Hot dogs and hot days!

June 27, 2006

Dear Sister Kristina,

I’m looking ahead at the weather because we’re taking off for Utah again tomorrow and it looks like it will be near 100 every single day. Ugh We are going down because Kirk and Sarah are blessing Haylee on Wednesday. Sarah’s dad, her sister Renee and her 3 kids and of course her mom are all down in Utah this week, so it’s the best time to get together. We’re going to do it at the church and then have a dinner there afterwards. We were going to have the dinner in their backyard, but the heat is just too much unless we decide to eat dinner around 10pm. haha

This week zoomed by. Last Friday and and Saturday Nikki and Leah went to Stake Youth Conference and they had a great time. I was worried how Leah would do, but she really enjoyed it and only called us once on Saturday evening to come pick her up. So in my book, that’s a huge success. Here are some of the highlights that they did for youth conference. On Friday morning they met at Gerber Park and had breakfast, then broke into groups and rotated through fun outdoor games like 9-square, super huge ball soccer and team building games, etc. They also had lunch there and came home around 3:30pm to rest and shower. Then they met at the Stk Ctr at 5pm and took buses to downtown Boise to the Zion’s Bank building, where they met on the top floor and had dinner and a dance. Nikki said she actually had a fun time at the dance, her first! But she also said that when one of the slow dances came on, a boy came up and asked her to dance and she said no. Found out later that her friends actually made her go up to the boy and apologize (gotta love those friends!). I talked with her about it too and I’m pretty sure she’ll never say no to any guy at a stake dance again.

Then on Saturday morning they took the buses to Julia Davis Park where they did a service project by laying mulch around the entire park and staining all the park benches. It was a huge job, but there were plenty of kids there. Then they had a huge group of refugees come to meet with them to have lunch and the kids played with their kids and gave out 92 bikes which had been donated by families in our stake and cleaned up and fixed by a couple guys earning their Eagle merit badge. We gave Nikki’s cute bike that she’s had for a few years. They said the refugees were sooo happy and excited to get bikes. The news station was there too and so they were on the news Saturday night. Brennan Ray was the spokesperson for the group. 

Then they came home in the afternoon to shower and rest again and then took buses to the Scentsy building where they had dinner, a speaker about social media and internet, a speaker about dating and a speaker (Jeff Chatman, who played basketball at BYU right after Uncle Steve’s years) and then they had their testimony meetings. The only thing Leah didn’t attend was the testimony meetings, since she called us and said she was done. But once we got there, she felt better and wanted to stay, so we just hung around with her until the end when they had refreshments.

I heard nothing but good remarks about the two days and it was so wonderful that they were able to do it all and stay in our area. Lots of hard work on behalf of a lot of people.

Yesterday at church Ryan Brinton gave his farewell talk and I got to meet our new sister missionaries. They had accidentally texted me earlier in the week thinking I was the ward RS president. One of them just got here from the MtC 5 days ago. The other one goes home in September. They both seem very fun and anxious to get to work and I think our ward RS made them feel very welcome. All the missionaries got changed last week, because they split our mission and now our Stake is part of the Nampa Idaho mission. So Pres. Winder of the Boise mission submitted names of missionaries that should be called to the Nampa mission, sent them into Salt Lake for approval, then all those missionaries received new mission calls. So our sister missionary that’s been out a while, waited and then received a new call…very cool.

Also yesterday we got to eat a treat that Sean sent to dad last week for Father’s day. He sent a box from the famous Portillo’s in Chicago which is known for their hot dogs. The box came with all the dogs, their special buns, relish, mustard, peppers, onions, tomatoes and the instructions for making them the same way as the restaurant. They tasted great and we tried to follow the directions like they said.

Also last night Bishop Hill invited Leah to go to a fireside where Tanner Mangum and Coach Sitake were speaking. It was a Star Stake thing but it was at our Park Lane building and Bishop Hill thought Leah might enjoy meeting the coach. Well, Leah took an afternoon nap and then didn’t want to wake up and go. I really tried to wake her, but she doesn’t wake up real happy if you remember. After a while we were sitting on the porch and she saw a text from the Bishop telling her that he had saved a seat for her. Then she really felt badly. So she wrote him and Bishop said to still come over because it was just finishing and she could meet him. So she and dad hurried over to the building. I’m sorry that she didn’t get to hear them speak though.

