Bittersweet!

Oct. 24, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

So I made a mistake in deciding to look back at my letters to your brothers on their last weeks in the mission field to see if I felt this same surreal feeling, this bittersweet feeling, this anxiety and this pure joy. Well, now I have tears running down my cheeks because all the feelings came back again and yes, I felt the same thing with them and could feel it in my words to them. There have been times during your mission that I wanted you home, but right then Heavenly Father reminded me that He needed you and that there were people in your life who needed you more. 

Since you were young, I always thought you would make a wonderful missionary, especially as a teenager I could see those attributes in you. I am now teaching some of the young women who used to look to you, watch you and want to be like you when they were young and they still are asking about how you’re doing and when you’ll be home. Example is powerful and it’s contagious. I’m so proud of the decision you made as you listened to the spirit and felt his direction to serve a full time mission for the Lord.

We had a fun weekend. First on Thursday night dad, Leah and I went to the BSU/BYU football game. We were all rooting for BSU as usual. Nikki decided she wanted to stay home because she says she doesn’t like football. :( What a great game, but I don’t want to have to feel that every time. It was so close and the lead kept going back and forth. Both sides made crazy mistakes, both sides had awesome plays and it was a lot of anxiety for everyone. The game didn’t even start until 8:15pm so we were there until 12:30am. After BSU scored to take the lead, there were only a few minutes left, but BYU got the ball down the field and got in scoring range for a field goal. There were only a few seconds left and BYU decided to kick on 2nd down. Of course, they kept taking time outs, etc etc. It was killing us. Then BSU actually blocked the kick! BYU made two more pass attempts to score and couldn’t do it. The final score was 28/27. I was exhausted, haha (as if I had played the game).

So Patrice (my sister) is now living in Spanish Fork with my cousin Linda who, through the years, has helped Patrice with her addictions, etc. After Danny died a couple months ago, Patrice has had a hard time holding it together and needed help so Linda asked her to come up and live with her and help her with their business. Toni moved in with grandpa to help him and Patrice moved to Utah. So she and Linda were making a trip up here for the weekend and Patrice wanted to come a little early so she could stay with us. She loved Eagle and especially all the fall colors that are going on right now. She loved walking around in the backyard, eating the apples from our tree, the grapes and helping pick pumpkins. That night we all went to the Village and had dinner then went to a movie. She hasn’t been to a movie in years so she kept saying how awesome that was. haha 

Saturday morning we got up early and cleaned the church, then did Saturday morning chores with the promise of taking everyone to lunch. We still had Patrice with us and went to Costa Vida. It was so fun talking with her about life. She was going to meet up with some people in Boise for the afternoon and said she’d come back to our house just after dinner. We just happened to be having the missionaries for dinner that night. Patrice got back just as we were finishing so she sat down with us and chatted with the missionaries. There’s something about missionaries that make people confess things, haha. Patrice was very open about her addictions and life and how she wasn’t active. The missionaries were awesome in their responses, no judgment, just emissaries of Christ. Then they left us with a message. It was beautiful and Patrice made lots of comments. Then they asked if we had ever felt the Lord’s blessings because of obedience to His commandments. Patrice said she wanted to say something. She said she wasn’t sure if she had seen the blessings, but she could really see the blessings in mine and dad’s lives. She told the missionaries that we were such an awesome couple who loved each other with a beautiful marriage and how committed we are to each other and she told them what a great family we are and she knew it was a blessing from God. She started crying and said how many mistakes she had made in her life and how hard it was and she knew she had made mistakes, and how she wished she could have a marriage like we have. It was a very tender moment. I said that it was all because both dad and I had the same strong commitment to God in everything we do and that that always came first in our lives and that our relationship with Christ is what gives us direction and purpose. Then I told the missionaries about the change I’ve seen in Patrice since she has started attending the Calvary church, that her countenance has changed and her purpose in life is turning outward to others and wanting to do things for other people and it was because she knows that her Savior is there for her. It was a wonderful spiritual moment that I hope not only Patrice remembers, but also Leah and Nikki. Dad later on said how much Patrice’s words meant to him as he listened to her talk about our marriage and family, something sometimes we take for granted.

