Mountain Vistas Day

Our neighborhood has some fun activities. We have an annual Easter egg hunt, Christmas donation/charity drive (which my friends and I started), and Mountain Vistas Day, which is an all day long party for our neighborhood. It started yesterday with a 5:30am bike ride in which Mike participated. I was up at 7am setting up carnival games. Then, there is a flag raising ceremony (Mike saw, I was still setting up games and the kids were asleep), followed by a fun run. Then, there is the childrens parade. The kids love this and decorate their bikes, jeeps, wagons, etc and parade through a short route in the neighborhood. That's where these pictures were taken. When they meet down at the park, they get a popsicle!

In the afternoon, there are inflatables, which Brandon LOVED so much that we had to leave because everytime his turn was over, we'd have to retrieve him from the bounce house (or others) and he'd kick and scream! There were also carnival games in which I was helping out.

Then, there is dinner in the common area for everyone (we figured it had to be about 700 people) followed by a raffle (to buy books for our new elementary school) and we won rainbow popcorn and McD's gift certificates....this was the low end prize! Ha, ha! Then, an outdoor movie. It's a long day, but a lot of fun and good to get the neighbors out and talking. I did meet some new people this year and since our neighborhood is now divided by ward boundaries, it's good to have a chance to see old friends even though they only live a couple of streets away.

But, true to how interesting our week has been, this day was not without it drama. When it was time for the outdoor movie, Mike went over with the girls and I went home to put Brandon to bed. After he was asleep, I went into the kitchen just in time to see a CAR speeding on a pathway that runs behind our house. Now this is a walking path or a bike path and little kids and families are always out there. So, I ran out front to see when they were going to exit the pathway and luckily, they headed down the street by my house. I grabbed my big and tall neighbor that was out and told him to help me stop this car because they were speeding on the pathway. Well, when this car full of teenage boys could tell we were trying to stop them, they pulled in a driveway and turned around and sped out of the neighborhood. This neighbor and I got the license plate # and called the police. So, I spent an hour giving a statement and trying to help the police figure out who these kids were. As we talked with other neighbors who saw them, we found out they had driven on the park strip, pee'd on the trees, been skateboarding on the pathway and swearing at the neighbors. The plate was out of SLC and registered to an old lady, so I don't know how far the police officer got last night. But today during church, one neighbor asked his Sunday School class if they new who belonged to this car and they knew who it was....one of the girls in the neighborhood's boyfriend. So, I guess I'll be calling the police station in the morning to give them a name. It's just so scary that they were on this pathway because of the kids that are always back there! So, I guess even in quiet Kaysville, we have big city problems! :)

One more thing: Last year our ward was given some government assisted apartments. At first, of course, everyone was leary of this and not really excited. Well, just last week, they were taken out of our ward! They have been put in a new stake and are making a branch with our people, some trailer homes and a womens shelter....and we are so sad! We were able to make some fun friends and there are some amazing people there. Of course, there were those with major issues, but we met and love Marta, who is from Argentina and invited our whole family over to feed us Sunday dinner one week. She is a little old lady and obviously didn't have the funds to feed our family of five, but had a wonderful dinner prepared for us. We love her and our kids love her and I'm so sad that we won't get to see her happy face every Sunday. She is taking the change hard and feels rejected. But, what a wonderful opportunity for these ladies to become leaders...something which may never happen if they stayed in our ward. We also met Vivianna and her daughter, Melena, also from Argentina. When I visited her with one of my R.S. counterparts, she also brought out whatever treat she had to welcome us to her home. She also tried so hard to learn English better and was teaching in the Gospel Essentials class. She has a wonderful spirit and when I saw her today (because she is babysitting for someone in our ward while the parents are on a trip), she said she was so sad and I just told her I loved her and she will do great things in her new branch and I was excited for her, but I will also miss her. There was also 2 couples the we knew well, that moved out before the change, Suelen and Craig and Geoff and Merci. Fun, young couples that we had the honor of working with. And the young mother, Giselle, who would bring her 2 little girls (3 years and 18 months) to church and had such an amazing testimony and bright smile. I feel like we were blessed to know them!