post festivities

Nov. 28, 2010
Dear Elder Alex,
Well, this Thanksgiving won't go down as one of the top ten, that's for sure. Here's what happened in a nutshell. Kirk came home last Saturday from Rexburg. We got your letter on Monday and it was so great. I'm glad you're staying with Elder Jolley. Don't let him get too trunky on you. I'm hoping to hear good news about Jessica, that she got baptized, etc. We've been praying for her and her family. Can't wait to hear what happened over the weekend for you.

Then on Monday Sean came home. It kept getting colder and little bursts of snow started to fall from the skies. Sean said things got bad around Twin Falls but it started snowing here Monday night and didn't let up until Tuesday. But just because it let up here didn't mean it was good down in Utah. In fact, they got a full blown blizzard with all the warnings to stay home. Steve and Carolina and gang started up here on Tuesday hoping to beat the bad weather. Allen and Lisa left St. George also on Tuesday morning hoping to make it to Provo and spend the night, then come to Idaho the next day. Steve calls me from Tremonton asking what the road reports say. He says there are signs everywhere saying that the roads are closed up ahead, but of course he decides to try and come through anyway. We look up the reports and can see that sure enough the roads are closed. Steve calls from Snowville where they are caught in a horrible white out blizzard. They are told to turn around and so they slowly work their way south again. Laura is very scared in the car and so are Dakota and Kassie. When they finally get through the pass, they stop in Brigham City at a place to get some hot chocolate and try to relax after all the tension. By the time they get back in their car, there's a blizzard in Brigham City and it's moving south. It now takes them hours to get back home driving in a horrible conditions the entire way. When they get home, Allen and Lisa are there and Allen is huddled in front of the fire with the chills. He's sick. Steve calls me and says they are so wiped out from this adventure that there's no way anyone wants to get back in the car on Wednesday and try it again, plus Allen is not feeling well at all. I can't tell you how sad that made all of us.

On Wednesday morning we went down to the Center on the Grove to watch Nikki perform with her honor choir from Eagle Elementary. We walked around afterwards to see the festival of the trees, then we walked around downtown Boise for a bit, but it was very cold.


I made lots of calls on Wednesday to friends to come to our pie night that night, so that was fun. But it just wasn't the same. Then we asked the Hugentobler's to come to Thanksgiving on Thursday. It was fun having them here, but again it just wasn't the same. Steve called me early Wednesday evening asking if we were getting ready for pie night and said he was so depressed, that they were just walking around the house saying "This isn't Thanksgiving." I watched a TV show "The Middle" that night and their expected family wasn't able to make it for Thanksgiving either so the mom, who was very sad, said, "It's just not right, not having family come for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving without family is just overeating!" I laughed so hard at that because that's pretty much how I felt.

On Thursday when I was cooking, Carolina texted me and wanted to know what I was making, etc. So we pretended for a few minutes that we were together. We exchanged pictures of our small tables of greed presents and moaned. We thought about doing it together over skype. haha We had tons of food and Carolina had to scramble to go out and buy everything for dinner. We even ate leftovers tonight for dinner. I sent 2 pies home with Kirk and I'll send another 2 home with Sean tomorrow.

To top off the sorrow of the weekend, BSU lost to Reno in overtime where Brotzman missed 2 field goals. The game ended at midnight and I couldn't get to sleep until 4am. Same with dad. Then the next day we decided to watch the BYU/Utah game hoping to get a little good cheer if BYU would beat them. They were ahead the whole game until the very end where it came down to a field goal once again. A field goal would have won the game for them with 4 seconds to go and they were well within kicking distance, but NO of course his kick was blocked and Utah won the game. So once again it was a downer. I called Steve immediately afterward and told him to never miss coming up here again because it set off a whole vibe of bad luck.

Of course, it was nice having friends and family here with us which I love. Jared and Kendra have been spending a lot of time here too. In fact, they're here right now putting on a movie for their little girl Jodi. They just found out tonight that Jodi's father will let her be sealed to Jared the same day they get sealed in the temple. They are so happy about that. Also today at church we got to hear the reports from Dalton and Preston. They were both excellent talks. Dalton talked about faith and how much his faith grew on his mission and gave stories from his mission about that. Then Preston talked about repentance and the atonement and how so many people were able to change their lives on his mission.

Just finished playing a quick game of Scattergories with Jared, Kendra, Sean and Dad. I was going to win but in the last round for some unknown reason I saw the category heroes and even though the letter was "C", I saw heroes and wrote down Hulk Hogan and then went on to write all my words starting with "H". I feel jipped of a good game! Oh well, it's late and things are not working, but I had awesome words starting with "H".

