Sunday February 28, 2016

Dear Cass -

How are you this Monday? How is your new companion situation? I'm sure it's been quite eventful for you. Can't wait to hear about it.

Hopefully you got my couple of videos of Tanner and Ben opening their mission calls. If not here's the scoop...

Tanner will be going to the New Mexico, Farmington mission leaving June 29, speaking English. Now, here's some interesting things...that mission actually covers a little corner of Utah, Colorado and quite a chunk of Arizona as well as the corner of New Mexico. Think 4 corners area expanded. The majority of his mission is the Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations! AND, guess who lives in the Colorado corner? Jason & Brittney Smith! He has their town as well as Durango all the way to almost Telluride. Remember that super pretty drive we did?

Ben will be going to the Nevada, Reno mission leaving April 13 (so fast!!! you won't even get to see him!), speaking English. That mission covers the majority of Nevada (pretty much everything but Vegas) nd into a tiny bit of California. I think he'll be working in a lot of tiny towns like Alamo with rancher type of people.

So that's some of the big news around here. Let me update you on our week...

Monday - After the gym I took Hadlie in for a naet appointment. She's been reacting with itchy redness to ProActiv we think. Got her treated and took her back to school. Later that day I went in for a naet appointment for me. Still working on the dang itchy eyelids. This time I took all my face stuff in. Dr. Joe thinks it might be my Mary Kay lotion. So I got treated for that and my feet/back adjusted. We had blackened salmon for dinner (really good) and just as we were finishing dinner Nancy texted and said the baby horse had been born. So Hadlie and I rushed down to the barn. It was pretty neat to see that little skinny, wobbly baby. It's amazing they can just stand up and move the hour after they're born. We watched her find her way to nurse the first time and saw her learn to lay down (getting down seems to be harder than getting up). Anyway, it was pretty fun. The rest of the family had FHE while we were gone.

Tuesday was pretty normal. School, gym, errands, etc. Hadlie went to piano then we went to the barn. We had steak for dinner (really good).

Wednesday was a teacher development day so all the kids were done with school by noon. I picked the Jr. High kids up and after dropping everyone else off Hadlie and I went to the barn. Hadlie wants to go all the time obviously. Colten & River aren't interested. Nancy says she wants us to come as much as we can so Honey (the baby) gets really used to us. That night the kids went to their combined activity. The Priests were in charge and they did human foosball, and hungry hungry hippos on skateboards with laundry baskets and balls. Sound hilarious, right? Well, the older two loved it. River came home and cried. She just hates sports/active things like that where she feels pressured to participate. She's EXACTLY like I was! She was also upset that she doesn't have any friends in our ward and that none of the girls go to her school. We had to listen and work through some things with her. Any suggestions you have for her would be welcome. Hadlie also forgot that her essays for applications to honors history & English were due the next day so she had to hurry and get those done. That also, somehow, became my fault that they weren't done earlier:/ AND, Colten...we're having him pay for the majority of replacing the window that he shot a bb through which is going to cost him $200. So we transferred that money out of his account on Wed. night. He agrees he should pay for it but that leaves him with about $80 total. In other words, he needs a job. We've been encouraging him to get out and apply for weeks now. He did apply at Wiggy Wash but by that night hadn't heard anything back. Kind of a rough night.

Thursday bright and early I took River to an orthodontist consultation. I wanted to take her to Dr. Barrows because we've heard super good things about him. He seems very nice and I really like some of his ideas for treatments. River was upset because she wants to go to Trapnell (because it's popular and they give out backpacks to the Elementary schools) and then she was super upset because she thinks 2 years for treatment is WAY too long. I explained that wasn't long at all but she's very self conscious about going to school with braces, etc. Especially in Jr. High. So when River gets upset she doesn't just get sad or cry, she kind of gets mean. She was very angry that we waited until 6th grade to take her in - instead of 4th or 5th amongst a bunch of other things. By the time we got home (we needed to get her backpack and she needed to fix her mascara she thought) she was sobbing. She ended up staying home the whole day and taking a nap. We had a good talk after she woke up and hopefully she's starting to see things differently. She's had a rough week.

