JANUARY 2010: by Bjorn

It has been a really nice weekend. Auriana and Isaac talked me into taking them to see Percy Jackson & the Olympians on Friday – the first day it came out – since all of us have read the books and they’ve been looking forward to the movie ever since they knew a movie was being made. It was pretty good, and I always have fun hanging out with those two. As soon as we got home Becky and I hopped back into the car and went out on our Valentine date. We enjoyed dinner at China Lily where they have delicious lettuce wraps and dumplings. We usually just go there and order those appetizers and none of the main dishes.

Saturday was busy with Isaac’s basketball game, an Arts Council workshop that I’m in charge of, and preparation for teaching the Gospel Doctrine lesson (I was asked to fill in for the regular teacher). Then at 1:30 Auriana and I left to head to Bountiful to meet up with her cousins and my brothers to do family name baptisms in the Bountiful temple. It was a neat experience for all of us and it was neat to read off all those Norwegian names – some from the 1600s that my Mom had found and gotten ready. I even got to baptize my brother, Mark, and he baptized me for several of the male names. It’s quite a difference between baptizing a petite 13 year old and a 6’5” man, but the experience was wonderful and Auriana and I were both grateful to participate in such a neat family experience. We stopped at Nielson’s Frozen Custard on the way home and enjoyed the best ice cream in the world.

As soon as we got home it was time for the Valentines tradition to begin. So I quickly changed and took the boys with me out shopping for fun, but inexpensive gifts for the girls, while the girls fixed a Valentines dinner for the boys. We usually just go to the dollar store. When we got there, Enoch and Isaac quickly began their search and I lost track of them. Then about 3 minutes later I saw Enoch coming toward me with his hands full of things he wanted to get the girls. It was fun to see him so excited to give. When we finally arrived home with our gifts it was fun to spread them out on the table and then have the girls come in and see what we had given them. Brenda was there too, and so the boys were excited about giving her some yummy dark chocolate and roses along with Becky and the girls. Then the girls escorted us downstairs to the beautifully decorated table where our appetizer (sliced grapefruit) was waiting for us. Then they served us delicious stuff pasta shells and asparagus and breadsticks, and for dessert we had cake topped with vanilla pudding topped with whipped cream. Needless to say I was stuffed! Afterwards, Enoch asked if we could fix the dinner next year and have the girls go buy us treats. I asked him if he would want them to buy us flowers and he said no.

January was a full month with basketball starting for Isaac, Natalie, and Enoch (I’m coaching Isaac’s team), several fun school projects for Auriana and Natalie, Arts Council stuff, several big work projects, and Church callings. I have enjoyed my new calling of working with the 11-year old scouts, and Becky was just recently called to be the Personal Progress Leader for the MiaMaids. So now we’re juggling activity night for Auriana and Isaac and trying not to both be gone on Wednesday nights at the same time.

Auriana has really enjoyed Show Choir, but is not sure if she wants to be in it next year, so I worked it out with her school to start up a Bluegrass/Folk Music Ensemble next school year. I recommended a talented teacher and set up the initial meeting and once all the right people were in the same room everyone got really excited about it. So now it looks like Auriana will be able to be in an auditioned Bluegrass group that will have lots of fun performing opportunities throughout the year as well as some competitions that she can participate in. We’re excited for her to have this opportunity to further develop her skill with the mandolin. And hopefully she’ll blaze the trail for Isaac and Natalie and the rest to be in the group when they’re old enough.

We had fun celebrating Brenda’s birthday with her – especially surprising her early in the morning with a birthday breakfast. She is such an integral part of our immediate family. In fact she just walked in our door right as I’m writing this and not only do each of the kids run to the front door yelling her name, but Berry starts yelping and barking with excitement. I stopped getting that kind of response years ago. ☺

It has been rewarding and uplifting to read letters each week from Mom and Dad as well as Teresa’s missionary letters. We even read her most recent letter as part of our family home evening last week. We are grateful for the positive influence each of you are in our lives and wish we could see all of you more often. We’re sure excited to have Mom and Dad in our home for a bit during their big excursion.