cowboy up

Dallan, Jan 17th 2010.
Major countdown mode. Just 16 days left. We are anxious for your arrival and my children have assured me that it will be Okay for them to miss school in your honor.
Marcus is currently sporting a black eye. I asked him what happened and his response was this “When I was playing soccer I got hit with a football in my eye.” I made him repeat his sentence twice and then asked how that was possible. Apparently the playground at school is the field for all sports no matter which one you choose to be playing you need to be aware of all games. Perhaps this is why so many men are able to follow so much sporting hype. They got their first taste when they were in elementary school and couldn’t get over the constant involvement in all sports.
Stiles is nursing a fat lip. He got that while taking a shower last night in my bathroom. Being short he did not have the proper reach to get the spray wand part of the shower head down and when he pulled on it to bring it down to him it came hastily and Kissed him right in the Kisser Quite hard. It cut him on his upper lip just below his nose. And then the force of the blow caused some abrasion damage on the inside of his mouth and his mouth was bleeding. This morning it was pretty swollen but by church his lip didn’t look so kissably juicy.
Yesterday we took the kids and the horses up to the indoor riding arena. Stiles got thrown off by Rebel pretty early on but did a cowboy up and was soon in the saddle again. Stiles rode and rode and got Rebel pretty tired and calmed down so the other kids could have a good ride. Jon’s sister, Julie, and her family came up and their boys took a turn, they seemed to really like it. We had quite a surprise with our kid horse “Oaky” that we bought last fall. She has been totally awesome in our yard with me and with the kids and Jon. But she was originally trained as a roping horse. So when we got into the arena she was ready to RUN! And run fast! And Hard! I lead her around the arena a few times with kids on her and then I decided to jump up on her and have a ride. Well she needed very little encouragement to TAKE OFF. And she did. I was saying not very good words to say in front of children and when I finally got her to slow down and almost stopped she spun real hard and I lost my balance and I could feel myself falling so I “stepped off” well the crappy thing is Now I Know that I have GOT TO get back on that Horse. I was shaking so bad!!! I had to have Jon lead me around the arena because I knew that if She took off on me again I would be in big trouble! All in all We had fun and Stiles has a nice owie on his side from being thrown off.
I have been trying to get this body back into a shape other than the one it is currently in. 3 babies in a row has not been nice to certain parts of me. Because of this new years goal I have had much soreness and stiffness in many parts of my body in the last week. The scale still gives me a number that makes me want to throw the scale out the window and then drive a semi truck over it a few times but we will continue to work towards a less flabby mommy shape.
Mom had me read a book called the Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey. I am impressed with the “duh this just makes sense” formula that the author teaches. You really walk away from the book with a new insight to money in general. As part of that new insight to money I can see why Camille is starting her own business and Why Seth And Emily cut up their credit cards and why Emily is going back to school. So they might be able to see why in the crazy sam hill I switched my kids to cloth diapers. -then again maybe they won’t but we are getting a little further ahead one diaper change at a time and Jon has even managed to get stuck with a poopy one. And he changed it! I gave him a trophy. When you get home I am sure that Mom will try to get you to read this book. And if she doesn’t one of your other siblings probably will. Anyway I just finished reading the book yesterday and I am anxious for Jon to start and see what insights he has.
The Church is true. Christ lives. The time is short. Work hard.
We Love you , Monica and the Woodin Nickel Knuckle Heads!

