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

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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.