In the Bleak Midwinter

The weather this week had me thinking of the Christmas song, In the Bleak Midwinter.  The lyrics don't fit, but the name of the song certainly does.  We have lots of things to brighten our winter, though, such as birthdays.  We celebrated birthdays for Ori and Yuna this week.  Ori's was Jan. 3, and Yuna's is Feb. 10.  They always choose to go together on their date with Grandma and Grandpa.  We had a great time; they chose Everbowl for their lunch. Even though it's more like dessert, it was tasty.  They took a while choosing gifts and ended up going home with a little money leftover.  It's interesting to see the different personalities of the grandchildren when they have a little money to spend.  Some want to spend every dime, and others seem afraid of spending it all.  Maverick had the amount he could spend down to the penny (not counting tax, of course) and made sure he spent it all.  Unfortunately, we forgot pictures.  Maverick and Jieun also had a birthday this week (they share the 21st).  We recently celebrated with Mav while he was in Utah.  Happy Birthday Jieun! (The adults don't get a date, but maybe we should change that).

I realized that I forgot to share a couple of things in last week's letter.  We spent a wonderful evening with Nick and Sara at Caputo's having an "Italian experience."  We were taken on a tour of Italy with cheese, sausage and chocolate.  I liked the chocolate the best!  We also went out to dinner with them first.  The "experience" was our Christmas present from them.  It was a very enjoyable night.

I also had the opportunity to tend Camden for an hour or so one morning.  He came fully decked out in "Newsies" attire. Camden loves to dress up! His other grandma had bought him a Newsie's hat because his sisters are all doing the play Newsies at school.  Ori has a lead part.  

Camden in his Newsie's hat with Grandma

Sewing was a fun priority for me this week.  I made a blanket and quilt for Caitlyn's baby, and I worked on a Christmas quilt for Adrienne.  I'm trying to make a Christmas quilt for each family.  So far Elise, Jennie and Crista have one and Adrienne's is on the way.  For the rest of you, let me know if you have a particular design you'd like.  I'm also doing a runner to go over my barn doors.  I have one that I put up at Christmas, then the hooks are on display the rest of the year.  I'm currently making a winter one, but it will probably get done just in time for me to need to change it to Spring.  

Another project I've started is transcribing the journals of Grandma R.  I haven't gotten very far, though.  I need to be more disciplined and less distracted.  

Eric Anderson, Dallin's father, gave a talk in church today.  He shared the story of his grandfather, Les.  (Dallin's great grandfather)  When Les was a young man (around 11 years old) he and his cousins took a horse and cart and headed up into the mountains to camp.  Along the way they found a stash of black powder.  They thought it'd be a lot of fun to take some of the black powder along with them so they could have fun with it later at the campfire, so they loaded their pockets and filled up a hat with it. In the evening, when the fire was going, the boys started throwing handfuls of black powder into the fire and were having great fun watching the little explosions.  Soon, however, the sparks caught the hat full of black powder and a bigger explosion incurred.  It wasn't long before the pockets of the boys also caught fire.  What had looked like a fun game before, suddenly wasn't.  Two of the boys, Les and his cousin Lyle, were badly burned.  The horse that was with them had been sent home because it was needed on the farm; so the two boys were wrapped in blankets and put into the cart.  The rest of the boys began pulling the cart back home, hoping to get help.  On the way down the mountain, the burned boys were thirsty and needed water.  When they passed through a creek, Les heard the water and purposefully rolled himself out of the wagon to drink from the creek and cool himself. This saved his life.  His cousin wasn't so lucky; he remained in the cart and suffered so badly from his injuries that he died within just a couple of weeks.  The water may have saved Les' life, but he missed a year of school recovering from his painful burns.  Eric said that we all have our proverbial black powder--that little misdeed or sin that can turn into danger and cause us serious pain and problem. The commandments are given to us for our benefit; if we keep the commandments, we have a degree of protection that we don't have otherwise.  Eric expressed his gratitude for commandments that have kept him save throughout his life.  

Sunday evening we had Jennie and Jordan (and Foster and Elijah) for dinner.  Once in a while we invite just one family so we can connect on a more personal level.  Usually the kids are a little disappointed that their cousins aren't here as expressed recently by Dojin, "Are we the only ones coming?" I've also heard, "Where are all my cousins?" As if they normally live here.  I'm just glad they love each other!