Visitors. . .

Hans and Amelia came for a surprise visit on February 18th!  They did a "doorbell ditch" on us, but I spied them hiding below the bricks of the window!!  It was a great surprise!!  Amelia and I got some fun horseback riding in, even though it was raining on Saturday; and then another quick ride on Monday up in Snow Canyon.  Amelia decided it's a bit more scary to stand up on a horse herself than it looks like it is when Natalee does it!  Way to overcome your fear, Amelia!!


Thanks, Hans, for sharing Amelia with us!!  It was fun having BOTH of you here!!!

Valentines Dinner 2011

We may not have had many of you kids here (drat!) but we still know how to have a fun time!! We had our traditional Valentines Dinner this evening with lots of good food and even a surprise! Julie and Harrison, Julieann, and Jean Larsen all came, in addition to Min Tai, Dallin, Kristy, Chloe (another Korean intern at SCHS), and Dad and I.

Of course we had our mexican menu of chimichangas, spanish rice, refried beans, and salad. . . plus "mexican" carrots for Harrison (steamed carrots with cheese and season salt). We were immensely enjoying eating and talking when I decided it was time for a surprise.

I casually asked Min Tai if Jina (his girlfriend) had received the Valentine package he mailed to her. He apologized for forgetting to tell me that she really liked it. Then I showed everyone the darling black colt stuffed animal Dad gave me this morning for Valentines Day, and mentioned that there was one more gift. I brought the large wrapped box from the telephone counter and handed it to Min Tai. He was confused thinking it was for Dad. I assured him I had already taken Dad's present to him at the high school. I WISH I would have had the video going when he opened the silver wrapping paper, but I didn't. Inside was a box that had just arrived today, from Jina!! He had no idea it had come, and it was SO happy as he opened it and pulled everything out. It was lots of fun.

After dinner, we played the hand game around the table and laughed and laughed. It was great! After that we went in the front room and played the name game. I put red hearts on half the people and white hearts on the other half. The white team won each time...and Dad still thinks there's a conspiracy!! (He was on the red team...I was on the white!)

Then we had hot fudge brownies with whipped cream and sliced almonds. YUM!!

And then Min Tai got to do the dishes . . . he's Monday night dishes. . . oh drat!

I think everyone had lots of fun. Hope you all had good Valentines dinners, too! Maybe NEXT year we'll have more of you here!!

Love,

Mom

RUGBY MAN. . .

NEWSFLASH. . .

Mom didn't have a "freak out" when she saw Dallin's new "do!" Thankfully, he forewarned me in a phone message that I didn't get until after he was home. But he did call me before coming home to break it to me gently.

And, I happen to think it looks pretty cool! The gal who did it did a good job!! So there, Dal!!

Tender Mercies. . .

Last Tuesday I made a batch of bread. I gave a loaf to Debbie McPherson when she returned some dishes from her mom's funeral. I sent two loaves with Dallin to give to Scott Westergard and Brady Miller (co-owners of the computer shop where Dal is doing his internship), so we had three left. The thought came to me, "Take a loaf to Bernice" but we had already eaten through 1 1/2 of the three loaves, so I didn't take any to Bernice.

Well, two days later it's 6:30 a.m. and we're out of bread and I have the thought to make some more bread. But I argue with myself that I don't have enough time before I start teaching at 7:20. Well, at 7:00 the thought comes MUCH stronger, "Make some bread NOW." I mentally saluted and said, "OKAY!!" as I look at the clock and think there's no way I can do it. Well, I just threw everything together and by 7:19 I was putting the dough into pans and onto the stove to raise. I had one minute to wash the dough off my hands and meet my student for her lesson. FASTEST batch of bread I've ever made!!

Just as my last student was getting ready to leave, the bread was done cooking and I was able to send Dax out the door with a steaming hot slice of bread. As I watched him juggle the bread and riding his scooter to school he shouted, "This is DELICIOUS!" It made me feel good.

As I went back in the house, the thought came into my head, "Take a loaf to Bernice." I argued again, "They don't get up this early! I'll wake her up!!" Well, it came again more strongly. So, again, I saluted and said under my breath, "Fine! But I know I'm going to wake her up!" as I marched down the street with a hot loaf of bread in my hands. (It was really cold, but the bread kept me nice and warm!)

I rang the Blackburn's doorbell, and waited. . . and waited. . . and waited some more. Eventually Bernice answered the door, in her pajamas, with her walker, and some lines on her face where she had obviously just taken off her oxygen line. I felt SO badly. I quickly apologized for waking her up, and told her I felt very strongly that I was supposed to bring her some bread. Bernice started to cry and invited me inside.

She proceeded to tell me how on Tuesday (the day I had first made some bread) she had thought how much she missed having some of my homemade bread and could she dare call me and ask me to make some for her. She didn't. And then, again this morning, laying in bed, she thought how good a piece of Patrice's homemade bread would taste. . . and then I rang her doorbell with a steaming hot loaf of bread!

We were both moved as I mentioned to her how our Heavenly Father is SO aware of us, even if it's just a simple thing like a loaf of bread! And I feel extremely grateful that I listened (finally!) and could be used to bless someone else's life.

PLEASE, don't dismiss the little thoughts that come into your head wondering if you're just imagining things. As long as it's something good, WHY NOT DO IT?!?! I firmly believe the Holy Ghost won't trust us with BIG THINGS, if he can't trust us with "little things."

Love,

Mom