ELDER AND SISTER NIELSON
Dear family,
I want you to know that I feel so privileged to belong to you all. You and the Gospel are the treasures of my life. Thank you for the things you do to reach out to each other while I am away. Thanks for your love and support in the letters you send to us. Thank you, Katy, for taking on this thankless assignment. I hope you all realize how blessed we are. I know that I have been complaining and worrying a lot since I have been adjusting to this mission thing, but I want you to know that I have also felt the closeness of the Spirit and that is such a sweet experience. I am trying harder to repent each day without taking on the load of guilt for not being all I want to be yet. I just keep trying to be a little better, even if it only means not letting myself think something or just smiling more or biting my tongue when I feel like saying something that is not uplifting! I'm trying to conquer this life one good choice at a time because that's about all I can handle. I hope you are all having a good summer and making sweet memories to hold onto when you are old like we are. Smile a lot and give tons of hugs. Look for the good in your loved ones and tell them about it. Seek the Lord.
I love you,
Mom
Dear family, This is a picture of the sculpture called “the wounded comrade”. It was done by a man who actually saw elephants do this in the wild. See how they are leaning into him to help him stay up and walk? They are even covering his eyes so that he can’t see when he is distressed. They will do their best to escort him to safety. We got this picture from our mission president. I think it depicts so well how the Savior wants us to treat each other while we are here on the earth. And it made me think of you. Thank you for holding me up.
BENGES
Swimming lessons. Cherry picking (real cherries--not the basketball kind). Camps. The end.
There is probably more, but that sums up what I remember.
Our neighbor got a bumper crop of cherries this year. He is a very kind grandpa with Parkinson's and a pinched nerve and really couldn't pick them himself -- and he has no idea what to do with them anyway. So, our little salesforce (they are few in number and small in stature) has been selling cherries and will forward the proceeds to the family of Graham Kormylo, to help the family in Texas pay for medical bills. Graham's story was brought to our attention by my cousin, Dallas Dobbs, who lives in Austin, TX (not Dallas, TX, unfortunately).
Isaac and Gideon had a good experience at our Stake's annual Aaronic Priesthood camp. Both received rave reviews for the music they shared. Isaac was a zone leader for the crew that does most of the set up and heavy labor for the camp. Gideon had a neat experience being healed by a Priesthood blessing there. They both bore strong testimonies at its conclusion--which is very pleasing to their mother and father.
More camps are coming for Andrew, Miriam, Gideon and Isaac.
The rest of the gang had a lot of fun at swimming lessons, even though the weather was quite chilly for a while.
And ... other stuff happened, I think. I got a promotion at work, which is very gratifying. I think everyone is enjoying summer, although not a lot is being accomplished. Life is good.
We love you and continue to pray for you all.
NIELSON, C
Hi Everybody,
So after thought, prayer, and consulting with our doctor, we have decided that we're not going to get pregnant with IUI treatments, which means saving for IVF. That means coming up with $15,000. On the bright side, our doctor seemed hopeful that IVF would work. So, pray for us for sure. Donate money if you have extra and feel so inspired. :)
Otherwise life goes on. If anyone is interested, here are some of the other Ask Gramps responses Charles has written over the last month:
Loves
Charles & Bryony
JOHNSONS
Dear Family,
Has it really been a whole month already? I guess I will have to get creative with news, because we just don't have much going on. We've had a nice month of summer, but it has gone so fast that it only feels like a few days. We read, and we swim, and we do silly cleaning activities, and then we hurry and mess the house back up so we feel comfortable again. I spend an hour or two in my garden every morning. That about sums it up.
Bethany spends a lot of time reading and drawing. She still works at Little Caesar's making deep dish pizzas. She still loves Perry the Platypus.
Risa has been driving every day, and she is getting much more comfortable with it, although she still would prefer to be a passenger. She has read more books than anyone this summer--about a book a day, so far.
Hyrum turned 15 this month. He has only read one book, and has no plans to read any more, He spent a week at scout camp and came home with a pretty impressive farmer's tan. He also has been pondering on some deep gospel questions. He wants to know if people in the spirit world have modern day technology, and if so, what is Moroni's favorite movie. If anyone knows the answer to this mystery, Hyrum would appreciate enlightenment.