Leah is still trying to look for a job around Eagle somewhere and still has no desire to return to Taekwondo which of course makes Nikki so that she doesn’t want to go either. They both are so close to getting their blackbelt. 

We face timed with Alex and Savannah last night so they could show us their new apartment. It’s very small, but I think they are so happy to be out of the dorms. Alex says they are living in Little dominica and nobody speaks English so he’s having to work on his Spanish and Savannah is really wishing she had even taken Spanish in high school. When they need something there, they just use Amazon prime and have it delivered right to them since they don’t even have a car. Also they’ve even been using Amazon now which gets things to them within a couple hours. After their first night there, they realized they didn’t have any sheets, so they used “now” and got them that day.

Also on Saturday Blair flew out to Salt Lake to join up with her family and go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a reunion. But first she stopped by to see Haylee. Just last week Blair got 12” cut off her hair and she says she feels so much better. I think it looks really cute. Sean is very jealous that she gets to hold Haylee, but he has too much work and can’t leave.

Since it’s summer, dad’s been back at golfing at Shadow Valley after 5pm so it’s a dollar a hole. I went with him last Saturday and it was beautiful weather. It was our little getaway while the girls were at youth conference.

Yesterday morning when I went to my early morning Stake council meeting, Austin Peery came out of the high council room where he had just reported his mission to them. He looks great and I gave him a hug. Your group is officially now starting to finish and come home. Tracey saw him and started crying because it meant she’d have Caleb back pretty soon.

Today I have a full day with trying to get ready for our trip. I’m visiting teaching, taking Leah to her psychiatrist appt, taking Leah to her counselor appt, getting my nails done, packing, paying bills, etc It’s a short trip, but it still takes a lot of time getting ready to go for some reason. We are coming back on Friday. Then we just have the weekend to get the girls ready for girls camp. Always something around here.

My friend posted this pic with the missionaries from the Anaheim CA mission. Each year on the 4th of July at a parade, all the missionaries in that mission carry flags and march. I thought it was a great idea.

I hope you had a great week, that transfer calls weren’t too traumatic and that you’re enjoying people you come in contact with. I love your new picture on facebook. Your smile is so beautiful and there’s a wonderful light about you!! I miss you but I love sharing you with everyone in Northern Cal.

Have a fun, exciting and beautiful week!! You’re always in my prayers.

Love you,

Mom xxoo

Sandy, Bountiful and a little bit of Samoa!

June 19, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

We had a full and fun day for father's day today and now I'm so tired, a good tired, of course. We started out at grandma and grandpa's ward for sacrament. Then right as Sunday school started, aunt Kathy texted me back letting me know when and where the Samoan branch met. She's out of town this weekend, but I had texted her earlier because I thought it might be fun for all of us to go there again, plus dad had never been.

So we left church and went to another sacrament meeting, the Samoan branch. The whole meeting had such a strong spirit. I'm telling you, this was the third time I've been there and every single time I feel such a strong spirit there. We sing in Samoan, the prayers are in Samoan, the announcements are in both Samoan and English. The talks were in English and the musical number was in Samoan. I found out later the musical number had been written by a member and performed by the relief society. It was such a beautiful Polynesian sing, nothing like you ever hear in our meetings. I loved it! The sister who wrote it also played the piano for it and sang along. A friend there told me the song was all about fathers.

At the Samoan branch-dad's candy lei

The talks were all so good and even the girls were talking about the talks afterwards, all of them about fatherhood, and all of them had great personal stories and testimonies. 

After the meeting I went up to the relief society president whom I had met last year.She remembered us and gave me a big hug. We talked for a while and then she told me she taught Samoan dance classes every Thursday and she wanted Nikki and Leah to come whenever they were in town this summer. And she said she didn't want them to pay because she wanted to teach them about their culture. I started crying because that touched me so much. I had just told dad a couple days ago that I had this thought about the relief society president from the Samoan ward and how she wanted to help the girls understand who they really were and what their culture was all about. Then there we are today and she said that very thing. I couldn't help the tears and I told her how much that meant to me. We exchanged phone numbers so we can keep in contact.

