Letter to Stewart

 'm going to take advantage of the long day I will have watching Emma compete in a dance competition to write you a letter.  I think of all your siblings, she has grown up the most in the last 2 years.  She's 5'4" and nearly as tall as me.  I'll be by the time she's done growing she'll be taller than Maren.  It's really fun to watch her dance, even if it takes up an entire ski day.   (However, I'm not much into the dance mom scene.  Not sure if you ever caught the reality TV show Dance Moms - it's really that bad - but not Emma's dance studio, that's why I like it.  They keep it real and classy.  It'll be the only dance studio doing a ballet today.)

Dad is super busy at work so he's going to work today.  Maren is in Disneyland with the Concert Choir tour so I sent Charlie and Syd skiing with Will.  They had a sleep over last night and were so excited about it.  I got my ski day in on Thursdays with a bunch of ladies - it was down right hot up there!  No quit skiing on July 4th, but close.

Last night I spent  few minutes catching up on Jamison's missionary blog.  It was fun to see all the pictures he's posted on food.  Being in France has really developed his foodie sense.  (And I'm sure his missionary sense too :)).  His Mom posts lots of food pictures and Jamison is experimenting with fancy French sauces.  Hey, I served in Italy so I understand the importance of food on a culture - I'm sure you get the same in Spain.  I love mediterranean Europe!

We got your birthday card off this week - but not the package.  Still a few things I want to add to it.  Hopefully you get the card by March 17th.  Your aunt Michelle is due March 21 (next baby coming our way).  It would be fun to have a cousin that shares your birthday.  As one of the oldest 35 or so Frazier cousins, you'll have to work really hard to get to know all these younger kids.

Blake and Morgan are marching forward with their wedding plans (remember this is NOT the same Morgan he dated before his mission - new Morgan, and she is wonderful!).  I'm so happy for Blake, he had such a rough go at it for awhile, but he put into practice the wonderful atonement of our Savior and he is excelling.  People you can successfully endure or overcome adversity seem to be that much more grounded in the gospel.  I"m not prayer for adversity - but just the conviction that when the times get tough, my resolve is that much more profound.

Spring is in full force in Salt Lake.  Kids were playing in the back yard yesterday, we have daylight saving times this weekend, soccer starts up in the next couple of weeks, Easter in 2 weeks, then General Conference (yeah!)  I even worked in the yard and your father is busy thinking of what yard projects we need to get done before we leave for the sabbatical.  I'm hoping we just get the yard cleaned up and organized.  I'm OK to save the projects for the fall when we get back.  Did I tell you we'll be having 2 25 year old UofU women graduate students living in our home while we travel?  They both are RM's and recently graduated from BYU and need/want some time living on their own. They have to take care of Oscar, the Yard and the House.  I'm a bit nervous, but I'm sure it will all work out.

Maren and a few friends put together an FPS group from OHS and competed in the State Competition this past week.  I'm sure they'll do really well - they're smart kids and they'll be one of 4 groups competing in the Senior division.  I wouldn't be surprised if they get invited to go to Internationals - somewhere like Iowa or something.  It's all good, I feel like she missed her chance to do this because she had a play that interfered with her 6th grade FPS competitions dates.  We'll keep you posted.  She's had a good Junior year.  Even though she hasn't been a Page in Washington D.C.  She's been on the Tennis team and enjoyed a tournament in St. George, the Debate Team (although they have a new coach and didn't get a trip this year), AP Art History to SF, Concert Choir to Disneyland, and now FPS - she hasn't missed out on any HS opportunity.

This past week Cinda invited me to go to Provo with her for the BYU Jump Start workshop.  I had deja' vu as I think you did this on-line before you left.  But since I have to be the one to take care of all your BYU particulars, it's good that I went so I can start figuring this all out.  I did log on to your myMAP and figured out that your registration date is June 6.  That can be a discussion for a later day.

I want to hear all about crazy transfer week and all that you had to do.  How's your new ward?

Love you,
MOM

Letter to Stewart

I was really hoping to put a letter in the mail, but it just didn't happen - so I'll take a few minutes while I wait for Emma to finish up an Art Project before I run her back to school.  She was up until midnight studying for a test, so I told her to finish the Art project in the morning, and miss a few periods.  It's Friday short-day anyway, which at the Jr. High is a big waste of time.

We've have a typical busy May week.  Last night we had a piano recital at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  You might not have known, but Maren has been teaching piano this year as her job.  She has 10 piano students (including Charlie and Sydney).  It's been a good, flexible part-time job.  The perfect kind for a busy student (remember your job with Nate - infact, I saw Nate this week and he was wondering your plans as he would hire you in a second if you'd be in Salt Lake).   Anyway, Maren is a beautiful, natural pianist.  She plays all the time, it's like we live in a piano bar.  She's photocopied several piano pieces to take to Europe, she's hoping to get some piano time while we travel.  Maybe you can help us with that in Madrid.  Hey - if you want to continue playing the bagpipe when you get back, Dad and I will help you with that.  You'll have to see if there are any bagpipe teachers in Provo :)

Emma got an award last night at the OJH in Math.  I'm so proud of all my Mathematician children.  I wish I had taken more Math classes when I got to college.  I took Physics Light and Sound (fun class!) and the next level Calculus, but I wish I had done more.  I had some math in my Stats and Chem classes - but wish I'd done more math.  Oh well :)

Sydney went to Lagoon yesterday with the 6th grade - can you believe she's that old?  She's still pretty short, but she's going to be a big Jr. High Student next year!  (She also got accepted in the premier Math class at OJH - they only took 30 students).

Dad and I are frantically crossing things off our check-list to get our family out of town for 80 days.  Nothing like a summer-long trip to get things done.  Next week I'll send you our itinerary so you can follow-us around Italy & France.  We leave May 28th.

I'm so inspired by your service as a missionary.  I have many proud Mama moments and I have to remind myself not to get too proud (remember the Nephites), but it's hard as a Mama when you see your children doing good things and excelling and moving forward and up.