We're busy this weekend working on your next box. We're having a lot of fun with it. Also, I ran into the Borup's at the movies over the weekend and they were asking about you and want to start getting your letters. So I sent your last few and Sis. Borup and Chelsea wrote back saying how fun it was to read your letters. They said they'll write you.

We went to Aaron Anderson's reception on Saturday. Lauren Frame was asking about you and said to say hi. We saw the Goodwin's there and talked more about your mission. Jamie went to the temple last week and is very anxious to get out there. Nigel's roommate went to your mission and was the AP when Elder Jolley first came out. His name is Eric Call and he spoke very fondly of Elder Jolley. He said he remembers that he knew every type of cow there was and that he was a hard worker and very energetic. It's fun hearing more things about your mission from guys who have gone there. They all speak very fondly of it.

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. I know the Bishop there probably treated you great and I wasn't worried about you at all. I hope your other investigators are moving forward especially Jessica's sister Samantha. I heard once, When you save a woman, you save an entire generation.

Well, it's back to normal around here this next week. The girls are back in school, the boys are back to college, dad's back to work, I have blessings to type, RS meetings to attend, presidents to orient, one funeral to attend, a PPI with Pres. Stafford, etc, etc. Life is good and full. Which reminds me, if you see any families or people there who might have a need for something during the holidays, let us know. Doesn't have to be something big, but we can do a little something to lift someone's spirits or help be a secret santa. Just keep us in mind.

Have a faith-filled week.
love you,
mom
xoxooxxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxooxo

Cold, cold, cold

Nov. 21, 2010
Dear Elder Alex,
Okay, it's officially cold here now and looks like it's going to get even colder this week. The forecast for Wednesday is 9 degrees as the high. Yes, you read it right, 9 degrees and the low is -4. It was just 70 degrees a couple weeks ago so this is quite the shock to the system. It, of course, doesn't phase the little girls at all as they still come downstairs in baggy shorts and short sleeves ready for school. True Samoans! Here's a snowman Leah made after the first snowfall. She made it so little and it looks so funny seeing this little thing sitting out in our front yard. But it's so cold I have a feeling he'll be there for quite some time.

Kirk is home now, got home yesterday. He's downstairs playing games with the girls. Dad is coming off a night shift so he's asleep in the family room. I can hear him snoring as I type. Roxy and Eddy are laying on the floor next to me. I just got off the phone with Sean. He's coming home tomorrow. He wanted to stay and go to Taryn's homecoming today.

Our choir sang today and it was a pretty song. We are now practicing at Dustin Simpson's house and it has great acoustics probably because it used to be a church. Dustin is having a musical soiree at his house in December, just a big jam session with Christmas music, etc. It sounds fun. Sally wants to play SleighRide with me for it, but I have to wait and see if my finger is better by then. By the way, thank you for your prayers, that meant a lot. I think it's healing well now. It's not a pretty sight, but I can tell there's progress.

Just got Cameron's letter. He's now the finance secretary in the office. He's worried that the mission will be broke in a week with him in there, but he's up to the challenge.

How was your week? I was thinking about you today and hoping your investigators were able to come to church. I've also been praying that Josh's heart would soften and that he'd get strong feelings of wanting to lead his family, be a patriarch in his home. I hope things are progressing well with everyone.

I forwarded your letter to Julie Rasmussen last week. She loved reading about your contact with Elder Grow. She sent the letter on to Dayna too. Also it was so funny to hear your hug joke. I immediately thought, well, I have hugged you so that makes me only four steps away from hugging the prophet.

We are working on memorizing scriptures each week now. Last week Nikki took forever to memorize 2 Nep 2:25 and I thought I had picked a fairly easy scripture. She was getting so frustrated so I decided to put it to song and within 3 minutes she had the whole thing memorized. Not only did she memorize it but she says it several times a day now and today she was showing off how she could say the whole thing including the book and verse in 1 second. Now my only challenge is going to be coming up with a new tune for each scripture that we have. Wish me luck.

We had the Hugentobler's over Friday night to watch the BSU/Fresno game. BSU won 51-0. They're going to come over Wednesday night for pie night but Joel for some reason doesn't want turkey this year, so they are having ham, funeral potatoes and green bean casserole. Jodie is not excited about that, but they're going with it.

