Sold the house

Another wild and crazy week.  

Monday I get a call from the lady at the Title company saying that the buyers of our house want to close the next day.  So Monday after piano we went to the house and took some of the last things home.  Dad went back later that night with the trailer and got the big stuff (like the riding lawn mower).  Dad said as Matthew left he pulled some glow in the dark stars from his ceiling and had some tears in his eyes knowing that that would be the last time he would come to that house.  Dad was a little choked up too.  It was really hard.  The other kids cried.  That was a great house with a lot of good memories.  I think you will have a similar experience when it's time to leave your mission.  It's bitter sweet. 

Tuesday Dad, Eleanor and I signed the papers.  I left a gift at the house for the new owners.  I hope they love that house as much as we did.  I sent a text to both sides of the family letting them know that we had sold the house.  

 Last night the Harkness' came over for dinner before some of them went off to the BYU basketball game.  Nana went out to cedar hills and picked up Katie's kids and brought them here.  We had a great time.  

Bridie and Eleanor Skyped with Sophie and Eliza who are living in New Zealand for the semester.  It looks like and amazing place.

Wednesday was SEP's.  The kids are all doing so well!  It's always fun to hear the kids speak Chinese.  Bridie's teachers is such a cute lady.  I really like her.

Thursday and Friday I spent some time ripping out the tile in the basement bathroom.  Everything has been taken out.  It will be a brand new bathroom.  That will be so nice.

Yesterday I went to Salk Lake because one of my girls that is inactive invited me to her drill team competition.  It was nice to go to Salt Lake and have some alone time.  It was snowing pretty hard but the roads were ok.

How did your zone conference go?  Were you able to talk to your Mission president about an early release?  I am so proud of the work you are doing!

Love, 

Mom

The weekly update

James,

We had another great week!  

Monday was Presidents Day so the kids didn't have school.  Jim and Ali's kids slept over.  

Tuesday was busy with visiting teaching.  Bridie and Eleanor were home sick from school with colds- it's been a bad year for colds.  Wednesday Eleanor was still home from school but feeling a little better.  It was so nice to stay home and get things done around the house.  I feel like so much of my days are spent running errands and helping out in schools that I hardly get anything done here at home.  So it was nice to have to stay home.  Wednesday night we watched the face to face with Elder Rasband.  The theme for the New Year is 2 Nephi 30:21 about pressing forward.  

Thursday Suzy Campbell and I cleaned the Mapleton house.  It was surprising how messy it has gotten.  It was nice to clean all the bathrooms and sweep/mop/vacuum the floors.  As I drove home to Provo from Mapleton I cried the whole way.  It is so hard to give up that house.  As I was crying I thought about the mutual theme of pressing forward.  Having faith in God's plan for my life.  I saw a quote that said, "What appears to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that  you will ever make." -Gordon B. Hinckley.  It has given me so much peace.  I know that we are where we need to be.  But it is still hard.  

Friday was the Young women over nighter at the house in Mapleton.  Dad and Matthew came down and helped with the pizza oven.  The girls loved the slide.  It was a really good group of girls.  30 mins. before we needed to leave Adaline threw up so she didn't come.  I missed her.  Saturday morning we got up and made corsages and took them to 3 nursing homes in Mapleton/Springville area.  That was so much fun to see how happy it made the people who received the flowers.  They loved them.  We were home by noon.  Yesterday was a lazy day.  It was nice to take the day off.  Today I taught Young womens.   It was one of those classes where I felt like I was beating my head against the wall- They knew nothing.  So frustrating.  Don't they know they need to know this stuff more than they need air to breathe?  I guess that is what missionary work is like- trying to teach things that are so essential to their eternal well being and see them choose not to accept.  

I am excited to go to the temple with Kim tomorrow- I didn't go last week and I miss it.  

This week is parent teacher conferences.  It is tough to go to Bridie and Jacob's because at their last school they were top students in English and Chinese.  In this new school they have so many kids that speak Chinese in the home that their Chinese skills look really bad. 

I love you and am proud of the work you are doing.  You are a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.  You are there to invite.  I hope you feel the love the Lord has for you and your efforts to further His kingdom here on the earth.

Love,

Momes,

What a week!

