May 2008

May 2008

The Monsons

Dear Family,"Hola" and "happy cinco de Mayo!!!" Since you last heard from us life has been exciting and full of traveling for our family! First of all I (Marilyn) enjoyed a wonderful and eventful trip to Utah at the end of March and celebrated birthdays with Dad, Mom, Jay, Katie, and Andrew!! Katie turned 1 and Andrew turned 5, and it was so much fun to be with them again...sickness and all! (I won't mention the ages of the others as that just wouldn't be polite!) Ang and I had a great time shopping, getting the kids pictures taken, crafting, etc. Scott survived another tax season at the accounting firm where he works and is back in full swing with the regular visits, audits, and etc. Justin & Elise returned from a fun trip to Florida/Disneyworld with the Petersons while I was there, and when Derek & Melanie came up to Logan for the weekend we all had a mini Monson reunion together...minus Bruce and Brian! It was great to see so many of the family while I was there and catch up a little! That trip was followed by Derek coming to WA for a job conference in Seattle and then coming to visit for a couple of days. We had fun playing games and found a "fortune" in sand dollars on the beach while he was here! Unfortunately Melanie had finals that next week and wasn't able to come with him. That trip was followed by Bruce & I taking a trip with Area CES co-workers and spouses to Mt. Vernon (not Virginia!) to see the annual Tulip Festival. It was amazing to see fields and fields of various colors and varieties of tulips!! We also drove to the top of Mt. Eerie to see an unbelievable view of the Skagit Bay! It was breathtaking! Our trip ended at Deception Pass, which is a narrow water passage connecting 2 islands and one where the currents are extremely strong and pretty much impossible to boat against. It was amazing! That trip was followed by Elise making a trip up to attend the sealing of a good friend in the Seattle Temple and visiting for a few days! She took me out to lunch for Mother's Day and we had a fun time being with her! Justin was also busy preparing for finals (and enjoying his motorcycle!) so he couldn't come up this time. And last but not least, Brian will be making a trip from AZ to Utah and will be there for several weeks while he works as an EFY counselor, which he is pretty excited about. He also wins the "biggest trip" award with plans to go to Sweden in August to do some research for his dissertation! If everything works out he'll be there for approx. 3 months! So that concludes our family travelogue! We've kept the "friendly skies" busy and have enjoyed it all!! Of course those planes/cars have routes that come to WA as well...so come on up!! Love to all...Bruce, Marilyn, and family


Heidi
Here's Heidi's first email from Brazil!! She sounds great!!
hey everybody!!!! HERE I AM!!!! i love it here!!! its amazing!!! well we just got back from the temple and it was AMAZING!!! we went to the campina temple that is like 1 and a half hours from sao paulo. it was really nice. i think we go to the sao paulo temple next time. i´ll let you know. the food here is really good. it took me a couple days to get used to it, but now i LOVE it!!! i put beans and this fresh salsa stuff on my rice and it tastes soooo good. we are supposed to go out proselyting soon... well like i said, i love it here. its amazing. it took a few days to get used to, but it is so awesome here. the language is coming really really fast. its really fun to talk to the brazillians and to teach eachother. ha ha i miss you all SOOOO much, but i love it here. i know its gonna be amazing and that Heavenly Father has a plan here for me. you all should go through preach my gospel. it is an amazing book. i remember the first week when i opened it up in provo i could just feel the spirit so strong. i know its an inspired book and it will bless your lives. I LOVE YOU!!! Eu amo voce muito!!! i will try and do my testimony a little bit...what i know at least...hee hee...Eu sei que Cristo vive e o Livro de Mormon e a palavra de Deus. Eu sei que Joseph Smith foi um profeta chamau para Deus a restoruar a Igreja verdadeira de Cristo. Eu sei que nos podemos vive com nossas familias eternidade. Em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem.well thats as good as i could do. its kinda frustrating to have your testimony grow so much and you want to say so much more and you cant because of the language barrier. i know it will come though. i love you all. i miss you so much, but its going by fast and i will be home soon! i love you, big hugs and kisses to you all. tchau!!!!love,Sister Quist

Scott and Tiff and family

From Scott and Tiff: We are surviving!!! Details to come in following issues!

Hey from the Quist's-
Well, we can all breath a little better for now, as Heidi was finally able to get her visa and get to Brazil. We were able to talk to her for quite awhile as she had a 3 hr. layover in Dallas. She sounded so good & happy!! We could even hear a hint of an accent in some of her words too. She had a great experience in the Provo MTC. She & Warren were able to see a lot of each other, which we know was a real blessing for both of them. She made it safe & sound to Brazil. She is doing so good, and loves it there. The language is coming very good for her, and she has been out teaching already. We will keep you updated on her as she continues in the CTM - in Brazil its Center for Training Missionaries.

Warren is leaving the MTC on Monday the 5th, so we'll be able to talk to him when he leaves. He is very anxious to get out and start teaching. He sent some pictures home, and from the looks of things, he has had a great time at the MTC. He smashed his finger a couple of weeks ago, (yes, he sent pictures of that too - lovely) We knew not to worry too much, since nurse Quist was there to take care of it for him. He is so happy, and excited to get out and get doing the Lord's work. We'll keep in touch with his adventures.

Ian is busy with school, soccer, track, young mens, scouts, etc. (not necessarily in that order). He's doing great in track running the sprints of course. He is also starting on his Eagle project which is going to be great. He keeps very busy with his social life, and is taking being the oldest now at home very nicely. He enjoys the perks that come with that.

Jakob is starting baseball, and is so excited. This is his first experience with baseball, and so far he really loves it. His team are the Cardinals, which he's pretty stoked about. He's also playing soccer, and loves his position as being goalie most of the time, and a dang good one at that!!

Kaijsa is just busy with her social life, playing at friends houses, and barbies, butterflies, and princesses. She is also having fun with soccer, and loves keeping us enterained with her singing.

Paul & I are just trying to keep our heads above water, and keep up with the kids, work, church, etc. This is a great time for us, and we are so blessed to have these two out on their missions. It really puts things into perspective for us alot of the time. We really appreciate all of your support and prayers in their behalf.
Well, that is about it in a nutshell for us for now. We'll see you all next week for mother's day!
And as Sister Quist says:
Tchau!!
The Quists

Mom and Dad
Greetings to all,
First of all, thanks to all of you for making our birthdaze special. Thank you for you love, thoughts, cards, and gifts. We won't go into the amount of them that we have had.
Also thanks to you for the time,effort, and money that you are putting into Nathan's fundraising activity. George bore his testimony last week and thanked all of the members of the ward, for their thoughts, prayers, and work and then said that he needed to mention by name some who have really gone the extra mile. You know who you are.
Enjoyed having Marilyn here for altogether too short of a time. Thanks for the evening at "The Cheesecake Factory". The company and the food were both outstanding. Also enjoyed having Angela and Andrew and Katie here for a short time. (The enjoyment was having them here, not the short time.)
General Conference was special, especially the Solemn Assembly.It seems impossible that President Hinckley is gone, but the work moves on. And we didn't have to wait until the white smoke came from the chimney to tell that a new Pope had been voted in like a certain other church that we know of. Thanks Marci and Rob for the traditional Saturday evening get together, and thanks Shawn, for the tickets to the Conference Center for Priesthood meeting.
Congratulations, Ben, on your baptism. For a minute there, you were the youngest member of our Heavenly Father's Church.
Good to have Scott and Tiffany and the kids for a few days while they worked on Nate's program. A lot of work involved.
If you have not already done so, you need to see the show, "Emma Smith, My Story". It is extremely well done and gives a little different perspective. Also, a 'must read' is Go Forward With Faith, President Hinckley's biography by Sherri Dew. Little do we know how much work he put into the Church.
Enjoyed having Melanie and Lexi here for a few days. Again, not nearly not long enough. Thank you for the enjoyable dinner and evening at The Cheesecake Factory. Sorry that we didn't get to spend more time together. And thanks for the birthday cakes and all of the effort that you put in to make them look so professional. Also thanks for the evening at Madi's dance program. And congratulations to you, Madi, for a job well done. You did a great job!!
And thanks to Jay for the tickets for "Celtic Woman" at Kingsbury Hall. It was a great program. The four singers were outstanding, the accompaniment was great, and the solo violinist was unbelieveable. It was a most enjoyable evening.
We spent Joan's birthday in Ephraim. Stacey and Amy had a belated birthday party for Bonnie and invited the family down to celebrate her's and Joan's birthdays. It was fun to get with the family. Had a barbeque at Stacey and Brian's. Had a good time.
And speaking of Stacey and Brian, they have adopted another baby. She is an Oklahoman, weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces, is bi-racial, and will be named Amelia. Congratulations to them.
We continue to enjoy our Temple calling very much. It is a humbling experince and we enjoy the people that we work with and associate with, especially the patrons who come. You don't know how much you are appreciated and loved when you go to the Temple.
In closing, you may have this, but in case that you haven't:
"As you have heard, the Bush Administration said each of us would get a rebate check to stimulate the economy. Now if we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all of the money will go to China. If we spend it on gasoline, it will go to the Arabs. If we purchase a computer, it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Japan. If we purchase useless stuff it will go to Taiwan. Therefore, none of the above will help the American economy.
"We need to keep that money here in America, and the only way to do that is to spend it at yard sales...since those are the only true American businesses remaining."---- Or by sending your parents on another mission.

