My Letters to Sister Kristina: Festivities!

Sept. 20, 2015

Dear Sister Kristina,

Well, the wedding festivities are now over and they were all wonderful. The open house at the Williams was beautiful, fun, great food and good company. The weather turned out great after a week of storms. It was fairly cold at night, but they had a fire in the fire pit and did smores. The girls and Clark were in charge of that. Debbie made all the food, a chocolate chunk cake and a lemon blueberry cake, homemade otter pops made of fruit and herbs, two different salads, different kinds of cheese dips and crackers and four different flavors of fruit and herb waters. Dad put up lights in all the trees and on their porch. I made a backdrop that flowed in the wind and looked pretty and there were candles lit everywhere so the ambiance was very ethereal. Blair and Sean looked so happy and had fun with every event.

The morning after we made a big Thompson breakfast here and the Williams came over to join in, then they opened presents here. They got great things and lots of gift cards and cash. They should be set for a while-at least a few months anyway. I made them a quilt, of course and they both loved it. Here's a pic:

We had a nice Sunday. Sean and Blair took off this morning. They took grandpa in their car and Charmaine and grandma drove in another car so that they could get all their stuff in the cars. I have to say that when they left, I just cried. There's something about your child moving away that just doesn't feel very good and I will really miss them. I liked everyone being in Utah cuz it was so easy to visit, but on the other hand I'm so excited for their new adventure and I know it will be so good for them to get a start to their marriage being on their own, etc. especially in a fun new place. Dad and I are already planning a trip to Chicago sometime in November.

With Nikki and Leah

View of William's house from their back yard

With Alex and Savannah

Us girls and our palazzo pants

Open house decor

Pres. Shaw

Pres. Stafford and Sherry

I saw this as they were cleaning up afterwards. The candles melted very fast.

I just spoke with Grandpa Trumbo and he said that Trevor got married over the weekend. He and his girlfriend went to Vegas and got married without anyone knowing. Grandpa says he really likes his new wife and thinks they will be great together. By the way, grandpa is like your biggest fan. He always asks about you, reads every word of your letters, etc. I love that.

My Aunt Jerrie (grandma Jo's older sister) passed away over the weekend. It was just two or three weeks ago that her husband Marv passed away, so I think she just wanted to be with him. Grandpa Trumbo called her two days before and knew she wasn't feeling well, so he told Jerrie to give my mom a big hug and kiss for him when she saw her. Very sweet. Her funeral is this coming Saturday so I'll be going to it. I'm going to be down in Utah anyway for McKenna's wedding which is Saturday evening, so I'll just go to the funeral first. It will be good to see a lot of my cousins there.

I got to play the piano in Primary today. Sister Ray was gone, so I subbed. I love being in there. Bro. Tiegs was the chorister and he was really fun and had the kids doing crazy things during singing time, so it made it even better. Nikki taught most of the lesson in Beehives today because this was her last week being a Beehive. I think she did a great job because she read to me what she was going to say. She made up this story to prove her point and had a handout with it. She's great. She's really looking forward to being a MiaMaid too, but her leaders all say they are so sad not to have her in class any more. Also at church today they released Bro. Gines in the Stk Presidency. The Gines sold their home and are moving to a home in the Star Stake. Their whole family spoke today in church. Bro. Jeppsen from the 4th ward got called to be the new counselor to Pres. Stafford.

Saturday evening we went to Collette Leifson's open house. Remember she married Chandler Warr, Cameron's brother. Cameron was at the open house with his wife and new 2 month old baby girl, Quinn. He's in law school now.

Tomorrow the MiaMaid leaders are putting on a lunch for the girls at the church, so both Leah and Nikki will be going to that during lunch at school. They are pretty excited about getting to leave the school for lunch. haha

Has it started cooling down there yet? It's definitely fall here now and I love it. I love watching BSU and BYU football. This week BSU won their game 52-0 and BYU just barely lost to UCLA 24-23. Tanner is still doing a great job as quarterback.

Did you ever get that talk I sent you? Just curious. Sometimes I read things that I just want to share with you, so hope you don't mind if they are kind of long, etc. I have a couple more I will be sending too.

How was your week? How is your training going? Is it harder or easier than you thought, to train? Is there a sister missionary that you report to about your training? Or do you report to a District or Zone Leader? Just curious how it works. I went to a training meeting this past week and Devin Durrant was the trainer. He's the 2nd counselor in the Gen. Sunday School Presidency, but I knew him from college because he played basketball at BYU with Steve. So I went up to him afterward to say hi after all these years. It was fun talking with him and he did such a great job teaching us about teaching the Savior's way. I know it all applies to missionary teaching too. Some of the things I learned were that in a classroom situation or teaching situation, it isn't the teacher that teaches, it's the spirit. The teacher is only there to lead the discussion and that the students should be doing most of the sharing, teaching, talking, etc. The learner should get the most out of the lesson, not the teacher. Always find time to let others have opportunities to share their testimonies by listening to what they want to say or share. And always ask questions that will help them think, ponder and allow the spirit to teach. Then always leave the student with an expectation or responsibility to do something, to act on what has been talked about and have them report back.

Dad is starting to fall asleep and I still want to chat with him tonight, a little pillow talk at least before he really falls asleep, so I better wind this up. I love you so much and thinking of you and what you're doing, where you are brings me such peace especially when I've needed a little extra peace in my life. Thank you for being there for me even though you're far away. There's no greater joy than to hear the testimony of your child and to know they are sharing it with others. Remember how loved you are!!

Have a great week.

Love you,

Mom xxoo