We have survived the musical season at the high school.  Riverton high school performed Music Man.  Emma was a principle dancer and they let Mari play the part of Amaryllis.  Emma was fantastic as usual.  Mari had a few speaking lines and did a very good job.  We saw the show 6 times.  We went for a rehearsal to take pictures.  We aw it with the middle school and for each performance.  When I close my eyes all I hear is 76 trombones.  After the middle school performance Mari told me "I want to do this the rest of my life."   I think we have started something within her.  She is already looking for other shows to perform in.  Emma did great and we get to tease her now about her first kiss being a gay guy on a bridge.  She has been paired with the same guy for most dances and shows and he is openly gay.  It was very uncomfortable.  We had almost all of my family come to see the show and a lot of support from the Ward. 

Emma is starting to apply to all the local schools.  i thought she would make an attempt at applying to BYU but so far she is hoping she will get accepted into the U in their business and marketing program.  That is the only school she is excited about.  She is not applying to BYU.  i think she is wanting to go to Snow for a semester and then go on a mission.  After the mission she wants to go to the U.  We try not to talk to Tiffany about it.  Whenever we talk about Emma graduating Tiffany gets emotional.  It has not hit me yet.  I knew this was coming and I think I'm prepared.  Emma is enjoying her MDT experience but not her DECA experience.  She is not getting along with the other officers in DECA.  they are being catty and mean.  She will be considering resigning as the president if she can't find a way to make it work.  She was an officer last year and had a great experience.  This year has been different.  the advisors have not been much help with refereeing the officers.   We are trying to help her through this process and give her the best experience we can.

Eve has been having health problems for a while.  I was not aware of these concerns.  she has some stomach issues in the Summer that have not gone away.  We recently got her some help.  She went into to see a lady doctor and the technician found a large cyst on one of her ovaries.  She went back in for another look and the cyst is not there.  I think the first technician made a mistake.  She saw a GI specialsist and they found a blockage.  She is on some medicine that has made her weekend a challenge to enjoy.  they are trying to clean her out.  She has been in consistent pain and this medicine seems to make it worse.  We are hoping she will be able to get better soon.

Hyrum has started basketball again.  Since he has not been in football it is taking him a while to get his athletic feet under him.  I'm starting to get organized with the Stake league.  We have more teams than we have had in the past.  It will make the scheduling more challenging than in the past.

Smoked some ribs yesterday so I'm in a happy place. 

This past weekend was a catch up weekend.  We finished the base boards and moved all the furniture back.  Tiffany is feeling better having the home back as it is supposed to be.  Emma and her friends used the basement to create a massive blanket fort.  They were planning to watch a movie but instead gabbed and ate some cookie dough.  They seemed to have fun.  Emma has been very stressed about the musical.  She feels a need to watch over all of Mari's needs with the musical forgetting that she is not a mom yet.  Tiffany and I have not been doing much with Mari for the musical becasue we have not known what was needed.   We are now helping Mari with her lines and costumes.  We hope this will help Emma.  What we really need to for Emma to communicate better.  We are trying to help her there.

Eve has been chosen to participate in recording a song for the new Youth Theme for 2017.  She spent the day yesterday in Provo recording the song.  She has her cello, a viola, and 2 violins.  She did not try out for the song.  She offered to participate and the composer "Facebook stalked" Eve and Tiffany and felt comfortable having Eve participate.  she will be filming the music video next Saturday which means she will shopping all week for the perfect look.


Sunday Observation

Heavenly Father want us to be happy.  We try to read scripture as a family every day but it does not always work out.  When it does not work out for us we quote and article of faith or a scripture we have memorized,  All I have do to is start the family and they will finish the verse.  One of the favorites is "Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy."  Our father wants is best for us.  His view is often times long term.  We want immediate happiness but sometimes we are meant to struggle.  I think of two examples with different calling Tiffany has had that were challenging.  I think of when she was called to be the Primary Pianist when she had not played the piano consistently since she was in Middle School.  She would practice many times during the week and then play on Sunday.  On Sunday the Primary kids were very honest in the appraisal of Tiffany's talents.  She kept trying to get better and did a great job.  Every time I hear her play the piano I remember that experience.  I would often times hear her play and turn off the TV to listen to her practice.  the other example was her experience with our Ward YW Presidency.the gals she worked with were great but younger than Tiffany.  many of them had small children around the same age.  They would not include her in things and started to develop a click in the Presidency.  Many of the women in the leadership felt isolated.  These younger women got the attention for the YW.  the Presidency was not following the handbook.  The YW as a whole were not unified.  Is caused Tiffany a lot of stress.  She had to learn to get over her concerns and find joy in what she had control over.  She eventually did and got released because she was called into the Stake YW Presidency.  She is loving her calling in the Stake and hopes it will last for a long time.  So do I.

