Monday, November 23

Tuesday, November 24

Wednesday, November 25

Thursday, November 26
Thanksgiving

Friday, November 27

Saturday, November 28

Sunday, November 29

I had another lovely talk with my missionary! She also sent a bunch of pictures of their p-day outing.

What a gigantic leaf!

Mark was so excited about hisThanksgiving turkey craft! He helped Tyler make one just like it. So cute!

First thing in the morning, Tyler made rolls with two 1-hour rise times.

The boys headed up to the sledding hill to remove big rocks from the trail for a few hours. Jon joined them soon after, and then Amy and I did as well.

Barney came over in the morning to pay our kids for their work. They all came away pleased as punch with the cash and a few items they chose as well.

Amy and Jon gave the Christmas duets a whirl! So fun!

Natalie got to call for 10 minutes, which was so nice!

Our Thanksgiving meal turned out amazing! Everything was delicious!

The rest of the day, the kids finished the assignments on their lists, and played lots of games while Jon took a healthy nap. We enjoyed Mark’s pumpkin pie that evening. Holy cow! It was delicious! It may not have looked picture-perfect, but the taste was out of this world (and I’m not usually a pumpkin pie fan)!

We topped off the evening watching Oblivion at the cabin and sleeping there.

I had a typical busy Monday morning after getting 3 kids off to school. (Amy and Adam worked at the stables.) I ran a bunch of errands including to Costco, cleaned house and made yogurt.

I love how pretty her area is! I was so glad to hear that although they couldn’t eat in members homes due to new COVID restrictions, they still had plenty of service and in-person missionary work including lots of door knocking and an awesome church tour. She loves the two new sisters who just moved into their apartment!

She didn’t get a letter out to the masses, but sent one to our family. Monday is also when I get some journal entries she types during the week. I love hearing all the details! She got to see her MTC companion for a brief moment on Zoom as her in-field language teacher was transitioning from teaching Sister Wolthuis to Sister Lund. He also gave Natalie a huge compliment on her language progression! Hearing and seeing how happy she is serving the Lord just fills my heart to the brim!

Amy went on a run with a friend, and she and Adam recorded with the orchestra. We also had a great FHE.

With all the wind and rain in Washington, Natalie is very grateful for her cute umbrella, rain boots, tights and coats!

I toasted bread cubes for stuffing, and baked a few more of Mark’s pumpkins.

We have plenty of frozen pumpkin puree, but I figured we might as well use fresh pumpkin puree for his long-awaited pumpkin pie!

It was so nice that Adam drove himself to and from his orthodontist appointment! Hallelujah!

Amy taught Alice violin, and to my surprise and delight, Mary brought her to the lesson! It’s been forever since I’ve seen Mary. Barney usually brings Alice and chats with Jon in the basement. We had such a great talk, and she brought up Mayflower ancestors, which spurred me to look up all of mine. I have 17 direct ancestors on the Mayflower (9 from my dad, and 8 from my mom), and am related to 3 more. Jon has 5 direct Mayflower ancestors (4 from M’Jean and 1 Gary), and is related to 9 more. I got extra excited because the one Mayflower ancestor that Jon and I share is William Brewster -- the same one that Elaine Brewster in my ward is related to. So I can directly copy the wooden figures she showed me last week along with his cool story!

It is fun to be recognized among the highest contributors in my family tree. I happen to know the next 4: my dad, my grandpa’s brother, my mom, and my dad’s sister. How fun is that?!

I made new checklists for the days off of school, which included performing for a family member. Here is Tyler performing for Mark.

The kids each chose a part of the Thanksgiving meal to prepare. The day before, we went through their recipes to make sure we had all the ingredients, and a few of them had to prepare their food.

Mark and I worked on pie crust and filling, and baked it that night.

Amy performed for her brothers in the library.

Jon and Mark took on Tyler and Weston in pickleball!

I love that people take more pictures these days, and I love that my daughter is a documenter!
This is Natalie’s First Transfer Zone.

