Memorial Day weekend

May 29, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

I'm having a little piece of angel food cake while I'm typing you. Leah decided to make that today and we put it in a bundt pan that was too small, so it was quite the sight in the oven watching it build up 4 inches higher than the edges, then spill over into the oven, then to smell the lovely sugar burning smell all over the house. But in the end, it tasted great. It was a good follow up from our Costa Vida salads we had. Yummy!

Church was wonderful and packed. I guess everyone decided to come visit families in our ward for the weekend. We had another new family move into the ward today too. We've had quite a few these past few months-two doctors, one lawyer all of whom are just recently out of their respective colleges. Then Sis. Reeves brother and his family moved into our neighborhood too. The outgoing families were the Houssians who are headed to Tampa and the McCallisters(McCauley's daughter) who built a house in Middleton and the Beagleys who moved to Star.

So your concert was awesome! I can see you being in a group like that and doing firesides and concerts, etc. If it pays the bills, that's even better. I'm glad to hear your zone conference went well also. Thanks for sharing the pictures of Terrance's baptism too.

Kirk didn't call us today so I don't have much to report from him. He must still be busy with pigpen building. I wish he'd post pictures more often or email.

Sean is still training and auditing a class. The Cameron's are still trying to set him up with their niece and he finally made contact with her this weekend. No date plans yet, but at least contact was made.

Kristina had her end of the year concert Thursday night. Because McMullin had been sick for 3 days before the concert, Kristina said they barely knew their songs. I went to the first part of the concert so I could hear her group and yes, she was right. I could tell they didn't know their songs very well but I also stayed for Premium Blend and the combined choirs which was good. Kristina said it was very emotional at the end, which happens every year. She's excited to be in Bella Voce next year so she can actually be in a choir that is an audition choir and with others who actually want to be there. Last night she went to a stake dance and the theme was 70's-I'm sure you would have loved that one. She also had her end of the year bbq for lacrosse on Tuesday evening at Guerber Park.

Leah says the guy that broke his leg is not going to be able to come back to school this year. I think we're going to take him some cookies. She had her team lacrosse party at Louie's Italian restaurant on Monday evening.

Nikki is....still thankfully, Nikki. Nothing new to report there.

The dogs are doing fine, just always getting into the mud and sand and thinking it's fun to bring it into the house each day.

This past Thursday I visited the Meridian North Stake at their humanitarian day which they hold once a month. It was amazing how much they accomplished in just 3 hours. I had decided a few months ago that our stake needed to have an opportunity to do more humanitarian work, so I was able to get a humanitarian specialist called, Sis. Howard (she used to be in the 6th ward and her husband used to be a counselor to Pres. McCauley). She and I made the visit on Thursday and she is very excited to get things going in our stake. She will have projects available to work on each month and people can just drop in for however long they like. The projects they did last week were birthing kits going to Haiti, loom yarn hats, ABC books for hospital children, walker bags for nursing homes, pillow case dresses (which BTW are getting donated to me so I can send them to Kirk to disperse in Uganda-that was very unexpected and I'm very excited about it) Most projects however, will go to local charities and organizations.

Dad has to work tomorrow, so there's no big celebrating for us. I'll probably take the girls to the new Kung Fu Panda movie.

Idol wrapped up last week leaving 2 country singers in the finals. They were both very young and will most likely get a fun career out of it. Tennessee will love them

.

We got news last week that the Boise temple will be closing in July for an extended period of time. So extended that they will have a re-dedication when it finally reopens. In the meantime, we are to go to Twin Falls which is by appointment only and does not rent clothing. That will take some discipline and planning ahead on our parts. Probably shortly after that dedication, our new temple in Meridian will be ready for dedication.

I'm getting ready this week to go to Living the Legacy on Friday with my presidency. We're going to talk about how RS is a lifeline throughout life no matter where you go. I'm going to talk about our spiritual lifelines as well as our temporal lifelines in life. We have a poem similar to Dr. Suess's Oh, The Places You'll Go where we talk about the different courses of life all these girls will take in life and how RS will always be there for them, a place to give service and a place to receive service. We're going to give them one of those really long licorice ropes with the poem attached to it. I'm also going to have them play the numbers game (I learned that from the academies) and use a bonding analogy. Hopefully all will go well and they'll start to catch the spirit of the relief society.

