Saturday, September 6, 2014

September Newsletter

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.
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Monday, August 4, 2014

August 2014

ELDER AND SISTER NIELSON

Dearest Family,

     What a month it has been!  I hope that you have fun catching up on each other's news.  With every month that passes I realize more and more what a treasure my family is to me.  All of your little ones will someday be your best friends too.  And I hope that you will be best friends to each other.  I think the fall schedule is real now but I'm still not positive.  We are teaching Book of Mormon and the marriage class for pretty sure.  The other one is up in the air at the moment.  I think we probably won't teach it.  But we will know soon because our first class starts in the middle of August! We teach for 15 weeks and then have a break for Christmas.  Then we teach for 15 more weeks and we are done!

     I want you all to know that in spite of all of our little problems we are glad we are here.  And we are glad that we have each other.  It is so good for us to be sharing this challenge.  I know that my testimony has been strengthened. I am so glad that we have the Gospel in our lives.  I'm thankful that we have opportunities to serve in the great work of the Lord.  I know that He loves us and that He is moving us toward the highest happiness that we will allow Him to bring us to. I am so pleased with my children and my wonderful in-law children that I love just like my own.  I adore all of my grandchildren and I'm so thankful that they all have good parents.  Keep raising them good because they will carry you in your old age! 

     I don't have anything in the way of news that you don't get anyway.  Dail's blog is growing all the time.  He is having fun with it.  You are likely to get more pictures etc. than you even want. Today in Duke Gardens he was stopping to take pictures about every 20 feet! I think it is fun for him to do though, even though he keeps including pictures of me!  Stay close to each other and close to the Lord.

    I love you,
         Mom

BENGES

I'm back. So I can share my news. If I can remember it.

Isaac and Gideon just returned from their high adventure trip for the priests to Island Park. Gideon came back with a swollen and damaged left hand from an ATV accident, but a helmet saved his head from being crushed. So, I think all is well (although they immediately ran off to play ultimate somewhere so we haven't talked much).

Miriam also returned from YW's camp today. Joshua and I (and a couple of mice) spent one night with them and it was fun. Wednesday evening was the highlight as we commuted over to Huntsville for dinner in the park and then a concert, where I learned that the Nashville Tribute Band is very awesome.

The music reminds me of something kinda cool: watch my relatives, the Redhead Express, in their latest music video if you'd like. These gals' father is my second cousin and a friend who didn't live too far from me in Western Idaho. Fun.

Next week Andrew heads to Wyoming for Scout camp for a week. Whooo!

Lucy went to a one day adventure for Activity Days at Camp Kiesel yesterday.

SOTW is moving along, devouring our time. I doubt it will be professional, but we pray that the spirit will be there and that some lives can be touched. We have tickets available again--I think--for a showing for friends and family of our stake only at stake.northridgeproductions.org on August 21st. That will effectively be our final dress rehearsal. (I just checked online: 87 tickets left. There should be other nights available now, too, at tickets.northridgeproductions.org if you want to give it a try.)

And, of course, if any of you want to come up here to tour the temple and need a place to stay or hang out, let us know!

And, Isaac is just now starting is mission paperwork/computerwork. Exciting!

We took a couple of days to trash a neighbors tent trailer and visit Dinosaurland in Vernal and it's environs at the beginning of the month, and we loved seeing many of you on July 4th. 

And I think that covers it! Take care and God speed!

The Benge Family

NIELSON, C

Not a lot of update from the Charles-and-Bryonyleses. Bry has been working on looking for another job. We're at a plateau (for a bit at least) on the fertility thing. We'll probably do some sort of online fundraiser in the near future. We're too stressed about it to make decisions I think, which puts us in a stall.

We're really, really enjoying working at the temple. It's just so great to go there every Saturday. It's been very nice.

Here are some other Ask Gramps posts I've done since the last newsletter. Since we don't have much other news, here's some stuff to read:

*Here's my original answer before someone else wanted to change it, and I didn't care enough to not let them:

Erika,

Not only can we still pray for needed and desired things, but we are commanded to -- always (3 Nephi 18:19).

However, Proverbs 29:9 states "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination."

