General Relief Society Broadcast

One of the best things I have going on right now is the opportunity to serve as the Stake RS Secretary. Next to callings in cub scouts and family history it is one of my favorites. I get to work with some phenomenal women. I don't express my feelings often or well, but I have come to love these gals. They are wonderful and have taught me so much more than I could ever give in return. As part of the General RS Broadcast we like a lot of Stakes in the church had a dinner for the sisters in the Lenexa Stake.

Dividing up the work.










That's just the icing on the cake.







We had gone around to all the wards to make a special announcement and it was so much fun. Then we gave out prizes for certain categories and just had a good time with that. Then of course the broadcast was absolutely awesome.
World wide sisterhood.

There was so much to learn that I couldn't get it all in one night. I'm just glad it's rebroadcasted on the web. I was fortunate to have my wonderful friend Susan to help with my part of the cooking.

I don't know about everyone else, but I had a great time that evening.

Birthday at Buca's

Celebrating a birthday is so much fun, especially when it isn't mine. Tonight we celebrated Linda's 24th birthday at Buca de Pepo. It was a lot of fun. Linda's sister-in-law organized the whole thing. The room she had reserved was called the Pope Room. I think you'll be able to see why after looking at the pictures.
The portions are huge. A small meal can easily feed two maybe even three people. It was delicious. We had the most darling server. Her name was Suzanne. She was bubbly and so sweet. Really cool thing about this room is the acoustics. The table seats about 15 and when you talk to the person next to you in a regular tone of voice, the person sitting across the table can hear you like they were the one sitting next to you.

Saying Good-bye.

I will be the first to admit that I am not a huge animal lover. So when my husband suggested 11 years ago that we get a dog for Daryn, I wasn't real thrilled with the idea. I didn't say yes, nor did I say no. Joe took that to mean it would be fine with me. One day he takes the kids out for a ride for who knows what. He calls me on the way home and says he got a dog, just like that. Needless to say I was not happy with that. You know who gets stuck with taking care of the animal right? The mom. I told him right then and there that I would not be taking care of the dog and if Daryn didn't do it he would have to.
I remember when they got home with the dog, I took one look at him and thought, "he's adorable" Dreamy became a part of our family that day. That's the name the pound said he had and it stuck. I wanted to call him Domino because he had white paws with black spots that reminded me of a domino.
I am happy to say that most of the time Daryn became very responsible taking care of Dreamy and on the occasion when he forgot, Joe took charge.
He has been a good dog. He never licked anyone in the face which just bugs me to no end. Friday unfortunately we had to put him down. He was sick and we could not afford to pay for the procedures necessary. I didn't think it would bother me being the non-animal lover that I am, but it has made me sad. I guess I'm more of an animal lover than I thought.

He's Off

The day has finally arrived. Sean reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo yesterday. It was a whirlwind trip for me. The night before he reported we got together with some of the kids from the ward that are attending BYU this semester. It was fun to see them together.
Then came a short

tour of the campus while we waited for Sean's report time. With still time to kill and hungry tummies we decided to try In-and-Out. I am pleased to say we both enjoyed it. Sean liked the fries, but said my homemade fries tasted better. He sure knows how to make me feel good.

Then came the final good-bye. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be. When Laura went on her mission, we just took her to the airport and said good-bye there. Daryn of course didn't leave home to serve his mission. I was not prepared for the feelings. It was the saddest happy thing to do. I think I finally understand the term bitter sweet.
In the rush to leave however Sean accidentally left his back pack with his scriptures and copy of Preach My Gospel, in the back seat of the car. Unfortunately I didn't notice until it was almost time to return the car. Good thing we can mail things to him. Oh well, there has to be something I guess.

KC Temple

KC Temple mid July

Periodically I make a trip to Liberty. Sometimes I have a little extra time before my appointment and I will stop by the temple site to see the progress being made. The more recent pics were taken from the opposite side of the one taken in mid July.



KC Temple Sept. 3

Charles' Big Day

My Little Teddy Bear on his blankie.



Charlie with Uncles Sean and Daryn


Charles Theodore Rathjen


Linda's little family
Today was Charlie's blessing day. It was a beautiful blessing too. There almost wasn't enough room for everyone participating. It brought to my mind that Heavenly Father loves each of His children. After Church we went to the cousins' house for our family fastbreaker. I have come to really enjoy these Sunday afternoons. One never knows what's going to happen. Today Travis decided to play his guitar and we sang Primary songs. Here we're singing a fun pioneer song. Celeste participated too by moving to the music. She has this funny way of dancing that just makes me laugh all the time.

Birthday Buddy

As I've mentioned before, on the day my newest little CTR was born in the birthing room next to Linda, Jenny Staggs was having her baby. Finally got a picture of the two of them together. I don't think there was ever any concern of getting the two of them mixed up. Drew has dark hair and my little Teddy Bear is very much a blondie. They are both adorable.

My Little CTRs

Just some pictures of my CTRs.

Summer Vacation

For our family vacation we spent the day in St. Louis. Linda, Nathan, Celeste, and Charlie went with us as did Dani and Jon. It was a fun filled time. We also combined a visit to the temple for Sean to receive his endowment.