Love, Mom and Dad

The Peacocks
Hello from the Peacocks. To say that May has been a whirlwind month would be the understatement of the century! Our biggest event was the Benefit Concert for Nate Pemberton and his family. What started out as a "little carnival" and possibly a few performers, turned into a HUGE event which included Peter Breinholt in concert, a huge silent auction, raffle, vendors, Smith’s Tix, Carnival, bounce houses, train rides, food vendors, advertising, banners, news stories, etc. It has pretty much consumed our lives for the past month. To put it into perspective, about a week before the event, McKell said to me, "Mom, I am SO excited for this Saturday!" to which I replied, "Oh, because of the carnival?" to which she answered, "No, because after Saturday, you won’t be on the phone all the time." Wow, from the mouth of babes...! It did turn out great and we had a great turnout. Tiffany and I were over the Silent auction/raffle/carnival and we broke that up so Tiff oversaw more of the Carnival and I oversaw the other parts with help from Jay. Tiffany did an amazing job! I know that isn’t surprising if you have ever attending one of Tiff’s birthday parties, but that Carnival rocked! She did such a good job and it turned out great from what I could see and from what I have heard. Jay and I had a great time doing the silent auction and even managed to calm the controversy of the great Marie Osmond Doll debacle. We raised a lot of money for Nate and I was so happy to also get a swing set from Rainbow Play donated for his kids that they will be getting soon. Nate really was so happy and overwhelmed and it was nice to see him happy again. We really appreciate everyone who helped. Shawn and Heather were awesome at their post of wristband sales and we appreciate Mom and Dad and all their help as well. It was one of the most exhausting things I have ever done and unfortunately, life doesn’t stop just because I need it to, so we are just moving right along. Other than that big event, we are staying busy trying to get our backyard landscaped. We are hopefully going to really get working on that this spring/summer. We bought a lot of trees from Costco and will get working on that soon. The kids are adamant about planting a garden this year so we’ll see how that goes. Apparently "visiting" Grandpa’s garden isn’t going to do it again this year. Rob is enjoying work and was a big help to me with this event. He was the brains behind getting credit card access which was HUGE. He has definitely been a trooper through all of it. I have been doing well with my business. It has been on hold for the past few weeks, but I look forward to getting back to that soon. I have missed it a lot. I am excited to get working on our yard as well. I am currently recovering from a horrible sunburn from being out in the sun for 2 days straight. My feet look like lobsters. I also tweaked my foot running somewhere on Saturday, so I am still limping along. Primary is going well. We had ward conference this past week (a day after the benefit concert...THAT was fun!). It went really well and was the most entertaining thing I have ever seen in primary when the whole Stake Presidency got up and tried to do sharing time in Jr Primary. To say that they had audience participation would be an understatement. At some point they had all completely lost their composure and couldn’t stop laughing due to some of the comments from the kids. It was hilarious. Cayden is plugging along in soccer, scouts, and piano. He just had his first piano recital this past week and did great! He takes piano from our bishop’s wife and our bishop commented after that he couldn’t believe that Cayden was playing that well after only a month of taking lessons. Cayden wasn’t nervous at all and did a great job. He is also doing really well in soccer and is becoming quite a good player. He is loving scouts and is close to earning his Wolf. He is earning belt loops like crazy which he is excited about. He is doing well with his spacer and will be getting braces on possibly this week. Unfortunately, he does have to have a tooth extracted which sounds awful to me, but they assure me it is no big deal. We shall see. He is excited for summer break coming soon. Ashlee had a great time at the carnival, especially because she basically had "VIP" access to everything (or so she thought). She is doing well in school and learning a lot. She was excited to turn 6 this past month and she and McKell had a fun "Ladybug" party. We had 26 kids in attendance! They had a fun time and loved having all of their friends here. Ashlee is still getting used to the idea of turning 6. For some reason, she is really concerned with different ages. This morning she asked me if she was getting older and I told her yes. She asked me if you get really really old if you die, and I said yes. She then said, "Then I definitely don’t want to turn 7!" She is doing a good job making her bed and cleaning her room so the "clean up fairy" will come. McKell’s big news is that she can now ride a two-wheeler with no training wheels. Just like Cayden, she just made her mind up one day to do it, and she did. She is very proud of herself. She had a great birthday and loves being six. She recently was concerned that she might not know everything she needs to in order to go to the first grade next year. I assured her she would do fine. She is our little peacemaker and always makes sure that everyone is happy. She is always looking out for others and when Cayden and Ashlee don’t clean their room, she tries to help them so they can all get a treat from the clean up fairy. She is our little helper and is doing great with reading and writing and we love her little notes that she leaves us. Little Miss Sadie is growing like a weed. She is so much fun and is a joy and light in our home. Everyone rushes to get her when she wakes up and no one but Sadie can get Cayden awake in the morning with a big smile. She is getting very close to crawling and we now have to be very careful where we put her to sit and what is around her. She took a topple off the bed already but luckily had some padding on the ground so she was fine. She is incredibly loud and loves to babble on and on. She gives the best loves and also claps when we say "yeah!". She is a little sweetheart. Well, that it is from the Peacocks. Love ya!

April 2008

The Peacocks

Hello from beautiful Herriman! The Peacocks are doing well. March kind of came and went in a hurry. We are more excited to have it go and for April to hopefully bring in some beautiful spring weather. The kids are getting very confused and frustrated with temps that are 65 one day and then 45 and snowing the very next day. Rob actually got paged this morning that Alpine Highway was closed due to blizzard like conditions due to the wind. Now, that is just wrong the day before April! The kids have loved the time they have been able to be outside on their bikes, playing soccer, going to the park, etc. We had a great Easter weekend. We headed up to Centerville for Rob’s family Easter egg hunt which was fun. We also had a great time at Mom and Dad’s for the Neilson Easter egg hunt. Cayden and McKell were both thrilled that they found golden eggs with a dollar inside. Ashlee was more concerned about seeing the cats, as usual. We also had a really neat Easter family home evening with the kids and it is always a special experience hearing the story of the atonement and crucifixion from your small children. Cayden actually became quite emotional and it really touched him a lot. It dawned on Ashlee that when we are resurrected that Rob will no longer be allergic to cats and dogs. She is now definitely gunning to be resurrected! We had a fun time dyeing Easter eggs with Mom and Dad. This has become a tradition that we really look forward to. We had a nice spring break at home. Rob took a few days off to be home and we had a lot of fun going to the zoo, having a few movie parties, etc. Rob and I enjoyed doing sealings at the temple this month with our ward. Thanks Mom & Dad for the temple babysitting service you have offered! Rob is doing great and enjoying work. He has been told he may need to go on a trip to Singapore, but we’ll see. I am really working hard on my business right now and hoping it goes well. So far, things have gone pretty well so I’ll keep plugging away at it as much as I can. Primary is going well, even though I about had a stroke yesterday when the youth took over primary so the teachers could go to the combined RS/Priesthood meeting. They did great. We have a very large primary, but a very good primary. I am looking forward to getting out in the yard and getting some things done that I have had to put off for 2 years due to moving to Idaho one summer and being pregnant with Sadie the next. The kids are excited to grow a garden. Cayden is loving school, scouts, and is thrilled that soccer starts this week. He is going like gangbusters in scouts and earning all kinds of awards. He is very excited to get to start piano lessons this week. He will be taking them from our bishop’s wife. I took him to the orthodontist last week with not good news. The doctor was flabbergasted at Cayden’s bite, teeth pattern, etc. There are 2 of his baby molars that apparently are fused to his jaw bone so they will have to be pulled. He will also have to have spacers for a few weeks before finally getting braces on his top teeth. I am not sure who is going to need more medication, me or him to get through this! We told him with what it is going to cost us, that this may be his Christmas, Birthday, etc. He didn’t think that was amusing or true. Ashlee is doing great in school. She has made lots of friends and amazes us with how well she is doing. She is working hard to make her bed each day and clean her room. McKell is excited to have yet another tooth loose. The orthodontist wants to look at her teeth when we go in for Cayden because her bite is so tight. She is loving school and looking forward to soccer season starting. Sadie is growing like a happy little weed. She is definitely vocal and expresses her opinion very well without saying a word! She had a bout with 2 ear infections this month which wasn’t fun. She had a fun time getting in a spitting match with Grandpa a few weeks ago and has now tried to carry that on with anyone who will do it. She is such a happy baby and brings so much joy and love to our home.

