The Big Engagement!

Oct. 30, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

It's official...Kirk and Sarah are engaged! Kirk popped the question on Friday and gave Sarah her ring. He took her on a hike here in Boise and while hiking he played a couple tricks on her. She pretty much expected the proposal to be coming, so as they were walking Kirk stopped, kissed her and told her how much he loved her and wanted to be with her forever, then he bent down to the ground. Sarah said she started crying when she saw him go down, but then Kirk just picked up a stick from the ground and threw it off to the side.  The next time, he stopped, unzipped the pocket of his coat slowly and Sarah thought he was reaching for the ring again. This time he pulled out her camera and said, oh, here's your camera, let's take some pictures.  Then the third time, he actually proposed and Sarah still cried. 

We all went out to dinner to a new little place in Meridian called Rumbi, it's over by the Verizon store. It's good Island food. Then we all went to the Eagle High football game together which probably caused them to lose their first game, but oh well. The next day the work began, and me and Kirk and Sarah started the ordeal of paperwork to get what's called a Fiance visa for Sarah to be able to come to the US and get married. Supposedly it takes about 3-7 months to even get the visa, so they're in for a bit of a wait. Otherwise, they would have chosen to get married this winter. We were all very sad about having to wait for the government, but we're trying to move on. Bro. Cameron is going to check with a partner at his law firm and see if he will handle the paperwork for us. I would be soooo happy if he does,  because I have been doing so much studying online about all the immigration laws. I'm pretty sure I could hire out for consultations since I know so much now. It's very convoluted. I'll keep you posted on the situation. Worst case scenario is that they won't even be married by the time you get home... :(

Kirk and Sarah came to church with us today so he got to introduce her as his fiance. It was fun and everyone stopped them and talked with them in the halls.  The other engagement in the ward also happened this week. Melanie Hugentobler got engaged. She met this guy while in Moab and he's very nice, even a returned missionary. Joel is also on track for going on a mission next year and Mel, who has been unemployed now has 4 job offers. So I'm very happy for them.

Sarah's sister came up to Boise for the weekend too because she plays hockey on a team in Utah and they had a tournament here. I took the girls to the games. Her sister, Nicole, plays really well and has been playing since she was 7. She got knocked around quite a bit though and even got a concussion today. That's quite the rough sport.

Sarah went back to Canada this afternoon and Kirk headed back to Rexburg. It was a fun weekend. 

Tonight dad and the girls carved pumpkins. Here's a couple pics of their handiwork. Each year they get better and better. For Halloween, Nikki's going to be a 50's girl and Leah wants to be a vampire. It's still changing though as we speak.

I had my big stake training meeting this past week and I thought it went really well. I enjoyed being there, talking with the presidents and even enjoyed giving a talk. You'd be amazed if you knew how much work RS presidencies do and how many serious issues there are in each ward. They are wonderful women and I learn a lot from each of them. We asked each president to introduce their presidencies by giving funny stories, etc. So our presidency started off and of course, we told funny embarrassing type stories. Then the first ward started telling a few funny things, but then they all just said super sweet things about their counselors and it turned into a very tender moment. I'm pretty sure it made our presidency look like a bunch of goofballs! Oh well. We were just trying to lighten it up a bit.

So this week I am flying to Calif to work on my dad's life history. I hope I can get quite a bit done. It's a big job, but I love talking with my dad and he always has great stories to tell. I'm going to be there from Thurs til Sunday evening. I'll be staying at Jan's while I'm there. Wish me luck in keeping my dad on the straight and narrow as far as his stories go. It's easy to get off on wild tangents with him.

So how are things in McMinnville?I'm anxious to hear about the Taylors and how they're progressing. We have been praying for them this week. So sorry that you had to do some deep cleaning a couple weeks ago with Elder Furin's apt. That sounds gross, but it is a good reminder of how great it feels when things are orderly and clean.