Here's to onward and upward!  Just what the Lord wants.

Love you!

MOM 

Letter to Stewart

Dear Elder Maxfield;

           

            Spring has sprung around here and today it dumped 3 inches or rain in the valley and 7” of Snow at the Bird.  They are 85” away from 500”.  Banner ski year.  Of course now we’ve transitioned into yard work and that’s in full swing as well.  Dad has a trial that starts in 3 weeks and he is swamped – we don’t plan to see him until  it’s over, about May 20.  I’m just covering the entire side yard in black plastic so we don’t come home to mountains of weeds.

            Speaking of swamped, Maren is swamped as well – getting ready to take 3 AP tests and all the other end of year commitments that come with your Junior Year – she’s also successfully been attending early morning seminary and has managed to do so without needed any make-up days.  I’ve been extremely impressed.

            Blake gets married May 10^th to a very wonderful girl.  They actually meet as they were both reporting their missions to the High Counsel last fall.   She loves Blake and Blake is so happy.  Emily is unattached and plans to attend BYU through the summer – she’ll be down there to show you the ropes.  All the other cousins are doing great and growing up fast – there will be many that will be hard to recognize.  I’m guessing from our family, Emma has changed the most – I guess we’ll see.

            Did you like my Bob Pedersen analogy of the Jr High Track and Field team running the longer distances (400M, 800M, Mile).  I’ll give it to you again, just in case you can’t remember.  As I watched the kids cross the finish line, the winner (& the really good runners) all crossed the finish line at full run – even faster than they had run the entire race.  The not-so-good runner would see the finish line and actually slow down and virtually stop when they got there (I’m sure you can imagine this from Stake Olympics).  You can see the finish line and now it’s time for the full on run, the run that carries you through the finish line at full speed.  (I should share this with Bob next time I see him).

            Sydney and Charlie are doing great.  I like to refer to them as Jane and Michael Banks from Mary Popins.  They are so good with each other and Charlie enjoys Sydney’s company, and Sydney is so kind to be with him, play cards with him, read to him, play chess or checkers.  Emma is doing great in 8^th grade and seems to have made it through Jr. High, so far, without too much drama.  Always good for a girl.  And Oscar – doing well – we loving refer to him as Perro Gordo; he needs to go on a diet.

            Last Sunday we had Simon’s blessing (David and Catherine’s Baby) – he is a cutie!  Catherine is such a good Mom and David is such a fun Dad.  Afterwards we all gathered at Grandma Frazier’s for a nice brunch.  It was a perfect spring day!

            Abbie Jones and Hoggan Blackham will both be going to the Lyon France mission.  Hoggan in May and Abbie in August.  I’d don’t know of too many other mission calls right now, but I’m sure they’re coming fast and furious up at the High School.  We have several mission homecomings this summer in our ward – in order Jacob Flynn (remember, they live in our ward now), Jake Taylor, Ben Brunken, You, Marissa Reynolds.  That’s 5 Sundays of homecomings.  Combine that with 3 fast Sundays this summer and it’s either going to be a homecoming, fast Sunday or the High Counsel will be speaking.  You’re homecoming is scheduled right now for May 20^th.

Love you tons – have a great day.

Mom

Letter to Stewart - Hoe to the End of the Row

Dear Stewart;

I wish my letters and email could be as motivating and inspirational as Bob Pedersen’s.  My strength is in organizing not in motivating.  But, I did want to pass along this poem to you.  It was a motto we had in our mission.  “Hoe to the end of the row”.  I might have shared this with you already, but I’ve always really liked the message it sends.  It’s for everyone - you don’t have to be the smartest, the richest, the best at speaking Spanish - you just have to work hard until the day is done (or the mission or our life her on this earth - lot’s of good underlying messages).

I don’t know if you’re seeing Jamison’s blog, but this is what he wrote about the bombing in Belgium.

"I reflected quite a bit about the recent events that have plagued our mission;  Charlie Hebdo last year, Friday the thirteenth this past November, and now the Brussels attacks, which involve people I know.  It just goes to show that you never know what may happen.  The bombings have reminded me of the beauty and delicacy of life, and that we need to treasure every moment we're breathing. God does not keep his missionaries from all harm and danger, but he always enables them to accomplish His work. I don't know why Elder Norby, Wells, Empey, and Sister Clain had to go through what they did, heck, it could have happened to me...all I know is that the Lord has granted them their lives, and we should all be thankful for that!  I am thankful for my mission, I am thankful to be at a distance from these attacks, but still close enough to receive the Lord's reminder of how fragile we are, and how important it is to make good decisions with each moment he grants us."

It’s been amazing as these injured missionaries have powerfully shared their testimonies with the world.  

Love you and miss you.  Continue to Hoe to the End of the Row.

Love,

MOM

Bill Brown made a million,
Bill Brown, think of that.
That boy you remember,
As poor as a rat.

He hoed for the neighbors,
Did jobs by the day.
And Bill made a million,
Or near it they say.

He worked for my father,
You'll maybe recall.
He wasn't a wonder,
Not that, not at all.

He couldn't out-hoe me,
Or cover more ground,
Or hoe any faster,
Or beat me around.

In fact, I was better
In one way that I know.
One toot from the kitchen
And home I would go.

But Bill Brown always hoed
To the end of the row.

We used to get hungry
Out there in the corn.
You talk about music,
What equals a horn?

A horn yellin' dinner,
And tomatoes and beans,
And pork and potatoes,
And gravy and greens.

I ain't blamin' no one
For quittin' on time.
To quit with the whistle,
That ain't any crime.

But as for the million,
Well, this much I know.
Bill Brown always hoed
To the end of the row.