This is the spirit that you’ve been taking with you to every home you’ve visited these past 18 months. Most times you probably didn’t even realize it. But because you were so in tune through the way you lived your life, the way you prepared each day with scriptures and study and prayer, the promised blessing of the spirit by your side led the way in everything you did. The great news is that you can feel that way for the rest of your life. I know it to be true because I have experienced it and in fact I count on it. You have also put it to the test and know for yourself the way the spirit testifies to you. It’s personal to you and because of what you have gone through on your mission, you will know where and how to turn for guidance, for peace, how to teach and lead and bring comfort to others. This is a gift to you because of your obedience and your willingness to turn your life over to the Lord, leave the comforts of your home and friends and love some of Heavenly Father’s other sheep who were looking for the truth in their lives or who had strayed. This is a gift to you now, but don’t ever take this gift for granted because our spiritual vessels get drained very quickly out here in the world and you will need to replenish it daily by doing and using what you have learned.

We have new elders in our ward so it was fun getting to know them. The one is new in the field and from Arizona and the other is from Samoa!!! He came from a small village just like the girls and is the only boy with five sisters. We showed him pictures and talked about life on the island, etc. He is such a nice young man. You will meet them both here. After dinner as I was walking them out, the Samoan elder put his arm around me as we walked out and looked at me and told me thank you so much. I told him thank you for the spirit he brought into our home. It’s hard to explain, but it was so sincere and it meant so much to me. He was the first one to come up and greet me at church too.

I taught the Laurels yesterday and I loved that I got to teach about the attributes of Christ. I showed that video called Christlike Attributes which I really love and we talked about living a Christ centered life instead of having Him only be one part of it. I drew a 6-patch square on the board and showed how most people have different compartments of their lives-church, friends, family, school, work, leisure time/hobbies. Then I drew a wagon wheel and in the center hub, I wrote Christ, then put all the other areas of life in the spokes coming out from that and explained how with Christ in the center, everything else is affected by His help and love. I also talked about how much of our scriptures are centered on Christ and showed them my Topical Guide and how many pages are devoted to Jesus Christ references. It’s pretty amazing to turn page after page and see how many references there are to Christ.

We got to face time with Kirk and Alex yesterday. Always entertaining! Kirk and Sarah and girls took the Heber Creeper train ride over the weekend. Addie has been talking about doing it for two whole weeks. Here are some pics:

Here’s a funny picture Kirk sent me of the girls eating their toes!

I hope you have a wonderful week. Take mental pictures everywhere you go so you can keep them with you. It’s a great blessing to live in this day and age and be able to keep contact with everyone. How sweet that will be for you. The people we meet in life, the relationships we have are what make us who we are and who we become. Treasure each one.  I can’t wait to be with you, to meet all the people you’ve been telling us about, to hear your stories in person and to wrap my arms around you!!! We’ll be in Santa Rosa the afternoon of the 31st. Let us know what time and where you want us to pick you up. You know that I am now counting how many sleeps…

Love you more than you know and forever,

Mom xxoo

Happy Birthday!!

Oct. 17, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Happy Birthday tomorrow!!! I’ll be thinking of you all week…well, not just because it’s your birthday, but because I always do anyways. haha But I sure hope you have a wonderful 21st birthday. No better place to be than on your mission!

Our week here was fairly usual. Dad had his birthday though, but he had to work on his birthday, so we celebrated on Friday which is when your card for him came, so it was perfect timing. That was so creative, by the way, his card and very funny. He loved it. I gave him tickets for a play, actually a monologue of stories from a book he used to read when he was young. The author’s name is McManus, so that was the name of the play. It was very funny and entertaining and it brought back some fun memories for dad. He said Charmaine actually found the books by McManus and she would sit and read them to dad. His stories are about growing up as a young boy, fishing, hunting, etc and the crazy situations he would get himself in.

Then after the play we got to watch the BYU game on TV since it started so late. They won in double overtime so it turned out to be a fun birthday celebration for dad. Before our date we all went out to dinner at the Happy Teriyaki here in Eagle. I’m pretty sure the girls persuaded him heavily on where to go. haha BSU won their game on Saturday night, so it was a good football weekend.

Jessi Groesbeck texted me last night and was hoping you’d live in Condo Row with her at BYU. I told her where you’d be living and that it was close to there.