Does this mean stop praying if you are a sinner? Of course not. If that were true then none of us would every pray. Sinners are commanded to pray too. But when we do pray we should do so with an attitude of "hearing the law" and, of course, doing our best to follow it (which is part of the meaning of "hearing" it). If we purposefully and blatantly disregard the law, refusing to do as the Lord wills while selfishly begging for our needs and desires to be satisfied, we may run the risk of our prayers becoming abominations to the Lord. But I do not think we need fear this be the case because of weaknesses and mistakes in spite of our best intentions and efforts.

As to your scripture reading question -- yes, you would not increase the spirit in your life as much as if you applied those things taught. Would it be okay? That question can't be answered simply. Certainly the reading is okay. Certainly the lack of application is not okay.

None of us are perfect. But we are commanded to be perfect. That means we do what we can to be perfect in spite of the fact that we will fall short. It does not mean it is okay not to try.

Finally, we must remember the law of the harvest. We will reap what we sow. A person who vacuums their living room every day but never vacuums the bedroom cannot expect their bedroom floor to remain clean in spite of their diligence in the living room.

Likewise, diligence at homework may keep one's grades up, but will not keep one healthy if they eat nothing but donuts.

And prayer alone is insufficient. Prayer is only part of the requirement set for blessings we seek. D&C 130:20-21

Quote

20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

Gramps

Later I found this that also supported my thinking. Alma 34:28

And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.

JOHNSON

Dear Family,

A big hello from the Johnson family. Ummm. . . Yah, that about sums up all the news. We are all still alive, and doing about the same things that we always do. Contemplating this situation is making me feel a little depressed. Although I should be rejoicing. We are all healthy. We all have more clothes than we can manage to get folded and put away. We have a fridge full of food (some that probably is growing mold and needs to be thrown out). We have one car in the garage, and one in the shop getting fixed. We have a front door and a back door, and one of them actually stays closed without having to turn the deadbolt. We have a pretty good life, even if it doesn't make for fabulous newsletter content.

And if I were more creative I might even be able to entertain you with descriptions of our mundane lives. I could tell you that Mike has been shaving his head every Sunday, which means that by Tuesday he has grown a nice rim of Velcro around his head. I don't think that a hurricane could blow the hat off his head on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

I could tell you how we spent several hours one day trying to invent our own version of Qwirkle with Popsicle sticks--since we don't have Qwirkle. It was a flop. But I'm sure we learned important things from that endeavor.

I could tell you about the deep doctrine that Mike and I are learning from having the opportunity to substitute for Sadie's primary class. (Out of the mouth of babes . . .) I could tell you whose grandpa died, but now he is back alive, and whose cousin's dog is so old that she will bite you if you pet her. I could even tell you which adorable, sweet child suddenly starts calling the other class members a stupid-face for no apparent reason--and right in the middle of an inspiring lesson on kindness. But those might be the kinds of things it is better just to keep to yourself.

So, instead of trying to be creative with news, I will just assure you all that you are very dear to us, and we hope to get to see you again someday.

Love,
The Johnsons

HARDMAN

Hardmans just got back from Disneyland!!! We had a great time, and roasted in a lot of lines. The good and the bad of it is as follows: Abby took a tumble down a hill on her scooter the day before we left, and skidded all along the road and scraped up her face, arm, hip and tore up her toe. She was hurting pretty bad, but the good part of it was that we rented her a wheel chair and then we got into all the rides quicker. So, thanks Abby, for taking one for the team! We have nick named her Scabby Abby.

We got to stay at the Grand Californian Hotel, which is the hotel that opens into California Adventure Park, because Steve's work had their big convention there and paid for our room. That was awesome. When we got tired in the day, we just hopped on the monorail and went home to sleep for a bit. We rented a car, so we drove two cars, and Char drove one and Steve drove the other because I hate to drive in strange places with crazy traffic, and we all know how stellar is my sense of direction. Char did awesome, and now she knows her way all around the Disneyland roads.

We made it home safe and sound ready to take on the world again--or whatever.
Love you all! 

NIELSON, J

Liz is due in less than two months.  She's getting increasingly uncomfortable in her pregnancy, but you wouldn't know it by how upbeat she stays.  John is finally done (well, almost done) with crunch times at work and will be able to take some time off to help get ready for the new baby's arrival.  Lucy went to girl's camp this year and came home as excited as a jumping bean in a burrito.  Alice loves playing Inifinity and asks Daddy to play with her when he gets home from a full week of making it.  Dora is really excited for the new baby as well.  She denies this, of course, but it is a scientific fact!