Both grandparents send their love to you. They look forward each week to your letters and are so proud of you.

As I close my letter it's nice to hear your BYU Men's chorus singing The Iron Rod in the background. It's so uplifting and I can almost hear your voice. :)

Stay close to the spirit, Alex, so you can be guided in everything you do and never forget how it feels to be so close to the spirit every day so you will seek after that same feeling throughout your life. Remember to have great faith because it is truly Christ's church and He will not let it fail and He knows each of us and loves each of us.

Have a miraculous week!

Love you,

Mom

ps Can I have your permission to de-friend my brother Scott on your Facebook(the old one)? His language and anti-Mormon sentiments sadden me and I wouldn't want anyone you know there to see or read anything from him. I still love my brother very much but I think sometimes he says things outrageous just to get reactions. Let me know.

May, spring and everything in between

May 22, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Yes, we finally had a whole week of spring like weather. Can't say the same thing for Utah. It rained there every single day and Sean says they are all getting tired of it. We've been sitting out on the porch in the evenings and it's been wonderful. Tonight the Campbell's came over and sat out there with us. But they actually came over because Holly has been running a fever for a week now and needed to see dad. But it was fun being out there nonetheless.

May also signals the beginning of the end of the year concerts. Last night was Nikki's last concert at the Cathedral of the Rockies. Other than the fact that it seemed interminably long, they did a great job and there were some fun songs, a lot of them coming from Disney movies. Next year their group has been invited to sing in Carnegie Hall, so looks like we might have to make a trip to New York next spring.

Leah had her last day of lacrosse yesterday morning. It was a really fun and exciting game. The lead went back and forth all game and in the end we won 11-9. So her team took the championship. Tomorrow night we're going to Louie's for the awards banquet. We also went to the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie yesterday. We got to see it for free with Bro. Call's business. His business rents out a room at Edwards each year. Last year we saw Furry Vengeance-yeah, the title speaks for itself. So this year he vowed to get something better. Pirates was better but still not as good as the first one.

Dad went to 11 yr old day camp yesterday. It's weird to think that he's going there as a leader now when he used to go all those times to help me out when I was running it. It was at the Tanner's back yard and he said it was fun.

Leah had kind of a rough week though. Monday morning I flew home from SLC and jut as I was getting my stuff unpacked, I get a call from the elementary school telling me I need to come right away and assess Leah's leg. She apparently ran into a boy playing soccer and both of them went down in lots of pain. I brought Leah home, tried to keep ice on it for the day, but it hurt too much for her. The next morning I took her in to get it x-rayed. There were some suspicious things in the x-ray, so Leah had to stay on crutches until the official radiologist report came in. In the meantime, we heard from the school again telling us that the boy had gone in for x-rays and it was a clean break of his tibia right in half. Leah couldn't remember what happened. I guess the sheer trauma of it all erased her memory. Our report came back and he said there was no break, but she had to stay on crutches for a few days. Of course, rumors went around the school like crazy. I'm pretty sure no one wants to play against Leah in soccer any more (this was just a recess game, by the way). Most likely Leah kicked the boy at the same time he was kicking. I found out later that this boy is one of the biggest and best football players in her age group. Bro. Zollinger said he knows the boy and can't believe that Leah wasn't the one who got so hurt.

So by Saturday, Leah felt like she could play in her lacrosse game, but as it turned out, she could only play for a short time because it was really hurting her leg. I'm glad it wasn't broken, but Leah wants to make some cookies to take over to the boy.

We heard from Kirk today. He's doing well. This week he'll be working on building some pig pens for a woman who raises pigs for a living. He's going to be doing all kinds of service projects while he's there. If you follow his blog, you've probably been able to see some of his pictures. I hope he sends more.