Kristina is still soaking in all the rights and privileges of being 16. She is asked out by someone a couple times each week, but so far she's always been busy which is good. It's going to be hard to get your okay with all these requests so we will do our best to weed out the young men. She missed a big party this weekend because her room has been a constant mess. Tanner Myler even asked to take her to the party, but she had to decline and explain the messy room punishment. :) She had her first jazz bass lesson this week too and it went really well. I really like the teacher. He's got this quirky coolness about him, like all good jazz musicians I'm sure. It made me actually want to start taking lessons.

Leah is 2 weeks away from going into Young Women. She is the last of her group and is busy trying to memorize her Article of Faith. She's very nervous about it. The Primary program is on the Sunday that she gets her graduation certificate and the Primary asked her if she still wanted to be in the program. Leah said no. I love it.

Nikki is still one crazy girl. Hard to put into words, but keeps us laughing. She knows so many songs on the radio and loves singing each one. Cooking, eating and singing-that's her life!

Better close up for the night. I just got off the phone with our missionaries. I asked them to switch dinner appointment days with each ward. Some wards were not happy about losing their days, but we all have to learn to share the missionaries, eh?... I think Sarah's speech is rubbing off on me.

I hope you are having happy productive days. I enjoy hearing how upbeat you are and I know things around you are not always upbeat, so that's a wonderful gift. Grandpa Trumbo comments about that almost every time I talk with him. He says you and he have a similar connection in life and he loves your letters. Remember to always be true to who you are and who the Lord wants you to be. You're a powerful instrument in His hands.

Love you much,

mom   xxoo

Fall

Oct. 23, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

I am totally enjoying the fall colors right now. Everywhere I drive has beautiful sights. I hope you are enjoying the same.

We just got back from a high priest fireside for the stake where the McCauley's spoke about their mission. A very hard, but rewarding mission. Every missionary in their humungous mission had to leave Russia every 90 days to go get a new visa. It took about 24 hours to even travel outside the mission to Finland where they would do a temple session, get their new visa, then turn around and head back home which took another 24 hours. When they would get back home, they would get a couple hours sleep, then wake up just in time to get to church. Their mission comprised 11 time zones, so traveling within it would wipe you out. They said the mission president was constantly traveling. After 3 years, he must drop from exhaustion. Then Pres. Stafford spoke to all of us asking us to prepare now for our missions. They even had 3 senior couples talk to us through Skype during the first part of the meeting. It was pretty fun.

So I hope you've heard-I guess I just assume that you read things on Facebook-that Dakota got her mission call to Croatia! Very unexpected and Steve's not so calm about her going to a war torn country, but Dakota is ready to get on her mission. She doesn't leave until Jan. 11.

So your week last letter sounded crazy and full. I hope last week was great for you.  Grandma and Grandpa Thompson were proud of the fact that they had Panda Express also last week. Charmaine brought it for them for dinner since they were both laid up not feeling well.

I had a pretty full week myself. I was busy with planning Kristina's 16th birthday bash at the Moss's and also making sure that her actual birthday at home was lots of fun. I've spent the last couple months putting together her 16th photo album. This time I did the whole thing online with Shutterfly. I'm really not a good scrapbooker, so this was more my speed and I enjoyed it although it was a lot of work. The book came about a week before her birthday and it turned out great. Kristina loved it, in fact she cried a little as she was looking through it. I knew she liked it cuz she showed every one of her friends.  We also rented an upright bass for her for 6 months. She starts taking jazz lessons with it this week. It is a monster. I knew it would be big, but it's also heavy and I sure wish she'd take up harmonica, but so far she loves plucking out songs she knows. So we'll see how this goes and if she still loves it when she has to practice every day. But she has a dream of being in a small group and McMullin wants her to play it for Premium Blend next year.

Speaking of McMullin, they had their first concert last week. Every group sounded great. We'll probably send you a program. The men's quartet sounded awesome this year. Tanner Myler is the lead tenor and I think he now has a little following of freshman girls because of it. The girls didn't want to be outdone this year, so they also have a quartet that performed. Rebecca Soelberg is their main vocalist and she has a fantastic voice and is very fun with it. You can tell she loves singing.

FYI-Vocal Point from BYU is really doing well on the show The Sing Off. They are now in the final 8. Everyone loves them.

