Conference

Sept. 26, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

How was your week? We are doing well and have recovered from Nikki’s birthday weekend. haha She has such a build up for her birthday and I always feel like we haven’t done enough. She really wanted a new cell phone but there’s no reason to spend the money on that right now. I hope she liked what she got. She got gift certificates from her favorite clothing store and jewelry store, so I told her I’d take her out this week to do the shopping. She got a bedazzler so she bedazzle everything (which she will) and l picked up a little sequin sweater that she had really wanted. She wore it out on Saturday, to Women’s Conference on Saturday night and then to church yesterday. I’m pretty sure she loves it. :) And it’s so her with all the sparkles. She had lots of friends drop things off for her and even though she doesn’t go out much with friends, she is always thinking about them by sending them notes, buying them little gifts etc. She’s always been that way and it’s one of her greatest assets.

This is on Sunday. I made a poke cake for Nikki, Leah did the frosting and we decided to sing to her with Kirk and Sarah on Facetime. Dad and I obviously got different angles with our phones. haha

This is some sushi we got and Kona Grill. Nikki was not happy about this because of the crab legs sticking out, so she missed out on how delicious it tasted.

On Saturday I asked Nikki if she wanted to go with me to the Boise quilt show. I was just going to go by myself, but Nikki said she wanted to go so I thought that would be fun to have the company. Then dad decided he wanted to go, then Leah said she would go but didn’t really want to. :) So I ended up taking the whole gang. The girls had fun playing with the longarm machines that were on display and now they want me to buy one. I would love one! The show was at the Fairgrounds and afterwards we went out to lunch. Nikki chose Kona Grill at the Village. I think Leah swayed her. It was good though and Nikki was happy eating there. When we got home she opened presents. Then that evening we went to the General Women’s conference together. I loved all the talks at conference!! and I could tell that Leah and Nikki did too. As I sat there, the thought hit me that you were sitting somewhere also watching the same thing. I felt you near.

That night the girls rented a movie from Redbox and watched it at home. Nikki was very happy about her birthday celebrations. We continued them on to the next day with her birthday cake and Facetiming with the boys. Kirk sent us a cute video of Haylee laughing yesterday too. If he didn’t already send it to you, I’ll ask him too. She’s getting so big and so cute. I am so sad that we won’t be able to see them on our next trip down to Utah which is on Oct. 5th. Sarah and the little girls left this morning for Canada to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving and also to go to her cousin’s farewell. She’s going to be gone until Oct. 10th which is when we head back to Boise.  :(  Sarah’s cousin really wanted her to be there, so I know it’s important for her but it just won’t be the same being in Utah and not seeing Addie and Haylee. Kirk keeps reminding us that he’ll be there…. Also Alex and Savannah will be there for a visit so we’ll get to spend time with them also. Just not the same as holding the grandbabies though.

Also last week I had the Laurel lunch at our house. I made the delicious smothered sandwiches which most of the girls had never had before and now they want them all the time. They are addicting and yummy. It was fun having them here and getting to know them a little bit better. I feel like there’s so many of them and it will take some time to get to know them all. They don’t know me very well either since I’ve been in Relief Society for so long. Here’s a couple pics I took:

I was driving by the temple the other day and was noticing how pretty the sky looked, so I hurried and picked up my phone, held it to my window to take a quick picture and it turned out great. I didn’t get to see how it looked til I got home since I was driving and just took a chance with the camera. haha Can’t wait to see the landscaping put in. It will be gorgeous.

I taught Laurels yesterday and the lesson was on how our words affect those around us. I left them with a challenge to say something or write something uplifting to someone else once a day until Dec. 1st. We have a Laurel groupme site that they can use or we talked about tons of other ideas. I hope they share scriptures, quotes, compliments, etc. We talked about how harmful words can be also and how they can stay with you your whole life. I told them of something that was said to me when I was 11 years old and how I still remember it to this day and how it hurt my feelings back then. They all said they can remember something mean that was said to them sometime in their life, so I think they could see how powerful words can be. Then we talked about kind things people have said to us and how that made us feel and how we still remember those. I had someone come up and squeeze some toothpaste onto a plate and told them the toothpaste was like their words coming out. Then I asked the girl to put the words back into the tube. She tried and of course couldn’t do it. It was my little demo on how once words are out there, you can’t just take them back.  I brought a bunch of my little cards that you guys have written to me through the years and told them how much even written words mean to me. Hopefully, they got the point and will be thoughtful about what comes out of their mouths.

