Chicago bound

April 25, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Well, this has been a whirlwind week for me, but a good week. It’s been so fun having Sarah, Kirk and Addie here and now our house is so quiet. I cleaned out the fridge last night and found little containers of Addie’s food and it made me cry. Then Kirk texted me when they got home and said that they were outside on the front lawn and every time a car drove by, Addie yelled out Nana, Nana! 

Here are some pics:

This one is her after the trip home look when they took her out of a bun. haha

At the Boise Zoo:

On Thursday I flew to Utah for Alex and Savannah’s graduation and to help them clean and get moved out of their apartment. I’m so glad that I went down for their graduation because I got to meet so many of Alex’s professors and every one of them came up to me and told me how much Alex meant to them, to the ad program and to the other students. They said he virtually turned the whole program around for the better and are so excited to see what he does in the field. They all said he’s definitely in the right career.

Charmaine came to the graduation too and Savannah’s parents, Chloe and Nash and grandma and grandpa Martin. Then to celebrate we went to In N Out for lunch. haha The rest of the day we spent cleaning out their apartment. It was work and toting things up and down three flights of stairs was not fun, but it was a good workout for sure. After we finished, Alex, Savannah and I drove to Allen and Lisa’s new home in Orem(that’s where I stayed) to pick up my bags. Then I went on to Grandma and Grandpa Thompson’s to drop off some stuff for Alex and Savannah, then hurried on to the airport to catch my late night flight. Alex and Savannah spent the night at Thompson’s so they could get up early in the morning to catch their flight to Chicago.

We went to visit Alex’s Ad Lab and this is the picture of him that was on the wall. I had to have a picture of it! haha

So now today, we are getting ready for our trip to Chicago tomorrow. Sounds like Alex and Savannah are already having a great time there. I hope the girls are ready for a lot of walking. We’ve been warning them for months now, but I think they have no idea how much walking it will be. Should be interesting. :)

I’m excited to hear about your weekend. I want to hear what you learned from Elder Bednar…so jealous!! Last night our stake had a special missionary fireside. It was mainly to help motivate the youth to go on missions, but tons of adults went because these were the speakers: Braden Shaw (BYU basketball), Madison Tanner (older brother to Tanner and played for ISU and is hoping to get drafted this year), Tanner Mangum (BYU QB), Bro.Craig Rasmussen (Dayna’s dad) who just returned from serving as mission president in England and Alexis Jeppeson who just returned from her mission in Hungary last week. Dad and the girls went to the fireside and all three said it was great. They said that Madison was the funniest and best to listen to. I stayed home for two reasons-I knew it was going to be crowded so I left a spot for someone to sit, haha and also I needed to catch up on typing some blessings before we left. I’ve done 300 now for our new patriarch. Isn’t that crazy? I did 600 for Patriarch Sorensen. anyway, I’m so happy both girls liked the fireside and I’m hopeful that one or both of them will eventually serve missions.

Saturday I went to Tori Cameron’s wedding shower and it was so fun seeing everyone from the old 6th ward again. Tori’s dress is beautiful (they showed it to us) and it’s so unconventional. Tori just wants her wedding to be simple. they’re getting married in Utah where his family is from and having an open house there, but nothing up here. Then the Camerons are moving at the end of May. I just don’t want to think about it. :(  It was fun talking with Tori and Claire. Claire just kept saying how much she misses you. She’s into the nursing program now at BYU and loves it. Tori is hoping to get into med school and become a dermatologist. Claire was dating someone fairly seriously, but he got a job for the summer as a salesman and will be gone, so they broke up on Friday. She said it was for the best but she’s feeling very lonely because he had been a really good friend too. She’s working for the summer as a counselor for some sports camps at BYU and says she has loved it so far.

We are now down to only one more month of school for the girls. We’re actually going to try to do online courses this summer. Wish us luck. If Leah can get US History done this summer, then she can have some open time for other classes. Nikki is probably going to take health online. I’m also going to sign the girls up to meet with a personal trainer during the summer. They’ve actually agreed, but I don’t think they know what that entails. I’ll let you know how that goes too.

