Dec. 28, 2015
Elder Nelson,
Elder Nelson,
First of all I have to say, we loved hearing your voice!! Thanks for calling. It was a wonderful Christmas gift to hear about your desires to be a consecrated missionary.
Some of our Christmas highlights. ...
An awesome piano recital sing along at the Rigby Gardens (Assisted Living). Laura and Rebecca work miracles with the kids. Drew and Davis will start in Jan.
Playing at Flips
Redeeming coupons in Idaho Falls. Pace, Porter and Tad went to the Martian.
Playing in the snow at Nelson's behind their snowmobiles.
Making friends and neighbors a lamb hat costume to add to their nativity costumes. It was the second installment after the beards. Next year.....donkey? wisemen?
Having Dad alive after his accident! He did't see a truck backing out with a snowmobile trailer due to a semi parked in front of the Taylor's house on the Menan-Lorenzo Hwy. He steered hard right, hit the front right corners of the trailer and back right of the truck before going in between a telephone pole and mailbox , landing in a small irrigation ditch. He was going 10 miles under the speed limit. Miracle for dad. The car is totaled. He has been working from 5am-7pmish on a big project. He went to work by 5 the next morning and hasn't been a bit sore.
Opening some family presents Christmas Eve (Grandma Nikki is not doing her Christmas Eve get together anymore....so we have to start our own traditions) and eating African Chicken and hot chocolate, playing Exploding Kittens and Sushi Go card games.
Giving Porter Rice Krispie cleats and some money for some real cleats.
Giving Pace a sleep and activity wrist tracker. He checks it constantly.
Drew's reaction to Porter's gift.....a remote control car.
Sledding with Adriel and Yuki and Mike's family. The older guys made a jump with a padded landing. There was a video crew and lots of slow motion replays.
Watching the new Starwars. Even I went and liked it a lot ....but hated watching the other movie trailers beforehand. ..yuck. Sadie loved that the main character was a girl. There is a new black actor as the other main character.
The hot tub under a star studded sky and full moon. Drew still loves to swim.
Forgetting the suitcase with everyone's Sunday Clothes, going to DI so that we could go to church....making the Sabbath a delight.
Gyoza, and other assorted appetizers for dinner. Naoko supplying Tim Tam slams for dessert....and of course Aggie Ice Cream for all the December/Jan birthdays. Naoko fits right in. If feels like she has been in our family for a long time. We ate fun Japanese candy including some GHANA chocolate. Davis and Drew loved the treat table....tooo much.
Tuning 4 Ukeles to follow Molly ' s lead at the family party, singing I Lava You. Grandma and Grandpa wore their Hawaiian garb. Everyone has been singing it for a week now...I even hear dad hum it.
Grandma's bingo game. Drew got a Starwars Hotwheel car from 1982 in it's original package. Dad's heart sank when he opened the pristine package before anyone knew. ...after looking it up, there are 4 available on Amazon for $6. 35 each.
White elephant gifts. At one point Mike and Molly had matching reindeer antlers.
Fun laughing, playing, eating and doing lots of dishes as a family.
Today we are back home. It is cleaning day. We will go to the Fullmer's New Year's Eve and then to the Nelson Volleyball party on New Year's Day.
It felt so good to laugh, play and talk with family. There is nothing better. It was so uplifting and healing. We felt sad to be away from family members who are far away, and who feel far away because of other reasons. There is a prayer in my heart to be able to have a gathering place for all of you to be able to come back to. I also am praying that Dad would like that too. Sometimes when life is stressful it is easy to want to be by yourself, but when you can share your burden with others who love you Heaven feels really close.
I am checking on sending the Mapleline and Vanilla. Let us know what we can send in the padded envelope for Elder Antwi. I wont send it until mid Jan.
I am sending lots of pictures in several e-mails.
We lava you!!
Mom
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