Twas the week before Christmas...

Before we left Texas we had to stop by our favorite ice cream place, "The Chocolate Bar."  They have lots more than ice cream, but their ice cream is unbelievable.  Elise took a cute picture of little Beverly right after we left.  I've seen her on Face Time and it looks like she's already changed so much.

I arrived home the afternoon of the 7th, and on Saturday the 9th I had my staff Christmas Party.  Below are most of the Water Aerobic Teachers at the South Davis Rec Center.  Some of us have been around a long time (most of us).

Wednesday night Roy and I took Gunnar and Ollie to the play "A Christmas Carol" at the Centerpoint Legacy Theater.  Since we had to delay the play a week (since I was in Texas), we didn't get our usual seats center front.  We had to sit back a few rows and were on the side.  It didn't seem to cause us any problems though, we still had a good view and the boys loved it.  At one point, Ollie made sure grandpa knew he wasn't scared, even though he was holding pretty tightly to his arm.

I told Gunnar that it would be the best

Christmas present if he would let me get a picture

of him with Tiny Tim, but he wouldn't do it.  They both

told me they were "Shy"

Adrienne graciously fed us a delicious chicken enchilada dinner before we took the boys and went to the play.  Both boys behaved perfectly.  As soon as it was over they were hungry, of course, so Roy bought them some chicken nuggets (to eat when they got out of my car and into their house :)

I missed our ward Christmas Party, but I was able to celebrate with my book club.  We don't discuss a book in December, we just get together (the husbands are invited) and enjoy a nice evening.

Friday morning we went to Doyeon's Gingerbread play.  As we had done this with Hyeji a couple of years ago, we thought we knew what was coming, but the teachers had been creative and invented a space gingerbread story, and a deep sea gingerbread story.  Doyeon was a shark.  In the Space play, the poor gingerbread kids got eaten (they were beamed up by aliens), but in the deep sea play, the gingerbread boy was adopted by the fisherman and his wife.

We invited our friends Heeyoung and Jun and their kids over for dinner Friday evening.  We had Dan and Jieun come, too, for ease of communication.  After Doyeon's play I had kept Doyeon with me.  We ice skated (on terrible ice), went to Costco, and went home and made cookie dough to cut out later that night.  After we had dinner, we got out the cookie dough and the kids went to town.  They had a blast.  The mess was actually minimal!  Caitlyn may think differently since she vacuumed for me the next morning.

Hyeji and Yalyn

Hyeji with Haeun (he wouldn't even look at me
he was so intent on rolling the dough)

Heeyoung, Jun, Dan and Jieun

Hyeji and Doyeon

I also invited them to church for our Christmas program today.  Heeyoung came with Haeun, but Jun and their daughter didn't come.  Dan and Jieun came to our ward so she would feel comfortable.  I was in the choir so I couldn't sit with them.  I had crayons and paper in my bag for the kids.  Hyeji drew this picture and wrote a note on the back to go with it.  She's becoming quite the artist.
I would orient this the right way, but as I'm a little technologically challenged, I won't.  It was oriented the right way until I loaded it onto the blog.

'We spent Sunday evening with Nick and Sara and girls.  So, in a two week period we spent time with everyone except Crista and Matt.  They will be staying a few days this coming weekend, so we'll catch up with them, then.  

Grandpa asked Ori what she was asking for for Christmas.  Nick said a better question would be what she's not asking for.

I mentioned that Beverly had grown.  Here is a picture to prove it. We received this picture Sunday night.  Roy's comment was, "Nice hot tub!"

 I am so grateful for my family.  I am grateful for all of your lives and the wonderful people you are.  I am grateful for prayer, that I have someone to whom I can turn to.  I can ask Heavenly Father to watch over and protect all of you and guide you in your lives.  I can also strive to trust in His plan when everything doesn't go according to our plans.  I love my Savior and have been especially aware of His spirit in these days before Christmas.  Have a great week!