In the meantime dad got a lei from one of the young sisters. It was a candy lei, so fun. All the men were wearing them. 

Then we were getting ready to walk out to go home, but they said the branch president wanted to talk with us, so we went in his office with his two counselors. He just wanted to meet us, talk with us and get our stories. We told him about how we adopted the girls and our trip to Samoa. He told the girls that they must have very special spirits for something like this to happen to them. Then they told us some stories about Samoa. The girls told them their Samoan names, etc. I just wanted to be part of their branch! Leah says she would love to go there. I hope she gets a chance some day. Even the girls said they wished we could have stayed all three hours and you know what a rare statement that is from them, but we had to get to Kirk and Sarah's. 

We had a father's day bbq at Kirk's. Dad grilled tri tip and hamburgers. I had a tri tip sandwich with avocado and it was delish! Grandma made shrimp macaroni salad that I'm still craving and Sarah made banana pudding since it's Kirk's favorite. We had a fun time sitting in the back yard and getting to hold Haylee and playing with Addie. We came home tonight exhausted.

We've been staying here in Sandy all week and been basically driving back and forth to Kirk and Sarah's. We went to a fun public pool yesterday, but we originally were trying to get to the lake, but it was too crowded. We've gone to the movies with Charmaine, out to dinner, lunch, etc. Frog food and waffles here thanks to grandpa. It's still weird that no one in the family lives in Provo and that you, Alex and Sean are not around. We face timed with both of them today though.

I've also been going with Leah to do Neuro feedback while here. 

How was your father's day? Dad saw your sweet post on Facebook and loved it. It's still weird that can't call on fathers day. :(

I also just saw a direct message from Veronica about how much you meant to her. She wrote it a while back, but I just saw it and wrote her back. It was very nice.

Alex and Savannah at Coney Island.

We loved your video with your song. It was beautiful. You have such talent and so much talent all around you and I'm so happy to hear how often you share it. Music is such a great way of sharing your testimony and inviting the spirit. It sometimes can soften even the hardest of hearts. 

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. I miss you like crazy and love that I live in an age where there are so many ways to share in your mission experiences with you. I hope you feel of our love and prayers and hopes for you always. 

Have full and rich with blessings days this next week. Keep counting your blessings and sharing your blessings.

Love you soooo much, 

Mom xoxo

Here are some of my favorite pics from Kirk and Sarah's photo shoot with Haylee:

Beautiful June!

June 13, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

How was your week? We’ve been well here, just missing Addie and Haylee. So glad we are taking off for Utah again in two days. I’m excited for dad and the girls to get to see Haylee. She just keeps getting cuter and cuter. You probably get to see some pics from Facebook, but i’ll always send you some too so you feel like you get to know her. Dad is on his way home from Mtn. Home and the girls are still sleeping and the birds are chirping like crazy in the backyard cuz we put out a couple new bird feeders. The weather is a little crisp and cool which I love. It reminds me of California weather, where it cools down at night no matter how hot it gets during the day. The grass and trees are all a beautiful bright green and there are flowers blooming everywhere. When I was down in Utah, the mountains were so green and the tops of the mountains were still covered with snow. The contrast was gorgeous. Do you get the nice cool nights in Northern Cal too?

Savannah is now officially back with Alex. haha. We kind of joke with that when we say they are back together now, but can’t really figure a better way of saying it. She even starts her job as a nanny today, so she’s jumping right in. She’ll be a nanny for a 10 month old for the summer. It’s for a friend she knew a few years ago in dancing. Her friend also started a dancewear line in New York, so Savannah might be working for her in that store after the summer. It’s good to have connections in life. :) I bet Chloe and Nash are really missing her.

The computer just reminded me that my anniversary with dad is tomorrow. It’s 31 years! Can you believe it? I can’t. Time goes by so fast. Dad is working tomorrow…so much for celebrating. :) I’m looking forward to our trip to Utah though, so that will be fun.

