November - Steve

Hi family members,

                I am getting my news letter in early because I am asking you guys a question that I would like for you to discuss with your spouses and give a reply on this question. I know that many of us in this family are having some trouble with finances and such. I, for example, have come into a 400.00 dollar a month mission payment for Christopher. So here is my question. We are scheduled to have a family reunion next year scheduled tentativliy in the month of June at Glacier National Park. Is this something that you still want to do given the fact that money is a tight issue for some of us? Do you think you will be able to attend a family reunion if we have one? Would it be easier if we went someplace else? Think about it and lets discuss it. June is 7 months away.

                We took Christopher to the MTC last Wednesday and dropped him off as he starts his 2 years of missionary service. It was very emotional for Diane who is now in California with my oldest daughter who just gave birth to her 3^rd daughter Dana Steven Asvitt. Well the Steven is actually Eliese (sorry if I spelled it wrong) but to me she will always be known as Dana Steven. I will have Diane send out Christophers email address to those who would like it in case you would like to drop him a note while he is out. As a father I feel a great deal of gratitude ( I hate the word pride) to my Father in Heaven for helping my son become the young man that he is and I am thankful to him and The Lord for helping him become worthy to serve. I can’t tell you what it feels like to have a son worthy to serve the Lord but it can best be described as grateful humility and a profound joy. We attended the Salt Lake temple so Christopher could experience a live session. I even enjoyed this one because I could understand clearly what the old guys were saying and hear them. Anyway Diane did the work for her grandmother that day. Christopher baptized Diane on behalf of her grandmother than Diane did her other work that needed to be done and we finished off the day sealing her grandmother to her parents and husband so my son got to experience just about all that the temples are used for in one day. It was a good day.

                Brenda came home today from clinical and for the first time she experienced something that almost made her sick to her stomach. She went into the burn unit today and mentioned that the smell made her sick and that the sight made her upset. I think this was the first time that she may have felt real sorrow for other peoples pain. Otherwise she is plodding along and wishing that it was graduation day. She has 3 weeks left till semester break and looking forward to a little time off. Than one semester left in school and she will have made it through.

                Please one and all let me know what you think about the reunion and I will leave it up to our Father whether we proceed and get together or we don’t. if we hold one I will be there regardless so I hope to see you all soon in the future. With love to you all. Steve

November - Mom and Dad

Gravy...Gravy all over my turkey.....
Gravy...Gravy all over my spuds.....
I know of nothing more delicious.......
I love Gravy on white meat and
Gravy on dark meat ....
and Gravy on my dressing toooooo.

Sing this to the song that Patsy Cline sang called 'Crazy' and
you will have a good laugh...a good thought and fun times.....I do just that!!!

I have been singing it at the gym, at home, and as I am walking around delivering phone books with dad.
I have been teaching it to Jo and Barb so that they can join me for Thanksgiving fun times. People already know that we need help and this sort of proves it. We are trying to harmonize and it really can crack a person up with us oldies doing this. Oh well, life needs some laughter sometimes and it helps perk a person up when you can help make another persons day by just disappearing......what can I say our audiences do give us a chance. Funny how when we are through they all pull out their ear plugs....oh well

It has been a busy week or two having Christopher here for a few days before Steve and Diane got out here. I was fun having him around before he went into the MTC. It was great having Diane and Steve here too. A busy time. We attended the SLC temple and I had a wonderful time there. It felt good to be there with family and to come through the veil and be able to have hugs from my family. How heavenly is that?. I enjoyed the time spent with my kids.

After they left, I managed to clean up the bedrooms and freshen up the sheets one day and the next day my brother and his wife came down from Spokane, Wa. They will be here until after Thanksgiving. I will get the bedrooms cleaned up and sheets freshed up and Steve and Diane will be back for a day or two on their way home from California. Life it good when it is full of family!!!

We are planning on going down to Dennis' for Thanksgiving Day and we are looking forward to it. It will be fun and filling up our tummies will be part of that fun. Of course before we go dad and I will be up at 2:30am to get papers (the biggest one of the year) put together so that he can deliver them at a decent time. He will need the help for this one as it encourages everyone to hit the stores at 5:00am the day after with all the great sales for Christmas...I look upon that horrible time to shop just like I look upon 2:00am to do papers. Ugh! I will take my young bones and young muscles and be of help to dad...I hope. Then I willcome home and he will deliver those heavy things and hopefully get home at a decent time to get a bit of shut eye before we head down to Springville.

As we have done the phone books this year I find that as I walked from house to house that I really felt gratitude for the beauty of the earth around me. I noticed the many colors that the tree leafs are turning and the many different shapes of the leafs of the trees. The farm lands, the mountains, how great is this creation. There is so much love that the Lord put into this creation for us, just so we could enjoy it all if we would but take the time to really look around and see it. He loves us all and he has given us much to be thankful for....look for those little things/blessings that make you happy and humbly say thank you to him. Yes, life is a test in lots of ways....looking toward heaven  with thanksgiving in our hearts can help us over troublesome times...Stay strong my children! Stay close to the Lord! We will all make it.
      ******************************************************************

Yes Steve, we will be available for a reunion. It is hard to do because we are all so far away from each other, but we would not want to miss the chance of seeing all of you if it is possible. Let us know the where and when so we can plan for it.

My love to each of you children and grandchildren........Happiness to each of you.  Mom and Dad...grandpa and grandma which ever fits..........take care and be good people!!!!

DJ & Jenni - March 2010

We dont have much to write this time. Life is keeping us on a constant roller coaster ride (and not a fun one). We...

October - Steve

Dear Family,

 

With my son preparing to leave on his mission in 3 weeks, I have been thinking about my mission farewell given in sacrament meeting some 30 years ago. I cannot remember a single thing about my farewell except my grandfather speaking and mother speaking. I cannot remember a single thing my grandfather spoke but after some thinking I can recall what mother had spoken about. She started her talk by saying that,” her 19 year old son when he wakes up in the morning will turn on the bedroom light. From there he will turn on the hall light and proceed to the bathroom and turn on that light. From there he goes to the kitchen and turns on that light. 5 minutes after he has woken up all the lights are turned on in the house.” Then mother made her point to this talk given at my farewell, she said, “ Now Steven when you are your mission you are to continue doing exactly what you do at home, leave your light on, let your light shine forth and set the good example.” This is pretty much all that I can remember her saying to me as she spoke at my farewell. Today in church was Christopher’s farewell and like mother I reiterated this story to the ward but directed towards my son. I also included this scripture taken from 3^rd Nep. 12 : 14 – 16 “verily, verily I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Behold do men light a candle and put it in a bushel? Nay, but on a candle stick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.” I think mother also quoted this verse at my farewell the more I think on it. Anyway this is my thought to you guys this month to remember to always let your light shine forth.