Still in Texas

Central Market

We spent the first part of this week having a little bit of fun with Elise's family before Grandpa headed home on Thursday morning.  We were able to have dinner at Central Market (on our way to Zoo Lights).  It was Beverly's first outing.  It was also good for Elise to get out of the house.  After Roy left, I stayed to continue helping Elise with the kids.  Since I've been here, Andy has had 2- 24 hour shifts, so I think it's been nice for Elise to have the help.  I am able to take the boys to the park for a little while every day, take Max to and from school (walking when I can get him to).  Other than that, we are mostly taking it easy.  

Beverly

Mav at Zoo Lights

Beverly 

Max

Max and Mav watching Candy, the talking zebra

Visiting with Candy

First bath

So far Beverly is a very calm baby.

Mav loves the bathroom--especially brushing his teeth.

Mav getting some reassuring loves from mom.

While I've been in Texas, life continues in Centerville.  Caitlyn had her Christmas Dance (girl's choice).  Their pre-dance activity was held Thursday night.  They made Gingerbread houses.  Caitlyn said hers was kind of a mess.  

Shortly after Roy got home he ran into Jieun and Dojin at the grocery store.

Church is always fun and interesting when you attend outside of your home ward.  Below are the Jackson kids dressed and ready to go to church.

Roy had the family over at home in Utah.  Sara sent me this video.  She said everyone laughed because it was "creepy."  Ori's dancing partner is Marley's ghost (from Christmas Carol).

Welcome to the world. Baby Girl

Catharine Beverly Jackson was born at 6:28 pm on November 22, 2018.  As I mentioned last week, she's the first November birthday in the Roy and Catharine Rasband family.  Elise had to endure a bit of a roller coaster as she had planned to go in to the hospital Tuesday morning and have the baby in due coarse, thus being home for Thanksgiving to celebrate it with us.  After her weekly appointment with the doctor, she was told to report to the hospital Tuesday evening at 6:00 pm.  Her cervix hadn't begun to thin and so she needed to do an all-nighter with some medication to jump start he process.  As 6:00 neared, she received a phone call and was told all the beds were full, so to wait for further notice.  Finally, around midnight, she was able to go with Andy to the hospital.  Her mother-in-law was in town, so she watched the boys until she had to leave the next morning.  

At least for me there was a silver lining in the delay--I arrived in time to join Elise and Andy in the delivery room (after a long day of travel from home.  We left Wednesday morning early, around 4:30 am), and watch Beverly come into the world.  I've never seen a baby being born from the vantage point of a spectator, and it was amazing.  In 1985, when Elise was born, Roy was in Atlanta working at a new job while I stayed behind until the baby came.  My mom was able to accompany me at the birth.  She told me how much it meant for her to be able to see a baby born, because when she had her babies, she wasn't aware enough to pay attention (and they had no mirrors).  Elise was the first girl, after two wonderful baby boys. Beverly followed the same pattern.

Unfortunately for Elise, the later arrival of the baby meant that she could not be home on Thanksgiving.  I don't understand why it's so hard to get out of the hospital here, because I went home with at least half my babies after 24 hours because we didn't have maternity insurance.  There was no way they were going to let Elise out of there until the baby had been there 24 hours and could have the necessary tests.  At least the baby was here and healthy and that made the disappointment about Thanksgiving pretty insignificant.

I didn't mention yet that the baby was 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 21" long. One of my first thoughts as she was born was that she had to be close to 9 lbs.  She would have easily met that mark had the labor not been induced as it was obvious that Elise's body would have carried Beverly for at least several more days.

We have so enjoyed being with Maverick and Max this week.  We brought Caitlyn along and she has been a huge help, taking over bathing Mav and getting him down for his naps.  It was obvious as I went through the pictures that she's developed a soft spot for this little boy.  She leaves to go back to Utah today so she won't miss any school.

