Sunday January 10, 2016

Dear Cass -

Hi! How was your week? Is time going so fast for you? I cannot believe we're already heading into 2 weeks of January! I loved reading about your goals - they are all great and amazing! You're such an inspiration for me! I have some similar goals - getting back into my good exercise routine, providing good healthy dinners for the family, etc. December really throws me for a loop! My spiritual goal is keeping up with the Sunday School reading and studying of the Book of Mormon. I really like the years that we get to study the BoM.

You're week last week sounded very busy. I have a question or two for you...Are you enjoying the travel you get/have to do with being a Sister Training Leader? How long does it take to get from Hamburg to Berlin?

I'll give you a quick rundown of our week here...

Monday was Hadlie's birthday so after the gym and such I went and picked her up from school to go to lunch. It was tough to go back to school on her birthday from Christmas break! She wanted Waffle Luv. So that's what we did. Then I took her to the bank and got a checking/savings account set up for her. She was very excited about that. And since it was her birthday they gave her a piggy bank:)

Tuesday I went to kickboxing and then spent the rest of the day grocery shopping and menu planning.

Wednesday was a pretty normal day. I went to the gym and then spent some part of the day preparing for a Relief Society activity I was helping with on Thurs. The kids all went to YM/YW that night and they went sledding on the road in Covered Bridge. They all 3 had a great time! River totally didn't want to go but ended up loving it.

Thursday was busy. I worked at the barn, cleaned the floors in our house, took Hadlie to piano, went back to the horses, did dinner and then went to the church for the Relief Society activity. I was in charge of teaching a FHE class where we put together a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. It turned out alright.

Friday I went to the temple with a few Relief Society sisters in the morning. The Payson temple is truly beautiful! You'll love going there when you get back! After that I just came home and worked on the rest of the FHE lessons that didn't get finished at the activity the night before. I've also been watching a murder documentary on Netflix that I was pretty obsessed with. So I finished that.

Yesterday was a good Saturday. Hadlie and I helped with the horses and they ran around in the snow like crazy. They were very happy to be out of the barn. We went to lunch at 5 guys and I worked on organizing pictures on the computer for the afternoon. Last night dad, Jim, Kortney and Hadlie went to the BYU bball game. Karron and I went to Kneaders for dinner then just came back to our house and hung out with River. Colten was with friends and then he's joined a men's soccer league with his old coach, Logan Brower, Brigham and a few others. The played a late game last night against Logan Christensen's team and Colten's team totally won! He was pretty excited about that!

Here we are on Sunday! I'm getting ready to head out to the YSA ward counsel and ward for the day. They now meet at 1:00 - the same as our ward so it really makes it so Dad and I have to split up to go.

I think that's about it for here. I did like your little email last week with ideas of how to travel around Germany. I let the mission travel office know that you'll be coming home with us. That was the next item to do on our list. Now I just need to make the travel arrangements. That's quite a job! It's fun though and I'll work on it more this week.

I love you so much and hope you have another good week there!

Love - Mom

 

 Hadlie's bday lunch at Waffle Luv

Salads in a jar. Healthy lunch!

Sunday January 3, 2016
Dear Cass -

Hi! It's hard to believe another week has already gone by. Christmas break is finishing up here and we are in to a new year! I loved reading all about your Christmas week there and seeing your pictures. We did look up Lubeck and it does look pretty incredible! What did you get to do this week? I think it's cool that as a Sister training leader you get to travel around and see lots of different places and be with lots of sisters!

One thing...you said you got a big thing of peanut butter. Did that come with anything else, like a pillow perhaps? We didn't send peanut butter, but Missy Webster has been trying to send you an Amazon order with peanut butter and a pillow. So I think that might have been from her! Let me know, and I'll get you her email address so you can thank her.

I also forgot to tell you that Grandma Bonnie gave you $50 for Christmas that I'll put in your account so you may want to thank her as well.

As for us here this week...

It has been VERY cold! I'm glad we went sledding the week before Christmas because our highs have only been about 18degrees this week!