 

                I could get used to not having any kids around real easy. 2 weeks ago Diane and drove down to the great smoky mountains national park and camped there for 3 days without children around. It was very beautiful with the fall colors coming on. All we did drive around and see the scenery at our leisure. The outside temp was a comfortable 60 degrees with night temps around down in the 40’s. It wasn’t like Yellowstone where it was real cold. I am a lucky guy to have a wife that loves to sleep outdoors in a tent that is made up to be real comfortable. We loved it so much that this past week we took another trip and camped at Gettysburg PA to tour the old civil war battle ground. What a fascinating place that is. That is if your into the history part of this country. You can spend 2 full days there to get it all in. We camped there for a few days and I couldn’t help but think that maybe someday this would be a good place for family get together. What saddens me is that I am done with my camping trips for the year. Yes I could get used to not having kids around and just get up and go and see something.

 

This Friday Christopher will be meeting with the stake president to get his temple recommend. We are planning on going to the Washington DC temple on November 6^th which just happens to be the date that Diane and I were sealed and she received her own temple endowment that day. This makes it even more special for her. He enters the MTC in Provo on November 17^th. There he will begin his mission for 3 weeks than off to the Salt Lake City Mission to finish out. I have to say that when we found out where he was going that I was really disheartened and sad. I couldn’t help but think that a mission should be part adventure, and here he was going home. To me, Utah, was home. My son was going home for his mission and what a waste of an adventure and opportunity. I had hoped that he would have gone to some strange land, but it is not to be. It than began to dawn on me that even though Utah was home for me that to him it wasn’t. He has lived in the east all of his life and for him this will be a good thing. Even though I did not get what I wanted, I at least think that for him it will still be an adventure. So with these thoughts I guess I am ok with it.

So, my dear family take care of yourselves and I will see you later. You can expect family reunion stuff coming early next year. Still don’t know what to do so feel free to send me ideas. Steve

October - Diane

Dear Family,

I am late again, but with good reasons at least I think they are good reasons.  We will start with my spiritual thought.  This year I have given a lot of thought to being grateful/thankful for the blessings in my life.  I especially enjoyed conference this time and hearing Pres Monson talk about gratitude.  I like the "attitude of gratitude".  A sister in our ward was assigned to talk about gratitude last week and she challenged us all to say just one prayer where we asked for nothing, just thanked Heavenly Father for all that we have.  Let me tell you that is hard, where do you stop?  I have so many things in my life to be thankful for, the list just grows and grows.  I guess I could sum it up by saying I am thankful for the Gospel in my life, without it I would have nothing.  All my blessings come through the Gospel.

Ok, Steve, well he is up to the same old thing, work, work and more work.  He still hates his job and the people he works with.  We need to get out in the yard and get it ready for winter and get the garden finished for the year.  He did burn my burn pile a few weeks ago, that he had been promising me for years he would do it in the spring and then spring would come and he would say he would do it in the fall, it is finally gone, so now I can start another one for him.

Me, well I did not get to teach tax classes this year so money is really tight, don't have that money that we have grown accustom to having and when it is not there, it is a struggle.  Looks like I probably will not be able to teach in Dec either, so it is going to get even tighter around here.  At least I have free time to do all that I need to be doing for my children.  A blessing, yes and no.

Brenda is doing the same thing.  Work and school, work and school.  She is starting to get really tire of school and can't wait to get out and get started with her life.  Most days she comes home saying how much she hates WalMart.

Christopher was out in CA last month to see his sister and the day he returned home, his mission call came.  I took it with me to the airport to pick him up and then we went to Steve's office and he came to the parking lot.  We called Clara Marie and Brenda on the phones and we all listened as Christopher read his call.  If any of you don't know already, his call is to the Utah SLC mission.  He enters the MTC on 17 Nov.  He will be able to attend the temple on his p-day as the SLC is in the mission and he will also be able to attend conference if he can get tickets (I don't know how that works, but I am hoping he can actually sit in the conference center for conference).  I would have never thought he would be called to a Utah mission with so many family members living there, but there must be a good reason for him serving there.  He is excited and ready to go now.

Well I guess that is enough for now, I did not sleep well last night, so I am off to bed.
We love each and every one of you.
WV Bollscwheiler's

October - Allen

President Packer said "The Prophet Joseph Smith promised that 'all beings who have bodies have power over those who have not' (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 211).

"When temptation comes, you can invent a delete key in your mind—perhaps the words from a favorite hymn. Your mind is in charge; your body is the instrument of your mind. When some unworthy thought pushes into your mind, replace it with your delete key. Worthy music is powerful and can help you control your thoughts.”

The family is doing great this month.  Gabe has been in football since the middle of August and last Saturday was his last game of the season.  It was fun to see him play, I was able to attend every practice and every game.  He did a great job, as a team they did wonderful.  The team (The Tigers) were first in their division, and out of all the Treasure Valley teams about 50 in his age group, they placed in the top 5.  I’m sure they would have been first, but like College football they don’t have time to play everybody.  Next year they will start a playoff system to see who really is #1.

Dylan and Brynn have also started dance again.  This time however we were able to get them on the same day, same place, and one right after the other.  We have made a rule that Tess is not allowed to go with them to watch, because she feels like she should be on the floor dancing with her sisters.  The only problem is the teachers don’t think she should be out there.

Tess is still trying (or not trying) to figure out that she should be going to bathroom on a toilet.  It took her 18 months  to decide that she should be walking, I’m hoping that it won’t take another year to decided that a toilet is better than a diaper.  To be honest she does pretty well with going #1 in the toilet during the day, when we are at home, its #2 that we are having a hard time with.  Tammi has bribed her with a new Barby doll if she will make it to the toilet and not hide in a corner of the house to do her duty.

Last Sunday I had a wonderful experience during Sacrament meeting.  It’s that time of year that the primary had their program.  The Spirit touched me as I sat and listened to them sign.  I love the songs that our primary sing, they are so simple and full of love and peace.  The messages are so clear in every song and I’m happy to report that Gabe sang every song, something that he normally does not do.  Dylan, Brynn, and Gabe gave their parts without any help.  Every year I’m amazed at how well the primary is able to pull off a wonderful program.  I sure the Spirit has something to do with that.

On Sunday I also sat and watched Tanner pass the sacrament, when I look at him I realized how grow up he was becoming.  He will be advanced to a Teacher this February, I think he is ready to move on to a new experience.  He has been President of the Deacons quorum for awhile now, he told me the other day that he was ready to be released.  The reason was because of how hard it was.  I just laughed at him and told him he had no idea, that his service will be more as he gets older.  There is a reason why we call the Aaronic Priesthood a preparatory priesthood.  He told me that I had it easy, all I do is go to meetings J  I wish that all I have to do sometimes is go to meetings.