grandma's funeral and something profound

Dear Dallan, Jan 10th 2009
With only two more p-days for you before you come home I feel a great need to write something profound for you to read on one of your last preparation days before you come home and start de-weirding. Actually you are so weird that there is no way you could possibly de-weird. Maybe I should refer to your new venture in trying to speak English. And since you are now fluent in Spanish and Ewok, English shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. Anyway back to something profound. Well I’ll tell you what. I’ve got nothing. After two years of letter writing and letting you ,and the rest of our family laugh and laugh at the funny things in my life. IF you haven’t found anything profound in anything I have said let me just tell you how proud of you I am.
I am proud of you.
There something profound.
Actually I would like to let you know that you are a giant in my eyes. All of my brothers are. (My sisters are more like magical fairies) I am glad that you made the choice to serve a mission. I know it could not have been an easy thing to do. I am proud of you for working hard to learn Spanish. I’m sure that when you arrived in Mexico you had no idea what anybody was saying but now you will come home and not be able to order a whopper at burger king without messing up the sentence structure. (don’t worry if you are in burley they will know exactly what you mean. )
I know have I told you this before but I would just like to say again “thank you for your example” There is nothing better for my boys, and my daughter, than your example right now. I wish that every young child in the church had the example of an aunt, uncle, cousin, or grandparent out on a mission. I know that I remember the example of uncle Dean and Uncle Alan and aunt Debbie and when Grandma and Grandpa Wall served their missions it was a strength and a testimony to me of the truthfulness of the gospel in so many different ways. I pray that your example to my children will strengthen them, and plant in them a desire to serve our Father in Heaven when they are old enough to do so.
And I want to thank you for giving me a really good excuse to take an hour out of my week and record the doings of my family. The letters I have written you are the closest thing I am getting to Keeping a journal in this busy time of my life. It has been a true blessing for me and has developed my typing talent and my ability to story tell in a way that I did not know I could. It has helped me see the messes and the meltdowns and the moments that I just wanted to give in and cy as great stories for someone else to read and enjoy. I really hope that you have enjoyed my ramblings, I know that I have enjoyed rambling to you.
Now let me tell you a about a sweet moment at grandma’s funeral, one I don’t want to forget, For the funeral all of the men in the family right on down to Mason and Wyatt were given a red flower to wear on their shirt. And all of the grandsons were honorary pall bearers. Marcus felt the weight of the flower quite profoundly and messed with it for almost the entire duration of the funeral service. Then as we were getting out of the van at the cemetery for the graveside service Marcus began to panic because somehow his coat had unpinned the flower from his shirt and the flower was not where it should be. After a moment of searching the flower fell out of the bottom of his coat and we repined it to his shirt. At this point Marcus said “Mom, I want to give this Flower to grandma.” I told him that if he want to he would be able to. Thinking that when most of the people had left the grave side I would let him put it on grandma’s coffin. Well after the prayer they invited all of the pall bearers and honorary pall bearers to add their flowers to the bouquet on top of grandma’s coffin. Marcus was about the first person after our uncles to give grandma his flower. He was very glad that he could give great grandma a flower and when we got back to the van he offered me his condolences and said “Mom, I am very sorry that your grandma died.” He is a very sensitive kid and I am so glad Heavenly Father entrusted me with him. I just hope that Jon and I don’t screw him up to bad.
Grandma’s funeral was great. You were the only grandchild not in attendance. But there were a “bazillion” great grand children present and they kept a good steady hum going the whole time. I realized that Jon and I are the only ones who have 6 children. There are several with 5 but No one else is in the 6 club with Jon and I. Jason said that we had won “the rabbit award” for having the most kids. I argue that Tyrell and Rose should win the award with 5 kids in 4 years! The Woodland Family has followed the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth and Grandpa will get his wish of having posterity to number the sands of a small white sand beach on the leeward side of a tropical island in the pacific.
Work Hard. The time is very short. The homecoming party is being planned and since you are going to Florida over Valentines day I have yet to set you up on a date. But I am looking at some options for you. HEEHEE. Love Monica.

