Merry Christmas

December 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

We have enjoyed a good year.  The kids are all excelling in their activities and at school. They are all growing and changing so much. We have enjoyed many family outings of camping, hiking and biking. We enjoy spending time as a family. Lately the kids have been cooking more and Ruth and Andrew are getting to be pretty good cooks. This year we thought it would be fun to let the kids contribute to this letter. We asked each of them to write a paragraph about the year. We hope you enjoy what they have to say.

Ruth (age 14, 9^th grade): I started high school this year in August and am enjoying it so far. I’m busy learning French (J’adore etudier francais!) and how to interview people and write journalistically.  I’ve been looking forward to reading the Odyssey and other books in English later in the school year. I love books as a principle, except for textbooks of all sorts. I’m writing multiple books of my own at the moment. I also have a lot of fun reading about ancient cultures on my own. I recently made a basic study of string theory and dimensions for the development of a book I am in the process of writing. I’m also laboriously working my way through Les Miserables so that I can see the musical next spring. I’ve been enjoying being in young women’s and I have had a lot of fun activities, like girl’s camp and a YW retreat up in the mountains. I enjoy early morning seminary. I had tons of fun visiting family in the summer. I’m enjoying living in Albuquerque and have made a lot of friends in the past year.

Andrew (age 12, 7^th grade): I am Andrew and this year of 2017 I have liked 4 categories of things. First is model railroading, which I enjoy very much. I have built cars, repaired locomotives, built track designs, and organized my things. Lately I have gone to Mr. Hovey’s house (our model train club leader) to run his trains on a completed layout. My second favorite thing to do is biking on roads and mountains. I have done a 14-mile mountain biking trip and a 33-mile road bike trip. My third thing is Lego. I like Lego cars and Lego scenes on Lego boards. My last thing I enjoy are the Scout campouts that I go on with my dad. We have gone on many: one was 16° F in the morning. We went in a lava tunnel on that trip. I have also done merit badges and ranks. These are the things I have enjoyed this year in every-day free time.  This summer we went on a family vacation to Utah to see grandparents and cousins. We also went camping with the Hubbard family.

Spencer (age 10, 5^th grade): I like art and riding bikes. I have a fun teacher this year who also likes art and is creative, just like me. I am in a model train club that meets every month on the second Saturday. I had a fun time during the summer. I like Legos and think they are great and creative because you can build anything. Then there are Lego trains, which I like even though I don’t have any, except a small mine train. I like making things with Lego that can connect to battery powered remote control motors. And that is all from Spencer.

Caleb (age 7, 2^nd grade): I love puppies and hamsters. I like to go hiking on the old volcanoes (just West of Albuquerque). My favorite subject at school is POP time (gifted pull out period). I cannot wait until I get baptized! Our trip to Utah was awesome. We camped for four days and played with grandparents and cousins. I love bikes very much because they are fun exercise and a great way to spend time. I like my siblings because they are someone to play with during non-school days. I like it when we go to Hinkle family fun center because I like miniature golf and games. I loved this year very much.

Becky: I have worked a lot on family history this year. I have helped my sister work on names that my dad was researching when he died. He had a huge list of things that he was just starting or in the middle of. We have worked through those names and now I am trying to find ones on my own. I love that there is a temple to go to only a few miles away. I try to go often. I volunteer at the elementary school library once a week. I enjoy working with the kids and books. In the church I teach the 4-year-olds in Primary and do Activity Days, for girls 8–11 year old, we do activities twice a month. I enjoy participating in a book club and singing in the ward choir. I have made many friends through those activities. I like to do sewing projects; I made a quilt and other smaller projects this year. I enjoy working on large puzzles and making a pretty picture out of chaos. I enjoyed our big vacation to Utah this year. We enjoyed camping with the Hubbard family and visiting with the Hancock’s, too. Over all, this has been a good year. I am thankful for my wonderful family, my home and most especially my Savior. I am thankful we have this time of year to remember him and to celebrate his birth with our families.