The Quists

Hey everyone - Hola!! From the Quists!! Suffice it to say, we are busy getting Heidi ready to leave on the 8th. So, for this month, this is the latest letter from the MTC from Elder Quist.
Hope all is well with everyone, and we will fill you in on the details next newsletter.Thank you for your love & prayers.
The Quist's
TARES AND THE AGES! I sent yuo guys a letter and it was good to hearfrom you! Also, I'm happy about Pippin! He should be awesome! Well, thelast few days have been the litteral translation of trying! It's awesometo be able to see the Lord give more responibility to the District nowthat we have proven that we can handle it! Ah! I love it here! But Ican't wait to get to Argentina! It will be awesome! Tayte has left butDoug Sass is now in my zone! I put more about it in my letter that Isent earlier today. Also, Dad, there's something special in there foryou. I hope you like it! Heidi- Remember that patience is going to save you for the next 18moths! Learn it NOW! There are Elders in here who haven't learned ityet.Ian- Score a goal for me! Give my love to the team and WORK HARD! Dogood in your English class. I know it's hard dealing with that type ofperson, but if you can learn how to now, you'll be that much fartherahead when you get to where I am!Jacob- How's that puppy you want coming along? Keep working for it.Before Mom and Dad will get you one you have to prove you can handle theresponsibility!Kaijsa- How the heck are you? I hope you are as excited as I am becauseexcitement is what makes the days go by! Remember to smile and begreatfule for all you have!Mom and Dad- Oh my gosh! I LOVE IT HERE!!! I have never been in a placeso much like home away from home! I can't wait to get down to Argentinabut I'm happy to learn while I'm here. Yesterday we taught for the firsttime the first discussion in Spanish! It was so awesome! The guy wetaught had take 5 years of Spanish in High School and College and wewere having to teach him some spanish phrases! He's actually going onhis mission to Brazil in June! So anyways, I have a lot to thank youfor and I don't think I'll ever have the time to do it. But I love youvery much and you're always in my prayers, which are in Spanish by theway.Ha Ha Ha. So on Tuesday we had an MTC devotional and at the openingprayer the person said it in English of course, but right at thebeginning I was like "what is she ... OH! Right! They still say Englishprayers!" It was pretty funny! My comp and I get along like "peas andcarrots"! We are a lot alike and we compliment each other in theteaching very well. So anyways, the pranks here are amazing, so watchout for when I get home!But all is well and I love you all very much!Heidi I can't tell you how much you need to buckle up! But not in thebad way! It's like in the way you buckle up for the funnest thrill-ridein the WORLD!!!Elder, what's my first name again? oh yeah!, Warren P. Quist

Mom & Dad

Dear Family,
Firstly, enjoyed going to Alex and Jordan's school basketball games. They play like a chip off the old block. Congratulations to Jordan for his team winning the championship!
Adios, Warren. Off for a great adventure. Haven't heard from him, but Miriam says that he is doing great--but what would you expect.
Enjoyed the trip to the Hogle Zoo with Marci and the kidlets. Also Michelle and Jason and Miki. And didn't even get clawed by a tiger.
We also enjoyed driving up American Fork Canyon and meeting Michelle and Jason and Kyle and Jules and Miki who were up there fishing. It was a little cool so we didn't stay too long. Took a short trip down memory lane on the way home. Stopped at what used to be the Crystal Hot Lakes where we would swim in the nude a lot and where Grandpa Steedman would come up and tell us that he was going to being his daughters up swimming and we needed to either put on our bathing suits or get dressed. Didn't have much choice as we didn't have bathing suits with us. Guess things have a way of working out, seeing as one of the swimmers there married one of his daughters. The Crystals are now surrounded by all of the commercial buildings up there and the big lake has been partially drained. It's sad.
Then we stopped at Grandma Steedman's old house and walked down where the spring house used to be and from where they got the drinking water. That is also sad as the spring house is no longer there and the spring has dried up. I guess it's like they say, you can't go home again, or at least if you do it's not the same.
Had an enjoyable Easter and hope that all of you did also. The weather was good and the kids had a good time on the egg hunt. We missed those of you who weren't able to be there.
Two books that everyone should read--THE HOLY TEMPLE by President Packer and
GO FORTH WITH FAITH, the biography of President Hinckley by Sherrie Dew.
Had a nice time celebrating Gage's birthday with Scott and Tiffany and the kids and Bob and Yvonne and Cade and Hailey. Never have there been so many golfers in one family. Perhaps a Tiger Woods?
It was good to see Jared and his girl friend (or as he would say, my friend that happens to be a girl. Ya)and have them for dinner. He seems to be doing well at Dixie
The Temple continues to go well and be enjoyable, especially when you get a chance to work with those who are either there for the first time or haven't been for a long time and are just returning. You can just feel the Spirit that is there and the joy and excitement of their being in the Temple.
That seems to be about all from this part of the world. Hope that all is well with all of you and yours. Love, Mom and Dad

Shawn, Heather and Family

Well HELLO from the Shawn and Heather Neilson family! It's been quite a while since we took sent anything in - sorry. Let's take a few minutes to tell you all of what has been going on. Okay, in the words or Indigo Montoya, "No - too much, let's sum up." - Heather and I participated again in the Moab 1/2 marathon and 5 mile run. Heather ran the 5-mile run with several friends/members of our ward. Her time was 52 minutes. She did great!! Shawn ran the 1/2 marathon and finished in 1 hour, 48 minutes. He was quite pleased with my time beings that he didn't have as much time to train as he would have liked. - Things in our ward have been a bit challenging lately. We had 2 members of our ward pass away from cancer. They actually passed away almost 24 hours from each other. One, a guy that I knew in high school named Seth Shaffer, age 37 has been fighting cancer for about the last 2 years or so. He's completely outlived the doctors expectations, but obviously is very young and leaves behind a wife and 6 children, ages 16 down to 9. The other, a woman named Vicki Bigelow also passed away from cancer. She was diagnosed last August and leaves behind a husband and 5 children - most of whom are married and one was married the week she passed away. Their youngest daughter is a laurel in the ward. Both remaining spouses are extremely wonderful people with the spiritual base it will take to make it through what lies ahead. Our thoughts and prayers are obviously with them still. They are wonderful people. The ward has been amazing and these challenging experiences have really brought us all closer. - On a happier note, the Neilson clan spent a wonderful week in Scottsdale with Melanie, Lexi, Madison, Austin, Brandon and Brian. It was a great week and as always, Melanie spoiled us rotten. It was beautiful weather, especially considering that since we've returned home, it's snowed twice and is supposed to do it again a couple of times over the next few days. We definitely miss the 80 degree temps. We stopped in Paige on the way down and did a tour of Glen Canyon dam. It was very fun. Once is Scottsdale, we had a great time with Mel and the gang swimming in the pool, hanging out playing games and having a wonderful Easter. We had the opportunity to go with Brian, Madison, Alex and Jordan to do baptisms for the dead at the Mesa temple. It was a great experience. We also attended the Easter pageant about the life of Christ at the Mesa temple (an outdoor pageant similar to the Manti pageant). We met Brian there and had a great time there as well. It was a wonderful pageant. Again, Melanie spoiled us and we had a very, very memorable time there as always. It's harder and harder to leave each year to come home. - Alex and Jordan both finished their school basketball seasons at American Preparatory Academy (the school they attend). Jordan's JV team won their age group championship and Jordan played very, very well. Alex's varsity team took third and lost to the team that eventually took the championship. Alex also played very well and led the team in scoring and just about everything else. They had a great experience. Their coach, who is a wonderful guy is going to take them and their team to a couple of camps this summer - one in Texas and the other in Washington. It should be fun for them. Alex is actually going to help coach. - The kids are all doing well in school, but are also very ready for it to be over for another year - thank you spring break. They're working hard and doing well. Mary is doing great in pre-school and loving every minute of being with the other kids socializing, etc. School work is definitely secondary, but she loves it. - Overall, we're doing very well. We're all healthy and life is treating us very well. We've been having great experiences and some trying ones as well, both of which are part of why we're here. For Christmas, we got the kids membership into Cosmo's kids club, and along with that, they get football and basketball tickets to BYU games. We have had a great time going to both football and most recently basketball games as a family. It's especially good since BYU is winning. It's been great. Well, we hope that all is well with each of you . Hopefully, we'll be much better about writing more regularly. We love you and think and pray for you all very, very often. Take care!!