NIELSON, S

Marigold walks everywhere now with great confidence. Her speaking is limited to “Da-da” but says it with many nuances in meaning, with most variations leaning toward some sort of demand.

The kids have started school again, and Daisy is starting kindergarten this year with them. Marilyn is beginning with a unit on what Daisy calls the “Resolutionary War.”

Marilyn has been working on “Blurb” books to cover our family history/photo memories for the last several years. This is usually a big project that takes a month or two of dedicated evenings.

Sam has decided to take a job teaching full-time in the Animation program at BYU. He’ll be resigning from Avalanche at the end of August and starting at BYU just a few days later. We’re excited about the opportunities and life changes that will come along with the new job 

HUNT

This month Gwen wanted to change our last name to Ancient Dragon and have me purchase her a dragon costume that she could wear every day until she outgrew it. Well we weren't going to change our name so she settled for having me call her that instead. I told her I wouldn't be able to remember to call her Ancient Dragon so she made name tag so I wouldn't forget.

She also has been getting nonfiction library books about animals, motorcycles, exercise, and mummies. I guess she wants to learn about a little of everything. She even said that she wanted to tell her classmates all about the mummies in a report. So she had me write down some facts of her.

We took Ella swimming and she tried to head out on her own. It's hard to hold onto her when she's trying to push out with her feet. I got a good workout. Also one day at the park she didn't want to do anything except walk over to the library and play with some of the toys they have there. She also keeps us very busy all day long keeping out of naughty stuff. She'll climbs up things now and learned how to climb out of her crib so we got her, her own bed to sleep in, which she seems to like very much.

Abe keeps busy with work and treating a few of his nieces and nephews with a play at the Shakespeare Festival. They had a deal for family day where the tickets went pretty cheap. It was fun to go as a family. We went to Comedy of Errors. It was just as funny as I remembered. I helped the In-laws and participated in a yard sale. Abe and I got $70 from it. But it was a lot of work. I had a fun visit with Kari this month which I enjoyed very much and learned a new game to play which I taught my in-laws. They like it too. Well that about sums it up.

FROYD

It's a boy, or so they tell us. Now we just have to figure out exactly how to prepare for that. Now we get to think of names. Woo hoo. My pregnancy has also taken a turn for the worst this past month. My pain level has shot through the roof, particularly whenever the baby moves it feels like I'm being clawed by hot coals. Apparently it's fairly common in pregnancies with fibromyalgia. And it's supposed to get worse, yay (and yes that's sarcasm).

Oh, and we may have to move. We applied for low income housing before we decided to move in with grandma, but figured it wouldn't really matter for a while since they told us it was at least a 3 year waiting list. Well, suddenly it's not. We have jumped to the head of the line, but we can't live in Provo, so we may have to move or lose this opportunity. Since we've been worrying about how in the world we would squeeze a crib in with Naya, not to mention how to baby proof this house, it may be an excellent opportunity. Especially if we get into the apartment that we want to which is located almost exactly between Christy's, Kari's and Mom's. So that may be happening. How and when we don't know, but we may call everyone available to help us. We're not exactly able to do what we need to get this done by ourselves. If and when that happens we'll let you know.

Sandin's still trying to get the right anxiety meds, we'll see how that goes.

Naya starts school in three short weeks. I hope we get everything done that we need to with that. She's excited, mostly because I think she's bored a lot. Especially on days when Sandin and I are both down. Poor girl.

ADAMS

Michael DID get a 4.0 on his Master's/Masters'-- Ah, forget it; when in doubt, skip the apostrophe: Masters Degree. (obviously I DON'T have a Masters'.... let's not start that again!! MBA! Sheesh!)  In fact, he got 100% on his capstone project!  We were thrilled and went  to Hibachi Grill to celebrate. Evelyn spent the whole time cowering under the table from the fire. But the food was good, so we couldn't spank her too much...

