HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

     We have so much to be thankful for, I hope you all have a wonderful day ~                                          
 (Kim & Grandma stuffing the turkey - 1980)

This week has been relatively quiet for us. I had to prepare and give a speech for a school assignment, so I purposely kept my days free to read, write, and practice.  Thankfully, I was done by Thursday afternoon so was able to volunteer a couple of hours to stay with Helma while her daughter got her nails done.  She has declined so much it makes me sad, but just being able to sit with her and hold her hands reminded me so much of being with my Mom. 

Wednesday we had an amazing Addiction Recover class.  One of the young men in our group asked another of our young men how he was able to get through his addiction, and this led to a 45-minute discussion where the three who came were helping each other. They are a diverse group - one left the MTC twice because he is still fighting his addiction, one ran away to California and found himself addicted to several things - until he decided he wasn't happy and came home, and the other graduated last year from the Air Force Academy and his follow-on assignment is at Peterson AFB.  We have grown to love these young men so much and respect them for acknowledging their weaknesses and trying to make their lives better.

Adam dropped off this cute little guy Friday morning and Sendai has been so happy.  Milo doesn't like to play as much as he used to but maybe that's because Sendai can be a bully (or just a bossy girl) 😃 I did see them chasing around the backyard though, so they definitely have fun together.  Dad and I have been taking them on walks together, but yesterday afternoon I thought I would be brave and try it by myself because Dad was over his head with paperwork in the office.  We did fine until we were halfway down our street and one of the neighbor's (they are in our Ward) dogs escaped through a broken fence and then it became a little crazy.  I had two dogs going crazy, barking, and running in circles. The escape dog (full-sized Golden Doodle) was also running in circles around us, I had dog leashes going around my legs while I was dragging the dogs with me to the front door so I could ring their doorbell.  Really, if anyone would have recorded it, we would all be able to retire! 

Obviously, we all slept well that night ~

About three weeks ago, our neighbor Kirah called me and invited us to a choir concert she was performing in.  She is 16, a Junior at Rampart, and a little on the autism spectrum.  Ever since she was little she has invited us to school programs and dance recitals so we try and go.  Last night she performed with a community choir  - people from 15 - 89 years old, about 75 members total, and they did a beautiful job.  It was at the Broadmoor so afterwards we walked through the hotel and outside to see the lake.  They were just starting to put up the Christmas trees and lights outside.  Every year they have a huge gingerbread house on display and though they hadn't started it yet, I could really smell the cinnamon and ginger.  We are planning to go back after Thanksgiving and see all of the decorations. A HUGE THANK YOU TO EILIS WHO CAME BY BEFORE WORK AND FED THE DOGS!!! 💖

On the road this week are Adam, Cory and family - to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with Cory's family and some Temple time with Kim and Chris.

Angella is braving the roads and taking the kids to Logan to spend Thanksgiving with her family.  She was able to get the perfect Airbnb and I know they are all looking forward to a break from school and work.

BE SAFE AND DON'T FORGET TO COME BACK! 

BEST QUOTE OF THE WEEK - 

Dad to Alexa - "(you) idiot"!

BEST VIDEO OF THE WEEK - Sayre and his one-man-band.  This boy has some serious rhythm!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE SUNDAY SELFIES 💚

                      LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH 😊

   HAPPY SUNDAY TO  EVERYONE!

 

   It has been a busy week for us—doctor's appointments, haircuts, ministering (I still like to call it visiting teaching), school assignments, walking Sendai, missionaries' visit, and yesterday, the Temple.  I was really happy I didn't have to write a paper this week our calendar was so full.  I have learned so many interesting things in my class this term, and I love what I am learning, but yesterday the thought came to me that maybe I am "overthinking" some of the writing assignments, and making them more difficult than they need to be - and then I get stressed.  

 

Poor Dad!  He's been a real trooper and so helpful around the house.

 Thanks, Kevin!!!  

This has been a fun week to pour over some memories of days gone by -

I was talking with Angella earlier in the week and she mentioned that one day after school she "lost" Ben.  The person who was supposed to meet him at the bus stop was delayed, so Ben walked home with a friend. It's a scary thing for a Mom to think she has lost her child.