MARCH 2008

The Peacocks

Howdy from Herriman. Here is some quick news from us. We had a fun month in February with tubing at Mom and Dad’s, Valentines, mini-golfing, Heidi & Warren’s Farewells, and doing lots of organizing of our house. We also had a great time going to the zoo last week with Mom, Dad and Miki. It was a lot of fun! Some not so fun moments were the ridiculous issues with our car including having to have a new transmission put in only to have our car completely stall on I-15 three days later. After having it towed to the shop and fixed, we hopefully won’t have any further issues. Another not fun moment came on the night before Valentines when Rob was literally stuck in the snow in Lehi during a freak blizzard. It was quite scarey and he ended up having to run a half a mile in waste deep snow to a co-worker’s home. He couldn’t see anything and luckily a man in a truck saw him and picked him up and took him where he needed to go. It was a blessing that he was okay. He ended up having to spend the night and said it was one of the most freaky things you have ever seen to see all of the cars just parked and buried on Alpine highway. It took them all day to get cars uncovered and cleared out. We were happy he made it home and had a warm place to sleep. We’ve also had a few bouts of the flu/cold bugs and are ready for warm weather! The kids are doing well. We had parent teacher conferences and they all received lots of praise from all of their teachers. They are doing great in school and we are so proud of them. Cayden was excited this month to receive his Bobcat rank in scouts. He was so proud to get his new badge and loves scouts. He is working hard to get his wolf. He is such a sweet kid and is working hard to always make the right choices. Ashlee is doing great. She keeps us on our toes as always. A few weeks ago the toilet had a clog and she was upset that the water wouldn’t flush so she apparently just kept trying over and over and over to flush it. The end result...about 3 gallons of water all over the floor that then seeped into the carpets before we found the mess. She also broke her glasses at school and apparently told everyone that she looked "hideous" without them. Her other fun saying this month with the cold weather is that she is "frozen salad!" (Instead of frozen solid). She is quite a character. McKell’s biggest news is that she finally lost her front top tooth! It took a long time but she finally managed to get it out and the tooth fairy visited that night. She and Ashlee are both very excited that their room is pretty much all done. They are working hard to keep it clean and organized. McKell is also excited that we now have new neighbors including a 6 year old little girl named Kennedy that she loves playing with. Sadie Jayne is growing like a weed! She can now sit up on her own and gives mommy loves. She also has found her love for "real" food and loves when we sneak her pancakes, bread, crackers, etc. Everything goes in her mouth right now! She is such a sweet little baby for the most part and her brother and sister adore her. Rob is doing well at work. He once again shocked our ward at the annual Elder’s Quorum party. Last year he did an uncanny imitation of Randy Jackson when we did our ward American Idol and this year the theme was around the "America’s Got Talent" theme. He got talked into doing the whole Dance from Napoleon Dynamite and had people literally falling off their chairs laughing. He had the whole dance down and we had him wear his whole Napoleon outfit, including moon boots, from Halloween. I am doing well keeping up with kids, primary, etc. I have decided to get back into doing my business again after a few months off. We will see how that goes.
Well, that is about it from us. We look forward to seeing you at Easter. Love ya!

The Quists
Hola!! From the Quist's
Here is our news for "Febrero". Oh this is going to be FUN!!! We'll learn spanish together!! WAHOO!!

Well, to start off the month, we celebrated Warren & Kaijsa's birthdays. Just FYI, they are almost exactly to the day, 10 years apart. Kaijsa took 2nd place in the Powder Puff derby. Her car was "The Midnight Flames". Yes, we thought we were done with pinewood derby's after Jakob left cub scouts, but oh no, we do powder puff in our ward!! Kaijsa had a lot of fun!!

We attended Ian's awards swim banquet. He did very well this year, and we are looking forward to more good times next year as a sophomore.

We had a great open house for Heidi & Warren for our ward and friends. We just had a casual get together at the church, and visited with friends. Our ward has been great to give support to us right now. We want to thank you all for coming on Sunday, to support Heidi & Warren as they spoke. It was a very good day for us, and we want to let you all know how much we love you all and appreciate your love and support right now. Thank you for helping with the food, making my load lighter!!
Warren and Paul were able to go and spend a day on the Provo River fly fishing before Warren left. They had a great time and enjoyed spending time together. Needless to say, we haven't focused much on anything else lately.
Well, this is very short, but our fucus is pretty self explanitory.
We will fill you in on Warren's setting apart & the MTC in next months news. We haven't heard from him yet, but we're confident that he is just happy and busy!!

Until next month!!
The Quist's

Mom & Dad

Dear Family,
It's difficult to realize that President Hinckley is not with us anymore. What a great man, a great Prophet, and a great friend to everyone. Probably none, except the Prophet Joseph have had such an influence on the Church and on the world. He will be missed.
And speaking of being missed, most of you probably already know this, but Neal Allen died. We went to his funeral and it was very good. He and Beverly had some trials in their life, as their oldest son was paralyzed from the waist down while he was playing Church basketball, and their second son lost an eye while helping Neal change a tire. And one of their daughter's has Lupis. Neal was head of security at the Jordan River Temple for several years.
You may also know that Mary (Mame) Mousley died. The old folks in Bluffdale are getting fewer and fewer.
We are thankful that prayers are answered and that Scott was not hurt when a car hit into his car while he was investigating an accident on I-80. The results could have been so much different. We hardly worry at all. And if you believe that.......
We enjoyed the traditional tubing party this year, this time held sliding from Sam's hill down in the back. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the weather cooperated so that we could enjoy the time. Glad that Jason was able to make it.
We enjoyed going down to Trafalga with Tiffany and the kids and Marci and Rob and the kids and Miki for a round of miniature golf. We won't mention the scores. It was a lot of fun even if we all have a little hearing loss due to the loud music.
And one more congratulations to Heidi and Warren on their mission calls. And to Paul and Miriam for their teaching and encouragement. As the saying goes, this is one of the great "defining moments" in their lives. We envy and are jealous of them for the experience that they have ahead of them. Their talks in Sacrament Meeting were great, as was the whole day. They will be in our thoughts and prayers.
The Temple calling continues to go well. It is a joy to be around the workers there and we enjoy so much working with the patrons who come there.
That's about all from here. We love you all and appreciate you help and support.