Letter to Stewart

'm going to take advantage of the long day I will have watching Emma compete in a dance competition to write you a letter.  I think of all your siblings, she has grown up the most in the last 2 years.  She's 5'4" and nearly as tall as me.  I'll be by the time she's done growing she'll be taller than Maren.  It's really fun to watch her dance, even if it takes up an entire ski day.   (However, I'm not much into the dance mom scene.  Not sure if you ever caught the reality TV show Dance Moms - it's really that bad - but not Emma's dance studio, that's why I like it.  They keep it real and classy.  It'll be the only dance studio doing a ballet today.)

Dad is super busy at work so he's going to work today.  Maren is in Disneyland with the Concert Choir tour so I sent Charlie and Syd skiing with Will.  They had a sleep over last night and were so excited about it.  I got my ski day in on Thursdays with a bunch of ladies - it was down right hot up there!  No quit skiing on July 4th, but close.

Last night I spent  few minutes catching up on Jamison's missionary blog.  It was fun to see all the pictures he's posted on food.  Being in France has really developed his foodie sense.  (And I'm sure his missionary sense too :)).  His Mom posts lots of food pictures and Jamison is experimenting with fancy French sauces.  Hey, I served in Italy so I understand the importance of food on a culture - I'm sure you get the same in Spain.  I love mediterranean Europe!

We got your birthday card off this week - but not the package.  Still a few things I want to add to it.  Hopefully you get the card by March 17th.  Your aunt Michelle is due March 21 (next baby coming our way).  It would be fun to have a cousin that shares your birthday.  As one of the oldest 35 or so Frazier cousins, you'll have to work really hard to get to know all these younger kids.

Blake and Morgan are marching forward with their wedding plans (remember this is NOT the same Morgan he dated before his mission - new Morgan, and she is wonderful!).  I'm so happy for Blake, he had such a rough go at it for awhile, but he put into practice the wonderful atonement of our Savior and he is excelling.  People you can successfully endure or overcome adversity seem to be that much more grounded in the gospel.  I"m not prayer for adversity - but just the conviction that when the times get tough, my resolve is that much more profound.

Spring is in full force in Salt Lake.  Kids were playing in the back yard yesterday, we have daylight saving times this weekend, soccer starts up in the next couple of weeks, Easter in 2 weeks, then General Conference (yeah!)  I even worked in the yard and your father is busy thinking of what yard projects we need to get done before we leave for the sabbatical.  I'm hoping we just get the yard cleaned up and organized.  I'm OK to save the projects for the fall when we get back.  Did I tell you we'll be having 2 25 year old UofU women graduate students living in our home while we travel?  They both are RM's and recently graduated from BYU and need/want some time living on their own. They have to take care of Oscar, the Yard and the House.  I'm a bit nervous, but I'm sure it will all work out.

Maren and a few friends put together an FPS group from OHS and competed in the State Competition this past week.  I'm sure they'll do really well - they're smart kids and they'll be one of 4 groups competing in the Senior division.  I wouldn't be surprised if they get invited to go to Internationals - somewhere like Iowa or something.  It's all good, I feel like she missed her chance to do this because she had a play that interfered with her 6th grade FPS competitions dates.  We'll keep you posted.  She's had a good Junior year.  Even though she hasn't been a Page in Washington D.C.  She's been on the Tennis team and enjoyed a tournament in St. George, the Debate Team (although they have a new coach and didn't get a trip this year), AP Art History to SF, Concert Choir to Disneyland, and now FPS - she hasn't missed out on any HS opportunity.

This past week Cinda invited me to go to Provo with her for the BYU Jump Start workshop.  I had deja' vu as I think you did this on-line before you left.  But since I have to be the one to take care of all your BYU particulars, it's good that I went so I can start figuring this all out.  I did log on to your myMAP and figured out that your registration date is June 6.  That can be a discussion for a later day.

I want to hear all about crazy transfer week and all that you had to do.  How's your new ward?

Love you,
MOM

Letter to Stewart

Dear Stewart;

            I’m off to San Francisco Thursday morning with Maren and the OHS AP Art History class.  It’s going to pretty much be a party.  Cinda, Andrea, and CeliAnne are also parent chaperones.  We’re hoping that the kids just want to run around by themselves and we can go off and enjoy ourselves J  J/K We’ll make sure the H.S. kids don’t get in any trouble.  The nice thing about the AP class is that it attracts super bright, responsible kids – 90% girls, so I’m not too worried about any trouble.

            I’m guessing by now you’ve been able to take care of your BYU ecclesiastical endorsement.  Let me know.  I’m assuming that you’ll be up for registering sometime early April – I’ll keep my eyes open for any info coming from BYU.  I’m getting all their emails so it’s all good.

            I sure hope you start to get some investigators to teach at night!  It’s what we are praying for.  I think it would make those long office days a little happier when you left each night.  I don’t know if you’ve been reading Jake Taylor’s emails for the past several weeks.  It sounds like there’s always something going wrong in a mission office – I’m sure it’s the same for the Spain Madrid mission.  You said you were getting things ready for another Senior Missionary to come into the office?  What does that mean, will your responsibilities change? 

            Maren came home today and said a girl that graduated OHS 2015 is going to the Madrid Spain mission this spring.  I can’t remember her name, but I assume you’ll see all the new recruits as they come to the mission, you’ll have to keep an eye out for her. 

            In our institute class this week we talked about 2 statements that Joseph Smith made that could seem confusing, but really mean one and the same.  1) “The most important work we do on this earth is missionary work” 2) “The most important work we do on this earth is temple work for the dead”  (I paraphrased).  Of course we all know that missionary work for the living and temple work for the dead are all things that will “redeem the soul”.  We referred to a talk Pres. Hinckley gave in October 1995 conference.  He outlined 4 missionary objectives 1)  Love is the essence of Missionary work 2) Selflessness is it’s very nature 3) Self discipline is it’s requirement 4) Prayer opens its reservoir of power.  I don’t know if you have time to listen to talks any more – but I’m sure that would be a great one to enjoy.  Just an FYI – President Hinckley had a hand, during his life time, in all but 19 of the 150+ temple that are on the earth today.  He’s one pretty cool prophet (is it OK to have favorites ? J).