Last night we got to facetime with all 3 boys since they were making their birthday calls for dad. We laughed a lot with all 3 calls. It was fun. Nikki kept changing up her hair and making us laugh too. Here’s a pic of one of her creations. She says she can’t wait to wear it that way to school today. I’m waiting for the girls to get up so we’ll see if that really happens. :)

Kirk and Sarah went to Thanksgiving Point over the weekend with the girls and had fun with the pumpkin patch and corn maze. Here’s some pics that they sent:

With her best friend Lucy

Addie has been sleeping in her big girl bed now and loves it. Kirk said when they came home from church yesterday, she asked to take a nap and got right into her bed. Here she is:

Yesterday another new couple spoke in our ward. We’ve been having so many new people move in I’ve lost track, but they all seem so wonderful and strong members. The husband told a great story that the girls loved too. He talked about when he was 6 yrs old and used to walk to school with his older brothers and sister. Every day they walked the same way. Then after school they all met at the flag pole so they could walk home together. But one day he waited and waited and no one showed up at the flag pole, so he started to walk home by himself but he quickly realized he didn’t know which way to go even though he had followed his siblings every day, he had not really paid attention. After being lost for what seemed like a week haha, he broke down and cried and a mom in a minivan stopped and talked with him and took him back to the school where his family was waiting and had been looking for him. The way he told the story was so funny. The point he made though was that a lot of times we just follow along in life doing what’s expected of us but not really knowing why, we get baptized, he passed the sacrament, stood by the back doors of the chapel as a teacher and then blessed the sacrament, etc etc But then he said there’s a point in everyone’s life where we need to understand why we are doing what we are doing and many of his friends never seemed to get to that point and they have left the church and left everything they once did. He said that’s the difference between being a follower of Christ and a disciple of Christ. True disciples understand why they are doing what they are doing and help others understand. He told us parents that we need to be more than just examples. We need to also teach why we live the way we do. I really loved his talk and it made me think.

Well, the girls finally got up and Nikki had her hair all done up that same way. :) I loved it. I had to go down and get Leah out of bed. She has such a hard time getting up in the morning. Dad took them to the bus stop though, so they were happy.

Sarah sent us a funny picture over the weekend too. Maybe you saw this one on Facebook, but Haylee threw up right into Sarah’s face and mouth. Sarah told us that the throw up on her shirt was because she had quickly spit the throwup back out of her mouth and it dribbled down her shirt. haha We were all grossed out and laughing about that. Aaaaah, the joys of motherhood.

I realized today that I only get to write you two more letters. I’m sure you’re feeling the countdown too, but I hope you can look back and see how far you’ve come, how many new wonderful relationships you’ve made and how your relationship with Heavenly Father and your Savior has grown. I can see it and feel it in your letters and love who you’ve become—a true disciple of Jesus Christ, no longer just a follower.

Have a beautiful week, your birthday week!!! 

Love you soooooo much,

Mom xxoo

Fun Getaway!

Oct. 10, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Well, we got back home from our little trip to Utah late last night and the girls had to face the harsh realities of getting up for school again. Leah had the hardest time and I wasn’t sure she’d even get up this morning. She has a real anxiety about things sometimes that just stops her in her tracks. I’m hoping she has a good day.

Dad is off picking up the dogs and getting a new prescription for Leah. We’re going to carefully try some focus medicine again. The ladies are here cleaning and are always asking about you and your mission. The house is so quiet without the dogs, haha, but I know any minute they will come barreling in and want to play.

We left last Wed after school and headed for Utah. It seemed like a long trip this time because we went all the way to Steve and Carolina’s. Their home is so beautiful and they make it so nice to stay there. We ended up staying with them for two nights and then stayed with Allen and Lisa for two nights. It was fun being able to spend time with both of them. The first night dad and I stayed up late talking with Steve and Carolina and catching up on everything and everyone. Gio and Jen live in St. George and like living there. Isaac is still living in Spain. Axel likes his new high paying attorney job, but has to work a lot of hours, Dakota finished nursing school but failed at her first attempt to pass the exam, so she has to wait now and take it again, but in the meantime she’s working at an assisted care center and loves it, Kassie is loving being a mom and her little girl is so cute and chunky. Savannah and I got to play with her one afternoon while the guys and Leah and Nikki went golfing.

It was kind of a shock to see Alex in person since he has this long beard now, but I kind of think he likes shocking us. :) We of course went to all the food places that they don’t have in New York, so we hit Costa Vida, In N Out, Mo Betta, JCW, etc etc. He hasn’t found a job yet, but says he’s not worried, but I hope he finds something fairly quickly. Kirk joined us for the weekend since Sarah and the little girls were in Canada, so it was fun having so many of us together.

