Is It December Already?

Dec. 4, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Can't believe how fast time is flying by.  We're putting up Christmas decorations this week and it kind of feels like we're in hyper speed. I don't like that. I'm going to try hard to slow things down, relish each moment, smell the roses or the poinsettias, etc. 

I've already had my Material Girls Christmas luncheon complete with an ugly fabric exchange. We each brought a piece of "ugly" fabric in a brown paper bag a couple months ago. Then we exchanged bags. Our mission was simple-make something beautiful from something "ugly" and bring it back wrapped and ready to give back to its owner at our Christmas meeting. I can't believe how creative everyone was. The one who took my fabric made it into a chenille scarf. I made 4 organizer baskets out of the fabric I received. Not one person actually made a quilt from the fabric.

We've also already gone to Mike and Dawn Wright's house for their annual white elephant party. We almost came home with something cool, a DVD of Cars 2, but then Dawn decided to play the 'right, left' game where she told the story of The Night Before Christmas and every time she said the word right, we passed our gift to the right and vice versa. so we ended up with a candle. But it was all fun.I have my RS progressive dinner this week (I'm singing in a sextet for it) and then the ward Christmas breakfast is this Saturday. Sunday is our Stake Christmas fireside.

We've also already gone to tithing settlement. So you see, half the annual activities are already behind us. I hope you're enjoying some festivities of sort there in Tennessee.

Kristina just stopped by the computer and said to tell you she had a date on Friday night. She went out with Cade Anderson (Trent's little brother), so we okayed him thinking that you'd probably be okay with that. She had fun.

We got good news today in church. Trish has set a baptismal date for this coming Saturday and she is very excited about it. She asked us a couple days ago if we would all fast for her so that's what we are doing today. I'm hoping her husband will be there to support her, but he's been kind of up and down with this. Trish is so excited to finally be a member of the church. It's so refreshing to see and feel of her strong spirit.

Today in RS we had a fun treat with Tanner Myler coming in and singing a song I hadn't heard before, but I thought it was beautiful and could hear you singing it sometime. It's called Welcome to Our World by Chris Rice. It's a song about welcoming the Savior into the world, a beautiful tenor song. Tanner had the accompaniment on his iPod and sang with it. 

I'm glad to hear you had a great Thanksgiving and the people there sound like they really took care of you. We're sending of a package to you tomorrow, a little something for you to open right away and use through the season. We put it together tonight while listening to the First Presidency's Fireside.

How are Alicia and Shawna doing? Remind me again how you met them and their story, etc.

Sean and Kirk are just about getting into their finals. I think they start the end of this week and go through next week. Sean got off 2 weeks from work so he'll be able to hang out with us the whole time. He's thinking of doing a couple shifts at the Blue and Orange while he's home too. Speaking of BSU, dad's not very happy about them not getting a BCS bowl. Looks like they're going to be playing Arizona St. in Las Vegas at the Poinsettia Bowl. They finished out 6th in the nation and no BCS bowl...go figure.

Kirk will be coming home for the next semester and he was able to sell his contract to Jake Jensen, so we're all happy about that. At least I am cuz now I don't have to pay $300 a month for a place he's not even living in. This next Sunday Devin Larsen will be giving his homecoming, so I'll report back to you on that next week. His brother is leaving on his mission just a couple weeks later. Good timing.

No other news that I can think of around here. Last week I read several of the talks that were given at our last Gen. Conference, but I read the ones from the Priesthood session. Wow, they were wonderful. I really enjoyed Elder Waddell's talk and thought of you often while reading it. So take some time and re-read that talk. I got several thoughts even for my upcoming ward conference talks I'll be giving, just putting a little RS spin into it.

It's been fairly cold here lately and we even had our heater go out for a couple days-good thing my bed warmer still worked :)  I hope you are warm enough. Do you need anything for Christmas that would come in handy?  Let us know. Send me your list...Hope you enjoyed Nikki's list, it's another classic. I'm secretly hoping she never really learns how to spell in life just so I'll get plenty of laughs from her lists, her future emails to me, future text messages, etc.

Have a great week. Help people around you slow down and appreciate the beauty of the season and the spirit of the reason. That's the only way to feel true joy and peace on earth.

love you much,

Mom xxoo

Stuffed and Stuffing

Nov. 27, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

What great news to hear that the Taylors got baptized and that everything went well. The pictures were great and yes, even the fried corn looked tasty. I'm not sure anyone has those in Boise, only at the fair.