Colten heard from Wiggy Wash and went in for an interview this afternoon! Hadlie and I went to the barn again, this time to work actually. Dad fixed dinner this night. He made Bierocks. Have you heard of this? It's Grandma Bonnie's recipe and maybe something German? It's cabbage, onion and hamburger mixed together and put inside bread dough. You bake the dough with all of that stuff in it. They were actually really good!

Friday was pretty normal. Hadlie had Diamond Back Day at Classic skating in the morning. After returning she was texting me every other minute to come pick her up. I did after lunch and then she went with me on a couple of errands. Colten, his friend Thomas, and Hadlie went to do baptisms Friday evening. They went to Provo and waited forever. River and I went to Target and found her a couple of pairs of shorts. A whole other issue. Let's just say that your shorts from your drawer have been brought out as evidence that we allowed you to wear short shorts. Heaven help me.

Saturday - Dad and I went to the gym. Hadlie and I went to do our work at the barn. We did some normal Saturday things here. Went to 5 Guys for dinner and then over to Ben's mission call opening. Colten heard back from Wiggy Wash and has been hired! So that's some good news. He goes in on Monday to fill out paper, etc.

So here we are on Sunday. Dad and I will be teaching the Sunday school class. We're having dinner at Grandma Bonnie's tonight.

This was a long email! Sorry if it's boring! It's crazy to think that in a couple of months you'll be right in the mix of all that's going on here. I can't wait actually.

Stay focused and strong these last few weeks!

Love you so much! - Mom

 

Baby Honey right after being born

3 days old

 5 days old

 

Sunday February 21, 2016

Hello Cassidy!

How are you this fine Monday? I really enjoyed your emails last week. Thank you for updating us on so much. We've been praying this week for you and your companion that she might be willing to work with you and that you'd have a little more success. How have things been? We also thought it was hilarious that you thought you needed to define the word "trunky!" We were familiar with that word and thought that was totally a Cassidy thing to do:) And that made me super excited to see you very soon!  I hope your week has been great and you saw some more miracles in teaching/getting people to church. You're awesome!

My week went a little like this...

Monday was President's Day so no school. And we had the Gardner kids for our last day of that. We ended up going to a kid’s movie "Norm of the North" at our dollar theater which was fun. I had to pretty much beg Hadlie and River to come. Colten would have none of it. The kids were all good there. They each ate their own whole thing of candy which I'm sure was against the rules for them. Afterwards we went to Walmart so River could spend her money. She's moved from spending all her money on little toys, to spending all her money on makeup and pens/pencils. Then we headed over to Chick Fil A. With the rest of the town I swear. That place was nuts. Colten met us for lunch and then we headed home so Finn could nap before I took them home. River went with to take them home where we met up with Grammy who was watching them til Hailey could get there.

Tuesday - Friday were all pretty normal days. Piano lessons, guitar lessons, a little homework, YM/YW, gym, laundry, cleaning, etc. Friday I got myself up at 5am to go to the gym so I could go visiting teaching that morning. Then one of our people canceled so we didn't go until later which meant I didn't really have to get up early. Oh well. I do like getting it done early and kind of wish I could get up that early every day. But it wipes me out! I got the car washed on Friday as well. It was super dirty. As I was pulling in to the wash I had a flashback of the one and only time I sent you to the carwash and you had trouble pulling the van in and felt like it was awful and told me you'd NEVER do that again! Remember that? Friday after school I took Colten to get new Sunday shoes as he was preparing for his date to Sweethearts on Saturday.

Saturday I got up and went to the gym, took Hadlie down to the barn to do our work there (one of the horses is going to have a baby probably THIS week!), showered and left quickly with the Jacksons for a date. We went and saw the Young Ambassadors from BYU perform. It was good, as well as cheesy. We also ate Mexican food at the Red Iguana, which was good. When we got home the girls were starving so we waiting for Colten to be picked up for his dance and then we left to get them dinner. The only place River EVER wants to go is Costa Vida. She's very picky. So we went there, Arby's for Hadlie, Macey's to let everyone pick out ice cream and then to McDonald's for Cokes. We're pretty ridiculous.

Also - last weekend I forgot to tell you I went to Michelle Orton's bridal shower. It was fun to see all of those girls. She's super excited to get married. Her fiancé is from Mapleton and went to Maple Mountain but is 2 years older than Michelle so they didn't know each other. It was Josee's shower yesterday but we already had tickets with the Jackson's for our thing so I didn't get to go. Also, Jordan Smith (Bob & Becky Smith's son) is engaged and getting married in March as well. As well as Shinade Slease. I don't know much about her situation other than she's getting married at Thanksgiving Point.