Neal: I am grateful for Caleb's enthusiasm. He generously gives big hugs. He sings in a strong voice and dances to jazz music. This fall, he reached out to the boys in our neighborhood and got them out of their houses to ride bikes with him. He likes to remember the birthdays of children in his school class. He imagines other worlds, draws maps of the continents and cities, and invents languages for the people there. He recently wrote a story set in one of his worlds. Spencer is gentle and loving. He likes to take care of animals. He made terrariums for snails and stink bugs this summer and fed them from the compost pile. I love to see his excitement for family activities. He runs and jumps like an antelope when we go somewhere fun. I am grateful that Andrew can do many hard things. He is learning to play the trombone in concert and jazz bands. He slithered through a lava tube cave and found the lonely bat living there. He is refinishing our picnic table for a Scout project and has learned to use a belt sander. He caught several rainbow trout big enough for a meal. Ruth is friendly and helpful. She is a great support to me and Becky by making dinner, tending the boys when we are away, cleaning, and willingly following our family rules. She is developing her talents for creative writing, singing, and making friends. She is blossoming spiritually by praying, studying scriptures on her own and with the family, attending seminary, singing with the ward choir. I am happy to spend time with my family and have good employment this Christmas. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, being part of a great church congregation, and being close to the Albuquerque temple. I am blessed by your friendship.

It's Christmas Time

The month is passing by so quickly.  We got the tree set up and the decorations out.  I forgot to take pictures of the kids with the tree.  I will do that this week end. On Saturday the 2nd we went to a Festival of Trees down town  and enjoyed seeing all the prettily decorated trees on display.  I also enjoyed listening to a live brass band playing Christmas carols. 

The boys liked the Lego tree

Caleb liked that his shirt matched the tree

We enjoyed a free hot cocoa drink

They had a fun village set up

The first week end of December we had Stake conference.  We had Elder Brent Nielson from the 70 come to our meetings.  He was a great speaker and I enjoyed listening to him.  He works with the missionary department and told us things going on there.  He also talked about the “Light the World” campaign.  We as a family have tried to watch the videos and think of ways to focus outward and think of others more.  This week we made some cookies and took them to a few single women we know. I think they really enjoyed our visits.

The first week of December I was involved with helping with the elementary school book fair.  It was a bit busy and I put in about 10 hours of work. I enjoyed helping though.  We also helped with a multi-stake Nativity event. They had hundreds of Nativity sets displayed in a church building. I brought my set in for display. Neal volunteered to help with the checking in of Nativities. Then on Saturday Neal and I went to pick mine up. We had a busy day and didn’t get there while they were doing musical numbers and people were looking, but we looked around while people were cleaning up.  It was fun to see so many Nativities.  After looking around we stopped by a little cafe and got a dessert and talked. It was a good date night.

This is the little Nativity that Jeanie painted for me about 25 years ago.

That Saturday was a busy day. Neal, Andrew and Spencer went to the train club. They had time to drive trains around layouts and enjoyed a pizza party too.  They did some shopping for boots afterwards. We were surprised that Spencer has outgrown Andrew in shoe size.  He is in a growth spurt right now.  I took Ruth and Caleb to the mall that morning to get a few things for Ruth. 

The evening before we had the missionaries over for dinner.  It was nice to visit with them again.  Then I went to a special meeting at the church.  Elder Renlund from the 12 and Elder Pearson from the 70 came with their wives to visit the women in the stakes here.  We had a nice meeting and I enjoyed all of their talks.  We were able to shake hands with them as we left the building too.  I am glad that I could go to such a special meeting.

This week Andrew had a concert band concert and jazz band concert.  I enjoyed listening to the groups play.  I can tell that Andrew enjoys being a part of it too.  Andrew invited his Sunday school teacher to come and she came to the jazz band concert.  Sister Thomas sat by us and I enjoyed a visit with her between bands playing. She has enjoyed Andrew in her class this year.

Caleb has enjoyed play times with his friend Charlie.  The boys enjoy being together. Caleb lost a tooth this week and likes that he looks like a beaver. 

