Bretton returns

Tomorrow around noon Bretton will be arriving in Boise after a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The thought of a returning missionary brings back a flood of memories. Thank you to all family and friends who have been on a mission or have been missionaries. I have faith that our feeble efforts to do the work of the Lord will have an impact. That by small means the Lord is able to do great things. I always wanted Heidi to go on a mission and when her friend came back from his mission he knew how I felt. He said that I should consider him as one of her converts and that because of her, he went on a mission. That her influence has changed his life forever. I am also so thanful for all those who shared the gospel with Kimberly. She is such a joy to me and has a strong testimony. At one time when I was lamenting to myself that my daughters did not go on missions the spirit spoke to me and told me that they were being sent into the mission field with their husbands and there they would accomplish a great work. So, thank you to all and welcome back Bretton.

Valentine's day weekend

We traveled to Rexberg on Friday to see Diedre, Brandon and Krew. When we arrived Diedre was just pulling homemade pizza from the oven. We were so hungry and it was really good. Corden got to drive half of the way there and did a great job on the freeway.
The next day Corden and his friend Cameron went to Targhee to snowboard. Mike took them and stayed while they snowboarded. I didn't want to leave. Diedre and I visited and played with Krew. Krew is adorable! He laughs and plays and crawls and is so even tempered. When Brandon got home he insisted that Diedre and I have some time alone. He watched the baby and Diedre and I went to see the temple and walk around a craft store. It was nice! That night was Valentines and Diedre fixed the table so pretty and fixed us a lovely dinner. The boys were tired from snowboarding. Corden was thrilled with Targhee. It has great snow! Dad even bought him a t-shirt from there. We enjoyed having Cameron with us. He was easy to be around and joined in the games and was so appreciative of the trip.

Sunday we went to church. Their ward was very friendly and I got a good baby fix. Everywhere I looked were adorable babies, toddlers and expectant mothers. It was so wonderful! Diedre fixed another wonderful meal after church and we played games and video games. Krew was so adorable and easy to take care of. Diedre and Brandon were so welcoming and loving to us.

Monday Diedre was going to fix German pancakes. I went in to look at the recipee and found out that it was Yorkshire Pudding that I had in England! It is hard to make so I never tried it. Diedre's turned out beautiful. It raised up just like it should and was so good. It was a special treat for me. I took a picture of them but our computer won't upload the pictures.

Mike took us out to lunch and then we went to see the Rexburg museum. It has a special section about the Teton dam collapse of 1976. It was an interesting display. We were impressed by the influence of the church and how much they were able to help. Then, we had to leave. It was hard to go, but we were all glad to have made the trip.

We hosted two athletes for the special olympics. David and Mitchell are from Canada. They came to our home on Wednesday afternoon. We had dinner and then David went with Corden to the YMCA and out for Krispie Kream donuts for mutual. Mitch liked playing on our PS2. The next day we had breakfast and then they went to Bogus to practise. That night our area sponsored a dinner for all the Canadian athletes and coaches. The food was good and for entertainment they had fiddlers, cloggers and an Indian dancer. They next morning we went to the grade school and the athletes went into class rooms to explain who they were and the event that they were competing in for the Olympics. Then, we went to the mall and walked around. We had lunch at the mall and then went to the museum. The museum had butter making, calf roping and hula hoops along with the regular displays. That night we stayed home and watched movies and played video games. The next morning we took them back to their team.

It was the opening ceremonies at Idaho Center in Nampa that day. We went and enjoyed the festivities. There was good entertainment and some celebraties. The lighting of the torch was the highlight.

Tuesday Mike and I went to Bogus to watch them compete. We got there in time to watch both of them in their alpine skiing event. We cheered them and enjoyed it so much!! We were glad that we got to see them one more time.

It was a great experience and we loved being the host family.

Work with Mike

Once a week I have been going into Mike's office to work. I do some filing, write letters, update his accounts and do some copying. I have organized his accounts so that he can make contact with all of them several times in the year. At the first of the month I print out the list for that month. This week I was trained by the secretary to substitute for her when she takes a vacation. Next week I will go in three days to continue the training. It is interesting work with a lot of important details. It is a challange and I liked it.

Temple work

We held a family baptism the last day of January. We were able to perform about 100 baptisms. It was a really nice time. Today I was able to do initiatory for 10 women. I just enjoyed it so much. I can't really explain what a joy it is for me to help my parents with the genealogy and to be able to do the temple work for our family. It is quite an experience. The work is appreciated by my parents, the temple work seems more meaningful to me. I feel that I am doing something important and I can do most of it at home on the computer. I am so thankful to live in this day of computers.

Our Special Olympic athletes arrived yesterday afternoon. Their names are David and Mitchell. They are so very polite and helpful. They are both skiiers from Canada. David brought us some smoked salmon and a banner for Corden of a Canadian Hockey Team. It was nice to have more boys in the house! Mitchell liked to play video games and after dinner played for a while. David went with Corden to Mutual. They went to the YMCA for the evening and then out to Krispie Kream. This morning they are practising at Bogus. Mike took them to catch the bus. It is nice because they have a special trailer for their skiis so we didn't have to have the truck to haul them around. Tonight there is a dinner for all the Canadian athletes and their host families at our church. On Friday we will go to the YMCA, the museum and perhaps the mall. Sat. is the opening ceremonies and the competition will begin. During the competition they stay in hostels.

The special olympic committee requested people knit or crochet scarfs for the athletes. They are to be done in blue and white, the olympic colors. Boise got so many scarfs from all over the country that people could donate to the olympics for a scarf. They let me pick out one for every member of the family. I only got three.... not one for each of my family. It was so special to me because one of the scarfs was knitted by a girl scout from New York. that's the one I wanted. It is a wonderful experience to get to be a host family for the Special Olympics. It is a great experience.