After the guys went golfing, we went to one of Chloe’s soccer games. She’s so good. She scored three out of the four goals, a hat trick they call it. Most of the weekend we had Chloe, Nash and Kade with us too. After the game, we were supposed to go to the Samoan dance class, but Leah was really adamant about not doing it. Not sure why. We ended up just going to dinner and then hanging out at Steve and Carolina’s. Dakota and Downing came over to visit too and even Taylor Starr stopped by after she got done doing baptisms at the temple. It was great seeing everyone and Taylor is really loving BYU.

Here we are watching Nikki’s Youtube videos. We were all laughing so hard.

I forgot to mention that Savannah and I went to your new apartment complex and I signed the contract for winter for you. You’re in Claire’s room and the manager was really nice. It’s only two blocks from campus and you will walk up the stairs that lead to the testing center. You’ll be in apartment G11 on the second floor. We didn’t get to see the inside, but here’s the outside:

Just a goofy picture showing you how much hair Nikki has…enough to share with two others. :)

On Friday we met everyone for lunch including Keith and then he asked if we wanted a tour of the President’s Loge at the football stadium. He had just finished updating it. Wow, what a great view of the games! The general authorities often sit up there too and dignitaries. He showed us the Cougar Club room too that they updated. Here are a few pics:

Going in under the stadium to the Cougar Club room.

Nikki just thought even the drinking fountains were cool.

Then we went back outside and entered the elevators. I never knew those round tubes even had elevators in them. 

Not real good at the selfie taking, but we’re in the elevator. Charmaine is there with us too and there was even a TV on the wall that isn’t shown.

This is the beautiful view, much better view without Alex in the way. haha

Allen and Lisa joined us too.

The seats were comfy! It was so nice of Keith to take us there. We loved it.

That afternoon, Alex and Savannah took the girls including Charmaine to hang out at the mall and get ready for Nash’s birthday party. Dad and I went to Herriman to visit my Aunt Marr and my cousin Steve and his wife Diane. They live in such a pretty area. My cousin built a home with a walkout basement apartment for my Aunt and Uncle. Now that my uncle has passed away, Marr just lives there and said it feels so nice to be so near to her son and it’s made things so much easier, so I’m very happy for her. It was fun catching up with my cousin Steve because we were very close as teens and young adults then went our separate ways. Here we are standing in the backyard of their home:

This is the back of the house. Dad and I stopped by Grandma and Grandpa’s house for the rest of the afternoon, then headed back to Spanish Fork to Martin’s for Nash’s birthday. We conveniently missed the first part of the party at Nickelmania. haha But at their house, they opened presents and had pizza and ice cream. Nash is now officially six. Kirk met us for the party.

Friday night we stayed with Allen and Lisa, Kirk stayed with us there too. The guys went golfing in the morning except Kirk, he stayed with us girls. The girls all got their nails done, then Kirk took Nikki to Color Me Mine for her birthday present to paint a piece of ceramic pottery. While they were doing that, the rest of us girls hung out at RiverWoods which is close by. Remember that’s the place where the Provo beach is. Afterwards, we all went to lunch at Magleby’s and Taco 180, then headed up the canyon to go to Cascade Springs. Allen, Lisa, Malcolm and Maggie all came with us too. The fall colors were already going away, but it was still wonderful just being outdoors and walking.

We ate at the famous Dairy Keen in Heber after the hike. Great milkshakes!

In Allen’s backyard having fun with fire.

Sunday we all went to the Samoan ward. It was wonderful as usual and I’m so glad Kirk, Alex and Savannah, Chloe, Kade got to be there too. They loved it and got to meet some of our friends there. Afterward we all had dinner at grandma and grandpa’s and played silly games, well…mainly Alex did the silly stuff. haha 

We got to face time Sarah and the girls whom we missed terribly!!!! Here’s a cute pic of all the Canadian cousins. I love little Haylee’s face in it!!

Sorry about so many pictures this time, but that tells the story pretty much. A fun time for everyone. I hope you’ve had a great week and I’m so excited to hear from you. Things are definitely falling into place for your after mission life. The manager said that it was rare to have someone move out in winter and especially in the exact apartment you wanted and even in the room you wanted!! You’re meant to be there. 