 This reminded me of the time when Kim was in Kindergarten, we lived off-base in Okinawa, we didn't have a phone, and cell phones weren't invented then (sorry, Kim that is dating us both 😀), and she didn't get off of the school bus. I remembered there was a ward member who lived a couple of blocks away who had a telephone so I had Adam in a stroller and Josh running behind, and we hurried over to see if we could make a phone call.  By the time we got back to our house, a different bus had pulled up our street and delivered Kim to our doorstep.  Kim reminded me tonight that she also got lost once in 4th grade (she walked home from school because she couldn't find her class), and once in 7th grade - we had just moved into our off-base apartment in Tokyo and she wasn't sure how to get home.  I think I found her at a nearby story!  

  This morning I was reading some old, old, letters that I had written to my Mom and Dad when we were in Okinawa.  I have decided that letters really are treasures that are lost on generations today because no one writes letters anymore - 

Anyway, this was a fun memory -

 "The kids are keeping me busy.  Joshua got to bring a hamster home from school for the weekend. I think it is yuccky!!!  But the kids love it - especially Adam.  

My neighbor just told me yesterday that her little girl has chicken pox, so I'll be really surprised if Adam and Joshua don't come down with it next week.  

Adam is talking more and more - though a lot of it only I can understand.  He's quite a smarty - Whenever he gets into trouble he always pipes up with "Jawa (Joshua) did it." 

What fun days those were 💖

I also came across this photo earlier in the week!  I do have the most beautiful grandchildren ever! (just missing Jake, Sayre, and Ben). 

Wouldn't it be great if we could ALL be together, even for just one day, for some hugs and a family photo???????     That's my dream ~

 Kate is amazing!  She has been teaching Sayre how to embroider and he made this Christmas tree.

She also designed this sweatshirt for Jonathan.

Kate and Jonathan also celebrated their 20th anniversary with dinner out Saturday night.

   

  

Got to see cute Lily this week.  We love it when the kids (or their parents come by) Lily is a year-round soccer player currently playing indoor soccer until February or March.

She sent me some photos of their "animal farm".  This is Lucy and Milo (no mice this week 😁)

Speaking of animals - 

 

This is Sendai telling Kevin she is tired of waiting for dinner, and this afternoon she is giving me "the look" of neglect - in other words, she wants a walk. 

Videos that made me smile this week -

Sayre learning how to make scrambled eggs 

And Paul with his cousin Grant - oops eating a very, very hot pepper, thinking it was no big deal 

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE SUNDAY SELFIES!

 

Max had dinner with Zach and family tonight 💗

Yesterday, as we were driving to the Temple we listened to the Follow Him podcast and they were discussing the faith of the Brother of Jared.  The discussion lead to some thought about how harshly we judge ourselves - that we are not perfect, but the Lord compensates for our weaknesses.

This is just a partial quote that I loved -

"Think about it, it must have been a really hard journey. It was about a year that they were in the water, and for a year you're in this giant barge that's your bedroom, your kitchen, your bathroom. You're in there with all your siblings and they're poking you and pulling your hair. You have no idea where you are, you have no control, you have no sail, you have no motor. I have a large family, we travel to the coast of California to go to the beach, it's about 12 hours, and by the time we're there, everyone's about to kill each other. And we got air conditioning and we get to stop at Wendy's when we're hungry.

The people asked the Lord, to take care of them, and then they get terrible winds, they're buried, and there's eight different boats. They don't even know where each other are, they don't know if they're safe, if they're okay, but when we read Moroni later, he talks about it in positive terms and actually says that the people did praise the Lord. 

The reason they were grateful, at least in hindsight, was because they learned that those tumultuous experiences they had were actually what took them to the promised land. Maybe that's how they felt at first, maybe that's only how they felt in hindsight. Christ blessed them, he compensated the difficult things in their life to make them great. I can't help but think of Lehi's teachings in second Nephi that he will consecrate our afflictions for our gain, is they were blessed through the difficult experience and it was actually those very things that helped them accomplish their goal of taking them to the promised land.  

