February Fun

Crismon, Vivi, Daisy, & Kaeley spent a good portion of their Saturday on Feb. 8th, helping with the community service project held at our Church House, “Days for Girls.” They assembled personal hygiene kits for girls in Africa.

I love being in a bookclub with good friends. We have a great time together. I've become, quite a book lover after join this group, and being inspired by Julia's avid reading.

Over the President’s Day weekend, Julia, Austin & Dallin came down. We had the fun of watching Dallin while Julia & Austin had a short get-away. He was so good. What joy fills our home to have a toddler around. We all adore that little boy.

Seth’s family went to Bavaria during their school break. Their schedule is almost like year-round school, so they get two-week breaks throughout the year. They had an incredible experience skiing the Alps! Preston Gee, Tiffany’s Dad, and her Mom joined them as well. Grandpa Gee had a dream of skiing the Alps with his grandchildren, so this was an especially fun time for all of them.

We loved attending Grandparent’s Day with Daisy and Kaeley. Ms. Creighton is Kaeley's teacher. She also taught Julia & Emily. It was also fun going to the Vance’s ward Talent Show. Ondaynn and Isaac each played a piano solo, Sydney on the violin, and Julia sang a solo. Life is grand.

January Joys

Special family events in January include attending the ordination of grandson, Bryson Vance, as a Deacon on Sunday, Jan 5th. This made it possible for us to have a family temple baptismal session with Bryson and Daisy who attended for the first time, along with Sydney, Julia & Clark. Gary did all the baptizing, with each of the teens having an opportunity to be a witness, as well as Ondalynn, Vivienne, and myself. This was a first time for all of us. It was a choice experience to be in the temple with our grandchildren. What joy we have in our posterity.

We celebrated our 45th Wedding Anniversary on January 16th. We wanted to do something to honor our children on our anniversary for their goodness. We decided to put together a timeline of our lives. It was so interesting to see how our timelines merged together when we were married and remember the highlights of our 45 years together. This ended up being a much bigger project than we expected, but it was a joy to work on together. We added pictures to some of the events. In the process, we were reminded of the many tender mercies that the Lord has poured out upon us over the years.

Crismon was asked to speak at the Missionary Zone Conference this week. He stays in touch with the missionaries and is a great support to them.

Daisy (Tumbling) and Kaeley (Ballet) performed in the Winter Dance Program at Mt. Hood College put on by the Dance Academy that they are part of. They are both so flexible and graceful. It was fun cheering for them. Clark was set apart as the 2nd Counselor in his Deacon’s Quorum. We love having these good children in our home. Sunday, the 26th, we gathered to celebrate Clark’s 13th birthday. Emily has many good friends in her ward. They put on a lovely baby shower for her.

December Delights

Our month of December included our annual Christmas gathering in our home for our neighbors, which reaches out to those on our street, and others in the general area. We were happy there was about 26 in all. It’s always a treat to have them in our home and it’s a great opportunity for recent move-ins to get acquainted.

We enjoyed listening to the Christmas concerts for Bryson, Julia, and Sydney. We especially loved attending Sydney’s concert at the Grotto. Julia performed in a vocal recital and did extremely well. She's the youngest, with all the others in being high school. Crismon’s involvement in the Chamber provides fun gatherings during the holidays, too. 

Especially rewarding was reaching out to less actives, inviting them to “Invitation Sunday” and having them actually come was so wonderful. I was asked to speak on that Christmas Sacrament meeting, so Crismon used that opportunity to say, “You’ll want to come support Vivienne as she is speaking on Sunday.” One family in particular that we have been ministering to, hasn’t been to church in 40 years or so. We have become good friends, and we were so happy they came. As she left the meeting she said, “I know I told you I was coming to hear Vivienne, but really, I was doing it for me.” This was a huge step for them. We hope they will remember the feeling they had that day and want to come again. Another couple came for the first time in over 25 years. Miracles happen! 