On Wednesday we had a family history night with the Laurels and I taught the station on journaling. I showed all different ways that you can journal, not just writing in a book. I even brought Leah’s baptism quilt to show that art forms can show journaling when they are about a specific time or event in life. I hope I was able to motivate them to look at journaling in a new way and get excited about it.

Sean and Blair had a fun Saturday also and this is a pic they posted. They took some more sailing lessons in the morning then had fun in Chicago for the day. I thought it was a cute picture of them.

I talked with Sis. Ray after the powderpuff game (where Brennan was cheering, haha). She said to mention to you that she has a beautiful alto rendition of I Stand All Amazed if you’d like it. 

Yesterday Chace Cook spoke and gave his homecoming talk. Wow, what a wonderful talk. He spoke of the things he learned and told stories of the people who taught him those lessons whether it was companions, members or investigators. I told dad I could see him being a Stake President one day. 

Back to General Women’s Conference…love, love, loved every talk. Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk brought me to tears and I loved the reminder that God will not force anyone to follow Him. I made a note when he said “Faith can’t force our will upon God but faith will empower us to act on God’s will.”  I also loved when he said “Walk by whatever faith we have,” and then told the beautiful story of his wife’s family’s conversion. I also loved Sis. Oscarson’s call to us to teach the gospel clearly, boldly, to rise up in strength and to not be ashamed of what we believe in. It’s so hard these days to say things for fear of sounding offensive to one group or another. But it was a great reminder to me to especially be clear and bold when I teach in our home and now to my Laurels and especially how to prepare for perilous times. I loved when she said that we must teach our family and those we are stewards over the true doctrine and not be afraid to or else the world will teach them their philosophies.

I am really looking forward to the rest of General Conference and know there will be words and counsel I am looking for. I hope you enjoy it. Take lots of notes and remind everyone you meet with to watch this weekend. I am so grateful to have a living prophet on the earth with us. It brings me peace, it brings me calm and it gives me joy. Have a great week!!! You’re always in my thoughts and prayers.

Love you,

Mom xxoo

Homecoming

Sept. 19, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Well, we made it through homecoming weekend!! Leah had a great time and her date, Garrett Young, was very fun and funny. That really helped lighten the whole event for her I think. In the morning she had a day date where they had a really fun scavenger hunt. There were four couples total and everyone except Andrew Simmons’ date and Carrie Iversons’s date was from our ward. Connor Hansen took Allison Iverson, Kyler Fiek ( who is a friend of Leah’s too) took Carrie, Andrew took the Casos girl (sorry can’t remember her name). There was no drama and just fun. So the scavenger hunt was very creative (Sheila Hansen had a big part in making the list). They just broke into two groups and went all around Eagle and took pics of what they found.I’ll have Leah send you some of those pictures.

Then they went to Freddie’s and got a small shake and came home for the afternoon. Julia Rouse came over to help Leah do her hair.

She just wanted it straightened with a bun on top. She was a bit nervous before her date picked her up, but I told her everyone feels that way. Once he was here, I think she never felt nervous again that night. Julia went with me to the river where they did pictures and she took a bunch with her nice camera, but here are the ones I took:

Being goofy

Their group went to Happy Teriyaki and got take out and then went to Hansen’s for dinner where they also played some games. Then they went to the dance. Leah said it was more of a jumping party which I guess means it was just a mosh pit. She said no one was dancing, they were just jumping the whole time. haha Leah said she has never sweated so much. I told her everyone sweats at dances, but then she showed me her dress at the end of the evening and it was still sopping wet. She brought a change of clothes luckily for the after party. They had ice cream sundaes and played games, then she came home. She said it was all great. I was so happy she didn’t have any negative thoughts or feelings. Her counselor told her she could text him any time during the date and he would help her, but she didn’t need to get in touch with me or him. I was soooo happy for her.

