6 December 2015

Dear ones,
   Gran and I just finished watching the Christmas devotional; I hope that many of you got to see it too, or will be able to soon. It was very sweet, with many wonderful messages. President Monson didn't speak, although, I think he was there. 
   It's been another busy week, we've had a little bit of snow, but not much, really. A couple of cold nights when we kept the faucet running a little to keep from having frozen pipes. But not too bad right now.
    I'm a little envious of your snow in Minneapolis, Sam! And thank you for your letter, and the pictures! I would like to have been there when the VW was moved around to the back yard garage! Congratulations to Maddie and Macy on their graduation! Looks like you and Brad had a nice time that weekend. I hope one of you will share the bowling picture from this weekend with the rest of our group! 
   Thank you Ben, for your letter too. I would love to have been at Joseph's piano recital!  And you are getting snow too!  It seems like so long since we've had much snow... Thank you for the pictures from your hike! I'm glad that you and Lynsey got to go see Roman Holiday, on a big screen. I knew it was happening somewhere near here, but wasn't able to attend.
   Last week we had Janice Enno's funeral; she lived in that little house just south of the tracks by the Merc. And tonight I just found out that Connie (Bradshaw) Davis, passed away today. She was Ron's sister, and lived down in the Egin area that is in Parker 2nd Ward now. She was a good lady.
   I haven't taken a picture of the new pickup yet!  I meant to do that, but now tonight it's too dark. I'll try to get that done very soon. I don't drive it much, but it sure is nice! 
   I have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed the past few days. So I included myself in my fast this weekend. I'm still a little whelmed, but not overly so. :)  I didn't even feel better at the end of my fast...it was several hours later that a more peaceful feeling came. There just doesn't seem to be enough of me to go around sometimes.  I'm sure you all feel similarly, especially now, during the holidays. I'm glad I got to watch the devotional tonight; it really helped. And I had just come from having a nice visit with Grandpa and Grandma too. It always helps when you know you make a difference to someone else.
   Gran and I are going to watch a movie tonight...we like to watch chick flicks when Dad is out of town!  But I sure miss you, dear!  Looking forward to coming to get you in Boise, this Thursday night! 
   Kevin, I just got your Christmas package sent off yesterday. Please let me know when it arrives...I'm curious to know how long it will take to get to you. 
   Love to you all!  Mom/Johanna/Nana

Hey-

We all had a great weekend together in Denver. The bowling was fun!! Pretty tight games, as well. I think Dad threw 3-4 strikes once he started using my ball - I didn't mind sharing until his score was higher than mine!! Haha. Nothing to be envious about, Mom - I hear our snow is almost all gone!  The girls were able to get some good playtime out in the snow earlier in the week, though. Even Alida was bundled up playing in the snow when I got home from work one day last week. The city makes a little mound of snow in the circle - much like our "Goliath" snow mounds in Egin back in the day -good times! I'm sure we will get more snow in the next few weeks though....it is Minnesota!! 

Brad and Joseph had a good time at the Park Meadows Mall on Saturday. Most of the time was spent in the massage chairs at Brookstone, and then some time was spent in the VERY cool Tesla store. The boys just happened to find the high-end model with a price tag of only 130K, which is a bargain for a car that goes from 0-60 mph in only 2.8 seconds, and doesn't burn a drop of gasoline in doing so - not too shabby! 

My plane is backing up from the gate now....I'm gonna attach some pics and send this off before I drop cell service. 

Sam

Hello all,

Since Sam was cut short.....I'll just add a few short words while I wait for his plane to make it back to MN  

Apologies in advance for attaching so many pictures. I hope I don't clog up anyone's inbox. I'm not great with pictures or gauging email sizes. 

As many of you know we have been very busy the past few weeks re-arranging almost every room in the house. I took a few pictures tonight of the progress we have made so far. There are still many "projects" left but they are almost all cosmetic now and we are getting closer to finishing everyday. Yay! 

Play room is now a gym/big kid play area with ping pong, darts, wii and hopefully a bike trainer soon. 

Tv room is now the play room. 

Porch is now our tv room. 

Living room has adopted our old trusty leather couches. (I like cleaning yogurt off of those much better than the cloth sectional) 🏻

Laundry room now doubles as a warm place to store bikes and koi fish. 

Alida still doesn't talk much. The only word she uses regularly and correctly is "cracker". The girl loves her food.  She is so fun tho....She loves to joke and make people laugh and she is a pro with shaking her head yes and no as well as many other hand signs. 

Macy is growing like a weed! She put on a pair of jeans yesterday and they came to her mid calf.....they seriously fit her perfectly just 2 weeks ago. She has been struggling with bloody noses for the past three weeks. She never fails to reminds me to give her saline spray before bed (even tho it is no fun). Between that and her humidifier I think we have it under control. 

Maddie is LOVING gymnastics (so is Macy) so, so much!  She is built for it both physically and mentally. It is a 3-5 year old class through the school district and is coached by the Rosemount HS gymnastics coach. She is the only one that I have seen so far that can pull herself up (like a pull up) on the bar and stay up for the full 10 seconds with no assistance. The other kids are placed on the bar by the coach and typically hold for about 5-7 seconds. She is quiet the artist as well and is the main reason we needed an entire wall in the toy room to display their art work. She never goes a day without drawing and I love how detailed her drawing are becoming. I included a picture she drew today of Sam watering the plants. It makes me smile. 

That's about it for the Humphries girls. We have lots of fun while the boys are away....but we sure will be glad to all be together in less than two weeks.