I’m excited for our phone call on Mother’s Day!!! This time I’m going to make sure that I get more time to talk with you. If the girls start talking to you about coming to pick you up, etc, just say you’ll have to wait and see how things go at the end of your mission, cuz I’m not so sure we’ll be able to take them out of school, etc. We’re talking about 3 different scenarios and you can let us know what sounds good: 1-me and dad come to your mission in Nov and pick you up, 2-me, dad, Leah and Nikki come pick you up in Nov, 3-you fly home in Nov and we go back to Northern Cal sometime with you. Anyway, I don’t want you to start thinking about that too much now. You still have some wonderful time left on your mission and I don’t want you to get trunky. :)

Yesterday in our marriage and family relations class we talked about binding up our wounds and forgiveness. It was a good lesson and we realized it’s sometimes so much easier to forgive those we barely know than it is to forgive our close loved ones when we have been hurt. In the manual I liked where it said, “There is no peace in reflecting on the pain of old wounds. There is peace only in repentance and forgiveness. This is the sweet peace of the Christ.” I have always felt so strongly about forgiving, forgetting and binding up wounds and moving forward. I hope that I taught that well to you kids too. I am now trying to help Leah and Nikki learn this because there is even a physical difference in their countenances when they are at first very angry with someone or something, then when hugs are given or kind words are shared, their whole beings show a difference, a lightness. Holding grudges is a heavy load to carry around and if you do it long enough you don’t even realize you’ve been carrying it until you actually let go.  I shared in class how I know some women who every time I talk with them, they tell me things they don’t like about their husbands, etc. It seems like the same stories over and over and I don’t think they even realize they’re carrying this around for years. Letting go can feel like a huge weight has been lifted from your shoulders and it’s such a beautiful feeling. I just love this class.

I hope Ally is doing well after her baptism and that you had a wonderful week. Our ward is having a baptism this weekend and I’m sad we won’t be in town for it. I talked with the young woman who is getting baptized though and told her I was sorry I wouldn’t be there because I love the strong spirit that is always present at baptisms. She’s a friend of the Cooley’s and works for Chuck. Ally Cooley and I have become good friends lately. We have so much fun just getting together, going to lunch and talking about everything. This is a big week for them also because Morgan’s boyfriend (Erickson) is coming home from his mission. So she’s going to be texting me about all the events while I’m in Chicago.

Have a beautiful spring week. The signs of spring around here are in full force and it’s awesome. What a great gift that is from Heavenly Father to see the seasons. It’s a lesson of the plan of salvation without us even realizing it.

Love you,

Mom xxoo

Addie

Apr. 18, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

So we’ve been having a lot of fun having Addie in our home. Kirk went to Denver last night for training for his new job with Verizon and Sarah and Addie will stay here all week. She’s so fun to have around-Sarah and Kirk too. :) Today Leah has her psychiatrist appt so Sarah and Addie are even going with me there.

Addie is still so independent. She went right into nursery yesterday, new place, new people and she just goes right in and doesn’t even say goodbye. Kirk was trying to say goodbye to her since he was getting ready to catch his flight, but she just wanted to play. She also absolutely loves jumping on the tramp. It’s hard to keep her inside and she keeps sneaking out so we have to lock all the doors. Then when she gets on the tramp she yells for me to jump with her “Nana Nana” and points next to her.

We’ve been to parks, on walks, to the mall, to the Boise street market,  to McDonald’s so she can have a playplace, etc. I’m getting nothing done here and I love it. It reminds me of when I had young kids and you just have to slow down, not do so many projects and just give all your attention to helping the kids grow up. Sometimes you go out the door with one eye with mascara and not the other just cuz you have to keep up with the kids. haha It brings back a lot of fun memories.

We got this horse that is like mine when I was young. Thought we’d keep it here for all the grandkids. My mom and dad said I would never get off of it and loved it, so I had to have one in my house.

Addie got my phone at church, turned on the camera and started taking selfies. It was so funny. I heard her saying “cheese” and looked over. She cracks me up.

So how was your week? I remembered Ally in my prayers and I saw on your facebook post that she got baptized. I’m so happy. Tell me a little more about her and how it went.

I wasn’t here when Ellen stopped by with your flash drives and I wanted to hear all her details. I was so sad, but I got to see her pics of you at lunch. I’m so happy she got to meet with you. Hope your treats got to you ok.

Sarah Allen is coming home this week from her mission. She reports on Sunday.

