Our letter to Tyler

Hi Tyler!

I'm just here all alone in the house while everyone else is to work and school. It's kind of strange to have only three kids around the house anymore. I wish that made it easier to keep up with housework and laundry, but it seems to be just as much as with 5 kids. Oh well, that's ok. So the other day I was sitting in the kitchen eating lunch by myself when I heard men's voices and banging out in the garage. At first I thougt it might be Jansen and some friends, (but they were suppose to be at school). Then I thought it might be dad, but I knew he was at work and it wasn't his voice. It made me a bit nervous, especially when Rui started doing his deep throat growl at the garage door. So I made sure the door was locked in the mudroom. I knew I had left the garage door up, so anyone could be in there. I went to the front door to make sure it was locked and looked out the window. I saw a white van backed up close to our van in the garage. I could only see the very front bumper because of the angle of our house. Plus the van was pulled over a little closer to the basketball hoop. It started to freak me out because I have heard of people backing right up to people's garages in plain daylight and robbing people. I wanted to call the Nielsen's or the Olsons to have them look out their window and see what they could see from there, but none of them are ever home in the day so I wasn't quite sure what to do. I decided to call down to the police station and have them have a police officer drive past our house. But when I called them to tell them they said they were going to transfer me over to dispatch, (which put me to 911!). So the dispatch guy keeps asking me all these questions and telling me to describe anything I can see. He keeps asking if I feel safe where I am and to stay on the line until police officers arrive. The longer this is going on the more nervous I become and the more shaky. I can still hear all kinds of banging and some occassional men's voices. The dispatch dude asks if I can see any police cars yet because several are on their way to my house. I can't see them yet, so he keeps talking to me to keep me on the line. Finally I see a police car and tell him. He says, "OK maam, I'll let you go to them now, have a good day." So as three police cars pull up to the house I feel safe to go out the front door. And what do I see now that I am out there?!!!!!!! Paul Tuckett and his Safelite van pulled up with him in the garage fixing our chip in our window! ha ha ha ha ha!!!! He had also been trying to get the dent out that Cam had put in the van. That's what all the banging had been. He had his radio on to some talk station which is the men's voices I could hear! I was releived but so embarassed! He said he had been driving by and saw our garage open so he decided to come and fix the things he had heard me talk about. I had no idea he was coming. He said he thought I would hear him out there and come and see what was going on. I said, "NO! I heard you out here and called the cops on you!" So anyway, we had a good laugh! The officers were really nice. They all told me that it was OK and it is much better to be safe than sorry.

Other than that, our lives have been pretty much the same around here this week. Primary keeps me going each week. I never know what the challenge of the week will be in there each Sunday. This time it was the Sunbeam class. Holy cow those kids are wriggly! Oh ya, that reminds me....we had Brielle for Saturday and Sunday while Jeremy and Heidi went to Logan to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary. What a cute little thing she is! She was a perfect little guest! She was just happy and good the whole time she was here. She went to church with us and went into nursery so well. She never fussed at all! It was quite fun to have her here. We'll have to do that for them again sometime.

Yesterday Jansen was asked to the Sweethearts dance. There was a little fish aquarium on our front porch with swedish fish and gold fish in it. He had to look through all of them to find the letters to the name. It is Cheyenne. He already knew she was asking him, so it was easier for him to figure out than when you had to figure out Ambria's name. I still don't know how you figured that one out. He is going to answer her by giving her a bag of flour with a note that says, "Look in the flour." After about 15 minutes he is going to knock on her door with a rose with a note on it that says YES and say, "oops, wrong flower." Get it? I think that will be a fun way to answer. We decided to let him go to this dance, but no more till next year. He said he's glad we won't let him go to prom because he can't afford it anyway. He is hoping to get a job at Subway when he turns 16. It will be nice for him to get a job.....he likes to have money to spend.

So Tia ended up getting 3rd place in the spelling bee. She did so well! She got a trophy with a smart bee on it. It is really cute. She was happy to do so well, but it was hard to get out that close to the end. She got some big tears in her eyes and came down by me.

How are things with you this week? IT was nice to hear about your first week and that things seemed to be going well. I can't believe you are in a ward with 150 members. How many actually come on Sunday? What kind of building do they meet in? Are you able to still run? It sounds like kind of yucky weather to run in. Does you companion like to do excersise? He looks like he would probably like that kind of thing. What do you guys eat when you have to fend for yourselves? And how is the laundry and keeping things tidy going? Does your mission president have inspections of apartments?

If I remember right, Sally Hall said there are only 2 stakes in Denmark. Is that correct? I wish I had a mission map. Do you know if there is one available? I will try to look at the lds website and see if they have one. It would be fun to be able to keep track of where you are serving. Are you teaching anyone at the moment? How is it to knock on doors? Do the people treat you fairly decent?

This Sunday is our stake conference. Our ward choir will be singing at it. Dad and Tani are both going to help with that. I will sit out in the congregation with Tia and Jansen. We are wondering if our stake presidency will be replaced. I think it has been about 8 years for them. Plus, President Olsen's ward was just pulled from our stake into a different stake. I wonder if Bishop Webb will be in a new presidency. We will find out Sunday. Jay Jay still comes into Primary for sharing time and singing time. He sure likes it in there. A few weeks ago he hurt his ankle so he has had to have a brace on his leg. They aren't even sure what he did to himself. The first day he had the brace he could hardly stand up. But we were singing Once there was a snowman and he just HAD to stand no matter how hard it was for him. He loves that song and couldn't just sit there. It was cute to watch him try so hard.

Well, that is about all the excitment from around here this week. We look forward to our Wednesday email from you each week. I haven't got a new memory card for you yet, I will try to do that soon. But I think you should get a copy of your memory card on cd and send the cd home and make sure we have it and then just erase that card. I get nervous having you send it home without any back up copies. Let me know what you think.

I will let you go for now. We love you! You are always in our thoughts and prayers! Keep up the great work! You are awesome!

Love, Mom, Dad and the gang!