I was in charge of our Stake Humanitarian Work Day this past Thursday, because our leader is out of the country. But everything went smoothly and we got many projects done and had fun chatting and visiting while doing so. I am now working hard on a training meeting I'm having this week for all the ward presidencies. We also serve them dinner. Figuring out what to serve them, etc is almost harder than working on what I'm talking to them about. I have great counselors though and we have so much fun when we work together-sometimes too much fun.

Saturday was Kristina, Mallory and Courtney's big day. On Facebook they had invited 120 kids, so we had no idea how many were actually going to show. We ended up having around 80 which was a good group. The DJ did a great job and the dance floor aka tennis courts looked great with lights and disco balls. In the middle of the dance a group of guys-Tanner Myler, Spencer Madsen, Blake Billings, Sean Pinder performed a song they had written for the girls. I wish I had recorded it, because it was great. That was a big hit with the girls. Each girl had her own cake, so we all sang happy birthday and had cake after that. Then they showed Elf on a big blow up outdoor screen in their backyard on the grass. We got huge containers of popcorn and passed some out to everyone in bags. Dad served hot chocolate all night too.  When it was time for it to be over, a lot of kids didn't want to leave and I heard a lot of them saying it was the best party every.

When we took Kristina and Courtney home, that's exactly what they said too. So I was very happy that they thought it was the best. Earlier in the day, I took all 3 girls to the mall and had the ladies at Clinique do a makeover on them. Total pampering for their Sweet 16th!

Needless to say, we all had a hard time waking up this morning for church, but we made it. Forgot to mention that Kristina got asked out on her birthday and had a day date also yesterday in between the makeover and the big party. She went out with Cardston Payne and had a triple date where they played games at Zach Harris's house. She said it was a lot of fun.

Kirk is excited for this coming weekend. Sarah is coming down for a quick trip.I'm pretty sure Kirk has something special planned for her, if you get my drift... We'll keep you posted.

Let's see, other news.  Holly Campbell announced this week that she's engaged and getting married in January.

Leah is now counting the days until her birthday and it's a big one for her too-12! She's ready to be in Young Women and when the Primary asked her if she wanted to be in the program which is a few days after her birthday, she told them no. She's ready to move on.

How is your zone doing? I'm glad you are still working with Elder Wheatley. Sounds like you two work well together. How is it having just 2 in a companionship now? Which way do you like better?

Also, how is Ricky coming along with his smoking habit? The sister in our ward, Trish, is still struggling with that but she is so awesome when it comes to anything else with the church. 

Well, that's about it on our end. I had a wonderful Sabbath. Sue Thompson gave a great talk in church, our Sunday School lesson about Paul in the Acts. I love reading his account in Acts 26 when he bears testimony and tells King Agrippa about the appearance of Jesus to him and how King Agrippa says, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." I've heard that before with friends who have said, "You almost make me want to be a Mormon." 

Then in RS we had an awesome lesson about the gathering of the tribes. Our teacher put up a timeline from Abraham when he was given his covenant all the way to April 3, 1836 when Christ appeared at the Kirtland Temple and also Moses and Elias and Elijah(D&C 110). I learned something interesting that on that same day, April 3, 1836 in Israel, it was the first day of Passover which is also the day when they traditionally set out a plate for Elijah at their tables. Little did they know that across the ocean in Kirtland, Elijah, Moses and Elias were all handing over the very keys that they are waiting for. 

I hope you have a successful and joy filled week. 

love you,

Mom xxoo

Rainy Days and Sundays

Oct. 16, 2011
Dear Elder Alex,
Well, here we are. Another Sunday, but this time it rained all day long. We actually need the rain, so it's good. The trees are actually starting to change colors now and fall certainly feels like it's in the air. It's my favorite season.

Church was good today. A new family spoke, the Freemans. The choir sang and Jan Leifson(choir director) is really pushing us with some harder songs, but we always manage to come through at the last minute. It's fun having the McCauley's back in the ward. They're back sitting in their old row, just like they never left. Next week they are doing a fireside for the high priests and their wives in the stake.  I'm looking forward to it.

