ELDER AND SISTER NIELSON
To all of my very favorite people in the whole world,
A whole 'nother month has passed! I have done a lot of thinking since Hannah's last letter. Her feelings about her last six months caught me off guard a little. I wondered "Will I ever feel like that?" And the answer came to me as a resounding "YES"! I am already beginning to feel that this mission is going to go by quickly now and that it is going to be a good experience. And then it will be a memory that we will always look back on as one of the most precious times of our lives. It has made me think that I better get busy appreciating it while it is here. There have been time in my life that I groaned all the way through, and then looked back on and thought what an idiot I was for not just enjoying it and doing all I could to enhance the experience and appreciate it. Dail's time at Purdue was like that for me.
And it was so short. And it is so Gone! This isn't a place that I will ever likely come again and the people are just for now, and maybe in the eternities. I'm going to make the most of it. I hope you are all better at doing that with your lives than I have been. Each funny and interesting and boring and sad newsletter I read is a little bit of your history, and it is invaluable. It is all gone so quickly. Make your lives good. You're all creative!
You already know all of our news which is pretty boring anyway. We are doing good and still butting heads about our lessons a little, but they are turning out better and we are learning. And we are still speaking and loving each other so we are really doing fabulously!
I love when it's newsletter time because I get to hear a little bit more from everybody and it means I am one more month closer to seeing you all. Just because I am going to enjoy it here doesn't mean I won't be eager to see you all again! Make a good month out of September.
I love you all so much,
Me
BENGE
Savior of the World dominated our lives in August, and it is difficult to think of anything else. But I think other things did happen.
Andrew is 12 and now an Aaronic priesthood holder.
We attended the open house of the Ogden Temple and love the beauty and design. We are also glad to use the tabernacle again for our stake conferences.
And SOTW went well. The Egyptian Theatre in Ogden is a beautiful building and a good place to do a show. We hope sharing our testimonies in this way blessed the lives of the attendees. Gideon did a fabulous job as a disciple on the road to Emmaus. He was the only really involved part, but Joshua, Rachel, Lucy, Andrew, Miriam, Susie and I all participated. We are glad it is over, but it was a good experience.
And college football is underway, which is fun for me.
We love you all! Take care and God speed.
NIELSON, C
Bryony got a new job. She's now a personal assistant for the CEO of a ring/men's jewelry company called Lashbrook. It's not as impressive sounding as Para-legal or whatever, but it pays significantly better, so it's better. It also seems to be a better atmosphere. The law office she worked at had a lot of language and stuff that was unpleasant for her.
That's about it. Nothing of major significance. So here's some more Ask Gramps stuff Charles wrote. Not as many this month.
JOHNSONS
Dear Family,
Another month already? Well, I guess things have changed a little since last time we sent news. School started! The kids have all settled into a new routine, and even little Sadie started kindergarten. She loves it, of course. Except today she went off to school crying. Yesterday was her birthday. She got a doll and a lego set with Uni-kitty. She wanted to stay home and play with them today. She was also up late last night, so maybe that was part of the problem.
The biggest change is my life. I went from having seven children bouncing off the walls around here, to absolute empty silence during the day. I cried most of the day on Sadie's first day of kindergarten. But I'm getting more used to it. I sure get a lot more done during the day. I've been indexing again, and you should see how clean my pantry is right now.
It is harvest season. We have been eating a lot of interesting things out of the garden. The Swiss chard was not a hit. The turnips were barely edible when we generously mixed them with bacon--but who wants to waste perfectly good bacon that way? The corn has been heavenly. Mike and I have invented a scrumptious recipe for cucumber salad that we have had several times--and we still have cucumbers that need to be used. Of course we've had lots of zucchini. Anybody want some? We have had garden potatoes a couple of times now. Yesterday we tried the blue potatoes for the first time. They were a hit. Some of the kids insisted that they were the yummiest potatoes they had ever had. But the truth is they really don't taste much different than any other potatoes. They were such a pretty color, though. I'm surprised they don't sell them in fancy restaurants or something, 'cause they were pretty cool. Well, maybe they do sell them in fancy restaurants. How would I know? But I've never seen them before. We would offer to share, but since they were an experiment, we didn't plant very many of them in case they were gross. I'll include a picture, but last time Katy couldn't figure out how to post it on the blog, so maybe you'll see it, and maybe not.
Anything else? Um. . . I got my hair cut. It's going curlier, so I look more like Christy's sister.
Maxwell got a tooth out. (Yes, I think that means that I am really out of news to share.)
Love you all!
The Johnsons
HARDMANS
The Hardmans are hard at work as a new school year begins. Charlie has finally settled onto a career path and has decided to study to become a Vegas hypnotist. She's honing her techniques on other students around her. Meanwhile Jacob has decided the best way to finish high school is with a flair. He has mastered the handstand and will conduct this year upside down, never turning right side up while in the school. Bravo dude, bravo.
News from Elder Hardman:
I'm training? That's cool I guess. And I guess I'm a District Leader now. Also, I learned how to make really good cookies this week. And I'm still in the Dalles. That's about all the news I have. So just pray for me that I won't mess up Junior when he gets here.
