Jan
On New Years day after we got home from church we went to Munro's for the Menorah candle lighting. They were so touched when we caroled Hanukkah songs to them so they invited us to share the last day of lighting the menorah. They're so sweet. Afterward we quickly ate dinner that I'd made before church, cleaned up and set up for the Bishop's fireside with Austin sharing mission stories. It was great. We finished the evening listening to the traditional New Years concert from Vienna.
 |
| They finished knitting their hats! |
It's been cold and rainy but Jen is hoping for a good day to go kayaking with Chris before she heads back to the bitter 5 degrees in NY. It's "fit everything in" week as she is also lunching with the "parkies" and we with Izola Sims and some are cross country skiing with Rich Johnson. We're also invited to Dave Munro's surprise 60th birthday.
Em is here a few more days before heading back to Rexburg. She's been working at the daycare and went sledding with friends at Hurricane Ridge.
 |
| Nerd night ha ha |
Andrea and I helped in the soup kitchen in PA for 3 shifts this past month. This year I'll be in charge of getting volunteers from our ward. (local churches take turns). I will work with Sherry Shubert, the mayor's wife and bring one other volunteer.
Andrea and Andrew both finished off 1st semester with all A's. Drea only has one more value project to do for her medallion and she's not even a Laurel yet! Andrew has been drawing up ideas for an Eagle project.
Our ward got a new family with another boy Andrew's age. We now have 14, 14 year old boys.
I loved this paragraph in Aaron's letter "If people REALLY realized and understood that this IS the Church of JESUS CHRIST, embarrassment with friends would fade, walls of doubt would dissolve, and paths of righteousness would be paved. We all need to help with the Lord's work."
Chris performed a wedding of Sister Fairclough's son, Ron, to a "mail order bride" from China. Poor little thing look so scared and repulsed at her husband. Ron is 67 and looks it with sweater stretched over his "pregnant" belly and Soy Ling is a tiny young 43. She wouldn't make eye contact with anyone at all. She came to be with her sister, Lin Lamb, who works at Paradise Cafe'.
The Malmrose's moved in this past year and I discovered this month that we are related through Henrietta McPhail! Lorna was teaching RS and mentioned her great grandmother from Scotland who crossed the plains in the Willies Co. I was excited and mentioned after class that I bet her great gma knew my great great gma! Turns out it was the same person! So fun. We are kindred spirits in more than one way!
Got an email from someone in Brazil (Eteilma) expressing as best as she could in broken English of how very special Elder King is. "he have power the to be loved". Aaron is loving his mission and he says time is flying so fast and even in his sleep he is doing the work. He has so many amazing analogies. He is a talented teacher. I loved this message in Aaron's letter: "Us missionaries are the janitors in the halls of endless doors. Occasionally we find an open door, or a door to which we possess the correct key, and we enter in. Much of our time is spent trying our keys in each of the doors in the hallway, only to find we don't have the right key for that door. Us missionaries only hold a few of the keys. The members hold the rest. If the missionaries and the members could truly join together in His work, every door in the hallway would be opened."
Little Kaydance Nicole Bean was born on the 24th and is sure a cutie. I flew to Moscow for this special day and Jarom sure claimed me as his. ha ha. Tom was helping Jarom say the blessing on the food: "We are thankful" J: "thankful" T: "for" J: "five" ha ha ha! It was hard for me not to laugh.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
Feb
The kids made us the sweetest book of letters written to us for our anniversary. It so touched my heart. The book was handmade by Jen and had a picture and letter from each awesome soul. I don't know how we have been so very blessed with such an amazing wonderful family. I love them all so much.
Got a wonderful letter (written Jan 23) from Aaron's Mission Pres telling us of his calling as a senior companion. He said this reflects his faith & trust in Aaron, that he is a joy to work with and a very good missionary.
Andrea and Andrew played in the jazz festival in Moscow so we went down for that and also the blessing of Kaydance. Jarom was my little buddy again and we bonded. He cried when we had to go home (I did too) and after we returned home Shar called me to let him talk to me because he was crying for me. He's such a sweetheart. We got to do a musical number while we were there in the Bean's ward. Tom beautifully arranged "Jesus the Very Thought of Thee". Andrew and Dad sang with Bean Family and Shar, Drea and I played flutes.
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Aaron got transferred from Camacari to Serrinha. He's a little sad at leaving but he says he has great trust in the Lord and knows all will be well.