Charlie and Caleb have fun with the blocks

Caleb loves his Santa hat that I got for the kids this week

Ruth is busy with finals week this week. The high school has semester final exams for all the classes. She is doing well and will finish off the year with good grades.  Last Friday was her last day of early morning seminary for the semester.  Her teachers made a nice breakfast for the class to eat while they reviewed their final exams.  She has enjoyed going to seminary. Spencer has finished his scarf and is working on a hat to match with his knitting. Yesterday was the last day of knitting club but his teacher said he could use the loom over break to finish his hat.  He has fun bike riding with a friend from church and school, Jonathan. 

I enjoyed being in the temple this morning. It was a peaceful time for me.  I have been thinking about my dad a lot this week since today marks two years since he passed away.  I miss talking to him. I have felt a stronger testimony of my Savior this season. I know that he lives and that my dad is still there too and that I will see him again.  I am thankful for my faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for this time of year to reflect on his birth and teachings.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanksgiving

Where did the month of November go?  Time passes so quickly.  I will back up to where I left off in my last letter.  On Saturday the 11th Andrew went with the youth to do a service project at a cemetery.  They were documenting grave markers for “billiongraves” website.  They also helped to put out small flags on veterans graves.  Andrew enjoyed helping.  That day Ruth went to a picnic at a park with her friend Grace and Grace’s family.  Ruth enjoyed the nice day at the park with her friend. That evening Andrew attended a birthday party for Sam, who just turned 12 in our ward.  And Neal went to an Elder Quorums dinner. He enjoyed visiting with the men and eating a good smoked brisket.

On Tuesday the 14th I went to a Relief Society dinner and enjoyed brisket too.  That party did a White Elephant gift exchange and I ended up with a unique gift.  I got a goldfish in a mason jar.  I was surprised because from the weight and shape of it I figured it was a candle, so when I pulled it out and saw a fish swimming it was surprise.  The kids were so excited to have a pet.  We decided to name him Fred.  I looked up information on how to care for a goldfish in a open fishbowl, but we used a large pickle jar.  I did all the things the website told me to do and bought a small container of goldfish food.  I did my best to care for it but sadly little Fred died after five days with us. 

Spencer joined a knitting club at the school.  It is run by his teacher and he really wanted to do it.  He is not doing true knitting with needles but is using a little loom to make a scarf.  He is working hard at it.  When I asked why he picked a scarf and not a hat like so many of the other kids are doing, he answered by saying he could use a scarf for a long time but a hat he might out grow in a couple of years and he wants his work to last. 

On the 15th I went to the elementary school to listen to the second grade, Caleb, do their music program.  They sang patriotic and Thanksgiving songs.  It was a fun program.  They only did the program in the morning so the rest of the family wasn’t able to go to it.  On the 16th I went to the elementary school to eat a Thanksgiving lunch with Spencer and Caleb.  We enjoyed eating our turkey, visiting and having lunch together that day.

Caleb is in the back row in yellow looking at me and smiling, this was before they started to sing

Spencer and Caleb had the whole week of Thanksgiving off of school because the school did parent teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday.  I enjoyed visiting with their teachers.  The boys are doing well in their classes.  Their teachers like them and say what good boys they are.  Caleb’s teacher said one things she likes about him is that he is always happy!

On Friday the 17th Neal and Andrew went camping with the boy scouts.  It got cold that night and in the morning they said someone had a thermometer to say it was 16 degrees.  They had fun though and were prepared for cold.  Saturday they did a hike through a lava tube cave. Andrew came home and was telling me how cool it was to shimmy down tubes and look at the caverns with his head lamp.  When I had asked him to tell me about it he said “mom, you would never do that.” I told him that was why I needed to hear about it because I knew I would never do it.  Andrew is having lots of fun with the scouts.

That was a busy week end.  Friday evening Ruth went to the high school production of “Macbeth” with some friends.  She enjoyed seeing her first Shakespeare play performed.  She also enjoyed watching some friends perform in it. 

Saturday the 17th was a big model train show. Spencer and I went to it for the morning.  I was volunteering to help with the activity for the children.  Spencer enjoyed looking around and helping with the youth club display and running the engines there. 

