Posts

25 March 2018

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  Dear everybody,    Tomorrow is Lynsey's birthday!  Happy birthday, dear, Lynsey! We love you bunches and hope you have a lovely day. Do something fun, just for you!    I should get caught up from the last 3 weeks or so, but that isn't going to happen tonight. Dad and I just got home from home teaching; it was a good evening, but took longer than we expected. One of our families is going through a crisis and they needed to talk. I'm glad we were able to sit and listen; and that they feel they can share their troubles with us in confidence. You never know what other people are going through, so be nice to everyone . . . :)     Our Ward Choir sang a song today that I'd never heard before. I'm including a copy of it; I think it's really wonderful.     Also, I just got a text from our Stake President, (and old Bishop), Brandon Moon; he is with his son Branson (Bubba), on his senior trip. He sent me a picture which I'll include. It...

4 March 2018

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  Dear people,     Well, Maddie and I had our birthday's, and next week there are more! The month of March is pretty busy in our family. Spencer, I sent your gifts in the same package with your dad's . . . I hope that's alright! :)  And Bradley, I hope your mom's package arrives in time.     One of my favorite gifts this year was a Blog; and it's a gift I can share with all of you! Thank you, Aimee; what wonderful idea. I look forward to looking over it for many years to come. I'd like to find out how hard or expensive it would be to print each year into a book. I had started printing some, but didn't get very far; my plan was to put them in a binder; but maybe a blog book would be a better idea.    We had a Regional Conference today, at the Stake Center. I was all dressed and ready to go, but then got called into work. It was to finish the adoption discharge process I had helped with when the birth mother was in labor on Friday evening. This...

25 February 2018

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  Good morning all,    One thing I left out of last Sunday's busy day, was that Uncle John came and spent the night, Sunday night, and had breakfast with us Monday morning. He was in the area visiting his old Jr. High, High School friend, Bob Briggs, who, several years ago was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer disease. He has had to be placed in a secure Assisted Living facility and his wife, Kathy, has gotten a condo nearby. Anyhow, John tries to visit when he can; he is one of the people Bob remembers.      I wanted to share something from Ward Conference in Wilford 2nd Ward, last week. In RS, when it was Bishop Sharp's turn to speak, he didn't stick with the theme. Instead he said he felt that he should talk about the thoughts he had been having since last Tithing Settlement. He reaffirmed that how we pay our tithing is a personal decision, but then he said, "I just want you to ask yourselves, do I want Gross blessings or Net blessings?"  ...

18 February 2018

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  Hello all you nice people!    I was thinking about each of you yesterday, but didn't get an email sent . . . just a super busy day, I guess. First, I had two Ward Conferences to attend, but only had to speak at one. Then because I was on call this weekend, I needed to go to work after church and help with an adoption of a newborn baby boy. Then we had a birthday dinner for Uncle Jim, here at our house. So it was a full day. Oh, and the best part, Grandpa and I got to call and talk to Naomi and wish her a happy 12th birthday! Like Grandpa told her, she does sound older and more grown up!     One of my friends at work is Misty; I'd like to tell you about what has happened to their family home in the last 13 months. Misty and her husband, Wade, have 5 children, four girls and a boy, in that order. Last year, in January, their home caught fire and was a total loss. Luckily, no one was injured. But it was a very cold day and this made it almost impossible for ...

28 January 2018

  Dear everybody,    Thank you to Sam and Aimee for your letters this week. Spencer, I hope your black eye and cut are healing nicely by now! And Steve, your mom sent me a picture of your knee today...it still has that one stubborn spot that doesn't want to close. But considering how much there was to close, it's come a long way.     Sam, thank you for your thoughts on the bishop's "finisher" comment. I appreciate what you said. After sending the email I realized that I often refer to myself as a "dog with a bone that they just won't let go of." I see that in myself in my work at the hospital; I can't seem to let go of a problem until I know it's been solved, at least as much as possible. That's what I thought of, but I guess it can apply to church callings too. I'm glad you consider the traits we've passed on to you kids as blessings.  As I age, I recognize the characteristics I got from my parents; it's interesting isn't...