So Monday morning Dad and I went to the gym then after that we took everyone to the Peanuts movie. It was cute. Dad's a lot like Charlie Brown. Then I got started with River on painting her room. She's a persistent one, that girl. I put her off on both Saturday and Sunday so we HAD to get to work on Monday. She actually helped a lot and we worked hard and got most of it done.

Tuesday was an interesting day. Dad went down to the barn with Hadlie and me to look at some of Nancy's lighting in the barn. She was having a pretty hard morning not being able to get some things working. We stayed there for quite a while helping. Mostly removing a lot of poop from the barn. While we were down there Dad received a call from Colten. Colt proceeded to tell Dad that he shot River's bb gun IN THE HOUSE and made a hole in one of our kitchen windows! Yes, you read that correctly. The boy we gave a SHOTGUN to for Christmas, totally did not use his head and chose to shoot the bb gun inside the house. He wanted to see if the bb's were really going through the styrofoam target the girls had been using outside. So he set it up on the kitchen counter and totally shot it. So we've got a window to replace.

The rest of Tuesday I spent finishing River's room. I was pretty exhausted when the day was over. Dad and Colten put together her dresser and helped hang the curtains. Colten also took the girls and they all went to a new movie, Point Break.

Wednesday Dad and I went to the gym then I went next door and got a pedicure which felt great. Then we took the family to Red Lobster for lunch. Everyone but Hadlie loves it. After lunch the girls and I went to Hobby Lobby and Target for a few odds and ends for River's room. She spent all her Christmas money. Dad helped her hang all her shelves and pictures and it was done!

Thursday was New Year's Eve. I spent most of the day trying to take down Christmas decorations. Dad took Hadlie and Colten shooting in the afternoon. It was freezing cold but at least Colten got to try his gun out. River and I met them over at Grandma Bonnie's later that afternoon for the big New Year's Eve party. Colten left to go to a party but Hadlie and River stayed with us. Paige, Lexi and Abbi were all there too so they all had fun together. We played some really fun games. Katelyn and Luke brought a really fun one called Telestrations which is kind of like "telephone" but with drawings. We stayed til midnight and then came home in the freezing weather!

Friday Brooke came over and cut Hadlie and Dad's hair. I had to go to the store for a few things and then we mostly stayed home. I continued to clean up and Dad has been pretty consumed with projects in his music room. He did finish a song he wrote for me. It's really good but about the process of raising a family and how life changes so it's a little emotional too.

Yesterday we sort of celebrated Hadlie's birthday. We went to lunch at Olive Garden (her choice) and then she and her friend Sadie went for pedicures. Then we picked up Cold Stone ice cream (that's what she wanted for a cake) and came home and opened presents. She got a few go pro supplies, a Bluetooth speaker and new boots. Then she and Sadie hung out here for the rest of the evening. Colten and I went to see a movie, The Martian, which was good but had bad language. River went to babysit Brooke's kids.

And here we are on Sunday morning. Dad and I will start teaching our new Sunday School class today. There are only 4 seniors in our ward right now. Colten is one of them. Weird to have such a small group! Then my family will be over for dinner today to celebrate Hadlie and Briggs! Briggs will be FIVE this month! And then we're going to Liz's to watch the first episode of the last season of Downton Abby.

Well - you'll have to share with us your goals and process of making them so we can be inspired! I hope you have a good week. I love and will pray for you every day!

Love - Mom

 

Sunday December 27, 2015
Dear Cassidy -
 
Hi! It seems kind of funny emailing you today because I don't have a lot of info to report on. It was so so so great to talk to you on Christmas! I loved every minute of it. I loved hearing a few new things that we didn't know before! We went over to Grammy & Papa's right after our phone call and it was funny - everyone wanted to know how you were and what you said so we had to do a report where everyone sat and listened to us talk about you! They all loved hearing your voice that we recorded for a few minutes.

I'll give you a quick rundown of our first week of Christmas break...

