20 March 2016

Hi everybody,
   I'm not feeling too good; started feeling bad late yesterday afternoon. Cough, a little sore throat, achy, etc... I'm sure it will pass soon. I've just been taking it easy since coming home after church.  I even slept through the home teachers visit.
   I hope that you all are well.  Can't think of much to say.  I hope that some of you will write...I'd love to hear what'ts going on in your lives.  Love you bunches!  Mom/Johanna/Nana

Hello Wonderful Family!!

Mom,   

Sorry to hear you are not feeling well, I hope you feel better soon.  We have had a very full and fun weekend here in Denver.  We've had some friends staying with us since Thursday that are in town from Utah.  We had an amazing turn out for our Easter party on Saturday afternoon.  Also since it snowed on Friday we moved the egg hunting part of the party over to the church building.  It worked out very well with all the rooms to hide eggs in.  After the egg hunt everyone joined us back at our house for decorating eggs and dinner.  Sam and Brad were able to be here with us for the party also.  

Saturday morning Joseph and I went with Sam and Brad to the Denver Auto Show downtown.  I've attached a picture of the boys sitting in one of the many cars that they tried out.  Looking at that picture gives me a hint of things to come with Joseph and Brad. I think Sam will have a few more pictures to share.  While at the car show we saw Clint Williams and his family.  His wife and kids were there as well as his dad and brother.  Also David Grossnickle was with them.  It was nice to see them and chat for a few minutes.

A couple of weeks ago when Dad was in town for work he was able to come see us for dinner.  We were staying with the Bezzant kids that week so he joined us for dinner with them.  It was very nice getting to see you Dad, and you were a hit with everyone for bringing the doughnuts and cinnamon rolls.  

I've got a movie recommendation for you all.  It's called "Midnight" and was made in 1939. Claudette Colbert is the star.  Some friends showed it to us and we enjoyed it very much. If you can find it it's worth checking out.  

Hope you all have a great week!!

Love, 

Ben, Lynsey, and Joseph

Hi everyone!

Mom, I'm so sorry you aren't feeling well!  I hope it does pass very soon!!

And Ben, I love the picture of Joseph and Brad!  Sounds like a lot of fun!!!  Lynsey, you are amazing with parties!!

Most of the kids and I just got home a couple hours ago from Montana.  We drove two cars and had a bit of car trouble on the way, with both vehicles.  Kind of crazy!  But nothing too serious.  The muffler on James' car fell off twice, so he had to stop at an auto part store to get something to fix it, I have no idea what.  Then a couple of the spark plugs came loose in the van.  James had to find another auto part store to get spark plugs, but the plugs in the van are just about impossible to get to, especially on the side of the highway.  We were able to drive it to Missoula to the Firestone tire place there and they had it fixed in under an hour!  And we had no problems coming home!  Hooray!

Anyway, James and Annie are staying in Montana for a couple of days to help Steve and Kathy move into Grandma Staples' house.  Her funeral was very nice.  She had written her own life sketch 10 or more years ago so it was missing the last few years, but it was neat to hear her life story in her own words.  She mostly talked about working on the ranch and work or projects she had done in the different homes they lived in.  She was definitely a hard worker!  It was very nice to be able to see so much of James' family.  12 of the 13 kids were there!  We were missing Dajae.  I can't quite explain it, but to me it felt like the 12 who were there seemed closer and more like real siblings than ever before.  And it was very nice to see James' uncles, aunts, and few cousins that were there.  Their little branch put on an amazing luncheon for all of us too!  SO much food!!!  I really don't know how they did it, there are so few people in the branch. 

The kids had spring break this last week, so they are headed back to school tomorrow.  I don't think anyone is too excited about it.  Summer is just around the corner though! 

Love you all so very much!

Hey folks-

It's been too long since I've chimed in on the family email - it's been kinda quite up in our neck of the woods I guess. We're all doing pretty good though, other than Nat coming down with some sort of stomach bug this weekend. I hope her and Mom both feel better soon. 

Aimee- sorry to hear about your car problems - I'm sure that made your trip a little more adventurous than expected. We actually have some Econoline vans in our fleet at work and they have all had issues with spark plugs - seems like a common issue. Is James still driving that Civic where I installed that sweet cardboard window insert? Remember that, Stephen?? Haha! I hope to be (even tho I will be very tempted to upgrade) driving the Honda I have for a really long time, as well. I drove it to Denver for the first time this past weekend and it did super well - much more efficient than our van! 

A funny thing happened Saturday night after Brad and I got back to Nick Lasalle's place. Brad wasn't quit ready for bed, so we decided to do a game of Scrabble. Brad has been a big Scrabble fan since Gran introduced the game to him last summer. Anyway, we played until we were too tired to think clearly and were coming up with some interesting words, so we just ended it early. Some of you have seen Bradley's middle of the night behavior, so this won't come as a big surprise, but still comical. About 1am, I was woken up by Bradley wandering around the bedroom (with the light on) mumbling about how he had two E's but needed an L, as if he was going to find one on the floor somewhere??. "I have two E's - need an L". I was pretty confused myself until I realized he was sleep walking and dreaming about the letters he needed for some Scrabble word!?! I helped him get back in bed and turned out the light. It was interesting and funny all at the same time, and of course, he didn't remember anything Sunday morning - he's a character!, 

Alida is slowly starting to use some words such as: go, uh oh, sit down, and a few other simple words and phrases. It's been fun to see her enjoy the reaction of the older girls - they both love trying to get her to speak. 

I'm sure some of you are already familiar with Dave Ramsey, but if you aren't, he's worth checking out. I listened to several of his Pod-casts on my drive last night. He offers super common sense money/business advise. Nothing revolutionary, but still good stuff - I recommend him to everyone. 

I believe we're on the verge of some home decor changes/updates at our place - Nat came up with a few ideas while I was in CO.....stay tuned for some before and after pics!

Love you guys - hope you are doing well. Come see us in the frozen tundra!!

P.S. - here is a pic of the boys standing with their favorite Lamborghini of the show. 

And here is a pic of Maddie giving me one of her SUPER intense hugs!! She is really strong - seriously, watch out!