            Love you tons, hope you’re feeling better, rocking the office, and writing down in your journal all those great stories!  Have a GREAT day.

Letter to Stewart

t's been a few weeks since you probably got a real email from your Mom and not just "business".  I have a few quiet minutes on a Friday afternoon - highly unusual - Charlie is playing Wii with a couple of friends, Emma and Sydney both went skiing at the Bird with friends from school, and Maren isn't home yet.  I'm going to write you and then make some Chocolate Chip cookies, because that's what one does on a lazy friday afternoon :).  This evening Dad and I are going to the Jordan River temple before they close it for a year for renovation.  We're doing sealings - I had some family names from forever ago that I've neglected and tonights the night to get them done!

This week I've been putting Grandpa Frazier's old VHS family movies on DVD - it's been SO fun to watch my parents in their 40s (when Grandpa first got a VHS recorder).  He set it up all over the house and would just let in run for hours!  Then he'd take it to the beach and lake powell.  I have hours and hours of footage that I'm not sure what to do with?  But at least it's saved digitally now which is probably safer than the VHS tape.  While I do this - Grandma and Grandpa are in Hawaii with Irene and Dave and their children.  So jealous!  It continues to snow here as we enjoy/endure the El Nino of 2016.  We haven't seen the grass since the first big snow storm in December.  Last saturday when we skied we got so much snow the ski rack were completely covered when we finished.  It took me over an hour to get out of the canyon - for the bottom Snowbird entrance.  I wonder how those poor skier at Alta did?

The entire Fam is doing good!  Maren is busy as ever - though she did drop 2nd quarter debate for a number of good reasons - albeit unfortunate reasons.  Regionals is during her AP Art History trip to SF, State is during her choir tour to Disneyland, AND even though Nationals will be held in SLC this year in June - she wouldn't be able to compete if she qualified because we'll be in Europe.  I felt bad - for a minute - until I realized she gets to go to CA twice and spend her entire summer in Europe :)

Sydney and Charlie and busy too - both are in their school Musicals.  Sydney is a 50s girls in a "hairspray" type musical.  Charlie is in the "jungle chorus" of Jungle Book.  Sydney also does before school Spanish class and after school Service Club.  Charlie does Chess club before school - and just piano right now after school.  I'm thinking he needs to take a rock climbing class!  You took some of those classes when you were his age.  

Last Sunday we had a scary thing happen in Holladay - during what appeared to be a routine car accident on the corner of 4500 So. and 2300 E, twp of the persons involved fled the scene of the accident only to become involved in a shoot out in Bonnie's neighborhood that killed one of  the suspects and the police officer.  One other suspect fled the scene of the accident as well and because they couldn't find her - they cancelled church for all the surrounding wards and told people to lock themselves in their homes until police could search the neighborhood.  Eventually she turned herself in.  President Monson who attends the ward on Gundersen (by your old violin teacher) was quickly escorted out of church, just in case.  So weird - things like that just don't happen around here. 

Other than that - it's a slow news week - unless you count the Presidential election that is beginning to pick up.  It's OK that you're not hearing any of that info - you're not missing anything!  It almost makes me want to not vote next November, unless the Republicans can get their act together and nominate someone descent.  Too bad Mitt Romney won't do this again!

Well - I hope you're having a great week!  Let me know if you hear anything from Ben about BYU housing or any other matters :)  Soon I'll get going on all the other BYU stuff (scholarship, registration, new ecclesiastical endorsement (yes, you need to do this again with your Mission President).  BUt don't worry about it - I'm all over it!

Love you tons!

MOM

Letter to Stewart

You're going to get a longer email from me this week since I neglected to get a snail mail out.  First of all before you or I forget, I'd like to know if there are any "needs" you have for Christmas.  I'm pulling your package together as we speak so hopefully you get it before the middle of January like last year.  

I'll just work my way backwards through the calendar, we had a visiting General Authority in our Sacrament meeting this week,  Elder Durham.  He was suppose to come speak to us on Family History, but instead he talked about the church's new policy on children of same-gender marriages.  I'm not sure what you've heard in Spain, but the church updated it's handbook for Bishops and Stake presidents to clarify it's position on children in same-gender marriages and relationships.  It now closely parallels it's position on that of polygamist families.  Anyway, the press in SL got a hold of the updated information before the church could release it properly and they had a hay-day.  It was all over social media and the 10:00 news.  Most members were confused as to why we were hearing the announcement of church policy on the 10:00 news on our Facebook feeds.  The church had to do some quick PR repairs and letters of clarification.  Elder Durham's point today was that he prefers to get his direction in the church from it's leaders and not from Facebook.  It was a simple but poignant reminder of the day and age we live it and how quickly things can become skewed in the media.  A good reminder to get our information about the church for the correct sources.

Carolyn Crawford and I went out today to visit some members that showed up our YW rolls.  I felt like a missionary again as we knocked on doors over at the apartments and listened as people quickly turned off their TVs to pretend they weren't home.  At one apartment the teenage girl actually opened the door and we were having a nice conversation with her until her mother yelled from the back room "Who's that".  We said, we're from the LDS church.  She then showed up at the door in her bathrobe and told us her daughter was grounded and couldn't do anything with us.  I felt terrible for this sweet 15 year-old who seemed genuinely interested in being apart of YWs.

We had a nice date night with Cinda and Doug this weekend.  Saw the new James Bond movie (exactly what you'd expect) and caught up with each other.  They've had a bad month - Doug's brother died of a genetic disease that he's suffered with for years.  It was really sad to watch Doug and his family go through this trial.  They were able to call Jake and talk to him about his uncle dying and Cinda said, although very sad - has been a strengthening experience.  Jake is busy working away as the office secretary and learning an entire new set of skills - paper work in spanish in a 3rd world country.  He sounds really good - his letters come through on Saturdays now.  Cinda has also been released as the RS president and she's been replaced by CeliAnne Coates.