Mom and Dad's Tribute to Wally Rupp

Our Wally Rupp Memories
(Can't let Wally's passing go by and not post our thoughts. This is long and if you aren't mourning Wally you may choose not to read this.)
We moved in to our first home in 1970. We had 3 three year olds (Mark, Christie and Carrie) and Matthew was 1 1/2 years old. The subdivision was built on the Mackay farm who had sold it to a developer. It was obvious to us new comers that the locals were not to happy to have these starter homes filling up their backyard. But Wally said he didn't like chicken farming anyway but he did get a bit upset when some of the new comers tried to fill in his irrigation ditch. "These stupid kids don't understand water rites"

We were all endeared to those blue eyes and that premature gray hair and it wasn't long before we knew the whole family and learned to love that elegant Gloria and wondering how that Wally ever talked her in to marrying him. It was obvious she adored him but she was always trying to temper that Rupp reputation we kept hearing about.

We had three tricycles for our 3 three year olds and one day all the back wheels went missing,. We couldn't imagine what had happened to those wheels. A few days later two little boys showed up with a old red wagon full of wheels. They were asking if any of the wheels belonged to us. Wally was standing there looking rather fierce as we talked to the kids. Seems someone wanted to build a go cart and needed some wheels. Wally was not smiling one bit.

We were assigned a new home teacher, Wally Rupp. The kids loved Wally throwing them down the stairs and catching their foot just before they sailed off bringing them back to safety. That was only the boys and when the twins tried to get a turn he told them he didn't play with dumb girls. That didn't stop the girls from vieing for his attention and they loved going on "girl hikes" with Wally at girls camp. He still called them dumb girls and they ate it up.

He was the scout master and Mark looked forward to turning 11 yrs old so he couold be a part of the 745 troup. I remember Mark's first 50 miler as he walked out of our circle hauling his backpack over to Wally's. As he walked away from us all we could see were these little legs from the knees down and this huge backpack. I didn't want to let him go but wally assured me he would keep him safe. When he returned we asked him about all the rumors of initiation etc. and all he would say was that it was a great time and he couldn't wait till next time. None of our boys would tell us what went on at the 50 miler. But as far as we knew they always returned safe and sound with an increase in confidence and the ability to solve their own problems.

Once when I worked with the Laurels in "MIA" I was just arriving and 3 boys come blasting out of the church on a dead run. They went right over the hood of Wally's truck jumping into the back with Wally right behind them. Wally leaped into the back of the truck and grabbed those kids by the hair and through them out of the truck telling them he never wanted to see them again (in so many words). Farrell was bishop at the time and the boys came from inactive families. I worried that they would never come to church again but the next week they were back fully engaged in Wally's troop.
The phone rang quite late one Saturday night and when Farrell answered it a voice said, "Where the hell is Moses, I can't find him anywhere." Seems Wally was trying to prepare the lesson for the Deacon's Quorum and was looking for the Book of Moses and couldn't find it.

All of our sons were prepared to be eagle scouts by their Scout Master, Wally. He was organized and if you started with him at age 11 you would have your Eagle by age 14 but you had to work at it. We watched our boys work through those merit badges one at a time, go to classes when Wally told them to get to the library this day for your merit badge class. All 5 of our sons recieved their Eagle because Wally made it a priority for them. He accepted no excuses and we watched as our boys learned what was meant by that Scout Oath. I think Wally always kept an element of fear in those boys but they never doubted that he loved them and would do anything for them.

I was attending a meeting in the boardroom at LDS hospital one day. In came a good friend who was the director of social work. I told him he was looking rather tired was he ok? He said he was the Scout Master for his ward and had just got home from the 50 mile hike and he was tired. I asked him if it was worth it and he said, "Oh yes, it was a great time and just happened to meet the Greatest Scout Master of all time on the trail while we were hiking."
I said, " Oh really, was that Wally Rupp?
He looked at me surprised and said, "Yes, how did you know?
Well, for me Greatest Scout Master and Wally Rupp was a no brainer. He then went on saying he had heard so much about this legendary scout master and he finally got to meet him. It is true Wally was pretty famous.

We heard a rumor once that Wally told his bishop (his brother) to make him the Scout Master and then just leave him alone and not ask him to do anything else. We are so glad that he was the scout master for all our boys.

These last years we could always count on getting a hug every Tuesday morning at the temple from Wally - smiling from ear to ear - always so glad to see us.

We love the Rupp family and have many memories of Wally, Gloria and all 9 of those kids. Great memories, sweet memories, really happy memories. Farrell has some choice memories that he can't necessarily share as he was their bishop and those memories will forever be dear to him.
I will miss my proverbial hug from MY Wally, I can't help shed a a tear as I think of how many of our memories are linked to Wally and the Rupp family.

