First week of school but still celebrating summer!

First, some pictures from last week.  Grandma in the garden with the grandchildren.  I didn't see that Sara had sent them to me, so they didn't make it in the newsletter, but they are precious if I do say so myself.

Hyeji started kindergarten.  I can hardly believe how fast time goes by.
Gunnar started preschool.  He made the deadline for kindergarten by one day and Adrienne wisely decided to wait until next year.  She took a picture but didn't send it to me.

First day of school.  Look how fashionable!

Max kept busy in Texas.

Max doesn't seem to let the Houston heat bother him.  It bothers Elise, but no problem--Max can get in and out of the doggy door--and the yard is fenced so he can go out and play whenever he wants, no matter how hot it is.

Andy was called to be a counselor in the bishopbric is his ward.  I think Elise thought that Medical school would save him from a calling like this. He'll be super busy, but I know that the blessings will compensate.

Elise has been told that a release from the Relief Society Presidency is coming soon.  She wants a new calling to keep her mind occupied, but hopefully one that is manageable with Andy's calling and a new baby.

Roy and I at the Shakespeare Festival

Dad and I left Thursday around 2 to go to the Shakespeare Festival.  We saw 5 out of the 6 plays in 3 days.  We're kind of exhausted.  The plays were, as usual, excellent.  However, nearly every one of them was 3 hours long.  I couldn't decide which I liked the best.  The Taming of the Shrew was excellent with a husband and wife in the lead role.  That made it fun.  Amadeus was emotionally taxing but excellently acted.  And Charley's Aunt was hysterical.  We did that play in our Atlanta theater, but I couldn't remember it at all.  My least favorite was King Henry IV part 2.  It was a transitional play, ending part 1 and leading into the play Henry V for next year.  It was well acted, but the story line was hard to follow.  The character Falstaff took over the play (because of his acting and because of the number of his lines), and he really had very little to do with the plot.  Of course, South Pacific is an all time favorite of dad's (and mine, but especially of dad's), and enjoyable every time.  We missed King Lear.

We stayed in a bed and breakfast which made it impossible to stick to our diets because, of course, the hostess fixed breakfast for us each morning.  We ate with seven other women and one man.  They were all from Vegas and traveling together.  They invited us to join them for dinner, which we did on both nights.  We enjoyed visiting with them.  We finally found a good restaurant in Cedar City--Chef Alfredo's Italian Restaurant.

Sunday we drove from Cedar City to Payson for Grandma Rasband's 83rd birthday party.  Nick and Sara, Dan and Jieun, and Crista and Matt, brought their families down.  Adrienne is in Jackson Hole and of course, Elise couldn't make it.  It was fun to see the Theobald cousins.  

Jennie with Yuna and Grandma, and Brittney (picture below) cutting the cake Adrienne sent (It was delicious, Adrienne).  

Luke and Jenna

Two terrible pictures of me, but they're cute of the others in the picutre.  Brittney and Liz Theobald (Oh, and did everybody catch that Liz is expecting !

Grandpa

Grandma and Uncle Evan

Tyler with Grandma Theobald

Yuna had a great time.  But she about gave me a heart attack every time she jumped off the porch

Brady with Dan and Doyeon

Tiffany, Tara and Kaisley

Tara and Aunt Nan

Last week before school (YAY for grandma)

I'm almost ready for summer to be over so I can rest.  It seems like I have been busy every minute. This past week was another FUN week spent with loved ones.  Adrienne and the boys and I drove up to Logan on Wednesday to visit Crista and Ruby.  We went to a little zoo (just the right size for an hour walk to see birds and small animals), then we drove over to Gosner's Dairy and bought some milk.  Then we made dinner at Crista's and enjoyed time with the Vances.  We ended the day with Aggie ice cream then made the somewhat long drive home.  At least Ollie thought it was long.

Friday I received this letter from Renatas and Yolanta:

Dear Catharine and Roy

We have finally reached Lithuania, and met our lovely children....
I wrote you a letter about the camera, I dont know if you received the
letters, we have received the camera already. Once again thank you for
the care and help.
We only got the camera because you called the hotel, as to us the
hotel reception told there is no camera.
Zion park was very interesting and left us with many impressions.
Grand Canyon unfortunately we didnt see, because of rain and the
clouds covered all the beauty.
In Las vegas we were very short time,and Chicago was very interesting,
we had a guided tour, and lived close to the center, not fare from
lake Michigan.
We would like to thank you for your hospitality, for your kindness and
many moments spend together. From America we bring back many new
experience. And living at your house was most memorable for us.
I would like to remind you that you have friends in Lithuania and we
would like to see you and show you our country.