October - Mom & Dad

Dear Family,
    Our love to all of you out there! We are late as are quite a few of you. Dennis was on his toes this trip around and has his in already...on time. We will hope to hear from all of you at least by this Sunday coming up!
    Our thought is taken from a talk given by Richard C. Edgley, 1st Counselor, Presiding Bishopric.
I myself had always wondered about faith moving a mountain. I look at the Wasatch Mountains that are around us and I wonder about that saying. Brother Edgley sort of cleared my thoughts on that. I know that a prophet of old did move a mountain because of his great faith, but, I wondered. He said that Faith is a choice that must be sought after and developed. Each of us are responsible for our own faith....or the lack thereof. It is through choosing faith that individuals are able to move mountains. Think about this....He says "I have seen a 'mountain' of doubt and despair removed and replaced with optimism and hope. Because of faith I have personally witnessed a 'mountain' of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith I have personally witnessed a 'mountain' of pain replaced with peace...Yes, I have seen 'mountains' removed."
    I know that each of us have various kinds of 'mountains' or happenings in our lives and I also know that if we remain true and have faith to endure, we will see those 'mountains' removed from our lives too. Replaced with the shinning goodness and love of our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ...Hang in there all of you...Keep the Faith...and move forward. As I give this to you, remember that dad and I have our mountain of problems too...this thought is for us also.
    We have been walking ourselves silly again this year with those so called Yellow Phone Books. So far we have done over a thousand books and we are looking at 900 more. The joy of it all!! It helps $$ wise somewhat. I do a lot of walking but not near what your dad does. I mostly bag the books as each one of them are suppose to be in bags and sitting at the hinged side of the front door. I hate steps...porches that have more than four steps to the front door need to be much less for these old legs. Well, with dad doing the newspaper run he is not going to the gym with me. Believe me he gets enough exercise doing that with all the ins and outs of the car to each home. So along with that and these phone books he is rather tired to say the least. But I suppose it keeps us alive and active.......I am trying to be positive here .
    Okay, I told you all about getting a shot in my heel last month and how much it helped me and the doctor told me I had young bones and my sister tells me...yessss, but you have old muscles. So when I went in for the second shot last Friday, I told her about that and she laughed and said that my muscles were most likely like my bones....so I reported this to my sisters and my sister says yessss, but you have old skin.....man, that put me right back on the ground again. So, instead of a swollen head from this information, I became grounded and humbled.
    At family home evening. Sunday night, my brother told about searching our family on the new website and he followed the Seymour line and ended up finding a link to royalty. Yes, we have dukes, queens and kings in our blood. He followed it back and he ended up with some really cool stuff and in fact, and I don't know how it happened as I have not checked it out yet, he found that the line goes back to 300 years BC. That is so great! The work for these people has been done by someone who has a bit more information that we do that is for sure. Just thought I would pass that on to you. I then informed my dear sisters that I had young bones and muscles, old skin and I am a blue blood...royalty!! I can live with the old skin! Well thats about it for this time...oh yes, I have about 30 more miles to swim and I will have a two hundred mile swim in. yes, it may of taken almost 2 years to do it, but it is being done!!! Fall is upon us...enjoy the beauty of the earth. Be thankful that  my zucchini plant is about done for!!!Everyone that has received offerings from me in various ways is happy as can be. Maybe they will let me in their homes and cars without locking me out to check and see if I am carrying (bringing) one of those green things to them. Grow zucchini and loose friends and family...even strangers run. Such is life! Be good my darling family! Keep the faith and love the Lord. He truly loves each one of you............
Love always    Mom and Dad  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

WV Bollschweiler's

Dear Family,

Sorry that we missed last month and that we are late this month. We have had a busy and eventful summer.

First for my spiritual thought. I have this picture hanging on my wall, one of the gold leafing ones, which has a scripture reference to 3 John 4. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” I find that the older I get this scripture become more and more true in my life and has deeper meaning. There are many things that give me joy in life. My hubby, children, grandchildren (even though I don’t get to touch them often, technology is the greatest thing, I LOVE skype). Most are small things, for example every time I see a butterfly (especially the Monarch), fall leaves and colors, our food storage (home canned from the garden), camping in Yellowstone, my job (I know most of you probably don’t feel that way about yours), going to the Temple and there are so many more. However, as our children have grown up and are now making decisions of their own in regard to life, the words of 3 John 4 have taken on a new deeper meaning to me. I have great joy in knowing that 2 of our 3 children are worthy to enter the Temple doors. The 3^rd may be worthy to, however she is focused on school now and the Temple is not in her immediate future, so there has been no interview to determine that. There truly is no greater joy for me than to know that your children are living the Gospel, that they know it is true and that living by the standards and values they have been taught, that although life is hard, it is better because of the Gospel.

Now onto the news. Last month while Brenda had 2 weeks out of school, she has been going year round and working for years, we took her to Florida to Sea World, Silver Springs and to the beach. It was a short trip down and back, due to Steve’s work schedule. We had a great time, even in the 100 degree weather in Florida, I thought I would literally bake in the heat. I have to say the Killer Whale show was not nearly as good, because they no longer get in the tank with the whales, since a trainer was killer earlier this year. We spent an afternoon walking on the beach and she picked up several small shells and brought back Florida sand for several of her friends. Christopher had to stay home and work, so it was just the 3 of us. On the way home we were camping in South Carolina and I as usual had to get up in the wee hours of the morning and go “potty”, well I was not looking where I was going and I hit with my leg and fell over the firepit ring. Yes, I cut my leg open down to the bone, had to go to the emergency room and have 23 staples put in my leg. They x-rayed it and the bone was not fractured or chipped which was good. This was my first time in the emergency room for myself. I have never had stitches (except c-section) or broken bones, etc until I get to be this age, should have just stayed in bed and ignored the “potty” call. Anyway, it has taken a long time to heal up, I did not have any pain, but it really looks awful.

Brenda went back to college the day after her birthday, she turned the big “21” this year. She is down to her last two semesters and will graduate in May as a repertory therapist. She is in clinicals two days a week this semester. Some parts she really likes and others not so much. She is still working at WalMart and has been moved out of the connection center, back to over the counter pharmacy where she started. She is much happier with her job now that she is out of connection center and away from the cash registers. She has a pretty focused life right now, work and school, not much time for other things.

Christopher is still working at Kroger, night shift, stocker. His mission papers are in Salt Lake and we expect to receive his letter this week or next week. He meets with the Stake President and one of his counselors on a regular basis and has a great respect for these men. He is currently in CA visiting his “Greta Rose” and having a great time with his sister. He is ready for the mission call and ready to serve. He said last week he wished he could leave for the MTC as soon as he gets back from CA. There are so many young men and women who sacrifice their time to serve, to bless people lives who are searching for truth. I am living proof of the great joy and blessings that the Gospel brings to your life, and to have a son be an instrument in the Lord’s hand, there is great joy in this convert mother’s heart to know that her son is going to go and bring the Gospel to people’s lives.

Steve is still working hard at the airline. Did I say working hard, well not exactly hard (watches NCIS on the internet) I meant to say puts in long hours. We have mission to pay for, so he takes all the extra shifts that he can pick up.

I did not get to teach the Basic income tax class this year. I have taught it for 5 years and am really disappointed that I did not get to teach this year, not enough students to have multiple classes. However, that is money that we always had for the end of the year that we don’t have this year and I now have extra expenses for the end of the year with a mission. Oh well I suppose there is a reason and I am sure there is a blessing in store for me, I just don’t know what it is.

Our garden did pretty well, at least we were able to keep the deer out of it this year. I pickled sweet bell peppers, froze bell peppers, pickled and froze banana peppers, froze butternut squash, onions, fried and at the zucchini, froze yellow squash, have not dug all the potatoes yet, canned over 100 quarts of tomato juice, canned over 50 pints of applesauce, the cantaloupe and water mellon did not do well. All in all not a bad garden considering the spring was really wet and rainy and then it dried off and was hot and humid, not the ideal growing season this year. Maybe next year will be better.