As you can see from the pictures, Mav and

Max were pretty excited to see their

new little sister:

  

Elise, fully ready to come home with her Thanksgiving baby.
It took the nurses forever to check her out of the hospital on Friday.

We planned the Thanksgiving dinner for Friday around 1:30 but it was about 7 before we were able to get Elise and Beverly home so we could eat.  We were still able to enjoy the spirit of the Holiday in gratitude for our many blessings--our wonderful family, our membership in the church, our knowledge of the Savior... too many blessings to list.

At home (in Texas) with the boys:

No pictures this week

I have been trying not to eat out to much as it's not conducive to watching my weight.  However, this week I enjoyed three lunch dates.  Christine and Nan and I met at my house for lunch (I picked up the lunch at Plates and Palates).  We try and get together for our birthdays and we were way behind.  We had an enjoyable afternoon eating good food and visiting in a quiet atmosphere.  We have to catch Nan when we can because she travels so much lately. 
Tuesday, I went with my visiting teaching companion and two of our V.T. sisters.  We met for lunch at Iggy's.  I had the blackened salmon salad, which was a good choice.  The service was slow and there were very few people in the restaurant, but since we had plenty to talk about, it was fine.  It is fun to get to know the sisters in our new ward.  It takes time, but it's rewarding.  Our other sister works during the day, so we're going to have to figure out how to include her next time. 
On Thursday, I met Suzanne, Karen, and Leann--three friends from High School (and Junior High, and Elementary!).  We visit every three to four months.  Karen asked if any of us were thinking of future missions.  Suzanne's husband served in San Antonio as mission president a few years ago.  Her response was interesting.  She said she was not ready--yet.  She admitted that being on a mission in that capacity was difficult--and even a little hard on her marriage.  She said it was because while she is slow and deliberate in her decision making, her husband is quite the opposite, so it was hard to council together.  She wasn't sure how it would be to have him as her missionary companion--a 24/7 situation.  Karen said she might even be open to it, which surprised me.  She is far more liberal than I am, and, though "active", I'm not sure she's been back to the temple since her wedding.  Leann also said she would be willing.  She said her husband is a natural teacher and he'd love to do a proselyting mission, then she listed a few examples of things he could do that she'd be willing to do also (proselyting wasn't necessarily one of them).  I have thought about this also. Of course, Roy's not retired, and Caitlyn and Jennie are still at home.  It will be hard to leave my beautiful new home, but I'm definitely not opposed to it.  There are many things we could do without leaving the state.  In our stake conference today, we were told that the stake receives about 30 missionary assignments that they are meant to fill.  I guess they have had trouble filling the last 8 or 9 each year, until one of the men assigned to help fill the assignments offered to go to the various relief societies and priesthood quorums and let everyone know what assignments were available and what they each entailed.  After that, they had a much less difficult time getting those assignments filled.  They also announced that they have recently sent two mission presidents from our stake to Tempe, Arizona and Houston, Texas, and those presidents are looking for senior couples to help serve.  If Roy were retired, it might be fun to serve in Houston while Elise is there.  I know one of those two mission presidents from High School.  Spencer Hewlett.  He's a year younger than I and we were good friends back then. 
Thursday evening we had another invitation out for dinner.  Heeyoung and Jun invited us to their home for a delicious Korean dinner.  We stayed for a couple of hours and played with their kids, who seemed to love the interaction.  Roy rough-housed with the little boy, then Jun tried it also.  Heeyoung said, "Thank you for the inspiration to my husband," so maybe it's not something he's done before.  They are wonderful young people and I intend to have them over often while they are still in the states.  They said that they had plans to go to Hawaii for Christmas because they didn't want to stay here and be lonely.  I said I wouldn't have let them be lonely. 
Friday night we had the family over.  Matt couldn't make it because he was involved in one of Malouf's semi-annual sales.  Dan and family stayed home because of illness.  Everyone else in Utah was present.  We kept it simple, but it was delicious as usual.  Roy cooked his sauerkraut/sausage/chicken dish.  We haven't had it in forever.  We had Dan come and get food for his family.  He said Jieun loved the sauerkraut, and that she'd not had it before.  That means Roy probably hasn't cooked it for 10 years. 