Love, Mom and Dad
ps here is some "humor" from Dad

DAFFYNITIONS:
ARBITRATOR: A cook who leaves Arby's to work at McDonalds
AVOIDABLE: What a bullfighter tries to do.
BERNADETTE: The act of burning a mortgage.
BURGLARIZE: What a crook sees.
COUNTERFEITERS: Workers who put kitchen cabinets together.
ECLIPSE: What a barber does for a living.
EYEDROPPER: A clumsy ophthalmologist.
HEROES: What a guy in a boat does.
LEFTBANK: What the robber did when his bag was full of money.
MISTY: How golfers create divots.
PARODOX: Two physicians.
PARASITES: What you can see from the Eiffel Tower.
PHARMACIST: A helper on a farm.
POLARIZE: What penguins see with.
RELIEF: What trees do in the Spring.
SELFISH: What the owner of a seafood store does.
SUDAFED: A lawsuit brought against a government official.
HUCKABEE: Seeing how far you can throw a wasp.

The Monsons

Hi All!!A very brief update of the past couple of months for our family!! Bruce & I keep busy, mostly with our church and Institute responsibilities. The highlight of this past month was having Elder Ballard visit for our Stake Conf. and getting the opportunity to meet him! What a great and humble man...so down to earth, yet such a spiritual giant! In one of the sessions of conf. he told us that grandparents are the "memory makers!" Bruce and I plan to live up to that title! Our Stake RS presidency had the opportunity to fix a dinner for him and for the Bishops of our stake and their wives. It was a special honor. I also had the opportunity to prepare a sack lunch for him. (Just in case you ever need to know, according to his secretary, he really enjoys a good tuna salad sandwich and dill pickles!). We've had some really great weather here recently. The other day I walked out the front door and the sun was shining, there were 4 deer in the front yard grazing, 2-3 robins were hopping across the lawn, and birds were chirping in the trees!! I felt like Snow White!! I was tempted to burst into song but fortunately was able to refrain!!Ang, Scott, & Andrew have recently all had the flu bug, but are now doing much better and life is back in full swing for them. Fortunately Katie didn't get it. Of course this is a hectic time of year for Scott as a busy accountant and auditor. (Tax reminder!!) Ang also stays busy being a mom, and enjoys Elise's company on nights when Scott and Justin are working/studying. Andrew is doing great in pre-school and enjoys entertaining Katie and making her laugh. Katie is growing and has learned to maneuver the stairs and stand up to furniture. Brian is busy with school, dating, and singing. We recently got a singing phone call from him and a few of his friends. Evidently they had been singing to various girls' apartments and wanted us to be part as well! It was great!Derek & Melanie had fun celebrating Derek's birthday this past month. Thanks to mom and dad for inviting them up for a special birthday dinner, and "thanks" to all who were there and shared the memories of the Board of Education and BYU ring experiences with them!! Melanie said she received quite an education!Elise is still working for USU doing evaluations, interviews, and recommendations for the "Birth to Three" program. When Justin has classes in the evening she becomes "Auntie" and enjoys spending time at the Burtons. Justin is very busy in school and is preparing for the MCAT (a huge medical test to qualify for med school). He'll take approx. 14 practise tests, each 3-5 hours in length (real brain fryers!), before he takes the real one in about a month! On other fronts...we're glad to hear that Jason is home and doing better day by day..."love you man!!" Also "bon voyage" and good luck to Warren, and to Heidi next month as they enter the MTC and embark on the wonderful and spiritual journey of serving missions!! Hope all is going well for everyone! We miss and love you ALL!!

QUISTS
Greetings from the Quist's!!
First of all, to back up just a bit, our holidays were wonderful - however fast and furious. We did enjoy the time together. One of the highlights of our holidays (especially now in light of recent events) was hearing the King Singers at the Conference Center. We were able to go on Sunday morning for the broadcast and mini concert. The First Presidency was there, and in true form for the King Singers, they did a fabulous performance!! At the end of the mini concert, all of the King Singers were given a book with their genealogy in it. Then, they talked to President Hinckley, and sang "Danny Boy" for him. It was a real treat for us to see and hear.
January has had it's share of fun for us. We started off the year with our dog Pippin biting Kaijsa and having to take her to Primary Children's and having a hand surgeon sew her hand together after a very nasty bite! FYI: We have since taken Pippin to a Golden Retriever Rescue, and they informed us that they are sending him to Colorado to train to be a Police drug/search & rescue. (Good news for all of us, who were sad that we had to get rid of him.)
Ian has been busy swimming, and doing very well, especially for his freshman year.
Jakob has been doing great with scouts, and school is keeping him busy.
The highlight of our month was going with Heidi & Warren to the temple!! It was a special treat to have Grandpa officiate the session, and Grandma to assist. It was so nice to have the support there for them. Thank you to all of those who were there. It meant a lot to them to have you there.
Later in the month, Paul & I were able to go spend a week in Las Vegas for a convention that Paul attended for work. However, our long awaited vacation getaway sadly turned into Paul getting the flu the third day we were there, and spending the rest of the time in bed. We cut our stay short, and got him home where he made a very speedy recovery after receiving a blessing from Warren and Scott, (Warren's best friend.) It's very nice to have two Melchezidek Priesthood holders in our home!! We have made good use of it in the short time that Warren has had it.
And last, but certainly not least. We join the rest of you in sadness of President Hinckley passing away. We are happy that he is with his wife, and are so thankful for the great life that he lead!! He has made raising teenagers a little easier and we will miss him greatly.
We want to extend a personal invitation to all of you to come and hear Heidi & Warren speak on the 24th. Our meeting is at 9:00 a.m. - sorry for the early hour. We will be getting together here at our home afterwards for visiting and eats. See the insert for address and directions.
We love you all, and appreciate your prayers & support right now!! Heidi & Warren feel your thoughts and prayers.
See you soon!!
Love,
The Quist's

SCOTT AND TIFF AND FAMILY
We have had an uneventful month until this last week. We've just been dealing with the extremely cold weather and all the snow that has come with it. There is so much snow there is no place to put it in our yard when we have to plow the driveway. My parents currently have snow hills that are taller than their camper. Unfortunately, there is just no end in site and with it comes horrible roads and horrible hours for Scott. We had a reality check on Thursday just how dangerous his job can be. While stopped, checking on a crash a car came up behind Scott's patrol car and smashed into it. Much to my horror I heard him call out on the scanner that he had just been in a 1050 (crash) and needed a 1052 (ambulance). I was a little hysterical. My biggest fear about his profession had just come true. I've decided that the faith of our children, who ask every night that he come home safely, had just been put in action. His Charger will most likely be totaled, as the whole back end was smashed in but thankfully Scott was not injured. The ambulance was for the man who was walking back to Scott's car and was hit by the Charger as it got hit from behind. They took Scott to the hospital as a precaution and everything looked fine. He ended up finishing the rest of his shift and working 3 hours of overtime. I think I was more shook up that he was. I teased him that if he didn't want to be 30 he should have taken care of that before his birthday so he could always be 29! For his birthday we were irresponsible and did something we talked about for years - we went to the Price is Right! It was so much fun. We flew in on Monday afternoon and got up at 5:00 Tuesday morning and spent all day just for an hour of entertainment and it was worth every minute! It was neat to see how they do everything and to be a part of the audience. We almost missed our plane home but we had a great time!! Ryan has been busy this month reading like crazy. They have buttons that they earn and he is determined to get all of his. He is currently in one of the top reading groups and is doing great! His highlight for the month was coming with me to my baby check up and hearing the heartbeat. Jaydee was not happy that she didn't get to go so I'll be taking her with me next week! She has also requested that we find out what sex the baby is going to be because it would be fun to have a sister that she can match with. Gage on the other hand is just trying to figure out how there is a baby in my tummy and why he can't see it. When asked if he wants a brother or a sister, he replys he wants a brother so he can be a big brother like Ryan. I try to explain that he will be a big brother either way but in his mind it will only be the case with a brother. Go figure! Anyway, now that I have rambled on, I hope this finds everyone well! Take Care!!!

