Christmas 2014 Gift Exchange

We will only do a Cousin/Uncle exchange this year but we will make it personal. Top spending limit is $35 but it is encouraged to be more creative than to spend money. . 

Nathan's children give to  Rose-Ellen's children
Warren's children gives to Christian
Jonathan's children gives to Roland
Sarah's children gives  to Nathan's children
Rose-Ellen's children gives  to Warren's children
Christian gives to Jonathan's children
Roland gives to Sarah's children

Pretty eventful weekend for us.  Grandma Brady came to visit and help out for a few days.  JoAnn got these can organizers to make better use of the space for our cans.  They are pretty nifty.  We had a ward Easter party at the park nearby.  We had lunch and the kids got to play and look for eggs that they traded in for a sack of candy.  Then Lincoln had a baseball game.  He is getting better and better.  He made a couple of outs today from plays in the outfield and at 2nd base.  At home we dyed some Easter eggs.  It got kind of, messy.  I briefly turned the video so you could see where the noise was coming from.  Our next door neighbors, who are in our ward, are building a tree house.  It will be cool to see the finished product.  They decided to do it after watching Swiss Family Robinson.

We hope all of you had a great Easter!

-Nathan

March birthdays?

Dear family,

I checked the birthday book and I don't think there are any March birthdays for the family.  Right?  Am I missing anybody?  Wait, when is Michael's birthday, Jonathan?

If so, the next up are birthdays for Barry on April 1st and Calvin on April 6th.

I got a nice postcard from Avalee this past week.  I will send a reply, Avalee.

I don't have any immediate plans for travel in the Spring.  I would like to go to Christian's graduation from BYU in April, but he's decided not to "walk".  It would be nice if everyone would join Barry and me in keeping Christian in our prayers that he might find a good job to aid him in transition from college to real life.  I think his current plans are to stay in the Provo area, though a good job in a bakery anywhere is probably more important than staying in Provo.  Crystal Sukhee says she would be happy to see you open a bakery in Virginia.  She'd proudly be your employee and  fill your shelves with wonderful homemade breads. You could concentrate on cookies.

Christian will get the privilege of turning his attention to real life problems like getting personal health insurance.  It's the law, now, that you have to carry health insurance.  Better look into options, Christian.  Working for someone else, full-time, would solve that problem for you, and give you some experience before you consider a start-up of your own. Need a great bakery near you?  Send your pitch and ideas to Christian.

There is a better than average chance that I will be spending some time in Richland this summer.  The current tenants are at last getting the vibe that we are going to replace them unless they bring their defaults in rent and utilities up to PAID.  They made a good stab at that this month, so my plans are on hold pending their making the rest of the back payments that we are owed.  So, if I end up in Richland in July, I will of course make plans to see Nathan and JoAnn's new home in Boise and swing up to see Rose-Ellen and Tyler.  I'd have to go via Provo to pick up our car which means that another "new" experience for Christian will be buying a used car of his own.  All those plans are in flux right now, so visit the blog from time to time to see what our summer is looking like.  Sarah would like me to be in Albany on August 1st to watch kids while they celebrate their anniversary.  August 1st also happens to be the wedding date for Roland's good friend, Mark Johnson.  Rene and Jeff's family have been good friends (we sold them our old rental home) for many years, and Jeff was our bishop for the past five years.  They came to Roland's wedding in Provo, and we'd like to be at Mark's wedding, which will also be in Provo.  So, we'll have to see how our plans for visiting Sarah and attending an August 1st wedding find resolution.

Meantime, April 12-16 is peak Cherry Blossom time (according to the Forest Service) this year, and of course your father's gardens are in their greatest splendor in late April and early May.  So, when is Spring Break for all the grandkids, and don't you want to come here?  June is still nice in Arlington.  Early July can be OK (or not).  4th of July in Washington, D.C.?  We have lots of empty rooms.  Right now we have no heat or AC on the top floor, but hopefully that will all be fixed by this summer :)

Love to all,

Mom/Grandma

Busy couple of weeks for ID Woods

Ahoy all,

We continue the settlement into our new house in Boise.  It is starting to feel like home, though we still have more boxes to get through in the garage.  The new commute for me has been great!  I even have enough time to come home for lunch if I want to.  One recent change I am not happy about is all the free parking across the street from my work place is disappearing.  I do not want to purchase a parking pass, but it may come to that.

Lincoln had a talk in primary in our new ward on the plan of salvation; he did well.  JoAnn and I also gave talks in sacrament meeting.  JoAnn's was on building faith and testimony.  Mine was on putting no other Gods (or priorities) over God.  Our next door neighbor, Sister Farris, was a saint in taking care of Riggins while we gave our talks.

Riggins is still having some trouble adjusting to nursery on Sunday.  He is not used to the amount of structure they have.  But it's getting better.  Lincoln and Avalee seem to be adjusting well to primary.

We attended our new ward's Blue and Gold banquet this week for cub scouts.  It is quite smaller than our old ward but we still had a good time.  Lincoln and Avalee made a cake together to bring.  Lincoln decorated it himself as a knight cake.

We have enjoyed watching the Olympics lately.  Lincoln made a lego Olympic stand.  Riggins found a new seat for watching.  Both are pictured below.

Natalie's ROLS (rules) for Becca

 

[NO]

HiDen

Poken

Lien

Pushen

NoKolen Me NaMs

Srachen

aND NoMesen up MY Har

 

Translation:

No hitting, poking, lying, pushing, no calling me names, scratching, and no messing up my hair!

 

Written and illustrated solely by Natalie Farmer.

 

(Seriously, I didn't even see her do this.  I may have been asleep.)

 

She told me the one she crossed out was "punch". My favorite part is how the curly haired person makes the other sad with her lies.

Movin on in

Ahoy all,

We have had a pretty busy weekend getting moved into the new house.  We still have a thing or two left at the old house, but for the most part we are settled in.  Well, meaning that we are living in the new house.  There is still a fair amount of unboxing to do.

We really like our neighborhood.  Two people from our ward, one of which being our next door neighbors, have already come by to help with some unboxing.  They have a daughter Avalee's age and they spent some time playing together yesterday.

We have a nice view of the backyard from our living room.  It reminded JoAnn and me of the view we had from our apartment when we lived in the Oakton area of Virginia.

We're not quite back to normal on our meals, so we took the kids to Black Bear diner yesterday.  JoAnn and I have been there before, but it was a first for the kids.  Riggins was a bit of a challenge to keep entertained, but once the food got there he did fine.

-Nathan

Kids outside the Black Bear diner:

Riggins visits me briefly in the new place on his big wheel.

DEAR  KATELYN,

Happy, happy, happy birthday (2 years old, today) to you.  Grandma is losing her marbles (and a few other things) and forgot to get a package in the mail for you.  So, you get to celebrate twice (which is only appropriate for a two year old!)

Wish I could be there for your birthday cake.  Have fun blowing out those candles.

Love and Hugs,

Grandma

P.S.  Should the rest of you be as absent minded as I, please note the following dates:

Wesley's baptism, tomorrow, January 11th.
Virginia's birthday, January 23  (Someone please remind Dad :O)
Dot's birthday, January 27
Ellie's birthday, February 4

and there is at least one more in February--more reminders later!