Monday Dad and I got up and went to the gym together which is one of my favorite things about Christmas break actually. Then I took the kids to meet Brittney, Chelsie and Brooke's family ice skating. It was fun other than River spent about 2 minutes on the ice before falling and hurting her hand. She's ok though. She decided to take her splint off on Christmas morning and she's been fine. After skating we did a few errands including picking up chips and salsa from Los Hermanos and then I took River to the doctor for her hand. That night was our St. John Christmas party that we told you about and I will try to send the videos of each group's sweaters and songs.

Tuesday Hadlie and I went to help Nancy at the barn for an hour and give her her Christmas present. We got her a pair of boots - the lace up looking combat ones that have a zipper on the side. Just from Payless. You would've thought we got her a new horse. She was so excited! It was cute. After that I went with Dad to go to the new Star Wars movie. His work rented out a theater so we got to go for free! I thought the movie was really good. I'll put it on your list:) That night I finished up neighbor and friend gifts. Hadlie and her friend Sadie made a few sugar cookies in prep for our Wed. activities.

Wednesday morning I got up and took myself to the doctor. For about the last week or so I'd been having some burning while going to the bathroom and urgency to go often. Tues. night it got pretty bad so I decided to go in. I got there at about 8:30 and it was a blizzard. Serious snow blowing sideways. I got checked out and given and antibiotic for a urinary tract infection and went on my way. Britt, Chels & Brooke's families all came over to decorate sugar cookies. We had made a whole batch of cookies plus the half batch Hadlie made the night before. We had a lot of cookies! We did two shifts of decorating. The big kids, then the little kids. Everyone went home with their own plate of cookies. After that Brittney had to leave but the rest of us went sledding! We went to the secret sledding spot that (bless your hearts) you and your boys found a few year ago! It is the best! I'll send pictures. After sledding we delivered our neighbor/friend gifts and then we were starving so we got French fries and hot chocolate right before dinner!

Thursday was Christmas Eve. Colten played soccer in the morning. Dad and I went to the gym. We got a movie to watch from the redbox and did that together. Then we went to Chelsie's for tacos and the nativity. We also played a fun game called Rollick. It's pretty much charades, but backwards where only one person guesses and the rest of the group acts the word out. It was funny! Also, grandma Stewart is here. On Tuesday morning she fell in the bathroom and had to go to the hospital. She was fine, just a little bruised. She came to Chelsie's for Christmas Eve and did well there. She's really gone downhill in her memory since you left. She can't remember names very well anymore. Her long term memory is good still but she can't remember where she puts things, or if she reads something she can't remember the next day. It's sad and really hard for Grammy to see her mom like that.

Friday was Christmas! And we got up at the designated time (5) and did all the regular things. Then we got to talk to you! We had lunch and a few presents at Grammy & Papa's and then we headed over to the St. John's. We had another lunch/dinner there and then the small kids opened a couple of toys and Grandma gave everyone else money. Things have greatly simplified over there and that's a good thing! We were done with everything and home by about 7 pm.

Yesterday Dad and I went to the gym. Colten played soccer. River cleaned out her room in prep for painting next week:) After the gym Hadlie, her friend Sadie and I went to do our work at the barn. It was about 15 degrees so we had to bundle up for reals. Grammy & Papa & Grandma Stewart came over to see everyone's gifts and then I had to take the girls to Target. We had to exchange Hadlie's gopro because it was missing the memory card. And River got some new storage bins for her room. That was about it.

All in all it's been a great week! I'm so thankful we got a chance to talk to you and I am so thankful and happy that you are doing so well! It is a blessing to be healthy and happy and you seem to be both! I love you so much and hope you have a good week there. I'll try to remember to send you a screen shot of your forecast - it might be getting colder soon:)

Love you so much! - Mom

 

Sunday December 20, 2015
Dear Cass -

Hi there! How was your week? I'm anxious to see some pictures of where you're living and the Hamburg area. Is it way bigger than anywhere else you've served? Have you been to another Christmas Markt?

So for here - we are in full Christmas mode. This week has been pretty crazy busy, but in a good way!