Michael has still been waiting to hear back about the raise he asked for over four months ago. We decided that must be a bad sign, in spite of his boss claiming they were working out the details. So Michael starting job hunting. As you all know, job hunting is usually just a formula for going bald. Just as Michael was about to throw up his arms in defeat and join the Air Force as an officer, he received some rather unexpected news. Kirby, Michael's current Project Manager, sent in his resignation  letter. Michael was crushed, because everyone in our family loves Kirby for all the free days off that he awards Michael for a job-well-done.

After dealing with the initial disappointment and the resulting determination to find a different job, we realized that meant there was an open position in the company. Kirby had recommended Chris (Michael's coworker and friend) for the position, but Michael turned in his resume' (pretend that's an accent over the 'e') and showed off his new MBA and other accolades.

Four anxious, nail-biting days later, Michael's boss called him and let him know that Michael is the new project manager! So we've been celebrating that too, in spite of the fact that we have no idea of any of the details including pay raise. The company let us know that Human Resources would get back to us with all that information sometime in August. Michael doesn't officially begin the position until the end of August.

And that's the big news. If you want, you can skip the rest. :D

Pamela is doing all the same stuff as last month with no real change except that she is finally recovered from her blasted cold! Yippeee! Life is that much better without a squeaky voice and foggy head!

Evelyn decided she can swim, and spends most of her afternoons trying to give her mother a heart attach by inhaling way more chlorine water than is healthy. (Most of you got a dose of her craziness on the Fourth of July party when she made the discovery.) 

This week we were on a business trip up in Ogden. Evelyn never gets much sleep when we're all living in the same hotel room. When she is tired, she gets very wiggly. As Joshua describes her, she is "a blob of quickness," going from one insane stunt to the next. She came home looking like a toddler again, with her forehead covered with goose-eggs and bruises. I'm glad she still has bangs to hide her Quasimodo forehead.

I wanted to thank everyone who helped out with the 4th of July party. It turned out very nicely, with perhaps a bit of a pizza overkill. I loved seeing most of you, and hope you enjoyed yourselves too.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

I have been having weird cravings with this pregnancy. But mostly I crave fruits and veggies by the bucketload. I really wanted something with breakfast, not the best time for veggies, so I looked to see what I had in the fruit department.The only thing I had in my bare fridge/freezer, was an open bag of blueberries. So this is what I made up. I put it over French toast, but I'm sure it would also enhance waffles, pancakes, german pancakes, or crepes. It really did turn out delicious, so please try it.

Blueberry Syrup

2 c. blueberries, frozen, though I'm sure fresh would work too
1 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1 T. lemon juice
Pinch of kosher salt (opt.)

Bring to boil and boil 30 min. stirring occasionally.


Additional recipe suggestions: A few days after making this recipe we made crepes. I mixed 2 T. sour cream with 1 T. pwd. sugar and put it in the middle with the blueberry syrup. It was super delicious. Of course Linaya loves blueberries. The sour cream adds a bit of tart to the whole thing.
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Monday, July 7, 2014

July News

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.

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Saturday, June 7, 2014

Sorry Adamses

ADAMS
  
 4 more weeks until Michael has his Master's Degree!! Woohoo! Then he can add more official looking letters behind his name!
   Evelyn now officially is no longer a deprived child! At 6 1/2 she finally is the proud owner of a bicycle! She is still super-dependent on her training wheels, but we're confident that won't last too long. Pretty soon she'll be able to navigate through a skating bowl like she can on her scooter.
   Evelyn is also officially graduated from Kindergarten. We took some fun videos, and maybe before she graduates from high school I will post them on our blog.
   Pamela is boring as tofu.
   Penny is slightly less boring than tofu, because she can roll-over, unlike Pamela who can't.

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June Newsletter

For future reference, those that don't get their news to me in a timely manner will suffer the consequences. I will just have to write it myself. As a matter of distinction, I will put these in italics so you can tell the difference, just in case it's not ridiculous enough to tell by reading it.