So how was your Thanksgiving? We had a wonderful time with Steve, Carolina, Dakota, Kassie, Gio, Jen, James, Kirk, Sarah, Nikki, Leah, Kristina, dad and me. A smaller group than usual, but lots of fun.  On Pie Night, we had Bill and Nancy come by as well as Coach Arnold (Steve's old BYU basketball coach, remember him...) and his wife.  It was fun reminiscing. Turns out Bill used to work for Frank Arnold when Bill was just a teenager.  I guess he sold ice cold drinks at the Hawks baseball games. Small world.  Coach Arnold also remembered well the time Bill was thrown out of a BYU basketball game because he was yelling at the refs and threw a towel at them. Since we had excellent seats for every game, the refs could hear pretty much everything any one of us said.

Steve's thinking of building a Noah's here in Boise, so dad and I took him around town looking at lots.  We went to the movies, out to eat, black Friday shopping, etc. all the usual Thanksgiving activities. It was extra fun having little James in our house. He just started walking so it was fun seeing him wobble around.

On Saturday Steve and Carolina left and then later on Kirk and Sarah left. Sarah went with Kirk to Rexburg and today her ride drove up from Utah through Idaho Falls and picked her up. This afternoon Sean left and then tonight I took Gio and Jen to the airport where they flew back to Arizona. Everyone said to say hi and tell you how much they love reading your letters.

Today we went to the 8th ward to hear Jake give his mission report. I'm so happy that they actually want you guys to tell stories from your missions again in your report. For a couple years they gave topics to speak on and we never heard very much about the mission. Now they say they'd like you to actually report your mission in your talk. Jake looks great-a little older. He spoke well, deliberate, more mature. He's gained a lot of wisdom in his last two years and really enjoyed his mission. His testimony was strong and his stories backed up that strength. I talked with him afterward and he asked about you. He told dad that his advice to you is 'don't hurry home, enjoy your mission while you're there.' Sounds like he's planning on going to BYU-I in January. 

Dad's at work today, the girls are in bed, the last of the Thanksgiving guests have left, so the house seems very quiet. Even the dogs are noticing it. 

I forgot to mention that Jared came over during the weekend too, so we got to catch up on his life. He's thinking of joining the Air Force and switching away from his music plans. He still loves music, but he can see there's not much future in it. So he's been talking to a recruiter about becoming an air traffic controller.

Sean just called and made it home safely. He took about 5 people home with him so he had a full car. 

We missed you this week, but I love knowing that you're on a mission. There's such a great feeling in our home just knowing you are out in the mission field. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have about the gospel and the peace it gives me in my life. I learn more and more as time goes on and that's something I love about it. Keep spreading the 'good news' in the South. I can see how the Vision of the South is being fulfilled through many of your experiences. 

Have a grateful week!!

love you,

Mom xxoo

Monday

Nov. 21, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

This is throwing me off a bit-writing you on a Monday night, but I'll try to get over it. We just finished with FHE where I gave a short lesson on gratitude, then me and the girls went around the house looking at things through the eyes of Giovanni and Jen's son, James since he's going to be here this week and our house is not exactly baby proofed. We moved a lot of things. He shouldn't be afraid of dogs since Tofu lives with them. Then we made a new treat called Pizzookies. Kristina said they are now her new all time favorite. Here's a pic:

This week we have Steve and Carolina, Kassie and Dakota coming tomorrow, Kirk is coming home tomorrow as well as Sean. Then on Wednesday Gio and Jen fly in. Sarah comes in late Wednesday night. That's our group. Sean says he'll organize a Turkey Bowl. We're not having pie night until later Thursday night this year in order to have everyone here. Bill and Nancy are coming for pie night too and hopefully a few more. We'll have plenty of pies, so we'll definitely need some help eating them. I'm buying most of them from Diane Beagley, but I'll be making 2-3 French chocolate pies.

I'm hoping to hear from you that the Taylors got baptized. I've been thinking about them and hope everything went well! Last week I gave a Book of Mormon to one of the ladies who cleans our house. We had a nice talk about families beforehand. I kind of decided at the last second to give her a book so I'm kicking myself that I didn't highlight Moroni's promise.  What was I thinking...Obviously I need to brush up on my missionary skills. I can't wait to see her again.

Our ward choir is in full swing now practicing several songs for the season. Jan Leifson is our director and she always makes great treats for each practice, so we've been getting a good group coming out to sing. We're such simple and easily bribed people! The songs we're doing this year are different but very pretty. 

We've been busy here getting the house ready for guests. We've got Christmas lights up outside and the basement got a deep cleaning, yea. The dogs will be getting bathed tomorrow. This is the house before dad put all the lights on the trees. I'll send more photos later.

Saturday night we went to 2 receptions. Tyler Yorgason had his reception here and also Mary Thompson. It was fun seeing the Yorgasons. They are here for the whole week so hopefully we might see more of them later on for the Turkey Bowl and they are going to come over for a visit too. Tanner is a senior now and still a brainiac with a sense of humor. Samantha is beautiful and is just about 16. The 3 younger boys still look young and Sydney too. Kristina went with a bunch of friends today to take Samantha out to lunch at the China Palace in Eagle.