James,

What a week it has been.  I don't think I've had this crazy of a week on a while.  Mondays are always crazy because I go to the temple in the mornings and then all afternoon we spend in Mapleton for piano lessons.  Usually dad or Adaline or Matthew makes dinner and we eat around 6:30 or 7.  Then FHE and bed.

Tuesday Amanda Flake and Robyn Metler took me to lunch for my birthday.  It was so fun to catch up with them.  They are incredible women and I am so glad to call them friend.  Tuesday was also Science fair day for Isaac.  We ran the experiment Tuesday.  It was- Do people like homemade cookies and brownies or store bought.  I baked like crazy cookies and brownies so when Isaac got home we could invited over everyone in the neighborhood to taste test.  It was crazy.  Then dad had a dinner at Sundance that we went up to that night.  It was good to get out but I really hate leaving the kids on a school night.

Wednesday was Eleanor's field trip to the Bean museum and I chaperoned.  Then I ran a bike helmet over to Bridie so she could ride her scooter in the gym for the roller derby at school.  Then the rest of the day was spent making more brownies for the Young Women's Evening of Excellence, setting up and going to the event.  I was so happy to have that over.

But the next morning I had the young women over for French Toast Thursday.  My house was trashed from everything else that went on that week so I was happy to have Thursday at home to get it pulled together for the young women.  Thursday night I lounged.  It was nice to relax after all the craziness!  

Friday Megan Lewis got married and we went back to Mapleton for the reception.  It is crazy because Megan was James' second date.  Weird that she's married.  Happy for her, but weird!  

Saturday we ripped out one of our bathrooms.  It was really fun.  It hasn't worked since we moved in so it was a step in the right direction.  Today was meetings and church.  I have another big week this week.  This Friday I have invited the young women for an over nighter at our house in Mapleton- It's empty anyway so might as well get some use out of it.  

I don't know if my life will ever be simple again- probably after I'm released as Young Women's president.  It's a busy calling- I had no Idea.  I've been a primary president a couple of times and that was busy but not nearly like this calling.  

I love you and am proud of the things you are doing.  we always look forward o hearing what life is like as a missionary and in Korea.  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love you lots,

Mom

Cooke city and all the adventures

I am so bad at blogging now a days that I am just attaching the letter I wrote to James for the week.

James,

We just got back from Montana.  It was a wonderful trip.  We left Sunday evening and were planning on staying in Bozeman so that Monday we could get to Cooke and ski into the cabin.  Right when we were passing Idaho falls the car battery started to act weird.  The gage showed little battery power.  I had just bought a battery last year so we drove to the Auto zone in Idaho falls to have it checked.  They said our alternator was bad and would need to be replaced.  We were sad.  We canceled our hotel reservation in Bozeman and got a hotel in Idaho Falls hoping that the car would start Monday morning and that a shop would be able get the car fixed quickly so we could get on the road again.  

Later that night Dad decided to call uncle David to pick his brain on our options.  David just happened to be visiting the Cannons in Idaho falls and knew a guy that had just fixed his alternator in Idaho Falls.  David called the guy and he came and picked up the car at 6:30am and had it fixed and back to us by 10am.  It was a miracle.  I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord.

We got off so late that there was no way we could ski in without it being in the dark so I called some of my relatives that were in Cooke City and they came and picked us up that evening on snowmobiles and shuttled us all in.  I am so grateful  for their generosity!

We had a great time.  It was cold! About 20 was the highest it got.  We played outside a couple of hours a day.  I had set a goal before we left that I wanted to read the WHOLE Book of Mormon while we were up there (4 days).  It was hard but because of my goal I read over one hundred pages a day.  I finished yesterday.  It has changed me.  I have read the Book of Mormon nearly every year of my life from the time that I was about 14 years old and this time was so different.  It has sunk into my soul at a level I never thought possible.  Even today my feelings towards my Savior are so tender.  The overall lessons of the Book of Mormon are so clear to me.  The two main topics that got were: 

Jesus Christ loves us infinitely.  He has redeemed my soul from hell. I will be indebted to him forever.

Satan is so powerful.  He wants to destroy me.  He does not love me.  He uses us and then deserts us.  He can destroy whole civilizations.

I am so happy that I set this goal, followed through with it, and now am reaping the blessings of that incredible book.  

I hope you are doing well!  We love you and are proud of the work that you are doing!

Love you lots!

Mom