Last Wed I went to the movies with a bunch of friends from the ward. We had a little girls night out. It was a Jane Austin movie “Love and Friendship”.  At first it was convoluted, but then I figured out who everybody was and could understand their accents. Kayla Langford Jensen and her mom came too and it was so funny to hear Kayla afterwards. She absolutely hated the movie and said it was the worst she had ever seen and she didn’t understand any of it. I can just hear Leah and Nikki saying the same thing about it. You have to kind of understand British movies. Anyway, I thought it was cute and it was fun to be out. There were about 9 of us girls. Leah and Nikki were at the Rouses swimming and dad was working, so it worked out beautifully for me. I needed that.

Leah went to YCL camp at the Guymon’s cabin last week. She did well for the most part. I got a couple texts from her telling me that everyone was annoying her, so I just texted her for a while. She didn’t mention anything about it the next day and I didn’t ask, but she seems pretty excited about girls camp, so I’m really happy about that. Remember, she didn’t go last year because she broke her leg. We’re coming up on a year since that happened. What a year. But I feel like she’s grown up a bit and has learned a lot. At least, I’ve certainly learned a lot. ;) 

Today Leah says she is going to go to downtown Eagle and look for a job. The reason she’s doing this is because she wants to quit Taekwondo. All of a sudden she doesn’t like it any more (I’m pretty sure it’s because she isn’t taking her focus medicine any more). But we signed up for another 18 months and have to pay, so I told her she can quit if she gets a job, pays me for Taekwondo every month and she can then keep the rest of the money. We’ll see how this goes, because she hated working a full day when she tried car washing. I’m trying to convince her that 2-3 hours of Taekwondo a week would be much easier than a job. I’ll keep you posted.

I oriented our new ward RS president last week and had a wonderful meeting with her. She will be great. I also talked with Jan Leifson about her release and she was so sad about it and didn’t see it coming. I told her how awesome she was though and how much she had meant to all the sisters. She also has such a gift for speaking. I always loved her lessons. But when you love a calling, it’s really hard to get released. I’ve been there several times with several callings in my life. 

Kirk had a fun time working with Jimmer last week. I know if you had been here, you would have been right by his side too. haha Living in Utah sometimes has its perks. 

Even Addie got to be with him. 

Nikki found this t-shirt at Kohls last week and we all had a good laugh. It’s good to see Barkley is doing well.

Yesterday I got a text from Uncle Allen and he told me he saw this in his ward bulletin.

I guess she’s in the ward they have moved into and they were doing a little spotlight on the missionaries and then he sees your picture right there. haha Small world.

Here are a couple more pics from the week

How was your week? Have you sung your Spanish song yet? I hope your families are progressing and still coming to church. You sound so busy and I know it’s because your President really trusts you and knows how much you can handle and what a good influence you are on the sisters around you. Keep up the good work and know that you are never alone. This is the Savior’s church and His hand is evident in everything you do and He is by your side when you live close to the spirit. I re-read Elder Renland’s talk from conference and I love when he reminded us,  “The greater the distance between the giver and the receiver, the more the receiver develops a sense of entitlement.” He said, “Our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, are the ultimate Givers.” So I know that when I keep that distance close between myself and Heavenly Father, I see clearly that He and the Savior are always close by no matter what seems to be going on in my life. I feel loved, I feel supported and I feel their sweet influence. 

I hope you have a week filled with the realization that your Savior and Father are always right there by your side.

Love you very much,

Mom xxoo

Haylee Jo-warning-tons of cute pictures!

June 6, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

I came home last night from a fun few days with Kirk and Sarah. It seems like we’ve been waiting so long to see Haylee’s face and now she’s here! She is so sweet, so tiny, so soft and squishy. I just love her. And I can’t get over how awesome her hair is. It’s long and billowy soft. If she loses all that hair and goes bald, we will all be so sad, but that’s usually what happens with the babies. It was so fun just sitting and holding her. I love how having a baby forces you to slow down. I can remember that with each baby, that I started getting busier and busier and then I would have a baby. Then I’d sit and rock and talk and coo. I loved those days. Kirk was saying he loves how calming it is to put her on his chest. He always falls asleep with her when she’s there. He can feel her breathe and she can feel him breathing…so soothing.