Also this weekend there was a terrorist attack on Paris, killing over 120 people.  It's scary to hear stories like this!  I immediately wanted to know how Jamison was doing.  Jamison's area now includes part of downtown paris, including the Eiffel tower (separate email).  Gratefully all the missionaries were home and no where near these attacks (soccer stadium, bar, concert hall).  But, it sounds like Jamison will be confined to his apartment for a few days.  For a while France closed it's boarders.  The EU is still trying to hunt down some of the people involved in the attack.  Just a nice lesson on being obedient.  I have a huge testimony of obedience - not only does it keep us safe, it has spiritual implications as well - as we show our Heavenly Father we are willing to do his will.  Anyway....just your Mom on her soap box.

We hired Blake to come over and put up our Christmas lights this weekend.  Dad says he's done climbing up scary ladders.  Blake did a great job and his girlfriend came over as well - Morgan (not to be confused with the girl Morgan he brought to Zions).  He's dating a new morgan that finished her mission the same time Blake did - they both reported to the High Council together.

Finally - tonight we had a great dinner at David and CAtherine's home.  David has completely remolded their kitchen and it looks fabulous.  Catherine will be having her baby in the next month and they all seems to be doing great!  They are good parents, grounded in the gospel.  All your family loves and misses you (cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma, grandpa, and especially your siblings and parents).  We pray for you daily and know you are receiving blessings from the collective power of those prayers.  Can't believe we get to talk in another month!!! Crazy!

Love you!

Mom

Letter to Stewart

Dear Stewart;
The week got away from me, now it’s Friday night and everyone is gone – Dad is out of town, Maren is with friends, Charlie and Sydney are at a birthday party, Emma is babysitting, so it’s just me –writing a letter to you. I hope it’s a good day for you. I think of you coming home to your apartment for media-­‐dia and enjoying a surprise letter while you make a Spanish tortilla. It sounds like you’re becoming quite the cook; a good self-­‐reliant skill that your roommates and future wife will enjoy. Hopefully, there are other good skills and habits you’re adding to your skill set of a more eternal nature. We miss you and love you and pray for you in every prayer, morning, meals, night, travel, personal and companionship prayer
We had a good week – Fall has finally hit and today we actually had a sprinkling of snow. It didn’t stick in the valley – but the ski resorts got a couple of inches. I spent Thursday morning at Grandma and Grandpa Frazier’s home helping plan their 50th wedding anniversary for Fall 2016. They want to take all their posterity to Disneyland for a long weekend. Put it on our calendar  I also was given word that I’ll be released from my YW’s calling in a couple of weeks when we finish our last program for the year. It’s a bitter, sweet feeling. I feel like I’ve given it my all the last 3 years, but it’s time for some fresh, new ideas and probably a time for me to be challenged in another way. We’ll see...Church callings are a funny thing, you always feel completed inadequate, then you are blessed, and just when you feel you’ve got it figured out you’re released and given a new challenge. (The mission can be a bit like that too).
The big news of the week is that the Brunken’s sold their home and they’re moving near the UofU. It’s super sad to see them leave. They seem excited about the new adventure, new house, new neighborhood, etc, etc. It’s all happened really fast. Even though their home has been on the market for a long time, when they got their offer, the new owners wanted to move in within a month. The new owner is Kevin Watt’s son – Darren Watt’s brother – that’s Doug’s Taylor’s sister’s brother-­‐in-­‐ law. (got it) They have 2 kids, one in H.S. one in Jr. High.
This past week was end of quarter, Monster Mash, Halloween. I think I told you Maren went stag and said it was the best dance she ever been to. Halloween was fun too – Eric and Suzanne took all the cousins and a couple of friends around trick-­‐or-­‐treating. As always they had a good time and came home and played the New York Stock Exchange with their candy. Emma definitely scored the most candy. And like good kids, they put the good chocolate in the freezer for skiing. I like that tradition, it helps them (and me) not eat too much.
As for end of quarter – I am a proud mama, 4.0s all around. Not sure how I got such good students for children – honestly I was a bit worried about Charlie, but maybe he’s got it in him too.
We had a great testimony meeting last week. Two testimonies inparticular stuck out – one came from Mitt Romney the other from a new guy, Matt McConkie (a

grandson of Bruce R.). But, despite their status, education, family fame, they both just shared the simplicity and truthfulness of the gospel basics – the Divine Mission of the Savior, The prophetic mission of the Joseph Smith, the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was great! We have a rock solid ward! I hope that these young wards in Europe will some day see members of the 4th and 5th generations testifying of the gospel. The ability to stay grounded in the gospel is only going to get harder as the final days progress toward the 2nd coming. It is the constant prayer I have for my children.
Love you tons! Have a happy day! Go out and work hard, testify, love, serve..... Until next week –
Mom 

Letter to Stewart

How’s it going?  I’m really impressed with all the cooking you’re doing as a missionary.  I didn’t realize I had taught you so well – or maybe it was the foods classes you took in JrH and HS.  Too bad your companion doesn’t appreciate a good home-cooked meal.  You’ll be the best roommate at college; while others are gaining wait and spending money on eating out, you’ll avoid both of those negatives by cooking.  I really enjoyed cooking in Italy and I love how Mediterranean Europe .  It has such a strong food culture.  That’s something missing in America.

            Last Sunday we had Emily’s homecoming.  She did such a good job.  She stood up and said “I loved my mission”, and then she started to cry.  She talked about her best companion – the Holy Ghost and then told a bunch of stories on what the Holy Ghost did to guide, direct, and comfort her while being a missionary.  Her last area was a Spanish speaking branch in Tokyo.  Isn’t that funny and she taught a girl from Argentina.  Boy, those Latinos find the gospel all over the world!  I guess you’ll have to see how much Spanish she actually learned in her last area.  Last weekend Blake lined her up with one of his buddies and they did a double date.  Emily said it was really awkward.  Then Blake brought a girl to Emily’s homecoming – someone who just finisher her mission to Guatemala and reported to the High Council on the same day Blake did.  They looked like they were enjoying each other company. 