I think that updates you pretty well on things here. Oh ya! I forgot! Dad and I looked up some info on renting cars in Germany and it led us to a thing to learn German road signs. Then we could take a test at the end to see how much we understood. We didn't do so hot! It was kind of confusing and we were both commenting about how brave you are to be driving! And the dumb way the rental cars are set up you have to pay like double if the person driving is under 25. So you'll have to direct Dad but not drive. Lame.

I'll type out our travel plans today for you if I have time. I think I've pretty much got things in place. Just know with all the moving around we'll be doing you're going to have to PACK LIGHT! Like one suitcase, not your big one, light.

I love you so much and hope you've had a good week! Oh ya - please let me know about your knee and I'll get you scheduled!

Love - Mom

 FHE from Dad - about perception

 Hadlie & Skipper. He finally got his blanket off so he can be brushed again!

Colten and his date Ashley going to Sweethearts.

Sunday February 14, 2016

Dear Cass-

Hi! This will be a little shorter of an email from me. So forgive me...I'll explain...

It's been a good week. A few errands, a few things I got done for our trip, a Valentines lunch with dad on Friday and then we picked up the Gardner kids. I'm sure dad already told you, but Brooke & Adam are in Hawaii. We've got the kids from Friday afternoon til Monday night. It's been fine. The kids have been good considering this is the longest they've ever been left. But here's the deal...we're old. And a little tired. And I guess very used to sleeping in on the weekends. And it's been pretty exhausting. The other kids have been somewhat helpful but Finn mostly wants me.

It's been good for us to help Brooke out. Heaven knows we owed it to her.

My only other out of the ordinary news is that my Instagram account was hacked and it took me a good portion of Monday to figure that out. The dumb people changed my user name & password. Put a nasty profile picture up and for about 3 days i had random nasty people asking to follow me. Even though I had already gotten back in & changed it all back to "me." Anyway, I'm disappointed in the world & people's values. That's all.

Well, sorry again for the short email, there was just no "computer time" for me today!

Please fill me in on all of your week! I love you so much!

Love - Mom

 FHE - tree of life with candy

 Inversion for a good few days. Boo.

 Heart shaped pizzas for lunch

 Craft time

 Finn!

 Valentine's morning

 Cute kids here for the weekend.

Sunday February 7, 2016

Dear Cassidy -

First off - have you gotten any packages lately? Grandma Bonnie sent one just before Christmas, did you ever get that? We also sent a little Valentine's one that should be there and I hope you get before next week. 

Second - is there anything else you need before we come to get you that you can't live without? I was going to send one more package, but I'm hesitant if you're not receiving them very quickly.

Third - in making plans for our trip. If church is in Werdau, would you think it’s better to spend the night there, or in Gera on our Saturday night. I need you to tell me the difference between towns. Is one better to stay in?

So, it sounds like you've been busy. You haven't said a lot about your companion. Are things going ok? I'd love to see pictures of the chocolate museum. You didn't send any of those. 

Your story about the rich part of town was funny! And Comfort being drunk! What the heck? I totally laughed when you said you hadn't seen that many drunk people! And you'll have to tell us more about the model group. None of us really know what you're talking about.

Well - for our week around here - 

We are still in winter. We got another good few inches on Monday. I'm becoming a pro with the snowblower and shovel. We watched Prince of Egypt for FHE that night. That was fun.

I spent a whole bunch of time planning our trip this week. I've got our airfare and most of our hotels purchased. It's been fun and I'm getting pretty good with a map of Germany:)

I got Hadlie signed up for EFY this week. Can you believe she's old enough? She's going to go with her friend Sadie to the Orem stay-at-home one. I was thinking just yesterday how much the kids have changed since you left. Out of all of them I think she's the most different. You just grow up a ton between the first of 7th grade and the end of 8th grade, don't you think?