Well I suppose that will do for now. Happy Fall everyone, enjoy all the colors, well I guess that really only applies to us and Sandra.

We love each of you. Diane & Steve

September - Sandra

Family,

 

It is late and I have been up doing homework again.

 

My thought is along the same as moms. I taught a lesson today for Mackenzie's class and it was on service. Many of you have probably heard the story of Pres. kimball helping a mother in and airport who was standed with a small crying 2 year old. She was pregant and unable due to medical problems to pick up the 2 year old to console her. The child sat on the floor as the mother had to push her along in a long line with her foot. A man, after some time came up to her and asked if he could help her. She agreed and he picked up the child and went up in the line to explain that this lady needed help and he was able to get her to the front of the line and get her ticket so she and her child could be ready to get on a plane to go home. It was a small act of service, but many years later a letter came to pres kimball from a returned missionary who had just come home. It was the son of this lady that he had helped. Because of his service the young man was born and served a mission. I am impressed that our small acts of service no matter how small or big can have great effects on more then just the recipient. The scripture that says in Mosiah when ye are in the service of your fellow men ye are only in the service of your God. This is our small way of being able to repay the debt we have to our savior who performed the greatest act of service when he gave his life for each of us. It is through us that heavenly Father is able to answer prayers and help all of his children. Take the time to look for ways to serve. It will bless your life and the lives of those you serve.

 

As for our family we stay very busy. I am doing homework each week. You would think that I was in school. There are many days I go to work and I say guess what i didn't have homework last night. I am staying busy with Relief Society. I really don't think that I will ever get the hang of what I should be doing. I am terrible at planning week night activities of which I am in charge of. I have had some good ones but mostly I feel they are average and even boring. I could be here forever if I have to learn how to do this well before I get released.

Grant stays busy with his calling and also is trying to start a side buisness of handyman and finishing basements or whatever is needed. His job at the hospital is scaling back and so we are having to make up some funds with other things. He actually enjoys the side work of doing other peoples houses. However his buisness cards have Armstrong and sons on it and his sons aren't really around. If things pick up and he works more on this, Brad may start helping him with somethings when football season is over. It has been interesting to see how many people have come up to him in just the last couple weeks asking if he was interested in doing some work for them. The Lord is blessing us.

Most of you may know that Shelli finally finished her stat class and has officially graduated from BYU. We are very proud of her. She wasn't or didn't walk in a graduation and so we surprised her with a little ceremony at our Armstrong reunion in August. I made her a cake and we played the music and brought her in and gave a little speech. It was silly but we let her feel important and show her we were excited for her. She will have to fill you in on the rest of her life. I will say that she self published her book she wrote this week and I know for a fact that she has sold 1 copy. Her dad had to buy one even though I am not sure he will actually read. He told me I would have to buy my own copy to read cause it would take him quite a long time to read it. You might want to check it out.

Amy is in school right now also. She is working when she can. She has 2 classes and her and Brad actually drive together 2 days a week to go to the community college. I think she is doing well. Kelsie keeps us all entertained and we love to make her say silly words like super tough, and phycho spazz. She repeats everything. she is an Elmo freak. We are all so sick of Elmo. It is sad that a few weeks ago Amy's facebook status was Did you know there are 10 jackets in a jacket parade. This is how much we are all subjected to Elmo around here.

Brad is in the paper every weekend. He always manages to get his picture in there from the football games on Friday night. He is doing well in football and really enjoys it. Anytime any of you want to come watch a game your welcome to come. Every friday grant and i go to the football games. This is our weekly date night. We like to watch him play and as his mother I always like it when they say his name over the speaker that he had a tackle or interception, which he had 2 in one night. He is a good kid. his only hang up is English and writing papers that is where I get most of my homework from. He has a paper due every monday. and every week I say do not wait until Sunday night to work on this paper. I do not want to do it then. He dosen't even have school on Fridays and so i say work on the paper while you are home, but he is the best procrastinator ever. I can't break him of that.

Mackenzie still hates school. She can tell you how many days are left for this year and it just started. I think that she likes most of her teachers at least some of them make her laugh once in awhile. She does well. She is playing soccer right now. Her team is pretty bad. It is sad to have to watch and it is hard for her to have to play with them. Her coach is not that great at coaching. This has probably been the hardest year. This is however her last year as far as the city league. Next year she will try her luck at trying out for the school team.

Mark is still living at home. Some days I am ok with this in that I know he is safe and other times I think when will he ever grow up and become independant. He is finally going to take his GED test I hope this week. That will be a good accomplishment for him. He is not working right now but did work all summer long which was a good thing for him. He made some money and I think actually has some of it still saved. I hope that once he gets his GED done that he will go look for something better and stick with it. He hates money but we all know you can't get by without it unless you stay and mooch off someone and they let you. Maybe he will work a little with Grant on all his side jobs. We shall see.

The Armstrong house is full and crowded. There are people and things everywhere. I am pretty sure we have long outgrown the place. At least we are close. It is a good thing we love each other. We might not be able to stand the smell of each other on some occasions but we are pretty good about taking our showers as our turn in line comes up.

We love each of you. It is good to hear from you.

Sorry for the long novel. I am good at doing that. Can't seem to keep it short. I am sending this to grant but he will see how long it is and not want to read it. Hopefully you guys will read it.