Last night Sis. Julie Beck (RS Gen. President, just in case you didn't know) was here in the valley and she spoke at a fireside at the Paramount Stake. So they broadcast it to our building so we could see it too. It was wonderful. She is an amazing woman. I love how she speaks so easily, concisely, flipping to scriptures left and right, recounting personal stories that are amazing and somehow ties everything together without any notes. She spoke for almost 2 hours straight and I could have listened for a couple more. I felt very uplifted and edified when I left and I took some notes that will be excellent to share with the presidents in our stake. One thing she talked about that I thought of for you is how as a missionary your scripture study time is carved out for you, in the fact that you are commanded to carve out that time each day. But once home, every returned missionary quickly realizes that that time is no longer automatically carved out for you. You have to actually make that time and how difficult that becomes for all of us. Just a little something to keep in your mind. I look forward to my time each day, but it certainly isn't carved out for me. I have to work hard for it, but it sure makes a difference.

So this past week or so, Kristina has been anxiously awaiting her 16th birthday. She even asked Tanner Myler to the Sadie Hawkins dance coming up in November. She asked him by rewriting the words to the Cougar fight song and decorated everything with blue and white. She highlighted letters from her name in the text. Then Tanner answered her today by leaving a jar of bubblegum on the front step saying he "would never "blow" this chance to go to Sadie's with you." I think his mom is more excited about the fact that he's going with Kristina than  anyone else. They love Kristina in that household! So she's hoping you give permission for her to go out with Tanner....

I'm so happy to hear that Benita got baptized! Tell her to surround herself in the Relief Society and to work on the following in this order: 1)her faith and personal righteousness 2)strengthening her family 3)giving relief and lifting those around her.  She will always be a strong and blessed Mormon woman by keeping those goals in her life.

So I can't wait to hear how things went with Elder Christofferson being there.  Did you get to meet him personally? What did he speak about?

For dad's birthday, he and Kristina went out golfing at Shadow Valley. Dad says she plays well but they lost quite a few balls. Hmmm. Good thing he bought a brand new box the day before. :) Since dad got his b-day present early (a new laptop), his musical cards were the highlight and his german chocolate cake with coconut pecan icing. 

I saw that your money got refunded from Paypal. That was kind of shocking to see everything gone not only from your checking account, but also from your savings. I hope you were able to talk to the bank too, because they should refund the $12.50 that they charged for covering the paypal expenses. If not, I can go in and talk with them, but these days since you're so old, I can't do much on your behalf so you might be on your own with that one. Thank Sis. Packer for being so obliging through the whole thing. 

Kirk is back at school but he is pining (that's a word my grandma would use) for Sarah. I don't know how he's even concentrating on his school work. I kind of wish they'd get married sooner rather than later, so he could settle down and finish school. Sarah is coming back down here the end of this month. Her sister Nicole plays ice hockey and her team is playing against a team in Boise, so we'll all be going to watch her play. Sarah's parents called dad and I the other night to talk about the possibilities concerning getting a visa for Sarah. I went to an immigration attorney last week and got all the info. It is so convoluted, you wouldn't believe how many hoops you have to jump through to get a visa to work here in the US even when you're married to a citizen. It's crazy and even the attorney said so. Right now the plan is for them to get married here, then apply for a visa which takes up to 6 months. During that time Sarah is not allowed to leave our country, which is not good news for her parents and they may have to have a reception before the wedding just for that reason alone. Kind of crazy, but hey, we're up for anything and so are they. We'll keep you posted on what goes on there. On our end, we got passport applications sent in for Leah and Nikki, so hopefully we'll get those back in a few weeks.

Dad's been juicing the grapes again this week. We delivered a bunch of juice to friends tonight and now we've got enough raisins for...well...for I don't know what, but we've got a lot of raisins! If you could use some raisins, let us know. Did you get your package yet from us? Let me know when you get it and how you like things, etc.

Haven't heard any news from Dakota yet, so probably this week. Can you believe that Jake will be coming home in just a few weeks?  I'm in a little bit of shock over that. I can't wait to see him and go to his homecoming though. 