Mar
Chris has really been wanting some good skiing so we went to Sun Valley for a few days. Emily came too and was so excited to ski, she went to Kelly 3 times in preparation. ha ha! Mom Clarke, Tami and Val also came. It was such fun being together in SV. I hope the missed school for the twins won't cause them too much trouble.
Andrea and I took an ice-skating lesson. We used to love watching ice-skating here at the Inn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chris & I went to Seattle for the BSA Silver Beaver awards night. It was a nice evening with a buffet dinner, music and power point (from CD we sent in earlier). Dad went up on stage (I went with him) and they hung the medal around his neck and gave him a nice plaque. I'm proud of Dad and he deserves this recognition after so much time and so many years of service to the youth. He is successful in so many areas of his life.
We had a big turnout for Sam Workman's Eagle Court of honor at our house because Alice (his mom) can't go in the church building due to new carpet installation. 50 people came!!! Also that evening the two Squire boys were with us overnight because Andrea is babysitting them.
Received a letter in the mail from Aaron's mission president telling us of his new call to that of District Leader! (Letter dated Feb 27) Aaron is so modest, he never even told us!
Chris is in Florida for a conference. I did the food drive with Andrew Saturday & YW broadcast with Andrea. Andrew helped Mr. Meachum on his computer (like Aaron used to do) and he gave us a Sweetmeat Squash. I made pies out of some of it and we shared pie with Izola, Meachams and Lawrence's. Andrea mowed the back lawn and Andrew mowed the front. We also went to a baptism...a man in his 20's.
March 31st Spring break (see next page) the twins and I flew to Florida to join Chris. On a layover, while sitting in the airport reading a magazine, I had a darling little boy walk up to me and much to my shock and awe - it was little Jarom!!! The Bean's were in the airport! (Chris knew all about this). I didn't even know they were going to Florida with us! What joy that was to meet up with them there! Beans got a wonderful video of the surprise encounter with Jarom.
 |
| On the plane to Florida |
|
|
 |
April
Jennifer is such a talented writer and creative thinker. She just won the McKinney Competition, Rensselaer's writing competition for undergrads and graduate students. She will be honored in a ceremony. We are so proud of her and wish we could be there with her.
Had a very busy Easter. I played flute accompaniment with a hymn sung by the choir. I skipped out of church early to bring dinner to Izola and then went to the convert baptism. This is the 4th one in a months time which is due to our ward's "40 day fast". We all signed up for a day to fast for 40 days. After the baptism Trish & James and Donna Bankston came over for dinner.
Funny Twin moment: At dinner we were talking about the great movie "Prince of Egypt" and I mentioned how cool it will be to meet Moses someday. I said "I guess there will be about 12 million of us trying to meet him" and Andrea said "ya, what'll we do, stand in a big line like a carnival?" Andrew then, acting as though he was in that situation, says "Ya - Uh hey guys I'm gonna fast pass Nephi and stand in line for Moses". ha ha! I shared this funny moment in a letter to Aaron and he reminded me that we probably already know these great individuals. That caused a quick happy flash clip in my head. Just imagine passing into the next life & having one or more of those "great ones" rush over to you and call you by name and hug you!! Wow, oh my, wouldn't that be amazing.
 |
| Andrea looks so cute in this Austrian dirndl (can't remember for what event) |
21st Dad & I went to Maui on a business trip to select a property for the company outing in Nov. The coolest thing was trying to go to church on Sunday. As happens so many times it was Stake Conference that was way far away and started at 8am!! So we with the many other tourists in the lot trying to figure things out, got out of our cars and decided to have a little meeting right there in the parking lot. There were about 25 of us...Minn, Canada, Idaho Falls, Utah, Arizona. The one's in IF know Mike and Brenda! Someone in the group asked if there was a bishop in the crowd and I patted Dad on the back. The guy said to him "And you thought you were on vacation!" ha ha! So Dad conducted our little meeting there on the lawn. We had a song & prayer then Dad noticed a lady holding a New Era so he asked her if she could give us a spiritual thought from it which she gladly did. Several shared a brief testimony and we were all edified and uplifted. The gospel is so cool. We had a closing song and prayer and someone with a camera took a group photo and got our emails to send us the pic. We were all strangers yet brothers and sisters and as comfortable with each other as though we were long time friends.
