Back to School FHE Feast 2026

Question: if you had to give up one hour of the day which hour would it be? Sone said they’d sacrifice an hour of sleep. Some said an hour of school/work so they have an easier day. We discussed the consequences of each. 

Then I asked what would you do with an extra hour of time each day? 

Art: The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali. 

I asked a lot of questions for interpretation of this piece. Once the kids recognized the mass as a distorted face that melted while watching the time slip by on the clocks, they really got talking. Is the tide out? Coming in? Dried up altogether? A memory of our life when it had a different landscape? 

Verse: Doctrine and Covenants 60:13

Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known.

I had a talk with Quincy about her work as a missionary. Her efforts are consecrated. She is putting in so much to try to learn a very difficult language. She is also training a new missionary. They do not have people to teach in their area and spend many hours just “finding” and talking to locals.  She feels the need to have more urgency about this, but doesn’t know what to do differently. 

I shared our verse with her and she jumped right to the part about not burying talent. 

She has a talent for talking to people. 

Kind of tough when you’re burdened by a language barrier. She has focused her efforts on improving her language knowledge, and it has helped with the work, but feels unproductive in finding new friends and contacts to teach. I asked what her other talents are and she brought up that she is a certified EMT…but it’s not really a talent. 

But what if she applied the same urgency of searching for finding the one that an emergency medical team would to find a lost child? Or in a mass emergency crisis, if she knew there was one person in the crowd who could be saved, how much urgency would she use as she worked through the people. Assessing the wounded, trying to find one who could be saved?  

She is trained to save lives, but in the work of saving souls. Make your talents known and use the gifts to enrich our time and efforts. 

And don’t idle hours or weeks or months away with indecision or fear of action. We learned in stake conference this weekend that if something feels too hard, try another way. 

Reese and Logan helped me set the table. I usually have fresh flowers, but used candles this year—a reminder of time being a finite resource. 

I picked out floral plates for what is possible after hard work is done. Everyone got an hourglass keychain and a tiny vintage style alarm clock. We ate Mississippi pot roast and mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and salad by candlelight. We missed our 19 year old family members in Korea and working a temple shift. We set goals and shared stories.  I decorated our mantle with the artwork and a bunch of clocks and hourglasses, and even found a clock that looks like it’s melting over the edge. Time will pass, what will you do with it? 

I love this tradition and these special people! 

Adventure Day

It’s been a wildly fun August. The last week in particular has been very busy as we have been intentionally keeping each day filled with activities. 

On Tuesday night, Aaron, Ryan, Logan, Reese, and I went to a late movie. We wanted them to see the Odyssey. Aaron hated it. I grew up doing Greek Theatre in the performing arts program at my school and with Odyssey Theatre Company. I read the Odyssey in high school and the Iliad in college. Some of these stories are etched into my mind and are a big part of my childhood, especially the elementary school years.  [Shout out Annie (Grover) Gilbert, you were the best Helen of Troy. And Mr H, there will never be another cyclops.] I didn’t consider that Aaron has no familiarity with the tales of the Odyssey, and everything was a new concept to him from the sirens to the Trojan horse. I loved it. But it makes sense why Aaron was bored.  

After the movie, Ryan announced that we needed an adventure day and to come over first thing Wednesday morning. I wasn’t sure exactly what he had in mind, but I was charged with finding a trickle battery, and we met in the morning to run errands while Reese and Logan drove to Russellville to get Reese’s last name changed on her social security card. 

Wooo doggies I love me an adventure day. 

We drove out to the Mains’ warehouse and loaded up a Seadoo! Ryan has this bit when someone says “money can’t buy happiness”, he always responds with “have you ever been on a jet ski?” My answer was no, so adventure day was going to change that. 

We hauled it back to Bentonville, plugged in the jet ski to charge, and continued on with Adventure Day agenda. 

A driving lesson. 

Not for the teenager. 

For the mom. 

We went to the temple parking lot (coincidentally where I taught Quincy and Corbin how to drive) in Ryan’s little Miata and he taught me how to drive a manual stick shift. 

I surprise myself and stalled out less than I expected to. Ryan kept time and says I can proudly announce that I learned to drive in 6 minutes. Go me. Also, still kind of scary and I would not Feel safe at all out of the comfort of the temple parking lot temple loop and on the main road. A great start though. Not that I really need to drive a stick, but it would be nice if I at least know how. 

We visited with missionaries in the parking lot, had lunch at a Torchy’s, went to the gym, picked up paddle boards from Kasey’s, watched an episode of Cowboy Bebop, and then headed out to Beaver lake where we met Reese and Logan. 