            In other, less spiritual news, OHS beat Skyline in OT by 3 points.  It was a very exciting game, or so I hear since I wasn’t there.  Dad and I saw a good over the weekend – The Martian with Matt Damon (He still looks like my brother Jason).  You can put that on the good movie list.  Dad took the Scouts camping up to the Coates property in Heber.  They bought a huge piece of land and are going to build a cabin up there that is totally off the grid so they can live up there when the apocalypse comes.  Dad continues to work on the side yard.  It’s looking really nice!  It’ll be fun to plant a garden in the grow boxes.  I took the kids to see OHS’ production of Mary Poppins.  As usual, they did a really good job!  Maren is going to Monster Mash tomorrow night, stag.  Her girl friends decided they didn’t want to get dates, but wanted to go anyway.  I think they’re missing out.  This year Charlie will be s clone trooper (big surprise), Sydney will be a Southern bell, and Emma is dressed like Where’s Waldo with all her friends.  Maren and her friends are dressing like zombie dolls for the dance.

            OK – This is an example of getting side-tracked and getting back to your letter 2 days later; sorry.  I’m printing and sending as tomorrow is Saturday AND Halloween and I’m certain to get nothing done.

Love you,

MOM

Letter to Stewart

Dear Elder Stew:
It seems I have all these great things to tell you during the week, and then when I sit down to write a letter, I’ve forgotten them all. Thank heavens for my desk calendar to remind me what I’ve done  It sounds like you’ve had some challenges as a new Zone Leader and with a new companion – nothing you can’t overcome – just things to help you dig deep and grow. Dad tells me you’ve been seeking his advice – he’s got great advice to give, I appreciate the way he looks at problems and looks for peaceful solutions. That’s bit ironic coming from a “litigator”. Grandma Maxfield also tells me you’ve enlisted her to be a pen pal to one of the Elders from Peru that needs some love and support. She’s so happy you’ve asked her to help, I’m sure it’s nice when you’re in your 80s to be asked to do things. Also, she has a talent for sharing her talents with others. Of course, everyone likes to feel needed and that their talents matter to others. I think that’s a wonderful aspect of service in the gospel, you enlist the people around you to work together to solve problems. In the process you help everyone involved from those who are being served to those that are serving.
Last night the YW watched a “Face2Face” webinar the church did for the Youth with the Piano Guys as their guests. This is the group of LDS musicians that takes their piano to places like the Great Wall of China, or the cliffs in southern Utah, and then films a YouTube video. They are a YouTube video sensation. Last night they had their grand piano on top of the conference center with a small, selective group of youth, along with 2 youth moderators that fielded questions. The questions came live via twitter and facebook, they were also pre-­‐submitted on the lds.org website and the audience even contributed a few. We had all the YW over here for dinner and then sat down to watch the live “fireside”. It was spectcular to think of kids all over the country and world participating. The views were amazing – they managed to get some sunset shots over the great Salt Lake as well as some shots with the temple in the background. The music they play is inspiring – last night they did a mash-­‐up of I Need Thee Every Hour and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (our families favorite song since Maren sang it at Charlie’s baptism and Robby’s farewell and ROCKED it).
Well – the biggest news of the week was our trip to Snow Canyon and Irene announcing her pregnancy disguised in a scary campfire story. She’s due in May. That makes 3 babies this coming year. Catherine (boy), due end of December, Michelle (?) due April (I think) and Irene. Yeah!!! Love all these cute kids we have in our family. As for Snow Canyon – it was awesome, as usual. I don’t know if you remember much from that trip – the canyon is really small so it’s easy to get around and all the hikes are kid friendly, short and sweet. We first did a slot canyon just outside of St. George – it wasn’t a real slot canyon, more of a crack in a rock. It was so small that Dad’s belly didn’t fit and he had to turn around. At one point I couldn’t even turn my head from side to side. It was very short, thank heavens, because it gave me a bit of anxiety – Charlie did it like 4 times. Our campground was perfect! Away from all the other campers with a place for the kids to explore that led up a

secluded canyon. We even had a covered pavilion with lights and electricity which was helpful when it rained Sunday morning as we were trying to pack up and leave. We took some great hikes – do you remember the lava caves? We did all 3 of them this time (last time we only did 1). It was a bit scary a few times as we passed young children down deep holes and over deep crevasses. It’s an excellent exercise in team building and trust. At the very end of the tunnel it opened up into a cave and we all turned off our flashlights and marveled in the COMPLETE darkness – freaky. It was so dark, that we all noticed a faint glow off in the corner and realized in was an abandoned, very old glow stick, but it still gave off enough light to penetrate the darkness. I’m sure there’s a good FHE lesson for that  The kids rock scrambled until their heart’s content. We climbed petrified sand dunes, rock canyon, rock overlooks. We played in two different sand dune areas – one with red sand, the other with white. The white sand was particularly fine; imagine the sand in an hourglass. We all took off our shoes and ran around and rolled down the hill. At one exciting point the children (while playing around the campground) found a TARANTULLA. All the adults heard was screaming girls, we thought someone was mortally injured. When Jared went running to investigate – the girls were running back to campground almost hyperventilating and the boys were pocking the poor spider with a stick. It was the biggest spider I’ve every seen outside of the zoo.
It was such good family time! Everyone was there except Blake (he just got a new job at Zion’s bank and couldn’t leave, Kelsey and her family, Brett and Brandon. Of course the cooking was amazing too. We had dutch oven enchiladas and BBQ chicken. We also did a beef brisket on the coals. Dad, Will, David, Jared, and Dave H. whipped up awesome pancake breakfasts every morning and Sydney only ate 8 pancakes because Brett wasn’t around for her to have an eating contest.
We love you and miss you. We include you in our prayers EVERY time we pray. We pray for your companion, your investigators, that you’ll be safe and listen to the Holy Ghost, and even that you’ll have fun! Have a GREAT week.
Love, Mom 

Letter to Stewart

Ciao Elder Maxfield;

            We love the Duo Lingo app here – All of us, (except Maren and Dad), including me, use it to learn and practice Spanish.  How did the Mangos cut and taste?  There’s nothing better than a ripe, in season mango.  It’s tomato season here – so when we are lucky enough to score some fresh tomatoes (& corn on the cob), we have BLT’s, corn on the cob – and them sometimes I make me a peach cobbler.  The ultimate fall meal for me.