This is the month of SHS Operetta and Andrew has been busy with Joseph rehearsals. He is one of the brothers and I am singing in the chorus. It's really fun! In one of the rehearsals I mentioned to Christy (director) that one of the Josephs we once saw years ago, (staring Donny Osmund as Joseph!) in the scene where Pharaoh sings like Elvis, they had a girl run up on stage and faint and then get dragged off the stage. She loved the idea so much she decided to do that and we talked Andrea into being that girl! She was terrified but excited and it completely shocked the audience and also some of the actors on stage who hadn't been filled in! We didn't even tell Chris. So fun!!
 |
| Andrea being dragged off stage! Hunter and Katianne Gilliam came to stay at our house for a few days just as we got back from Maui while Debbie G. was at Wood Badge training. Chris also went to Wood Badge. |
May
On this 5th day of May, Cinco DeMaio, we have family in 4 different countries! Besides us here in the USA and Aaron in Brazil, Jen is with her roommate in Montreal Canada and Chris and Emily are in Australia to scuba dive at the great barrier reef. See next page for photos. Tonight it's just me and Andrew at home. Andrea is in Wenatchee with the band to march in tomorrow's parade.
Twins start drivers Ed this week.
We got our garden beds ready to plant. Em and I went to Home Depot and got some pvc. Em is making frames to put netting on so the quail won't eat everything like last year. They eat the seeds right out of the ground and they never sprout!
Twas so wonderful to get to talk to Aaron on Mother's Day. Was so great to hear his voice. What a miracle a telephone is!
Loved Aaron's analogy in his letter this week. Life is like pages in a book. As we move on we don't lose pages, we gain them. We keep adding pages to our book and even when we move, it's like a new chapter. When we have a new chapter, we don't lose the past chapters, we still have all the other pages and chapters in our book. (One day when we have a perfect recollection of all things, we will remember every page.)
By the way, the play was so successful. Last two nights were all sold out and standing ovations every night. Andrew loved being one of the brothers and The crowd loved Andrea's part. She always received applause as the guards dragged her from the stage.
 |
| Andrew top second from left rasta hat |
Today, memorial Day, Andrea and I delivered 300 phone books for the band fund raiser. I helped Aaron with it last year.
Wow, my little twins are almost finished with their first year of high school. I miss my little kids. I love them big and miss them small.
I got invited to become one the 10 charter members of the Peninsula Chapter of Daughters of Utah Pioneers. I got invited due to my great great grandmother, Henrietta McPhail who was in the Willies Handcart Co. We begin next month and none of us know what were doing yet.
June -
Sumara Love and I went wading out into the water at Port Williams beach and gathered sea lettuce! It's a really mild seaweed that you can only get this time of year. What a fun adventure that was! I used Jens tall rubber boots but waded out deeper than the boots ha ha! I went home all sloshy and soggy but it was a blast. I chopped and dehydrated the sea lettuce and will use it in the Ceviche recipe. Another fishy story...Em, John and Heather went clamming and went away with 119 clams!
For FHE tonight I hid objects around the room (like spoon, glue, Chapstick etc) & privately led Andrea around to show her where everything was beforehand. I handed out paper badges & told everyone about the hidden stuff and to go gather all they could find. After Andrea skunked them I confessed that I'd given her a heads up and compared it to prayer. We don't know what we we'll face in a day but the Lord does and prayer can give us the Holy Ghost to guide and help us have a heads up on our day.
Yahoooo! Jennifer is home! She's here until Aug 16th. She sent me a CS Lewis quote from The Great Divorce to which I replied "That quote is delectable! In that abstract intellectual way, I have tasted beyond the surface the sweet honey and felt the loving embrace, yet I yearn for the actual tangible more. And I completely can't wait to see you tomorrow!!!! Yahoo!!! Please come very safely and may the pantyhose do it's good job once again, keeping your bag theft free."
Andrew made a comment of how he thinks he could find anything on internet. I said "I bet you can't find a dvd of Song of the South. He said "Bet I can" ha ha...and he did!! It ended up being a pirated copy but we kept it because you can't buy legal copies. So cute but people call it racist. Today Andrew is focusing on choir tri-outs & he and Justin Workman are jammin' on guitars. Drea is fiercely practicing flute for hours in desperate hope of making wind ensemble. Emily is playing Myst.