Most of the evening was spent in the hotel pool. It's been too long since I've been swimming. It was a blast.

MoTab Wanna Be

One of my favorite classes in high school was choir. I started singing in school choirs in the fifth grade. My dad was singing in the ward choir at the time so I guess you could say I was following his example. Music was a big part of his family growing up and I wanted to continue in that tradition. In high school I would joke around with one of the other choir members who was an inactive member of the church that some day we would both be singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Now there is no way I would ever be able to sing with that wonderful choir, but I think I have the next best thing. My daughter Linda has been trying for a very long time to get me to join with her in singing with the Mormon Chorale the KC area's version of the MoTab. I would tell her no because I don't think I'm a good enough singer. Plus I have to sing alto now since age and allergies have diminished my range somewhat. That's little bit of a problem since I don't really read music. I mean, I know what the notes are on the staff, but if you were to ask me what an "A" sounds like, I wouldn't have a clue. I can sing the part if I can hear someone next to me singing it, but I am very self concious of how I sound. Well, I put my fears aside and sucumbed to Linda's persuasions and joined. I've gone to two practices so far and I tell you it is an experience. I imagine the practices are very similar to how the MoTab does it. It is challenging and I'm LOVING it.

A Slice of Heaven

There is something very special about seeing one's children together in the celestial room of the temple. Last Saturday we had the experience of going through the temple while Sean received his endowment. It was extra special because My three older children were able to attend with us as was my niece and her husband. It would have been nice to have more ward family members there, but I was glad the Mannings were able to be there. It was a nice experience. I just wish I could have enjoyed it more. The blue monster had a hold on me that day which made things a little difficult, but that's how it goes at times.
It was a special day for Sean because after the endowment session he was able to assist with baptisms as Rebekah was participating there. It is a tremendous blessing to know that all of my children are worthy to attend the temple.

August 2010 Family Update

It’s funny how sometimes a month just seems to fly by and at other times creep along like a snail. This has been one of those months that has flown. Probably because so much has happened since I last wrote an update. I’ve decided to do this a little differently this time and post this on my blog instead of just sending it in an email. I won’t go into the boring details of why I’m trying something new, mostly because I want to try something new.

Joe is busy, busy, busy. I don’t know how he does day after day. Things at the hotel have eased up a bit so that’s good. Unfortunately the business did lose their biggest client this month. We knew that was a possibility since the contract was awarded to another company, but thanks to the great sales team we have, enough new clients have signed up to make up the difference.

Laura is now home from BYU and enrolled at the University of Kansas. She has decided to live at home which makes me happy. I think in the long run it will be less expensive since there is bus she can use to commute. KU has even accepted a lot of credits from BYU, not as many as she would like, but more than expected. She’s looking for a job also. I know she could get one at the hotel. They would hire her in a second, but she wants to try something new. Nothing wrong with that.

Linda and her crew have had a major change to their family. Charles Theodore Rathjen was born July 14 and is a healthy little boy. I still have to laugh to myself of the coincidence that happened that day with my bishop’s wife giving birth that same day in the delivery room next door to Linda’s. Nathan has been able to work for a few weeks this month with his dad’s company. I keep hoping that one day he’ll be able to find a more permanent job.

Daryn has been working more at Joe’s office. Between that and learning code and programming for the computer he stays pretty busy. He has been called to work in Primary, teaching the Sunbeams. He loves it. He is so good with little kids. He just has a natural rapport with them.

Sean received his mission call. That’s his big news. He has been called to serve in the Nevada, Las Vegas West Mission. It’s a good thing our neighbor down the street just returned home from that same mission so he can give Sean the scoop on everything. It seems too we have quite a few missionaries from the stake serve there.

Rebekah is a working girl now. She got a job at Michael’s. It’s going to be really difficult to restrain myself from going there too often to shop. I guess it’s a good thing I have this need to finish a project before I start another. She also obtained her driver’s license. Yipee! No having to drive her to Seminary in the morning. Plus since it’s still a novelty to her, she is willing to run errands for me.

Not a whole lot is happening with me. I did get a “job” too. I don’t know if I would really call it that. I’ve been hired by a gentleman in my stake to do research for him. For me it’s perfect. I can do most of the work from home, I can set my own hours, and I get paid to do something I enjoy anyway. I couldn’t ask for anything better.

Born in the USA sorta

In the past couple of years I have had the privilege of attending citizenship ceremonies for two of my husband's employees. One of the nation's newest citizen Violeta Soubie
There is a lot of preparation that goes into the application for citizenship that one doesn't normally get to see. It is also interesting to see the slight differences in each of the ceremonies. The first I was able to attend took place in a large auditorium and was said to be the largest swearing in to ever be held in the state of Kansas. The more recent one had about 90+ people and apparently according to the security guards at the federal building is held on a monthly basis with about that many in attendance. The first one I attended the officiator named a country and every from that country stood. The more recent ceremony, the clerk read each person's name, their native country, and their occupation with place of employment if they had one. Free advertising for us lol.

Those attending the ceremony to support Violeta except Billie and TP who missed the photo op.


Almost the same thing as above except Billie and TP are in this one and Calli was taking the picture.

Gab Bumatay was so kind in letting Violeta have a party at her house afterward. They set a great spread. Tasty!