Week 64

 Jan 26, 2026

Dear Gracie,

We're in the middle of the January Ice Storm of 2026--brrr!  There is a huge winter storm over much of the United States right now with very low temperatures (it's been in the teens here, though today it warmed up to a balmy 32 degrees)--except the Utah/Idaho/northwestern part of the States.  No (much needed) snow for them, unfortunately.  But let me back up a little.

The first part of the week was standard.   On Tuesday the kids went back to school and Dad and I went back to work.  I tried an experiment for preschool that flopped (mixing salt in water to make things float), but the kids had fun stirring and dropping things into the water, so they didn't notice the fail.  (Pro tip: don't tell them what is supposed to happen in case it doesn't.)  With the weather predictions, people started panic shopping, so the stores got cleaned out of basic foods and emergency supplies.  I had already shopped on Monday, and was fairly confident we'd have enough for any delays.

Benson was asked to join the school's jazz band to help with the drumset.  He doesn't know a lot about jazz, but he can keep the rhythm.  It adds a morning and afternoon practice, so now with his tennis and his other band sectional, he has to stay after school every day except Thursday, which is the day he goes early.  I've driven him a few times, but he prefers to ride his bike when the weather is good so he doesn't have to wait for me to be done with piano lessons.

Tessa decided she needed another day home from school on Friday.   Since she has been working hard and is never sick, I figured she could have a "mental health day" and she used a lot of it sleeping and then studying for a couple tests.  The weather was predicted to turn bad that afternoon, though it had already been raining throughout the morning.  Dad was able to come home early, after stopping at Walmart for milk, though they didn't have any and he had to go to Tom Thumb.  He picked up Benson and then some pizza, and we were ready to hunker down for the storm!  The temperature dropped noticeably and it started raining tiny ice balls, which continued all through the night.  We had a fun surprise when someone knocked on our door, and we found a locked box, with a message for Tessa.  She had to try several combinations with different boys' names connected to each to find which worked, and that was who was asking her to the Church Winter Formal (Mormon Prom ).  (The note said, "Crack the code and I think we'd make a great combination to the dance.")  Turns out it was Tyler Hicken!  Inside the box were some chocolate covered pretzels, which she had told me earlier that day was her favorite treat (when Tyler's mom texted me to ask).

The temperature dropped all night, so the rain froze, and in a lot of the country, the ice and cold temps were much, much worse than it was here.  Thankfully the ice didn't really accumulate on tree branches or wires, so not a lot of people around here lost power.  It did, however, accumulate on the roads and the rest of the ground.  All the little ice balls, which continued to fall most of the day, gathered together and solidified into a giant ice sheet, making traveling pretty dangerous.  We got notice that church and school for Monday (today) and Tuesday would be cancelled, since temperatures wouldn't get warm enough to melt the ice off the roads until Tuesday (we hope--and it's looking like that will be true).  So Saturday turned into a pretty lazy day.  Benson was supposed to have friends over for D&D, but he convinced Tessa to play with him (though it was just creating a character).  Dad got the Wii working again, so that was a trip down memory lane.  We were supposed to have the elders over for dinner.  They're on bikes, and texted to say that they had been told they couldn't ride their bikes in the storm, so if Brother Roper was willing to pick them up, they could come.  We texted back that Brother Roper didn't feel comfortable driving on the ice, and confirmed that they did have enough food to feed themselves.  We'll have them over on another day...

On Sunday, the ground was covered with ice, with a layer of gritty ice balls, providing traction if you tried to walk.  It varied in depth, from an inch or so to five or six, where it drifted, but it was all solid and slick.  Dad took Benson over to the pond to slide down the hill a couple times (we take our sledding opportunities when we can--though Tessa and I opted out, as it was bitterly cold for us) until the tubes popped.  We had been given permission to hold Sacrament Meeting at home, so after people warmed up and showered, we had our small church service.  We had a gentle snowfall all day.  That afternoon Tessa made homemade pretzels, which she and Dad walked over to the Hickens house to answer Tyler.  (Her sign said, "Tyler, I'd be twisted to say no.  You've unlocked a yes from me!")  Even though he would know who it was from, she opted to ring the bell and hide, and slipped a couple times running around to the side of their house. (Since they live on a hill in a cul-de-sac, she didn't want to run down the street.)  Dad was there waiting, and the neighbor, who had seen them on his ring camera, came out and yelled at them, wondering what they were doing.  So it wasn't a very secret operation, but it was an adventure!