On Saturday we got a lot accomplished during the day, and spent a nice evening at the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference.  It was short 1 1/2 hours by 10 or 15 minutes, which was nice.  Our meeting today also got out 15 minutes early.  We missed the last stake conference because we were out of town, so this was our first stake conference in this stake.  Apparently, it's the last stake conference for our leaders, they are to be released in April. The meeting last night was on giving more of ourselves, and the meeting today had several themes, since all of the presidency and the clerks gave their testimonies--also the clerk's wives. 

Happy Birthday to Beverly this week (hopefully on Tuesday, the 21st).  She will be the first of our family to fill a slot on the November calendar.  We are headed to Texas on Wednesday for Thanksgiving.  I will stay for over 2 weeks to help Elise. 

Caitlyn has an MRI tomorrow to see if her arthritis is active.  She's been struggling with pain this last month.  If she's inflamed, we'll change her medication.  If she's not inflamed, we'll have to be creative--probably get her back to a physical therapist, etc.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  We'll miss all of you this year (except the Jackson's), but don't despair, next Thanksgiving will arrive before we can blink. 

Love to all!

Theater, etc.

We had a fun opportunity this week when our financial adviser, Kimball Doxey and his wife Terry invited us to go to the play Bundle of Trouble at the Hale Center Theater. Occasionally, they'll invite us as a thank you for our business, but they are also friends from the first ward we were in after we moved to Bountiful (while we were renting on Bountiful Blvd). This play, of course, was all the more fun since we had performed this play in 1993 or 1994 in our theater in Georgia.  The star, when we performed this in Georgia, was our own Elise.  At least she was the star as far as we were concerned.  the actual star is the father who carries the show.  She memorized lots of lines and had a ball practicing and performing in the play and interacting with the other actors.  The play was written by Ruth and Nathan Hale in their early days of running a theater.  The premise is a father, who has been separated from his wife and child for a number of years, is suddenly reunited when the wife needs a babysitter for a few weeks.  She drops the child off, and a bit of mild chaos ensues.  The father in the play completely breaks the "wall" (the rule where the actors pretend the audience isn't there), and involves the audience in what is going on.  This invites a lot of ad-lib, and makes the play a lot of fun.  In this case, the little girl was played by a kindergartner.  She did a pretty good job, but you could tell the difference between a five year-old taking the part, and a 7 year-old (Elise).  Of course, I'm not prejudice at all.

I also had the "opportunity" to accompany Caitlyn as she performed on her violin at her Young Women in Excellence.  She played a violin arrangement of "Did you think to Pray?"  The piano part was very challenging and I only had a few days to practice.  We made it through with only a few 😅 mistakes.  Even though I didn't play perfectly (Caitlyn did very well, by the way), I was still proud of myself for the attempt, because playing in public on the piano has always been difficult for me and I always manage to fumble no matter how hard I practice.  I got pretty good at performing with the primary the last few years, but playing a piece of this difficulty is another matter.

Gunnar invited me to grandparents day at school.  Their PTA is very smart--get the grandparents to come during the book fair to make extra money.  Grandma Lisa had gone with Gunnar to the book fair on a previous day and bought him a book, and then it was my turn.  We had a good time and Gunnar kept me entertained.  Hyeji told me later it had been her book fair that week.  I told her she should have invited me so she could've gotten a book out of it.  She said she already had tons of books.

The only pictures to share this week are of our sweet grandsons from Texas.  They had a day that got a cold 57 degrees, so they got to don their winter gear before going out to play.

Max and Mav

Max

Mav

Our Sunday evening is a lot quieter than normal.  It's nice once in a while to have time to study and write this letter, etc.  Of course, we miss everyone when we don't have them over.