grandma

Dear Dallan Jan 8th 2010 (Happy Birthday Crystal!)
Happy new Year! Oay Oay I am a bit late in my letter writing. And Yes My letter K is broken on my key board and so It only works some of the time. We shall see how important the letter K is to the English language. And don’t be surprised if the H stops showing up as well. It is official I have worn out the Key board on Jon’s laptop computer writing to my Missionary Brother. Well to bring you up to speed. Christmas came and went and we now have a new mouth to feed. A miniature Horse named Rebel. My children are ecstatic and Jon seems to be pretty tickled too. The kids have fallen off of their new friend a number of times but they are getting better and better at staying on. When ever the horse starts to run the kids get scared and ditch. It is kind of funny to watch. Hunter is the most fun to watch- total grins from ear to ear.
We had a big BRISCOE Christmas Party here at our place out in the Barn. It was attended by all who could possibly make it and Jon’s Mom and Uncle Nolan worked hard to set it up and take it down. The kids had a ball the adults loved the visiting and the food and the grandma’s and pa’s were usually stuck holding one of the many many many children who were running a muck back in forth in the upper reaches of the barn. We hope to hold it again. But maybe with a larger committee to help in the set up and take down so that it won’t be such a huge job.
We also attended a Christmas Party with Jon’s Siblings and their Children. It is affectionately called “the Piñata party”. Why Jon’s family break a Piñata at Christmas is still beyond me, but the tradition is strong and a total blast. In fact we broke our own piñata at our house with just our kids. Anyway as part of the Woodin party we ended up with a visit from SANTA. It was so cute. Hunter literally Jumped up in Santa’s lap with out hesitation when it was his turn and laughed a giggled the whole time. (a far cry different than all my other kids who thought I was torturing them to go see Santa) Santa even called up the adults and gave them a prize. Santa was so good he knew that I had been bad and grouchy and mean all year. And He told me I had better shape up if I wanted any presents. My kids where laughing so hard that Santa knew that their Mommy had been a grouch this year. In my defense it is all Wyatt’s fault.
I took just the kids and went to the farm for an over-nighter during the holiday break. I gave Mom and Dad “His and Her’s” drills for Christmas. And the best part was that they opened them apart from each other and Dad said something like “I really needed this, and now nobody will steal this” and so did Mom! I was laughing pretty hard. It was a fun trip and the Kids even threw them selves down the sledding hill a time or two.
For the new year we spent the night in Aberdeen with Jason and Nanette’s family. We celebrated the new year first at midnight then again with their Sisters Cindy and Becky who live in Washington and then again when the new year came in on the Island State of HAWAII! And then at 4:15 am we finally went to bed. Then it snowed and snowed and we got up and played in the snow and I made the cutest snow bunny. No not figuratively ..I did it literally. The project started out as a snow man and I morphed it into a bunny, Nanette even found a basket for my bunny to hold. It was fun and the kids thought it was awesome. And then we were having so much fun in the snow we decided to spend another night in Aberdeen so that Jon could go ice fishing with his brother and Father and brother in law. I think they had fun and they actually caught some fish.
Some crazy things we have done with the kids include moving Stiles out of the basement and back into the bedroom with Marcus. We also set up Hunter’s new twin size bed in this room and moved William in with Erica. Stiles and Marcus are usually in a power struggle over who is in charge of their room. It hasn’t come to blows yet but there is usually lots of crying , screaming and gnashing of teeth. Hunter is having a hard time going to bed. Before he snuck out of his bed and would crawl into one of his older brothers beds and sleep with them. Stiles and Marcus didn’t seem to mind. But now that they are all in the same room together the big boys don’t think that sharing their bed with Hunter is such a cool idea. Every night it is getting a bit better… usually Hunter comes into my room and falls asleep in my bed and then Jon and I move him to his bed . William has been taking the switch pretty hard. Not only did he switch rooms but went from the crib to the toddler bed. Let us just say that it is like a Chinese fire drill in Jon and I’s bed at night. Between Jon and Hunter and William and Wyatt, I end up sleeping with at least two Woodin boys every night. Sometimes all 4 of them. A few times all at once! The other night William did sleep in his own bed for the whole night. That was nice.
