Chris across the street from our motel

Mona Chrisa

Mona Lisdeb Oregon Science Museum

Wow this has been such a crazy week.

1. Crazy because of the weather. On Monday, the temperature in Mountain Home reached 68 which was a record high for that date. It felt so good and I loved it. Tues still made it to the 60s and felt great. Wednesday it snowed and did not feel great and in fact Thurs. night it got down to 20 degrees which is a record low for that date. I thought that was pretty crazy that 2 different records were broken in one week.

2. It was a crazy busy week.

Monday we had the gang over for family home evening. Vogls couldn't make it so that meant there were only 5 teens kids: Chris, Eric, Drew and Ashley. Ashley thought Lauren and Tanner were coming or I don't think she would have come but I'm glad she did. Luckily Andrews came so we actually had children for our Family Night lesson. We ate dinner and watched a FHE church video.

Tuesday I had Relief Society stuff during the day .

Wednesday some ladies went to a movie while Terry and Chris were at young men. We enjoyed the movie New in Town. The bathroom break in the snow made me laugh and laugh. I usually don't go for potty jokes but this seemed too funny and too relatable to resist.

Thursday morning Terry, Chris and I flew to Portland. Terry is working with a research group. They are trying to find ways to treat cavities before the tooth is damaged. We stayed at a Marriott hotel right on the river. It was a nice place. That night we got to see Wicked. It is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good witch from the Wizard of Oz. It starts before Dorothy flies to Oz I don't want to give any more than that away because there are some good plot twists. I'm not sure if Terry and Chris liked it very much. They said they liked it but they complained about changes being made to the classic Wizard of Oz story. I think they were comparing it to Le Mis and Phantom. You really can't compare them because they are so different. I love the music and the musical and actors were FUN! Rachel told me I would miss seeing it for the first time with her and she was right. Luckily, the theatre was a block away from our room. What are the odds of that. Other years when we have gone to this conference we have stayed in another part of town so I felt quite lucky.

Friday, while Terry attended class Chris and I walked to OMSI, the Oregon science museum. This year they had a Da Vinci exhibit. They built little and big models of many of his inventions and had a movie showing all the cool things about the vitruvian man. We learned that all the measurements and proportions are mathematically figured out and there is also spiritual and physical symbolism. They had a huge Mona Lisa display and an analysis movie about that too. Awesome.

We flew home last night. CRAZY BUSY

3. Crazy number three is watching Aiden act so much older. Last night he repeated Terry saying "What the freak" Oh man I was mad at Terry for teaching him that. I hate that phrase !! but.... it was pretty funny and cute the way Aiden said it!!!!! Every Saturday Becca takes him to Home Depot where they have little projects they let the kids build. He loves to pound nails into wood!!! Yesterday he made some car track. Next week he gets to make a bird house. I think he has Becca's art talent because he is already so good with his hands. I do love that little boy!

4. Crazy Day light savings time. We lost an hour coming home from Portland and another hour with daylight savings time. It was sooooooooooo hard getting up for church today!!!!

5. Crazy #5 is Terry with braces. He keeps knocking out a wire and making me fix it. Chris won't fix it for him because he keeps reminding Terry of how he wouldn't ever work on Chis's braces at home. So last night Terry made Becca put his wire back in at Taco time. She had to use a flashlight and tweezers. Terry is funny and very whiny about the wires poking him. I feel bad for him but sometimes it is good for him to know what we have been going through. Braces YUCK

Kyle's letter was especially fun today. I found some photos of Erfurt and Nordhausen. It looks very beautiful. Definately a change from Eisenhutten Stadt. I hope the people in Nordhausen will be as good to him as the nice people in Eisenhutte.

Jolene, Helen, Debbie, Sharon, Beth, Ann - 2009

Beth, Sharon, Ann, Helen, Jill, (2008)

I had such a great week last week. It started Monday when I got to visit with my BYU "room mates" Jolene and I drove to Utah from Boise and Mountain Home, Sharon flew to Utah to see her first grand baby from Brazil where she is living. Ann flew to Utah from North Carolina to help her daughter find a wedding dress. Beth, Jill, Helen, Sharon, Ann, Jolene and I got together for breakfast Saturday and Monday and celebrated Beth and Helen's 50th birthday. Every time we get together is a celebration. I can't express enough my thankfulness for each of these great ladies as a friend. They are in many ways my moral compass . I really try to follow their example. It makes me very very happy to talk things through with them, to hear their advice, sympathy and laughter. We seem to fill our gatherings with lots of laughter! When Helen and I attended BYU we both found algebra a bit challenging. Monday morning we dropped by Helen's JR high classroom and caught her teaching algebra. Wow, now I am sure we can all do anything we set our minds too even at our age. Helen was awesome!

Tuesday Becca and Aiden drove to Mountain Home to color Jana and my hair. I got to spend the day with Aiden. He loves the book The House on East 88th Street by Waber about Lyle the Crocodile now. He is so great playing sports on wii. Tuesday night we attended the cub scout blue and gold banquet where Terry had his first bagpipe performance. He did great and I have to admit he looked OK in a kilt. Chris acted upset by the kilt idea and Becca thought it was too short. Aiden saw the bag pipes and put his hands over his ears!

Friday Lauren was a beautiful bride. I wish she and Tanner well.

Saturday night I was amazed by the great JR high production of Music Man. They did a great job and I'm sure if a talent scout would have been there Joey Vogl would be made a star. He was great.

Today I taught the Gospel Doctrine in Sunday school class. It went fine. I got to teach and discuss one of my favorite scriptures
Doctrine and Covenants 21: 5 & 6 5 For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.
6 For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory.

I LOVE the idea of the heavens shaking for my good. What a GREAT promise. I imagine them up in heaven working so hard for my good that the heavens shake. I'm not sure that is exactly how it works but... I love the imagery and I know we are blessed when we follow the prophet.

Kyle's great friend Matthew Ward received his mission call to San Juan, Puerto Rico mission. Terry, Chris and I went to their house at 10:30 PM to watch Matt open his call. It was so fun. He acted so very excited and a bit nervous. I am sharing this video I took of him opening the call. I just read an article in the New Era where Elder L. Whitney Clayton wrote about the blessings that come from serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He said, "That was the best decision I have ever made, because everything good in my life has come from that decision. ..Young men, look forward to serving a mission. It is hard; it is work, but there is nothing about it that you can’t do. You’ll love the experience. Doing hard things is good for us, and missions aren’t so hard that you can’t do them. They just require something of you. You have to grow up a little, and I promise you that if you will prepare yourself for a mission in every way—intellectually, physically, and spiritually—keeping yourself clean and ready to go, you’ll have a tremendous experience, and you’ll be grateful." That sure seems to be true for Kyle. I am really pleased with the growth I have seen from his letters. He seems to be having a great experience. I know I am having a great experience reading his letters and supporting him. Congratulations on your great decision Matt.

Terry's First Bag Pipe Performance

Carla Baxter, the Webelos leader made kilts for each of the cubs for their Blue and Gold Banquet. The theme was Scottish Scouts so they invited Terry's bag pipe teacher and another member of the Boise pipe band to join Terry and Matiu Call, the cub master, to play bag pipes for the celebration. What a fun memory for the boys. The Cubs are so blessed to have such great scout and primary leaders. I am sure thankful for the scout leaders who have helped my boys! Terry played well and I must admit he looked OK in a kilt. Chris and Becca felt a little wierded out seeing their dad in "a skirt" but he explained it is not a skirt and he wore it proudly.