Thursday was exciting. Colten left for school, got down around one corner and slid his car right into a huge snowbank. He called me, I took a shovel down and we tried to get him out. He was really stuck though and we ended up having to have Brother Barney come and hook a cable to the back of the car and pull him out with his big jeep. So that was fun. It was 18 degrees outside by the way. Thursday I also went to Dad's work for a health fair. I'm sure he'll tell you because he's really bugged by the fact that his work is having us do all these things to promote a healthy lifestyle to keep their insurance premiums down a little bit. So one of the things we had to do was go to this health screening. They weighed us, measured body fat, blood pressure, etc. All super fun things. Anyway - I got to go out to lunch with dad after, so it was fine. We also have to keep track of how many steps we walk, water we drink, etc. 

Friday I went to the bank and grocery shopping after the gym. And that was pretty much the day. 

Yesterday Hadlie and I did our work at the horses. We took the family to 5 Guys for lunch and then we stopped at JoAnns for a couple of things. Having the whole family in a craft store is an adventure. Then...yesterday afternoon the kids and I cleaned out the game cabinet AND Hadlie and I went through our 72 hour kits! That was funny! For one of her YW projects she's helping me update those. So we threw away all the expired food and made a list of all the things to replace. All you kids obviously need new clothes and such. It was pretty funny.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. The Denver Broncos will play the Carolina Panthers. I'm totally rooting for the Panthers. I'm tired of Manning and the Broncos. Time for someone new to win! We'll be going over to Chelsie's to watch it and celebrate Keaton and MyKell's birthdays.

Today is supposedly the day that Colten has chosen to start working on his mission papers. He's not sitting here all excited to do it, so who knows. He didn't even tell us that the bishop opened his papers for him to start working on. I happened to be talking to the bishop about something and I asked when Colten could start working on them and he looked at me funny and said he already opened them for him. ???

Well - sorry this is so short. I don't have much out of the normal to report on this week and I think I took like one pictures. Which I'll send. I sometimes don't know if your replies get back to me about pictures and such. I'm not sure if my video last week came through. I'll send the short one this week and you'll get the idea if you weren't able to see it last week. Did you get the pictures of Hailey & her boy, and Chelsea Patterson?

Well - I hope you have a great week and have some success teaching and finding! I love you so much!
Love - Mom

 New swimsuit for Hadlie

Allergic reaction to ? on my eyelids.

Sunday January 31, 2016

Dear Cass -

Well, here we are on another Sunday. And January is OVER! I can't say I'm super sad about that fact as January is always a little bit hard for me to handle if we don't go on any trips. We didn't this month and it has seemed very wintery here. We got another probably 8 inches of snow yesterday!

You've already heard from me a couple times this week and really my main focus has been trying to get that tripped a little bit more planned but I'll give you my weekly update...

Monday was normal except for that evening we got to go to the new Provo City Center temple open house. Do you remember that old tabernacle building they were turning into a temple? It's been quite incredible to look at the process of restoration they used there. It is a very beautiful building. It's a very small temple and very unique. On the tour we didn't get to see the bride's room or dressing rooms. My favorite part that we did get to see was the baptistery. It's really big and very, very pretty.

Tuesday I got up at 5 to go to the gym. I then took Brownie in for a haircut and myself to Brooke's to get my hair done. I stopped by my parents and had a good visit with them as well. We made tri tip for dinner and that was a highlight of the day.

Wednesday was normal except for that evening we attended the Mr. Maple Mountain contest. Colten actually helped his friend Spencer Young in his talent. They did a black light dance so you couldn't tell who they were and they had cool lights on them. Anyway - they did good. We tried to video it for you, but it wouldn't show anything. They had a record # of boys as contestants this year...22! Because of that their talent could only be 90 seconds long which was really fast. It was fun to watch, a little long and Mr. Smith did a great job. Some kid named Ben Gleason won.

Thursday was normal - horses, etc.

Friday Dad took the van in to the Toyota dealer because we had to get our dark front window tint taken off! Lame, I know. We went to get it registered and the law had changed this year and our windows were too dark. Isn't that ridiculous?! So we got lighter tint put on and took it back in yesterday to get it registered. Dad, River and I also went on a date (the other kids were gone and River didn't have plans) to guitar center. We ate dinner at Pei Wei and then dad went to look for something specific in guitar center which they didn't end up having and River and I went to Target.

