16 Nov 2008

Nov. 16, 2008
Dear Elder Sean,

So how was your first week as AP? I'm so anxious to hear what you do with that calling. I know you will be an excellent servant of the Lord and Pres. Olsen knows you and can trust you implicitly. It's been such an interesting mission for you. I knew this would be an important grooming for you, a refining. And you've stepped up to each challenge with courage and faith and I know that's how you'll handle this new assignment.

I just put the girls in bed, Kristina's doing some homework, Alex and Dallas went over to Rasmussen's for some dessert and dad's still at work. This is night #2 with Nikki wearing this anti-bed wetting devise. Last night it never went off and she stayed dry. I think it scared her dry. We'll see what happens tonight. Supposedly when the thing gets wet, it sets off an alarm and it vibrates against her body to wake her up. Then I'm supposed to hear it and get her up, help her get changed and get back into bed. The reviews for it were very high so I'm hopeful and she is too.

Well, EHS won their semi-final game Friday night. It was a lot of fun to watch. Dallas and his team did a great job. They will be playing in the finals this Friday against Highland from Pocatello in Pocatello. Tons of people are driving there for the game. Dad has to work or else we might be going too. I'll just have to get updates from Alex. Should be a great match up.

So Dallas is still trying to bulk up ( a near impossibility for him) so today Alex ate dinner at his house at 1pm and then they both ate dinner here at our house at 6pm and now they're off to Rasmussen's for a treat. Alex may be the only who bulks up, but they're having fun nonetheless. Let's see-BSU, BYU and Utah all won again this week too. Next week is the big match up with BYU and Utah. Since Utah(#7) is ranked higher than BSU(#9), everyone around here is cheering on BYU to beat Utah. It will be a big game.

Dad just called and says he still has some charts to do so he'll be another hour. Today at church Bro and Sis Yorgason spoke along with Dallas as one of the youth speakers. I liked Bro Y's talk so much that I asked him for a copy of it, so he said he'd email it to me. He really has a gift for speaking. I'll mail you a copy when I get it.

Yesterday was kind of a wild day. It started out pretty humdrum, Saturday chores, etc. then I took the kids to Primos for lunch. While at lunch I all of a sudden thought I should call Jan. It was just some silly reason I had to call her, but I felt compelled. (later on, Leah said that it was the spirit that told me to call her. I was so happy to hear her say that and to have that understanding). She answered the phone crying and almost screaming, hysterical. I couldn't understand her for the longest time, then I realized she said the hills were on fire by their house, the skies were completely black and they'd been asked to evacuate. The bad part for Jan was that Jeff and David were both on their way to Allen's for Tyler's farewell, in fact most the family was there. Jan was not feeling well enough to go. I had called her earlier in the morning because I knew how much she hated being alone and she was fine, but just not feeling well physically. So here she was alone in her house with a fire raging. She was kind of in a state of shock and kept saying, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to pack. So I tried to be overly calm and told her things to pack and put by her front door. Then I called Susan, who was in Manhatten Beach, helping Maria with something and got Mike's cell number to have him try to make his way to Jan's to help her. I've never felt so helpless and far away. Mike made his way to the Brea Mall and all the streets were closed off by the police. So I told him to get as close as he can and walk in if he had to. He called me 10 minutes later and said he was there. I felt so much better knowing he was there. The fires got worse and worse, jumping freeways and neighborhoods and there were some strong Santa Ana winds fueling them. Half of Brea High School burnt down, Sweet Tomatoes and some other shops in that area. Jan eventually went to a friend's house for the night. She was exhausted last night when she called me from her friends, so I haven't called her at all today. She was getting so many calls yesterday and everyone was telling her what to do. She was about to go crazy. So far 800 homes have been burned and thousands of people evacuated. There were actually several fires through LA and Orange County (Anaheim, Yorba Linda and Brea). The air was so thick and unbreathable and the pictures have been amazing. Jeff should be coming back into town tonight. But it was very crazy for a while.

Then on Wed night here in Eagle I heard sirens and horns very close to home. When I walked out the garage door, I could see flames in the sky. Turns out a home in a subdivision just down Ballantyne (Madison Flake's old neighborhood) was on fire and the flames could be seen from quite a distance. I took the girls over to watch it. It was amazing. The Eagle fire dept had just gotten a new ladder for their truck and they had to use it here. They had it at full extension and you could see these 2 men way up on top with a hose. All of Ballantyne and Floating Feather were filled with cars stopped along the side of the road. Turns out the family was at dinner and their smoker which was running on their back porch caught some of the porch furniture on fire. The neighbors got the dogs out. The only thing that didn't burn was their garage. And then we find out that it's Sister Wright's (the couple that's in Africa on their mission from our ward) sister's house. Their family isn't active, but they will be living in the Wright's house in our ward till they figure out something else. Kind of a weird fire week.

The great thing about Wed night was that our youth went on a temple trip. Our ward had asked each of us to take one name for each person in our family. So I went to the Family History center and got my birth grandparents' names temple ready, the Hutchinson's. We also got Grandpa Thompson's parents and grandparents. So Alex and Kristina got to be baptized for them. I was so excited for this to happen. I know the Hutchinson's have been waiting a long time. Pretty soon we're going to be able to get the names temple ready from our homes and they will be sent to the temple of our choice. I can't wait. I have a lot more birth family names to do. Before the Hutchinson's died, I asked them to write down a genealogy for me. At that time I wasn't even sure if I was allowed to do birth family names since I was sealed to my parents, it's not a problem at all and that makes me happy.

Kirk finally took the Spanish tests at school, so he's got some extra credits now for passing off some Spanish classes. I think he ended up getting 13 credits from it. I think he got a couple A credits, 1 B and a passing grade. He said the test wasn't too bad, but I wish he hadn't waited so long. He's coming home this Saturday. They get off an entire week for Thanksgiving, Rachel is coming with him.

So how is your new ward? It sounds like a great ward. What is it that the Bishop does that makes it so amazing? The Eagle 2nd ward got a new Bishop today. They released Bishop Eldridge and called Bishop Dunn, (his wife is Val McCauley's sister and the one that has quadruplets). They are a relatively young couple, but a very dedicated family. He will be great.

If I get any news from Allen and his family about the farewell and the MTC experience, I'll pass it along. Allen is very emotional and I know being in the MTC with his son is going to be very bittersweet. I know the feeling well...

Can't wait to hear from you. Send some pictures if you get a chance. We haven't seen any for a while. I know you're anxiously engaged in good work, so I can't wait to hear what those good works are. Stay true to yourself and act quickly to the promptings you receive. You never know if you may need to help someone get through a fire in their life...

I love you and miss you,
momxoxoxooxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxooxoxoox