Hi everyone!
We all wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Minnesota! Last Christmas Eve saw the snow falling. By 10:30 p.m. it was about 9 inches deep and Sonny and I decided to go for a walk in it! David declined to go with us old people, but our cocker spaniel was full of enthusiasm. It was one of the most incredible moments of my life. It was so bright that even though the sun had long gone down, it was so easy to see though we were surrounded with dark skies. We walked along around the neighbourhood. It was so silent, it was delightful. We enjoyed seeing the outside lights that the neighbours had put up and enjoyed the snowflakes on our faces. Paige loved it even though it was nearly to the top of her legs! What an exquisite memory.
Christmas Day sent us a picture of our grandson, Quinn, wearing a t-shirt saying ‘I’m going to be a big brother’ on it. August 8th brought our second grandson into the world – James Benjamin Bracken! Sonny and I were able to spend two whole weeks with Elizabeth, Peter, Quinn and James at the end of August. What a delight! It was very hard to come home. Elizabeth and Peter are moving back from Connecticut to Utah just before Christmas this year. Peter will have finished his course at law school and will be studying to take the final part of the bar in Utah as that is where he would like to practice. It only seemed like yesterday that they were moving to Connecticut and Elizabeth was expecting Quinn. I bet they will miss the fall colours that are so totally beautiful in Connecticut but will be glad to be finally working on getting a permanent place to live and settle down.
March brought a lot of pain especially to my husband, Sonny, as his son, Lohr passed away after losing his fight with depression. It has been hard to deal with the grief and Sonny is still rebuilding what his future is going to look like without his son in it. We found a plot of land to bury Lohr near his Grandpa Hathaway. He is resting between two trees where the squirrels scuttle up and the birds perch and sing.
David left home at the end of May to go to college at Brigham Young University Hawaii. I went with him to settle him in and enjoyed seeing the sights although David and I didn’t get to do as much as we would have liked to. David seems to be doing well there. He is majoring in BioChemistry and is working towards the career as a neurologist. He found the classes easy for the first two terms and has a lot of busy work this third semester. David has not said that he wants to come home, so I presume that he is happy there.
October brought my mum and dad out to their first visit to Minnesota and, by golly, Minnesota can’t be that bad, as they want to come and visit again! They went to New York for two days and went on a couple of trips to see the sights; then they took the train to Connecticut to see Elizabeth and Peter, and their two great grandchildren. Great Pa was a great hit with Quinn who had him playing all over their apartment every day. From Connecticut, they took the train to Boston, where they stayed for two days, then they caught the greyhound and trundled through states to get to Minneapolis where they found the best hotel and taxi services available. In fact, the food wasn’t half bad at the hotel either!
Sonny has been working as a temple worker for at least two years now and in June, I was called to serve there too. I was released as the compassionate service leader for the ward and called to be the nursery leader. So now after welcoming all these lovely babies into the world, I now get to mingle with them in the nursery. As of today, we must have about 26 children in the nursery aged 18 months to 3 years. We have 15 that will be moving up to the Sunbeam class in January. They are very cute and it’s is balm to me being so far away from my grandsons. It is very chaotic every Sunday especially after we have put all the toys away and get ready for our snack, lesson and singing. Don’t worry, we have a nursery worker who has a great voice for the singing, so we don’t torture the children too much!
I have not enjoyed my job this year at all. In fact, it is a chore to get up and go each weekday. Funny how things can change so fast. Lyden is still working at the same place and is very busy right now.
Well, we do wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!
Keep in touch.
Love Jen, Lyden & David xxx