Camilla is growing the fastest right now. She is still a few inches shorter than her mom, at least she was yesterday. She swims nearly every day, and she has spent quite a bit of time reading, but she is starting to get bored with kid games so she isn't as good of a babysitter as she was last year.
McKaylee has gone blonder than usual with all the swimming and sunshine. She is pretty happy to join in with whatever activity is going on around the house. She swims and reads and plays and cooks, She loves to go to the store and the library, and anywhere else mom is willing to bring her.
Maxwell plays legos all day every day. He swims, but not for as long as his big sisters. He reads, but 20 minutes a day is about the limit. He eats--lots. But that doesn't take long, and then he goes back to creating amazing things with his legos. He's happy.
Sadie is having a party because we told her she could if she would stop sucking her thumb. So she did. We will have chocolate cake and watch a movie. Sadie plays and plays with anyone she can get to play with her. She plays legos a lot, because that is a sure way to have Maxwell play. When she wants to play dolls or stuffed animals it is much harder to find a friend to join her. She swims, but she gets cold faster than the bigger kids. So then she plays in the yard and makes messes all over the porch and patio. Unlike dad, I don't mind the sidewalk chalk, but I really don't care for the bug hotels, the rock and stick art, the dead grass and weed piles, and the mud pies. I'm trying to grow a classy garden, but you have to go through Sadie's maze to get there.
Mike goes to work. He is still running--he did a half marathon last weekend. This morning he ran six miles before we went to clean the church. He has helped a few people move this past week. He keeps pretty busy serving people, especially his wife, who is pretty demanding at times.
Then there is me. I garden, and read. I lecture my kids and organize cleaning activities. I plan menus and shop. I take care of mom's house, and visit Grandma Nielson once a week. I sometimes swim, but I always get out really quick because there are too many noisy, splashy kids all around, so I usually just sit in a camp chair and read while the kids swim--And by the way, if anyone is wondering, I love our pool. It is four feet deep and 15 feet around. It cost around $400 I think, but it has been well worth the investment since we have used it nearly every day all summer long for three or four years now. It is so much easier than trying to take kids to the pool all the time! And that about sums up my life.
Sorry to bore you all with the details, but I guess you can skip the Johnson news next month if it was too painful for you. I'm thinking maybe I'll just let Katy invent some news for me next time since she is so much more entertaining than me.
Hope you are all doing well!
Love,
The Johnsons
HARDMANS
The Hardman home has been invaded by gremlins. So far they have been unable to catch one of the little guys who like to sit around and download merchandise off the internet. Fortunately some of it useful, (Steve just got a nose hair trimmer), other items are just useless, (a bag of jewels for a game no one actually plays for $99.99). While the Hardmans sort out this mess, and change passwords once again, they could use any advice to catch their little pesky friends.
NIELSONS, J
John is struggling with communication right now. As we all know he has been thinking in code for years, unfortunately the code has taken over his brain. Poor Liz is working on learning code so that she can act as interpreter, but it has made it difficult for them to socialize. Fortunately it hasn't slowed John's work down, on the contrary, he now can code twice as fast.
NIELSONS, S
We took a trip to Northern California and the Oregon Coast when Sam got some vacation time from work. We spent most of our time there visiting ancient forests and rocky beaches, but we spent a little time in Portland and rode an old steam train. The kids are enjoying a break from school after finishing with a unit on chocolate. Marilyn first had the idea of a chocolate unit because there was going to be a chocolate exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, but we were surprised when doing research how many things even a simple subject like that can cover—everything from rain forests and ancient Maya civilization to modern manufacturing processes. Marilyn is still in the midst of homeschooling even though the kids are having their summer break. It turns out that if you want to teach something you have to learn about it first, so she is becoming versed in a lot of random subjects.
Abe is our most voracious reader and has been devouring books when he’s not playing outside with the other kids. He must have gotten Marilyn’s fast-reader genes because he manages to blast through books even on days that are full of other activities.
Sebastian has become obsessed with electronics. He spends every spare minute taking apart defunct gadgets and drawing diagrams of cathode ray tubes. He pores over technical manuals and nonfiction books on wiring. It’s entirely possible we have a mad scientist in the making.
Malachi learned how to ride his bike and now follows his brothers all around the neighborhood.