So Steve,Larry Rupp, Darrell Rupp, Carl,Lyle, Norm, Gordon, Aaron and Gayle Rupp Black we love you. We are sad that we were not there to celebrate his wonderful life. We are in Africa for a season thinking we will never see a flag wave that we won't think of our Wally. You see you have to share him with all of us because we love him too, we will also miss him.
We are so so glad we have had the Rupps in our circle of friends for many years.
Farrell and Marilyn Barlow

We had a good Birthday.  Eve and I have been celebrating our birthdays together since she was born. I prayed for her to be born on either mine or Tiffany's birthday just to make it all convenient.  She was born on mine.  When she was about 4 years old I began to understand what it will mean to share a birthday with one of my daughters.  Everything with pink and glittery for about 8 years.  It has not been nearly as colorful the last few years.  For my birthday Tiffany took me to Top Golf.  She beat me soundly.  Top Golf is a gold driving range that has targets.  All you need to do is get the ball to a target.  not necessarily the target you were aiming for. We played three games and she beat me each game.  We then went to R&R BBQ for lunch.  I can do better.  We then went to a movie to watch Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  It was a very bizarre movie.  We did not make it all the way through the movie. That night I watched a BYU v Mississippi State football game.  It was a home game.  Eve did not want to go because she was having a birthday party the next day.  I did not feel like we could go and have her watch Mari on her birthday so we all stayed home.  It was a double OT game. It did not end until about 1:00 in the morning.  The next day Eve through a Quinceanera.  Her friends were convinced she needed to do this and would do everything needed for the party.  They did not.  Eve seemed to have fun.  they had the party in doors which became very loud.  I buried myself in the basement and watched some football and baseball until it all went away.
 

Rough week at work.  Our manager had moved on to a new role so we are having a change there.  They laid off 15 managers this week.  Most of them will have an opportunity to move somewhere else in Fidelity but not in management.  they want to increase the number of reps per team and take some of the responsibly away from managers to work on projects.  they want them to manage.  I struggle with how most of the managers are coached to manage at Fidelity.  I'm not looking forward to this.  They are likely not going to back fill our manager and instead blow our team up across the remaining three managers.  We lost a few reps in the last few weeks due to poor performance.  A few more will likely follow them.  We have heard more about how the changes to the laws of the Department of Labor will effect us.  Most roles will change dramatically.  We will not be comped the same.  I hope my current skill set will translate over to whatever the new rules could offer.  My not getting that FILI role is starting to sink in and I'm bummed about it.  all these concerns could have been avoided if I got that job.  We are in a new quarter so we have to start from a clean slate and get new results.  That is always stressful.  The feeling at work is not optimistic.  It is like there is a cloud hanging over all of us.  I'm trying to be positive and promote postivity among everyone but I feel myself slipping in whatever funk I have had problems with recently. 

Funny family night tonight.  Hyrum gave a lesson he was very excited to give.  He asked us to write down detailed instructions on how to make a PBJ sandwich. We all wrote down the instructions we thought he needed.  I knew he was only going to do what we told him to. Knowing this I thought I would get creative and see how committed he was to following the instructions to exactness.  The girls gave some instructions but never got the bread out of the bag.  Tiffany gave him instructions that successfully made a PBJ sandwich and cleaned up after himself.  I provided the follow instructions.

1) Open the bread bag
2) Take out two pieces of bread
3) Place the bread in front of you
4) Open PB jar
5) Use knife to scoop out PB
6) Spread PB evenly over one piece of bread
7) Smack yourself in the face with PB side of bread
8) Open jelly jar
9) Use knife to scoop out jelly
10) Jam as much jelly up your nose as possible
11) Shake your head like a wet dog
12) Take non PG bread in hand
13) Toss bread at your sisters head

Needless to say we have PB and jelly all over Tiffany's new kitchen.  I was in tears I was laughing so hard.  The girls were not amused as they got both pieces of bread thrown at them.  I will hold Hyrum shaking his head "like a wet dog" as a fantastic memory for a while.

I attened the funeral of Wally Rupp on Friday.  He was in his late 80s.  It is always hard to lose a mentor.  I learned a lot from him and measured a lot of men by what he did.  He was a colorful Mormon.  The first time I remember ever being sworn at was by him.  We have a picture of him and all my brothers with our eagle neckerchiefs.  I feel like I'm required to give back to young men due to my experience with Wally.  I can think of 4 other men from the 20th Ward I consider as mentors.  Bishop Daniels.  Bishop Porter. Keith Rupp. Mark Olsen.  Mark was the YM President when I was a Priest.  President Rupp was the Stake President in Dad's first time in the Stake Presidency.  I was struggling to get an adult to go Home Teaching with me.  I was attempting to set appointments and get the adult to go.  It didn't work too well.  Dad heard about it and asked that I get someone who will go and I was assigned to be a companion with President Rupp.  We visited all the old people in the Ward.  We would talk about all the aches and pains they were experiencing and then he would turn the lesson over to me.  It was good to have a partner who was willing to go.  I learned a lot from President Rupp.  Whenever Dad needed to do some service for his families he took me.  I was never his companion so I think he felt that I needed to have some hands on experiences with him.  We would mow lawns, clean homes, and do whatever was needed.  I never minded hard work so it was easy to go with him.  I found that he purchased a few rooms worth of carpet for a few of his families.  He did a lot of things like that and we never heard about it.  I paid for many from my rec basketball team.  I did not know about this until I was much older.

Wally's funeral was great.  He has had two of his boys earn the Silver Beaver award for scouting.  his sons told many stories about his life.  how he was a simple farmer and married a very educated woman.  Gloria was awesome.  She passed away many years ago.  It was good an awkward to meet some of the old friends from the 20th Ward.  most of them were very interested in talking to Tiffany but not necessarily me.  I'm fine with that and I thought it was funny.