Christmas came early...the William's arrived!

 
The Christmas holidays could officially begin with the William's family arriving on Tues., Dec. 17th. Meredith was a trooper to make that trip from Phoenix with 3 little ones under the age of 4 and having to change planes and have a layover. Despite the long day, she still had her winning smile to greet all of us. We were so excited to have her here and her darling children, Evelyn, Christian & Hudson, to wrap their arms around our necks. Hudson at first was a little taken back by all the attention and wasn't sure who we were, but soon he warmed up to us and he's been giving us that adorable grin every since.

One of the first stops at home was getting in the hot tab. It's been a fun adventure throughout the holidays. It was exciting when Bryan joined the family late Friday night, December 21.

Bryan always likes a project, so he wasted no time jumping in and doing things around the home. We had had some water damage in our kitchen ceiling and it was in need of much repair. We had repairs done on the roof and a new skylight put in, but still needed the installation and repair done on the kitchen ceiling. After Christmas was over, Bryan jumped into repairing the ceiling. Watching a few videos on YouTube he was ready to tackle it. I guess anyone who can perform surgery on a person, has the courage to tackle a repair in the kitchen. He did a super great job. He is such a good daddy and he includes his kids whenever he's working on a project. Such patiences!

He rented a chainsaw from Home Depot and took down one of the last remaining trees in the backyard. It was a beautiful tree, but the huge pine trees in our neighbors backyard completely blocked our view. We needed to take out the tree for a little sunlight. He also cut a number of branches and stacked the wood which help to clear debris from our backyard. Bryan found time to paint part of the bathroom downstairs where it has needed some repair as well. All in all, he got our house and yard back into shape while he was here. We can't thank you enough Bryan!

Other activities included decorating Christmas cookies at Ondalynn's house before Christmas. Meredith was such a huge help to me to do the caramel popcorn and getting them ready to deliver to friends and neighbors.

Dad and I took three hours Sunday evening before Christmas to deliver goodies to each of his counselors, and Stake Executive Secretary, the out going Scott Emery, and his new one, Perry Stevenson, and all the Bishops. The William's and the Caudle's had dinner with the Vance's that night. Glad they were could be together, but we did miss being with them.

New Years Eve after getting the children down, we played a fun card game with Meredith & Bryan. I was so grateful the next day to have Meredith jump in and put all the Christmas decorations down, have them stored back in the garage, and have the house cleaned up so quickly. That is always such a big job. I couldn't have done it without her.

The children are so fun to watch and play with, and read stories, and take on small outings to the library and McDonalds. We just don't get enough time with them. Last Sunday evening we had our family testimony meeting, it was so cute to hear Evelyn bear her testimony. Christian has been faithful taking his Kids Now and Provantage Reliv drink to help him put on weight. He is gaining, which is great. Evelyn & Christian love to "push" the car out of the garage when Grandpa leaves for a meeting. They are so funny!

We've had a few really cold days, but nothing like other parts of the country. We're grateful for our mild Oregon temperatures.

Bryan left on Sat., Jan. 4th to go back to Arizona as he has rotations at the hospital in Tucson during Jan. Meredith and the children leave this Wed., Jan 15th. We will miss them!

Early December Happenings

December was filled with many memorable events. One choice experience happened earlier in the month while serving in the temple we had 250 missionaries from the Vancouver Mission attend the temple that day. It was a joy to serve these beautiful, valiant servants of the Lord.

December 5th our sweet missionary, Emily turned 21. I thought of her that day as I tended Ondalynn's children while she recovered from the flu. It was fun to see pictures on Facebook of a good family, the Gil's, in Neuquen who put on a birthday party for her with all the trimmings.

One of the joys of having children and grandchildren close by is the chance to see them more often, even at unexpected times. I rarely go to the mall, but I was there to drop off my shoes at the shoe repair to get a lift put on it. To my surprise as I walked out, I saw Vivi and her children at the play center. How fun is that! I stayed to enjoy them and then I took them to Costco with me.

Then, to be able to attend their special programs, is another treat. We fought the rush hour traffic between Portland and Vancouver, and although a little late, we still got to hear Sydney perform in her school orchestra. We were sorry to miss her duet. Isaac and Bryson had fun "seeing" Santa on the way out. Sydney and Julia have just started piano lessons in September but they are both progressing very quickly. We're glad we could hear them perform at their recital, too.