July
What a fun 4th of July. On the 3rd Emily set up our pool in the warm sunshine and went snorkeling in it! Haha! But it was chilly on the 4th. The Beans came and it's been such fun. The kids are so adorable and happy. Kaydance grins with her whole body. We took them to the Marina and watched Emily & Andrew throw in the ring pots hoping to catch crab. We also went to the Marine Center in PA but mostly just loved being together visiting. Jarom points to cars and tells what they are. He pointed to ours and said "Honda minivan" ha ha! You should hear him say "Mitsubishi"!!
 |
| Jen on the slip-n-slide |
Chris is in CA for 3 days. I got Andrea off for girls camp at 7am and Andrew to a driving lesson. I have work and then my last twin-rix vaccine and then a D. of UT Pioneer meeting in PA and then Christensen's have invited us to the lake. We've had a couple days of rain. I hope our rain shadow is hanging out at girls camp for them. Despite the rain Emily worked out in the yard for 3 hours! Rain didn't slow her down. She's amazing.
 |
| Thursday sailboat races on the bay |
Chris called and he somehow lost his truck key so I needed to make a new one and fed-ex it to him so he could get home from the airport. (When he got back to Seattle, he found that his keys were left in the ignition the whole time!)
It's been such a busy time for Chris. He was only home one day from CA then went to girls camp for his 3 hour block bishops assignment. He had the girls write letters, build & launch a rocket and sing along with the camp song booklets he made. Then we went to Leavenworth, came home Sunday night and he was off with Andrew by 6:30am Monday for YM campout near Mt. St. Helens where they experienced a small earthquake! (3.5) While Chris and Andrew were gone to camp, us girls went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
 |
 |
Our weekend in Leavenworth was sure fun. Ah so good to get away from our phone that seems to ring off the hook! Picked up Andrea at camp Zion then went on to meet the Beans. We saw the Sound of Music in the outdoor theater and visited Ohme gardens in nearby Wenatchee. Jarom took me around the parking lot a few times naming all the cars. When he sees a Plymouth he says "Aaron's car!" ha ha! It was Lavender Festival while we were gone. We hear 35,000 people came to see it this year.
 |
 |
|
|
 |
Our condo has kept us busy (cleaning in between people) Andrea has been helping me put lighthouse wallpaper up. Stokesbury's are there this weekend then the Lloyd's family then the Sorensen's for a week and then Br. Chaney. Sorensen's got permission to go home (from their mission in Guatemala) because the Area Authorities they work with are going on vacation.
I took Izola some lunch and ended up calling 911! She felt like she was having a heart attack. She spent the night in the hospital then I picked her up and stayed with her for awhile. She told me that when she dies, she's going to be my guardian angel. ha ha. She told me that she regrets not going to church and never went to the temple. She told me there is so much she never did just because she didn't feel like it and knew there would be plenty of time someday. She said she is realizing that she might have missed something important along the way because of not doing what she knew she should do. That broke my heart because she is such a doll and brings cheer to everyone who visits her.
I went to Sunny Farms Live Bread Shop baking class and learned how to make 100% fresh ground whole wheat bread that is so very delicious! I also went to a Daughters of Utah Pioneers luncheon and was made Vice President! I'm not sure yet of my duties.
In Aaron's letter he told us that home seems a bit like a dream instead of a reality. He says the Lord has blessed him to remember names & streets and soon after arriving in his new area he had a map of the city in his head! Remarkable! I think this is a sign that he is an affective missionary immersed in the Lord's work. We got a note from his Mission Pres. that he's been called to be a trainer.
Jen is in Cedar City for Shakespeare Festival. Em is headed to Seattle to visit Lita.
CA 50 miler
Sunday Chris, Jen, Drea and I sang a cool arrangement of "Come Come ye Saints" with Beverly Heder as pianist.
Aug
Drea went to EFY at BYUI so Jen and I drove with her there on Sat and we listened to HP 6 (Half Blood Prince) in the car. (Andrew didn't want to go with us). Drea was so excited for EFY she could hardly hold still! It was so wonderful spending time with family and also fun being in Rexburg with Jen because she runs into people she knows and they all want to talk to her!
Chris, Em and Andrew flew in on Thurs night for the weekend and drove home with us.
Fun things we did in Rexburg:
*Some of us got together went with G-ma Clarke, Val, Tami and Laurel to Bar J in Jackson Hole and enjoyed a cowboy meal and the funniest comedy show!
Went to church in IF to hear Chris Klingler's mission report. He had a bright countenance. After church we visited Uncle John and met our new Aunt Virginia. She's really cute and cheery.
Had a Klingler reunion in the park. Mom and Dad rented a dunking machine,
|
|
|
 |
| Bill Klingler bunch |
The Rexburg Temple is almost completed and you can see it from Mom & Dad's! It is gorgeous and inspiring up on that hill!
