St. John Family

Sunday January 4, 2015

Dear Cass -

Well - it's the start of a new year! Can you believe it? I was just looking through some pictures today and we had quite the 2014! Especially you! Thank you for your email last Monday and WOW with the pictures! I was loving all of those!

How is the fruit fly situation? I did look up some ways to kill them. Mostly you just need to not let fruit sit out on your counter and rot. But here's one solution I liked...

Make a dish soap trap. When added to a sweet solution, dish soap cannot be detected by fruit flies. The chemicals present in the soap will act as a poison and kill the unwary flies. Fill a jar with a mixture of vinegar (any kind) with sugar - it doesn’t matter in what proportion. Add in a squirt of dish soap and mix the solution well. The flies should be attracted to the sweet and sour scent, but will die when they consume the soapy poison.

How are you surviving the cold? I saw today that you used the American Express. Did you buy a coat? The charge was for $122. Does that sound right? I was just curious if that was what you spent or if they added on some exchange fees. I hope you're keeping warm somehow! Have you been wearing your gloves? Using the few hand warmers that we bought? Do you need to get some more hats/scarves?

I'm anxious to hear about your week. Did you have any good lessons with anyone? Or find anyone new? What is New Year's like in Germany? Do they do anything to celebrate? I always hear people talk about German's drinking so much beer. You haven't mentioned that at all. Is it that prevalent or no?

Well - I'll give you the update from here of our week...

I just finished switching the calendar from Dec. to Jan. even though Jan. started a couple of days ago. I like the feeling of a new year - sort of. It feels sort of fresh and clean, but also comes with a little anxiety for me to want to clean, organize and be better in all areas.

On Sunday Brooke's family came over because Briggs asked to have a "movie night" with Colten. We ate dinner, frosted sugar cookies and tried to watch the movie. Briggs was so excited he could hardly sit still. Anyway - Adison ended up sleeping over. She did great though I could tell she was a little nervous about 5 minutes after her parents left.

Monday we woke up and went to the gym. Colten got a gym pass (I think he told you that) and so Dad, Colt & I went. It was really crowded but it worked out ok. It started to snow pretty hard right as we were leaving the gym. Dad took Adi to meet Brooke in Provo and it happened to be right in the thick of the storm. The roads were really bad. The snow plow finally came through our neighborhood and then it stopped snowing. So everything cleared up pretty fast. River went to watch Harry Potter with Sadie and Becky and Lexi came here and hung out with Hadlie. Monday night Dad, me, Hadlie and Lexi went to the BYU bball game with Jim, Karron and Kortney Jackson. It was fun. BYU won.

Tuesday it got REALLY cold! I think the high was like 10 degrees or something crazy. Dad recorded with the Jackson's this afternoon so I took the girls out for shopping and errands. River of course spent her Christmas money. She got some cute things. A new doll and accessories, etc. Hadlie bought pajamas. That night Dad, Colt, me, grammy and papa went to see the movie "Unbroken." You may remember me reading the book. It was about a WWII guy that was pretty incredible. Anyway - it's kind of the big holiday time movie to see. I required Colten to either see the movie or read the book. He chose to see the movie:) So it was really good. Sad in some parts, but good. I'll put it on your list.

Wednesday was New Year's Eve. We went to the gym, made treats in the afternoon and the girls, dad and I spent the evening over at Grandma Bonnie's. It was a good night. Colten of course had other plans with Logan, Nate, Erika and Kara. Grandma Bonnie had a puzzle out that night and Hadlie got involved in that and had a great time. Ricky, Natalie, me, Dad, Hadlie worked on it here and there and we put the last piece in right after midnight. River only cared about seeing Tswizzle perform which happened right before the ball dropped. When we went home that night it was 2 degrees.

Thursday - New Year's Day. We slept in. Then I had to take Hadlie puzzle shopping. She HAD to have one to work on seeing as she had so much fun the night before. So we got one and it's possibly the hardest puzzle ever. She's all but lost interest in it. I think we may have to try again. We made tri-tip for dinner and that was about as exciting as it got. Oh ya - and dad helped me put together the new bed in your room. We gave the floor a good vacuuming - and it was gross. The new bed also led to the "great mattress issue," which I will tell you about in a minute.

Friday - Hadlie decided for her bday she wanted to go to the Living Planet Aquarium. So we went as a family on this day. It was much better than the last time we went (when you were like 12). I don't know if you remember, but they built a new building and it's much bigger. And more expensive. Anyway - we had a good time there and then went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch before Colten had to go to work. That evening we took the girls to see the movie, "Into the Woods." It's a play (musical). Dad and I loved it. River did too I think. Hadlie's up in the air. I'll put it on your list. It has some weird parts, but great life lessons and the music is of course awesome!

Today - Saturday - it was supposed to be a "stay at home day" but Dad and I went to the gym this morning. It was extremely crowded, the Wi-Fi wasn't working and the there's an obnoxious lady who always comes to be next to me on a treadmill when I'm walking. She sweats ALL over the machine and breathes SO loud. It's ridiculous and I think she's stalking me. No joke, every time I go - doesn't matter what time - she's there. Twice now I've seen her on a treadmill, leave and then come back to one right next to me! Anyway - she came today to the treadmill next to me which said it was "out of order" and announced to me that even though there's a sign on it - it probably works. I left.

I then went to the store to get a few things for Hadlie's birthday. She has a rough birthdate for me to get all excited about and come up with present ideas. I got stuff for her and her friends to make pizzas. She opened presents and then had her traditional peppermint dessert. I think she ended up having a good day. Tomorrow - her actual birthday we'll have dinner over at grammy & papas. Oh - by the way, one of her presents was to get an Instagram account. Wish me luck!

The great mattress issue also happened today. I had previously told the girls that when we set up the new bed in your room that whomever's mattress was the worst in the house could have your old mattress. Well - I came home from the store and Dad said he'd put the mattress on Hadlie's bed. He didn't know what I'd told the girls. Well - he'd situated it all on Hadlie's bed and then River found out. You can imagine. We checked River's mattress which of course was clearly the worst one in the house and then the chaos ensued. "Mom said this." "But it's already on my bed." "I won't get a new one for 50 years." Etc. So dad called them in to talk to them. He announced that we'd made a mistake and we tried to come up with a solution. It was lovely. So in desperation dad says, "Ok, one of you choose to take the good mattress and whoever gives it up right now we'll buy a new mattress for in the next couple of months!" Hadlie let River take the mattress and now we have to buy a new one for Hadlie I guess. And then River announced, - "I really just want a new bed." Ugh. Parenting.

It's been a good Christmas break. I will admit however that the breaks are kind of hard for moms. You'll understand one day. Having everyone home is good but it's a lot of work. It's a lot of cleaning up after people, making plans for everyone, trying to keep everyone happy, etc. I've had my moments of frustration. Mostly when it feels like everyone else's vacation is a job for me. The best part of the break for me has been, going to the gym whenever we decided to, not having to spend as much time in the car as usual, having a break from work and seeing lots of movies.

So just a couple of things to end. This is long! Sorry.

Gas prices are below $2.00 a gallon here! I mean can you believe that? It takes like $20 to fill up the white car.

And I can't remember if I told you but Grammy & Papa gave you $30 for Christmas and Grandma Bonnie gave you $50. I deposited both into your savings. You might want to send them a quick thank you email if you can.

Well - I hope you have a great week and can't wait to hear from you!

Love - Mom