Yesterday it snowed all day. We did our work at the horses and then Colten ended up taking the van to his friend's house and then to his indoor soccer game at 7 peaks. He picked up dinner for us on his way home and Dad, River and I hung out at home for the day. Hadlie went to the mall and a movie with some of her friends. It's very interesting here when it's snowy and we have pretty much one car that can go up and down the hill.

So, as usual I'm interested to see how your week was. How are things going with your companion?

I love you so much and always look forward to Monday mornings when I first wake up so I can check my email! It's like a little present that morning:)

Have a great week!

Love - Mom

River made this cute drum for her homemade instrument at school. The tops of the cans are covered with balloons.

Sunday January 24, 2016

Dear Cass -

Good day from another snowy morning here at home. There are a few inches out there waiting to be cleared before we can go to church. Colten's already braved things in the van for mission prep. I'm happy he's been getting up a little better to go to that. It's at an early hour and I do understand.

Well - let's start with a question. I've spent a little bit of time trying to figure out flights and travel plans for us and this is where I'm at...Dad & I will meet you in Freiburg on the evening of Apr. 14. We'll probably stay in Dresden that night and do all around that area Friday and into Saturday. You mentioned the "Christmas town," do you know where that is? I'm having a hard time finding it on the map. Then move to Gera on Saturday and be there for church and whatnot on Sunday. Sunday night or Monday we'll move down to the castle area. Spend Monday night somewhere there and Tuesday night be in Salzburg. We're thinking we'll probably have to fly from Salzburg to Hamburg/Berlin as it’s about a 10 hour drive so we'd do that maybe Wednesday night? Thursday and Friday for Hamburg and Berlin. Fly home Saturday. What do you think? I feel like it’s rushed but we'll be able to see a lot?

Ok - enough of that topic. Back to missionary stuff! How's your new companion? I'm excited she's German. Will she speak with you mostly in German, or not? I'm pretty confused that you said you'll be the only Sister Training Leader in the companionship. How does that work?

Fun that you got to see Sister Garcia! And have a sleep over. And VERY exciting that you got to attend a baptism. That's really great.

Well - let me update you on my week. I'll try not to overlap a lot of what I think dad will write about.

We had no school on Monday. Nobody had anything they really wanted to do so we just stayed around home mostly. Boring, I know. River decided about half way through the day that I should just take her to Claire's. For no reason other than she was bored and wanted to spend her money. I didn't take her and she didn't speak to me for a few hours that afternoon. We had a good FHE that night where River taught about the Plan of Salvation to pass off a value experience. One extra thing for that day was that the Miser's were out of town on a cruise. It had snowed a little on Sunday and by Monday evening I had people calling me asking if they were out of town and did we think we should clear their driveway because that was a sure giveaway that they were gone. That big, long driveway with no tire marks, etc. So we went over and shoveled quite a bit and dad tried to use their razor with the snow blade on it. He got two runs done and then the rope snapped that held up the blade. Hadlie tried to help him fix it for the longest time. I didn't realize she was holding the whole thing up and she had bruises all on her legs from letting it rest on her. :( Dad finally just had to tie it up and drive it up and park it. I guess we didn't really break it, Liz says it happens all the time.

We took the Corolla in to have some work done. Dad and I dropped it off on Monday and I'm sure he'll give you the rundown of what had to be fixed. Anyway - it's been quite the week juggling everyone's schedules down one car. We're spoiled for sure.

Tuesday Colten went to Briggs's birthday party after school. He had a party with a couple of his friends and all his older boy cousins. He was in heaven. We had a pretty normal night. Colten is also participating in a dance for one of his friend's talent for Mr. Maple Mtn. so he's been gone to practices pretty much every day. That's this week and you'd better bet I'm going to watch!

Wednesday I went visiting teaching to all three of our people. That was pretty much the day.

Thursday Dad took his car to work and I needed the van so we had to take turns shuttling Colten around to where he needed to be. Because he has that anatomy class in Springville every day that made things complicated. So I mostly helped at the horses and drove around on Thursday.

Friday I spent grocery shopping.

Saturday Dad came with Hadlie and I to the horses and something crazy always happens when he's there. Yesterday the big stallion horse tried to leave his stall when Dad turned his back and the other horses were going out. Hadlie about lost her mind I think. She was so upset. Anyway - it all worked out fine and nothing bad happened though it was a little scary at first. Dad and I went on a date in the afternoon. We ate delicious steaks at Outback and then went to the movie Creed. It’s another Rocky (boxing) movie and I liked it a lot. I'll put it on your list.

