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