New Ornament

I ordered a new ornament from Clay Ornament Shop on Etsy, which I love.  It'll be displayed year round! 

 

New Years 2023

We drove back from KC on Friday and Saturday and rolled into town around 9:30pm on New Years Eve.  We grabbed a gallon of milk at the store, dropped the dog off at home, and then headed over to a party.  We missed the first 3 hours of the party but joined in with the group staying until after midnight.  We were tired, but it was great to ring in the new year with good friends, lots of food, and laughter. 

Good-bye 2022!  Hello 2023!

Christmas Vacation in OK and KS City

The day after Owen's birthday, we headed off to OK - a long 2 day drive.  All went smoothly the first day.  We got up on Sunday morning, drove an hour, and planned on going to a nearby congregation for sacrament meeting.  We found the Laguna Acoma Branch, between Grants and Albuquerque, NM.  There were only about 10 people there, but the amazing thing was we knew 2 of those people!  Our bishop and his wife from our college ward back in Oklahoma were serving in that branch.  They live in Albuquerque but drive there to help with the ward.  The congregation is so small that they ask people from Albuquerque to come speak.  We ended up waiting that morning about 20 extra minutes for the meeting to start because they were waiting on a family to give the talks and sing the musical number.  That allowed us a few minutes to chat with our friends who we hadn't seen in many years.  It was good to see them.  We stayed through sacrament meeting and then had to get back on the road.  We didn't get to Alex's parents until about 12:30am.  

I got the chance to visit with another friend that I hadn't seen in at least 25 years.  Chele and I were in the same ward growing up in OK.  I remember some fun times at girls camp and hanging out at her house.  She went to a different High School than me, so I didn't see her much and after she stopped coming to church, I lost track of her.  I had tried to find her on Facebook, but I didn't know her married name (she didn't have her maiden name on there).  Anyway, she recently found me, and we discovered that she doesn't live too far from Alex's parents.  We were able to meet up for dinner one evening, and I also got to meet her daughters. So fun to see her again!

We made a few visits to Braum's for ice cream while in OK - good stuff!  

We met the new dog, Buster, who was a hoot!  He likes to howl and crawl up on your lap.  Kai and Buster got along well.

We celebrated Savannah's birthday while there.  She got her requested meals - bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast, and she wanted hot dogs for lunch and Braum's chicken strips and fries for dinner.  I didn't make the cake this time - just got one from Wal-mart.  We popped popcorn and watched a movie.  Alex's dad has a large popcorn maker that makes popcorn that tastes like it's from the movie theater.  Savannah's holding up a bag of popcorn in one of the photos, but that was just the beginning.  I never took a picture of the BAGS full of popcorn.  

Besides watching movies, we just hung out, made sugar cookies, played Monopoly Junior several times, and the boys got to shoot guns.  Alex, Jared, and I braved the cold a few mornings to go running.  It snowed while we were there, but it was bitter cold and not enough to make a snowman. We went out there for a little bit but didn't stay out long.  Alex and the boys went for a little walk.  It was funny to see how fast Kai ran in when I opened the door - it looked like she was flying!  

On Christmas Eve, we went with Alex's parents to the Presbyterian Church Christmas Eve service, which was nice.  We got to sing several Christmas hymns and listen to the Christmas story.  That's essentially what we usually do as a family, so we didn't do the candlelight singing at home.  I made some cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning.  We planned to go to our church service on Sunday morning at the local ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, so we got up and got ready for church.  However, when we got there the parking lot was empty.  We thought maybe they changed to a later time. After about 20 minutes we were able to get ahold of the Bishop and he said church had been cancelled due to the weather and several older folks having to travel distances to get there.  We headed back to open Christmas presents. 

Weston had the best reactions this year in opening presents, so most of the videos included are of him.  He also got a special gift, a hat that belonged to his great grandpa.  I thought it was funny that when he realized who it was from, he pulled off the hat, looked at it and commented on what good condition it was in!  Weston really wears out his hats, so his great grandkids might not get a hat handed down in good shape... Anyway, he also got Charmin toilet paper again.  He got a 6-pack from Papa John, and we also gave him a small pack.  It's pretty much a tradition now.  Such a funny kid!  

I think the other kids were happy with their presents too.  Savannah got a sloth that talks really slowly from Papa John.  It records what you say, but repeats it back really slowly, so it was quite annoying!  We made sure to pack that away on the car ride home... we joked that we might accidentally leave it there at Grandma's house.  My parents send money and then we buy some presents and wrap them up on behalf of them.  Baba and Papa don't really know what shows up for the kids, but since Baba reads this, I thought she'd be happy to know that Jared got a Calvin & Hobbes book and running socks, Owen and Weston got Lego sets (a given), and Savannah got a Calico Critter bunk bed and a Friends Lego set.  With presents from Santa, us, Papa John and Grandma, Baba and Papa, and Aunt Jane, they are very spoiled! They were very happy with all their presents though - too much in my opinion... we want to figure out how to scale it back next Christmas. 😊  Somehow we were able to fit everything back in the car to take home with us.  Lots of Legos again this year - Alex even got a Lego set.