Marilyn has started teaching Daisy how to read. Daisy can’t actually read much yet but she’s been writing fake words with real letters on her drawings for a long time so we figure it can’t be that big of a step to make some sense out of it all.
Juniper bought a pig from Ikea with her birthday money. Not a real pig. But she loves it and carries it everywhere. She has many things to say, most of which are wrong, but she’s cute enough that it doesn’t matter.
Marigold is finally walking, but as with many things, does so only at her own will and pleasure and not by request.
HUNTS
Greetings family,
Things are going well for the Hunts. Ella seems to become a bigger troublemaker every day. She enjoys every minute of it. Gwen is trying not to be too bored but she has her cousins to play with so she is managing well so far.
Abe and I went to the Shakespeare Festival and had a lot of fun with all the plays. My favorites this year were Sense and Sensibility, Into the Woods, and Comedy of Errors. The actors were all excellent and the timing on the jokes were perfect. It was a great way to spend time together.
If any of you like plays you should really join us some year.
FROYDS
Well, my due date is December 15. Hurray. I don't think that's too close to Christmas, I just have to hope I deliver early and not late. Mom thinks it will make the Candlelight Dinner hard for us this year, but then what's new? I don't think Sandin's been to more than two of them ever.
Speaking of Sandin, he's on a new prescription, Zoloft. I told him I think that makes him officially a Nielson. He's adjusting too it, not quickly enough for me, but it seems to be helping his mood a little, maybe.
Naya has had it with her little "boyfriends" as she calls them. She told me that she didn't think it was a great idea to make her new friends be boys. This is after she got in trouble multiple times for things that the boys did, like ripping the birdhouse out of Grandma's front lawn. Naya can't control the goofballs so she's decided she's only going to play with girls now.
That's it from our family, now good bye until next month.
ADAMS
Adam's's's's's' News:
Michael now is completely completed with his completely completed Masters In Business Degree!! Well, maybe it's not a completely completed MBA yet, as we are still waiting to find out his grade for his capstone. We're all crossing our fingers that he will end up with a 4.0 GPA! But it all depends on that final project...I'm not too worried, are you?
So in place of reading dry textbooks, Michael is spending his free time learning to play the piano! He's picking it up quickly! More quickly than his daughter who doesn't like the grand staff at all. But that doesn't stop Evelyn from writing music to teach to her daddy. It's cute and fun to watch.
Other than that, Michael is playing superhero to more birds: this time to a hummingbird fledgling that fell out of it's nest too young. Michael scooped it up and placed it back in the nest, and he didn't even squeal when it pooped on his hand to thank him! (Of course I know the real story: first he knocked it out of it's nest with a rock....then he saved it.)
Pamela is recruiting more voice lesson students, and is dismayed to see the prospective students drop in age. 8 is too young to even want to teach. But Pamela is persisting in her advertising and hopes to be able to get more students over the age of 15.
Pamela also had to give a last minute talk in Sacrament meeting...her first talk in 8 1/2 years.--and they asked her on Saturday at noon! Grrrr...Then the bishopric had to rub in it and ask Michael to give his 8th talk in this ward with three weeks to prepare! Grrrrrr even more...
And....Pamela is still not pregnant. GRRRRRR.....
Evelyn is saving up her pennies so she can take Maxwell on a date to Texas when they turn 12. She's saving up for the restaurants, the plane tickets and the hotel. ?!?!?
Okay.....Sometimes raising kids is scary.
Penny keeps stealing socks out of the laundry. Bad dog.
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
I wanted to share a recipe that takes advantage of all the wonderful produce available in the summer, but still have it one of my original recipes, so here's my own recipe for pico de gallo. For those who wonder, there's no cilantro, nor anything spicy in it, just wonderful flavors that get better the longer they sit.
Pico de Gallo
6 Roma tomatoes
1 sweet onion
2 garlic cloves
Salt to taste (approx. 2 t. I think, I'm not sure I don't measure)
3 limes
Finely dice tomato, onion and garlic. Stir together and salt and juice the limes over it. (If you'd rather you can use the bottled lime juice). Cover and let sit in the fridge at least over night (you can eat it immediately, but it's better by the next day, and it's divine in a week). I enjoy this best with the scoops chips. Just a suggestion.