Sean only has a few more weeks of training for his 911 dispatch job. He's getting paid for his training and then gets more money per hour once he starts actually working. He's on a softball team right now and always does well.

Kristina has her end of the year concerts this week. They also get their yearbooks this week. So I'm pretty sure not much will be happening in the classroom. She and Scott Beckstrom have a little "thing" going, but I'm doing my best to keep things at a distance. It's hard when they attend the same school. Thank goodness for summer.

Here's some photos of the Nikki and Leah that Kristina took today on a walk where they did a photo shoot.

So how was your week? How was your Zone Conference? I can't wait to hear how things went for you. Did you have to speak? And how about the Nashville Tribute Band?

Did Terrance get baptized? I hope some of his family was able to attend. The lady in our ward who's investigating the church is still coming each Sunday and she just loves the little journal I gave her. She's always taking notes in all of the meetings. I felt such a strong impression about getting that for her and I'm so happy to see her using it all the time. I carry mine around with me to my meetings too and I'm so happy I have it now. I always think I'll remember that great thing I heard, but I never do unless I write it down.

We all loved the pictures of the cicadas. Yes, we had them in South Carolina too. When we first moved there, dad thought the noise was from the electrical wires. I sent your pictures around and I got some fun responses back. Are you still enjoying their presence? What about lightning bugs? Do you get them there?

Today we had the seniors speak in church. Can't believe another group is moving on. They all did a great job. I think Bro. Cameron is going to have a hard time letting Tori go off to school. He gets a little teary eyed whenever he talks about it.

All else is going well here. Just waiting to hear your stories about your week.

I love you.

Mom xxoo

Quilt Market

ay 15, 2011
Dear Elder Alex,
I'm sitting here in my motel writing you. I am so tired. We worked very hard these past four days and quilt market is finally over. dad and the girls are driving home as I write. I fly home tomorrow morning. I think jan did very well at market, but we'll know more when she gets home and does all the tallying. Jan tells me I should have been an auctioneer or pitch person by the way I draw the sales in. I can do it for four days, but probably not for a living. I just really enjoy talking with everyone. People are inherently very interesting to me.

This morning I got all ready for church and went into downtown salt lake hoping to find a ward. Dad thought a ward met in the joseph smith building, but when I got there, the doors were all locked. So then I went to the tabernacle and got in for the morning broadcast. I am so glad I got to go. The music was beautiful especially the walls of Jericho and the added blessing of having president monson there. I heard people talking afterward and they were talking about the feeling they had while listening. These were some of the ladies from market, not members. One woman said each time she comes to salt lake and walks around temple square she gets such a strong feeling insidd that she cant describe, but she always likes to feel it so she makes a point of going to temple square each time. Its amazing how the spirit works. Then I walked over to the salt palace and got to work for the day.
Dad and the girls stayed with thompson's and they went to the zoo, this is the place, salt lake cemetery, temple square and the roof of the conference center. Saturday night we all went out to dinner at the red iguana. On Friday night dad spent the night with me and went to the market with me the next day. Finally he got to see what I've been talking about all this time. Sean and Kristina even came in and took the big tour.
Kirk called me today while I was at the market. He sounds great. When I get home I will send you some of his pictures. It's still so odd that he calls and chats from Uganda.
How was your week? It seems like it was so long ago that you called. So I'm anxious to hear from you. Let's see...the news from the week is that axel and Laura are having twin girls. So of course steve and Carolina have already been to park city on a huge buying frenzy. It's very easy to buy for little girls so they will have a fun time. Heidi is having a boy, Katie is having a boy. Aunt Patrice had an appendectomy and is recovering well even though it was a ruptured appendix.
Sean is enjoying his training as a 911 dispatcher. He even drove a smart car round campus then other day. He'll be putting in around 40 hours a week during the summer, so this should really start to build his bank account....finally.
I hope you are well and happy. There is a peace in my soul because of the gospel.
I love you,
Mom
Xxoo

Mother's Day 2011

May 8, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Hi again! We had a fun time talking/skyping with you today, even though in the end the sun went down and you faded away. I sent you some pictures of our day, our phone call, our dinner. It was great fun sitting around the computer and laughing.