So now it's Monday, and things are still cold (though warming, as I mentioned) and ice is beginning to melt, though it will refreeze through the night, so I think it was the right call to cancel school for tomorrow.  I bundled up and took a walk around the neighborhood (I love my snow boots!).  Dad worked from home.  Tessa and Benson played games and the Switch (and even a little piano!).  Maybe tomorrow we'll get serious and do the things we've been putting off all weekend.  (Mount Laundry is calling...)  There are still people in the country suffering from much colder temperatures and no power, so we are grateful that for this storm, we've been able to be warm, cozy, fed, and safe.  (It has already dropped to 28 degrees as I've been writing this letter.)  (Have I used enough parentheses in this paragraph??)

Does Germany ever get icy?

I hope you've had a warm, cozy, safe week, and that you've been fed some awesome German food.  Write down recipes when you can!  Don't lose your gloves!  Drink some hot chocolate!

We love you, Gracie!  Have a wonderful week. 

Mom

Week 63

 Jan 19, 2026

Dear Gracie,

Let's see...it was kind of a quiet week again.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were standard.  Benson finished building his wooden pinball machine, and it's pretty fun--it has lights and music and counts your score.  I went to my book club on Thursday night--yay!  Dad came home on Friday afternoon (YAY!!!) and then he, Benson, and I went to Plano to watch Tessa's All Region concert, and we grabbed some food together.  Dad realized that he needed to do some work by a deadline, and had left his laptop at home, so he had to go back.  Benson and I enjoyed the concert, and once again, I was impressed with how much Tessa and the other students can learn in one and a half days.  Dad got back just as we were ready to leave.  He was sad to miss it, but we listened to the recordings on the way home.  Saturday was not too busy.  We had lessons and cleaned around the house and puttered around.  Dad and I went to the Hickens' in the evening to do some planning for our trip to get you (SO EXCITED!).  Sunday was nice--Tessa had a meeting before church and after church, and we went to choir and the Spanish class and the youth fireside (a broadcast from the General youth leaders about the new year's theme "Walk With Me") while Benson and Dad went to a Court of Honor, where Benson was presented with his Life rank.  I made some honey ginger glazed tilapia for dinner which was so yummy I'm going to make it again this week.

Today is MLK Jr. day, so there was no school, and Dad took the day off.  Tessa and I went for a walk in the morning (we decided we need to someday recreate the scout bench picture from the first campout!) while Dad went to a doctor appointment, then Dad and Benson went to play disc golf while Tessa babysat and I did food shopping and laundry.  Dad, Benson, and I played Wingspan in the afternoon.  It's nice to have a day off, but it makes it hard to go back on Tuesday.

Hmm--I wish I had more details for you.  I have enjoyed learning more about the creation from my Come Follow Me reading and podcast listening.  How does this story from ancient times apply to me?  There are a lot of people with some great insights and I'm grateful I can learn from them.  The world is a beautiful place.  Everything is perfectly designed.  Chaos to order.  Let there be Light.

Have a wonderful week, Gracie.  Expect miracles, Sister!

Love,

Mom

Week 62

 Jan 12, 2026

Dear Gracie,

Well, we're back to our regular routines.  Dad left for Mississippi on Tuesday last week and will be gone until Friday this week, so it's a longer than usual trip.  Caytie also left on Tuesday afternoon to return back to Utah.  She, Scott, Kaitlyn, and Emma started their classes during the week.  We miss all of them.  The rest of us (me, Tessa, and Benson) are here just doing seminary, school, preschool, piano, youth activities, band, etc.  