Please send our best wishes to Caitlyn and Jennie.
To Crista, Mark and beautiful Ruby.
To Nick, Sara and Ori, also Daniel his wife and 3 daughters.
Also Adrienne, her husband and 3 boys.

We wish your family all the best

Jolanta, Renatas, Saule, Mykolas

She did pretty well on all of your names!  Matt became Mark but other than that...

The weekend was busy and fun.  Friday night dad went to the baseball game with AJ and Adrienne and the boys.  I stayed home and tried to relax, but my sewing project was a little frustrating.  

The boys love ball games!  However, I don't think they really like to watch the game much.

(Gunnar is the one in the striped shirt :)

Caitlyn is a really good friend!  She planned Annika a surprise birthday party (which included us).  Four of Caitlyn's friends met us at our home on Saturday morning at 8:45.  We then loaded up and drove over to Annika's house.  They all went up to her door and when it was answered, called out "Surprise"  We went boating up to Willard Bay.  It all almost flopped when the lady at the fee booth told us that the water was really low and boats were getting stuck.  (We had planned to go to Bear Lake but when we saw that the high would only be 75 degrees at 6:00 pm, we decided to stay closer). We decided to check it out as other boats were turning around and heading out.  Roy talked to a few of the boaters who were staying, and with a look at the water and some comments from others, we figured it was really okay.  It turned out to be a fabulous day as the lake was pretty empty of boats.  We had no problems with depth and the temperature was perfect.  The only problem that I saw was the smoggy air from all the fires in neighboring states.  

We ended the day by treating all the kids to pizza.  I told Caitlyn it was a pretty nice party we put on for someone else's child.  She said, Well, put it this way...you were in Antarctica on my birthday.  She was right.  I told her I would just pretend it was her birthday party.

Crista and Matt also met us at the lake.  It was even closer to them than Bear Lake would have been.  Ruby was a good little trooper.

I have to mention a funny story here (the picture of dad driving the boat reminded me).  Every year dad takes the boat to a youth boating activity.  Lloyd Allen always takes his boat, too.  Every year Lloyd insists on asking the kids, "Who's the better driver?  Me, or Brother Rasband?  Every year the kids say, "Brother Rasband."  (I think Lloyd sets himself up).  The kids say that Brother Rasband gives the best rides!

Elise sent me a couple of pictures from earlier in the week.  She and Max spent the week at "Grandma Camp"  No--don't get any ideas!  I doubt I will ever have "Grandma Camp."

Nan sent me a note this week with a paragraph from Grandpa's autobiography.

Father had just bought a new 1937 Studebaker and I wanted to test its speed capability.  I drove from Tremonton 
to Brigham City in twelve minutes.  Another time I was taking the hot springs road (Hwy. 38) through Honeyville, intending to go to Brigham City.  I was almost to Honeyville, moving at about 80 miles an hour, and there were two cops sitting in their squad car by the side of the road.  They immediately sounded their siren and started after me. I had a little bit of a lead on them and I turned into the first street in Honeyville and pulled into a big open garage, a type of barn garage. I turned off the lights and just sat there.  The cop car went by with its siren screaming, and going at a lickety-split speed.  The barn didn’t have a door and I waited there about ten minutes, thinking they might come back.  They never found me. After a few minutes we pulled out and headed at nominal velocity back in the direction we had come, feeling a combination of elation and guilt.   Upon reflection, I thought that was really dumb for, if caught, I could have made the police blotter; how can you explain that?

My dad had a great sense of humor.

And from Phil's letter--Phil is talking about the son of a man in Phil's ward who had recently passed away.  (The son was in my dad's ward).

"Today he told me that he thinks my [Phil'] Dad was a genius. I thought that was overstating it but his

daughter Jessica said Craig wouldn’t say any such thing if he didn’t believe it. After telling me he

was a genius he mentioned how impressive Dad was in his gospel knowledge, in his careers, in

taking care of mom when she had Alzheimer’s, how kind and considerate he was of members of

his ward, and how well he took care of Mary."

I agree with this assessment of my dad.  I am so grateful that he was my dad and that he lived such a long life so I could benefit from all of his wonderful qualities.

Nan also sent me a couple of stories about Phineas.

Phineas was well acquainted with the Bible when his sister joined the "Mormon" Church.  He thought she had lost her mind, but agreed to attend a meeting with her.  He took a pencil and paper determined to write down everything he disagreed with so he could put them in their place once and for all.  However, during the meeting, others reported that he dropped his pencil and sat as if in a trance.  When the meeting concluded, all eyes turned to Phineas waiting for his rebuttal.  Phineas recorded something like, "But they looked in vain.  They had spoken the truth and I had nothing to say."  Phineas and his wife, Ann Eliza were baptized.