Ok so I have never been on a jet ski before. I found it to be kind of scary! The four of us swam and played and the water was so warm I could just cry that summer is coming to an end and I did not spend nearly enough time in the lake. 

It was windy and the lake was choppy, but it was so warm we didn’t care. We’ll go back very soon

We played until Aaron was off work. Big thank you to Corbin for helping with after school pick ups today so adventure day could happen. He’s a good brother.

 But wait, there’s more! 

Adventure Day continued! 

We threw real clothes back on in Bentonville, met up with Aaron and went to Fayetteville with lake hair. 

We got to George’s Majestic on Dickson street just in time to catch Jonah Kagen. 

This was also an adventure. He has 3 songs we 

really like. Tickets were only $10 so we took a risk. He played those 3 songs, one being The Roads, which is a Quincy favorite, and it was worth it just for that. It’s indie acoustic folk pop. 

But he also played his new stuff. 

Erm….it sounds like our boy Jonah is going through it and has been listening to a lot of Radiohead. Very Emo. Every new song sounded like Karma Police. 😂 we heard our 3 favorite songs and left a little early. The old songs were good and his banjo guy was awesome. We hit late night Taco Bell and had some car karaoke on the drive home. Sun up to sun down, I loved adventure day. 

Caamp in KC with Reese

Monday started out kind of hard. Reese and I went through the record collection and culled all of her albums to move to Idaho with her. Sounds silly but it was a highly emotional experience for both of us. Tears were shed more than once. Logan and Ammon were there as well and I was impressed by Logan’s, gentle and compassionate response to our unexpected sadness. Ammon was laughing and send “why are you guys crying right now? Is there some kind of hormonal thing happening that I am not aware of?! Meg, you look unwell!” Logan quickly let bro know that this is what mothers do, and he should prepare for his mom to be a little sentimental next week before he starts his mission. 

One of Reese’s favorite bands, Caamp, played in Kansas City at the starlight amphitheater on Monday night. I pitched the idea of just a mother daughter date to Logan and Aaron and both were encouraging. Special shout out to Aaron for being financially supportive as well.

At lunch time I pulled up the tour schedule for Caamp And passed my phone over to Reese And said “aye you feel like taking a little drive to Kansas City with me tonight?” She was SO excited! Quincy saw Caamp at the momentary with Benny her sophomore year, and Reese was at BYU and so jealous to miss out. Now it was her turn to see them live! And on a surprise whim.

Reese knew every word to every song. There was a cool breeze, the show was nearly sold out and we were elbow to elbow with the kindest people who were just as delighted as we were to be on the third to last row. Everyone was just happy to be there. Young and old, everyone loves some folk bluegrass. 

These guys are young! Frontman Taylor Meier has such a trademark unique raspy voice, we were expecting a bunch f old bald bearded men to take the stage. We were very surprised to find 25-30 (maximum) year olds playing so well. I assumed the rasp was from old tired vocal cords, but these guys were SO in sync and SO in tune and sang  beautifully!  

No bells or whistles. A very simple stage. Simple lights. No dancing or choreography. Just a group of friends with guitars, a banjo, and a mandolin.  Other songs had a bass, a second guitar, harmonic, a piano or synth, and percussion from drums as well as the second percussion setup they had with the whole audience stomping, clapping, and hollering along. 

We had a great time! The drive was lovely. 6 hours uninterrupted with my best friend. It was a dream! We covered a lot of material! My voice was as raspy as Taylor Meiers after all the yapping we did!  We also covered a dozen genres of music and listen to everything from Little, Jon and Ludacris to Manchester Orchestra and our beloved The Paper Kites…. which of course made me cry because Featherstone is my sendoff song for Reese. I love sharing a love for music with my kids, and I love that they appreciate dancing to Kanye or Zedd as much as a stomp and holler concert like last night. I also love that Reese recognized when Caamp threw in the guitar solo from Tom Perry’s Running Down a Dream into the show as Taylor introduced the band. 

Beautiful weather, beautiful daughter, and beautiful music (Caamp is a bunch of mega chillers!) 

They played all of our favorites. They also surprised the crowd with a rendition of Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun, and Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. 

Pizza Petting Zoo

 Hyrum told Aaron about a pizza place in Missouri with a petting zoo that we needed to check out. 

Pizza petting zoo? 

Say less, Hyrum. We’re in. 

It turned out to be not a petting zoo, but a stable for horseback riding, a fishing pond, a small farm with highland cows, pigs, geese, and goats (and kittens everywhere), a playground, and a restaurant that served wood fired pizzas. Hence, pizza petting zoo. 

We loved this place!! Bear had a fishing pole in the van so he disappeared to the pond right away. The boys played corn hole, aaron and I ordered some pizzas (pickles and ranch pizza? Delicious.) we ate, played, snuggled on horses, and then danced and sang along to the live music. It was a dreamy night! We will definitely return. 

