8 May 2022

 Happy Mother's Day and happy Sunday!

   We've had a good week. Stephen is with us for just a few more days. He leaves Thursday to go back to Moscow and starts fighting fires again on the 16th. 

   Today after church, Stephen and Grandpa had some news to share with Gran and me. Our Stake President, Brandon Moon, attended our ward today and during Priesthood class he told them some things about the new Rexburg Temple that we hadn't heard before. The Temple on the hill is just less than 60,000 square feet; the new Temple will be about 110,000 square feet. It will have TWO baptismal fonts and eight Sealing rooms. One of the names that is being considered is the Teton River Temple. Much better than Rexburg North, I think. 

   At work I will be having Mondays off, for the most part. Occasionally I'll need to do M-F, but not often.

   Gran has a torn rotator cuff in her right shoulder, and we were afraid she would need surgery. I went with her to Dr. Torngren last week and he gave her a cortisone injection. He doesn't feel that surgery would be a good option for her. We were both very relieved.

    I really hope that some of you will respond and fill us in on what's happening in your homes. I'd love to see some Prom pictures of Ellen and Naomi! Some birthday party pictures from Macy and Calvin. And whatever else is going on. 

   Love you all!

Mom/Johanna/Nana

Hi Mom and everyone-

 

Thanks for the email – it’s always good to hear from you! That is very exciting to hear the updates about the Rexburg North Temple. Have they released any preliminary architectural drawings of it yet? Thanks for the update on Gran – I’m glad to hear she won’t be having surgery on her shoulder. Hopefully the cortisone shot will make a big difference and bring a lot of comfort to her.

 

Seems like time is really flying by for us. Winter took it’s sweet time to exit, but we are now well into spring, and this week it actually feels more like summer – it’s going to be a little humid and be in the mid to upper eighties. We are all ready for that.

 

Some news from my employment front is that Stanley Black & Decker no longer wishes to be in the automatic door business, so they are selling off the (SAT) division I work for. We are being acquired by a company called Allegion, which is a spin off of Ingersoll Rand. Anyway, the deal is supposed to be completed by the end of August, so only time will tell what will come of our business, but I’m optimistic good things will be happening.

 

We’ve been using our previous (Doyles Ct) home as a short term rental (STR) since last September, and it’s been shocking to see how much demand there is for it here in the south metro. It’s been keeping us pretty busy, but especially Natalie because she primarily manages everything about it for us. Unfortunately, some of the neighbors aren’t happy with the decision we’ve made, so we are either going to sell it and buy another home somewhere else for STR purposes, or we will simply put a long term tenant in there next fall, as the summer is fully booked with STR reservations. We will see what happens – it’s a TBD situation for us right now.

 

Ben and Lynsey left yesterday morning after spending almost a week with us. It was great to have them here and to share our everyday life with them. Ben and I of course got in plenty of tennis and a little single track, and the girls did all sorts of fun things with Lynsey. Maddie had a volleyball game and a band concert where she plays the saxophone; Macy had a dance recital, and Alida had gymnastics practice while they were here. Ben and Lynsey were able to participate in all of it – it was great! Everyone on this email is always invited and welcome to come spend some time in Minnesota! 

 

The rest of this email will be pictures of recent events, and a couple YouTube links for recent birthday celebrations. Wish you all could have been there with us – good times!

 

Hope everyone is healthy and happy – we love and miss each of you very much!

 

Happy Birthday videos

 

https://youtu.be/2PToIcuJsoU

 

https://youtu.be/jrZp1dNbkiU

 

 

Ben, Lynsey, Macy, and Alida at Maddie’s Band Concert.

 

A quick pic following Macy’s dance recital. Maddie had a volleyball game that morning as well, and Natalie is the coach of the team, so that’s why they have matching shirts.

 

Me and Ben out on the trail at Lebanon – great ride!

 

Maddie and Macy playing in the school musical performance a couple weeks ago. There was lots of singing and various instruments being played.

 

 

These were taken on a hike we went on together a couple weeks ago at Lebanon – it was still cold enough for winter coats. And now it’s in the 80’s – crazy!

 

 

 

Me and Nat on our trip to Arkansas in early March. It was super nice to go somewhere warmer than it was in Minnesota!!

 

 

Bradley with his new HEAD skis at Keystone in February – we were calling him missile man Bradley! Super-fast down the groomers!

 

Macy in her dance recital outfit. There were about 20 girls in her group that all did the same number in the same outfit – pretty cool!

 

Alida getting ready to go at her gymnastics studio, TAGS! Alida is really advancing quickly.