And now it’s Sunday. We'll go to church and Dad and I will teach the Sunday School class that Colten's in. We didn't have enough kids to make our own class of Seniors so we just teach the 17 year old class once a month. Then we have a YSA meeting this evening and dinner at Grandma Bonnie's. So that's about it...

I hope you have a great week and remember we love you so much!!!

Love - Mom

My only picture for the week. Colt got accepted to the University of Utah!

Sunday January 17, 2016

Dear Cassidy -

Hi! Good morning from the snow this morning. I'll send you a picture of our yard. Its very foggy and snowy right now. I'm sure dad told you what a great night we had last night with the dog. She's getting so old Cass. Sometimes she'll sleep through the night but most of the time she's up at least once. Like a baby:/

I loved reading about all the tausch experiences you're having! And also about how you love Sis. Sorensen playing her guitar. That's cool.

I think I'll skip going through the week day by day here just because it wasn't a super busy/interesting week. I'll give you a few of the highlights though.

I was determined to stay home more this week and that worked out well because I didn't have to do a lot of grocery shopping, etc. errands. I even had a little time to work on my shutterfly book from 2014.

We of course are back to trying to eat pretty healthily and that's always hard, but good. I really do feel better when I put in the effort to eat well. Have I told you about our great salads in a jar? I'll send you picture maybe, but dad and I have really been enjoying having those around. Karron Jackson came over one day this week and we put a bunch together.

I attended River's parent teacher conference where she got straight E's, even in Math (!). And Hadlie had a choir concert the same evening as that. Hadlie hasn't been enjoying choir as much as she thought she would - because Mr. Tuckett is gone. The teacher they have is good, just not quite as fun maybe?

I also spent a little time down at the barn on Thursday and Saturday (our designated help days). And I went to the gym M-F! And on one of those days I saw Avery at the gym! I figured I'd run into him sometime. Honestly, I didn't recognize him for a second. Not that he looks super different - I guess I just wasn't expecting to see him. I talked to him for a few minutes which was sort of awkward, but ok. I had talked to Abby about him on Sunday so I knew he had a job and was in a couple of classes at UVU. But then he told me he was modeling (!) and I honestly don't know if I should believe him. Something is just weird about how he says stuff, you know? Has he written you at all?

The other thing I did that took up MANY hours this week was try to help River's iPod. All of a sudden it's turning itself off when she unplugs it from charging. It would have a very difficult time coming on and then all of her texts, etc. would be gone. So I spent most of the day Thursday working on it - looking things up to try, etc. I finally ended up calling Apple support. I got to talk to a very nice, helpful lady named Lakeshia. She walked me through a bunch of things and it looked good. Then of course it started doing the same thing. I called her back on Fri. afternoon and we tried a couple of things but nothing worked. She actually issued a one time replacement of her iPod! So yesterday (Saturday) evening we had to go up to Fashion Place Mall (the closest Apple store) and trade her iPod in. We had to have an appointment and even with that we waited for about 30 minutes. There must of been 20 employees there working and the store was completely packed! So once it was our turn it was very easy - they just gave us a new one and took the old one. Unfortunately that wasn't the end. We had to come home and get it working and get River's contacts/pictures on it, etc. That was another stressful couple of hours and I wasn't very happy. By the end of it all I was ready to go "unplugged" for forever! But hopefully that will be the end of that.

Also - shopping with the girls last night :/ Its hard Cass. They don't get along with each other and they don't really get along with me very well sometimes. Super fun.

The end of the term was on Thursday so the kids didn't have school on Friday and Martin Luther King day is Monday so they're off for that as well. It's been a pretty boring break so far because I haven't planned anything wonderful for everybody to do. Nor do I think I'm going to. Oh well.

So that's about it for here. I probably don't even have hardly any pictures to send to you from the week.

I hope you have a good week. It looks like it's been a little cold this week. I'll send you your forecast!

Love you - Mom

 Putting together a valentine pkg for cass

 Hadlie's choir concert

Sneaking a picture of Riv eating sushi!