Did you also have dinner at the Lowe's or were you just there to skype? Again, I'm so grateful for families like them who are living faithfully and fully in the gospel and are enjoying helping watch over the missionaries. That means so much to me. You have been so blessed in your life to always have such amazing examples and role models around you. Everywhere we've lived there have been strong members of the church who have given of their time and talents just to help someone else whether it's being a teacher, a scoutmaster, a stake president, a chorister. There's nothing better than to witness the gospel in all its strength and I feel privileged to witness it constantly in my life. I hope I can be that same kind of person to all I come in contact with. I believe very strongly in the scripture that every soul is of great worth in the sight of the Lord.

My Mother's Day was full and fun. Nikki's cards and misspellings made me laugh so hard. I think I'll actually be disappointed when the day comes that she doesn't misspell anything. Leah gave me a hand made card this year that was amazing. She had a drawing in the middle and all around the outside were cute stickers. Around each sticker was something she loved about me. For instance, there was a globe and she said "Thank you for adopting me from across the world." There were 2 snow boots and by the first one it said, "Thank you for guiding me down the path." By the second boot it said, "and the right path." There was a padlock and next to it were the words, "Our friendship will never be unlocked." Next to a stack of books it said, "Thank you for teaching me how to read." There were several others and I was just so impressed with it. Leah and I have had our struggles, so this meant a lot and I told her so.

Also today starting at 4 in the morning, I was awakened by a phone call from Asega in Samoa. She sounds good and is learning more and more English. She said she sent me a letter with some pictures, so I look forward to seeing them. I can't wait to meet her one day. Maria wrote me today too and couldn't express enough how awesome and miraculous it was to be a mom and how much she loved Hudson. It's just a little glimpse into how much Heavenly Father loves all of us.

So you can see, my phone calls, my cards and presents and good food all made for one of my best mother's days. All of you make my life rich.

Well, tomorrow it's back to business-piano lessons, lacrosse practice, last minute details for quilt market and Leah's lacrosse game.

I hope your evening appointments went well. I love your attitude. I can see how your testimony absolutely shines through you. You probably don't even realize it, but it's powerful. Keep doing things though that will replenish your spirit, things that will put oil back in your lamp. Your personal study and prayers each day will help replenish. I know that the Lord must be so happy about the work that is going on in the Tennessee Nashville mission.

Have a great week.

I love you,

Mom XXOO

May Day

May 1, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

It's a beautiful day here to start things out for May. How is your weather? We sure have been seeing some devastating scenes from the South with the tornadoes that ripped through there last week. There were even some in Tennessee so I hope your area is doing well.

Ashton Beagley and his wife just came over. He wants to talk with Kirk about working for Pro Image. Ashton got Kirk's old job since Kirk is taking off this week for Uganda. Actually I think Ashton just wanted to play Super Smash Bros cuz that's what I'm hearing down in the basement. I hope his wife likes to play.

Last week the Beagley's moved out of our ward and into Star 3rd ward. I'll miss having Diane so close. She's been a great friend. Luckily she's still in Material Girls! When I was RS president in the ward, Diane was one of my counselors and we had a blast working together. She had a garage sale on Saturday and Nikki and I got up early and did some fun shopping there.

Today was fast Sunday. I bore my testimony today. I wasn't planning on doing that, but in the middle of the meeting it hit me like a wave. I fought it for a bit, but at the end, literally, I went up. Afterwards there were a few people who came up to me and said they were so thankful for my words and that they were just what they needed to hear today. I can never really remember what I say when I get up there, but I'm happy the spirit I was feeling was able to touch some others.

Leah gave a talk in Primary today and she did a great job. She spoke clearly and slowly. She has really come a long way and now she only has a few more months til she goes into Young Women.