GREAT NEWS!  Tessa finished her (second) drivers ed online course!  Now we just need to practice parallel parking and do some freeway hours, and she'll be ready for the test.

The piano tuner came on Friday.  I knew there was a pencil stuck in the grand piano, but I wasn't too surprised when he also pulled out another pencil and a sticker sheet.  It sounds much better now. 

That night Tessa went to a girls night with some young women, and learned that she was invited to be in the Girls Camp Presidency, so she was very excited about that.  She had earlier been added to a group chat with the leaders and didn't know why. :)  She likes to be involved in planning, so this is a good fit for her.

On Saturday I had my mandolin lesson and then I took Benson to his percussion lesson and then went to the post office, which had closed at 11 (10 minutes before), but the kiosk in the lobby was available, but there was a line, so I waited for thirty minutes to get my package labeled and stamps purchased, and then quickly went to Tom Thumb to get some fruit for Sunday before I had to go pick up Benson, after which we went home and tidied up a bit before five of Benson's friends came over to start a Dungeons and Dragons adventure.  The rest of the day was much slower, as Tessa and I hung out in my room while the boys created characters and whatever else for five hours.  I did some lesson prep, reading, and took a nap, and Tessa worked on a diamond art thing she was given, and it was a nice afternoon.  I made chili for dinner, knowing there would be leftovers to freeze for later--and there was a LOT.  We just don't go through as much food as we used to!

We're still appreciating our new 10:30 church start time.  I really liked all the songs we sang--not anything new, but the words really resonated with me.  (Hymns 72: "Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, who with his love doth befriend thee," 195: "'Thy will, O God, not mine be done,' adorned his mortal life," and 45: "Give me faith, the greater knowledge; Father bless me as I pray.")  We ended with "If You Could Hie to Kolob," which Tessa and Benson did not remember ever hearing before, and they thought it was a pretty quirky song--which it is, but also interesting.

Our Young Women classes changed this week--we split from two groups into three, which will be a benefit in many ways, but was unexpected for the girls until Wednesday when we announced it.  Sister Hicken and I will be with the middle age girls (formerly known as Mia Maids).  Tessa is still with the older girls.  I could tell on Wednesday that some (in my group, in particular, who had been looking forward to moving up and were now not) were sad about the changes.  So I wanted to make it so the girls were glad they were in our class, and I brought a fruit tray and made it all fancy, and also brought fake fruit in a fancy bowl to represent Satan's counterfeit, as the lesson was on Moses 1 and Abraham 3.  They got to eat fruit while we had the lesson.  We talked about how we can recognize the Spirit in our lives, and I made a handout (!) which I think the girls appreciated.  So I think we're off to a good start.

Choir started back up after a few weeks off after church.  We had a potluck lunch beforehand (I brought fruit! ) and I'm excited because I don't have to accompany for a couple months--there are other songs being done on the organ and with another pianist.  I already have the songs I'm doing (for March and April, I believe), and they're not too hard--hooray!  After choir, we (Tessa and I) had a short break before going to the church for a Spanish class.  The area leaders (I think) have asked everyone to learn a language--for many that is learning English, but for even more of us, learning Spanish would be very beneficial, so the Stake called some teachers and they held their first class and a lot of us came!  There's not a set course for teaching Spanish, so they're using the materials they use in the MTC.  It will be interesting to see how things progress each week.  

Directly after the Spanish class, Tessa drove us to the Stake Center for a camp planning meeting, and now she's even more excited to be involved.  I left her there (she had arranged a ride home) and headed home so Benson wouldn't have to be alone anymore (though he had kept busy organizing his D and D stuff and making brownies), and I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce and meatballs--from scratch!  Again, I planned on having extra for freezing for later, which will help on busy nights.  The meatballs were so much better than the ones I usually buy--so I have to decide if the effort was worth it.  Benson and Tessa say yes.