This Thursday I’m flying down to Utah for a quick trip to see Alex and Savannah graduate. Dad and I debated over and over about me going down there, then we decided it would be a fun thing for me and I could also see Kirk and Sarah and Addie. Two minutes after dad booked my flight, Kirk called and told us they had decided to come up here and that Sarah would love to stay with us while he was in Denver. We just looked at each other and laughed, then changed part of my flight. I was actually coming back home on Saturday, but I changed my flight to come home Friday night. Alex and Savannah fly out to Chicago on Saturday, so we’ll be seeing them next week when we go for our visit. All of you kids are just all over the place now. It’s kind of crazy and remember how the girls always say in their prayers “and bless everyone in Utah” meaning our family. Well, now they have to say “bless everyone in Chicago, California, Utah, Denver”. Pretty soon they will be blessing everyone in New York once Alex gets there. 

I hope you are doing well and your letters sound so good. I love that you have the young adult ward because I know what great missionaries they are. 

I went to a great training meeting over the weekend for our area. It was on the Addiction Recovery program. I thought it was going to be on just where to go if you are an addict, but turns out they told us all about the program that is for family members of addicts because they suffer so much. When you have a child or spouse or even brother or sister who has addiction problems (drug, food, sexual, etc) the family members sometimes suffer even greater. The church has such a wonderful program for the families and I was so impressed with what they are doing. I could really relate to some of the symptoms of the family members just from my recent experiences with what we’ve been going through with Leah and how I’ve felt. So many of the symptoms were exactly the same. They call missionaries to be over the classes and Sarah’s parents had that calling. Her mom said she thought every person in the church should go through the program because of how amazing it was. They really help you understand how powerful the atonement is for everyone. I’m going to really help push it for our stake and get the word out. I know there are so many families affected by this and I don’t think they know how much help there is out there for them.

Last night the girls had a Bishop’s Youth Discussion and they said it was like a testimony meeting and Nikki said she bore her testimony. Leah said it was really good. Nikki is really coming along in her testimony of the church. Yesterday she even taught the Sunday School lesson (complete with awesome treats of course). She loves preparing devos and lessons.

Here’s one more pic for you that I found. Thought you might like it. Fun memory.

Well, Addie is wanting me to go outside again. :)  We’ve even been eating half our meals out on the back porch thanks to Addie’s requests so it’s been really nice. Can’t wait to hear from you. We are well here and remember that you are always in my prayers (and I don’t just bless all of California, I actually say your name, haha). Have a beautiful, grateful week. I’ve been working with the girls and we are trying to have our prayers be more full of gratitude. I am sooooo grateful for you and for the service and love you are giving.

Love you,

Mom xxoo

What happened to Spring?

April 11, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

These past few days it feels like we skipped right past spring into summer. We’ve been enjoying weather in the 80’s, but my wardrobe is not quite ready for that big a move. I have switched to jandals, but not shorter pants yet, so it feels pretty hot. It will be nice though if it stays this way for this week since Kirk and Sarah and Addie are coming tomorrow. We can’t wait. Sarah and Addie are staying for a whole two weeks and Kirk will be gone for five days next week for some training in Denver for his new job with Verizon. He found out he got the job he’s been wanting with them and won’t be working as a salesman in the store any more. He’ll be working with small businesses and their cellular needs. He’s very excited about it.

So we’re busy getting the house ready for Addie. I’m hoping we can go for a hike down the greenbelt while they’re here too. Sarah has been having a hard time with Addie and her soothers. She has to have 3 with her all the time, then she just bites off the tips. Sarah is worried that she’ll end up choking on them so it sounds like it’s time to take away the soothers. It’s not easy cuz I remember how hard it was taking them away from Sean. It’s like cold turkey from a drug addiction.

Here are some pics from their photo shoot. Not sure if they send them to you or if you get to see them on facebook, but I’ll send them anyway.

Sarah’s friend took them for them and the ones we’ve seen so far are great. Can’t wait to see the rest. It’s so hard to believe there’s another little Thompson just about to enter our family!! Can’t wait to meet her.

