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August 23, 2015

Dear Sister Kristina,

So I'm anxious to hear about your weekend-to see if you had Steve's baptism, etc. I hope all went well. We loved all your videos and pics from last week.

Well, we got home late last night and all of us were soooo tired, but the good news was that our ward was not meeting until 3pm today because Star Stake was having their Stake Conference, so we took advantage and slept in. Alex and Savannah flew home with us and we all had brunch this morning, then they left for Utah afterwards. The others all flew home to Utah yesterday afternoon on a separate flight.

I felt a little down this morning, that after-the-vacation feeling. I wanted to be back at the beach and not in real life, but dad had a shift this evening and the girls have school starting tomorrow so we all had to get back to real life pretty quick. We had a great time, missed you terribly, but we will definitely plan another family reunion when you're home!!

Everyone except Kirk, Sarah, Addie and dad and I went to Knott's Berry Farm on Friday. They had a great time. At first Alex and Nikki were holding off on going on the roller coasters, but then Nikki decided to go so Alex said he had to go if Nikki was going. haha From then on all of them went on every single ride and even went back for seconds, so I'm glad they had a fun day for themselves. While they were gone we went to Fashion Island, saw Heidi and her little boys there, walked a couple crazy dogs, had lunch, played at the beach and went for walks around the island. I just can't get enough of Addie especially now that she's walking. Soooo cute! And she never stops moving except when I hold her and read books to her. 

At the beach house dad and I had our own room, Nikki and Leah had a room and Alex and Savannah had their room. Then when the rest of them got there, Blair joined Nikki in one room, Sarah and Kirk and Addie took over Alex and Savannah's room. So out in the living room on blow up mattresses was Leah, Alex and Savannah and Sean. One big sleepover and laugh fest. Alex and Savannah used our walkin closet as their personal little changing room. haha It was tight in the house, but no one complained. We all shared two bathrooms.

Some of our highlights were visiting grandpa, swimming in his pool, having Toni and Cami over for dinner, renting a little boat and taking it around the island, using the ferry constantly, going to the Sawdust Festival and Pageant of the Masters (Toni babysat Addie for us at our house), laying in the sun at the beach, riding the ferris wheel, and going to the swap meet. I think if everyone voted, they'd go back to that same place again another time. We were talking about doing a family vacation the December after your mission. :)

Today at church Emily Hill had her farewell. She gave a wonderful talk about getting rid of fear and turning it into faith. She said she's had to do that a lot in her life and deciding to serve a mission was one of those times. She goes into the MTC this Wednesday. When I went up to talk with her afterwards, Braden Shaw was there talking with her. Also Courtney Dittman-she's going to Utah State next month and Sarah Woods who is going to BYU-Idaho in September. Emily is very excited to start her mission. She will be a great missionary.

Dad gave back to school blessings after church and we're trying to get back into our school year routine. I'll be so happy to have that routine. There's a lot of benefits to having order and routine in your life. You probably feel that way with your mission. Nikki will be back at Taekwondo also and both are still taking piano lessons. Also it looks like Nikki and I will be starting weight watchers too. Nikki says she's game, so I think it will be really beneficial for her to learn healthy eating from someone else. You get weighed in once a week, keep track of what you eat and attend one class a week where you learn food nutrition.

Now we're in full wedding mode since we only have about 2 1/2 weeks until Sean and Blair's wedding. I need to meet with Debbie this week to go into all the little details of the reception and open house. We've been getting quite a few wedding announcements lately-Krysta Jensen, Phillip Stafford, Colette Leifson, Jacob Rozsa, Taylor Bluth, Cameron Ray, McKenna Caudill, Dakota Trumbo. Alex's friend Jeff is marrying a girl from Boise, so they will be back up here next week for that. It seems like we get announcements about every other day now. haha It's a lot of fun.

Well, that's about it for around here. Oh yah, Sean and Blair were wondering what you thought about their big news of moving to Chicago? Dad and I need to plan a trip now to go visit them. I've never been there. Well, I need to start making the lunches. I hope you are enjoying your threesome companionship. Have a miraculous week!

Love you always,

Mom xxoo