Mahjong party

 

This was a fun party! Jenny is a polyglot and speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, Iranian, English, and she has been taking Spanish classes for several years. Lorena is her profesor de español. Lily and Christina are primary language Spanish, so the 4 of them bounced back and forth between Spanish and English throughout the party. 

Nga is Vietnamese but married to a Chinese husband. Marion’s parents are both from Hong Kong and she grew up in Australia and then New York. She speaks with a unique American accent. Jenny, Nga, and Marion switched between Chinese and English (which was only for my and Jana’s sakes.) 

Jenny’s cat was the most vocal of the whole crowd. Sassy took a seat at the mahjong table and wailed loudly to be fed

There was quite a spread. Spinach pastries. Artichoke dip, Brussels sprouts, prosciutto wrapped around melon slices, fermented veggies (these were SO delicious, Jenny taught me how to make them. Like a blend of freshly pickled veggies and kimchi —but not spicy or stinky. There was also Asian chicken skewers and a flan—-which sassy jumped up and tried once she was left undetected.

 Yall know how I feel about cats, so you can imagine how well Sassy and I get along. Just look at her in Jana’s spot at the mahjong table. Jana thankfully loves cats and shared with sassy. 

Lisa was out of town taking Jacob to BYU, but here we have Jana, Christina, Jenny Kung (our lovely hostess and mahjong teacher), Nga, Marion, Lily, and Lorena. 

Christina and I are the only ones who did not have a single win. I can’t believe it. I was “pre-mahjong” very quickly every single had and always lost with one tile to go.  It was great to play with a different teacher and setting. So many games uninterrupted, I feel like I could successfully teach someone else how to play now. 

谢谢 Jenny for the fun party! Xiè xiè! 

. 

Rim Realer Exposition

 

Reapers lost the expo game, but won the two non official games that followed. A friend on The Burger Sauad offered their opening prayer. It was non-traditional and so sincere and heartfelt, everyone there was touched. A dozen friends plus us, the Newtons, and Ratsachack’s pulled up to watch. Ryan played timekeeper, manned the scoreboard going and  logistics. A pretty physical game. Sloppy burger ball as the boys call it. Corbin’s temp ran hot but he had fun. 

 Brody and Noah aren’t going to play this year bc they have cheer and track to focus on. Corbin called Brody and convinced him to at least come hang out. Brody brought Noah and they joined for pickup ball after. Corbin is really going to miss regular hoops with Neal, Hyrum and Ammon.

With Logan and Ryan too. 

Soren: Tiger 2 Mile

 Soren ran the Tiger 2 Mile on Friday night. It was 100* youtside. He took like 18 Secconds off last years time and got 12:30. 6:15 minute miles. Nicely done, Saunch! He’s very proud of himself. It’s going to be a great XC season! Henry and Bear were great cheerleaders too! 

Sunday School Temple Night

 We had a nice turnout for our Sunday School class Temple Night. It was so special to have a little team huddle with them in the House of the Lord. I talked to Tiffany and Sarah after about how impressed we were by their reverence. Good to see some seriousness out of these guys. Neal isn’t endowed yet, so he called Corbin and they did baptisms. Tom A and the Johnsons were also there. After the photo, some of the ducklings stood around talking and I was easily convinced to take them to Braums for burgers and ice cream. 

I really hope all these boys know how loved they are. 

Corbin, Neal R, Sarah A, Davey S, Me, Hyrum J, Bryce A, and Ammon J

Confetti

I feel like I live most of my life in the 10 minutes just after one of those confetti cannons has been fired. A lot of suprises, 1 minute of swirly snow globe sparkled bliss, and 9 minutes of wreckage clean up. Everything is thrown up on top of everything. On repeat. But all the joyful one minutes balance the working 9 over and over. Just a lil’ dabble of pics from the last 10 days and all the love my life is sprinkled with. It’s everything on everything and messy and I’m always late, but it’s a pretty mess. Like confetti. 

I will never get tired of a Sunday Tri tip and homemade crusty bread

Kids are back in school. Reese and I decorated Corbin’s car and he has been told repeatedly that “it looks like a basic  white girl’s car”. Reese clapped back with “well Corbin I’m

A basic white girl and I’m awesome.” Moral: just take things as a  compliment.

Got a drop in visit from our girl Finley the other night. Love her! 

Weekly Mahjong group is back at it and going strong. We play for 1 hour after we get totally wrecked in a weight lifting class. 