Gulledge, Lund, Martin-AP, Camiling-ZL, Larsen-AP, Bagley, Newbold, Peterson-ZL, Waddoups-DL, Erickson, Prusse, Jarvis
Front Row: Shurtliff, Taylor, Tedrow-STL, Kunzler-STL, Jensen, Andreason, Squires-STLT, Dunkley-STLT

Jon and Mark attempted to play Harry Potter music together. I jumped in after Mark, ha ha!

Kids had cleaning assignments in the morning as well.

Adam was in charge of the turkey, which was really easy because I just bought turkey breasts.

His job was so easy that he helped Andrew with his food assignment.

Amy’s friend Ashley was running a half-marathon, so Amy and her coach drove to Lehi where Amy joined her friend for 8 miles of her run! She wasn’t sure how far she’d last since she hasn’t been running (as requested by her coach for all cross-country runners). She ran faster and farther than she anticipated, bailing right before the end since she couldn’t go through the finish line without being a paid participant. Amy is a great friend!

I really loved this division of labor! Even though I was still involved with every dish, it was good for the kids to learn!

I am really happy the new stuffing recipe I tried from A Bountiful Kitchen.

Tyler and Mark had fun putting together a thankful tree.

After dinner, the kids played pickleball.

Natalie got to have games and a Thanksgiving meal with her zone! I was so happy to hear that because originally it was only going to be her with her 3 apartment mates.

Sisters Gulledge, Wixom, Emmertson and Lund went on a Thanksgiving Day excursion.

Jon took out the protruding edges of a lot of huge rocks. Hopefully our sledding will be more pleasant this year! We headed back home at lunchtime.

That night, we all watched the Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood. That was a great movie!

Jon, Barney and a couple kids played pickleball after payments were sorted (Amy swapped out Mark).

I pulled out the Christmas duets, which have been so fun for the kids!

I watched the kids playing football from my upstairs window - so fun!

The kids and Jon watched Santa Claus.

After a pancake breakfast, we had presidency meetings and Sunday School classes over Zoom. Then we got to go to church in-person, which is always nice! It was an extra treat to hear a talk from Brady Barker. Cal Barker and Adam blessed the sacrament after the closing prayer.

After our family’s scripture time, we watched Calvin’s baby blessing over Zoom as well. We’re sure saving on gas money this year.

I sent the boys indexing, and then they played together a lot. Andrew and I spent a chunk of time on a Christmas puzzle together. We had a lot of enjoyable family time together.

She loves her zone, and had so much fun playing games with them and spending time them!

Speaking of music... Natalie had a fantastic experience practicing and recording “O Holy Night” for her mission Christmas devotional! She had to make up her part as did the harpist. The harpist is a STLT and said, “I’ve played with a lot of violinists, and you are really good!” Natalie soaked in all the compliments and just loved playing beautiful music! The tech elders got a hold of studio lights and did the recording for them.

The sisters did a lot of yard work as service for a member.

Natalie is grateful for her experience with work! She knows how to work hard, work long, and to make it enjoyable.

Since President Nelson’s #GiveThanks challenge, Jon had our family only give thanks in our prayers. That solid week was interesting. I enjoyed it, and also after Thanksgiving noticed how good it felt to ask for direct blessings for others again. Prayer is powerful!


Sister Song, Sister Lund and Sister Dunkley

Natalie and her companion had a day full of miracles, which left them with these expressions!

They went knocking doors with this awesome member, Rachel. Along with the other miracles, they found 3 interested people! I love hearing how busy she is! They have more to do and more people to teach than can fit in their schedule, so they have to give some of their investigators to the other sisters. She is experiencing so many blessings!

Look at these cute missionaries!

We called this race a week or two ago, but Andrew clearly won the indexing challenge for November! He gets to redeem his reward once COVID settles down a bit. I’m so proud of how hard he worked! He indexed 32x more than the previous month, so I’d say that’s a win!

After family prayer and getting kids to bed, Jon and I joined the weekly Lund sibling Zoom call, which was really enjoyable. The discussion topic was friends. Things got more interesting as the call progressed. We ended up talking till after 11pm!