Thank you for being such a wonderful example of a faithful woman of God. I know that it lifts those around you, but it has lifted us here at home too. Keep up the hard work and always remember how much we are praying for you and love you!!!

Love you sooooo much,

Mom xxoo

Conference 2

Oct. 3, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Can you believe another conference has come and gone? I love conference so I actually love that it seems to come so often now. haha but that just means that time is going by so fast. What I really look forward to is going back over the talks. First I watch them again on TV because I record them all. There’s something about seeing and hearing them speak that I love. Then I go back over the talks in the Ensign and mark them and use them for family nights, etc. So I’m actually looking forward to conference again, one talk at a time. I hope you enjoyed each session. There were quite a few talks that really spoke to me and it seemed like so many talks were similar. I know that they are not assigned topics, so it’s the spirit speaking to them all and it’s obviously something we are in need of.

Dad just walked in from his shift in Mtn. Home. He says to say hi. He was busy the whole shift so he’s very tired. Mtn. Home is getting busier and busier. He used to be able to sleep through the night, but now he’s up most the night with patients. Plus they just started a new charting system and it’s really slowing things down. 

Last week I got to go to two quilt groups! Woohoo. I had my material girls meeting on Wednesday and we put together the homeless men’s bags. Some of us sewed, some of us got the cording ready for the bags, some of us ironed and some sorted through all the donated items and put them into the bags. I’m happy we were able to do this. Here are some of the supplies we all gathered.

One of the ladies in our group who isn’t a member did something like this last year on her own. I think she got motivated because she hears us sometimes talking about the humanitarian work we are doing in the church. She felt like the men on the streets get neglected a lot and that so many things get donated to the women’s shelters. She will deliver the bags in December. We put a lot of things into the bags that will help them through the cold winters.

As I’m writing, Claire just texted me and said there’s an opening in her apartment this Winter semester!!! And guess what…it’s actually a spot in her room!! So I’ll take care of that for you so everything will be set. Claire is calling me tonight.

Also last week I went for the first time to Kara Rhoton’s for a quilt group. She’s the wife of the counselor that Leah goes to and she just happens to be a quilter. She has a large sewing room so there are about 5 of us that met there. She’s so funny and very smart. She’s got about 4 nursing degrees in different areas. She wants to call our group the Strip Club because of the quilting pun there, but Dr. Rhoton thought that might offend dad for some reason. I told her that dad just laughed about the name so she might end up calling it that. At her house we just bring projects we are working on. She has about 5 sewing machines all set up in her room so we all have a place to get to work. I finished a quilt top this week. The Rhotons are a blended family. Dr. Rhoton had adopted 6 six with his first wife but he has full custody of them now. So he has a great insight into adoption,etc.

We got a letter from your mission president the other day and it explained everything that will be happening at the end of your mission. They’ve invited us to the fireside that takes place on Oct. 31st and then it says we have the option of taking you home with us from there or picking you up the next morning at the Oakland airport. Where we are staying will be kind of far from the airport so let us know when you’d like to come with us. If you want to come with us after the fireside or is there some place you would like to spend that night and we can pick you up from there in the morning. Either way is fine with us. With Alex we went to his fireside at night, then he spent the night at the mission home and we picked him up from there the next morning.

Last Wednesday for mutual the priests and laurels went to BSU to the institute. Have you ever been there? It’s a great place and much bigger than I thought. Students who enroll in institute get to park for free (that’s a big deal because parking is $350 a semester), they get free lunches and you can even take your BYU classes there and save money from taking them at BYU. They said a lot of students come home from BYU during the summer and take classes there that can transfer to BYU so they can save money. I thought that was a good idea. Anyway, I was impressed with it all, not sure what most the girls thought about it. :)

Sarah is still in Canada, so Kirk is just working and also getting a lot done in his online MBA course. He’s going to hang out with us this weekend. We’re leaving Wed after school to go to Utah. We’re staying with Steve and Carolina the first 2 nights, then Allen and Lisa the next two nights. Kirk will stay with us at Allen’s over the weekend. Alex and Savannah are flying into SLC Tuesday evening and they are staying for a week. So we’ve been busy trying to coordinate all our events with everyone. Dad, Alex, Leah and Nikki are going golfing on Thurs and Nash is celebrating his birthday on Friday night by going to Nickelmania. Somehow I think that might have been Alex’s idea. haha I’m sure the girls will go with them. I’m hoping we can get up into the canyon sometime because I bet it’s beautiful right now with all the fall foliage. We’ll also try to get to the Samoan ward.