            We are now in the heat of the school year routine.  Mid-terms have come and gone.  Parent Teacher conferences.  Test. ACT test is in a couple of weeks for Maren.  Do you miss it at all?  I still do sometimes.  Everyone is doing great in school – I’m a lucky Mama for that reason alone.

            Conference, as usual, was great.  It’s like Zone Conference for the members of the church.  A good boost to keep us moving in the right direction for the next 6 months.  I was super worried about President Monson though, he looked fragile and tired.  We asked all the kids what were there favorite talks.  Maren like President Nelsen’s talk on the strength of women in the church.  Charlie liked the talk from the Sister who couldn’t get her grandchild to stay in her car seat.  Emma liked the talk about the kids who got so dirty their grandma wouldn’t let them back in the house (she and Charlie like the stories with a moral).  I liked President Uchtdorf’s talk on keeping things simple.  I also like Elder Bednar’s tribute to all the leaders of the church who have died while he’s been an Apostle.  My favorite, new apostle talk, was from Elder Rendlund (?).  I’m going to have to practice up on the names of the apostles now that the familiar ones have passed away.  What was your favorite talk?

            We enjoyed our traditional walk between conference and ran into Mitt Romney and his wife – it was the longest conversation I’ve ever had with them.  We discussed her new book she’s promoting and how to open all the gates in the neighborhood so we could enjoy our walks.  It’s still weird seeing a celebrity like that in the neighborhood.  Sunday night we had our Maxfield Fall family birthday parties.  Grandma Maxfield gave everyone gifts, as usual, even if it wasn’t your birthday.

            How did your first Zone Conference go?  I’ll bet you’re a great leader.  I’m sure the newness of it all is very stressful – but that’s a good time to dig deep and seek help from the Holy Ghost.  It’s how the Atonement can make up where your abilities stop.  (I’ve had many church callings like that).

            I sent you the pictures of Emily coming home from her mission.  It was such a tender sight.  Caitlin was crying before we could even see her – and then when we saw here all the Bryson girls screamed and cried simultaneously.  Then they broke through the barrier at the airport and rushed to her.  I wonder what all the other passengers thought (and the SL airport employees – they’re probably use to it now).  Her sisters couldn’t stop hugging her.  I don’t remember my siblings missing me that much when I came home.  I’m excited to hear all about her mission when she reports at the end of the month.

            

Letter to Stewart

Dear Elder Stew;

            How ya’ doing?  From your letters it feels/seems that you are doing good.  I hope so – by now you’ve settle into Spanish Missionary life and probably can’t think of any other way of living.  That’s great.  Regular people life just keeps moving along.  Emily gets home Saturday night from her mission.  I just can’t believe it.  Brett and Suzanne are in Japan right now picking her up and having a great time seeing the country and visiting the people she served with.  I’m excited to see her Saturday night J 

            This past 2 weeks has been full of babysitting other people’s kids for me.  First it was Irene’s kids while she and Dave were in Mexico.  Then Bonnie’s Max while Bonnie went to NYC with Brandon.  Then I had Suzanne’s kids for the weekend while they are in Japan.  And this weekend I have 2 of Andrea’s kids while she goes to Chicago.  I guess this makes up for all the people who watched my kids while Dad and I went to Italy last fall.  Good thing all the kids were really good!  Even the baby Henry (He’s about 18 months now).

            Last night the YM/YW had a combined fireside with the Holladay South Stake by Brad Wilcox (He’s a religion professor at BYU, amongst other things).  In fact, he said he gave a fireside at the Madrid MTC this past year – and what was interesting is that he went through all the 12 tribes of Israel and had them raise their hands – every tribe was represented by the missionaries.  When he did that in SLC – he only got Ephraim and Manasseh.   He gave a great talk on our responsibility as “Youth of the noble Birthright” and what that means for us and our membership in the church.  It was a great fireside and a good reminder of the responsibility we have as member – where much is given, much is expected.  He also said something interesting about the  responsibilities of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh that I didn’t know.  He said the tribe of Ephraim is responsible for the physical growth of the church (keep paying your tithing!)  and the tribe of Manasseh is responsible for the spiritual growth of the church.  I love getting new insight into doctrine.

            I’m super excited for Conference – of course, Conference will have happened by the time you get this – but I’d love your feedback.  Favorite talk?  Personal Insights?  New Apostles.  In the paper today (Ya, it’s SLC), they had paragraphs from each of the current apostles describing how it was when they were called.  Most of them didn’t get called until the day BEFORE conference.  Wow!!! Can you believe that.  What stress that would be – how humbling.  Anyway, I’m excited to her all the news.  We have 2 soccer games on Saturday so we’ll be listing in the car a bit – thank heavens for the internet.

            There’s really nothing new of note – Jimmie is getting married  - he’s the boy Cynthia and Gary have been raising.  He’s marring a nice LDS girl in the temple, which is so exciting for Cynthia and Gary since they never new which direction his life might take.  This is a step in the right direction.  We continue to move along on the side yard – very slowly!  Dad is getting ready to build the pergola and garden boxes.  I think Saturday we’ll just go out and pull all the weeds and then cover the area with weed fabric for a while since we won’t be planting any time soon J  Love you tons!  Sorry my snail mail letters and getting fewer and further apart.  Let me know if you need me to send you anything.