How was your week as just a twosome? Probably felt a bit strange after having three for so long. I had my monthly visit with Pres. Stafford on Tuesday, which I love. On Wednesday we had our Stake luncheon for the senior sisters. I did a spotlight on the life of one of the ladies and she was so cute. It was really hard to interview her because somehow she lost her ability to talk a few years back. She can get words out, but it’s very difficult but it was fun hearing her stories about her life and I love sharing all the stories with the women. Then yesterday we had our last ward conference for the year, the 9th ward. It was a good meeting and Bishop Jensen gave a wonderful talk. They’ve been going through tough times lately because Sis. Jensen has breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy. She came back to church yesterday for the first time in a long while. I talked with her afterwards. She seems in good spirits, but now she has to go through chemo and radiation. I told her about Jean Sorensen and thought it might be nice for them to visit together. Jean decided to only have a lumpectomy which is an easier surgery and I thought that was the best decision considering her age. Jean was so cute. She said she just wants to get it all overwith and start having some fun in life.

Leah had some good counseling sessions last week. I enjoy getting to go probably more than she does. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned this past year since you’ve been gone. I also know that because of your service, our family has truly been blessed with the abilities and knowledge to handle what has come our way and the peace that can only come through the Savior. There’s been one tender mercy after another and probably many that I don’t even know about.

Also last week dad and I took the girls and one friend to the temple before school. Leah loves being at the temple. The girls were able to do names for Tracey this time. There is such a large group of kids there every morning. It’s pretty amazing.

I found a couple of fun pics for you to celebrate your one year anniversary this week.

Remember this cake? Also I’m hoping that Ellen Hullinger will be able to meet up with you this week so you can get some treats from home.

This one made me smile. I loved how you wanted to try out so many different types of things in life. Also, this next pic is because it was national siblings day yesterday and I kept seeing pics from my sisters being posted, so here’s one that’s just priceless for you girls.

So I sent a referral in to the mission home for Rosemary last week, then I heard from some Elders who were going to see her, then I heard from them last night because they couldn’t find her home and when I explained where it was, they realized it wasn’t in their area, so now they’re sending her name to some other missionaries. I may have to stop by her place this week to check on her.

This morning I’m going over to Tracey’s to quilt a couple quilts on her machine. I was over at her house last night too and we chatted about life for a while. Academies are coming up, youth conference (which is new for our stake this year), seminary breakfast, laurel camp,etc. This is definitely a busy time for her. Summer for the Stake RS is a slower time, so I’m happy about that. We’ll be going up to Living the Legacy as usual, but after that, we just have our monthly luncheons.

Here are the wedding announcements I got this week-Colette Kofoed, Braiden Shaw and Tori Cameron. I didn’t even know Tori was serious with someone, but I’m so happy for her. I heard that the Cameron’s were moving this summer to California (SoCal). Not happy about that. What are we going to do for Christmas Eve? I look forward to that every year and I’m so sad about it. 

Here are a couple more pics of Addie to cheer up your day.

Yesterday we also had a great Sunday School class-our marriage and family relations class. It’s so fun being in there and having the Langford’s as our teachers. You can only imagine the laughing we do there. We talked about communicating better and how we should have our rose colored glasses on more often when thinking of our spouses so we just see the good. Here’s what our teachers looked like talking to us. Everything was pink.

Then in Relief Society we had such a great lesson on the atonement. I’m going to mail our handout to you. It’s a long quote from Chieko Okasaki’s book Lighten Up which is one of my favorite books. She used to be in the RS General Presidency. She talks about and explains the atonement in such a personal way and I had forgotten about it until Sis. Barker shared it with us yesterday. Everyone was in tears by the end of the lesson and then of course, I had to say the closing prayer. :) It was a wonderful Sabbath and I’m so grateful we are asked to go to church each week, that we are asked to teach each other, learn from each other as we share and that our spirits are renewed with energy for living the gospel throughout the week. 

Have a great week and share the good news of the atonement with all those you meet with.

Love you very much,

Mom xxoo

Conference

April 4, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Wasn’t conference great. I look forward to it every six months and then it seems to go by so fast. But we recorded a few sessions and I’ll rewatch them slowly. I like reading them, but what I really like is watching them speak. I even watched part of the priesthood session and will watch the rest of it. I loved Elder Uchtdorf’s talks, both at the priesthood session and at general conference. I also loved Elder Kearon and Elder Holland’s talk at the very end, so powerful and exactly what I needed to hear. I’m looking forward to copying down some quotes that mean a lot to me.