Erica received some dress up clothes for Christmas and changes into them almost as soon as she comes in the door from School. I think that they are a hit. She has always loved to dress up and usually goes though several outfit’s a day. Now they don’t just all fill up her laundry basket, after trying them on and then discarding them 10 minutes later for something “more” beautiful. She still is sure that I am chopped liver and that she loves her dad the best. “Dad is cool, Mom is just pretty” but I do have to say that since she Loves pretty things perhaps she does have a place in her heart for me.
William is learning how to drink out of a cup and entered the world of Nursery this week. I am so excited that the Lord said that Nursery should be a part of the gospel. Because if he hadn’t I don’t know that Jon and I would have continued to keep going to church when our children were between the ages of 16months to 3yrs old. Those little guys are big handfuls. All those who are nursery leaders earn big points toward eternal salvation in my book.
Speaking of my book. There is a class being offered through the relief Society Program in my ward about how to write and publish a book. I signed up to take the class. I am curious as to what I will learn from such a class. Now I just need a topic and some direction.. Everyone knows that my MUSES are constantly MESSING up the place, and giving me great material.
Jon has been working very hard. HE is trying to catch up from all the time off for the Holidays , cold weather and short days. We continue to have work and know that the Lord is blessing us in this. We are back up to having 3 guys working for us. Considerably less than the 10 we had 2 years ago! But we were down to just Jon and one other guy who Jon really couldn’t lay off because he lives in our other house. So things look a bit promising. We hope we will be able to continue to work on houses. Most of our work right now is on remodel stuff and it is cool to see the before and after pictures of the homes they have been working on.
I am still on a diet. The big butt fairy did not lay off this holiday season and many treats were indulged in. In truth I just wanted to get my kitchen cleaned up so I just kept on eating everything until I there was nothing left. It was not the best way to clean up my Kitchen but I do like the way the Kitchen looks when it is cleaned up. But my backside in a mirror is not looking so great.
I did get Christmas decorations down this week. It always makes me sad to take then down. But at the same time it is liberating to have it all down and out of the way. I still have a beautiful poinsettia plant that I have not yet managed to Kill and that is a nice reminder that it was just Christmas and that it was a beautiful Christmas season.
On Sunday when Dad called and told me that Grandma was not doing well I felt sad and was then immediately filled with Joy that Grandma would have the wish of her Heart be with Grandpa again. It is wonderful that we have the plan of Salvation because it really is the plan of happiness. That night when Camille and I went to the hospital to see Grandma for the last time there was so much love and Joy and happiness in that room. Seth described it as peaceful and that is the correct word. Even though we knew that grandma’s life was at an end There was so much peace in the knowledge of what was to come for her and her life. And right now she is probably eating buckets and buckets of white fluffy bread! I am so grateful that I got to be one of her grand daughters and feel of her love and concern for me. She was a great grandmother and I will dearly miss her phone calls and birthday cards.
We will miss you with us this Saturday as we attend the funeral but we will see you soon . Work hard, you have so little time left. I know that your efforts these last few days of your mission will bless many lives. You have been such a great example to me and my children and my husband I can not thank you enough for the influence you have had on my family by serving a mission. The blessing we have received have already been great and far reaching.
We Love you much and pray for you always and with all our faith.
Love the Woodin Nickels.

Merry Christmas Dallan

Dear Dallan DEC 20th 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! So since I had your name this year for Christmas I figure that I couldn’t skip out on your weekly letter, even though I really did think about doing so. I sent your gift in the box that mom sent. Hope you like it. If you don’t, well that is too bad. This last week was spent doing many things to get ready for Christmas I put together a Cinderella Dress for Erica to play dress up in. In truth the dress ended up being Church worthy. So It might end up serving a dual purpose. That little project had me pretty stressed out. I didn’t want Erica to have a clue so I would work on it when she was at school or late at night when she was asleep. The result was my normal housework did not get done with it’s usual flair and consistency, and I was pretty tired and sleep deprived. I did manage to think I had all of my shopping done only to realize that I do not, so somewhere in this next week I need to head out to town in a panic shopping mode and rectify the situation. I am so excited for Christmas Morning. I will have to tell you in my next letter about the big surprise we have in store for our children. In the mean time we are looking forward to Christmas Parties this week, and some play time in the following week and I am already ready for School to start again!
In other new William is a bottomless pit. He is eating all of my other Children under the table. I can hardly put enough food in front of him. He has also figured out how to climb…I kind of forgot about this stage. He usually climbs up on to the table to see if there is something else to eat. But I have found him in the toilet. Apparently he decided to climb on up, and get in. And he thinks it is great fun to be naked. If I leave him in just a diaper for even a short amount of time he rips off the diaper and runs for it. He has also learned the art of giving a high five, and the “cool club” it brings you into. And he likes to clap. He definitely has a couple of words. Mom, and Dad, yep, those are the couple. He is learning grunts and gestures from Hunter and Mom seems to be responding positively.
Hunter is picking up a few new words. About 1 every 3 days now. I think His vocab might be up to around 20 words. Which is way better than it was two months ago. Hunter is also learning to dress himself. Shoes he is pretty good at, and if determined he manages to get the socks on too. I’ve seen him put on Pants, and He will have a fit if I try to do the zipper in his sleeper Pajamas. He is also figuring out how to get undressed. This may sound like a mess waiting to happen but I see it as a step toward potty training.
Erica is zooming along in School. She comes home singing all kids of songs and spouts information that I did not know that she had acquired. She is a social butterfly and likes to talk and giggle at school , and she seems to be very interested in all things social, her hair, her clothes, her shoes, her coat, ect, I hope I am not sending the snobby girl off to school every day.
Marcus had his 7th birthday on Monday. He got his first set of Legos (Which Stiles instantly dumped into His collection of Legos and claimed it was an “accident”) And a Soccer Ball which he has played with and loved all week. The Clothes he received have already made it though the wash and I think he thought that it was cool to have something new to wear. Jon took him DI shopping and he came home with an electronic Dart board. At night I would have to tell Jon that “NO Marcus can not play a game with you right now…He is doing his homework!” I think Jon is way more excited than Marcus but Marcus seems to really enjoy having the game set up in his room.
Stiles is so glad to be on Christmas break. He continues to try and control everything and his room could use some attention. But other than that, he is a big help around here when he wants to be. He is excited to be reading bigger chapter books and stays up late into the night to read them. I think that he would be less grumpy if he got more sleep but I am not going to tell him that he shouldn’t read. In the mean time he is reading books like it is going out of style, and when I ask them about them he always tells me the story so I know that he is retaining what he is reading, so that is good.
Wyatt continues to grow. He smiles at you now and can hold his head up, when he is sitting in your lap…not that I hold him much, the swing chair does most of the holding, and the bassinet, and the couch do their fair share as well. He is such a blessing to have. I can hardly believe how much he has grown in such a short amount of time. It is so wonderful to be a mommy to such a sweet kid.
Jon continues to stay busy with work. We have been truly blessed in these tough times. His calling keeps him busy as well, and I have seen Jon be an instrument in the hands of the Lord many times with the people in our ward. The Lord definitely knows his children and knows how to shape them into what He knows they can be. I am grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and the truth and light it gives to all of us. Work hard. There is only a little time left for you to do such an important work. Our Prayers are with you always. Love you Much. Merry Christmas. Love Monica and the Kiddos at the Woodin Nickel.

