7 April 2019

 Monday: work.  New scripture to ponderize . . .

Just the last part of 1 Nephi 19:23

". . . for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning." 

Tuesday: stomach problems, didn't go to work. Maybe my gallbladder? This evening, Len and I are getting caught up on Call the Midwife . . . as much as Netflix has anyway. 

Wednesday: work. Made and appointment with my doctor (nurse practitioner), Becky Jeppson, for next Monday. Hopefully she can help me figure out what's going on with my health! :) That's also the day I go see Dr. Eysser to find out if I'm ready to be without the knee immobilizer and start physical therapy. With two doctor appointments, I'll probably need to work into the evening. 

Thursday: I went to the viewing for Jim Wood after work. He and his wife Laverna, were our neighbors when I was a kid growing up on South 2nd East, in Rexburg. Laverna passed away years ago. She was a good woman. Their son, Steve, is my age. I saw him last at Lisa Ellis's mother's funeral. Steve, Lisa, and I had a nice visit this evening. 

Friday: Worked late, trying to be caught up for my weekend co-workers, and some ER admissions at the end of my shift. 

Saturday: We got to watch some of General Conference. Then this afternoon we picked up Thad and Tecia Garner (Thad is Len's chief deputy), and together we went to Island Park for the Search and Rescue dinner. After dinner many of them retired to the bar, and the rest of us went home. We got to listen to some of the Priesthood session on the radio (BYUI station) as we drove. 

Sunday: Stayed home! Watched Conference! All so wonderful and all the new Temples; Okinawa and Budapest are the two I was most excited about! 

Well, I'm looking forward to Elder Mobley's next email, as usual. Always good to hear from him.  And Heidi's birthday is on Wednesday!  Happy birthday, Heidi dear! 

I hope you all had a chance to enjoy Conference, and if you didn't get to see it all (like us), that you'll get to see or read it soon. Love to each one of you. I hope you're doing well and know how much you're loved. Please write when you can. 

Mom/Johanna/Nana  

Hello Everyone,

Mom, I like your weekly summary and will try to follow your lead.  I'll try to take daily notes this week so I'm not reliant on my memory.  :)

Monday: Most Monday's are a little bit crazy for me at work. I'd guess I'm not alone in that. I didn't have any April Fools day pranks pulled on me so that's a good thing.   

Tuesday:  I went up to my office in Frederick for a service team meeting and our leadership meeting.  Both were very productive.  I also saw that someone in my office did have some April fools fun.  One of our accounting team was on vacation the week before on a cruise and so her desk was decorated with a tropical island theme.  

Also, Tuesday is our ward youth activity night.  Joseph's teachers' quorum activity was practicing starting fires without matches or typical easy options, I did see that a fire was started and s'mores were eaten.  I was with the deacons working on the personal fitness merit badge.  It's pretty funny working with the deacons now.  We have one that is almost as tall as me and two of these new 11-year-olds that are still very small.  

Wednesday:  I dropped our van off at the autobody repair shop to get the front bumper replaced.  It was damaged quite a while ago but should be done this week.  There were some delays in the process, but the guy that hit the van does have insurance and I'm grateful for that.  

Thursday:  I had a meeting downtown with a contractor that's doing a remodel of some existing meeting rooms in one of the highrises.  It was fun for me being able to tell them all about the rooms since I worked on the same space installing the existing equipment back in 2011.  Crazy how quickly things change.  Had another meeting in Boulder on Thursday afternoon.  

Friday:  Worked from home.  Lynsey and I had sushi for lunch.  Picked up Joseph from school and then met Brad and Andi at the ski rental shop to pick up Brad for Saturday.  We had BBQ for dinner and watched a Spiderman movie.

Saturday:  Joseph and I went skiing with Bradley up at Loveland.  We got up early and beat the traffic.  We were some of the first people on the lift and the boys are getting quite comfortable on the slopes so we skied a lot and were ready to go early.  We made it back to our house to catch the last hour of the afternoon session of conference.  Joseph and I went to the church to watch the Priesthood session and then had Dairy Queen after.  Very full day.  I was tired.

Sunday: Lynsey and I went for a hike this morning before conference started.  It was a very nice morning to be outside.  We enjoyed the rest of the day at home watching both sessions and then Collin and Brittany came over for dinner.  I'll be happy to show you all around Okinawa anytime.

Some other recent highlights are that we've booked our flights and lodging for our trip to London in October.  Lynsey and Joseph have their passports now and I'm VERY excited about this trip.

Love you all!!

Ben, Lynsey, Joseph

Hello Family! 

I'm also going to try something a little different. I write to Stephen every Sunday, but don't often write to all of you, so I'm just going to send you a slightly edited version of what I'm sending to him. Not sure why I didn't think to do that a long time ago!

How was Conference for you??? Conference was good here. Same as usual. We had it playing upstairs and downstairs so that people who wanted to be louder could do that and people who wanted quiet could still have that. Ellen won a game in Seminary last week, she identified the most apostles by hearing a 5 second clip of their voice. She got 14 out of 15! So Sister Martin brought her a pan of cinnamon rolls this morning. I was already in the process of making cinnamon rolls though, so we had lots.

I had a few favorite talks. Sister Craven's and Sister Eubank's were both awesome. And Elder Bednar's, Renlund's, and Rasband's were too. Lots of good talks as usual! BUT! Our day isn't over....Spencer just threw up all over the living room and bathroom. And just 10 minutes before that happened, Naomi told me she felt like throwing up. She hasn't yet, but we'll see how the night goes. I'm sorry you missed the cinnamon rolls but glad you aren't here for this. :)  UPDATE!!! Spencer only threw up once, and Naomi never did and went to school. Spencer is home hanging out, but has eaten a little bit this morning. 

