7 February 2011

Dear Scott,

We woke up to receiving a bit of snow last night.  We have only had one snow storm that I had to shovel since you have been gone.  And it really wasn't much at that.  We have not received much snow in the valley, it has just been super, super cold!  (It is taking a long time to write this letter, I read stories to the kids already this morning, helped them play some learning games in the ipad, now it's start Ben 10, get some juice, I want my vitamins, I want toast--but that is how it goes.  I think that I'll get up early to study and do some computer stuff, but most mornings the kids get up early too.) The cold has made it difficult to play or train outside.  

I'll give you a brief run down of how our week went.  It went fast and seemed so busy.  I honestly feel like I have so little time to do things and am always behind on my to-do list. Monday we went to the Tulett's.  I'm so grateful for their friendship.  I took the X-terra in to Honest One for Safety and Emission that day.  Carlee let me borrow her car to go to the gym in the afternoon.  It was way too cold and bad weather to run outside, and then I did a workout there as well.  Afterward, we went grocery shopping at Wal-mart.  Eric fell asleep in the car on the way home.  We got home just in time to have a FHE with Lloyd and Carolyn.  The I could put away groceries, get Rubie to bed, and then I was ready for bed.

Tuesday I did a strength training workout early in the morning.  We had breakfast and got ready for the day, then I took the kids to the playroom at the gym and I did a swim workout.  We got home to get Carolyn lunch and get her off to bowling.  Later in the afternoon the Pendleton kids came over to play.  Then Rubie had Little Gym.  Then Megan Riley came over (Jay and Julie as our home teachers visited Sunday, they offered their home and Megan to watch the kids for mutual and Church meetings if I need) and I went to Mutual where we had a blast playing human Foosball.

Wednesday I took the kids to the Pendleton's in the morning and had a 10 mile run in 2 degree weather.  The was a literal brain freezing.  With the wind it was SOOOOO cold I kept asking myself what I was doing and I just wanted to quite, but how would I get home, just better to keep going as fast as I could.  I was so frozen when I got home, my hands and feet were in pain, it was like I had a dental procedure done my face was so numb.  In the afternoon Eric had Little Gym, it was bring a friend day so Carlee came and brought Reid.  We had a relief society activity that night.  There was a nursery so after feeding dinner to Lloyd and Carolyn, the kids, Carolyn and I went to the Church for the activity.

Thursday morning I bike workout, then the Tulett's came over and I went to the gym for my swim workout.(By the way, Rubie is the biggest tease to Eric.  She is always trying to get a reaction out of him.)  That afternoon Carolyn had an activity at BYU with her RAH group.  I made dinner for us and Lloyd.  Carolyn told us her activity was over at 6:30pm.  Rubie, who didn't get a nap that day, had fallen asleep by then and Eric and Lloyd were still eating dinner.  So I left the kids with Lloyd and went to get Carolyn.  After waiting for an hour at our designated spot and trying to reach Carolyn on her cell phone, and her family members, and Lloyd, I finally left and came back home.  I was totally bugged of course because that was a huge waste of time.  I had Lloyd get out her RAH newsletter and calendar to see the details of the activity.  It got over at 8:30pm.  Well, that is my fault for not going over the calendar with her and just trusting her with the details.  So I was able to clean up dinner and then go back to BYU and get her.

Friday morning I took the kids to the playroom at the gym so I could swim and then Eric had preschool.  I was able to get a shower in and Rubie played.  Then we walked over to the Oakey's to pick him up.  It actually felt warm being in the 30s so we took our time getting home.  It is nice to sort of play outside with the kids.  Later in the afternoon Cassandra Wiscombe came over to do some things with me on personal progress.  Then Megan came over again to babysit and I went and got a massage.  When I got home I took the kids to Chucky Cheese.  They loved it and had so much fun.  The food is definitely not as good as Pirate Island, but that isn't really why we went there.

Saturday I had to spend 2 1/2 hours on my bike.  I took me over 3 hours to get done because I have to keep getting off my bike to take care of the kids.  After spending some time getting the kids ready and drawing for them and playing we went to Jolley's Ranch to snow shoe.  They had some tiny kid snow shoes that I rented for Rubie.  We spent an hour on their snow shoe track and went just under a mile.  They did great.  I didn't want to push them too hard because I want them to like it and want to go back.  In the yert they had little kid cross-country skis.  The kids were really excited about that and I think maybe next time we will try skiing.  Saturday evening Abby came over to babysit and Bob and Adriane came down.  We went to dinner at Rooster and then came back here.  Bob had his guitar and we listened to him and to music and just hung out.  That was nice, but it was too late for me.  I woke up Sunday morning with a bit of a cold and it is worse today.  I need to get more sleep I think.

Sunday we had church, I had a presidency meeting, dinner with Lloyd and Carolyn, then we went to your parents for FHE.  The kids and I were the only ones to show up.  Your dad was actually at a stake meeting for the first hour that we were there.  So we had that time with just your mom.  It was really nice.  She had planned a lesson and an activity of making valentines and had a treat.  The kids really enjoyed it.  Everyone else had excuses of not feeling well to the Super Bowl, to who knows because we couldn't get a hold of them, for not showing up.  But we enjoyed the time with your parents.

We are looking forward to just as busy a week as last.  It sure makes the weeks go by quickly.  I hope to get more house work done this week and more quality time with the kids too.  We'll see how it goes.

We miss you a lot.  We pray for you multiple times each day.  We know you are doing well.  You are a leader and a good example for others.  Thank you for your example to us.  Every where I go people ask how you are doing.  I was so glad to get a letter from you.  Now I can actually report to others some information about you.  I love hearing about your experiences and look forward to hearing about more.  The Lord is really blessing us, the kids, especially Eric have been so good.  He has been very obedient.  You can be proud of him.  The ward has been so good.  Everybody, and I do mean everybody has offered to help me.  It will take the whole time you are gone for me to take everyone up on their offers to help.  That really tells me the Lord is aware of us.  I love you and do miss you.  Life is so busy though I don't have any moments to wallow or focus on that.  Eric and Rubie love you and miss you too.  Be great!

Love, Jen