We all have times when life can get really hard.  But if we hang in there, and face the challenges with faith, it is amazing to me the growth that takes place and how the Lord makes us better for what we have been through.   HE LOVES US!

AND I LOVE YOU 💖  Have a wonderful week!

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY to JiChan!  I am so grateful for his service in the Air Force and that we had the experience of being a military family.  Even though moving every 3 - 4 years, and weeks of TDY's and deployments were hard, I learned to be more independent and resourceful than I ever would have if we had stayed in our little house in Logan.  I think all of us learned how to reach out to others, to make friends, and to serve.  

 

 WOW!  Did Colorado ever get its fair share of winter weather this past week!  It   started snowing Tuesday evening and stopped Saturday morning.  We have such great neighbors - they had our sidewalks shoveled Wednesday morning, and then Dad returned the favor and took the snowblower up and down the sidewalks on Thursday.  Saturday morning before we could get out, our other neighbor had our sidewalks and driveway snow-free.  The news reported that Colorado Springs had 20.3 inches of snow - 3 snow days (no school) - and very little sun, which is so unusual for this time of year.  Today we had lots of sun and 57° - great for walking Sendai.

Paul came over yesterday afternoon and said he and Jake were on the news - so here is a clip of them at Toboggan Hill.  You have to wade through a commercial and a little bit of news about the weather (Jake has the blue and orange hat on at the very beginning, and Paul is the one rolling down the hill on his snowboard.  - in his defense, he said it was an old snowboard and was way too short for him. 

Paul and Jake

Eilis stopped by on her way to work Thursday so we told her if it was still snowing when they were ready to close just to come back to our house and spend the night so she wouldn't have to drive home - and then the snow just kept on falling so she spent Friday night with us also.  We love having these kids around!

EILIS is 18 years-old as of last Saturday - I just don't know how that could happen!  We did have a fun little birthday party for her on Sunday.  She brought her boyfriend, Jacob, and he was very nice (she said she told him if things got awkward with JiChan to just ask him about guns 😂) 

 REMEMBER I asked last week if our family was turning into a CAT family?  

Well, apparently we are - Ben got a kitten named Sox so now the cats outnumber the dogs.

MAX and Friends ~

  Max got to spend part of his weekend with good friends from his mission.  Another great blessing from being a missionary is the friends you make - your companions and other missionaries in your group become life-long friends! 

  LOOK who cooked a turkey this week!  Hollie is already practicing and it looks like she did a great job.  In my opinion, it takes a brave person to tackle a turkey.  Way to go Hollie!

 AND WHILE WE WERE ALL IN SNOW, Kate was in the Bahamas ~ She went on the Hallmark Christmas cruise with Jonathan's older sisters, Donetta and Melinda.  I have never really been too interested in a cruise, but this sounded like fun and I may be converted 😀  

AND Yay for Jonathan for holding down the fort while she was gone! 

ABSOLUTELY THE BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Church announced on Monday the location of the Colorado Springs Temple.  It will be built on several acres of land the Church owns in Flying Horse along with a meetinghouse which I am guessing will be a stake center.  This area is surrounded by lovely homes and will be an easy and short drive to get there.  No timeline yet, but at least we know where it will be located.  Dad and I had dental appointments nearby this week, so we decided to drive by the location on our way home.  It will be so nice to have it so close!

TEMPLE PHOTOS FROM CALIFORNIA - Mike just sent me photos that he took at the Feather River Temple when we were there a couple of weeks ago.

 We love the old olive trees planted in front of and behind the temple.   They come from an area not too far from Yuba City but are so reminiscent of the Old World in Bible times. 

 

We went out to lunch for Francie's birthday and Mike showed us this photo he had taken earlier in the week.  He was working at the Family History Center one morning and he noticed an Indian (Sikh)couple walking around the Temple grounds just across the parking lot so he went over to check on them to see if they needed anything.  They told Mike that they had just been married that morning in their Sikh Temple just down the street but they loved what they felt when walking around the Feather River Temple grounds.

There really is no better place to find peace and escape the burdens of everyday busy life than in the Temple!

LOVE YOU💖LOVE YOU💖LOVE YOU💖