Last Monday for School

May 23, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Nikki declared yesterday that today was going to be the last Monday of school for her freshman year. In a way, this year has gone so quickly, but in other ways it has just crawled by. But either way, I can’t stop the fact that the girls are now entering into their junior and sophomore years.

Last week the girls had their end of the year EHS choir concert. It was wonderful as usual. The choirs each year are always so awesome and Mr. McMullen just seems to have a great rapport with each group. I’m so glad he’s staying at the high school. This will be Leah’s last year with him because she just refuses to take choir any more. The fact that it’s such an easy A doesn’t really mean anything to her. I’m not sure why she doesn’t want to continue, but I’m not going to fight this battle. She will be taking piano her whole time in high school though, so at least she has some music. Right now she’s not taking any focus medicine and she’s not able to even play the piano, so until she’s back on that medicine, she’s even stopped taking lessons with Sally. It makes me really sad because she used to really enjoy playing. If she can control her mood swings and anxiety, then the doctor will put her back on focus meds. So we’ll see how it goes this summer. I’m hopeful.

Back to the concert…I’ll send you a copy of the program with your next package so you can see who did what and what they sang. It was really fun hearing the men’s quartet singing PBJ from Inside Out this time and they did a great job with it.

Not much out of the ordinary happened last week. Sarah got kind of sick and was having vertigo. In fact, she’s still having it off and on and it makes her so sick. Kirk had to stay home one day from work to take care of Addie. I guess Sarah’s mom Dee gets it every so often and she says it lasts about ten days, so it sounds like that’s what Sarah is feeling. I know the feeling cuz I’ve had it before and it’s awful, so I felt so bad for her. And you know how sensitive Sarah is to movement, car sickness, etc so this has been horrible for her. I told them I was on alert to come down and take care of Addie if they needed, but Nicole came and got Addie one day and kept her overnight and this weekend, Dee is coming into town since Sarah is having the baby a week from Wednesday. Can’t wait to meet our new little baby!! Here’s a pic of Addie at her sleepover.

Yesterday Nikki spoke in church with a bunch of seniors. She looked like she fit right in. haha She did a great job and wrote her own talk. She spoke of having a good self image as a daughter of God. In her talk she spoke of a turning point in her life when she was at girls camp her first year and how self conscious she felt. Then at the dance, you grabbed her and had her dance with everyone else and she loved it. She said from then on she didn’t care what others thought about how she looked or dressed or acted. She felt good about herself and knew who she was. I know I sent this to you yesterday, but just thought I’d attach it to the email.

Sean sent me this picture yesterday to show me how Blair actually takes their cat Scout out on walks on a leash. People always make comments when she’s out walking. So funny.

Sean also says it’s so pretty right now in Chicago, so green. After the winter, I’m sure this feels gorgeous. Alex is hanging in there in New York just waiting for Savannah to get there. He calls me when he walks home from work. He likes to walk because he says it’s so much nicer being above ground rather than under on the hot crowded subways. I google earthed his work place the other day and then looked at the street level and could see exactly the path he takes every day all the way to his apartment at Columbia University. He actually walks by the Manhattan temple every day. He thinks he’s found a place for he and Savannah to live when she gets there. It’s so expensive to live there, so it’s not the easiest decision.

Dad is working at Emmett today, so I’m busy getting errands done. This week I’m going to Living the Legacy with my presidency, so I need to get ready for that and our wifi has been painfully slow and unreliable, so now I have to call someone to come out and look at things. 

Mission calls this past week were Ren Hansen-Arkansas, Abby Hansen-San Antonio Texas spanish speaking and Caleb Shaw is going to South Africa. I’m sure there’s tons more, but I’m not much in the loop any more and the girls don’t really seem in the loop yet either. You probably hear more than me at this point.

Kirk sent us picks yesterday of the angel Moroni at the Bountiful temple. Lightning struck it and this is what happened:

Poor angel Moroni. He’s still standing strong though. :)

Can’t wait to hear about your first week with your new companion. I hope things are going well and that you’ve been busy on errands for the Lord. I’m so grateful for you, for our relationship, for your relationship with the Savior and for your great faith.The world is in such great need of women like you especially in this day and age when women are being tempted and tried and bombarded by the adversary. Here are some quotes I like about being a light in the world no matter where we are:

I know that you are that light that is helping others find their way. I also know that you are a light in my life. I pray for you always, think of you daily and have faith in the Lord that He is always by our sides. Hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Love you sooooo much,

Mom xxoo