Here’s a couple pics that Sarah sent from Canada:

Addie actually sitting on a horse, well, a pony, is a big deal. She usually cries and gets nervous about that, I was happy to see she had such a good time. I’m still so sad we don’t get to see them this weekend. 

I was wondering if there’s something the church has that lets investigators download  the Book of Mormon onto their phones? I also thought how great it would be for the serious investigators to get to have lds tools on their phones so they can read all the magazines, read conference talks, watch videos, etc. Do you missionaries have anything like that that’s available for them or do you still just give the hard copy Book of Mormon?  Just curious…

BYU finally won their first football game against Toledo and it was a crazy game 55-52. I stayed up til 12:30am watching the game and both teams just kept going back and forth scoring. It was fun to watch (now that it’s over) and Taysom Hill did a great job as quarterback, so I think he earned back the support of the fans. BSU also won. Can’t wait to see them play each other on the 20th.

Sean and Blair have liked their sailing lessons so much that they signed up for another years’ worth. I think they will both be captains by the time they finish. I have a feeling we will be going sailing with them some time next summer. They want all of us to come out and go with them. Alex has an interview for a job today. I really hope he gets it. He’s been without a job for too long now and this would be pretty good timing since he can start right after they get back from Utah. Savannah said she’d make sure he looked good for the interview today. haha

I hope you feel energized after conference. Take those wonderful feelings and impressions and act on them and work have fun with Sister Smith. I loved the talks that reminded us that everyone’s conversion takes place at different times and Heavenly Father knows best who is ready and when. We can’t rush the process. That’s a good reminder for me especially in my own home. The other thing I really loved was learning how sacred prayers are and the minute we say Heavenly Father, He is listening and we are creating a spiritual, sacred moment. Have a week of many spiritual, sacred moments.

Love you very much,

Mom xxoo

Conference

Sept. 26, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

How was your week? We are doing well and have recovered from Nikki’s birthday weekend. haha She has such a build up for her birthday and I always feel like we haven’t done enough. She really wanted a new cell phone but there’s no reason to spend the money on that right now. I hope she liked what she got. She got gift certificates from her favorite clothing store and jewelry store, so I told her I’d take her out this week to do the shopping. She got a bedazzler so she bedazzle everything (which she will) and l picked up a little sequin sweater that she had really wanted. She wore it out on Saturday, to Women’s Conference on Saturday night and then to church yesterday. I’m pretty sure she loves it. :) And it’s so her with all the sparkles. She had lots of friends drop things off for her and even though she doesn’t go out much with friends, she is always thinking about them by sending them notes, buying them little gifts etc. She’s always been that way and it’s one of her greatest assets.

This is on Sunday. I made a poke cake for Nikki, Leah did the frosting and we decided to sing to her with Kirk and Sarah on Facetime. Dad and I obviously got different angles with our phones. haha

This is some sushi we got and Kona Grill. Nikki was not happy about this because of the crab legs sticking out, so she missed out on how delicious it tasted.

On Saturday I asked Nikki if she wanted to go with me to the Boise quilt show. I was just going to go by myself, but Nikki said she wanted to go so I thought that would be fun to have the company. Then dad decided he wanted to go, then Leah said she would go but didn’t really want to. :) So I ended up taking the whole gang. The girls had fun playing with the longarm machines that were on display and now they want me to buy one. I would love one! The show was at the Fairgrounds and afterwards we went out to lunch. Nikki chose Kona Grill at the Village. I think Leah swayed her. It was good though and Nikki was happy eating there. When we got home she opened presents. Then that evening we went to the General Women’s conference together. I loved all the talks at conference!! and I could tell that Leah and Nikki did too. As I sat there, the thought hit me that you were sitting somewhere also watching the same thing. I felt you near.