21 January 2018

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  Dear all,    We have a new First Presidency! That was pretty exciting with changes I didn't anticipate. It's always fun to get to know the new prophet, better than we knew him before, anyway. I think it's neat that we'll see more of President Oaks too, since he's next in line.       In the Egin Bench Enrichment night, last week, Sister Kelly Eyring (wife of BYUI President Henry J Eyring) came and spoke to us. It was fun to hear her talk about President Eyring and call him "Dad," or "Grandpa," when she was speaking directly to her daughter, Sarah, who had come with her. Sarah works for the Mormon Channel as a writer and editor; she just happened to be at her parents for a visit and came along.    Last week during Ward Conference, Bishop Hunter spoke in Relief Society and he talked about the three of us who have been Relief Society presidents during his bishopric. Sister Judy Dewey was the president when he came in, then me, and then Sis...

14 January 2018

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  Dear everybody!    Well, first thing this week is...Happy Birthday, Sam!  Just 4 days til your birthday. I hope it's a good day for you; your package should be there soon!  Thanks for sharing the pictures of the floor all finished. It looks wonderful! I'm sure it feels good to get that behind you!    Today was busy; we had Egin Bench Ward conference from 9-12, then the Spanish Branch conference from 1-4, then the kick-off meeting for the next Self Reliance classes from 4:30-6. I'm home now and it's good to be here. I imagine that's the kind of schedule that Stake Presidencies and Bishopric's keep every Sunday! Dad made sure I took some snacks to eat between meetings; I'm sure glad I did!     Yesterday, Dad and I got to spend almost all day together; it was so nice! He had taught 4H in the morning, but by noon we headed to Idaho Falls/Shelley, did some shopping, had a nice visit with Reneta and Grandma. We took some copies of the family...

7 January 2018

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  Dear ones,    Well, first off: Happy birthday to Luke and Kevin on the 5th and 6th! We got to talk with them both by phone on their b-days. :)    Yesterday afternoon, Dad and I went to see the newest Star Wars movie at a matinee. I love going to matinee's; when you get out it's not super late and you can do other things if you like. We enjoyed the movie and then went to Albertson's and WalMart. I had only one coughing fit and had to leave Dad at the checkout line in Walmart and wait in the pick-up for him. Today I made it through Stake Council with four cough drops...should have taken more...almost didn't make it. But then during Church, I just mouthed the words to the hymns and didn't cough much at all. Singing always gets me going when I've had a cough.  I hope that any who got sick during or after our get together, will soon be feeling better!     In Stake Council this morning, a young woman (Kelly Webster) reported her mission to Washin...

17 December 2017

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  Hi everybody,    Yesterday was Grandma's birthday. Dad and I went to IF to do some shopping before her party and I ended up getting sick, so Dad just went in for a few minutes and then brought me home. He said she seemed good though.  Let me give you all Aunt Reneta's phone number, in case you have a chance to give Grandma a call. It is 208.821.5171. Our anniversary didn't turn out to be quite like we had hoped, but we were together all day and that was nice! Dad has a head cold too, so we'll get better and then we can come see you all; that will be the perfect celebration!     Jocie's birthday is today; I tried to call her and just left a message. I'll take her present to her tomorrow.     Randy Bradshaw passed away last Monday; he was working in Wyoming, but lives in Rigby. I got in touch with his youngest sister, Kayla, and was able to send a card to Karla through her.  I always liked Randy; he came from a rough home, but was a...

10 December 2017

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  Happy birthday, Natalie! I hope it's been a good day; we all love you so much! Now, dear everybody. Getting ready for Christmas is such a busy time; I hope it's not so crazy that you're unable to enjoy it.  Dad and I will be having our 40th wedding anniversary next week, but with work and other commitments, we won't be able to do anything that day; so we're going to go to the new Star Wars movie on the Monday after. Our anniversary is also Grandma's birthday; we'll be getting together with all the kids at Reneta's for dinner. Reneta doesn't live that far away, but I haven't made it down to visit her like I hoped I would; I'll try to do better in the future. When you kids were little, we went down to visit both Grandma Christensen and Grandma Humphries at least once a month.     I've included a picture of a page from the newspaper insert called LDS Living. It is about a missionary couple, Ric and Rebecka Page, serving in Jackson, Mississ...