I'm going shopping tomorrow to buy all the food for the week. The only thing I'm making that is different for Thanksgiving this year is the jello salad. I'm making the strawberry pretzel salad, yum! I know you're going to have a great Thanksgiving with your Bishop. I had to laugh when you said he signed up a month ago, but that made me feel good to know you were going to be taken care of. Tell them I said thank you so much.

The Purnell's got home this last Wednesday. Their sisters say they are still in a daze but I saw them at church and they look good. They're speaking next Sunday. Kirk warned them that people would be asking them to sub for everything now. Right after he said that, Bro. Anderson walked up and asked if one of them could take his Sunday School class next week.

We had a family night lesson last week on gratitude. We talked about how when we express gratitude that Heavenly Father is more likely to bless you even more and how important it is to have an attitude of gratitude each day. They liked my object lesson of showing a glass with water in it and I asked them if the cup was half full or half empty. Then we talked about what that meant and how we should try to be people who always see the cup half full and how our attitude can make a difference in other people's lives. I never know if the girls are really paying attention but immediately afterward Leah started making a list of 100 things she's grateful for and she wants to send it to you. So you'll see it soon. They've also been catching themselves when they've started to say something negative about something and have turned it into a positive comment, so I know that they really understood. Family night is actually one of the most rewarding things I do and I think it's a combination of following the prophet (being obedient), having the spirit in our home and seeing even just a small glimmer of testimony appear in a child's eyes. I take my calling as mom very seriously and I know that I'm a missionary too. I also feel the hand of the Lord in the things I do especially when they are in tune with the spirit. I am so grateful for this awesome blessing in my life. I know that you will feel that same spirit each day as you trust in the Lord and do His will.

I also would admonish you to write things you are grateful for each day in your journal, or write down miracles (the hand of the Lord) in things you see each day. Writing them down is just another way of expressing your thanks and you'll be amazed at how present the Lord is in your life. Never forget to give due credit to the Heavenly Father.

Well, we are gathering items for your next box. Have you gotten your coat lining yet? Let us know when you get things. Gathering for Christmas will be fun and we'll make sure it's a "Jolley" Christmas (a little side note for the comp).

Keep up the great attitude, Alex. That's truly a gift you've been given and it's something you brought with you straight from heaven into our home.

Love and miss you,

Mom
xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxox

Panda-move over

Nov. 14, 2010
Dear Elder Alex,
It's late at night, everyone's asleep. It's been a long day, but a good day. I started out at an early morning stake meeting with the Stake Presidency, high council and auxiliary presidents (Stake Council). I always enjoy meeting with all of them. For a lot of the meeting we discussed the new handbook and the training meeting, things we learned and felt.

Back at home I made spring rolls for dinner, fried up a few of them to taste them. It's the first time I've made them so I wanted to make sure they tasted good since it was the main dish for dinner. I went to an Asian market this week to get some of the ingredients and the lady there recommended a sauce to dip them in, one she particularly liked. Well, they turned out awesome and the sauce was really good. The recipe makes tons of rolls, so we had plenty left over to freeze for later. Next time though I'll go to Panda and get some chow mein, fried rice and maybe even some orange chicken to supplement the meal. I had a package of frozen fried rice and orange chicken from WalMart, but it tasted terrible. I guess Panda has spoiled me-yes, I'll admit that. But my egg rolls/spring rolls were still the best.

Church was great today. The Gines boy, just back from Ukraine, spoke with the high councilor. They spoke about putting your trust in God and Bro. Gines said he quickly learned he needed to trust in the Lord on his mission because you are somewhere where you don't really know anyone, even your companion is not that familiar and when you are troubled or in need of comfort and help, he found that he had to put all his trust in the Lord and things always worked out when he did that.

Tonight we had the big Trek fireside. Yes, Trek was 4 months ago, but the DVD took quite some time. Bro. Stewart really out-did himself with this one. It was great. The music, the editing, the integration of the Joseph Smith story in the beginning, etc. There funny parts as well as very moving parts. I give it 2 thumbs up.

Well, we had Leah's big 11th birthday party this week. She invited about 10 girls and we took them to the movies, "Megamind" and then to Primos where we ate and then opened presents. Leah said she had a great time and I was really happy for her. Her big present this year was getting Kristina's old iPod nano and Kristina loaded a playlist for her. I hesitated to buy a brand new iPod because Leah tends to lose things, so I told her this would be a little test to see how she does with nice or expensive things. So far she is enamored with it, even gets up early in the morning so she can listen to it. But she's also obeying all the rules I've set up for its use too. So far, so good.