What talks touched you? I just got a picture from Sis. Nordfeld with all of you sister missionaries in their family room watching conference. I don’t have a picture of our little group, but it was a room full of little projects that Leah and Nikki were working on-bracelets, coloring, nail painting, embroidery, etc. We of course had some fun food to go along with it all. Yesterday dad made ribs and I made BBC salad and poni popo (Samoan rolls). The day before I found a recipe for some home made brownies which tasted great. During priesthood I took the girls out for ice cream and picked up Leah’s friend Madea to go with us. 

The weather here has been beautiful and so springlike-in the 70’s with flowers and trees all starting to bloom. We’ve been sitting out on the porch a lot. :) 

Yesterday Sean was texting me telling me about their run in with roaches. It doesn’t bother him, but he said Blair was definitely not used to that. He said he tried to teach her the tricks of living in the South, but when she got up in the middle of the night and saw their cat clawing at a roach in the bathroom, she screamed. Sean said he thought someone had died. haha I forget about all the bugs and critters we lived with in the East. At least they don’t have the kind of cockroaches that fly. 

Alex and Savannah spent the weekend in Park City where her parents have a timeshare condo. They watched conference there. Sounded like fun. Kirk and Addie went to grandma and grandpa’s yesterday to watch and have dinner. Sarah stayed at home to catch up on some rest. They will be coming to our house in a week and I can’t wait. It feels like it’s been so long since we’ve spent time with Addie. (I know I shouldn’t complain compared to how long it’s been for you, but I’m the Nana!! :)

Leah tested for her advanced red belt on Saturday and passed. Hopefully you got the video. She’s doing a great job and it’s so great seeing her in Taekwondo again. She isn’t 100% yet, she can’t really jump, but can do all the rest. The jumping part is just in her mind. The doctor said she can jump, but she just doesn’t feel like she can. She’ll need to starting jumping in order to get her higher belts though. The girls feel so good after Taekwondo I wish they would agree to go more often. I’m trying to relax a bit on their food consumption and lack of exercise, but it’s hard. Leah is trying to start a clean eating diet today-fruits and vegetables and proteins. Nikki said she didn’t want to do it. 

Last week dad and I made some strawberry pies and delivered them to our home teaching and visiting teaching people. I also took one to Jean Sorensen. We had a sweet talk. She was crying because she just found out she has breast cancer. Blaine died just a few weeks ago and now she has to go through this. Hopefully they can just remove the lump. She finds out tomorrow. 

And here’s the obituary. Thought you might like to see it. I’m going to go over to her house next week and we’re going to sit together and she’s going to show me pictures of their younger years. 

Also yesterday morning I heard the all familiar sound of the hot air balloons right over our house. I guess there were a bunch of them landing in the field across from the Park Lane building.

Nikki is having her auditions today in choir. I’ve been trying to help her. She has to sing the Star Bangled Banner and it’s hard. Leah has to sing it too, but she doesn’t care about it cuz she’s not taking choir next year. I just can’t talk her into it. Nikki really wants to get into a higher choir and loves singing, so we’ve been working hard on it. I hope she does well. Wish you were here to help her with it. I don’t really know what McMullen does in the auditions so I can’t tell her much.

We got a wedding announcement from Blake Hansen last week. Sienna Casos got her mission call to Wichita Kansas Spanish speaking. We also got an announcement for Precia Purnell. That’s it in the news department. You probably hear way more than me.

Last week I had a sweet experience. After the Women’s Broadcast I was constantly thinking about what had been said especially about helping the refugees. So with that on my mind, I was driving home from the mall and saw a woman struggling to carry all her groceries walking home. I turned around and asked if she wanted a ride. She was very excited to get in the car. Turns out she moved here from Congo a few months ago. Her English was broken but I talked with her all the way to her house which turned out to be a long ways away. I couldn’t believe she was walking that far with so many bags. She even had her purse handle across her forehead to help carry things. She’s here with 3 children and no husband and just got a job part time at Micron. I even had a chance to tell her about the church and she said she met a Mormon woman at work and she is also very nice. I may go back to her house and ask her if she’d like me to come help teach her English. I’m thinking about what I can do. I also gave her some money and she was sooooo excited and said now she has transport money, which I think she means she can take the bus. She kept wanting to talk so we stayed in front of her house. Can’t wait to get back to her. She said her name was Rosemary.

Well, I just see that you’ve already written so I need to get this to you. Have a great week filled with all the words of conference in your heart!!

Love you,

Mom xxoo