Bro. Teuscher came over today to give Kirk a rock for his pocket while he's in Uganda. He said you have one too. Kirk had never received one when he went on a mission so this will be nice. He'll have to do a lot of rubbing in order to make it smooth in just four months. His roommate was going to come here today and then both of them drive to SLC on Tues, but Kevin had to go to SLC early which left Kirk high and dry. So now he's flying to SLC on Tues and grandma and grandpa will pick him up. Then on Wed he flies to Chicago, to London(for a 12 hour layover-he'll do some sightseeing while there), then to Kenya, then to Uganda. He finally gets to Uganda on Friday. He's very excited for this adventure and I know it will be a great opportunity for him. Tyler Yorgason is actually doing the same thing but for a shorter period of time. Tyler will show up in Uganda the end of July to the end of August, but he'll be in the same exact village as Kirk. Tyler's just going for fun, Kirk is going to get credit for his internship.

Kristina's big news for the week...she got her license. She actually had Chad Arnell from Excel as her driving test person and he said she was a very good driver. So far, she's driven to Albertson's in the black car and to Cameron's in the black car and one time to her lacrosse game in the Mustang. Pretty exciting I know, but I'm keeping a pretty short leash on her driving for a while. I'm sure you'll approve.

Yes, Nikki loved your cat poop story. She was laughing the hardest.

The woman who is taking the lessons here is having a hard time. She's trying to quit smoking while at the same time take care of her daughter who is on meth and is pregnant. Of course, right when she decides to get baptized, her life gets turned upside down. So we fasted today for her to have the strength to quit smoking.

This past week has been busy here. Busy with lacrosse games-Kristina's team is undefeated and she continues to score at least 1-2 goals each game, Leah's team has only lost once. I'm also spending a huge amount of time helping Jan get ready for the quilt market. This week I'm working with a local design typesetter and getting the pattern ready for printing. I'm enjoying the process and looking forward to working with both Jan and Toni in Salt Lake in 2 weeks.

Sean is now gainfully employed in Provo. He's training to be a 911 dispatcher. He gets paid while in training and then gets a $2 an hour raise after that. This week he's in classroom training, on the job training, a ride along with a police officer and a scavenger hunt of BYU to get to know the entire campus. Sounds like fun training to me. He likes his new condo too. He had dinner at Steve's and said Laura is really getting large. They're pretty sure it's just twins, but she looks like she's having triplets. On the pregnancy band wagon is also Heidi and Katie. So 4 more great grandchildren for my parents this year.

How are your investigators coming along? Did Cynita kick the cigarette habit? If so, maybe she can write to Trish here in our ward and help her along.

So it sounds like you had a great Easter Sunday. I hadn't heard of the Lowe family before, but I looked them up on the internet and I guess they are quite successful and good at what they do. They look like a fun family to hang around with and very talented too. Sorry David Archuleta couldn't make it. :( You could have sung a duet.

Here's a couple pictures. This is a quilt I just finished.(I know these aren't the most exciting pictures. Just nod your head and say," Nice"

This is the dollhouse quilt(the new pattern) still in the sewing stage.

Well, that's about it for now. Every week there's at least one person or family that ask about you. You're very much in all our thoughts and prayers and I can't tell you how much your letters mean to us. I can't believe we get to talk with you next Sunday, my first Mother's Day call from you! Kirk was trying to work out something on Skype so we could do a 3-way calling, but then he realized it will be late at night when you call and he isn't allowed out of their compound at night. Remember our mtg time is 9-12 on Sunday. Other than that, we will be anxiously awaiting your call. Let us know how you want to do it.

A couple missionary tips for the week:

1.Make sure you have a good answer for Revelations 22:18-19

2.Always keep a copy of a talk with you so if you're called on without warning, you'll be prepared.

3.Take the time to write a letter to your companion's parents or family.

4. Prepare a 2 1/2 minute talk on Mosiah 15:1-4

5.Record the most creative rejections you receive in a separate section of your journal.

Have a great week. Heed the promptings you receive and act on them quickly, then more and more promptings will come your way.

Love you,

Mom

xxoo