gifted working with a young man, and they really look up to him. The rate of return is huge in scouting and in working with boys. What a fulfilling stage of life we are in. While looking at Derek, I realized I only have two more years of the “baby” stage. I love my little man and I especially adore my big man. 

I got to drive Chaz home and we had a good visit. 

I decided to drive through the old neighborhood on our way home. Derek, Koda and I ended up playing a d visiting in their backyard for an hour. 

26- story: James G struggled with severe homesickness at scout camp. On Tuesday he said “Brother Ball, I’ve prayed four times and the answer I received was that I should go home.” Later, a leader from another troop and not knowing James or any of his backstory, sat down and proceeded to tell a similar story of one of his scouts having the same experience. He proceeded to explain that if a boy can’t get through a week away from home he won’t survive the MTC because it is a lot harder than camp. I love watching the Lord work his tender mercies in the lives of others. 

27- our 4th ward youth group is a hidden and unexpected gem. The move was worth it just for the friendships their building. 

*Focus on strengths, not weaknesses. 

28- a car not paying attention was about 2” from hitting Derek at a crosswalk today. It was terrifying to watch from a helpless distance. How grateful I am that angels were with him and that our baby is okay. Life can change in a singular instant. 

29- I keep thinking about Derek. How everything could’ve changed in one blink of an eye. How grateful I feel and how protected he was. And what if? What if both his sledding and now this near-biking incident had gone the other way. What would I regret most? 1. I would wish that I’d cuddle, listened, and looked into his eyes so very much more. 2. That I’d been much more patient with him repeatedly saying “I love you Mom.”

30- enjoyed skip-bo and spoons with the boys. Painting and house projects are in full swing. Much to my restlessness in wanting to put efforts into the house, I Spent 2 hours helping in the primary room. Since then I have been blessed with an energetic diy-er husband. God blesses us when we sacrifice to put him first. 

BYU Aspen Grove 

Happy Birthday, Happy, Happy Birthday!

This is your day, so have a lot of fun 

(boom boom boom).

We’re all waitin’ for your celebration, 

for your celebration to begin SO

Blow out the candles on your cake and make a wish.

Serve everybody's favorite dish, favorite dish (boom boom boom).

Happy Birthday, Happy, Happy Birthday!

This is your day, so Happy Birthday to you!