The young married couple, Phineas and Ann Eliza, lived with Phineas' parents.  HIs father was against him joining the church and put as many obstacles in his path as he could.  Phineas was frustrated and went into the woods and prayed that if Heavenly Father wanted Phineas to live the Gospel, he would have to remove this obstacle.  He went back to the house and learned that his father was suddenly seriously ill and was not expected to live.  Phineas immediately returned to the woods and prayed and asked for forgiveness and asked God to restore his father to good health.  When he returned, his father had made miraculous improvements and was out of danger.

After awhile some missionaries came through and told them they were to meet up with the rest of the saints in Nauvoo.  They began to make preparations to go, but Phineas parents did everything they could to stop them.  They obtained a wagon, but lacked oxen.  They received a late wedding present from an uncle that lived in Canada--two oxen.  They had their wagon loaded with wheat ready to go and Phineas' father removed the wheat and took it to the mill for grinding. They left anyway.  Their trek was long and difficult, but they finally met up with some saints who told them that they saints had left Nauvoo and they should go directly to Winter Quarters.  They did meet up with the Saints in Winter Quarters, but life there was very difficult and they were very poor.  When building his home, he cut open his foot with an ax and was laid up for six weeks.  He lost two children (Charlotte, about 8, who got sick and died quickly) and a baby, Harriett, who died because Ann Eliza got Scurvy and lost her milk.  They tried to dig up roots and boil them to feed the baby, but it wasn't enough nourishment and Harriett died. Ann Eliza was given up for dead with scurvy.  Phineas was so upset that his wife was going to died, he walked out into the rain.  Soaking wet and depressed he had a distinct impression that he should return to his home and give Ann Eliza another blessing.  He did and within an hour Ann Eliza was sitting up and asking for Harriett.  

While at Winter Quarters, Phineas had a dream.  He was in the middle of a frozen lake with numerous other men.  The ice was thin and no one seemed to know what to do.  One man said that they had to go to the south.  Many followed him and fell through the ice and were lost. Another man said they had to go to the east and many follow him and fell through the ice and died.  Phineas look at his feet and realized he had ice skates on and felt inspired to go West.  He began skating as fast as he could over the thin ice and finally reached the shore.  When he woke up, he felt this dream had great significance.  He realized that the ice skates were his testimony--something the other men lacked.  Going West was the direction the prophet wanted him to go.  He continued in faithfulness and eventually reached Salt Lake.

Some of the above I may have already shared with you.

We enjoyed having everyone over last night (Sunday night). Everyone except Elise and Crista and their families.  We had a fabulous dinner.  Dad always tries to cover everyone's likes and dislikes, so we had hamburgers, hotdogs, and chicken.  Plus corn on the cob and green beans, and spinach salad and watermelon.  Yum. 

These two little girls haven't quite made it to the best friends stage.  They still like to fight.
\

 After dinner we went over to Mueller Park and dad fired off his rocket 5 or 6 times to the grandkid's delight--especially Gunnar's.  

I have to admit there were a few tears.  Hyeji didn't get a chance to catch the rocket, and Doyeon missed her 2nd opportunity to set it off, but all in all it was a great evening.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset. (The fires make for some pretty nighttime skies)

Nan made the comment that it takes a long time to do these letters.  It really does.  I thought I'd have time to clean my house this morning, but it's already time for me to get ready for ice skating.  I'm back to mornings and almost empty ice rinks (Yay!!!)  

Love you all.

Another busy week!