Well, I think that about covers it.  If I sit here long enough, I can think of a decent amount of things to say in the end.   I hope you're enjoying getting to know your new companion, the work is moving forward, and that jolly old Germany is treating you well!

Love you!

Mom

Sunset!

Our neighborhood pond in January:

Tree Project 2025

I wanted to take a picture from somewhere in my neighborhood each month this year, so I chose a little creek with trees around it.  Unfortunately, when April hit, the whole thing leafed out like crazy and covered up the view of the creek.  But I persisted, except somehow I missed the picture in December, when the leaves were finally starting to fall, though it took until January to be leafless again.  I want to do this project again for 2026, but I will choose a spot that will look more interesting...hopefully!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

No picture.  Lame.

Week 61

Jan 5, 2026

 Dear Gracie,

This was the week of mushy time--no one knew what day it was.  We still managed to have some fun, though.

On Tuesday I took Emma, Caytie, and Tessa to Julie Smith's house to have a macaron making class from her.  It was a three and a half hour process, but the cookies (blackberry lemon flavored) turned out so good!  Emma was mostly done with the pain from her wisdom teeth surgery, but her face developed huge bruises and swelled up a lot.  Caytie still had pain and fatigue, but minimal swelling and no bruising.  They were ready to rest after this adventure, but it was nice to get out and do something.  I learned that Julie served her mission in the Czech Republic at the same time her brother was serving in South Africa--like me and my brother, but with swapped missions!  And they were several years after us.  While we were there, Dad and Benson were playing disc golf after spending the morning working on putting the shingles on the guard shack.

On the 31st (Wednesday), Emma, Caytie, and Tessa were inspired to put on a tea party for themselves, so they prepared a bunch of snacks and put them on our china, and got out all our herbal teas and the teacups they got from the man we served on Christmas, dressed up and found fun hats, and had a great little time in the backyard.  The weather was in the 60s, so it was beautiful!  They let Benson join in, too, once he realized he was missing out on the fun.  After that, they cleaned it all up and we packed up some things and all headed over to Fort Worth.  We had heard that they were having a festival at the Stockyards for New Year's Eve, so we got a hotel for the night to be able to join in the fun.  Well, we couldn't check into the hotel until 4, so we weren't in a big hurry, and we checked in and got to the Stockyards around 5:30--and saw a lot of people heading to the parking lot.  Turns out the main things were done at 5, including the maze.  But we still found some things to do, like watching the longhorns from the overlook, window shopping, and eating an amazingly delicious dinner at Riscky's Barbecue.  Even Emma and Caytie were able to enjoy some pulled pork without hurting their mouths too much.  We decided not to wait around for the fireworks a couple hours later, so we went back to the hotel after a stop at Walmart for some celebratory snacks.  Dad, Benson, and Emma went to the hotel pool (hot tub) for a while.  We had brought some games, but ended up watching movies until midnight.  Everyone gathered in Dad's and my room to watch the Dallas countdown and fireworks/drone show on the TV.  (Tessa wants to go see it in person next year!)  We were hoping to see the Fort Worth fireworks from our window, but we were a little too far away.  We had gotten some Martinelli's and ice cream at Walmart, but we didn't have a bottle opener (oops!), so we enjoyed the ice cream and went to bed.

2026!  Timmy's 10th birthday on January 1st!  The 10th anniversary of the April 2026 hailstorm!  America's 250th birthday!  Scott and Kaitlyn's graduation year!  The year you come home from your mission and potentially Caytie leaves!  Tessa will start her senior year and Benson will start high school!  I'll finish teaching my preschool class!  Dad will get his quilt finished!  I'm sure there will be so many other wonderful things that happen this year.  I can't wait to see it all!