James printed off a bunch (400!) of flash cards of all the questions for the ham radio test and has been working with the kids. They seem to be enjoying it and are slowly learning the answers. 

That's about it for this week. It actually was a pretty good week. 

Instead of a scripture this week, I found a quote from Corrie Ten Boom that I thought I would send to you. Did you ever read her book, "The Hiding Place"? She was a Christian living in Denmark during WWII and she, with her father and sister, hid and ultimately saved almost 800 Jewish people. It's an amazing story full of miracles! She said, "The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God's realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for his love."

Love,

Aimee

Pictures!

James teaching ham radio stuff to the kids. Can you see all four kids? Annie is the only one not there.  

A comic in Portuguese! 

This is James' sister Alice's baby, Hyrum. He was born at 29 weeks and is now 20 days old and weighs about 2.2 pounds. He is doing really well! That is Alice's hand around him.  

Greetings everyone!

Just a quick note from the Minnesota crew, and thanks to Ben, Mom, and Aimee for your notes – it’s great to get caught up with everything that’s happening in your world.

 

We had a great spring break last week. Brad arrived on Friday the 22^nd and was here until the afternoon of March 31^st. We played games, went to the MOA to ride the rides again, rode bikes, went to the park, went to the zoo, and just chilled at the house.

 

Natalie has renewed her focus on early morning workouts with our neighbor and friend, Becky White. They have been attending some sort of early (5:30-6:30am) morning fitness class together going on two weeks now. Natalie is also getting settled into her new calling as the 2^nd Councilor in the Primary Presidency – she is doing great from what I hear. Natalie is also getting to know a new batch of ministering sisters she was recently assigned to – I think she is going to be very impactful with some of these sisters that need a good friend.

 

Bradley is cruising to the finish line for completing 7^th grade. He is already thinking about what he is going to do for a (hand out) flyer this summer as a way to earn some extra dough mowing lawns and other miscellaneous yard work. Brad is already proving that if he puts his mind to something – he will get it done! Brad has had the opportunity to ski a fair amount this winter, and is doing really well – thanks again to Ben and Joe for getting him up the mountain this past weekend.

 

Maddie is slowly adjusting to having pierced ears. She really likes wearing ear rings, but sometimes putting in a new pair hurts a little. Maddie is onto a second set of lesson books in piano – there is one piece she absolutely loves to play, and it has totally ignited her passion for piano! Whenever I hear her playing the piece, it sounds like the Pandora piano channel I like to listen to is playing – it seriously sounds amazing! She is going to be very capable with the piano in the very near future.

 

Macy is coming up on a new smile sooner than later. As most of you know, her smile was changed a bit when she knocked out two front teeth a couple years ago, which has been hard for her. Anyway, the remaining front tooth is very loose, and the other teeth are starting to poke thru – we are guessing her new smile will be completed by this coming fall or winter. Macy is also showing potential on the piano – even tho she’s not taking lessons, she is paying close attention to what Maddie is doing, and is able to play a few songs as well – lots of talent being discovered right now – good stuff!

 

Alida is loving being on her bike. She learned to pedal last summer on a 12” bike, but this spring she was the right size for the 16” bike, which threw her off a little – she forgot how to ride. Brad being a good older brother took the time to get her up to speed again on the bike while he was out last week. Since then she just loves riding her bike, and shows a lot of potential. One of the reasons I say that is because she crashes (and gets right back up) a lot, which is a result of her leaning a little too deep when she is turning and trying to go fast – she is an aggressive rider! I love that! She will be ripping the single track with me in no time!!

 

As for me – still just feel incredibly blessed on a regular basis. I’m relatively healthy, gainfully employed, am able to serve in the Church in a couple different capacities, and most of all – I have a wonderful family! Not much else is needed in my opinion. I am very much looking forward to the weekend of 4-20, as Brad, Joe, Ben, and I hope to get in some Skiing and Single-track, among other things…..

 

Below are a few pics with commentary. Hope everyone is happy and healthy!

 

Sam

 

This was the last date I went on with Alida – she insisted on wearing my deer-hunting beanie. She rocked it just fine – and look at those pipes! That girl is strong!

   

 

Bradley and Maddie went on a bike ride with me to the zoo – it might have been the first ride of the year. It wasn’t super warm, but warm enough.

 

 

Bradley and I have an old tradition of having tuna and crackers after church – he is getting bigger now so we mixed up two bowls. YUM!

 

 

We all went on a bike ride to a park out in Prior Lake we used to go to often when the girls were tiny. Everyone was under their own power this trip – it was a great time!

 

Macy especially did well – she opted to go around the 3.5 mile loop a second time with Bradley and me. Go Macy!

 

 

Bradley forced me to mortgage all I had in a fierce monopoly game – I was in debt up to my eyeballs!

 

Me and Macy on our most recent date – she loves going to Wendy’s (for a Frosty and chicken nuggets of course) and the dollar store. Always a good time!

 

The next several pics are from our trip to the MOA to ride the rides. Brad and Maddie stepped it up this year and went on some (more adventurous) rides they had never tried before. However, neither of them made it on the log-ride – it was only Macy, Alida, Natalie and me that had the nerve to go down the drops of the log-ride – too much fun – everyone needs to go on the log ride once in your life. I think there is a picture somewhere of Nana and Grandpa riding it when they came out several years ago – good times!

 

 

 

Check out Bradley’s face on this one! It’s called, “The Fairly Odd Coaster”, and it is a super spinning fast time!

 

 

This was all of us waiting to get on the Pepsi Coaster, which is a fun and long ride – good for all ages and abilities, and worth the 15 min wait in line.

 

 

Samuel Humphries