I hope you have a great week, full of miracles and blessings and tender mercies. Listen to the spirit and act on the promptings-you'll always be in the right place at the right time with the right people. What could be better than that!

You're always in my thoughts and prayers.
Love you,
mom
XXOO

Homecoming

Oct. 9, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Hi. We just pulled in from our trip to Utah. We had a lot of fun in a short amount of time as usual. We left Friday morning after dad got back from his 11 yr old scout campout to Frost's land on Thursday night. Before we left town though, we made a stop over at Pres. and Sis. McCauley's to welcome them home from their mission and have a little chat with them.

The McCauley's had a wonderful and tough mission. I asked them each to tell us 2 things they learned while on their mission. Sis. McCauley said she learned that Heavenly Father truly knows and loves all of His children no matter how far in the middle of nowhere they live and also she learned that she wasn't able to put her pride aside while serving her mission. She said some things were very difficult and her pride got in the way, so she will probably have to serve another mission to try and overcome that tendency. Pres. McCauley said he learned that the Lord really is in charge of His church and that it is really His church. He also learned that no matter who is called to the work, the Lord qualifies them. They reported their mission today, but we had to miss it since we were in Utah. They will also be speaking at a special High Priest fireside later this month, so we will get to hear them then. They said to say hi to you.

We then drove to Utah and went straight to Provo because we had tickets for Homecoming Spectacular. The Men's Chorus did a great job. In fact, they did quite a bit more dancing moves this year, even tap dancing, mouth harp, spoons and acrobatics by a few.Quite the diverse group! It was a good show and we ended sitting right next to the Dumas's just by coincidence.

We spent the night at Steve and Carolina's. Dakota has put in her papers for her mission and is expecting her call sometime this week. So if you want to make a guess for both a stateside and a foreign mission, you can join in the pool. She's very excited.

Saturday dad and I got up early and went to the Provo temple for a session. It was so nice to be in the temple again and the Provo temple feels so huge compared to our petite Boise temple. But since our temple has been closed, we will try to go to the temple whenever we visit another city. Then we all went to the bookstore, of course and then headed to SLC and visited my uncle Marv and Aunt Jerri where Marv gave Kristina some pointers on playing the upright bass which she is dying to learn. Then we met grandma and grandpa at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. Charmaine and Sean were with us the whole time too. From there we made a quick stop at G&G's house where we got to inspect their torn up kitchen. All the cupboards have been torn out of the upstairs kitchen and they should be getting a brand new kitchen in just a couple weeks. I'm excited for them to have something nice.

Then we headed back down to Provo, rested for a spell at the Trumbo's and eventually took off for a late night 8pm start-time game. It has been so cold especially in Utah, even some snow, but last night the weathered tempered just enough to make the game enjoyable. They won and even started and played with a new quarterback, Nelson, who everyone calls "Samson" because of his long locks. Some of the girls call him Fabio. Anyway, he did a much better job than Heaps so most people were very happy about that. We got home around midnight after a long day.

Today we went to Steve and Carolina's home ward where we are beginning to feel right at home, then went over to Axel and Laura's to see their little twin girls. They're very cute and very small. Lots of baby gear all over their apartment.

After a yummy lunch at Carolina's and a fun chat with Steve and Carolina about life, we got on the road and headed home. That's it in a nutshell.