Here's a quilt I've finished. I really like how it turned out, so it's hanging on the wall going up the stairs now. I tried to do the center squares like mosaic tiles.

Now I'm mainly working on making Christmas presents, but it's a lot of fun. (Fun for me, you understand) Finger update-I managed to get the stuck-on gauze off my finger this week. It's been on there for 3 weeks and it was driving me crazy that it was so stuck. It took me 40 minutes, a huge magnifying glass, tiny embroidery scissors, courage and much patience, but I finally pulled it and cut it enough that I got it off. I'm free! It's still so tender but now I feel like it can heal the rest of the way. I can't wait to use my finger again, although my other fingers are getting very good at taking over for my index finger.

Dad and I have been fixing things, cleaning things around the house this week in anticipation of our Thanksgiving guests. I actually like getting the house all ready. It gives me a good excuse to get some deeper cleaning done. We've also been on the lookout for "greed" items.

BSU won again, of course. They are now ranked #3 in the nation. It's very fun. EHS is out of the running now, but Centennial beat Rocky Mountain over the weekend. I've lost track of BYU, so you'll just have to get that news from dad.

Carolina's back from Spain. She had a great time and said the food was great. Gio's baby had to stay in ICU for a week with some breathing problems, but is home now and doing well. He and Jen will be coming to Utah over Christmas.

Pres. Shaw asked about you today and wanted me to send your letters to him. He feels even stronger and more tender about missionary work and missionaries now with his son on his mission.

So how was your week? How is Jessica doing? Remind me again about her life. You said she's married. Does she have any children, does she work, how did you find her, etc? I'm so amazed that your investigators got up in testimony meeting and bore their testimonies. How wonderful. Whenever you bear your testimony, it is strengthened so that was awesome not only for the ward but especially for the investigators as well.

So this juggin' thing sounds so funny, but I'd love to see it some time. The things we do and the games we make up based on where we live...sounds like a new TV series to me.

We sent off a package last week so hopefully you get it soon. Let us know.

I talked with Aunt Jan earlier tonight. Katie was home for a little bit but flew back to Japan to be with Graig. I guess they got it officially okay'ed for her to be over there the whole time he is, so they might be there for 2 years. About the same time David is there. David has actually seen her a couple times.

That reminds me...Tyler Trumbo enlisted in the navy last week. He's been going to college and working since he's been home and decided to go in and take the entrance exam. He did so well that they said he could be trained for any vocation he wanted. He's chosen dentistry. He doesn't go in until next April though, so in the meantime he'll keep taking classes and working. This will be good for him to have some direction and he's very excited about it.

Well that's about it for around here. We've been praying as a family for you and Elder Jolley to find a new investigator, one who is ready to hear your message. Personally I've been praying for you to find a whole family. Keep up the great work. You don't know how great it is to hear from you and hear about your hard work, your fun work and especially about the people you are meeting and sharing your testimony with. It helps me feel a little bit a part of your mission and I love it.

Have a miraculous week,
love you,

Mom
xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoXXOOooxx

Fall turning to winter

Nov. 7, 2010
Dear Elder Alex,
Well, it looks like fall is officially here. The leaves are turning and falling and now the weather is actually making turn south. It's rained most the day today and it's supposed to be much colder than this week. We've been enjoying 60-70 degree weather for quite some time, but this week it will be in the high 40's.

Church was good today. Testimonies were a little sparse, but the quiet gave us time to think about our own testimonies. Randy Thompson is the new gospel doctrine teacher and he is a wonderful teacher. Lisa Myler gave the lesson in RS reminding us who we really are and what strength we should get from that knowledge. Then when we got out of church it was dark. A little weird.

Wish you could be here to help out the choir in a couple weeks. The Mylers will be out of town and that pretty much wipes out the tenor section. Have you had any chance to sing on your mission?
I sure hope so.

How has this week been for you? Sounds like you're teaching some wonderful people. I'm happy to hear that Jessica is progressing so well. I hope it's all still going well. I also hope that members of the ward are doing splits with you with some of your lessons or even just going with you so they can bear their testimonies too and bonds in the ward can begin to form. Most new members fall away when they don't feel a part of things in the ward family. I've seen it happen so many times. They receive that strong confirmation of the truthfulness of the gospel message, but don't know how to apply it.

Last Wednesday I went to YW in Excellence night for Kristina. Each group (from E3,6 &8th ward) made a movie about the YW values. Kristina's group did a great job and she did an excellent job in the editing department. I think she learned a lot from you....thank you. Leah went with me since she'll be going into YW next year and I want her to be excited about it.