MOM & DAD

Dear Family,
To begin with, congratulations to Heidi and Warren on receiving their endowments. And thank you for asking the we officiate and be part of yout Temple ceremony. It was special to us. And also special to have Shawn and Heather as witnesses. I talked to Jim, the session coordinator the next week about the session and how special it was and he said that he didn't connect the Neilson names until he got up to the session room and then it dawned on him that there must be a connection there. The session coordinators always offer a prayer before they select the witnesses.
Took some swallowing of pride, but enjoyed going up to the 'U' to watch Jared perform at the basketball game between the 'U' and Dixie College. It was more to see Jaed peform at a cheerleader than anything else. Who would have ever thought......
Prayers were answered the Dad received the report that his his PSA test came back good and Mom received the report that everything is well after her mammogram. We are so grateful that we enjoy the health that we do and are able to accomplish the things we do.
We received some bad news from Aberdeen in January. The group leader of the military has prostate cancer and had surgery and our Stake President there has suffered some seizures, both not good news. Also received the news that they are no longer allowed to hold Church services on the Post. That is terrible news and very disappointing as now the LDS seravicemen there have no contact with the Church. Don't know exactly what happened, but evidently it was a combination of the Chaplains not liking the Church and the Senior Couple there being a little too aggressive. Wkhatever it was the soldiers are the losers and it breaks out hearts, as we learned to love the soldiers there so much and saw how much that they needed contact with the Church.
Enjoyed going out and seeing Ashley and Mekell perform in their school play. They know as much about countries as we did when we were in Jr. High School.
Since they don't allow lepers in the Temple, Mom has been doing a solo there for the past couple of weeks. Even though we may not see each other there during our shift, it just isn't the same knowing that one of us is not there. Hopefully Dad will be able to go back next week.
It just doesn't seem possible that President Hinckley is no longer with us. Of course the Work will go on, but for a while at least there will be something missing. We feel that way when any President dies, but some seem to be a little more special.
It has been good to have Jason out with us the past few days. Enjoyed the tubing out in the back yard particularly. Please keep him in your prayers.
Hope all is well with each of you. So thankful that Scott and Jenni were not hurt in the accidents that they were involved in.
We love each of you and you are always in our prayers.
Love, Mom and Dad

JAY

Well here we are half way through February allready,..WOW,..where did January go?I've been keeping busy studying for the National Baord Certification Exam, and building a clientele for private practice. That has and will continue to be my primary focus right now. It's a slow process, or at least has been for me, but continues to grow. I was deeply saddend by the passing of President Hinkley, as I'm sure you all were. I know that it was expected news, but for me, it didn't seem to lessen the great sense of loss and sadness, at the announcement of his death. His passing had a more profound impact on me then perhaps I thought it would. I took the opportunity to go down to the conference center, where I joined Michelle, at his viewing. It was very moving. It reminded me of when I was a small boy, and went to President McKay's viewing. I was impressed by his life and great legacy of faith and leadership, as I watched the several documentaries shown about his life. The funeral services were very moving, expecially the bag pipes at the cemetary playing "Oh Danny Boy", and of course "Amazing Grace". That following weekend, I went to "Music and the Spoken Word", were they dedicated the entire program to President Hinkley. After the program was over, LLoyd Newell, came to the front of the Tabernacle, and asked President Hinkley's Sons and Daughters and their spouses who were all in attendance, to please come up to join him on the stand. He then told us about the fact that President Hinkley had been the "Advisor" to the Tabernacle Choir since 1971,...a calling that he held dear, and one that he kept throughout his calling as an Apostle, and as President of the Church. He then turned the microphone over to Craig Jessop, conductor of the Mormon Tab. Choir, who then introduced the Hinkley Family, and stated that he had a presentation to give them from the chior. He stated that some time ago a memeber of the choir took his personal group photograph of the choir, and photoshopped or superimposed President Hinkley's face and head over one of the Choir members heads in the middle of the baritone section, and then presented this framed picture to President Hinkley, to show that he was now as official member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.President Hinkley was got quite a kick out of it , and in fact kept that photograph in his office.Criag Jessop then told the family, we know how dear that photograph was to your father, and so as not to have to see anyone argue over who got it, this same choir member has made 5 more just like it, one for each member of the family. President Hinkley's oldest son then thanked the choir for their love of his father, and very graciously stated that they as a family would not accept any accolades or credits regarding their father's legacy or work, and that in fact probably his most difficult work along with that of their mother, was to raise his family, and we all feel that he did a very good job there too. They then turned and faced the choir as they sang for them, "God be with you til we meet again". There was hardly a dry eye in the place.I wanted to share that experience with you all, and for those of my brothers and sisiters who live out of town, you'll soon be recieving the program from that "Musick and the Spoken Word", which contains the program devoted to President Hinkley, as well as a program of President Hinkley's Funeral. They had some extras that I was able to get for the family as a rememberance.I'm very glad that I was able to share in these experiences as it greatly facilitated the grieving process for me, and made it much more complete. The same weekend of President Hinkley's Funeral, my friend Josh was in town for one day, to visit family and friends, and I had a chance to visit with him and rekindle our friendship. His time was very limitted, but it was great to spend a few hours with him while here.That's about it for the January epistle. Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day!,.. and tell you all that I Love and appreciate your expressions of love, your prayers, and all that you do in support of me. Love Ya!Uncle Jay

The Peacocks
Howdy from Herriman! I think we have finally dug out of the snow from the past few weeks. We still have a mound of snow in our front yard that is higher than the porch. Church was actually canceled last week due to the snow storm and accompanying horrible drifts with the wind. They literally couldn’t get the parking lot of the church shoveled out due to the wind. We are ready for some warmer temps pretty soon.
Our biggest news/hassle this month has been car issues. Our "check engine" light came on at the beginning of the month and it is amazing how one little light can indicate SO many problems. To make a very long story short...when we bought the Sequoia back in August, we did so with the sole understanding that it had an extended warranty and we checked to make sure it was transferrable. When we went to use said warranty, we found out that the company had gone bankrupt and the new company was not allowing transfers, even though the warranty was still active. After a million phone calls, etc. the guy we bought the car from really worked with us and we got it somewhat figured out. In the midst of all this, Rob had to take a business trip to Virginia.. Fun. After a week in the shop (and my sanity in serious question after not having a car all week), the warranty company says they will only put in a used transmission that is in Texas. So, we now have another week of waiting. Thanks so dad for letting us borrow the car so I can actually take the girls to kindergarten this week. We aren’t sure what we are going to do with the Sequoia once it is fixed - sell it or keep it. We will see. It is amazing how much time something like that can take up! Other than that, Rob has stayed busy helping shuttle carpool kids to school in his Honda, deal with car stuff, and was recently offered a promotion as a supervisor at work. He is still deciding on that one. He impressed the team at Virginia on his trip but was reminded of his dislike of traveling. I am staying busy with primary, kids, carpooling, etc. The glamorous life of being a mom. I am about to head full force into getting the girls’ room decorated which they are SO excited about. We enjoyed a nice Martin Luther King day at Mom and Dad’s while Rob was gone. We had a great time on the new sleigh riding hill at Mom and Dad’s. It was great fun! Thanks for all the help while Rob was gone. Cayden is doing great in school. He is currently working on a project to build a simple machine. He just finished his Greek mythology unit and did great. He is becoming quite a little reader and loves to read. He is also enjoying scouts and is excited to earn his Bobcat badge as well as a bead for his progress patch this month. He is well on his way to earning his Wolf and lots of arrow points and belt loops. He had a bad bout of the flu for a few days and was down in bed with a fever, chills, etc. but is doing better now. Ashlee is doing great in school. We just got report cards and she had straight A’s! What a miracle. She also sat down with me a few days ago and actually read a whole book to me. We know this is truly a blessing with her. She continually keeps us laughing. She currently has a whole group of "imbisible" (invisible) friends that she talks to. One of them is Sister "Lame-hart" (her primary teacher who is actually Sister Lainhart). She also tells us lately that she has different "episodes" like crazy episodes or angry episodes. Who knows where she gets this stuff!? She also currently makes sure that Grandpa knows that she is NOT his girlfriend! (This after Dad had told her that she was his girlfriend.) It is her favorite game with Grandpa right now. She did great on her school program on the different continents and both the girls really enjoyed having Grandpa and Grandma there. McKell is SO thrilled I am FINALLY doing her room. She has been agonizing over this for a while. She is also doing great in school with all A’s. She has become quite a little reader and is always trying to sound out new words and letters. She is such a great big sister to Sadie and Sadie is absolutely fascinated with McKell. Our home is beautifully decorated with all of McKell’s artwork that she is constantly doing. She is so creative and artistic. Little Miss Sadie is growing so big! She now weighs 18 lbs. No wonder my back is shot at the end of the day! She is such a sweet baby and keeps us all laughing. She now does this fake little laugh when she gets excited. She loves her exersaucer and takes it very seriously when she is in it. She loves watching the other kids play around and can’t wait to join in. She unfortunately had an ear infection this month which wasn’t fun, but it is all cleared up for now. She started on baby food and has taken to all the new foods really well.
Well, that is about it for us! Love ya!