Take care

Love Sandra

Update - September Mom & Dad

Hello My Dear Family,
    Well, lets see a month was skipped and now to get back to seeing whats up with life in general with all of us. First off lets go to my spiritual thought....I seem to have become aware of a fact that I had taken for granted...let me start off with a scripture that you are all aware off..D&C 4:2  "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day"....I then ask myself how do I serve with all my heart, might mind and strength when I do not do the simple gospel principles that help us to grow closer to the Lord...such as do we do DAILY scripture study....do I have personal and family prayer DAILY? Do I hold a WEEKLY family home evening with my spouse or family? Am I striving to Go FREQUENTLY to the Temple? (at least once a month?) Am I STRIVING to become Christlike in thought, actions, and words on a daily basis? If I can not do the simple things that we hear repeatedly how can I really progress in this life? So, I am thinking that I need to take these simple basic requests a little more seriously...actually I need to take them a lot more serious. How about you? Care to change the thought that when hearing a talk that gives these basic helps that "phooey...this is the same old stuff we keep hearing." I am guessing that there are a lot of us who need to hear it and get with the program before more can be added. We need to prioritize our daily lives so that we can allow ourselves the time to do these small and simple things that will help us get through this life/trials...I can see that each of us in our families need to do what we can do to help us through the daily trials that come to us. The blessings will come as we strive to serve with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength. We actually start this serving right with ourselves in our own personal lives, then we add more service to church callings and outside the home living. Just know that the Lord loves you...stay strong and you will feel His love and you will be strengthened in times of trial and despair. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It is a good way to live.............lets stay with it into the eternities....... Not sure if this makes much sense to you, but I feel that we need the basics in our daily lives. Reach for the higher goal.......
    Well, I have been into trying to get rid of zucchini.......it is getting so that no one in the family wants to see me anymore...they are afraid that it might end up with them finding a zucchini in their possession. Yes, I have tried several ways to get rid of them...presents, drops into the cars, foods made with zucchini in them. You can have this if you will pay the price...what is the price? Please take a zucchini! I think next year I will try and grow a banana  squash plant and see what happens. I canned peaches last week, and this week coming up I will be canning pears. Grapes are coming up real fast too. Busy, busy. Lots of standing. I have had to go and see a foot doctor and have gotten a shot in the heel. The pain was getting really bad. We shall see if the shot helps any. I am still swimming 5 mornings a week, and still working at the temple. No word has come through as to when they will close down for the repair work that will be done. I love working there. It has got to be the best calling ever!! So far my sisters, mom and myself have done four quilts and are working on more. I still do the house work and most of the yard work since dad has taken on a newspaper route. I go with him right after we get out of the temple on Saturday evening and help him get the big middle papers put together and then he comes back at 2:30am and puts that into the Sunday newspapers. His hours are terrible and of course we have a deal going on with the security system going off and on whenever he comes and goes. Who sleeps around here...oh well, who needs sleep? I am not sure how long dad will keep doing it but, it does help in paying some bills down. Dad has been able to get in some golfing all this spring and summer. He is up and down in his playing, but even though at times he swears it off, the first person who calls to go golfing has him ready in seconds. He has won some points towards getting some kind of merchandise at the golf shop there at the golf course. Actually with all our aches and pains, we still seem to be alive and moving so that is good. I am hoping that the shot in the foot will ease my problems of pain and then I can be on the run again...that would be so sweet! Grandma is doing pretty well. She is up and about and out pulling weeds and puttering around like someone much younger that her 92 years. In all, I guess that we are all doing well at this time. I hope that all of you come through with your thoughts and letters. I love hearing from you. We are all so far away from each other and this e-mail newsletter lets me know you are alive and well. Our birthdays for this month have been Tami, Tess, and Dylan's is coming up. No one that I know of has a birthday in October so that makes November our next group of birthdays...MacKenzie, Allen, Shelli, and a brand new great grand daughter from Clara and KC. This is fun and exciting to look forward to! This novel is done........I am out of here. We have a family home evening over at Barb and Roys....lets hear from all of you. Please know that dad and I love each of you dearly. You are all a wonderful blessing to us and we are so grateful that we have the eternities as a family unit to look forward to.   Love  Mom and dad........big hugs and lots of kisses....!
P/S A quilt that Jo, Barb and myself made was entered at the Weber County fair and won the prize of "Best of Show" and a 1st place blue ribbon. It then was entered down at the Salt Lake County Fair and it won 1st place blue ribbon. We think we are so wonderful!!! It was fun to do and it was fun to see the outcome of the work!

September - Tammi (Allen)

Good Afternoon Family,

Allen has put me in charge of this news letter.  News of the Allen Bollschweiler clan is as follows:

Tess:  still not potty trained, and yes, she has indeed turned 3.  All my other children have been trained by 25 months. Tess is determined to blow to bits every pre-conceived notion I have had about raising my children.  I am now throwing up my hands in utter defeat and letting her train herself.  She'll do what she wants anyway, she always does!  We still do not have a fence, and she is still sneaking out of the house at every turn.  We keep finding her down the street, in the neighbors back yard across the street, and just today I found her hiding in the neighbors yard adjacent to us.  These particular neighbors complain about our cats, I am sure finding our baby in the back yard wouldn't impress them at all.  Lucky for me, they were at work...

Brynn:  I was actually very worried about her starting kindergarten, as she went through a full year of preschool without learning her letters.  She is keeping up just fine, though, and not only is her brain getting smarter, so is her mouth...  we were discussing her Grandma Kate's birthday the other evening, and she says "What is she now, like a hundred?"  She put on a cute skirt yesterday and told herself in the mirror "You are SO gorgeous!"  So, Brynn has about 7 other children on our street who are her age.  The triplets across the street are proving to be her nemesis's (how do you say nemesis in plural form?).  They may not agree with each other, but they never agree with anyone else.  Must be nice to be born into your own little gang, but I quickly grew tired of my 5 year old whiner and told her to buck up, or go hide under her bed and be bored.  She bucked up.  She is now holding her own with the triplets, good times...

Dylan:  8 going on 13.  Allen is really bugging me a lot to give her "the talk", and I keep saying "Dude, she is 8!"  She is this close to being in need of a bra, though, so I think during our bra shopping expedition, the talk just might be in order (just an abbreviated version of it though, geez!).  She is the fastest girl runner in her class, and informed me that during state fitness tests, she was the only girl in her class to make it to the "boy" number, whatever that means.  One of her good friends is a drama queen, and when Dylan played with a new girl at recess, her friend ripped off her end of her best friend necklace (be fri) and threw it away.  Dylan says her friend apologized, but Dyl is still sad they don't match anymore.  3rd grade is very dramatic.

Gabe:  Gabe Gabe Gabe Gabe Gabe.  Yep.  So, I am supposed to be home schooling him (Connections Academy, which is public school on-line).  The paperwork got screwed up, though, so we are waiting waiting and waiting for our stuff (computers and books).  In the meantime, he attends his old school.  He is in his 3rd week.  This Monday, we received our first call from his teacher informing us that he is missing 2 homework assignments, even though I have asked him every day if he has homework.  Gabe Gabe Gabe Gabe Gabe.  I keep telling myself that this type of confirmation is good, though.  Gabe is playing football on his very kick-butt team, and they are indeed kicking hiney.  He is battling asthma a lot, so we are taking him to a specialist. 

Tanner:  He is still president of his Deacon's class.  He is loving 8th grade, and has straight A's ("pretty much"), which I think translates to a few B's, but Que Sara : )  He refused to play football, because he was worried about starting a new grade.  He has informed me that he really wants to play baseball this year, so I had better find out how to get him enrolled.  Tanner at times informs me that he is a better parent than me.  If I didn't appreciate how responsible he is, I would probably strangle him!

I got released from YW, and just as I was celebrating getting my Wednesday's back, I got called to Activity Days.  My kids are really enjoying having me home on Sundays, though.  What a relief to have one parent at home, with Allen's meetings, it was getting ridiculous!

I have been sick with a head cold\chest cold for the past week, and Allen has been keeping track of how long I have been sick in the following manner:  (at 4 days - "Tam, you need to go to the doctor, you've been sick for 2 weeks!")  (at 6 days - "Tam, you need to go to the doctor, you've been sick for 4 weeks!")  Evidently, times passes in a different fashion for him when I'm sick.  We both agree though, that at least when I'm sick, I still function, unlike a certain male figure in the home.  After discussing psychological illness earlier this year (i.e. him always getting sick at the same time I get sick) he has decided to let me be ill by myself this time just to prove a point - which instead just proves my point even more!  Yes, he does control it!

We just bought 1/2 a cow.  His freezer at work is full, our freezer outside is full, and 1/2 our freezer inside is full of cow.  That is a lot of cow.  He actually  took the kids to meet said cow earlier this fall;  I didn't want to see that face every time I ate a burger. 

spiritual thought.  HMMMMM....