Answers to Mom's prayers

Dallan, Dec 13th 2009 Answers to Mom’s Prayers.
Tomorrow is Marcus’s birthday. He will be 7. I have been to the store and selected a few items that are suitable for a 7 year old. NO He will not open socks or underwear, however Christmas is very soon.
This weekend I ran out to the farm with a pile of fabric in tow and Mom’s quilting Machine in my sights. Since We had a new baby it is time to do the big bed swap. Wyatt will move from the bassinet and into the Crib, Will from the crib to the toddler bed and Hunter from the toddler bed to a twin size bed. As part of this ceremonial changing of the beds, I realized that all thought My three baby boys have many baby and crib size blankets between them, that a twin size blanket would be a needful thing for Hunter, and a slightly larger blanket for the toddler bed would be nice for William. So I whipped up some bedding with some of the free fabric that Camille acquired this summer, which she so unselfishly shares with me. Mom was very accommodating, and helped me in my projects, and even showed me some new quilting tricks. She is such a smart Cookie S-M-R-T! On hearing of my trek to the farm Camille threw her girly girls into her van and headed out as well. She brought a Christmas Project to work on, and we created away together and had much fun.
On Saturday we planned to stay till just after lunch, and then head home. It was snowing and we thought it best to drive in the middle of the day with some daylight. So we sat down to Lunch and mom Prayed that we would travel home safely, along with other wonderful things. SO we ate lunch then started throwing kids into our vans and dodging Seth’s snowballs. (he really was helping-I think) then as I was buckling the last kid into his car seat I had a sudden and strong urge and desire to go to the bathroom. Well naturally I ran back inside to the house to take care of business ( I am a girl after all) so that delayed us leaving by all of maybe 2 minutes.
We headed out and the roads were snowy but not slick and we were able to travel at a good speed. As we came up on the freeway overpass at Declo to get onto the freeway we saw two big sized trucks that had somehow kissed each other quite hard and were now into the guardrail. It was obvious that the wreak had just happened maybe one or two minutes prior. (the safety part of out trip part one) If I had not gone pee our timing would have put Camille in that wreck (since she was driving ahead of me) and the wreak was not caused by slick roads, because the road right there was clear. We think it was caused by inattentive driving.
So as we are heading down the freeway the road is basically clear, wet, but it was about 33 degrees outside so we are not too worried. And Camille is about a 4th of a mile ahead of me. And she goes around a semi truck- the ones they use to haul the sugar beets to the factory with a trailer-pup on the back- And I come up on the butt of this truck and for some reason ( the holy ghost) I feel like I need to back off of this truck. So I hesitated and took my cruise control off and fell back just a little way. Then I assessed that the road seemed fine, there was a skiff of snow, but it didn’t seem to be icy. So I decided that it would be okay to pass so I sped back up, and I am close enough, I decide to switch into the passing lane to go around and as I starting to move into the other lane, the trailer of that Semi started to fishtail all over the road. I was sure I was going to watch it dive right off of the road but the driver did get it back under control. If I had stayed constant with my cruise control I would have been on the side of that semi when it started to fishtail (safety part of the trip #2)
After I got my heart out of my throat I called Camille and told her she had better slow down! So she did and I did and then about the time we got to American Falls we saw another beet hauling semi truck all over in the ditch in a zigzag jack-knife pattern that I think had some of the trailer was very close to, if not on, the frontage road! (we are so glad we were not involved in that mess! and the crazy thing was the road was not really icy anywhere! ) SO When I arrived home SAFELY I called Mom and let her Know that her Prayer at Lunch had immediately been answered and I know that She is praying for you every chance she can get! So when you see blessing for your safety and success you can be sure that one more of Mom’s prayers are being answered because the Lord is listening to her.
The Church is true! Christ is our Savior he was born in Bethlehem and died for us on Calvary. Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God. He Restored the Gospel to the earth. Because of him we can have all of the blessing that Our Savior and Heavenly Father have Promised us. The Book of Mormon is a true book. It has an amazing spirit and testimony of Christ. Families are Forever and Ever and I am grateful that you get to be part of my Family. I Love my Brothers and Sister and their Husbands and Wives and Children. It has been such a blessing to our Family to have such a great Mother and Father, who taught us the gospel and kicked us in the butt when we needed it. We will all miss you this Christmas and I am sure you miss us. But we will try to take of the missionaries serving here, and trust that some sweet Hermana and Hermano are taking care of you there.
Lots of Love and Faith and Prayer are sent your way every day. Love The Woodin Nickels.