Speaking of Leah, this week is her birthday and it's a constant source of conversation. She, of course, wants a cell phone, an iPod, a pottery wheel and a car. Hmmmm, I wonder what we should buy. For her birthday we're taking her friends to the movies and then to Primos.

Kirk and Sean are both doing well and having fun. Kirk actually sold his platelets this past week to make some money. I think he's going to do that each week now. Yah, he has a job!

This week in sports, EHS took a beating by Rocky Mtn-70-48. BSU won, of course! and BYU actually won, but they were playing UNLV(bottom of the barrel).

Friday night we went to Cirque du Soleil at the Taco Bell Arena. It was fantastic. I was pretty amazed at how good it was for a traveling show. One of the best I've seen. I'm still a groupie. When we were getting up after it was over, Leah said, "That was the best show I've ever been to!"

The girls were out of school Thurs and Fri last week for parent/teacher conferences. It's always fun to go hear what they have to say about Leah and Nikki. Leah's doing better, but not really catching up with the class yet in all subjects. She can stay up with science and social studies, but reading and math are still a stretch. Nikki's teachers always say she's just a social girl. I know what that means. Also this year her teacher said she just loved Nikki's shirts each day and looked forward to seeing her colorful outfits. I told her she puts them together herself. Math and reading are still difficult for Nikki too. We're working on the times tables with her. I may just teach her how to use a calculator really well so she'll be just fine.

Dad started working in Ontario and his first shift was a bit of a shock to the system because of the higher volume of patients. But he's going to give it a couple of months before he decides if he wants to keep working there.

I actually played the piano for a little bit this week(with 9 fingers). I still haven't been able to get the gauze off my wound, but I can tell it's beginning to heal now, from the inside out. It's quite a lesson to see how miraculous the body is, how it's able to heal itself. I'm still impatient and want it completely healed already, but I've relaxed a little about it now and will just let nature take its course. When my friends see me they still tell me it gives them the eebies whenever they think about it. I've been quilting a few things for Christmas presents now that I have a bit more time in between my RS duties. We're beginning to plan a big workshop for January, so we had a long presidency meeting this week after we had our luncheon for the older sisters in the stake. I love our daytime RS luncheons in this stake. The older sisters are so cute and it's fun seeing them all get together each month. They have a lunch and program once a month and a lot of them bring their neighbors and friends to it too.

Dawn Yorgason called me the other day. A young man in her ward was called to Tennessee, but she didn't know you were not the Knoxville mission. She says she loves reading your letters. Sis. Poulsen also asked me today if she could receive your letters. You've got quite a following now. I'm going to give your address to Mrs. Bunn, because she was asking about you and said Kaylie would write you.

Bro. and Sis. Purnell left this morning for Chile to pick up the boys. They were so excited. It should be a great trip for them. They will be reporting their missions the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

As of right now, Steve and Carolina and the girls are coming for Thanksgiving, Axel and Laura, and Allen and Lisa and their kids. We should have a full house. We're starting to look for the game of greed items.

Jenn and Gio had their baby last week-a big baby boy they named James. I guess in the end they decided not to name him Kenzo, but there are a lot of cousins who are deciding to still call him Kenzo, so I guess you can call him whatever you want.

I was re-listening to some conference talks this morning and was really impressed by Elder Richard G. Scott's talk. Here's a couple things he said and they made me think of you - that I should pass them along to you.

"An axiom we all understand is that you get what you pay for. That is true for spiritual matters as well. You get what you pay for in obedience, in faith in Jesus Christ, in diligent application of the truths you learn. What you get is the molding of character, the growth in capacity, and the successful completion of your mortal purpose to be proven and to have joy."

"You cannot be passive in life, or in time the natural man will undermine your efforts to live worthily."

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day. Righteous character is a precious manifestation of what you are becoming."

I can see you becoming the man that I saw in you way back when you were just little. Many people will watch you and find a role model in you. Make sure you watch out for those around you and pray to know how you can help them, lift them and even improve their lives and spirits. Always be found serving.

It's time for the girls to get to bed, so I better sign off. They should be tired tonight with the time change (I'm hopeful). I can't wait to hear from you and all about your week. I hope you and Elder Jolley are working hard and enjoying each day.

Miss you and love you much,
mom
xoxoxooxoxoxxoxoxoxxoooooxxxxxxooooxxxooooxxxx