I'm hoping to hear something from Kirk tonight about his weekend in Canada, not to mention I don't even know what time he's flying in tomorrow. He had such a difficult time getting to her, I'm sure he doesn't even want to leave now. On Thursday morning he flew from Boise to Spokane where Sarah, her mom and brother were waiting to pick him up. However, the plane, after circling for quite some time, could not land because of fog and was diverted to Portland. After several hours, they finally got to board again and flew back to Spokane, but once again, they got even close enough that Kirk could see the runway, but all of a sudden the plane jolted upwards quickly and the pilot said he was not able to land. Again, they flew back to Portland. This time, Kirk contacts me while flying and asks me to call Sarah's mom and let them all know what was happening. Her family is being extremely patient and says they will even stay there overnight so they can pick him up the next morning if they need to. Kirk is now frustrated and learns that Spokane airport has closed for the day. He has to stand in a huge long line and get new flight plans for the next day. Meanwhile, he is calling me and I'm looking into other routes. Then I check into rental cars, call Southwest to see if he will still get credit for his missed flight (which he does) and then let Kirk know. Kirk now has 2 other guys who were sitting next to him in the plane who want to drive with him. Next time I hear from him they've rented a minivan and a family of 3 has also joined them and they are on their way (a 6 hour drive). Sarah's family knows some people in Spokane, so they decide to drop in and visit them until Kirk gets their which isn't until around 2am. Then they all take off and drive another 3 hours to their home in Canada and get in around 5:30am. I'm sure Kirk was just so happy to finally be with Sarah. 

Just before Kirk left here, we went ring shopping and he found one he really likes, so I think he'll be getting it this week. But now we hear that Sarah can't get married to an American and start working without getting the proper visas which we've heard take anywhere from 6-9 months. It's a very convoluted procedure which I have been researching like crazy. Tuesday afternoon I'm meeting with an immigration attorney to see what can be done and what can be done quickly.  We'll keep you posted.  :)

I learned through all of this that our desire to be "home" and to be with those we love is a powerful yearning and even stronger motivator. For about 15 hours on Thursday, I literally couldn't think of anything else other than trying to help Kirk get to his proper destination. I know he was feeling the same thing and for that matter, Sarah and her family were also feeling the same way. So many factors were out of our control, but the strong desire was still there and all we could do was pray and lean on the Lord for His help. Family is everything, home truly is where our hearts yearn to be-both our earthly home and our Heavenly home, and sometimes all our efforts need to be turned to the "lost sheep".  

So, how was your week? I hope things went much smoother than some of our adventures. After you mentioned last week how much you loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talks, I went back this week and re-listened to his talk on Saturday. For some reason this time his talk really struck me powerfully and I'm even going to use some of it as a basis for my talk at my upcoming training meeting the end of this month. So thank you for inadvertently inspiring me.

So how is Ricky doing? Has he been able to quit smoking? And what about Benita? Did she listen to conference? I'm anxious to hear what she thought and how she's doing.

I was wondering about the MTC trainers. Who was it that came out to your mission and is it something they do for all the missions? That seems like it would be a nice treat to hear them, not to mention a great reminder of what you're doing and why you're doing it. I have thought often about Pres. Uchdorf's talk to the women at our broadcast and the point he made about never forgetting the "why" of what we're doing when we're working in the church. It's so easy to get caught up in the what's and when's, but the "why" is what truly matters. It's really helped me keep focused as I've had to make some RS decisions in the last couple weeks.

Sean is doing well, just finished with mid-terms. He's still got his job with BYU security and juggling all his classes quite well. Kristina is still on countdown towards the big "16" and I'm helping with her big party. Met with a DJ last week and it sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Leah is growing up fast. I can't believe how much girls change as they get ready to go into Young Women. Nikki is loving being a double digit number (10), but she still hates being the youngest and isn't enjoying being bossed around by everyone. Dad is getting ready for his birthday this week. Not sure what we're going to do for him yet, but we'll try to pamper him!

I hope you have a wonderful week. Enjoy the fall weather and the new music rules!!

Love you,

Mom xxoo

General Conference Oct. 2011

Oct. 2, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Can you believe it's already October? This General Conference came up very quickly-a sign of old age I'm sure. We were able to watch all four sessions and dad was home to go to Priesthood (although he had to attend all by himself...) He told me all about it afterwards over a bowl of frozen yogurt from a new place in Eagle right next to Pizza Hut. There were quite a few other men in white shirts there when we got there too. Only Dustin Simpson and dad brought their wives though.