January 2008

JANUARY 2008
Welcome to the new and hopefully improving family blog! You can still access the old blog at http://www.jneilsonfamily@blogspot.com/. I am hoping to add a functioning family calendar, directory, etc. and this new blog will allow me to do some of those things in the future.

So, without further adieu, here is January's news!

The Monsons

Hi Everyone!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!This past month has been both wonderful and crazy!! It was wonderful to see most of you at the family party and be part of the annual chocolate dipping festivities when we came down! It was crazy that we crammed so much into 1 short week (and into our Honda bringing Christmas down from WA!), but it was worth it! It's been a few years since we've been to either of our family Christmas parties, so it made for a great time!! Like most of you we're now trying to put away the decorations and lights, work on keeping those newly made resolutions, and get back into some sort of routine! Thanks for the sleeping accommodations, the fun time, the memories, and the nice gifts!! And here's the month in review for our family.Ang & Scott - Ang & Scott bought their 1st "fake" Christmas tree this year! Andrew had fun helping to decorate it and Katie had fun un-decorating some of the lower branches that she could reach now that she's crawling! Ang's & Scott's big Christmas gift to each other this year was a newly fenced in yard! It's great, and Andrew loves sledding down the ready made hill in their backyard. We had a fun time having an early Christmas with them. Andrew loved opening all the gifts and Katie mostly enjoyed the wrapping paper!Brian - As most of you know Brian celebrated Christmas at Sun Valley singing with the Carolers. We stopped there on our way to UT to have an early Christmas with him, spent the night, and had a great time following the carolers around as they went from restaurant to restaurant singing...felt like real "groupies!" He had a great time singing and snowboarding during his time there, then went down to Logan on New Year's Eve and spent time with Ang & Scott & family. At the time I'm writing this he's on his way back down to AZ to get warm again!!Derek & Melanie - Ang, Scott, Andrew, Katie, and Bruce and I all invaded Derek's & Melanie's apt. and spent a night in Provo with them. We had an early Christmas together there, complete with Christmas stockings that Derek & Melanie filled (for Santa of course!!). It was a fun and memorable time and we loved being together! On Christmas Eve Derek and Melanie flew to Texas where they spent the rest of their Christmas vacation with Melanie's family. While there Derek had the unique experience of going deep sea fishing for king fish with Melanie's dad and brothers! The photos don't quite tell the complete story...the one where Derek and his brother-in-laws spent most of the day either in the galley or puking into the Gulf of Mexico! (Somehow they missed the handout of Dramamine!!) But he had a fun time and they both enjoyed the 70 degree weather while there! They were welcomed back to UT by several inches of snow!Elise & Justin arrived in WA the day before we left to go to UT so it was a short visit before we left. However, they made up for it by spending an unexpected extra day (oops!) at the end of their vacation! We had a great time celebrating Christmas and New Year's with them, and enjoyed going to the Seattle Acquarium somewhere in between. They also spent a day on the slopes snowboarding and another day on the golf course (evidently it's acceptable to golf in the rain when you live in WA!)! And they were welcomed back at the Salt Lake airport by "Unique Uncle Jay," complete with hot chocolate, transportation from the airport, and a warm meal (courtesy of leftovers from mom's fridge!)! Thanks again to ALL for EVERYTHING, and we hope you have a GREAT 2008!! Hugs and kisses!

Some photos from the Family Christmas Party....

Jay
Well Happy New Year Everyone!!! One of my New Years resolutions is to contribute to the Family Newsletter, so here we go.First of all I just want to thank each one of you for your contributions, each in your own way, that made my holidays "merry and bright"...Thanks for all of the gifts, and parties, and cards and thoughtfulness that contributed to making my holiday season a very enjoyable one for me. There were some usual traditions that I missed out on this year because of work, such as dipping chocolates, and going out to Eureka to cut down Christmas Trees, but I have some great memories of going into the Tabernacle Choir Concert with a close friend that I hadn't seen in years, and rekindling and old friendship. I enjoyed taking Miki's tree over to her apartment, with Michelle and the three of us having a good time decorating it together. Thanks to the talents and generosity of a very talented dear friend, I was very thrilled to present Mom with her Christmas gift, a painting of the home that she knew as a child and where she grew up. More of this friends' generosity is forthcoming in a painting of Grandma and Grandpa Neilsons Home for Dad. I was somewhat disappointed that both couldn't be finished and given to them in time for the holidays, but it's been a bit more of a challenge on the Neilson side trying to find some pictures, and coming up with exactly what era or circa of painting that we would like to portray as there have been so many add ons and renovations to the home. Anyway I'm looking forward to the finished product and presenting it to Dad. One other somewhat disappointing situation that occurred on Christmas Eve for those of you who may not be aware, Seem that the "Deer" or horsepower pulling "Santa's postal sleigh" where a bit anxious to get back to the north pole, and as "Santa's helper" was away delivering packages to good boys and girls, He didn't put the sleigh in Park, or set the park brake, and those darn deer pulled the "Sleigh" right into a tree!!! HO, HO, HO, Merry Christmas, YOU'RE FIRED!!! "The only things you'll be driving is Nails into Toys for good boys and girls for next year." So I went right down to Utah's Dept. of Professional Licensing,(like a good little elf,..) and applied and received my temporary license to begin practicing massage and will be starting the year off with a new career option, by applying my education and degree from the Utah College of Massage Therapy. Coming soon to a website near you...."Rub-U-Rite" Massage. Nice ring to it don't you think? I'm open to any an all Marketing suggestions, and of course any venture capital to get the new business off of the ground. Another New Years resolution, and as of today I'm 2for2, is to attend Music and the Spoken Word each sunday. It's something that I used to do on a regular basis when I lived down town. So now I catch the 8:29am dept. of the Sandy Trax station train to downtown, and I'm downtown, and on Temple Square and in my seat at the Tabernacle by 9:15am just in time to hear the Tab Choir and Lloyd Newell and Music and the Spoken Word. It's an amazing lift to my spirituality and great way to begin a Sunday Morning. One other New Years resolution that I fulfilled a few das ago, and one that I would highly recommend to each of you, is taking the opportunity to approach your Father, Grandfather, or Husband, or other honorable priesthood bearer, and request that he give you priesthood blessing. What a great opportunity to take advantage of!.., and who's life and what better time than the beginning of the New Year, to call upon the power of the priesthood and ask God to bless your life and help and guide you through the challenges that the coming year may bring? Thanks Dad once again, for honoring your priesthood, and blessing not only my life, but our entire family as it's loving and caring Patriarch. Well on that note, I want to take the opportunity to again wish all of you a very Happy New Year!!!! I hope that it will bring greater peace, joy, and prosperity, and that your hopes and dreams may realized!!! If there's something that I can do to help that happen for you, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Love Ya, Uncle Jay