Haylee Jo Thompson (being held by Kathi Jo Thompson)
June 2, 2016
8 lbs 15 oz
19 1/2 " long

My trip was short but jam packed with baby, so it was good. We’re heading back there a week from Wednesday, so it wasn’t too bad having to leave them all. Addie seems so big now and she’s talking more and more every day. I’m so amazed at how fast she’s changing that way. I don’t think it’s really hit her yet that this little baby is going to be in their home forever. haha Addie is so friendly and outgoing. Wherever I took her, she would always say hi to other little kids. I love seeing her innocence and love for life. She’s still active as ever, always moving.

Here’s a picture of Haylee just yesterday before I left to come home. She’s changing every day:

So that was my week. Hard to think of anything else. haha While dad was at work Kayla Langford Jensen and her husband Trevor stayed here with the girls. Both Leah and Nikki said they were really fun. They took them out to eat, to the movies, over to her parents to go swimming and into the hot tub, etc. No wonder they had a great time. I’m going to seem to boring to them this week. Leah is going to spend the night at Guymon’s cabin this Thursday with all the other YCL’s. She’s starting to do things with a few friends now, which is great. If we can just get Nikki to do things with friends, I would feel much better. She acts like I’m punishing her when I ask her to call friends and plan something fun to do.

While I was in Utah I got together with Savannah a few times. It’s weird being there and having Alex, Sean and Blair all gone. So it was nice still having Savannah, but she’s leaving for New York the end of this week. She even spent the night with me at my hotel. Sleepover! One day she and Chloe and Nash and Aunt Kathy all met me for lunch at Panda, of course, and then they went swimming at my hotel. It was hard saying goodbye to her and realizing I probably won’t see her again until maybe you and I make a trip to New York together. I’m excited for her and Alex’s new adventure together though and he’s really anxious to have her there.

I loved talking with Aunt Kathy. She always wants to hear about the girls and she really cares about them and their struggles. She can relate to so much. I invited her to come up to our place this summer for a visit, so she thought that would be fun. She has the summer off since she teaches school.

Dad told me Jan Leifson got released as our RS president on Sunday and now it’s Jenalee Crawford. She’s new in our ward and I just happen to be her visiting teacher. She will be awesome and I look forward to meeting with her this week to orient her with her new calling.

Last night Bro. Myler and Hailey came over. They wanted to talk to us about aesthetician schooling. Hailey is thinking about doing that and wanted to know your experience with what you did and found out, etc. I told her to shadow someone and see if it was something she’d be interested in. She’s going to BYU for the summer just like you did and then she was hoping to just start at an aesthetician school in the fall. We sat out on the back porch and caught up with the Mylers. Bro. Myler said he could sit out on our porch forever. We sure miss having them in our ward.

Before I left for Utah, I was able to have a great talk with Melanie Cameron. Just after Tori got married last month, Melanie found out she had breast cancer. She went in for her first round of chemotherapy. She has to do chemo and probably some radiation and possibly have surgery too. I’m so sad for her and what she has to go through these next six months. But she is so awesome and felt hopeful about everything. It was just such a shock. She said Claire is taking it the hardest. I wish Claire was here so I could talk with her and give her a big hug. I’m going to be in touch with Melanie a lot and offered to take her to and from chemo, etc. She said I was one person she would actually ask to do that for her and felt comfortable with. I am sooooo happy they are staying here and not moving too. That would have been so difficult for them. It was definitely divine intervention for Kelly to get a great offer here that kept them from taking the job in California. Anyway, please keep them in your prayers.

I can’t wait to hear from you today. I just always look forward to your letters to hear what you’ve done this past week. You are so busy. Remember to take care of yourself physically too so you don’t get exhausted. There’s nothing better than working hard and being tired at night because it was a day full of activities, meetings, friends, etc. That’s the best kind of tired. :)

Here’s one more pic that Kirk sent me last night. Addie finally held Haylee and asked to hold her. She’s been so funny about that and not really wanting to even kiss her. So it was so sweet to see this. She’s going to be a wonderful big sister.

Have a fantastic week!!! I hope you always feel our love and prayers with you every single day. 

Love you,

Mom xxoo