Sadly Mom Clarke seems to have had a mini stroke. She seems to not be in a state or reality. Dad Klingler has progressed further into alzheimer's and gets mixed up frequently. Sure is hard to see them decline.
On the way home we stopped by Tom and Shar's to say hi and Jarom recited the 1st two articles of faith for us and sang I am a Child of God. They sure are an adorable family and that little Jarom is sure a smarty.
Wisdom from Aaron: Life isn't a race to see who gets there first but rather a path & direction to just see who gets there! Some people have gifts and talents which move them along faster than others. Some have many obstacles to overcome and work through. It doesn't matter if one gets there faster than another, it just matters that we keep moving forward in the right direction. If the end comes before we've quite made it, the Saviors atonement will make up the difference if we have repented and headed in His direction.
Chris and I spoke in Youth Conference, which was outside at Bishop Heinz yard. Sitting on those plastic chairs on the uneven grass caused a embarrassing laughing moment for me. I leaned back and the chair tipped over! There I was sitting on my chair, in a skirt, laying on my back on the ground! I wasn't hurt but it took all my self control to keep from going into an "Andrea laughing attack". Anyway, we spoke of being one with God and spouse and quorum etc. I felt some great inspiration in my preparations...like using a watch where you can see the gears turning - unity in leaders and church...3 legged race is like marriage - 1+1=1. I held up red and blue cellophane and showed how when you combine them it makes purple. If we aren't one, we lose purple but as one we still have red and blue but as a unit we can do and accomplish more than just red and blue. I shined a light through it to show greatness of becoming one with God which adds light and truth. I shared CS=CT=CB=CK.
Steels came to visit! Sure was fun having them here. They stayed in our condo so that was really nice. What a sweet bunch they are. Those little twins are sure adorable. Sure wish we could get together more often. So joyful to be with family.
 |
| Jen reading to Sam and Sierra A visit from the Steels |
 |
| Hiking to Merrimere Falls |
 |
| Dungeness Spit in Sequim |
Jen went back to Albany boo hoo! We got to listen to Jen's presentation at RPI via a website link she sent us! How amazing technology is! ...Emily is visiting Tavis in Oregon and she will be in her last year of BYU-I. (majoring in Communications) ...Poor Sharilyn had to have an emergency appendectomy. Grateful it all went well.
Andrea and I picked 14.5 lbs of blueberries at the Howats farm! Mmmmm
The bioluminescence was like I've never seen before tonight! John Errs called to tell us about it. A beautiful clear moonless starry night with little sparks flashing in the water from little things moving around and bigger flashes from bigger fish. There were glowing waves lapping onto the shore and then someone tossed in a rock and brilliant circles rippled out much to the ooo's and aaahs of onlookers. Hands reached in a tossed the waters and it fell like fireworks! You could even spit into the water and little droplets of spray would look like a magic spell on the water!
8-28-06 - After 6 years, Chris was released as bishop today. When the stake president stood up in church he said "I have come to release your bishop" and there was a huge gasp in the congregation. Br. Holloway is the new bishop. We all got asked to bare our testimonies and we got a lot of hugs and nice things said. Andrea mentioned that there's only been 4 years of her life that Dad hasn't been either bishop or branch pres. (Dad will serve on high council)
You know, I think that being bishop and wife of bishop is a bit like being Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. The orders keep coming in and you both work at filling the orders. I send him off, after helping him pack his sack full of gifts and talents the Lord's blessed him with, to deliver these gifts of love and service and wisdom and council. The who's & where's I don't always know but I do know he's doing the Lord's will. I stay and manage the "toy shop" and little elves with the gifts and talents the Lord blesses me with. Isn't the Lord's plan great! Our callings change and keep us growing and stretching our spiritual muscles.
For FHE we played Bochi Ball in the back yard and it was so cute because Nimbus played too!! He LOVED running after the ball and dashing really fast like he does when he's happy and then he'd pose on top of the big rock like a lion watching over his pride.
Wisdom from Aaron: Life is like a good game of chess. On one side of the board is God and the other - the adversary. Sometimes in life, we play as the piece of the queen, feeling the most powerful and elect. An other times in life we play the part of the pon - feeling less powerful and less elect. But in the end it doesn't really matter if you were the queen or the pon. It only matters how you allowed God to place you. If you let Him play: you win.
News Tidbits: Sawtooth has spread into the next door space so Danell now has her own office and I get the reception area....I taught the last family relations class at the house.... Had some of the Workman's family for dinner and stay at our house. They're here for Uneva Workman's funeral.