Kirk and Sean were able to attend the Saturday morning session thanks to Sarah getting them tickets. Sarah and her mom flew down to SLC for the weekend. Kirk drove down to meet them and to "meet the mom". Sounds like she approves of him, so it's full steam ahead for their relationship. Next weekend he's flying to Canada to meet the rest of the family and spend Canadian Thanksgiving with them. He and Sarah also spent time yesterday looking at rings. Sean went to Priesthood with Grandpa, and Kirk stayed in downtown SLC so he went to the Conference Center. Afterwards, Sarah, Kirk, "mom" and sister all went down to Provo and spent the evening playing Settlers of Catan-Sarah's family's favorite game. Kirk stayed with Steve and Carolina for the weekend and even had Sarah over this morning to watch conference with them. This afternoon, Kirk and Sarah went to Grandma and Grandpa's where they had lunch with them, Charmaine and Sean and also watched the last session.  Sounds like they all had a great weekend. 

Me and the girls managed to come up with lots of handwork to do during the sessions, like usual. I knitted half a blanket, Nikki crocheted a bracelet, Leah got half an embroidery done and Kristina started and stopped several projects. I think dad was jealous of all our multi-tasking. I enjoyed several of the talks about repentance and loved Sister Tanner's talk about fathers and daughters. I also really enjoyed Pres. Monson's talk this morning and Elder Cornish's talk (partly because he was Kirk's mission president).

Here are some pics of Kristina and the dogs watching conference together. Notice the green paws from a freshly mowed lawn:

We've been busy making raisins these last few days from our humungous grape supply. There's been lots of grape juice too. Wish we could get some out to you. Dad is enjoying his new laptop which probably seems like hyper-speed after the one he's had. Kristina is getting excited for her 16th birthday party which is going to be a big bash at the Moss's where she celebrates with Mallory and Courtney Dittman. They think they want to invite about 120 kids. Hmmmm.  Us moms are putting it together for them.

I've been busy leather dying new/used seats for the Mustang. We got a pair that have a headrest on them from a '96 Mustang but they were white. So I've been dying them black and I think they look pretty awesome. Brent is going to put 3 pt. harness seatbelts in the car this week too. I'll send some pictures next week.

So how was your week and how did you like Conference? I hope some of your investigators were able to attend. Was Courtney able to watch? Also I hope Brandon and Katrina got to catch some of it. I'm glad to hear that McMinnville is starting to grow on you. There was so much talk about missionary work too in this conference and to hear the Elder from Japan speak this afternoon about his conversion was powerful.

Bro. and Sis. McCauley come home tomorrow evening from their mission in Russia. We are so sad we won't be here this weekend to hear them speak and report. We are going back down to Utah to watch a BYU football game. We planned it a long time ago, so we can't really change things. We're also going to Homecoming Spectacular. It will be a quick trip, but it will be fun to see Axel and Laura and their new little babies. One of their little girls was born with an adrenal disease that will affect her her whole life and she has to take medicine every day, and take extra medicine every single time she even comes down with a little cold.It's an extremely rare disease that affects her growth too. They will have to watch her carefully. Can't remember if I told you that Katie had her 2nd baby girl last week too. That makes 4 new great grandchildren for my mom and dad in just the last couple weeks.

If there's anything you want from Utah, let us know. We recently bought the movie, 17 Miracles and it is so well done. I don't know if you can watch things like that, but I would definitely recommend it to families you are working with. It tells the story of the Willey Handcart company and highlights 17 miracles that happened along the way. It's such a great movie.

Here are some more missionary tips for you:

1. Stand every time you greet the mission president's wife.

2. Get to church early on Sundays

3. Sing a hymn after companion study.

4. Invite companions, converts and others to write short notes in your journal

5. Cook bacon weekly, just for the smell of it

6. Always take a copy of an old talk to sacrament meetings; if the bishop calls on your without warning, you'll be prepared

7. Get to know the missionary couples well

8. Read the Book of Mormon every day of your mission.

Time to close down the house and put the dogs in the kennels. Roxy likes her beauty sleep. I hope you have a great week. As you heard from conference, there are many, many people always praying for you. Be safe, be happy and learn to recognize the spirit's whisperings every day. I'm so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost in my life.

I love you more than you know.

Mom xxoo