NIELSON, J
Liz is having a baby any day now.
NIELSON, S
Sam finished his last days at Avalanche and has started his first days at BYU. No classes taught as of this writing, but a week-long conference of meetings with other faculty. Sam tends to find meetings boring, except for the one lone bright spot, a presentation by the illustrious Mike Johnson.
Marilyn has finished the revolutionary war unit for the kids’ homeschool, and is now moving on to a unit on Shakespeare. She has been spending her evenings working (while Sam catches up on his freelance work) on a photo/memory book for Malachi’s life up until now. She finished Abe and Seb’s already, Daisy is next.
Abraham has a huge collection of Rubix cubes in all shapes and sizes. He mostly spends his time creating patterns with them and having us time him as he solves them.
Sebastian is as dedicated as ever to his new love for electronics. For his birthday this month he got a kit of small screwdrivers and an old television set to disassemble.
Malachi is losing his teeth one at a time. Don’t worry, they’re coming out on their own.
Daisy is enjoying school, but Juniper suddenly feels a little lonely while playing during school time.
Marigold has started walking everywhere quickly enough that we are considering whether to call it running. We still can not count her as a person though since she doesn’t talk yet (in spite of having learned many words).
HUNT
Hunt family is good. Gwen started second grade and is liking it so far. Ella likes to make messes and Jane and Abe are doing well.
I told Susan about this recipe and she requested that I send it with the newsletter so here it is.
CTR Preztels
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ to 3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
melted butter
kosher salt
1. Mix the first five ingredients until they form a ball. Then knead dough until smooth and elastic. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for one hour
2. Pull off sections of the dough and roll into long ropes. Form the ropes into the letters “CTR” or make the shape of the CTR shield.
3. Put the pretzels on a greased cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes at 450 degrees F. Brush pretzels with melted butter. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
When we make it we 3 times it except for the flour (8 cups of flours). Then we just cut it however we want. We’ve done biscuit shapes, bread stick shapes and bite size shapes. They are all good.
FROYD
Linaya has started school. She's loving it. Her best friend in the ward is in her class and they are thick as thieves. Linaya's doing well so far, only it's only been a week. I hope she continues to do well.
In the meantime, Sandin and I decided against moving. We looked into the possibilities, and the timing couldn't be worse with my current health and levels of pain. So we are here for at least another year. We still are doing some cleaning out of many things however. Much will go to D.I. Still more is available to anyone who has interest, including my bicycle and many art supplies. (They are expensive and we don't want to waste them if someone could use them for school or something.)
I've been hurting again, it comes in waves. I'll have a good week, then a week I can barely move, it's been a bad week this last few weeks. But other than the pain I'm healthy and happy. We've come up with a few names we like. Sandin likes unusual names so don't be surprised. And that's about it.
ADAMS
News from Michael and Company
Michael is having a blast playing big boss-man at his work. He spent most of his month training and traveling and it's not over yet. Next week he'll be back in Texas training the new hire that took his place (that's sounds really weird). He's also trying to become a bit more like dad by car shopping. Why can't his 15-year-old Chevy Malibu last forever?! We're liking the Kia Soul right now. I always wanted to buy a Soul...But I'm pretty determined that my Soul won't be black. The green alien Soul is a little strange though...Anyway, we're trying not to just settle on any Soul. I hope I never have to sell my Soul. (Okay, enough puns.)
Pamela is getting skinny with infrared wraps. She LOVES them! There's just nothing better than being wrapped like a mummy and sweating it out while frying your brain on stupid TV shows. (By the way, the TV show Merlin: find it on Netflix and watch it! It's addicting.--especially when it's the first TV show you've seen since "I Love Lucy.") Also Pamela is up to 6 Voice lesson students! Hurrah! Now if we can get them to come more regularly.... She's also trying to learn how to juggle being choir director along with her new calling as Young Women's Second Counselor.
Evelyn LOVES first grade! Really. She told me the other day that she couldn't decide if she liked me or school better. I settled that one quickly by informing her that of course she loves Mommy best. But it's okay because Mommy loves first grade too. 6 whole hours!!!! Evelyn told me her new goal was to learn to snap before she turns 8. "It's not that far away, Mommy, I've got to get to work!" She is improving in her piano, but she still hates learning new songs. She actually has to LOOK at the book, and READ the notes! How awful! But if you come visit us, you will be sure to get many performances of "Row, Row, Row your Boat."
Penny is still a pug. And I DIDN'T buy a bulldog named Precious, or bring home a free tabby kitten! It's very impressive.
Oh, and by the way, we've now been married ten years! we celebrated our anniversary at the beginning of August by spending way too much money. We bought memberships at Thanksgiving point and we've already gotten our money's worth out of them, little Daddy-Shoulder-Devil, so you needn't keep tugging on my ear and telling me to go back to Thanksgiving point.
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
See the Hunt's article. Also note, a dip in a soda bath gives pretzels their distinct color and flavor. Boil water with 1/2 c. baking soda and dip each pretzel for 10-12 seconds. Our favorite dip is cheese sauce, found in Betty Crocker red and white cookbook, with the change that I substitute evaporate milk for the milk. It's yummy.