We had a conference call that evening with Ondalynn, Vivi, Meredith and Julia to prepare for the coming holidays. What a great world we live in where we can connect so easily from Oregon to Idaho and AZ, and anywhere else in this great, big, world.

Other events that kept me busy was having breakfast for 6 Elders (Zone Leaders), the High Councilman over Mission Work and Crismon for a meeting and breakfast held at 7 a.m. each first Saturday of the month to discuss how our stake can better support the missionaries. The following Saturday we had Crismon's counselor's in the stake presidency come for breakfast and a planning session for the coming year.

Other special events were attending several baptisms in our ward, the ward Christmas party, and community Christmas parities. Busy, busy time!

We invited our neighbors, Judy & Dave Pomeroy to attend the Ensign Choir and Orchestra concert that Saturday afternoon. We had an enjoyable time getting better acquainted and it strengthened our friendship. The following Monday we had an Open House in our home for all our neighbors. Judy called me that day to see if she could help me get ready. I had her bake some cookies for me. Little by little, feelings are softening toward us, their Mormon neighbors who they didn't really understand what we believed.

We had eight of our neighbors come to our Christmas Open House. Each one brought a treat to share. We enjoyed the time to get better acquainted with some that were recent move-ins. 

We had the privilege of picking up Steve Hastings at the airport and taking him to lunch before a Reliv gathering early in December. We have thoroughly enjoyed the associations we have had with the top Reliv executives. They are good family men with high values and ethics. 

By using a lot of make-up, I was sort of able to cover up two black eyes from an accident while working in the garage a few days before.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for family, big or small. This year it was small, but still so wonderful. We were grateful that Crismon & Danielle could come and be with us for the holiday weekend. We have enjoyed our time together. They arrived late Wednesday afternoon and our trip to and from the airport to pick them up reflected the traffic jam of the busy Thanksgiving season with everyone hurrying to be with family far and near.

Danielle jumped in and helped me finish some apple pies. Vivi had come earlier that day to help me with preparations and we had so much fun visiting as we worked together. Thank you so much, Vivi. You saved me!

We also invited Elder & Sister Kimble from West Virginia who are serving as full-time missionaries in our stake to join us. They were thrilled to be invited. Sadly, they are rarely invited to dinner and so it was a special treat for them. They are wonderful, faithful people. They knew Annie (Grow) Linton's family as they are in the same stake and she knew Annie  from Girl's Camp. We had a delightful time getting better acquainted with them.

After dinner we had Danielle perform some of her violin pieces that she is working on for upcoming competitions, along with some hymns and other favorites. What a treat to enjoy that "concert" in our home! She is exceptional. Danielle also played a beautiful arrangement of "Away in a Manager" for the last 5 minutes of our prelude music before our Sacrament Meeting today, (accompanied by Alice Lyle). I wish I could express the outpouring of the spirit that filled our chapel as she began to play. A perfect beginning to the Christmas season. Danielle's abilities coupled with her purity of spirit is a gift she gives through her music. We have loved having them with us this weekend.

Viv & Brett's family joined us for pie and games that evening. The holidays wouldn't have been the same without grandchildren. Clark & Daisy loved playing the game "Life" with grandpa.

Friday morning I braved one store with all the crowds for Black Friday shopping. Danielle and Crismon had good success at another store. We enjoyed attending the temple together that afternoon. The Caudle's had Crismon & Danielle to dinner that evening and Dad and I attended the GHS production of "Hello Dolly." We had three young people from our stake involved. The costuming and staging were incredible, excellent dancing and performing made it so fun.

Saturday Dad watched BYU beat Nevada, 28-23 at Jim & Denny Bowles home, Crismon & Danielle worked on homework and that evening we were able to get the living room decorated. I was worried how we'd do it without Emily, but fortunately she organized all of it so well when she packed it up last Christmas that it went smoothly, thanks to help from Danielle.

We had a fun "Google Hangout" with most of our family this afternoon and then the Caudle's joined us for dinner and FHE where we shared our testimonies. We love being with family.

Our thoughts are especially with Emily this week as she turns 21 on Thursday. Happy Birthday Emily! We love our faithful, sweet missionary daughter!