I was excited to watch Alex's parents open a gift that I had spent many hours on - a book about Jim.  It's been 5 years since he passed away.  I finally got a book put together with photos from his life.  I also gave them a copy of a Spiritual Experiences book that I made earlier in the year.  I made one to give Nathan for graduation and then thought that other family members might enjoy a copy as well. 

We got to chat with Nathan for a couple of hours on Christmas and the next day, since Monday was his P-Day.  It had been a much different Christmas for him.  They went to 2 ward meetings.  Then the people who were supposed to feed them lunch forgot, but another person planned to make food for them around 3:00pm.  However, Nathan and his companion thought the people were bringing the food to them.  It turns out they called and left a message for the other elders to come and pick up the food.  They finally got that message from the other set of elders around 7:00pm.  They may have had cereal for dinner.  We were amused at seeing the Spanish Frosted Flakes - Zucaritas. Nathan was in good spirits.

We had a nice dinner - rolls, green beans, turkey, mashed potatoes, and Martinelli's, along with mini pies and ice cream for dessert.   

After Christmas we got to try out a new waffle maker - Papa John and Grandma made everyone waffles.  We got to chat with Monica (Jim's girlfriend) for a while.  We also made a visit to Papa John and Grandma's neighbor, Beth.  Her husband passed away in early December, so we wanted to take some treats over and sing a couple of Christmas carols.  She invited us in, and we got a tour of her husband's "Cowboy Workshop", filled with all things cowboy.  Pretty interesting collection!  We were glad to brighten up her day a little bit (and Alex and the boys also shoveled snow off her driveway), so we got a little service in which also made us feel good as well.

 

On Wednesday December 28th, we packed up and headed to visit Aunt Jane in Kansas City.  Alex and I went to the Kansas City Temple that evening - there was only one time slot available to do Endowments, and it was a session in Spanish (had to reserve that a few weeks earlier).  However, we were really eager to visit the Kansas City Temple, since we hadn't been there before (it was our 49th new temple together) and we wanted to take Alex's grandparents names and do work on behalf of them.  It would have been their temple, so we thought it was special to take their names there.  It was a cold and windy night, but it was nice and warm inside. I hope they were there with us in spirit.  

We only had one full day with Aunt Jane, on Thursday, so we need to pack a lot of fun in that day.  We had lunch out at Culver's, followed by the mall.  Alex and the boys really wanted to visit the Lego Store, so we headed there.  Then we went to Union Station to see the lights and train displays.  We had dinner back at home, followed by driving around to see lights at the Plaza.  Then we came back and watched a movie.  Fun day!  

14 years

We celebrated Owen's birthday right before we left for Christmas vacation.  He knew what he was getting for his gift - he made a deal with us a little while back to be able to order a more expensive Lego set and dip into his Christmas gift budget.  He just had to wait for his birthday to come around to get the set.  The other gift is from Savannah, who gave him one of her pop-its.  

We didn't do a full cake since (1) we were leaving the next morning and (2) still hoping to do a friend party for him.  I had a coupon for buy one-get one free at the Nothing Bundt Cakes store, so I used that to get one for Owen and Savannah.  Owen did get his requested meals - omelettes, bacon, hashbrowns, and pancakes for breakfast and stuffed peppers, potato casserole, and caesar salad for dinner. He had a basketball game on his birthday, so between that and packing, it wasn't anything too exciting. 

 

 

Christmas festivities

We went to an awesome Christmas party at church, which was Grinch-themed.  There were crafts, a visit with Santa, dinner and dessert, a video presentation of the kids and youth talking about the Grinch and the true meaning of Christmas, and the primary children doing the Nativity and singing.  Savannah got to play the part of Mary.  It was a great night!  

I made about 4 dozen cookies and 2 potato casseroles for the Christmas party.  Then I made about 3 dozen sugar cookies for the young women and some for Owen to deliver to some members of the Teachers Quorum.  A funny side story to the cookies Owen was supposed to deliver - we had taken them with us to church and he left them in the kitchen.  After church we had choir and then Owen and some of the other young men were supposed to make their cookie deliveries.  Others had brought some cookies and a plate of cupcakes as well.  When they went to get them, they couldn't find them; they were gone.  We couldn't believe someone would take the treats!  Then I had the thought that maybe someone thought they had been leftover from the Christmas party (even though it was a full week before) and gave them away or threw them out.  I didn't find out until later that afternoon about the mysterious "cookie thief", but I messaged the Relief Society president, just wondering if she or someone else had done something with any treats in the kitchen.  (The boys did say they saw some kids eating cupcakes after church.) She said one of the other ladies thought they were leftover from the party and had taken them.  It was too late to try to get them for their deliveries - the young men leader had some "back-up" store bought cookies they'd already delivered.  I didn't ever contact the lady who took the treats, but at least we know it wasn't kids or some random person that took the treats.  Hope they enjoyed those cookies and cupcakes! 😏