That night the girls rented a movie from Redbox and watched it at home. Nikki was very happy about her birthday celebrations. We continued them on to the next day with her birthday cake and Facetiming with the boys. Kirk sent us a cute video of Haylee laughing yesterday too. If he didn’t already send it to you, I’ll ask him too. She’s getting so big and so cute. I am so sad that we won’t be able to see them on our next trip down to Utah which is on Oct. 5th. Sarah and the little girls left this morning for Canada to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving and also to go to her cousin’s farewell. She’s going to be gone until Oct. 10th which is when we head back to Boise.  :(  Sarah’s cousin really wanted her to be there, so I know it’s important for her but it just won’t be the same being in Utah and not seeing Addie and Haylee. Kirk keeps reminding us that he’ll be there…. Also Alex and Savannah will be there for a visit so we’ll get to spend time with them also. Just not the same as holding the grandbabies though.

Also last week I had the Laurel lunch at our house. I made the delicious smothered sandwiches which most of the girls had never had before and now they want them all the time. They are addicting and yummy. It was fun having them here and getting to know them a little bit better. I feel like there’s so many of them and it will take some time to get to know them all. They don’t know me very well either since I’ve been in Relief Society for so long. Here’s a couple pics I took:

I was driving by the temple the other day and was noticing how pretty the sky looked, so I hurried and picked up my phone, held it to my window to take a quick picture and it turned out great. I didn’t get to see how it looked til I got home since I was driving and just took a chance with the camera. haha Can’t wait to see the landscaping put in. It will be gorgeous.

I taught Laurels yesterday and the lesson was on how our words affect those around us. I left them with a challenge to say something or write something uplifting to someone else once a day until Dec. 1st. We have a Laurel groupme site that they can use or we talked about tons of other ideas. I hope they share scriptures, quotes, compliments, etc. We talked about how harmful words can be also and how they can stay with you your whole life. I told them of something that was said to me when I was 11 years old and how I still remember it to this day and how it hurt my feelings back then. They all said they can remember something mean that was said to them sometime in their life, so I think they could see how powerful words can be. Then we talked about kind things people have said to us and how that made us feel and how we still remember those. I had someone come up and squeeze some toothpaste onto a plate and told them the toothpaste was like their words coming out. Then I asked the girl to put the words back into the tube. She tried and of course couldn’t do it. It was my little demo on how once words are out there, you can’t just take them back.  I brought a bunch of my little cards that you guys have written to me through the years and told them how much even written words mean to me. Hopefully, they got the point and will be thoughtful about what comes out of their mouths.

On Wednesday we had a family history night with the Laurels and I taught the station on journaling. I showed all different ways that you can journal, not just writing in a book. I even brought Leah’s baptism quilt to show that art forms can show journaling when they are about a specific time or event in life. I hope I was able to motivate them to look at journaling in a new way and get excited about it.

Sean and Blair had a fun Saturday also and this is a pic they posted. They took some more sailing lessons in the morning then had fun in Chicago for the day. I thought it was a cute picture of them.

I talked with Sis. Ray after the powderpuff game (where Brennan was cheering, haha). She said to mention to you that she has a beautiful alto rendition of I Stand All Amazed if you’d like it. 

Yesterday Chace Cook spoke and gave his homecoming talk. Wow, what a wonderful talk. He spoke of the things he learned and told stories of the people who taught him those lessons whether it was companions, members or investigators. I told dad I could see him being a Stake President one day. 

Back to General Women’s Conference…love, love, loved every talk. Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk brought me to tears and I loved the reminder that God will not force anyone to follow Him. I made a note when he said “Faith can’t force our will upon God but faith will empower us to act on God’s will.”  I also loved when he said “Walk by whatever faith we have,” and then told the beautiful story of his wife’s family’s conversion. I also loved Sis. Oscarson’s call to us to teach the gospel clearly, boldly, to rise up in strength and to not be ashamed of what we believe in. It’s so hard these days to say things for fear of sounding offensive to one group or another. But it was a great reminder to me to especially be clear and bold when I teach in our home and now to my Laurels and especially how to prepare for perilous times. I loved when she said that we must teach our family and those we are stewards over the true doctrine and not be afraid to or else the world will teach them their philosophies.

I am really looking forward to the rest of General Conference and know there will be words and counsel I am looking for. I hope you enjoy it. Take lots of notes and remind everyone you meet with to watch this weekend. I am so grateful to have a living prophet on the earth with us. It brings me peace, it brings me calm and it gives me joy. Have a great week!!! You’re always in my thoughts and prayers.

Love you,

Mom xxoo