Eagle High was in the state championships over the weekend, but they lost to Coeur dAlene (had to look up the spelling on that one). Kristina went to the game and said it was pretty sad cuz it wasn't even close. At least BSU womped on SDSU this week and are now back up to #7. I just love watching BSU play.

Our ward is continuing to grow, not because of baptisms, but lots of people are moving in. It's hard to keep up with all the new people and get to know them, but I love hearing them speak. Everyone has a story and I love listening to people's life histories. I'm slowly but surely getting my dad's life history typed. He talks a lot faster than the patriarch. I can type a patriarchal blessing without ever having to rewind the tape. It's nice. But with my dad, I'm constantly rewinding to catch up. But I'm loving listening the stories all over again.

So how did your meetings go on Monday? Did you have to travel somewhere for them? What are your plans for Thanksgiving, in other words, how many Thanksgivings are you going to be having this year??

Grandma and Grandpa Thompson are getting their kitchen redone. Sounds like it's almost finished now, so when it is I'll have Sean send a picture and I'll pass it along so you can see it. It will be so nice for them to have their upstairs kitchen updated.

 We'll miss you this week but I know you are in good hands. Remember we are always praying for you.

Love you,

mom xxoo

what happened to Fall?

Nov. 13, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

It is so cold now and I feel like we got jipped of fall. I was just starting to enjoy the beautiful fall colors, the brisk cool air, when all of a sudden we had a few very windy days, which then wiped out all the fall foliage, and the weather took a turn for the worse. I guess while I was gone to California it even snowed a little bit here. Dad said it was very icy on his way to work in Mountain Home the other morning and cars were sliding on the ice. Here we go again. Winter just seems to show up every year much to my dismay.

I can't complain though because Kirk has had several small blizzards in his neck of the woods, so things could be worse. 

Kristina and her dating group didn't complain last night when they had dinner outside either. She had a great time on her Sadie Hawkins date with Tanner Myler. In her group was Joy Purnell with Aaron Potter, Courtney Dittman with Kelson Adcock.  They started in the afternoon by coming over to our house for some art in the basement. They made some lovely creations with brushes and straws and played a little wii bowling too. Here are the art pics:

Above is Kristina and Tanner's canvas. Then they took the boys back home for a couple hours and the girls set up dinner. They picked the spot for dinner at the opening of Legacy subdivision. It really is a nice spot as you'll see from the pics, but it was quite brisk. The pictures don't show how cold it was because they took their coats off for the photo shoot. They set up our small stacking stools for tables and our cushions on the ground and I made a run to Panda Express for their dinners and they all sat and had dinner in the gazebo. Here are the pics from that part of the night:

After dinner they came back to our house and waited around til it was time for the dance. They said the dance was a lot of fun. then they went to Dittman's for games and a snack afterwards. You'll be proud of her, she was home by midnight!

We got your package yesterday. Boy did that make Leah's day-a poster of Justin. That was like the big thing she wanted on her list and we didn't get her that, so she is one happy girl. Nikki wore her night shirt last night very proudly-good call on that one too!

I went to my Stake Council mtg this morning and got to hear a sister missionary from Jake's mission report her mission-Mallory Lamb. The Jensen's are leaving next week to pick up Jake. I love hearing the missionary reports. Bro and Sis. Hansen who used to be in our ward also reported their mission to Kirtland. I don't ever mind going to those meetings also because I know Myles McKell will be there and he's always so funny. Also Kelly Cameron keeps us laughing.

Leah officially graduated from Primary today and went to the stand for her certificate. She recited the 2nd article of faith and did a great job. She got to go to her first mutual last Wednesday which she said was the best ever and then today she got to go to her first Sunday YW meeting where they learned about dating.Welcome to the big time Leah.

Today also was our Primary program. Nikki is officially the tallest in the Primary. She had her line down pat, but when she got to the microphone, she stumbled a bit on the words but pulled it together in the end. She's pretty proud of the fact that she's my last Primary child.

Thank you for sharing about the Vision of the South last week. I looked it up and read about it and today in RS I was able to actually share it as we were discussing the signs of the times. I can see that prophecy being fulfilled in many other places besides the South.

Are the Taylors getting ready for their baptism? How many in their family will actually be getting baptized? They are still in my prayers as I know this is a crucial time for them.

Last week we had a new family move into the house across the street. Yes, I know this will be about the 12th family that has lived there, but we are still excited to see them. It's an LDS family from Star. They have 5 kids under 8, so not exactly anyone for the girls to play with but there will be babysitting opportunities for sure.

In football, Eagle beat the undefeated Highland on Friday and will be playing in the state finals. However, BSU lost to TCU at home and we are all still in shock. I had to listen to the last part of the game on my run to Panda and it was a down to the last second loss 36-35, so Nikki claims I was driving radically. I probably was. BYU won easily over Idaho, but that was not even a good match-up.

