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