Last night she made these miniature pumpkin pies to take to Garrett as a thank you. He had told her sometime during the date that he really loved pumpkin pie. So now she’s probably got the confidence to think about going to Sweethearts! 

Last week was our big annual ward rodeo and of course it was at the Riggs. It’s getting bigger every year. haha Lots of non members come now especially those who live around the Riggs because they ask about it and want to come. They even had some pigs this year and attached money to their legs and let the youth chase them to see who could get the money. On the biggest pig, they attached $50. Can you believe that? And of course, Brennan was able to take down the pig, but it took a long time to catch him. It was fun to watch. Nikki invited one of her friends from a different ward to come with us and then later on I took them to the State Street building for a Stake MiaMaid/Teacher event. Nikki came home from the evening in the best mood. She said she felt so good and had such a great time the whole night. She said she had never felt that good before and enjoyed every minute of the evening. I was really happy for her because she has not been doing anything with anyone for quite a long time. She always chooses to just stay home, so being with friends all night was awesome and I think she’s more motivated now to get out there and start doing some fun things with friends.

Also over the weekend I finally took these cute flowers that my sister Patrice had made out of pine cones and made a wreath using them. Here’s how it turned out. I love it:

Some of the trees around here are starting to turn colors which I love. The first ones are the ones on Floating Feather which are now a bright red. I’ll take some pictures this week. Dad and I went to the Homecoming football game on Friday night. EHS won easily over Meridian. It’s great football weather. This week is the powder puff football game and I was hoping Leah would want to do it, but she doesn’t. I’m going to the game though because so many of the Laurels are playing in it this year. 

Now we’re getting ready for Nikki’s birthday which is this Saturday. She’s had her list up for quite a while but now she’s starting to look at recipes, etc. I guess she’s going to give me a menu to make for her big day. Here’s her list:

Yesterday we got to Facetime with all 3 boys so it was fun. They wanted to hear Leah’s stories from Homecoming. Alex is still looking for a job. I hope he finds one soon so he can feel settled. He saved up a lot of money before they moved to New York, so he’s ok for a few months but I hate to see them have to use their savings to live on. Savannah is working part time still as a nanny. Sean and Blair had a fun time over the weekend because they started taking sailing lessons. They have another lesson this Saturday. They said it was perfect weather and loved being out on the water. 

Kirk and Sarah and Addie and Haylee all went on a fun hike. They’re always finding great places to go on hikes.

Dad finished his jury duty last week and ended up only having to go in one day and they dismissed him, so he had the whole week off which was fun for us. Now he’s back to work though. I’ve got to brush up on my family history indexing. The YW are challenging the YM to see who can do the most. We’re going to help the Laurels with different parts of family history this week. I’m also having the Laurels over for lunch on Thursday this week. Being in YW is quite the busy place. :)

I hope you had a wonderful week. Can’t wait for your stories. I forgot to mention that Nathan Hullinger came home last week. We got to see him at the football game and he asked about you. He looks good, a little older. Sarah told us that at their Stake Conference there were a lot of Tongans and Samoans because they have a Samoan ward and a Tongan ward in their Stake and Addie kept going up to all of them calling them Nikki. They said it was so funny. Then while they were hiking they saw this woman who looked exactly like Leah and Addie kept saying Ku, Ku. The girls loved hearing that. :)

 I’ll leave you with a scripture that was shared in one of the talks yesterday that I loved. I’ve always loved this scripture because it helps me remember who I am to my Father, D&C 78:17-18 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children (I love that part), and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along(I also love that). The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.”  

So be of good cheer because you are being led along by the most wonderful loving Father and you are in His hands and He knows you and He knows His children you are talking to each day.

I Love you more than you know,

Mom xxoo

Quick trips, Cousins are forever

Sept. 12, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

I was so happy to hear early from you this morning. You know me, I worried and prayed for you all week (I always pray for you so that wasn’t anything new), but I so wanted you to get back  that love of the mission and the work you are doing and I was anxious to hear how your week went. Several people even mentioned to me that they were sending prayers your way when they could feel your struggles. Isn’t it wonderful to know how many people care about you and also how much they trust in our Father and know where to turn for peace.

