27 January 2019

 Hi everyone,

   I know there is a lot of sickness going around; more than half of our patients at the hospital recently have been influenza and primarily RSV. Normally, the most common age of our patients is over 70 years old, but now it's been less than one year old! I hope you all are doing well and that if sickness comes, it passes quickly!

   Also, I'm hearing that some of you (Minnesota) are having some extreme cold! Our winter, so far, hasn't been too severe. Please stay safe and warm!

   Recently, over Marco Polo, I told Aimee how I feel that Stephen's mission will be a blessing to our whole family. Today I went to the Spanish Branch's Ward Conference. President Moon told about his son Bubba (Branson), who is in the Arkansas, Bentonville, mission. President Moon told about his younger sister, who isn't a member of the church, is married to a guy from St. Anthony, who isn't a member either. He said his younger sister was the roughest, toughest woman St. Anthony ever knew. She is very sweet, he said, but has lived a very rough lifestyle. She and her husband, Rick, live in Post Falls, Idaho. He got a call from her the other day to tell him that she came home from the grocery store and there was her husband, talking to the missionaries!. Then she found out that he had invited them to come back for dinner! He called her back the day after the dinner and found out that they enjoyed the discussion and the evening with the elders and that they needed help with something and her husband volunteered to help and to drive them where they needed to go. She told President Moon, "Bubba has always been Rick's favorite kid and he thought he ought to be good to these missionaries, like he hoped the people in Arkansas would be good to Bubba." This is a blessing that President Moon thought would never happen; that his sister and brother-in-law would ever do this is amazing to him. 

   I'll include a picture of Elder Moon, when he ran into Elder and Sister (Arden and Alita) Stoddard, at the MTC in Provo. You can tell how happy they were to run into each other. 

   I hope you all have a good week and that we hear from some of you. It would be great to add your emails to our family history.

   Love you all, bunches!

Mom/Johanna/Nana

Hey everyone-

Thanks for the email, Mom. The story from President Moon is neat - I’m hopeful his sister and family can make some long term changes that will bring greater happiness and peace to their life. Missionary service can bring blessings in numerous ways - no doubt! 

We have been SUPER sick around here! It all started with Maddie having strep throat and stomach flu last weekend and it went downhill from there. Bradley’s stomach flu ended up striking him on his flight back to Denver on Monday night, which was no fun at all. I’d rather get sick with the stomach flu pretty much anywhere other than on an airplane! We all felt (and still do) terrible about! Brad missed more school last week as a result of being sick. Natalie ended up with the stomach bug Monday night as well. I put it off until Wednesday, but it did get me. Just as I was getting over the stomach bug, Natalie came down with a bad head cold - she is still fighting that one. And Alida is currently in my arms with a fever. She had the stomach bug starting Friday and just can’t seem to shake this fever - hopefully soon. Macy is the only one not to have anything so far. She did have the stomach flu about three weeks ago - so she must have already paid her seasonal sickness dues.

And yes - it’s wicked cold up here in the frozen north!! It was -15 going to church this morning. It’s supposed to get close to -30 this week, so there is a good chance schools will be closed at least one day this week. Can’t be outside too long with these temps - dangerous! However, Maddie and I attended a baptism Friday night and when we left, there were 6-8 guys playing hockey at the rink behind the church and it was about -8 at that time. Crazy! 

We had a great MLK weekend together other than the sickness. Brad and I got the BSH route done - even tho the truck’s fuel was constantly trying to gel on us - we got it done! And after the truck run we all went to the girls’ dance recital in Farmington - it was awesome! And thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes - much appreciated. 

On Friday Brad jumped in and helped us build a shoe bench - he was a natural on that impact gun trigger! And that night, we went ice fishing with Jack and Brian Migliori. We pulled on 17 fish - good times! 

Our mud room project is nearing completion of phase 1 - thank goodness! It’s been a big job, but well worth it! Natalie is painting as I type this email - we just can’t get enough DIY around here! Haha! 

Hope everyone is happy and healthy! 

Some pics below. 

This is the shoe bench Bradley helped build. Plenty of room for all my shoes - not sure where Natalie will be putting hers tho...

Bradley working the Kregg-Jig. 

The girls at their dance recital. 

Ice fishing Friday night - the ice was 13” thick. I felt pretty comfortable driving the Yukon out there. 

All the kids playing the hottest game in the land - - Sleeping Queens!! Thanks again, Weavers! 

Our next door neighbors invited us to Skate City - good times! The blurry girl to Maddie’s left is our neighbor, Audrey.

 

Macy and Alida used these little PVC stabilization doohickeys - they were a hit!

And here is Natalie slaving away with her paint brush. 

We are supposed to get 8” of snow tonight before the really cold temps hit Tuesday and Wednesday. Great time to come for a visit, right? First come first serve - don’t everyone phone at once. Haha! 

I think the weather people are being a little dramatic....

But when the high is going to be -15. I guess that’s worth getting a little excited about. We’ll see..  

Samuel Humphries 

Stanley Access Technologies 

952-656-6068