So, Allen and I have a friend named JoAnn, who has adopted our family. She is a 68 year old Jewish Lady (some of you have met her), and she loves the gospel, loves our family, but is determined not to be Christian.  I told her she already is.  So, I was looking at the Living Christ, reading the following "that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."  D&C 76:22-24.  It is always a fine line talking with JoAnn.  She is right, I do want to convert everyone, but that is because we have the truth, and want everyone to partake of it.  I think she might be getting that.  Anyway, she really wants to marry an LDS man...  And it is true, she is already a Christian, she just hasn't acknowledged it yet. Her very favorite songs in the world are about Christ.  She always asks for blessings.  This list goes on.

We love you all,

Let us know how you are all doing.  Clara, I have a feeling you are a better Mom than me.  Stop worrying so much, and give me some pointers ; )

Tammi  B. (wife of Allen Gerald)

September Update - Shelli

Oh, hey... it's that time again. Hey Family! Hi Family! Listen, family, it's time to update the blog again... and I have nothing.  Oh wait, yes I do.

I'm done! It's official! I'll never, ever, EVER have to go to school again. I'll never have to walk on campus... wait, yes I will. I have church there every week. But that's besides the point. No more teachers, no more books, no more... how does the rest of the song go? I can't remember.

So now everyone wants to know what I am doing with my life. Well, the truth is, I don't know. I work during the week at the architecture firm and enjoy it enough that I keep coming back. I wish I had a bigger paycheck. And I constantly think about picking up a second job. Otherwise, I am perfectly content to go home and watch an episode or two of Mad Men or Veronica Mars....except I just finished the last episode of the last season of Veronica Mars and I wasn't happy... you can't end the series with so many unanswered questions! Why, oh WHY do they do that to me?

I'm also in the process of trying to decide whether to self-publish or go out looking for a literary agent in order to publish my book. I keep having semi-brilliant ideas for other books to write, and then no time or motivation to actually work on them. And then I forget the idea. I'm sure I've come up with at least six best sellers, and then forgotten EVERYTHING. Sigh. Stupid Stats: it was such creative motivation, that without it, I don't know how to focus all my energies on writing anymore.

I lost both of my best friends within a month to moving. And not just like, moving to Salt Lake (like a few of my other friends) but one is working for the Church in New York City and the other is attending grad school in Scotland. Yes, Scotland. SO I am trying to figure out how to finance trips to both places...and it is proving to be rather difficult. This last move (yes, I moved again) wiped me clean and I am having a hard time replenishing my savings.

With the new move came new roommates and a new ward. My roommates are pretty cool. They are super nice and laid back and so far, I have had no problems whatsoever. My place is a lot bigger than other places I've lived, and it's easy to hide out in my room and go without seeing everyone. Half the time I don't even know if anyone is home. I'm not ready for winter, but I am happy that it is cooling down. The upstairs, where my room is located, is about 20 degrees warmer than the basement, where two of the four of us live. Good thing I have two fans blowing on me directly, or I would never have lasted this last month.

My new ward... well, I haven't really gotten to know anyone really well. We had regional conference yesterday, and I've only been twice before. The bishopric seems really nice and friendly and dedicated to getting to know everyone. The ward seems... similar to what the home single's ward is like. A lot of misfits that band together and have fun. Of course, that means that they come off as goofy, nerdy and somewhat boring. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that I am wrong about most of them. Still, they have not been otherwise convincing. I've sat down in our living room with a small group of members of our ward and listening to them talk about Star Wars and computers and other things that I have no interest in... well, let's just say I was bored. And not entertained. The one good thing is that they play basketball every Monday night, and I've seriously thought about attending that spectacle. I'll keep you posted.

So that's my update... I don't know, I feel like you all should know most of this. If you read my blog, then you probably do...

Love you.

Shelli

July - Sandra

Dear Family

Forgive me for not writing before now. It has been a stressful couple of weeks for me and I have not been feeling very spiritual. I have been trying harder to do what I should be doing to get spiritual but things haven't come. Tonight I had a relief society activity that I was in charge of getting together and so I was forced to come up with a thought to give the sisters so this is what you are getting now. Our activity tonight was on home storage and canning. We had a dimenstration on jams and one on pressure cooking. So my thought is on home storage and preparing our families.

This statement is by Bishop Keith B. McMullin

Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to "prepare every needful thing" so that, should adversity come, we can care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others. My thought was this we know that we are to become self reliant and store all we can for our families. Paul tells us "if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. But the statement from Bishop McMullin goes further and tells us that if we can we need to be able to help our neighbors and the bishops who care for others also. That is a big responsibility. We are blessed when we have enough for our own families but when we have more than we need we are able to help others also. That is a blessing. Interestingly enough this week we recieved an email from the bishops storehouse that said if anyone has extra produce from their gardens they can bring it to the storehouse and it can be used to help others in our area. We all have a stewardship for ourselves, our families, and sometimes when we can, for others. When we follow the  counsel from our leaders we are blessed both temporally and spiritually. Our faith and testimony grow as we make the effort to do all that we can. Pres. Benson said "The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah... Now I am pretty sure that this message is mostly for me cause probably most of you have your 3 month, 6 month, or even 1-2 year supply. Unlike mom I am not perfect and although I have a testimony of these things I have not been able to get much going on the way of food storage. This is to come, however when we do what we can and work hard to follow we are blessed and the Lord helps us.

For family news, there isn't much to tell you. The summer is flying by and soon it will be time for me to go to my other job. I feel at times as though I have 2 or 3 or more jobs and I can never seem to get on top of any of them. I really enjoyed my time at Steve and Dianes and having mom and dad with us for a couple nights. Sorry to drag you to that movie. We are getting ready for our Armstrong reunion in Kentucky. This will be the first year in I think 3 that Mark will actually be going with us. It will be nice to have him come to a family gathering. Grant has been taking guitar lessons. We got him that for his birthday. He pretty much taught himself how to play but he wanted to learn more and learn about being a lead guitarist. He has a band or so they call it. There really isn't a name for it although the name the "midlife crisis" has been mentioned. A couple years ago they actually had a gig. They played at our Ward summer social. They are about to do this again on Saturday. They decided they can't use the above name and so they are trying to come up with another. Some have suggested The annual band cause they only play once a year if that. Then they thought maybe it should be a little more modern and so they considered the "Man gaga's" That will only seem funny if you have heard of "Lady gaga". So we shall see how they do and how they actually introduce themselves. They have never actually been invited to play at the ward party, but they have invited themselves as the entertainment for the party. We have told him seems how he has had some lessons now he should sound really good. Brad has been doing football. It seems that sport never ends. They have those kids doing something all year long except while basketball is being played but they still go and condition. He is excited for his senior year and playing. They are trying him out in the quarterback position, plus he will still play his other position on defense, which I think is safety or something. Mackenzie has already gone to kentucky for 2 weeks so spend time with her cousins. They are the 3 amigos. Mark is working and still has a girlfriend. I think he will be bringing her to the reunion. He is still actually working although there have been some times when we thought he wouldn't be for long. I am not sure why he hasn't been fired, but it is good that he continues to go each day. Amy and Kelsie doing fine. We think Kelsie is the smartest kid around. She talks a lot. Her favorite thing to do is steal seat spots. She has even figured out how to have you get up and go get something for her while she gets into your spot while you are gone. If you tell her don't get in my spot, she gets very upset and starts to cry. The other day we were eating out and the manager of the place came over to her and gave her a cookie. We said say Thank you Bobby, cause his name was Robert and so she said, "Thank you Bobby" and then continued to say that the rest of the night. It is funny when she says that to you and your name isn't Bobby. 