Last week I got news that my Uncle Earl Kartchner passed away. He was married to Marr who is grandpa Trumbo’s sister. When I was young I used to go to their house in Salt Lake and stay with them so I was closer to these cousins than any other. They had 3 boys who were older than me and they were like older brothers that I never had and I always had so much fun with them and was really close to the second oldest, Steve. The oldest, Mark, died when he was 30 of Leukemia. It was a sad time, but at the funeral I was able to see his wife and two kids. I hadn’t seen her since they were first married. I was also able to reconnect with all my cousins who are all so old now. haha I drove down to Utah by myself on Thursday and attended the funeral on Friday morning. I walked into the viewing all by myself and realized that I didn’t recognize anyone except my Aunt. But eventually each one came up to me and it was great. All the old memories came flooding back and they reminded me of lots of things I had totally forgotten. My cousin Steve said being with me again was as if time hadn’t even gone by, but that he talked about me a lot in his family and all the fun things we would do. He said I was the only girl he ever let ride his motorcycle. Wow, I didn’t realize I had been so privileged. haha

My aunt Marr was so happy to see me because she knew that my dad wasn’t going to be able to make it. Also his other sister Carol was there and she just kept saying how great it was to see me again. Carol is the one who served her mission in California way back when hardly any sisters served. I decided that funerals are so motivating, to hear all the stories about a person’s life and hear all their children talk about them and what was important to them. Each cousin got up and shared a few memories about their dad and it was always something little, a time when they got to spend time with him, talk with him, learn from him. And the best thing is that those things are the things you get to keep with you through eternity and no one can take them away. My uncle was very brilliant in the computer field and was also an extremely accomplished violinist, so at the funeral they played a recording of someone playing a song he had played often and that brought tears to their whole family. Four of my cousins also sang a beautiful quartet and I had no idea that my cousin Steve had such a beautiful bass voice. I definitely had to tease him about that afterward. He said he only sang when people really insisted. 

I went to the cemetery with them and since Earl served in the Air Force, they had a four gun salute which was cool.

Steve, Uncle Larry and Aunt Carol, Carrie.

Aunt Carol and Aunt Marr (grandpa Trumbo’s 2 sisters)

Afterward I stayed for the luncheon so I could visit with everyone. It really is a nice thing that the Relief Society does for families, cuz we were all so starving and it tasted so good. I told my Aunt Marr that I would come back to visit in October when we are all going down to Utah. She was excited about that and I look forward to talking with her.

The big plus side for me going down was of course being able to see Addie and Haylee. Haylee is changing all the time now and Addie is talking so much more. Haylee is a really easy going baby and the minute you start talking to her, she gives you a big smile.

Oh I miss her so much just looking at her picture again. I just want to hold her forever. I hope all you kids just keep having babies, because that will be so fun for me, Nana. Addie is so funny and has such a great memory. She of course thinks the Best Western is Nana’s house and asks to swim at Nana’s house. But when she comes up here, she knows this is Nana’s house too. What a fun Nana!!

She wouldn’t really hold still here, but she is wearing her Elsa dress and of course, you can see she still loves having a bandaid on. haha Also she got a rug burn on her nose, because the night before they had gone over to their friend’s house to watch a football game. They have a daughter Lucy that Addie loves playing with. Well, Lucy was standing on the third stair holding onto the rail and leaning backward when she accidentally fell down the stairs. Lucy quickly got up and pretended it didn’t hurt and make a little laugh. Well, then Addie said, “My turn!” since it looked like Lucy did it all on purpose and Addie threw herself down the stairs and ended up with this rug burn on her nose.  Peer pressure, right….hahahaha

Here she is the next day and she insisted that Sarah make her hair like Anna from Frozen. She just loves everything about that movie. She said it’s her Anna hair.

We’re catching “hoppers” outside their house. We ended up with four of them!