ELDER AND SISTER NIELSON

Dear family,
     I decided to be part of the family newsletter!  Not that I have any more news than I’m already scraping up to send to you each week!  We have been in North Carolina almost a month now and we are still loving the place.  We love the people too.  We asked ourselves now that we’re into it, do we want to do it again?  And, boy, the jury is still out on that one!  We are liking teaching and other than that the things that I like best, he doesn’t and the things he likes, I don’t.  No surprises there, huh?  but we are compromising pretty good and really learning to appreciate each other’s strengths.  I do appreciate him dragging me out the door kicking and screaming, I really do.
     For anybody who is wondering, I have no idea what my weight is doing.  I left my scales at home which is pretty scary.  I have been exercising every day and trying to be careful but I don’t think my weight is going down.  I really hope it isn’t going up!  Dail goes walking sometimes and sometimes rides the stationary bike that he bought.  He hates being around the apartment. He loves being at the institute building.  I go with him and count the minutes until I can come home again.
     I miss the children!  I didn’t realize how much until I found myself a lot more interested in the children that were at the museum that we went to on Saturday than I was in any of the exhibits!  We just don’t see many children here.
     I am so thankful for all of you who take the time to send me a note.  We are always hungry for news of the family.  I am going to start emailing some quotes, and maybe scriptures on the weekdays when I don’t write.  I found some that made me smile and I want to share those smiles.  Some of you really need them.  If you don’t, just add them to your junk mail.  Have a happy June.  I love you all.          Mom

BENGE

May is so very vague. It was days ago. 

But I just got in from checking on a funny little leak in my yard. A sprinkler wasn't working, and there was a little bubble of water near it.  Digging down, I found that the pipe was broken and stuck in the cement of the fence that had been put up after our windstorm. Cutting out the pipe, I discovered that the PVC pipe is filled with post cement, and goes on quite a ways.  I am in awe, and thinking about it elicits little sounds and thoughts that are reminiscent of Crush, the turtle. Whoa, dude! 

Isaac has graduated from high school. Yay! But it is not really a shocker.  He is looking for more/better employment until he can leave on a mission.

Gideon got a job at Dairy Queen. Yay! And thanks, Isaac. We are following in the proud tradition of some of Susan's sisters.  I mean Susie's.

Susan likes being called Susie. I like it, too, but I forget to use it. I just am not sure how to spell it. Susie? Suzy? Siouxsie? Soozee? We could make her the centerpiece of my eternally hypothetical band--Siouxsee and the Bengees!

Speaking of music, our stake's production of Savior of the World has been moved up to August, and we will be performing in the Peery Egyptian Theatre in downtown Ogden as part of the temple open house activities. That will be especially good for Gideon, as they moved the high school musical up, too.

I wish you could also how Esther lurches when she tries to nod. It is awesome.

Talking with Hannah on Mother's Day was awesome.

To conclude, I would like to paraphrase the words of a song that will now stick in your head for the next 48 hours, if you know the tune:

Everyone is awesooooome!
Everyone is cool and they're part of my team!
Everyone is awesooooome!
Soozee fell for my scheme ...

Love y'all!

NIELSON, C

We're moving forward on fertility treatments again. Charles is travelling for work some lately (it's been a while). Bry is enjoying her job. Charles got an interesting opportunity to write articles for a website called Ask Gramps. (http://askgramps.org/) That should be interesting. Here is the first response/article he wrote: http://askgramps.org/24326/balance-marriage-church-callings

JOHNSON

Here is the news from the Johnson Family:
We have been working hard on our garden, and finally got it planted on Saturday (the 24th of May). We hope that all our hard work pays off in the late summer and early fall. But if not, we've developed a few muscles, and had some bonding hard work experiences, and I guess we can always try again next year so it will all somehow be worth it. I have been blowing off every other responsibility in life in order to get the garden in while it is still gardening season, so it is with great relief that we greet the end of the school year and begin our beloved days of summer. Although some of you might be surprised to hear that my summer school plans are much more disorganized than usual. We're wingin' it this year. There aren't as many cool posters as most years. Oh, well.
Today we spent the afternoon getting ready to set up the pool. Life is sweet--and I can't wait to swim. I think we are the only ones to be already officially out of school. So nanner-nanner for now--but I'll be eating my words when we start back up by the 13th of August. That is about the extent of the excitement around here. It's enough for me. I'm really feeling like the less that is happening the better. So we're good. Hope you are all happy, too.
Love you!
Kari
P.S. I'm inserting a photo of our beautiful garden thus far. Act really impressed even if you aren't because a lot of time, money, effort, stress, and sweat has gone in to this baby--and we are proud parents.

