It's so good to hear from you. Thanks for wishing us happy Easter! We actually just bought 8 little chicks to start our flock of hens for egg laying. Levi's pretty excited about the little birds. He's 9 months old now, 15 lbs., crawling, standing and almost walking. He gets into EVERYTHING! His favorites are the bowls of cat food and water. He loves digging his hands in the food, eating it, spilling the water all over himself and chasing the cats. He loves animals. It's fun to watch him explore the world.
Spring is blooming here and we are so glad! Last year I planted a bunch of tulips in front of my house and my mom was so tickled pink about them. They're starting to come up again this year and it makes me think of mom of course. Also found some stroop waffles at the local store the other day- little minature ones. It was fun to buy those and remember all the Christmas's that mom gave those to us.
We also just planted our tomatoes and bell peppers inside to give them a head start since we have such a short growing season. We love gardening and working on being self-reliant. We just started an emergency prep group here where we get together with our neighbors and learn about things like bee keeping, water storage, emergency power, medicinal herbs, etc. It's a lot of fun to learn how to be self reliant.
We are excited to get out and go camping this year. Last year we bought an old RV camper for cheap and Michael has fixed it up so we can go camping up in the high Uintahs. We also plan on going to the annual family cattle roundup in Southern Utah this year and spending some time there with it. So fun to have an RV to explore the world.
Michael and I will be returning to Alaska at the end of May, so I can introduce him to that part of my life and to go visit. I'm excited to go on that adventure with him. Life is so much more fun with a loving companion by your side.
I've started a post-nursing diet, now that Levi is weaned. He kind of weaned himself because of complications suckling, so now he takes a bottle. I'm sad I couldn't nurse him longer, but kind of glad to have my body back too. I've lost about 15lbs. now and am at pre-pregnancy weight. Just starting to exercise again every day and eat vegetables and cutting out the sweets. It feels good to be healthy.
I've got some bad news about David. You know that he was very mad at mom and estranged from her for quite some time before she died. Well he seems to have channeled that anger now at the church. On Facebook he very often posts articles that are contrary to the church. He's looked into some obscure historical definition of tithing and decided that he's no longer going to pay 10% of all of his income, but just of his increase, or what's left over after they pay all the bills. He thinks the church is to blame for mom getting married too young, and ecclesiastical leaders for not recognizing her depression sooner and telling her to just soldier on. He doesn't agree with the Church handbook change on gay families and has been openly critical of the bretheren. He basically no longer believes that the Bretheren are inspired, and is only reading the New Testament, to find out how our church supposedly varies from how Christ set up His church. I worry about him. Whitney on the other hand is still going strong. She's a seminary teacher and has a very strong testimony. I talked to her about the situation and it's really hard on her. She thinks that all of the anger is just a form of depression and his way of working through loss. She's trying to be strong for their family and hope that David pulls out of it, but it's such a sensitive subject that they can't really talk about it. We had a family fast for him last week and my dad wrote him a letter of concern, to which he responded with a lot of anger. Anyway, if you could pray for him. We've been praying that he'll find a way to resolve his anger, that the Lord will help to soften his heart, and that we can help him feel our love.
I'll send along some pictures of Levi for you to see. I just talked to Jody Best yesterday. Her and Tyler moved back to Alaska and now he's working there as a chiropractor. I'll be seeing their family when we go up to Alaska.
Also, it's now been 9 months since mom passed away. That means it's time to write to the First Presidency and ask for her permission to be re-baptized by proxy. Would you write a letter on her behalf and send it to me to include in that process? It usually takes them about 3-4 months to process it so I'd like to get started.
Today we went to the Provo City Center Temple Dedication broadcast instead of church. It's the church's 150th temple. I spent a lot of time in there before it burned down. I'm so glad it's a temple now. One of the songs they sang for the prelude music was "Teach Me To Walk in the Light". It instantly brought back a memory of when my family was asked to sing that song together in sacrament meeting in Midland. I remember distinctly when my mom and dad sang the second verse together to us kids "Come little child and together we'll learn, of his commandments that we may return, home to his presence to live in his sight, always, always, we'll walk in the light". I remember feeling enveloped by the spirit and knowing that families could be together forever at that moment, and how sacred a family was. Now anytime I hear that song it brings tears to my eyes. At the end of the dedication we sang The Spirit of God. When we sang about angels descending to visit the earth, I had the distinct impression that mom could be there. I don't know if she was, but I felt the peace of the Spirit that temples can mend all family rifts, even mine. I'm anxious to go to the temple and do mom's work for her. I hope she's making good progress over there.
Love you very much grandma. Thanks for keeping in touch.
Nicole
ps- we are anxiously campaigning against Trump and for Ted Cruz over here. I can't believe how so many have lost their minds and are supporting someone like Donald Trump!! Do you know who you'll be voting for?
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