It was a quick trip for me, but I really enjoyed my time away. It had been a tough week with Leah and it turned out to be a tender mercy for me. Leah is having a hard time “sharing” me with the Laurels and refused to even go into Mutual last week. That was so hard on me and I even thought maybe I should talk with the Bishop about changing my calling. But Leah’s counselor talked a lot about it with her and thinks this will be good for her to not be so clingy with me. I hope he’s right. :) 

Yesterday was a wonderful day at church, at home and then at the youth standards fireside. Leah wanted to talk with me in the quilt room :) and among other things, she told me she feels she has a testimony that the church is true. She knew there was a God because of some experiences she’s had and now feels she knows the church is true. We had a great talk about looking forward, living in the present and only learning from the past. She says there’s things she can’t get out of her mind about her past but is repenting of them and I talked with her about why we need to still remember in order to learn, but that Heavenly Father would remember them no more. She wants to get back to the temple and says she will go into the Bishop next week so she can get her recommend. She talked about how much she loves being in the temple and the feelings she gets there. It was so wonderful to hear her talk like this. I can’t tell you how much that meant. Her struggle in life will be remembering her goals, remembering her spiritual experiences and remembering how good it feels to be in the right place at the right time with the right people. She has a good heart but so many physical/mental struggles. Line upon line, precept upon precept.

The standards fireside last night was wonderful. I hope that when you have teenagers you will be living in a stake where the leaders are as awesome as ours. The Stake Presidency here has a way of saying things so beautifully and right to the point and it is so helpful for us as parents and so caring for the youth.

Last night Alex and Savannah went to the 9/11 memorial site and also took the Staten Island Ferry so they could see the sites. Here are some of the pics from their adventures last night.

Also Sean shared this photo of their cat. They couldn’t figure out how she was getting up or down on the cupboards but were able to catch her coming down. They think she’s some kind of ninja.

Nikki is posting her birthday wish list so she’s getting all pumped up here. Can you believe she will be 15? She is doing really well in school and has started even doing some things with friends. She went to a birthday party at the Walker’s house over the weekend. She tried to back out at the last minute, but I made her go. What a mean mom making her kids go to parties and such. haha Christina Walker is coming home on Thanksgiving.

Well, I hope you have another wonderful week!! How I was feeling last week when I was worried for you, worried for Leah, etc reminds me of the scripture that I love, 3 John 1:4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. That is so true for me and I’m happy that you are filled with the missionary spirit again. Stay strong and now help others who need to know where to turn for peace. You can speak from experience.

I’m off to run errands with dad. He’s home this whole week because he is on jury duty, but his number didn’t get called today. Woohoo. Oh ya, you also got called to jury duty and I deferred it, but now you are called for the week of Dec. 5th. Something to look forward to. haha 

Love you sooooo much,

Mom xxoo

Feels Like Fall!

Sept. 5, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

I love having the windows and doors open and feeling the cool crisp air each evening and morning. Last night dad and I were sitting out on the back porch and I had to go get one of my quilts. I love that!  Aaaaah. The simple pleasures of life…Fall.

We had a good Sabbath yesterday. One of our sister missionaries is leaving this week to go home, so she bore such a sweet testimony. We’ve all loved having her in our ward. She was so funny when she got up to talk because she said she was determined not to cry because her makeup was looking perfect (they were going to be taking lots of pictures during the day) and she even wore her “sunny” dress (which was yellow). She’s so funny and outgoing. They’re moving the sisters out of our ward and elders are coming in. We all wanted to keep sisters here. I felt bad for the new elders because they were actually at the meeting and they kept hearing everyone say how much they’ve enjoyed having sister missionaries and what a great spirit they’ve brought to our ward. haha It was also Ren and Abbey’s last Sunday here. Abbey came into Young Women to say good-bye. She told us that they had changed her call a little and she would be going to the MTC in Provo instead of Mexico because her visa didn’t come through. She said it was a tender mercy for her to be able to go into the MTC with her brother since she has never been very far from him before.

We stayed up late Saturday night to watch the BYU game. Man, it was too close but it was fun to see them win at the last second. Because their kicker hadn’t done well during the game, they asked a freshman kicker to come in and try for a field goal to win the game. No pressure, I’m sure. :)  He came in calmly and kicked it straight through and won the game for them. Alex and Savannah said they had to try and watch until almost two in the morning their time. Savannah said she fell asleep before the end and missed the whole thing, but Alex filled her in on what happened. We face timed with them last night. Alex still doesn’t have a job. I hope something opens up for him this week. Savannah is now working for the same family she did during the summer as a nanny. The nanny she was filling in for changed jobs, so Savannah watches a little girl about 20 hours a week. She loves the job.

