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💖