Family,

I hope you all read the Ensign Magazine each month.  I have to admit, I often put other reading materials ahead of the church magazines, but I am trying to do better because the articles have so much to offer us each month.  This month there were a couple of articles that stood out to me.  One was called, A Glorious Reunion.  I hope you will read it.  It told of a son who hadn't seen his father in many years.  He did not know that his father had been banished from his tribe by his grandmother because she hadn't approved of the marriage of her daughter.  The father had had no way of communicating with his son through the years.  After his banishment, he joined the church.  The son also joined the church after his marriage.  The Lord provided a miracle for these two men.  They found each other doing Initiatories in the Temple in Ghana.  Read the article because it tells the story much better than I just did.  I share this story because this week I also experienced a miracle, showing me that the Lord does know each of us and loves all His children.  Last Sunday, following the Tabernacle Choir Broadcast, we took our Lithuanian friends, Renates and Jolanta, to a hotel and dropped them off.  They were to spend the day in Salt Lake, stay the night in this hotel, and head to Zion's Canyon the next morning.  After they had traveled towards the Park on a bus for several hours, Renates realized he had left his camera at the hotel.  One of the girls called me and said that they had called the hotel and that the manager was saying that they had not found a camera.  They asked if I could see what I could do as they knew there was a language barrier.  I immediately called the hotel and was told they had not found it.  I asked if they could look again, or check with the maid because this camera had all the pictures of their trip and their dances and music and was very important to them.  Soon, a manager came on the line and told me that they had the camera.  I told them I would be there to get it within the next half hour.  Because the Lithuanian Group was visiting the parks, they had no cell service, and so it was the next morning when I was able to make arrangements to mail the camera to their hotel in Las Vegas.  I would normally mail USPS because it's usually less expensive, but the hotel told me they had a UPS department right in their hotel, so that might be better.  I therefore headed to the UPS packaging place in Bountiful.  I paid $4 to have the clerk package the camera so it would be safe, and then asked the price to mail overnight.  It was $69.00  That was extreme, so I called Roy who looked it up on-line and found that at the Post office I could mail it for $30.  Before I left to go to the Post Office, I told the clerk the story and why I was mailing the package.  There was one other customer in the store.  He looked at me and asked me if I was from Lithuania.  I said, "No, but we had two Lithuanians stay with us for Summerfest."  Guess what?  He had served his mission in Lithuania.  Roy and I had been wondering how we could find a Lithuanian missionary to translate the testimony that I had written in their Book of Mormon.  I wanted them to be able to read it in their own language.  I don't believe this was a coincidence.  I sent the testimony to him (Luckily, I had written it in a notebook first, so I wouldn't make a lot of mistakes when I put it in the actual Book of Mormon), and he translated and sent it back to me by Friday (two days later), then apologized that it had taken him so long.  Of course, I told him I thought he had done it quickly!  I am going to email it to Jolanta tonight.

The 2nd article from the Ensign that I want to mention and that I hope you will all read is, "Disciples and the Defense of Marriage" by Russell M. Nelson.

I know we hear a lot in the world the idea that it shouldn't bother us or hurt us when other people choose to break the commandments.  The idea that maybe we should just live and let live.  Elder Nelson strongly tells us that this is not what we, as Latter-Day-Saints should be doing.  

Elder Nelson says, "You will likely encounter increasing debate about the definition of marriage.  Many of your neighbors, colleagues, and friends will have never heard logical and inspired truths about the importance of marriage as God Himself defined it.  You will have many opportunities to strengthen understanding of the Lord's side of that argument by the eloquence of your examples, both as individuals, and as families."

 "The day is gone when you can be a quiet and comfortable Christian.  Your religion is not just about showing up for church on Sunday.  It is about showing up as a true disciple from Sunday morning through Saturday night--24/7!  There is no such thing as a part-time disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ...Disciples of the Lord are defenders of traditional marriage.  We cannot yield.  History is not our judge.  A Secular society is not our judge.  God is our judge!  For each of us, Judgment Day will be held in God's own way and time."

 (see Romans 2:5; Alma 33:22; Ether 11:20;D&C 88:104; 133:38).

"The future of marriage and of countless human lives will be determined by your willingness to bear solemn witness of the Lord and live according to His gospel."

I am so pleased to see all of you bearing witness through your example of the importance of traditional marriage and family.  I have received a few pictures from some of you this week.  Some of you are getting the message that if you send me pictures, there will be pictures of your children in the newsletter :) 

Andy's White Coat ceremony to kick off Med School.  This should have been in last week's letter.
Andy also has a call to serve in the Bishopbric as a counselor.  Elise is hoping that that fact will keep her from being called as RS president--that and the new baby that's coming.

Nick and Ori in Harry Potter Land (Sara, why do you never include pictures of you?)

Nick and Sara paid a visit to the Florida Temple while they were there.

Crista and Ruby

Ruby, getting bigger

Sara sent me several pictures of their time in Florida.  This was my favorite.  Poor Nick and Ori--such fair skin.

I got this picture of Jennie off of Facebook.  She doesn't send me any.

Adrienne and AJ dropped by for a minute Sunday night

Finn and Grandoa

We stopped by and visited Dan's family for a minute, also.

Adrienne sent me this picture of Gunnar and Ollie fishing with Grandpa Green

 and Ori sent me a goodnight picture from Florida.

 This week was another super busy week of service.  We had the Copper Cup Ice Skating Competition at the rink.  Since Roy is President (again), we get to do lots of community service :)  We were pretty much booked all weekend helping with the food for the judges and coaches, setting up and taking down, and clean up.  There aren't many who want to stay and help to the bitter end, but there were a few.  Luckily, one of the coaches pretty much handles Sunday so those of us who don't want to work on Sunday don't have to.   Dad and I spent our Sunday recuperating from the last 2 weeks!

Goodnight to all of you!