Love,

MOM

Letter to Stewart

Dear Stewart -            

            How’s it going?  I love your great attitude, despite the challenges I’m sure you are having.  That’s the best recipe to successfully making it through this mortal existence.   I love the simple scripture that Man’s purpose is to have joy, despite hardship, trials, adversity, etc.  A good attitude is the best medicine – keep it up J

            I’m trying to get this letter out before I run Emma to dance – Mom the taxi driver.  The passat is still being repaired, so I’m shuttling Maren around as well.  I’ll be glad when she gets the car back so she can take herself to early morning seminary.  I admire all those teenagers around the world who don’t have the option of taking seminary in the middle of the day and MUST take early morning seminary.  I think in many areas it can start as early as 5:30 a.m.   The seminary program has been revamped to make it more of a preparatory class for life, missions, gospel living, etc.  The kids have to actually read the entire book of scripture that’s being studied (or at least some of it if it’s the OT) and they must pass a test each semester.  I suppose that’s a good thing with the world becoming increasing difficult to navigate and so many kids wanting to get into BYU J where religion actually goes on your transcript.  (Cassidy P. says her BofM class is hard – but she likes it).  I can see that some kids (& parents)  might not like this because they might be discouraged and not attend seminary – but I think it’s OK to expect more of people; they usually rise to the occasion.

            We have Irene’s Luke and Henry while they are in Mexico this weekend – I’ve forgotten what it’s like have an 18month old around (yes, he’s that old now J).  He’s a really good baby and very pleasant, just busy and requires constant supervision.  Luke is good too – but a little fire”y” – it’s the red hair, that hasn’t changed much.  Last night I left Sydney in charge of the baby and Charlie in charge of Luke while I went to YW and Dad when to Scouts.  Everything went great until Luke had a tantrum because his block tower was accidentally knocked over.  Charlie called me crying because he didn’t know how to handle the situation.  It was funny.

            I wish I had monumental news to reports or deep insights to share – but we are just doing the day to day living.  I did start my Institute class up again, and I’m grateful for that 90 minutes of gospel thinking in the middle of the week. It’s nice to reflect and ponder and be grateful on a Monday J  This week I was reflective of the magnitude of the calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Although I have a testimony of his divine mission and calling as the prophet of the restoration sometime I fail to realize the supreme significance of his foreordination and importance in “The Plan” for us here in this mortal existence. 

            OK – I’ve been working on this letter for 3 days (not that you’d be able to tell) – and I keep getting interrupted.  So, as incomplete as it is – I’m still sending it.

Love you,

MOM

Letter to Stewart

Happy Sabbath – right now your Grandma and Grandpa Frazier are only a few hours from you in Paris, France. They have spent the past week cruising along the Rhine River and now they will be enjoying Paris this week. Grandma was super worried that if we tried to call her it would only be because something bad had happen. I tried to explain that the world has shrunk and communication is so easy, that just because her phone rings, she shouldn’t panic. She even went to the effort of getting an international data plan for the time she was gone. She’s also getting very proficient with instagram and is posting multiple pictures daily which has been really nice for all of us to keep up on what she’s doing.
The rest of us here in the USA are enjoying a nice Labor Day weekend with various yard projects and of course on Monday, we’ll do our family hike – however, this year it will need to be shorter than usual, since Dad and I plan to take a long bike ride that morning (only 2 weeks left to the big race – hallelujah). I’m not sure if Dad told you our Saturday yard projects, but they (it) was intense, some background information is required.
We inherited a large piece of Granite that was cut from the Temple Quarry when the SL temple was being built. It was abandoned in Holladay in what became Grandpa Walker’s yard. Grandma Frazier used it as a table for tea parties when she was growing up. When Grandpa Walker built his home on Cottonwood Lane in the 1970’s he incorporated it into the steps that led to his back yard. When his house was torn down, the stone was discovered and given back to the family. Dad and I thought it would be a fun center piece in our “grove” by the hammock and drinking fountain.
About 4 months ago Dad and I rented a small backhoe to move the earth around on our side yard and while we had the machine we moved the stone down to our yard (that’s another story completely – it took us 1 hour to drive the machine to Grandma Walker’s home, get the stone, and bring it back). Yesterday, we attempted to move the stone about 5 feet into a better, more desirable position. Remember the flagstone we moved together? This thing weighs 10 times as much as the flagstone, it’s about 2’x2.5’x4’ and dense granite. So, in order to move this, we put on our Physics brains and used levers with appropriately sized fulcrum points. It took us over 90 minutes to move this thing 5 feet. We tried rolling it on logs (too heavy – it just crushed the wood) – we couldn’t figure out where to hang any pulleys or we would have tried that. It took all (literally) of Maren’s and Dad’s weight to lever the rock up a few inches then I would slide rocks underneath until enough was off the ground that we could slide or roll the stone by twisting the lever along it’s fulcrom. We filmed the entire thing so Maren could get extra credit in Mr. Summerhay’s if she needs it (which currently she doesn’t since she has 110%). We then marveled at all the big stones that were moved without the help of modern cranes – the least of which is the SL Temple (i.e. Stone Henge, The Pyramids, Machu Picchu – they didn’t even have the wheel in the ancient Americas – right?). We finished off our night with dinner at the Pi Pizzeria (hey – it was a math day, so it only made sense).
The big news at church is that we’ve switched our sacrament meeting to the first hour of the block. We had a hard time figuring out if people were out of town

today or just very late. Sacrament meeting was very sparse when we started at exactly 9:00 a.m. There were a few very nice things about this though – it was VERY reverent at the begging of our meeting and we started Young Women’s on-­‐time, and with 100% attendance (at least with those that were at church that day). The weird thing was that after I left Young Womens and managed to walk down towards the RS room – EVERYONE had already left the building and there was no-­‐one to sit and chit-­‐chat with. I guess everyone was starving and just wanted to get home.
Hope you’re doing great – I’m so happy that you get to meet such wonderful people all trying to be there very best on the other side of the world. That’s one of things I like the most about the gospel; good people trying to be better every day. Have a great day!
Love you, Mom