Friends

The weeks fly by, don’t they?  I enjoy going to the temple every week.  It brings a peace into my life that I was missing.  I remember being in the habit of going every week after my mission and I always enjoyed that.  I am thankful I can go all the time again now.  

Friday I was out for a walk and saw the Elder’s serving in our ward.  They were out talking to people and knocking doors.  It was nice to see them and it even surprised me that the one Elder remembered my name.  They are good young men.  

We worked this week at getting some more food storage.  We haven’t added anything for about two years, except what the Hubbard’s gave us last year before their mission.  We were able to fill up about 13 buckets with grains.  I am thankful I can buy wheat here locally.  

Saturday Neal and I went to two open houses.  We are starting our search to buy a house here.  The market isn’t the best for our area of choice but I pray that we will find something. It was interesting to go look at the houses.  We also drove by a few others that I saw ads for.  It made me feel over whelmed.  I am thankful we aren’t rushed to find something quickly since neither of the houses we looked at would work for our family.   

Friday Ruth went to a special luncheon the school PTA did for all the kids who had straight A grades for the first semester.  She enjoyed going.  She said the best part was that two of her good friends, Emmy and Anna, (who area also in our ward) were there.  I am thankful she is so happy and has made good friends here.  Ruth also accepted a calling from the ward.  She will be one of the youth choristers.  She will take her turn conducting music in Sacrament meeting.  She will do a great job with it.

This week in Sacrament meeting we did something unique, at least I hadn’t seen it done before.  They invited the congregation to come up and say something about a favorite hymn and then we sang a verse from that hymn.  It was really nice.  Many shared thoughts about how important hymns are to their lives.  It made me think a lot about my Dad.  He sang so well.  He was always singing, from the time he was a young man he was involved with choirs and groups.  We sang in our home together.  Many of the songs that the ward members talked about had some connected memory for me to my Dad.  It made me realize how my love of music came from him.

The boys have been working hard to get their pinewood derby cars finished this week.  Last night they went to the cub masters house and had their cars weighed in and checked.  The races are on Thursday.  They did a great job with their cars.  Neal did a great job helping them.

Sunday evening I had my friend Kathy contact me.  She was a good friend when I first moved to the Waco area.  She was the one who helped me get through that change, of living so far from family.  I remember the day she moved from Waco and I cried.  It was hard for me but I was able to make more friends that were a great strength to me.  Kathy’s family has been living in Oklahoma City for a few years.  We have seen each other a few times since she moved from Waco, she still had family in Waco and would come visit us whenever she was in town.  Her husband just got a job in Idaho and they were moving this week.  She asked if they could stop at our house for the night.  It was fun to have them come.  The kids are all getting older, and more of them, they have six now.  We were friends when we had toddlers and babies, now they are teen agers.  They got here Monday night and slept here and then got up and going Tuesday.  They were driving on to Utah yesterday.  They planned on getting to Idaho today.  That is a long drive.  I hope the best for them.  I liked what she said to me yesterday that she knew she had to try to see me again because she didn’t know when she would get south again and I don’t know when I will get to Idaho again.  It might be long time before we see each other again.  I am glad that it worked out for them to stay here.

It has continued to be cold here.  We get highs around 45 and lows around 20.  I am thankful that it is sunny and clear skies.  It is cheerful to look outside but I don’t like being outside for too long because I get cold.  I look forward to spring time. 

January Activities

I have enjoyed this week.  Things stay busy for us.  Monday the kids didn’t have school.  We enjoyed having a day at home.  Yesterday was Neal’s birthday.  He took some time off work and met me to go out for lunch.  That was fun to have a date together for his birthday.  In the evening we had a nice family dinner and enjoyed the kids excitement.  Caleb especially was excited about having a birthday.  

We were doing the cake a little late and the kids were all ready for bed.  

We had some fun with using candles for dinner.  The kids didn't want Neal to blow out their candles, so they were protecting them. 

Ruth is doing well with her clarinet practice.  I enjoy listening to her play.  I am thankful the clarinet is working well for her.  I think it has improved her playing too.  She was able to go to the temple last week to do baptisms.  She loves going there.

Andrew was happy to win 3^rd place at the school Reflections program in the visual arts category for his drawing.  He will go on to a state competition this spring.  

We all worked to help Andrew do this puzzle he got for Christmas.  It was a tricky one with all the colors.

He enjoyed going to a birthday party for Adam, who lives in our ward.  They played games and watched some of a Star Wars movie, he didn’t know which one because he hadn’t seen any of them before.  He said it was okay.  I guess I feel about the same about them, that is why we haven’t watched them.  Saturday we had a friend come over to play, Nathan.  He has come over before.  I think he enjoys coming to a house with boys, he has three sisters.  Neal took the boys to the park and they had fun playing together.

Spencer enjoyed going to the cub scout outing last week.  We took the boys to the NM Veteran Memorial.  It was a neat place.  They had some nice statutes, plaques and memorials for all the different wars.  The boys asked questions and I hope they learned something.  Spencer has been enjoying working on a solar robot he got for Christmas.  Monday was a sunny warm day so he could bring it out side and got it to work well.  He can test it under a bright lamp we have and works at creating different things with it.