I am sure I am boring you with my family and all the stories. It's like pulling out home movies or books and books of pictures and forcing you to watch them. Sorry bout that. I know there are a few people in my family that would look at a long letter and not want to read it just because it was long. Well before it is later and the letter is longer I shall say good-bye for now. Hopefully I will find something spiritual before next time. Maybe I will has I have to give a spiritual thought at welfare meeting next month. I love each of you.

P.s Amy thinks you are all crazy, but cool.

Love Sandra

July - Diane (Steve)

Dear Family,

This last month has given me a lot of time for reflection.  I have thought a lot about sacrifice.  As most of you know, Mom & Dad & Sandra & Amy were here for a very short visit the end of June.

Christopher received the Melchizedek Priesthood and was ordained an Elder by his father.  The Bishop commented to Christopher afterwards that it was a proud day for fathers; I told him it was a proud day for mothers as well.

Christopher was surrounded by worthy men, his father and his grandfather along with others, who placed their hands on his head, that he loves and respects and who have helped him get to this point in his life.  One former Young Men’s president, (who had to be attendance or it was going to be postponed until he could be there), I will forever be eternally grateful for this man and his profound influence upon my son.  I know for a fact that my Heavenly Father loves me and that he loves my son.  I have seen and witnessed His great love for my son.

I know that it was a sacrifice of time and money for our family to be here to support Christopher in this next step of his life.  I also know that it is a sacrifice to be a worthy Priesthood holder.  They live a certain standard, do certain things the Lord requires of them, which is not always easy or convenient, and above all they do not do a lot of things that are displeasing to the Lord.

All too soon Mom and Dad had to go to Columbus to visit with Grant and Sandra and kids for a couple of days, and Dad worried that he was putting me out, making me sacrifice for them in driving them to Columbus so they did not have to rent a car and pay a huge drop charge.  Of course this was NO SACRIFICE for me, those of you who know me well, when I tell you that it was during the week, you will guess one of the reasons why it was no sacrifice.  Yes, that is right, Columbus has what…TEMPLE…not only did I get to enjoy Mom all to myself (Dad slept) for the drive but after I dropped them off, I got to go to the Temple and do a session.  It is heaven on earth to be in the Temple, I wish everyone could truly have a testimony of the Temple and the blessings that are there, wouldn’t the world be a nicer place to live?  So….Mom and Dad as I told you then, come see us anytime and I will come to Columbus and pick you up… just make it on a Tuesday through Saturday, hahahaJ  No seriously I will pick you up any day of the week, just come more often!!!  We love you!!

This last week Steve and I went to Palmyra, NY.  We went to see the Hill Cumorah pageant.  We have been many times, but it has changed since the last time we were there.  The script is different, it was truly a wonderful experience.  It rained, well really was a downpour in the afternoon, but by pageant time it had cleared off and was cool, which was a blessing because it was so hot and humid before the rain storm.  They had 9000 seats set up.  I am not sure if they were all full or not as we sat in the front.  It was a short trip, but wonderful.

They were not showing the film, Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration, the 70 minute one, due to the time, they were showing a short one, so they could get as many people as possible.  But when I asked about it, they told us they could schedule us a private showing in a small room.  Of course we jumped at the chance.  We have seen the film several times, however, we met a couple from our ward up there that had never been to the area or seen the pageant or the film and we wanted them to see it.  If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it.  You to will think about sacrifice.  Over the years I have thought a lot about the sacrifices of Joseph in bringing us the Gospel, BUT this time it struck me at the great sacrifices that Emma had to make.  My heart just aches for her and all that she sacrificed.  I find that I have a great love for Emma, I really had never given her much thought.

After watching the film we were able to go to Palmyra and visit the Smith farm and take a tour.  We got to visit the reconstructed log cabin where Moroni came to visit in the upstairs bedroom.  They did research and archeology to find the original foundation and built a cabin with lumber from the Smith farm.  We also go to tour the house Alvin was building.  If any of you have been there prior to I believe it was 1998, you will know that the house had been added to and remodeled.  Pres Hinckley had the house restored to 85% original.  I love that man.  It looks very different that it did when we first visited in 1986.  It was great to tour it, Lucy must have really enjoyed that house, especially the kitchen, it is large.  We saw the bedroom right off the kitchen where Joseph hid the plates in the bed between his pretend sleeping sisters to keep them from the mob.  Saw the bricks of the fireplace where he hid the plates.

The church has moved a barn that was built by John Young, father of the Prophet Brigham, to the Smith farm.  Well it is the frame of the barn, they put new roof and outside on the barn, but the interior was built by John Young.  It is a thrashing barn, not a barn used for animals.  It was quite interesting to hear the history.  This is my way to learn history, I am a visual person, it is just more interesting.  They have also reconstructed a coopers shed.  Again we get to see how the plates are saved from the mobs by Joseph placing the plates in the loft of the shed instead of under the floors.  The mob tore up the floor boards, but did not look just 6 feet or so above their heads where the plates were hidden.

Of course we got to then go sit in the “Sacred Grove” for several minutes.  There to sit and think about Joseph and all that he did, so that I could have the Gospel in my life and come back to where it all began and sit.

As most of you know when I was investigating the church, my big problem to overcome was Joseph Smith being a prophet.  I did not know there were prophets on the earth, it was a new concept for me.  I don’t ever remember being taught that their would never be any more prophets, just that there were not, they has all died.  Well of course when all you have is the bible that is all you know.  I had a hard time accepting that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that there was a living prophet in 1983.  It was a real struggle for me.  Is Joseph Smith really a prophet?  The rest of the things I was being taught was either stuff I already knew to be true, or stuff that I believed as soon as it was taught to me and I had occasion to think about it.  I grew up going to church every week and loved the stories of the bible.  I loved going to church and missed it terribly when my parents divorced and we no longer went to church.  I knew there was something missing in my life, but was Joseph really a prophet, were there really living prophet and apostles on the earth.  So I decided that I had to pray about it, was Joseph really a prophet?  Of course I got the answer the first time I truly ask, expecting to get the answer.  The answer was yes.  But I am sorta stubborn and new at recognizing that kind of direct answer to prayer.  I had been taught how to pray as a child, but not how to listen and recognize answers to prayer.  So I asked again with the same result, and yes…then again.   Well at this point I knew Joseph was a prophet, and if he was a prophet then the Book of Mormon had to be true as well as everything else I was being taught.

So I was baptized and have never looked back.  The Gospel has brought so much joy and happiness into my life.  I used to think for years anyway, that it came with great sacrifice on my part.  My mother has not spoken to me most of my adult life, she doesn’t know and have the love of her grandchildren, this has caused me great heartache and many oceans of tears, but it is worth every bit of it.  Yes, I would do it all over again, I know the Gospel is true and that it brings happiness.