Monday was CRAZY! We had a very busy day planned and then it snowed, a bunch! Did you get my picture? I had to snow blow & shovel by myself in the middle of the day. I had to pick up the Jr. High carpool that afternoon and we barely made it up the hill! Then I had to take Hadlie to piano and Grammy & Papa were coming over for dinner that night. We met Grammy at the golf course and shuttled her up the hill. Colten stayed at school late so he didn't have to try to drive up the hill and then he met Papa at the Honeybaked store to pick up our Christmas ham. Luckily the snow plow finally came and Colt & Dad were both able to get their cars up the hill. We then all went in the van back down to go to the Festival of Lights. Everybody likes that! Then we ate a delicious dinner and then shuttled them back down the hill to their car. After that Dad snow blowed again.

Tuesday morning I think I was really anxious about the snow and getting everyone to school so I woke up at 4 am and snow blowed the driveway and sidewalk. It stopped snowing that morning and the big snow plow came to our street so it all turned out fine. Hadlie's choir sang at the malls that day so I went to the University mall to do some Christmas shopping and watch Hadlie. I tried really hard to make that my last shopping day, which of course didn't work. River also needed a white elephant gift so after school we hit up the dollar store for that.

Wednesday I helped in River's class for gingerbread houses. Remember how exciting that was in sixth grade?! Then I went to our NAET appointment and dropped off our Sub for Santa stuff at Mr. Buck's class. Then I had to do more shopping:/ That night everyone went to YM/YW and Dad and I took a whole car load of playground balls and equipment over to Aunt Wendy's house. I'm not sure if you heard that as the big St. John family we decided not to do presents for families and to donate a bunch of playground equipment to a family who is going to Mexico to restore a school playground.

Thursday I did my work at the barn in the morning and was actually able to spend most of the day at home doing laundry, etc. It was very pleasant actually. That afternoon Hadlie and I worked extra hard at the barn because Nancy was pretty much in a pickle and hadn't been able to clean the stalls properly all week. It was nice to be able to help her and we were tired! Hadlie then went to help at the Primary Polar Express activity and Colten went to the opening night of Star Wars!

Friday was pretty crazy too! I actually had time to go the gym so that was nice. Then I went visiting teaching with Sister Barney. Dad then took a half day off and we went to Five Guys! Yay. And then he helped me go grocery shopping! I mean, what a good guy! That evening I went to the Conference Center concert with Brooke and Chelsie. We ended up getting a few tickets and Dad didn't really want to go in all the traffic so I took the sisters. And it took us almost 3 hours to get there! There's just SO much traffic. No accidents even. We got there a few minutes late and it was enjoyable once we got there. It was good and all about Handel's messiah. It was a late night for me.

Saturday (yesterday) the girls and I got to go to the Nutcracker with Karron, Katie & Kortney. Grammy also came with us. We did our traditional lunch at Brick Oven and then the ballet. It was fun as usual. That night Colten had his fun Skate Date which I'll let him tell you about. Dad and I also watched Ricky & Natalie's kids while they went to the Conference Center concert. The boys were good but like Dad to play with them the whole time. Violet is a bit of a fussy baby but she did ok with us. River helped out a little and Hadlie was hanging out with Cassidy Christensen.

Today we had our Christmas program at church. The choir did awesome and we have multiple professional like musicians in this ward so it was really good! After church we made omelets. We've been on a good rotation of either having roast or making omelets. We've tripled our egg intake I think since Dad was diagnosed with diabetes. And here we are now. I made a whole batch of sugar cookie dough and the kids are making their allotted tray of cookies right now. We are all very excited to be on Christmas break now. We've scheduled some fun activities for the week here before Christmas. I'll be sure to take pictures:)

I love you VERY VERY much and hope you're happy and feeling more healthy! I'll be anxious to hear what the plan is for talking with you on Friday!
Love - Mom 

 

 

Sunday December 13, 2015
Dear Cass -

Hi! HOW IS HAMBURG? My goodness, I can't wait to hear! Your week must have been crazy! Was Lucy sad to see you go? Did you know the sister that took your place?

I'll give you my update here for the week, but really I just want to hear how you are!