With Spencer and Caleb out of school last week I took them to the science museum.  We enjoyed looking at things and being together.  Ruth and Andrew were out of school Wednesday through Friday, Neal also took those days off.  It was nice to have a lot of family time. Neal and Andrew did some bike riding on some mountain trails.  Andrew almost has his biking merit badge done.  Thursday was Thanksgiving day.  I enjoyed fixing our feast with Andrew and Ruth. They were both very good helpers.  Ruth set the table all pretty with our china dishes. They were such good helpers that we had things ready early and were just waiting for the turkey to finish.  So we had time to clean up our cooking mess before dinner. 

While we waited for the turkey Neal took the boys into the open space for a bike ride.  It was the first time Caleb had been out there with his bike.  He came home with tears saying how hard it was to ride on dirt trails and how he fell a couple of times.  Interesting thing was that the next morning he asked Andrew to go out with him again.  His second time on the open space trails was much better and he said it was fun. 

Thursday afternoon we enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner and had fun visiting and playing games in the afternoon.  It was a good day of thanksgiving for all our blessings, especially family.  We enjoyed phone calls with our grandparents too.

Ruth took some pictures of the table to remember how she did it and to show how it looked pretty

A few weeks ago our dishwasher gave out.  It hadn’t been working very well since we moved in the house and we just kept trying to get the most out of it.  I have no idea how old it is but we finally gave up on it working.  We have been doing dishes by hand for a few weeks now.  It is good practice for the kids to learn how to do that.  Last week Neal and I did dishwasher shopping and looked at many things.  We had a nice man help us at one appliance store and he taught us a lot about how different types of dishwashers work.  That store was competitive in prices so that is where I went back to to buy one this last Tuesday.  It was a hard decision for us because we liked different things in different brands.  I liked the features of the Kitchenaid but was frustrated that they didn’t sell most of their models in black.  We wanted black to match our kitchen.  The one model that came in black only came with a big handle that we didn’t like.  It was also one of the most expensive models.  Then we were told Kitchenaid had black appliances on back order and not sure how soon we could even get one. We decided to go with our other top choice of a Bosch, they sell theirs in black.  They had a model of Bosch that we had looked at in their inventory so I bought it Tuesday.  Neal has worked hard to get it hooked up and we ran our first load last night.  I am thankful to have a dishwasher again and I hope that this one works well for a long time.

The kids are very excited that we plan on setting up our Christmas tree tomorrow.  I need to get our fall decorations down.  It is fun to be starting the Christmas season and we look forward to the activities and time with family this coming month.

November Activities

I have a few minutes this morning and thought I would write a letter after only one week.  Wow, I am trying to keep up with it.  It has been a good week.  I am enjoying the nice fall weather.  The leaves are all yellow, red and orange and the cool air in the morning feels good to get out in as I walk to the school with the boys.

Spencer is having lots of fun with his yo yo.  He is getting really good with it and learning a few tricks with it.  Andrew has also worked with it and doing well.  It is fun to see them learn something new.  Andrew worked on the picnic table on Saturday.  He is refinishing the wood of the table for his Family Life merit badge.  It will be nice when it is done.  The boys have also played a lot with their electric trains this week. Caleb loves riding his bike to his friend Charlie's home.  The boys are in the same school class and primary class and have really enjoyed being together. 

Friday evening we had the missionaries come over for dinner.  We enjoyed visiting with them.  They are both different Elders from the last time we had missionaries come.  One of the them is from Orem and that was fun to talk a bit about Orem and where we lived.  We went to the same high school.  It was a nice evening.

Saturday Neal helped his friend and home teaching companion, Jeremy, paint in his home.  Jeremy has needed to do a lot of remodeling in his home due to water damage and mold in the bathrooms and kitchen.  He has had help from the ward at times to do things to help save on costs.  Neal has helped multiple times with cleaning and painting.  Jeremy is the choir director and told us last Sunday that the work is nearing completion (after about four months) and with in the next couple of weeks they will be able to move back into their home.  It has been a trial for them and it has been good for Neal to help him so much.  Neal did a lot of service this week.  Friday he also went into a food bank and served there for a shift.  Then Saturday afternoon he helped Thane move his hot tub onto a deck area for it.  It has been nice that Neal has been taking Friday’s off the last few weeks.  He has worked a lot of over time and is trying to get his hours back to normal.  I have enjoyed having him around on the week ends more.