Peacocks
Howdy from Herriman! What a holiday season it has been! We started out December with Cayden’s baptism. It was such a special day and we appreciate so much everyone who came to support him, especially in the huge snowstorm. Following that, we had our big ward party, chocolate dipping, decorating our home, 2 school plays, an ornament exchange that I hosted with some ladies in our ward, 5 family Christmas parties, the Peacock ladies’ ornament luncheon, 2 X-Box parties, a huge Primary Christmas pageant, a birthday party brunch, and a partridge in a pear tree. Whew! Amidst all of that, I was absolutely shocked when I met with our Bishop for a normal meeting to discuss primary only to be informed that my whole presidency, with the exception of me, was getting released. This all happened 2 weeks before Christmas and a mere 3 weeks before the beginning of the new year in Primary when all chaos reigns. Needless to say, it has been an emotional and trying time for me. I love the sisters I have been serving with and will miss working with them so much. I now have a new presidency in place that I immediately gave the advice to that they "buckle up...it’s going to be a bumpy ride" for a while. We survived the first Sunday of the new year with only a few little bumps. One Sunday down...51 to go. We had a great New Year’s Eve, although we missed celebrating at Shawn & Heather’s. We had a few of Rob’s siblings here at our home for games, food, etc. Not quite as exciting as a Neilson New Year’s Eve, but it was still fun. We also enjoyed a rip roaring game of May-I with Mom, Dad, Miki and Jay on New Year’s Day. Since then, we are trying to get back to "normal" with the kids back in school, Rob back at work, etc. We had a really nice Christmas and our kids think they were really good this year considering the load that Santa dropped at our house. They all were asking a lot more questions this year about Santa, the reindeer, etc. Of course, Rob tried to explain these things in physics and science terms like "Santa flies at the speed of light"...etc. I, of course, have to keep the magic in Christmas and tell them the "truth" about how Santa does everything. Ashlee wouldn’t let us light the fire all day on Christmas Eve in fear that Santa may come early. Although, she wasn’t to keen on the idea of "that man" coming into our home while we were sleeping. She also decided she didn’t want to eat any more or she would be "fat like that Jolly old Santa". Oh my. Other than that, here is what our family has been up to.
Rob was not very excited to go back to work after a week and a half off for Christmas. He got used to getting a little more sleep, staying in his pajamas all day if he wanted to, etc. The kids were even less excited than him that he had to go back to work. He is now gearing up for a week long business trip to Virginia in a few weeks. He enjoyed getting some time to play Xbox with his brothers and catch up on a few movies that he hadn’t seen. Rob’s biggest news is the purchase (finally) of a new car. After his ‘95 Honda finally completely stopped running, he decided it was time to get a new car. After a lot of stress and agonizing, he found a nice 2002 Honda Civic that is really nice. He now actually looks like a grown man with a job rather than a struggling college student.
Marci - I just tried to do my best to survive the holidays. It really did just get a little too crazy this year. I have made a goal to not get as busy next year. Rob doesn’t believe me. I loved having Rob at home and we’re trying to figure out how to win the lottery so he can retire and stay home all the time. I had a great Christmas break as well. Rob and I enjoyed a much needed date night as Heidi and her friend Amy came down to watch the kids while we went to dinner (thanks Jay!) and shopping. It was so strange to be without our kids for an evening!
Cayden is doing great as a newly baptized member of the church. He fasted for the first time this Sunday and did great. He also bore his testimony for the first time and did such a good job. He is trying to always choose the right and reminds us often, "I am trying to be honest...I did just get baptized, you know." We are so proud of him. He is a great example to his little sisters. He loved having time off from school and loved having Dad around to play with. He did a great job as The Ghost of Christmas Present in his school’s production of "A Christmas Carol". He also memorized every word of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". He is now back in school and doing great.
Ashlee is not as excited to be back in school. She was perfectly content to stay home and play all day. Even though she insists that school is too "Boring", she still is doing well and we are amazed at the progress she is making in her penmanship, math, etc. She was really struggling when we took all of the Christmas decorations down because, as we finally figured out, she thought Christmas being over, meant winter being over and she didn’t get to go sleigh riding on "Grandpa Ding-Dong’s Hill". She is now realizing that winter stays around long after Christmas is over.
McKell had fun over Christmas spending lots of time doing arts, crafts, and dressing up. Santa brought her a real digital camera which she loves. She also got more make up and dress up clothes. She has recently learned the art of making snowflakes so our house looks like a snowflake factory most of the time. She is such a big helper and Sadie loves her and calms down whenever McKell sings to her. It is so sweet.
Sadie is getting so big. I can’t believe she is already 4 months old! Sadie celebrated Christmas by eating her first real food! She enjoyed her squash and rice cereal more than words can say. She has taken to eating fruits and veggies like a pro and is a very noisy and messy eater. It is quite comical to watch. The other kids are all fascinated watching her eat real food. She really is a sweet and happy baby and is a big flirt with everyone. She has also discovered how to growl, spit, blow bubbles, and "sing". Sadie got an exersaucer for Christmas which she loves. She is such a little bundle of joy in our home. She loved having Daddy home as well and also got to join in on chocolate dipping day (well, not really join in as much as sleep for a few hours and then Rob came to get her.) She didn’t really understand much of Christmas and slept most of the day.
Well, that is it from us. We hope you all had a great holiday season and we hope you have a great 2008!!


Dad & Mom

Dear Family,
AND A HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!
And the old one was good to us. Don't know where it went is such a hurry, but I guess that's the case when you get older (which, by the way is highly overated). Looking forward to another good one this year. We have been blessed with good health and have great doctors and a great dentist to tkae care of us. Plus our health insurance is the best that there is with Medicare and the military Tricare For Life.
Congratulations to Cayden on his baptism, and to Rob for a job well done. Doesn't seem like eight years have passed since---
And congratulations to Scott and Tiffany on their forthcoming new addition. Was gong to say something about their new trailer, but won't go there.
Enjoyed the evening with Shawn and Heather and Scott and Tiffany at Cottonwood High School and Michael McClean and the "Forgotten Carols". Put you into the Christmas spirit.
Don't know how many of you remember Martin, Paul, and Bruce Mock, but Paul passed away in December. He lived in California. Martin died a few years ago. They are the sons of Uncle Hen Mock, Dad's half-brother, Grandma Neilson's son. His funeral and burial were here in Salt Lake.
We enjoyed the Neilson, Steedman, and our own Christmas parties and hope that you did also. Appreciate all of you that made them a success. Thanks to Marci and Rob for opening their home for our Christmas party. We also enjoyed the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, this year featuring the King Singers from England. They were good, but our favorite was last year featuring Sissel. We are fortunate to have this kind of entertainment here, and it is as good as Broadway, and it's free.
As mentioned, the Lord has been good to us. An example is that on the 18th, we were eating breakfast, gettin ready to leave for the day. Mom heard water running which we thought was the water softener regenerating. Dad went down to check and found that that wasn't it. He shut the water off at the main valve and went upstairs to the bathroom which was flooded, and water was leaking from the ceiling of the laundry room. A pipe had broken under the sink upstairs and water was pouring out all over. Had this happened when we were not home the whole house would have been flooded. As it was, it was confined to the bathroom and the laundry room.
We enjoyed Christmas very much, mostly thanks to each of you. Good to have Bruce and Marilyn down from the Northwest and Melanie and Lexi up from the Southland. We love and appreciate all of you and thank you for your love, help, and concern for us. Also enjoy seeing and being with our Grand-kids. And they are that, grand kids.
The only flaw in December was that Mom has not been feeling well. She has ongoing bouts of congestion, colds, plugged ears, etc. that just seem to go on and on. She has been to doctors and has taken medications, but the problem still lingers. Hopefully she is getting a little better.
That's about it from here. Again, wishing you a great 2008.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Scott and Tiff and Family

Life is starting to get back into a normal routine around here! We had a great time over the holidays but are glad to have the slow pace of January. We have gotten so much snow in the last two weeks that it is nice to just stay home. I should say the kids and I are enjoying a slow pace, Scott has been busy with all of the storms,the stranded motorists, and the motorists that think the road closed signs don't apply to them! Let's just say he's made a few friends...I'm back into the routine of watching 4 kids in addition to my own every day! Jaydee, the little mother hen, is in her element. She loves to tell others she has to babysit and that she is in charge. She has decided that it should be her responsibility to change Gage, to get practice for the new baby. That of course all goes out the window if he is poopy! On Christmas morning she a Ryan were up at 6:30. Scott and I could hear their squeals of delight at what Santa had brought them. Jaydee started to giggle and said "Ryan, we are spoiled rotten." They lasted until 7:00 before they decided to "wake up" us up! Gage didn't care what he got, he just loved ripping off the paper, saying cool, and moving on to the next gift even if it wasn't his. Children, we've decided, definitely put the magic back into Christmas! We hope all of you had a happy holiday season and we were glad to see all of you at the Steedman and Neilson Christmas Parties! By the way the quilt is coming in very handy!!!! Scott, Tiff, & Kids!