Monday was a normal day. Yay. I was finally feeling better enough to go to the gym. I worked on laundry and went grocery shopping. I also went to MMHS and bought poinsettias from the horticulture class! We had a good FHE and looked at all the church's Christmas media. They sure have a lot of stuff out there right now. We loved the A Savior is Born. I'm not sure what else you're allowed to look at but we have enjoyed the Christmas GIFS - little video animations that go along with a scripture all related to Christ's birth and we also checked out the 12 days of sharing on social media with a bunch of famous Mormon people sharing testimonies, etc.

Tuesday was busy. I met Chelsie at Snelsons photo lab to help her order some big family pictures for her wall. I also helped let the horses out and in this day because Nancy had to take her husband to get dentures and they were gone all day. River had a dentist appointment to get sealants. She also lost her last tooth this week - our last lost tooth of our family:(  Colten had a rough night of trying to do math with dad. He had to miss going to the school basketball game and his friend Thomas ended up coming over to help him.

Wednesday things were pretty normal. I wrapped a few presents and took present inventory while everyone was at school. That night Hadlie and River had a Beehive class party at their leader Sister Levi's house. They each had to take a white elephant gift. There was much discussion whether this gift should be funny (what a true white elephant gift would be) or something that you'd actually want. They ended up taking something you'd actually want. A cute hot chocolate mug, and some lip glosses.

Thursday I spent a lot of the day at the barn. Can you hardly wait to get home to come to the barn with us? Now that we spend so much time there. It's weird to think you've never been there. That evening I had a practice for the Ward party program. I was playing the piano for a few things. After that we took our Christmas jar money and went shopping. We decided to help with Sub for Santa for 2 boys. Hadlie's journalism teacher Mr. Buck is in charge of handling that through their school so he gave us the info and went shopping for coats and boots, etc. The kids (Colten) get very distracted while in stores, by the way. We were able to get most everything we needed but its busy out there and there are a lot of people shopping! We went to 3 stores in search of a boys coat size 14. I ended up having to get one somewhere else the next day! We also decided with Dad's family that instead of giving gifts to each other we would participate this year in a service. A family in Wendy's ward is headed to Mexico over Christmas break to restore/improve a school playground. So we're all donating playground equipment for them. So we also shopped for that. All I will say is, I hope the kids remember doing some of these service things and participating because it'd sure be easier for me to shop for things by myself than with everyone:) When we were driving home it started to snow. We had an inch or so but that's it.

Friday I spent most of the day at Brooke's getting my hair done. It's always fun to be with her for a little while. On the way home I stopped at a couple of stores and was able to find that coat we were looking for. We had our ward party Friday night. Colten and River left for friend's houses after dinner, before the program. We took Hadlie to Costco to get a blanket she wanted to buy for herself and that was about it for the night.

Saturday is a special day. It’s the day we do all the stuff we didn't get to in the week. Dad always has some project around the house...Yesterday it was getting rid of some boxes in the storage room (which is freezing cold these days!) and he also took Colten to get a giant piece of foam board for Colten's latest duck tape project. Something for his room. He also helped Hadlie fix her tuner on her guitar. Hadlie and I did our work at the barn and I also worked on a FHE lesson kit that I've been asked to teach for relief society night in January - they want to display it this week though. Hadlie also made gingerbread cookies! By herself! And they are delicious. And we watched Home Alone.

There's our week. It's a great time of year. The kids are excited (mostly Hadlie). Colten definitely has the Christmas spirit and I'm having him choose many of our activities/plans since this is it for him! Even though stores are crowded and there's a lot of people everywhere most people seem very happy.

Today I'll go to the YSA ward. I haven't been in a few weeks. Have you heard from Avery yet? I don't know anything else about the situation.

I hope there's a Christmas Markt near you there. And do you know when you get to call for Christmas??? Can't wait to hear from you tomorrow!

Love you - Mom

 River lost her last tooth! The last lost tooth of our house!

Sunday December 6, 2015

Hello sweet girl! Happy December! I hope your week was wonderful and you are adjusting to whatever news you have for us about transfers.