For school and seminary teachers, activity day leaders, and my fellow young women leaders, I made a peppermint sugar scrub - they turned out pretty cute.  The guy leaders at church got a little box of chocolates.  For friends and neighbors, I made Hershey's peppermint cookies.  I ended up making over 520 cookies to deliver, and there were more people who I wanted to deliver to - just ran out of time, energy and ingredients.  We are grateful to have so many people involved in our lives.  I think I made a little over 600 cookies this year including the friend, party and sugar cookies! 

Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'

Owen performs with a song and dance group at school called Outburst.  For the finals in that class, the kids each have to sing a solo in front of their class.  He had to pick a song from a musical for the fall final, so he chose to sing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma.  He asked me to play the piano for his song.  That may be the first time a student's mom has accompanied on the piano.  I was a little nervous playing for his final, hoping I wouldn't mess him up if I hit a wrong note.  He was nervous too, but we did it and he did a good job.  Whew!  We thought we were done.  However... the teacher thought we were a cute duo, so she asked Owen to sing at the winter concert, which was in front of a large audience!  Prior to this class, Owen had never sung a solo before.  He was even hesitant to practice with me and in front of his family.  I don't know how he got the courage to sing in front of his class, and I don't know how he pulled out even more courage to sing in front of 400 people.  His teacher must be good at instilling confidence in them - definitely pushing them beyond their comfort zone.  He did well - he doesn't have an amazing voice, but I was in awe of his courage and how much he had improved from the first time we practiced the song.  It was fun to watch his other group songs.  He had to learn a lot of dance moves along with the songs.  Owen has made several friends as well, so it's been a fun thing for him this year. 

I got to sit in on the rehearsals, so I did sneak a couple video clips of a few songs. Owen helped me get a recording from the You Tube Video of his solo and edit out his name.  I didn't know how that was possible, but these young people are pretty good with tech stuff.  Then I just needed to compress it to under 100 mb for posting on here. 

                                             

                                                                                           Owen and his teacher

Fall Youth Activities

We've had a lot of fun youth activities from September through December, most of which I didn't have to do much for.  The 1st counselor in Young Women's, Nanci, throws these fabulous extra activities at her home once a month with plenty of snacks and fun.  We've watched movies, baked Thanksgiving treats, had a Halloween party complete with fake teeth, and lots of fun and laughter.

I helped Weston do a human foosball game when the Deacons Quorum was in charge of an activity.  That one just involved a massive amount of tape on the floor, some rope, a couple pop-up soccer goals, and several bouncy balls.  We could have used one ball, but it was fun and chaotic with several balls at once.  The only hard thing was getting people to stay on their line.  

An activity requiring the least amount of preparation but one of the most fun was line dancing.  One of the young men leaders and his wife teach a line dancing class once a week at the church.  They taught the youth some dancing for an activity.  I wasn't sure if the boys would participate, but they really got involved.  Weston seemed to be doing his own thing most of the time, but that was okay! Everyone had fun.  

Jared was in charge of the pumpkin patch activity.  He made several sugar cookies for the youth to decorate at someone's home after going to the pumpkin patch.  

We did a family history activity for one of our Wednesday nights, in conjunction with the ward family history challenge.  The young women won the challenge again for the second time in a row, back-to-back champions!  

One of the young women wanted to do a cardboard cars and movie night.  We needed 2 activity nights for that one, and it involved quite a bit more work to get the supplies and such for the cars.  The youth ended up bringing most of their own cardboard for the cars, and we provided all the decorating materials.  We needed more time for decorating than we had - most of them didn't have time to paint the cars.  Our boys seemed to be a little faster with putting cars together and getting them painted, and they each won one of the awards. I had someone else judge and award the cars (and they didn't know whose cars belonged to which youth).  I did make the awards though.  Owen made a double seater car so his friend RJ could join in for the movie night.  We watched Corpse Bride and had candy and popcorn.

We did a canned food drive / scavenger hunt, going door to door collecting food items to donate to the food bank.  Certain items were worth more points, so they were competing to see who could get the most points.  The deacons had a fun games night, which Weston enjoyed.  Our family and some of the youth helped clean up someone's yard one Saturday morning.  I didn't take before and after pictures, but we did quite a bit of work and it looked pretty good when we were done. The lady had a little dog that Weston and Savannah held for a little while. 