sick and cold

Dallan, DEC 7th 2009
It is white and COLD outside. I have a cold and so do Wyatt and William. And to top it all off William, Marcus, and Hunter all threw up last night! - I have a bit of extra laundry to do now. Poor Marcus had it coming out both ends and left quite the mess in the bathroom. Other than sickness we had a full busy week. What we did, I can not fully remember, but I am sure I fixed a few meals and changed a large number of diapers.
On Saturday Evening Erica “ran into a wall and hit the mirror” and cut herself open just below her eyebrow. We were not sure if it needed stitches or not. It probably would not have hurt to put one stitch in her. As it was Saturday evening all of the doctor offices had just closed. So we called the hand surgeon in our ward. He was heading home from work and met us at his house. His wife is a nurse and together they decided that a stitch was not necessary and just glued and taped her back together. Her eye turned pretty purple on Sunday and swelled up a little bit, but in the end I think her appearance will not be altered very much at all by the incident.
I gave all of my family haircuts this weekend and Erica’s really bad haircut from Stiles a year and a half ago has now totally grown out. I cut Erica’s longest hair to the same length as her short hair and now she doesn’t have a mullet anymore. I am very happy that hair will grow back. I just wish that her hair grew as fast as Stiles hair. It would have all been back in half the time. Hunter by the way I think takes after you in that his hair is SOOOO thick. You can hardly see his scalp. Jon thought it was a good idea to start cutting his hair without my help. So a military haircut is what he ended up with.-The dingle berry had the shortest guard on and then took it to his head! - do you know how cold it was outside- -2 degrees. I was going to leave some hair on the poor guy but he is determined to freeze his head off. Got to love that guy.
We had a Relief Society Christmas dinner this week and as part of the fun our table was assigned to tell Christmas jokes. Well Jon definitely was the life of the party for that part of the party. The best part was that when Jon got up the take the microphone the Bishop quickly slipped up behind him and unplugged the mic! So everyone was rolling before Jon even got started. It was a fun night . We were suppose to bring a white elephant gift for a gift exchange and of course we forgot about it so we scrounged around in the car and found a bag of red vine licorice. It was mostly full. Jon had only had a few pieces out of the bag. So we found a bag and wrapped it up. There were some very funny things wrapped up. Someone wrapped up their old plumbing parts! The bishop and his wife ended up with one Reese’s peanut butter cup which their teenage daughter promptly ate. We had a great time.
Stiles is loving scouts and this week the pack went to old town to see the collection of toy train cars that is set up there this time of year. Stiles thought it was so awesome! I just wish we didn’t have to hunt for his scout uniform every week. It is never where it should be! Somehow Stiles is sure that I am at fault. I on the other hand believe it is the other way around. So we will probably hunt for it again this week.
Well I need to go and tend to the sick. I hope that you are well and that you are keeping yourself busy. The church is true. Jesus is our Savior and we have a prophet today. Now get back to work!
Love Monica and the Woodin nutcrackers.

Thnkasgiving keys

Dallan, Nov 30 2009
We survived Thanksgiving. No body threw up and everybody ate lots and lots. It was fun to be together at Mom’s house, she has really been working hard to get it looking beautiful for this weekend and she did succeed however we all drug our little kids around and the kids tore apart the house about as fast as a tornado could. We picked up legos all weekend long and the little girls dressed up and accessorized Barbie to their hearts content. Friday morning All the girls, except Sara and Mom packed up at a very early hour and diligently spent their husbands money as fast as they could. The shopping was great and some very good deals were available and I don’t think anybody got hurt. The boys enjoyed football for about every minute that it was on all weekend long. BYU beat Uof U and Boise won their game against Nevada. All the other games were watched and assessed and talked about but not of any real importance, but they were watched all the same. Jon and Jason and Uncle Gardell really put mom’s upgraded TV package to good use and were excited to be entertained in the basement for most of the weekend. The constant crying this weekend was as stated Constant. If it wasn’t one child it was another and the same goes for Poopy diapers. I think all of moms garbage cans were filled to the brim with the stuff. We were all excited to hear Martin and Sara’s good news and hope Sara get’s to feeling better soon. Sara and I win the not so smart blond award for the weekend. Somehow I picked up her coat and she picked up my coat and then Sara and Martin took it all the way to Utah before Sara realized the switch, My keys to the Van were in the pocket. The Only keys we have to our new van. Martin was very sweet and drove back to Snowville and met Jon so we could switch back the keys and the coats. It made for a fun memory and lots of laughs. Jon and I plan on making a copy of our van key and hiding it on the van sometime this week. This week is full of lots of other things that should get done and might get done and probably will be procrastinated as long as possible but I need to bet back to my procrastinating. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays are as much fun for you as we are hoping they will be for us.
Love Monica and the Woodin Nickel Nutcrackers Heads