Saturday afternoon I cut all the kids hair.  I even got Ruth to let me trim up her hair.  I can’t remember the last time we did it and it really needed to be evened up.  I think it looks nicer now and I hope she likes it.  I tried not to cut off too much, because she wants it long.  The boys look better and not so shaggy. 

Saturday evening Neal and I went on a date.  We went to a favorite Cuban restaurant to eat. It is a nice quiet place with good food.  We came home and helped the kids get to bed and then played a game of Settlers.  It was a nice evening to do something relaxing together.

Sunday we had a regional conference broadcast.  I enjoyed the messages that were given about service.  I thought how I need to keep working at keeping my eyes open to opportunities to serve others and help in simple ways. We had choir practice in the afternoon.  I enjoy singing with our group.  We are working on Christmas music now and I enjoy that. 

Monday evening Neal and I went to a neighbors home for a open house social to say good bye to a family that is moving from the street.  We thought it was a good opportunity to get to know our neighbors better, even though we don’t know the family moving very well.  It was good to talk to many neighbors and meet them.  We enjoyed visiting.  It was earlier in the evening and the kids were patient with us to wait to eat dinner until we got back about 6:30.  I feel thankful that we live in a good area.  The people around us are so kind.  Many of them have lived here 20 or 30 years.  The couple moving are the first owners of their home, the couple that gave the party are also original owners, so they have been next door neighbors for 34 years. Others talked about when they all had children and how busy the street was with activity. They are happy that there are families buying the homes for sale and that their are children in the area again. 

Last night I enjoyed going to my book club.  We had a great discussion and I am glad that I can be a part of a good group of women that can talk about ideas so openly. 

Have a great week!

Halloween Fun

It is the day after Halloween.  My house smells like pumpkin. I cut up our jack-o-lanterns this morning and am cooking them.  I like the smell of cooked pumpkin, it is a good fall smell.  The kids had fun cutting and making faces on pumpkins Monday afternoon.  The three older kids did their carving independently this year.  I helped Caleb with the knife, he designed it.  It was a fun activity.

We have had a busy couple of weeks.  Neal and Andrew went on a boy scout camp out on the 20th. They went to a scout camp with all the wards in the Stake.  They did service at the camp and did some trail maintenance work Saturday morning.  They camped by the trails and did a short back packing trip into the camp.  Andrew had the experience of putting all his gear on his back and hiking in.  He also decided to sleep out under the stars for the first time too.  They had a good trip. 

That Saturday morning I took Ruth and her friend Brianna to thrift stores to look for black clothing for their Halloween costumes.  They wanted to dress alike.  The girls had fun shopping.  I had Spencer and Caleb with me too and we enjoyed looking at decorations, toys and house wares.  We even bought a few things.  Sometimes it is hard not to when you go to places like that and see fun things at good deals. 

This last week I volunteered a lot at the schools.  I did an extra shift at the elementary school library and then I was helping with the middle school book fair.  I enjoy helping, but it did take up a lot of time.  I was also working hard to get Spencer’s costume made.  I had it done in time for the ward party, so I was thankful, and he was excited about it.

Last Thursday evening we had our ward Halloween party.  It was a nice event.  They did it outside, the weather was so nice for it too.  We had a simple dinner of hot dogs. The young women had some games for the kids to play. Then we did a trunk-or-treat. I sat at the back end of the suburban and passed out candy to the kids.  It was fun to see all the cute costumes.  I enjoyed seeing many adults costumes too.  Ruth dressed in black and was a character from a book called a “demon shadow hunter.” Spencer was Robin Hood, Caleb was a cowboy.  Andrew wanted something simple.  I had the help of a friend to do a vinyl cutting with her tools and ironed it onto Andrew’s shirt. Andrew drew the design and he was happy that it turned out well.

The evening before, Wednesday, I took Spencer and Caleb to the elementary school for a fall carnival.  The boys enjoyed going around playing games.  The teachers that wanted to participate had activities in their class rooms.  Any money they earned went towards their class rooms for supplies.  I thought it was a fun idea.  We got there at the beginning and only stayed about an hour, right as it was starting to get really busy.  It was fun to have some time with the boys.