Off to Ecuador

The beginning of November, Nathan headed from Nashville to Quito, Ecuador.  We didn't get to talk to him until about 6 days later, on his preparation day, but I knew that he arrived when I saw the mission president posted pictures on Facebook with the new arrivals.  The first picture is the mission president and his wife, Sandino and Lupita Roman.  That first night he stayed in an apartment with about 10 other missionaries.  He had breakfast the next morning with the mission president and headed to Otavalo, his first area, about 2 hours north of Quito.  He said it was a taxi and 2 hour bus ride to Otavalo - hard toting around all his stuff.  Nathan's companion for the next 6 weeks was Elder Perez, from Lima Peru, who knew very little English, so Nathan had to learn Spanish quickly.  

The first weekend there was fast Sunday, which starts after the lunch meal on Saturday (their main meal of the day).  So he walked about 12 miles that Saturday and half of that while fasting.  He bore his testimony in church his first Sunday there.  Apparently the only thing they had in their apartment that first weekend was pancake mix (that didn't seem to work) and a package of spaghetti.  They tried cooking it, but the pot was too big or something and wasn't cooking.  After about 1 1/2 hours, they had plain pasta for dinner. They do get fed quite often for lunch.  They eat a lot of chicken, fries, and potatoes.  They'll often have some kind of soup with chicken feet in it.  They have to be careful about the water there, which makes the foreign missionaries sick if it's not filtered.  They have a water filter attached to their kitchen sink and a filtered water bottle to carry around with them.  Nathan has had some stomach issues, but nothing to keep him down for long.

Nathan got to watch the Quito Temple dedication via broadcast in the ward building on November 20th (by Elder Quentin Cook) and then got to go to the temple on December 15th. 

Elder Perez and Nathan were able to finish teaching a 13 year old girl (started lessons with the sister missionaries), a sister of a member of the ward, and were able to baptize her (Nathan's first baptism).  They've taught several lessons and done a lot of street contacting, even in the rain.  They cover 2 wards, so they go to both wards on Sunday.  Elder Perez and Nathan started teaching a man named Guido, whose wife was already a member (for 15 years).  He agreed to come to church and the Sunday he came, his daughter bore her testimony about her experience in the Quito Temple for the dedication.  She had prayed and asked whether her family would be sealed in the temple, and she got the answer "yes" in her mind.  She knew that her dad would eventually join the church.  He did start taking the lessons, quit smoking, and was ready to be baptized on December 31st!  

Halfway through December, Elder Perez completed his mission and went home, so Nathan got a new companion, Elder Quispe, from Bolivia.  On Nathan's P-days, he's mostly been playing Settlers of Catan with his companion and some other missionaries.  He taught them how to play, and now that's the requested thing to do on their day off.  He played a little bit of soccer, but most of the missionaries now want to play Catan.  He did get to watch a little bit of World Cup soccer when the Ecuador game was shown on the big screen in town, just outside of their apartment.  They were able to see it from their window.  They sometimes see parades or other things from their apartment.  

They see chickens and wild pigs and have seen quite a few dogs wandering around.  There's one dog that hangs around the market and begs for food.  When it doesn't get fed, it starts barking at you.  They've had other dogs follow them around, but none have been aggressive.  They've enjoyed getting out in the community.  Nathan teaches some weekly English classes.  On December 1st, they participated in a community service project.  They've seen some interesting things for the holidays, such as strapping life-like dolls on the back of a truck and letting it fly around (kind-of weird) - he said it looked like a real person.  Some guys dress up as women and dance around in front of cars for New Years as well.  He got a feast for Christmas Eve, complete with a whole roasted pig.  He got to try pig intestines! 

I sent Nathan and his companion a package for Christmas.  I used a special delivery service, Mission on the Fly, which goes through an individual who flies with packages and hand delivers them to the mission office.  It was a very reliable and prompt service, but it did cost a lot of money!  His birthday package, sent via a different method, on December 16th, probably won't arrive until February... Audrey used that service for a Christmas package and it took 7 weeks for her box to arrive.  

The missionaries had a district Christmas party though and enjoyed a nice meal with the mission president.  In conjunction with going to the temple, they got to go to musical celebration of some sort, which was a lot of fun.  He met Elder Horn, another American missionary, who was also born in Houston.  We're friends with his parents and knew their family back in Houston.  

Nathan continues to learn the language and has felt the gift of tongues while teaching.  He went on exchanges with another new American missionary one day, so neither one of them knew the language very well.  Nathan got to teach the plan of salvation in Spanish, and the people seemed to understand what he said!  At another lesson, however, with his Spanish speaking companion, his companion told him after the lesson that the questions Nathan asked didn't have to do with the lesson.  😃  I guess luckily his companion can smooth things out. 

He's loving the mission and in good spirits!