We started it out going back to the Stockyards, and headed right to the maze.  Benson beat us through it in 4 minutes, and the rest of us did it in 6 or 7.  (Cue "6/7" hand motions...  Maybe this is the year that fades away...)  We went to the shops and got suckerd in by the free fudge and beef jerky samples (which were both so delicious, though), and the kids got a few souvenirs.  Then it was time to watch the longhorns walk down the street!  Then we watched the comedy gunslinger show--and no one started crying, so we all watched the whole thing! :)  Then we left and got some lunch at Burger King before spending the rest of the day at Six Flags.  It was crowded and our kids were not willing to wait a lot, so besides the Titan (twice) and Batman, we rode small stuff, like the Sombrero, the hot air balloons, the swamp boat ride, the Mini Mine Train (twice, because the guy braked it a little too late and the front car couldn't exit safely, so he sent us around again), and Justice League.  Probably more... Oh, that weird walk-through house that is tilted was open!  None of us had been in it before, and it was so crazy how difficult it was to walk through.  By the evening we were ready to head home for some dinner.  We're not going to get passes for next year because it will be a busy summer, but we plan to for the following year.

On Friday I took the girls to their follow up appointment for their teeth, and all is healing well.  Emma's been off the pain medication, and Caytie only needed a little at night.  They have to squirt salt water into the wound holes after they eat, and the doctor did it for them at the office and really hurt Caytie's mouth, and made it bleed a lot again.  But she was able to do it on her own later and it felt better.  Tessa later went to do service at Feed My Starving Children with her seminary class.  Dad and Benson went way out to Trophy Club (north of Fort Worth) to play disc golf with Dad's coworker.  I finally got caught up on your mission letters book, and plan to stay on top of it from now on! :)  Emma got all her things packed up, and then--got her hair cut, including some bangs!  She's been wanting to do it for a while, and they look cute!

Saturday started early for Emma and Dad, as her plane for Salt Lake left at about 7.  After she arrived, she took the train to Provo, where Scott and Kaitlyn picked her up and hosted her until today (Monday), when she got a ride up to Rexburg.  The guy driving packed his car with passengers who are all pitching in for gas, etc., and she said her legs are squished with her luggage, but hopefully they all arrive safely this evening.  Anyway, the rest of Saturday was full of regular stuff--lessons, more work on the guard shack, shopping, oh--and finishing our Christmas clean up.

Sunday was a beautiful day.  We now have church at 10:30, which is our family's favorite time.  Bishop Brewington challenged us to create daily spiritual experiences, which is a really good challenge.  There were some great testimonies shared.  I'm ready to start studying the Old Testament!  I made lasagna to break our fast, and that never disappoints.  We got to play some new games, too.

Today was NOT the first day back at school, despite what I had thought until Saturday.  (Good thing Tessa and Benson were aware, or I might have sent them a day early.)  We didn't have anything planned (as I thought they'd be in school...), so we made it an impromptu park day.  After I got preschool prepared, we (minus Dad, who had to go to work) all went to play pickleball for a while, and then the kids wanted to play at the park.  The weather was overcast and a bit windy, but still in the high 50's/low 60's, so we wanted to stay outside.  After that, we (came home for some lunch and then) went to the new pirate park.  It is pretty cool, but our kids will always remember the wooden version as their favorite.  Then (after getting some Slurpees), since we didn't do it on Christmas Eve, we went to the park in Murphy (our "Christmas Eve park,") and walked around the lake to the cemetery.  Then someone requested a merry-go-round park, and I remembered the little one in Wylie that we've been to once, so we went there, and it was cute and fun, too.  Then we had to make a quick stop at the first park to take a picture, since I didn't originally realize I needed it for our park marathon documentation.  Then, unfortunately, I had to get back home for a piano lesson.  The kids mentioned briefly that they'd go to the neighborhood park, but I think once they sat down on the couches, they were done.  Plus, Dad got home from work a little early, so we were ready to be here, too.  Laundry was done, lunchboxes and backpacks cleaned out, Chromebooks are charging, messes are almost all cleaned up, and we're ready for school--tomorrow.

I love you, sweet Gracie!  I look forward to talking with you tomorrow!

Love,

Mom