Your week last week sounded long and sort of exhausting full of ups and downs. A true missionary week! I'm anxious to hear an update about the Meckels. That family worries me. I'm SURE you've learned a lot of important lessons from them. Mostly I think it's incredible and sad all at the same time to see the effect of parents choices on their children. It sure is important for parents to be committed one to another and to the Gospel. Simply living the commandments can be such a blessing to our kids I think.
Your zone conferences sound really fun and uplifting. And when you get to spend the night with other sisters - what a treat! I'm so grateful you're having these experiences!!!
So...our week around here...

I mentioned last week that I came home from our Thanksgiving vacation starting to feel sick. I was just coughing a lot. Well, by Monday it was a little worse. I still went to the gym Monday morning and did the normal day things. We went to the BYU Art Museum to see a Norman Rockwell (painter) exhibit. It was good. We saw Savannah's family there.

Tuesday I was SICK. Slight fever, coughing, sneezing, etc. I was home most of the day doing laundry and hanging out by myself. I went with Colt that afternoon for a checkup on his planters wart on his foot. It seems to be getting better and he didn't have to do another treatment. We finished decorating the tree that night.

Wednesday I was feeling a little better. I tried to finish a little decorating but I didn't move too quickly on that. That evening Dad and I attended his work party. It was nice. Dad doesn't talk too much about his work and certainly not their successes so it's always nice for me to go to those things and hear a little bit of the positive. They also announced that next summer they're taking all the employees and their families for 3 days to Snowbird or Park City to stay and do fun activities.

Thursday I spent a good deal of the day at the barn letting horses out and in, feeding them and cleaning stalls. Then that evening we headed up to SLC to the GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKT! Are you proud of us???! I had heard that it was happening and then Brad & Kelli Allen asked if we wanted to meet up there. So we went. It was at the This is the Place Heritage Park right by the zoo. They had a lantern parade which was led by Pres. Uchtdorf and his wife. There were A LOT of people there so I couldn't get a picture of him. Then they had the candy bomber guy speak. We heard some of his talk and then went inside the food tent to eat. The food was catered by the restaurant in SLC that we ate at with Brad & Kelli. Then they lit up the big tree! It was really fun to see all of that. They also had little shops set up. I was hoping it would be all German type things, but it really was more like a Fiesta Days feel. Anyway - it was really fun to be in a little German atmosphere with the music playing, walking around the shops, etc. thinking about you!

Friday I got to go to Shirley Hale's house to work on a service project with her. She donates little tiny blankets for stillborn babies every year since she had that late miscarriage. So I went to help her work on those for a little while. It was fun to see and talk with her! After school Hadlie, River and I went to the mall. Hadlie's signed up to get emails from Bath & Body works. They're having their big Christmas sale and she's been DYING to go! So we went and ended up getting a few more things than just B&BW. We've been on the hunt for some winter dresses for those two. It's hard! And for some reason I have children who have a hard time being nice while their shopping. I don't get it. Really. We found a couple of things and had Taco Bell for dinner.

Hadlie babysat for Brooke Fri night. Brooke and I met Saturday morning and after getting Hadlie we headed for the horses. We did our work there, came home, Hadlie helped Dad with the Christmas lights (!) which became an all day project. We did our second round at the horses and River and I went to get a few groceries for Sunday dinner. She's a very expensive shopping partner. Had me buying all kinds of things:/ We finished decorating the house, finally and then I could finally sweep the floor! Christmas tree needles everywhere I tell you! Last night we all settled in (except for Colten who has a very social life right now) and watched Christmas with the Kranks. Funny as always.

Today Dad stayed home from church for the first time in forever. He's got my cold of course.

We had my family over for dinner to celebrate Bryton & Brooke's birthdays. Bryton is about 4 inches taller than me now! He's going to be way tall by the time you get home! Anyway - we had a good dinner. Molly came and that was fun to talk to her.

Today at church Sister Haderlie asked Hadlie if it was fun to have River in Beehives with her. Uhhh. Hadlie didn't even pretend like that was a yes. How sad. I really hope and pray that one day these sisters of yours can like each other. And I'll still be around to see it.

Well - I hope you are ready for another week and that the baptism in ON! Can't wait to hear. And when do you have your big Christmas meeting and get our package???

I love you so much Cass! Keep up the great work and stay positive!

Love - Mom