HARDMAN

Hardman news is pretty boring except that Charlie got a new car. It's a 2000 Ford Focus, and she loves it. We may never see her again now that she doesn't have to borrow a vehicle.
Jimmy is not doing very well, so please remember him in your prayers. He writes a happy email out to everyone, but he writes to us that he is depressed and sad and struggling. I wish there was more we could do for him.
I turned 40, which wasn't that fun, except my boss sent me off for a massage and pedicure on my birthday, so that was awesome. The rest of the day I spent co-signing on Char's car loan and running kids around. I did, however, wish on my birthday candles, so here's hoping. . .
We set up the pool in the backyard after rigging a chicken-wire/white trash fence to keep the neighborhood kids from drowning.
Jacob said his summer goals are to train for and do a triathlon, buy a 3DX, get a girlfriend, and become Spiderman. He said he doesn't think the girlfriend thing will happen though. I guess he doesn't see any problem about the Spiderman thing. . .?
Aside from that, everything is normalish. Abby got a hair cut, and she's super cute. She's at girl's camp this week. We are running a 5K as a family on Saturday. Go Hardmans! And that's pretty much it.

NIELSON, J

The Nielson family is roiling in turmoil. Dora has declared herself ruler of the underground mole people. Her parents want to support her in this decision, but it's difficult as Alice and Lucy have decided to stage an uprising, stating that it is just not right to have to follow a younger sister. Will it all end in violence, or will cooler heads prevail?

NIELSON, S

Not content with the number of wiggly bodies in their home, Sam and Marilyn have decided it's time to adopt a pet. Not content with the obvious choices, they have finally settled on getting a griffin. As this is an animal that doesn't actually exist, Sam and Marilyn have dived into genetic manipulation. They are still waiting on the delivery of an eagle egg to complete their experiment. Good luck guys.

HUNT

Hello all, this last month of school was tough for Gwen. She was really sick of school and would fight us almost every single day about going. But she did get to go on a couple of field trips and was very cute during her singing program. Once school ended, She told me that during summer no one could tell her what to do, she was taking a vacation from it.
Ella won't take naps anymore, at least she lasted longer than Gwen did, eighteen months instead of one year. Ella loves to get into drawers now and open anything she can. She also gets very offended when I tell her no.
Within the last week all four of us got sick. Abe and Ella got the worst of it, Ella with goop coming out her eyes and Abe by rupturing his right ear drum. Abe's mom also broke her left arm while trying to help us with our rain gutters. The ladder collapsed under her. Abe spent the day with her at the hospital.
As for me, I'm still an up and down roller coaster of emotions, trying not to go crazy. Gwen and I have been reading the Junie B. Jones books together and they make me laugh but I am also really glad that my children are not like that. Anyway until next month here's a hug and a kiss.

Jane

FROYD

Well, our month was full of the same old dance with the government, this time brought to insane proportions. We kept getting the weirdest requests, like a tip sheet for Sandin's business. WHAT? Linaya is doing good, she's playing nearly everyday with her friends, sometimes she gets multiple requests. One day she went to a friends house and while she was gone she had the door ring for her four times. Crazy!
Well, as some of you know and other's do not, I've joined Liz in the expecting mother camp. That's right I'm pregnant (hopefully you caught on this is Katy writing). Surprise! Anyway that's about all I want to say about that.
Woo hop, just heard, we're finally covered medically again, Yeah!

ADAMS

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Like last months recipe, this one was something I threw together with what I had on hand, but it ended up, well I almost don't dare say, if I over hype it some might be disappointed. Let's just say it was better than I could have hoped for and ended up with little leftovers.

FYI: for this and all future recipes be aware ALL onions in my recipes are sweet onions.

Fiesta Casserole

1/2 cube butter
1/2 onion diced
1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. brown rice, cooked
1 1/2 c. shredded cooked chicken
1 can corn, drained
1 c. salsa
1 can cr. of chicken soup


Put butter and onion in bottom of crock pot and heat until butter is melted, add flour. Add rest of ingredients and stir. Heat for 2-3 hours or until thoroughly hot. Garnish with sour cream to taste.
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