Caleb was excited that he got to bring home the class room “pet” last week end. It is a stuffed animal. He had a notebook with it too that he needed to document what he did with Jax over the week end.  Caleb had a lot of fun with the toy and enjoyed writing his adventures too. The boys also have had some fun with dominoes this week. They watched a few youtube videos about dominoes and watching huge structures falling. They decided to try some of their own.

Last Saturday we took the family out to the Petroglyph National Monument, just west of the city.  It was a nice day and we were able to walk around and see many of the Petroglyphs.  The Volcanoes we went to earlier in the month are in the same park. So now we can say we have been to the National park close to us.  The petroglyphs were drawn on volcanic rock, so it was interesting to think of the connection to the volcanoes we visited.  The pictures on the rocks date back to early people in the area, over 1500 years ago and maybe older.  There were also a few things from the Spaniards (they drew pictures of crosses and sheep) and we even saw a few that were modern, peoples names with dates in the early 1900’s.  It was fun walking along the trail looking for the pictures on the rocks and trying to find things.  We enjoyed the day together.

Caleb with Jax. 

A view of the city behind the boys.

That evening Spencer went to a birthday party for a friend from school.  It was a costume party and he enjoyed wearing his Robin Hood outfit again.  He won a prize of a yo-yo. It is a nice one with bearings and rolls smooth. Spencer and Andrew have enjoyed practicing a yo-yo and learning how to keep it going.

Saturday evening there was a multi-stake dance in Santa Fe that Ruth wanted to go to.  She was trying to find a ride and made lots of phone calls and found out who was going but cars were filled.  So Neal volunteered to drive.  He gave Ruth and two other youth a ride the the activity. They all had a great time.  The dance had the theme of Willy Wonka and Ruth said it was decorated fun and the adult chaperones were dressed up as characters from the story. I am glad that the youth can have fun, clean activities to attend.

Sunday Ruth and I had been asked to help with a lesson during the third hour of church for all the adults and youth. It was a meeting on self reliance. They had six families present different areas of self reliance to the group, so we all had only about 5-7 minutes to present.  Ruth and I did a little thing on food storage.  It went well, but I felt it was hard to condense that topic into such a short bit.  But at least I shared a few ideas.

Monday and Tuesday Andrew was home from school. They were having parent conferences, so the kids didn’t have class. I went with Andrew for his conference. This school has what they call “student led” conferences.  Andrew had a paper he had filled out that he shared his thoughts about how school was going and what his goals were, for school and long term.  He then showed me some of his class work.  We had his advisory teacher with us and had a nice visit with him with how he felt school was going.  It is nice to do this, but I do think it would also be nice to have a traditional parent/teacher time where we can talk to his individual teachers. We can always set up meetings with teachers if we feel we need to.  Andrew is doing well in school and I am thankful he is a good student.  While I was with him Monday we went into the credit union and set up a saving account for him. He wanted to put money aside to start saving for a mission and college.  He was asking me a lot of questions about banking and money. He then told me he liked the meeting Sunday about self reliance and it made him think about all the things he needed to learn so he could be able to provide all those things for himself and his future family.  I thought that was great he was thinking about that. He is a good young man.

Yesterday for Halloween I was at the elementary school for my library shift. I stepped outside and watched the kids do their costume parade. The boys had fun wearing their costumes to school.  The elementary school classes had parties in the afternoon too.  The boys came home a bit tired.

Ruth also wore her costume to school. She went to get ice cream from Baskin Robin’s after school with friends.  She had fun being dressed up all day too. After dinner I took Spencer and Caleb out trick-or-treating.  We met with three other families in our ward who live near by. We enjoyed going around together. As I talked with the adults we realized we were with 9 boys, no girls were with us. Ruth was out with her friends and Andrew had stayed home to pass out candy. He didn’t want to go around this year to get candy. Some of that is that he doesn’t want to eat sugar much and said he got enough candy at the ward party. Neal stayed home with Andrew. We had a fun evening.

Ruth and Brianna

The kids all went to school today. I think Andrew enjoyed his quiet time off school but was ready to go back and be around his friends again. Now we are in a new month and are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas activities coming.  It is a fun time of year.