I enjoyed having Asher interview me for his World War II project at school. He was asking me about my Dad's involvement in building the Atomic Bomb at Oak Ridge Tennessee. It was so interesting for me to read my Dad's journal about that time and give Asher some good information to put his project together.

Bryson, Isaac, and Paxton were in their ward Nativity program. They are such good boys. How we love them! Our good friends, Larry & Marge Heppler had a special FHE in their home on Dec. 16th. It was a fun time to gather with other empty-nesters in our ward. They asked us to bring an appetizer to share and a talent to perform. We didn't know what to do, but I decided to share the "Living Christ." I had memorized it several years earlier, so I refreshed it for that evening, Since, I've been trying to say it each day to always keep it constant in my memory. It's been a sweet blessing in my life to learn and memorize the entire document. How I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

Christmas was delightful having Julia, Austin, and 18-month-old Dallin here. We gathered (Vivi’s family, too) Christmas Eve at the Vance’s home for dinner, the nativity, and also the BYU game. Then Christmas Day was full of excitement. The Vance’s came for dinner and games, and the sister missionaries were here some of that time, too.

Crismon turned 71 on Dec. 30th. The children called or FaceTime with him. We visited our friends, Lyle & Renae Trammell. Then ate a late lunch and went to see the movie, "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," about Fred Rogers. What a great man who lived Christlike teachings. I saw a Facebook post that day from my friend, Sharon Mueller. She said she had extra homemade apple pie and wanted to share it with someone. What a blessing to receive that delicious pie for Crismon's birthday as it was difficult for me to make anything special. Such a sweet tender mercy to have her do that for us, especially since I rarely look at Facebook, but I just happened to see this post. I'm grateful for such a wonderful husband who brings me joy everyday.

We ended the year, Dec. 31st attending the temple with our friend, Leslie Jenkins. It’s great to see how she loves being in the temple. Since she received her Endowment the first of October, she has gone weekly, only missing one or two times since then. That evening we celebrated the New Year with fun games with Vivi and her children. It has been a blessing to have them in our home.

Christmas Day Fun

Christmas morning was full of excitement. It was about 8 before the children asked to see what Santa brought. We loved having children in our home for this special day. Everyone received so many nice gifts. It took most of the morning to go around and have each person open a gift. All of our family were generous to us and to Vivi and the children. Dallin was mostly interested in eating his tangerine as he had slept late and wasn't really sure what was going on except he couldn't walk around the room very well with all the gifts and wrapping everywhere. Soon he caught on to the excitement and started paying attention to his presents.

Meredith gave Vivi a beautiful canvas picture of her family that now hangs at the bottom of the stairs. It's so nice! Then Seth & Tiffany sent a letter to Vivi with the gift of flying her to Maryland, or New York later this year. It was so generous of them. Alice-Anne's family gave to Vivi and the kids this year and they showered them with some very nice gifts. We gave Clark, Daisy & Kaeley, and Vivi Echo Dots for their rooms so they could listen to music, books and also so we can intercom them as well. Daisy was over the moon to get a Fitbit! And Clark was so excited about his writing pad.

The Vance's came in the afternoon for games. Ondalynn brought a delicious soup and we added the other sides of the dinner. The sister missionaries joined us for dinner and then a message. More games in the evening. We loved talking to most of the children through FaceTime today. The Vance's also came the next afternoon for more games and Vivi bought pizza for everyone. Sydney and Julia gave the women manicures with their nail salon gifts.

It was sweet to see how Dallin would interact with the children, especially when he laid his head down on Bryson's arm. Isaac was so excited about the Calvin Hobbs book we gave him. 

Everyone had such a great day. The best part of Christmas for me this year was feeling closer to my Savior Jesus Christ more than ever before. Studying and teaching about Him this year in the Adult SS class has been a great blessing to me. I love Him. I honor Him. I praise his name. I'm grateful I could speak on the special Christmas Sunday about my feelings of Him, his mother Mary, and my desire to come unto Him more than ever before, and submit to His every will.