Jack's Spa

Jack set up a spa tonight for whoever would sign up.  I signed up for two slots and Mike signed up for one.  I was instructed to knock on the door at the time of my appointment.  He greeted me with a darkened room...(the bathroom) and a soft chair..(from Mike's office)  I put my feet in a bowl of hot water.  The room was dark except for some red and green laser lights,...(from Christmas).  He also had "River sounds" playing on the google home. There was also the space heater to make the room nice and toasty. He then set a timer for 7 minutes. (every minute after that cost $1)  Then he gave me a back rub.  I have to say, he has some talent for massaging!!  It felt really good! It was a really relaxing Spa.  Mike even fell asleep during his session!  Mike demanded that the water for his feet be cool and that the space heater be turned off.  He is already a living furnace. :-)

I hope this Spa will become a Sunday tradition.  It left the house a mess, but we had fun.

Miserable Missionary Mamma

This week has been tough!!!  I got this email from Casie's Mission President's wife. 


Dear Jill,

I just wanted to update you on your missionary and her health this week. I am not sure of how much you know but she has been having a lot of pain in her stomach and so she went to the doctor yesterday to see what they could tell her. As it turned out, the doctor she was scheduled to see had cancelled all of his appointments but did not let them know. They gave her some kind of medication and she returned back home. This morning her companion called me and told me that the pain got worse this morning and so they were going to the hospital. I do not know all of the details but they admitted her and they ran some tests and I think she said they did a CatScan. When they got the results back, they said everything they were worried about or thought it might be turned out normal and so we were happy that surgery was not needed. They gave her a IV with pain medicine and sent her home with medicine from the hospital. She has a follow up appointment with a stomach specialist and so hopefully they can figure out why there is so much pain. She seemed to be in good spirits when I spoke with her today and so hopefully she will feel better with the medication. I am sure you will hear from her  but I thought I would give you what little information that I have.

We are grateful for your daughter and hope to get her on the mend soon. I will keep a close eye on things and let you know if anything changes. If you have any questions, please let me know. Do you have an iPhone? If you do and want to give me your number, I can text you and keep you updated or even FaceTime with you if needed.

Love,
Sister Taylor




I haven't been able to talk with Casie about it, but will tomorrow on Pday.  All I have had is nightmares about her. It's been so wonderful to have Casie serve a mission.  She has been so happy and having amazing success.  It's hard to be so far away while she is having these problems.  I want so much to be there and comfort her and help her.  I have been fasting today that she will have comfort and peace and that the doctors can find out why she is having so much pain.  I've never had such an easy time fasting.  I REALLY want my fast to help her.  I have been praying for faith and peace, but I have had a lot anxiety about this. 


I need to remember that she is the Lord's servant and he will care for her.  

Pinewood Derby

Mike and Jack participated in their first Pinewood Durby!!  Now, let's just say, Bearden's are really great at singing and dancing and being charming, but car builders we are not.  They spent a lot of time on the car, but it wasn't very fast.  Jack was shocked to see that he wasn't called up as the third place overall because he said, " Hey, I took third place in every race I did!  I should be third place!"  There were only three cars that raced each time and about 20 boys competing.  haha.  He did get best paint job though!  He was happy and didn't realize that he was the slowest car there.  Maybe I will tell him when he's older.  He looked adorable in his little scout shirt though, and he had tons of fun.  As I sat there and decided to google "How to make a winning Derby car" to get ready for next year, I had a thought come to me.  Jack has a lot going for him.  He's smart, funny, adorable, and talented.  I think he will win at a lot of things in life.  He has parents who love him and are happily married.  He has a fun extended family that love him and do lots of fun things with him. I think it's ok to not win ALL the time.  Maybe we will try some techniques next year that might make his car a little faster, but in this case, I think it's ok that other children win too!  One of the boys that won has a Dad that isn't in the picture.  He was helped by our former Bishop.  They were so proud and had such big smiles at the end of the night.  Another boy is handicap and took second place.  His smile and the smile of the crowds were priceless.  Jack was proud of his car, and we were proud of Jack.

A Christmas letter in January.

 I feel a bit sick about all the Bearden day to day living I have missed because I don't write it down. Here goes another attempt to write in my blog daily......

So here we are living in St George, and it's maybe, sorta, kinda, a little bit starting to feel like we made the right choice to come down here.


Casie is doing sooooo great on her mission.  She seems so happy and is having so much success.  She amazes me with her ability to speak the language.  We spoke with her on Christmas and it was the highlight of the season.  It's such a blessing to have a missionary in our family. She makes us all want to do better and be better.



Annie auditioned for her Tuachan Highschool madrigal choir.  Up to this point she has shown little or no enthusiasm for going to school there.  But the last two days I have got texts from her telling me how much she loves choir!  She says everyone one in the choir WANTS to be there and that makes it fun. 

Ellie hasn't adapted amazingly well yet, although I think she's had some good opportunities to look beyond herself and her friend group.  She has taught an elderly lady in our ward Uke lessons, and they have a cute relationship.  She has also, (on her own) decided to help with the handicapped kids in her school as one of her electives.  She comes home and talks more about that class than any other she has.  She has lots of friends, although she still remains loyal and true to her friends in South Jordan.  She also, with Mike auditioned for St George musical theatre Broadway review.  The director fell in love with Ellie right off and gave her a part...(we don't know what yet), but that made Ellie feel really good!  Hopefully this will be a way to feel more part of our community.

Jack is so energetic, smart, creative, willful and HARD!  I will admit he is has been a hard child lately! He's pretty stubborn and VERY in tune with what he wants and doesn't want.  No "layed back" behavior from this boy.  I do see many of his traits that will help him in life, but Mike and I are sometimes at a loss as how to handle him.  He is also very funny.  He has started to develop a hilarious sense of humor that I love.  He says funny things, like,.."Mom, doesn't my hair look flawless?"  He's also sensitive and has a hard time when Mike and I want to go out of town and leave him with his cousins.  He like me to be home with him.  He's getting better at reading and math and even says good things about school from time to time!

I have been made the Relief Society president of our ward.  I feel like a child trying to do a grown up responsibility!  I have amazing counselors though.  Each of them are EXACTLY what I wish I were.  I am trying to have Faith that Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he called me.  I know I have an opportunity to grow, but I also know I will make many mistakes.  I do feel a deep love for the sisters of my ward.  There are so many wonderful people around us. I also was obsessed with making Angels for Christmas.  It started as a small craft idea, then I ended up making around 160 in all! (I sold them...I don't have 160 fairy dolls at my house:)

Mike, along with the rest of our family is obsessed with the new movie, The Greatest Showman.  After seeing it for the 4th time...(yes 4th..in the theatre) he came home and arranged one of the songs from it and he and Ellie recored it.  It sounds great!  They are now in the process of planning a music video to go along with it.  I love that my family does this sort of thing!  It makes life really fun.