I am excited that my son has a desire and is worthy to go and teach the Gospel to Heavenly Fathers children, to bring them the opportunity for the joy and happiness that we all share.  I can not imagine the joy and excitement he will have when he sees a seed that he has planted grow into a baptism as the scripture says in D & C 18:15-16, especially when they go to the temple and gain the full blessings of the temple.  I do know the joy those he teaches will have if they accept the Gospel.

We also got to do a session in the Palmyra Temple while we were there.  It is a beautiful Temple.

We had Christopher’s wisdom teeth removed the week before we went to Palmyra in preparation for his mission.  We left him home with his sister to recuperate and she took good care of him.  She brought him home pudding and spaghetti O’s so that he was sure to have soft foods to eat.  She did a great job.  He is still working at Kroger’s at night stocking shelves.  He has bought himself 12 pairs of socks for his mission, found deodorant on sale (yes he is his mother’s son) and bought himself several bottles.  He found a tie on sale, but did not like it so he did not buy it.  Our Bishop told us it will take approx $3000 to just get him out on the mission, not to mention the $400 monthly.  I have been pricing the shoes that other moms have recommended for missionaries and they are $81 pair, so I can believe that it is going to be quite expensive to get him ready.  The medical and dental stuff has already run into several hundred dollars.  Did I mention that I have thought a lot about sacrifice lately???

Brenda is plugging away at college.  She has been in class all summer, but it is almost over.  She will be out of class in 2 weeks and won’t have to go back until after her birthday in August.  She has 2 more semesters and will graduate next May.  She is ready for it to be over with.  She has had a lot of car problems this month, to the tune of abt $700 which of course she did not have, and it still needs some more work done on it.  Christopher was broad sided in my van on his way to work toward the end of June.  He was not hurt, but my van had $5000 worth of damage, and I still don’t have it back from the shop.  We had just had it in the shop and spent $500 on it right before it was hit, and are having to have additional work done on it while it is in the shop for the accident repairs.  I hate cars.

Steve is still working hard with the airlines.  I have an interview next week to teach tax classes again this year.  Hopefully I will be hired again to teach as this year I really need the money.

Canning season is upon us again, started last week.  I canned 12 jars of banana peppers the other night.  I have gotten 3 zucchini out of the garden and have fried them.  They really are yummy!  The onions are ready to be pulled and dried as are the first batch of green peppers.  We are going to plant some more zucchini once the onions are pulled so that hopefully we will have zucchini way into the fall.  The potatoes are not looking too great and this makes me very sad, they are one of my favorite foods.  So far the tomatoes are not doing to bad, haven't picked any yet, but probably this week.

Well this is turning into a book so I will close.  I love each of you and wish we could all live closer together so that we could see each other several times a year, but I guess that is not to be, in this life.

Jully - Mom and Dad

Hello guys and gals....

    As I get older and feel less needed in society and no one want's to put an old man to work, I wonder  why am I still here.
Then I think of my old stand-by quote from a movie,"the choices we make dictate the lives we lead. to thy own self be true".  You see I am product of what I chose to be. Let me say that we learn from others and let me quote s scripture (DC130:20-21)
"There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated and
when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by OBEDIENCE to that law upon which it is predicated". IE you want love, you must love. You want forgiveness then you must forgive. You want knowledge, you must study.  ect., Yesterday it was my turn to give the scripture in the Temple and it was the same scripture Allen gave (Mosiah 3:19) For the natural man is an enemy to God----unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ----submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon us----I say to submit is to be positive in all that we do. If you think you can, you will and if you think you can't, you wont.  Our thought must be positive full of hope and success. we must tell ourselves what we want to be.  You can be anything you want to be. Again, submissive, meek, humble, patient-----Make your lives important, full of love and willing to submit to all things.  I love you all, POPs

    We have had a very busy time for the past month into this month. Time does have a way of going so very fast and I am thinking that age has something to do with it. In June as all of you know we headed to California for the Benincosa Reunion.
It was rather hectic as I, along with my two sisters, had to put it together in a place that we knew nothing about. We did a caravan type of travel. One van and one truck. We made it over there without incident. Dropped mom off at Val's home and headed out to finish preparations and find out motel. I have to say that there were a few things that really made us happy that we had gone to Huntington Beach. We were able to attend the temple out there. I was one of the richest of experiences that I have had in that it was so neat to see each of my siblings and their spouses come through the veil into the celestial room. tI was sort of like being in heaven and seeing that wonderful gift of families being reunited and being a forever family. We each got hugs from one another before we left the room. One day I am hoping that all of us can attend one temple and feel that same way as each of us comes through the veil. Secondly, one day we had free time so we headed down to San Diego to a spot called Old Town. While there we saw a sign that said that the Mormon Battalion Museum was there and so we hiked to it and had the greatest pleasure of going through that. It is brand new and is built to match old Spanish homes. It has many rooms in it that take you through the history of their march to California. What is so  neat is that they have pictures on the walls that talk to you or to each of the different pictures hanging there. If you have seen the Harry Potter movies and noticed the pictures on those walls and how they move around and talk, well that is how these pictures were. We learned much from them and the missionaries there. It was all done up so that everyone would be entertained. We then went to the back of the building and panned for gold. They have a slue there and you pan for gold...fools gold that is. Third, we did have fun with the families that came. As the years go by, everyone seems to change in age, size, hair styles, baldness, weight, and seem to be adding more kids to their families. We had games and fun along with a very cold and windy beach experience. Now the bad parts...mom, grandma, got a bad case of bronchitis. She is still under the weather with it. Barb, got a good case of pneumonia. She is still trying to get over that. Rob and Vickie got colds and the thing that turns me off from California...the traffic. Oh man, I thought I-15 here in Utah was bad but they are really in a bad way out there with their traffic. We did make it home and then we left right away to go visit Steve, his son Chris was ordained an elder. That was great. Then a few days over at Sandra's and that too was great. We are home now and have been trying to get the weeds under control here. It has taken us two weeks of solid work out in this yard to try and get control again. We are almost there. Dad has gotten in some golfing and yes, I did get to go see that blessed movie Eclipse twice. Once with Sandra and Amy and when I got home, Jo and Barb wanted to see it and so Barb paid my way...she bribed me. It did nothing for me...either time. I could almost 'bite' someone for getting me involved with vampires and
werewolves. Oh well, I know what people are talking about when they talk about this garbage....I'm such a sorry case.
The temple is still open and so we press on with that calling and I do love it and love what I am assigned to do. I hope that I get to help people through the veil in heaven. I am in good training for it at this time. Well, thats about it for this time.
I hope that you all got your 'Clean House Declaration" If you can use it in your homes good. If you can use it in a talk, good. If you can help yourselves and your children clean up your individual houses and make better people out of yourselves better yet. We love you all, We care about what you are doing with your lives and those of our grandkids...stay close to the Lord. You will be able to make it through all kinds of experiences...good and bad. Go for the goal of eternal life with the Savior and with each other and your families.............Love you   Mom and Dad
p/s Happy belated Birthday to D.J., Chrissy and to Grant.  Next newsletter due August 15th.............keep them coming!!!