We're starting to make plans for Thanksgiving here. I wish it was one of the holidays that you got to call home. That would be fun with everyone here. At least I'm hoping everyone makes it if the weather holds out this year. Last year we were so sad when the Trumbo's couldn't make it through Snowville and they had to turn around. This year we have to worry about Sarah trying to make it down from Canada too. I think we should change Thanksgiving to September when the true harvest is anyway. Canada has it right with that one.

Just finished a game of bananas with Nikki. It's a long game with just 2 people. Leah and Kristina went to something for YW and dad is at a meeting for scout leaders in the Primary. 

I hope you are well. Please be safe. Say hi to Elder Wheatley for me and I hope you have a fantastic week! Be exact in your obedience so you can call upon all the blessings that are waiting for you.

Love you very much,

Mom   xxoo

Back Home

Nov. 6, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

How many times have I said, back home, in my letters. Well, it's always true and tonight I just got in from flying home from California. Dad and the girls picked me up from the airport. 

I had a whirlwind of a time in Orange County. I went down to take grandpa's life history and got quite a bit of it done. You know my dad, he has plenty of stories to tell. It will be a much bigger book than my mom's. It was fun hearing some things I hadn't heard before. I liked hearing his mission stories. My mom is progressively getting worse and really slowing down, physically and mentally. It's hard to see, but it's even harder to watch my dad work so hard to take care of her every need and not get any love in return.

While there I got to see Toni, Jan, Jeff, Heidi and her baby McKay, Cheyenne who takes care of grandma during the day, Chad who is now 13, Patrice and Dennis and their new home they are renting, Susan and Mike, Parker, Brig, Taylor, Sarah, McKenna and her boyfriend Will, Cami, Sam.  Pretty good for being there just 4 days, eh?  While I was there Trevor got in a big fight with his parents and left home. He didn't get far cuz he showed up at Toni's and wants to live there, but Toni is only giving him 2 weeks then he'll need to pay a substantial amount towards the rent. Always drama going on around there, more stories than I care to share. But I love my brothers and sisters and hope they always know that.

Now the hard part begins, transcribing the tapes. That will take me some time. I also have to get to work on Sarah's visa this week. Hopefully I'll be able to meet with an attorney and get all the paperwork ready beforehand and get it turned in. I think I told you that the visa will take between 3 and 9 months, so the sooner we get the stuff in, the better. It's a lot of paperwork. It reminds me of adopting the girls. Now we're adopting Sarah.

Here are some pics from my trip and Halloween:

On Wednesday, Leah has her 12th birthday. She is very excited and is still trying to earn the right to pierced ears. She'll be going to mutual this Wednesday too.  Nikki and dad made a replica of Jamestown while I was gone. Kristina planned her Sadie's date while I was gone. Sadie's is this Saturday and she's counting the days. They will be serving food from Panda for their dinner-aren't you proud of them?

That Civil War cemetary tour sounded quite interesting. They don't do those kinds of things around here. That's so southern and I miss that. 

I was so excited to hear your news about the Taylors last week. I hope they are still progressing well. After being in California and seeing such extremes of lifestyle, if you know what I mean, I've just been thinking so much about the gospel. When people join the church, their lives and even their very spirits seem to calm down, not that their troubles go away, but they feel a fullness of joy versus sporadic momentary highs and lows. They have purpose and best of all they have the gift of the Holy Ghost that is more key in their lives than I think most people realize. Having the spirit with you becomes almost palpable, if not palpable, at least visible with our spiritual eyes. I've seen such a starkness of difference in people's lives when they've had the spirit with them and when they have turned away from it. I knew a man in Hilton Head who had been a member but left the church and every so often he would return to hear his wife speak, etc (she was a member) and when he came through the doors of the church, our little humble church in Hilton Head, he would feel something different and if it was a fast Sunday, he said he felt practically compelled to get up and bear his testimony which I can remember him doing on at least 2 different occasions. He would break down up there and say how he knew everything was true and felt it strongly and was ashamed that he couldn't keep that feeling and dedication once he left the building. I think sometimes as long time members, we get "used" to feeling the spirit and having it in our lives and don't notice the stark difference that those who don't have it feel. That's why new members and people you teach who really listen and learn feel it strongly. I'm sure you've felt the strength of the spirit in many of your lessons with investigators. The Holy Ghost's job/mission of testifying of the truth of all things is very real.

I still pray for the Taylors, because I know how critical this period is in their lives. Do they have friends in the ward, are they being fellowshipped?  I can't stress how crucial that is. 

Well, between setting our clocks back and traveling to California for the weekend, it's thrown my internal clock off. So I better get to bed. Can't wait to hear from you and how your week went. All the family in Cali I talked with asked about you and they send their love. Keep up the great work.

love you,

mom xxoo 

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