September
|
|
Wednesday I got called to be a councilor in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. I'm excited about having a stake experience..... Thursday I enjoyed working with Sherry Shubert and some other fun ladies in the PA soup kitchen. I chopped a ton of veggies, made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce and rosemary focaccia bread and I also got asked to speak in the adult session of Stake Conference on Saturday! Aarrgg, I just barely spoke in Stake Conf 7 years ago! ha ha! I guess I'll be really busy tomorrow! Also this week someone from 2nd ward brought me some music & asked if I'd play flute obligato for their ward choir number. Also I brought 2 meals to ladies who had a baby, made a pie for the priesthood session of stake conference, went to the temple and also to enrichment meeting.
Chris and Andrea are building ramps and runways to play miniature golf in mutual today. I'll go to band booster meeting and then go watch them golf. Chris leaves for Germany tomorrow with Rich, Judy and Bryan. He will be gone about 10 days.
I had a pres mtg and then went to Venture training mtg with Andrew. Andrew is making great progress on his Eagle project. Tom, Shar and kids are coming for conference weekend. Jarom called me on the phone and said "I love you sooo much grandma"! Oh it warmed my heart!
While Chris has been gone, I take the kids to seminary and then wait in the parking lot for them so that I can transport the 1000 lbs of boys from there to school. ha ha. Trudy McFarland also waits so we chat and read scriptures together. Chris usually takes the kids because it's so close to the office.
I feel my talk in Stake Conf. went really well. Since I've taught family relation classes for a time, they asked me to speak on that and many asked me for a copy but I only had key words on 3/5 card. I've tried to write it out (see talk file). I outlined 5 important attributes that help us in our relationships.
Oct
|
|
 |
 |
| Kaydance just bubbles over with grins! |
Chris and I went to Australia with Bryan - see next page. Made it home in time to hurry and get ready for the company retreat. I passed out the new t-shirts at work.
Andrea's ear tubes seem to have expired. I took her in to get new ones yesterday and her hearing is all plugged. I'm taking her back again to have them looked at.
Nov Hawaii company retreat for all but Beans & Aaron (see next page)
Mom Clarke came for Thanksgiving. She's been so sweet and the smallest gestures of kindness toward her bring her great pleasure & happiness. Tom, Shar and kids also came and it was sure fun with the kids. A funny moment. Gma C was scratching her head and told Jarom "My head is itching like a louse is in it." Jarom: "A mouse!" Gma: "uhuh" Jarom: "you mean like a hampster!?"
December
Twins are busy with play rehearsals for the Senior play, Mid Summer Night's Dream. Andrew got the part he wanted as Thisbe and Drea is a fairy. It's fun to hear Andrew in his room practicing his lines. Also Andrew has Community Youth Choir with 2 practices and 4 performances this week. There's also School Choir and band! (Vern asked Chris to tape the band concert for him) It's the crazy time of year like a juggling act trying to fit everything in. I've been asked to play a flute number for our ward and also 2nd ward.
I met with Sis. Rees to get help in getting Marissa Hana's name temple ready. She is a lady with an interesting story that I have helped and become friends with. She wasn't able to get to the temple before she passed away with a brain tumor. She asked me to do her work and I'm very happy to do that for her.
Our ward had 10 baptisms this year! All males except for one teen girl.
This week our neighbor, Bill Humphries joined us serving in the soup kitchen. I invited all the neighbors to help and he was really excited.
 |
| This year we bought our usual $5 tree cutting permit from the forest service but our pickup broke down the day before we were going out to get it and because of snow in the hills, we didn't dare take the car. Finally 3 days before Christmas (and still no truck), we girls ended up going out and buying a tree. We called all the farms around and they wanted $5.50/ft! I discovered one place that had a bargain lot and we found this beautiful 12' Noble Fir for $15.00! This poor misfit tree would have been a prize tree had it not been for the huge bare spot. We thought it looked fun so we hauled it home and gave it the honorable position of Christmas Tree in the Rose Room. It is very happy here with us and no longer feels ashamed of it's bald spot, which is graced with garlands and dangling ornaments. |
Andrea & I played flutes Sunday, I gave a talk and sang in the choir.
We got to talk to Aaron on Christmas day and it was so wonderful to hear his voice. We're excited for his return home in March. Took a meal over to Izola after talking to Aaron.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| What would Christmas be without a potato war! |
|
|
 |