Caleb likes building things and drawing.  He was so excited for Neal’s birthday.  He made him a card and then went out in the back yard and found rocks to give as a gift.  He was very careful about what kind of rocks and each one had something about it he liked.  Ruth helped him wrap it up as a gift.  Then Monday evening he was all excited and told Neal he had a present for him.  Caleb said he could guess three times what it might be, but he would never guess it.  Then Neal guessed and on his third guess he said “a rock?”  Caleb was so sad but covered well and said no.  I was laughing about it all.  Caleb said afterwards that it wasn’t just one rock, it was a hand full of rocks, so dad had it wrong.  Caleb is looking forward to his birthday.

Neal and I have had a class change in teaching primary.  We moved to the CTR 4 class.  The kids seem so young and it is different teaching the younger group.  The kids are well behaved and it has gone well so far.  

We are all doing well.  The weather has been cold and has made it hard for me to be motivated to get out and exercise.  I am hopeful that things will start to warm up.  We have had a lot of snow this winter too.  Today is sunny so that is nice.

Christmas 2015

It has been a few weeks since I wrote.  I thought I would try to write and catch up what has been happening, but I didn’t want to make it a long essay so I wont add too many details this time.

On December 19^th the family drove to Utah.  I was so thankful we had good weather the entire drive, pretty amazing for a winter road trip.  We got to my Mom’s home in Orem in good time.  We enjoyed being with her.  On Monday the 21^st we had the viewing for my Dad.  It was a special time.  We had so many friends and extended family coming to express their love.  I enjoyed being with my sisters and Mom too.  Tuesday the 22^nd was the funeral.  It was a lovely meeting.  I felt so much peace and love.  I was thankful for all the hugs and love shown to us.  My brother and his family flew in Monday night, so it was good to see them Tuesday morning.  Family is amazing.  I am thankful for all the extended family that was able to attend.  Their sacrifice to drive to be with us was appreciated.  It was a cold snowy day.  At the Orem cemetery all was quiet with the snow coming down.  It was peaceful.  When the Army played “Taps” and presented my Mom with a flag I felt overwhelmed with peace and love. I know my Dad lived a wonderful life.  He was such a good example to so many of loving his fellowmen and serving them.  That afternoon we enjoyed singing Christmas songs at the house and visiting.  It was a fun day really.  So nice to be with all the family.

Mom, Rachel and Jeanie 

My brother Doug and his family

My sister Susan and her family

My little family

My sister Jeanie and her family

My sister Mandy and her family

How many can we fit on the couch to sing! 

Wednesday morning a group of us went to BYU and visited the art museum to see an exhibit on Normal Rockwell. I enjoyed it.  Of course everything was reminding me of my Dad.  He loved BYU, he worked there for 32 years.  I grew up with BYU as a big part of my life.  That afternoon the family all gathered again and we made gingerbread houses with the kids.  It was so fun to hear the teen agers singing and enjoying being together.  They had fun in the snow too.

Ruth with a her hair fixed by her cousin.

The girl cousins.  We each got one girl, so they can sympathize about not having a sister. 

Thursday our family went to SLC and spent the day with Hubbard family.  Neal, Ruth, Andrew and Spencer with Dallin and Micah went up to Alta and played in the snow.  They tried skiing, sledding, digging, and playing in all that snow.  I stayed with Caleb where it was warm.  We had a nice dinner together and a nice time visiting all who were there.

Christmas day we woke up to 10 inches of new snow.  It was so pretty.  I was thankful I didn’t need to go anywhere.  I enjoyed visiting with the family that came over.  Everyone was happy to be together.  The kids enjoyed their presents.  I think the adults just enjoyed the closeness of family we had all week.  

We had more visiting time with the Hubbards on Sunday when we went to church with them to see little Emily blessed.  It was good to be together with the Hubbard family in the area. We missed seeing Neal’s parents.  Neal did talk to them on a video chat and phone.  I am thankful they can serve a mission and be a good example to the children. 

Neal took the kids to temple square to see the lights

Ruth wanted to try on my wedding dress.  She was cute about wearing it.  Her cousin decided to try on her mom's dress too.

Monday morning we drove to Arizona to visit Neal’s sister Holly and her family.  We were blessed again with good weather and got there in good time.  We enjoyed our visit with them.  The kids had lots of fun playing outside in the warmer weather.  It was nice to spend a few days with them.

The kids had lots of fun watching the player piano go!

Friday, January 1^st we returned home.  We had good weather again!  I think that was a big blessing.  We were all happy to get back home and the kids had fun playing with their new things.  On January 5^th the kids went back to school.  Spencer was sick most the week but everyone is doing fine now.  

I am thankful for a new year and the ability to learn from our experiences.  I will remember Christmas 2015 as a special one.  One were we focused on the love of Christ and the love of family.  It was wonderful to gather and celebrate our Dad.  He was an amazing man and I am truly thankful to be his daughter.