Jenny is having us over to her house to cook for us on Saturday. You know I am stoked out of my mind for this and if she makes a scallion pancakes I will weep with joy. How did I end up in this little circle of Asian women playing Chinese Mahjong? I don’t really know how it happened…I was with Lisa Hill and I think they kinda just let me in cuz they wanted her. 😂 

On Thursday I helped Mary at Tuckaway for a few hours. We harvested flowers and made dozens of bouquets for their Thursday night CSA pickup and Saturday farmers market stand. Flowers are my favorite thing to play with. I wish I knew how to grow them! 

Ok listen. Life with triplets is dang fun. When they pick out matching uniforms? Oh come on. This sends me. Way too cute to handle. 

We had a little family night checking out the exhibit at the momentary. It’s an entire store made from felt. 

Quincy.

Would. 

Die. 

Every little detail is made from felt. Buttons and shelves and a payphone and magazine rack and a coke machine and pharmacy. All of it. It’s unreal! So SO cool. 

We also played games in the lounge there. Logan could play board games all day. The kids all love this about him. He is such a good big brother. 

Life with Reese and Brogan home is so fun. They operate on college student hours Which means the night is just getting started around 10:30 or 11pm and there is only one 12 o’clock in their day. Aaron and I went up there late the other night to watch a show with them. 

I joined them, plus Corbin and Ryan and whatever basketball boys turned up for a weekly midnight Taco Bell or Dons parking lot snackery. Reese appreciates having another girl there for balance to the force. I love them so much. Rexburg is the luckiest! 

While I was in Taiwan, aaron was the most fun dad ever and the kids enjoyed a weeks worth of Yes Days with the kids. On one such yes day, they convinced him to take the fam to Dave and Busters. This is a special level of insanity that only is reached by a desperate father missing the structure and sustenance provided by the mother. 

The real punishment being left for me bc it’s an unlimited reusable pass. This place is what hell feels like. Truly the worst with all the blinky blinky obnoxious games and arcade peopley peoplenss. But to get our moneys worth out of the Dad desperation insanity pass, I ventured into the belly of the beast with the children on Saturday.

You know that Coney Island scene in Pinocchio? I think it was filmed inside of Dave & Buster’s. The children came home with a million little prizes that they live and they are so happy. Reese and Logan said that experience was so overstimulating it made them want to be minimalist parents on the sad beige millennial children trend. Word up. I low key agree. 

Aaron and I drove past the hot air balloon festival on our date the other night. So pretty. A little underwhelming that the balloons did not launch though. 

Bear started a different med and so far so good. He is the sweetest cuddle bear. 

Life with four daughters. We have missed Quincy extra the past few days. I don’t know why. I’m usually not super emotional about her being exactly where she needs to be. But for whatever reason, my heart truly aches for my little bestie right now and the sisters feel the same way. I sat in the driveway and just cried with Reese a few minutes about it yesterday and I’m getting weepy just typing thins and thinking about her right now, so I shall move on. But yeah. I really miss Quincy. I miss her so big. 

The van was in the shop for days last week. That was a challenge. One day I was kind of stranded at the auto shop, and it was only supposed to be an hour, so I walked for 30 minutes over to the fitness center to pass the time. 

It ended up being 5 hours. I got lunch on Walmart campus with Aaron, went to a workout class, walked, found a cozy chair and read, hung out with Ryan on his lunch break, and sat in the massage chairs in the relaxation station. I felt pretty unproductive and oddly a bit lonely just killing hours at the gym, but it really was not a terrible day. 

Our Willardson Jamine is a TRAINER! She will be so great in this role and with new responsibilities to stretch her. 

Corbin hit the 5 Seconds of Summer concert with a billion friends. He had a great timtbfțI’m so glad he went. Aaron and I both have concert itch. Might need to take a trip just the two of us to catch 2DCC while they are touring North America in September. 

It was 109* yesterday and it has not rained in like 47 days. The earth is brittle and crispy dry and thirsty but the humid air still feels like soup. We are missing our Metfield Ward friends and lake invites. I could use a day on a dock with yacht rock and a pool noodle to float. 

Or rain. I’d take that too. 

Reese and Logan got tickets to the balloon fest and look at the pics Annika snapped of them. So cute. 

Next item of business: 

WHO IS READY FOR THE RETURN OF B&G HOOPS?!

Corbin handed over (that’s the nice way to say it) all team decision making and social media rights, pretty much any ownership at all to new management in exchange for a spot on the 2026-2027 Rim Reaper roster. 

He’s not starting.

He is not starting. 

But he’s showing up smiling, happy to play, and loyal (to a fault) to the brand he built. 

He set up an expo game with a couple of boys from last years Reapers that new management did not invite back for the new season. Rim Reapers vs The Burger Squad will be a nice showdown. 

 

The sunset over the Bentonville temple was a fire from above. So pretty.