Life in a Northern Town: FAMILY LETTER 03.31.14

Dear Loved Ones

I’m so behind, this month feels like a hurricane, and April is even busier! Time’s flying! I have been sick the past two days—like all day morning sickness again—but I am feeling much better tonight. Let’s hope for a barf-free week from now on. Here’s a sketchy review of the past week.

Monday we had a great steak dinner for family night followed by a nice lesson prepared by Heidi from the April Ensign about finding lasting happiness. We followed up with yummy ice cream for dessert.

Tuesday Heidi and Dad enjoyed another ski day at Bridger Bowl. It was warmer and sunnier and they had a great time. Niles had a playdate with Kenny Howell in the morning and they played trains almost the whole time!

Wednesday night we had a delicious stir fry dinner that took only 13 minutes to make (not counting the jasmine rice in coconut milk in the cooker, which took 40 minutes). It was epic. Rich went to Scouts early to plan their big Camporee at the ranch this weekend. Addie went to a combined YM-YW Activity, which was practicing their jitterbugging (planned by the Teachers’ quorum—I was surprised the boys wanted to dance again!). I stayed home with the other kids and watched “Cosmos.” The boys fell asleep, so I took a nice magnesium bath and slept well, too.

Thursday I didn’t babysit Maren, so I decided to finally take my road test and get my real driver’s license (I’ve had a permit since last week’s debacle, lol). I made a 1pm appointment, by which time there was seriously a white-out blizzard blowing through town. I left Niles at the office with Rich and drove over to the MVD. The storm let up by the time I did my test and I passed with flying colors (I’m so glad he had me do an easy parallel park). So Mama is street legal once again. The day actually turned out nice, it was sunny and nearly dry when the kids came home. They played basketball out front (thanks for the equipment, Jellis! We love it!) with Niles. I, of course, watched NCAA basketball.

Friday Rich headed out early to set up camp at the ranch for our scout troop. The scouts had worked hard planning meals and activities, and Chad Mickelson planned lots of merit badge and skill tests for Saturday. Sounds like it was a huge success. Bren Lowe is a new scout leader and he brought his 8yo son, Kinnick, to the camp out so Rich called me and had me bring James out to camp with Kinnick. They had a blast. At home, the girls played games and watched a movie, during which Addie made the cutest sock bunnies out of knee socks. They turned out so cute, I let her buy a few more pairs of socks at Shopko to make more. I was riveted to the basketball games this weekend—every single one was so exciting! I have one team left in the tournament (Florida)—I lost six from my brackets this weekend, but they were good fights, one or two point losses. SO FUN!

Saturday morning we did chores, then I left the girls home to watch Niles and went to Melinda Lowe’s baby shower at Naomi Johnson’s house. She is expecting twin girls mid-May. It was a nice brunch, followed by a diaper shower, but she got tons of cute gifts besides a lot of diapers. Instead of regular shower games, we played some get to know you games, which was nice because she is new to our area. We lingered there for 3 whole hours, it was fun and it flew by. I hurried home and Rich was still not back from camp. The girls had done such a nice job cleaning up and entertaining Niles. Later that afternoon, we let some balloons go in honor of Papa Bill’s 89th Birthday, then the girls and I went out to dinner and watched the Women’s Broadcast with The Speas girls (mom Bonnie and YW daughters Haylee and Lexi). We loved being together for the broadcast, and we stayed and visited for a while and watched Arizona lose their game against Wisconsin. Painful, but fun to be with new friends.

Sunday was our 5th Sunday and Fast Sunday. Testimony meeting was so nice. One testimony that was especially touching came from Melissa (I don’t remember her last name) Sister Evans’ daughter. She has returned to church after a few decades of inactivity, and she thanked her visiting teacher (Sis. Cotant, who was the best VT I ever had, too) and home teacher (Bro. Rang) for encouraging her to return, even when she felt it had been way too long and she had made too many mistakes. It reminded me of Elder Holland’s talk about the Vineyard, and how it’s never too late to show up—you will still receive the full reward. Really beautiful, gave me lots of hope, and reminded me of the power of HT and VT and doing what Christ asked us to do: feed my sheep.

I got sick during church and didn’t feel better until Monday night. Something is shifting in my gut—perhaps a baby dropping—but I had heartburn and a backache that grew into a headache, then morning sickness all day Monday. Boo hoo. So I am a little late in getting this letter out. For FHE tonight (3/31), the kids wrote letters to Grandpa and Grandma, so look for those. We also watched “The Other Side of Heaven”—inspired by the beautiful stories coming from our friends, The Lewises, finishing up their senior mission in New Zealand. They told us that the congregation sang “How Great Thou Art” in Maori for them on Sunday…gives me chills just thinking about it!

Mom and Dad Melin, we are so grateful that dad is getting such good care from the VA there! We were glad to read your letter and hope that dad’s mole removal takes care of any and all cancerous cells. We wish Cousin Samantha and Aunt Amie and Great Uncle Matt happy birthdays this week. We love and miss you all.

Love, Rich, Jamie and Family