Yesterday in Laurels, Michelle Tiegs gave the lesson on intimacy. She knew the girls would be pretty quiet so she had myself and Calene Borup do a lot of the talking. I could tell Leah was embarrassed by her laughter and then she was so funny when we got home and told me never to talk about it again. I was laughing. It was a really good lesson, but it was also a very direct and open discussion so there would be no misunderstanding. Nothing like jumping right in with my new calling. :0

Ryan (Moose) Trumbo got his mission call last week and is going to Japan. He’s super excited but he doesn’t leave until December.

Kirk and Sarah and the girls took a little weekend trip to St. George and are staying in a condo with Nicole and her roommate. Kirk says he wants the whole family to go down there sometime and loves it. Both Addie and Haylee are loving the pool. They said they were going to the temple last night so I’m hoping to get some pictures from him. The St. George temple is so pretty especially with the blue sky and red rock behind it. I’m glad they’re getting a little family getaway. Dad and I would do that all the time when you kids were little. We’d pick a spot to explore and spend a few days there. I’m sure none of you kids remember any of them since you were so young, but we loved it. I love exploring new cities! 

Here are some of the pics I’ve gotten from Kirk and Sarah so far:

They stopped along the way on their road trip and took some pics.

Addie got a gimmee and she chose the doctor’s kit so she’s practicing on Haylee.

They visited with Jen and Gio.I was laughing at Addie’s hair. It was after church, so she probably just took it all out and this the look she got.

Leah’s big news is that she got asked to Homecoming. I know she already wrote you (at least I hope she did). She’s very excited and we already have a dress. The girls for the most part are going a little less formal so that’s good. She doesn’t know which group she’s in yet, but I’m so happy that she gets to go. 

Leah’s response!

Over the weekend we made tons of grape jelly and there are still more that we need to make. We already delivered some to our home teaching and visit teaching people and today I’ll give some to Christina (house cleaner). Her daughter was excited to get some because they’ve been trying to use what they have just very slowly to make it last. haha

Let me know if you don’t receive the new health insurance card. I sent it the same day that I got the call from Sis. Larsen.

Also last week I went with the Laurels for ice blocking. We went to the park right by the Village and it was the perfect spot. The hill wasn’t too big, it was beautiful weather and it wasn’t crowded with anyone else. Here’s a couple pics I took. The leaders and the girls use GroupMe to communicate, so I can just post all my pictures there for everyone to see.

In this one, Leah is in the background. she was trying to do two people on one piece of ice. Didn’t work out so well. haha

A couple of the girls wanted me to take some fancy shots. I loved this one as the sun was setting.

Today I’m letting the girls sleep in and I’m going to take off to the mall and pick up a sweater that Nikki saw over the weekend that she really really wanted. I want to get it for her for her birthday. It’s typical Nikki with sequins all over, very flashy. :) Then tonight the Leifson’s are having a BBQ with a few families from the ward and a couple from the neighborhood. Dad is working today. 

Not much other news. We got a wedding announcement from Cody Adcock and also one from Connor Kent. Leah said she was sad to see Connor’s because she was hoping you’d marry him. haha I’m also hearing from all the moms about the release dates from their missionaries. A lot of the girls are coming up a few weeks early so they can start school in January so there will be quite a few coming home right after you. 

I hope you had a great week and I’m excited to hear all about it. We are well here. The yard looks gorgeous, the dogs are still crazy, Leah is doing better, Nikki had her first lesson on dating and is growing up-she’ll be 15 in a couple of weeks!! Dad and I are just getting older, but we are also getting much wiser which is wonderful. He says to say hi. All the grandparents are doing ok and love reading your letters and bragging about you. Keep being a faithful servant, there are many who are watching your example and it means a lot.

I hope you get to share your testimony often this week!! I think about you every day.

Love you,

Mom xxoo