Basketball vids

Brian, Lucy, Peter, and I drove to Glenrock yesterday to watch Andy play basketball.  Glenrock is a small town 20 minutes outside of Casper and it took us around 3 hours to drive there.  Andy made nearly all his free throws:

 After the game we took advantage of being by a larger city and stopped in Casper to go to Ridley's and Target and get a blizzard at Dairy Queen.  Lucy and Peter didn't complain too much about being in the car for awhile, the portable DVD player has been one of our best investments!

Elder Edholm--week 33

So Elder Maynes came to the mission this week which was really cool! He is really good speaker. He is from the presidency of the 70. But he really focused on finding people and talked a lot about that which I really liked and found really interesting. Even better, after that my companion was a later more willing to go contacting, but we call it finding now. He talk about having more faith than fear, how when we're finding people we need to have a little more faith than fear.

But it's been really cool to see my companion's progress after interview's with the president and the conference with Elder Maynes he has really improved a lot and we are working a lot more effectively!

I'm really short on time today, but I got my card working and here is the pic of the baptism we had.

I'll talk more next week!

 

Baptism!!!

 

Baby Peter

This post is only funny if you know Peter.  He has banged his head since he was an infant and has never grown out of it.  Along with the head banging he will sing in rhythm to his head banging.  In this video I believe he is chanting Emma and Andy.  So cute.

Elder Edholm--week 32

Well life goes on! My goal on my mission has been to never get sick, and so far I've been doing pretty good with that, but we'll see because I'm not feeling so great today. I've found out this week that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ really do love everybody.

We were teaching this recent convert named Maria and I'm pretty sure she was just baptized because she was in love with the missionary that taught her (Sometimes missionaries really frustrate me) but ever since that certain missionary left she hasn't come to church. So we were teaching her the other day and I really just felt so much love for her and her kids and made me not want to give up on her because just because she hasn't been doing the right things doesn't mean that God hates her or gives us a reason to give up on her and never see her again. But that really if you let him, God change you a ton! I definitely feel a lot more love for the people here now than I did before, I also learned that it's not easy to love the people. So many people told me before my mission and in the MTC to just love the people, and I thought ok, easy enough, but it's definitely NOT EASY!!! Because I know that God didn't ever make it easy to did that because learning to love the people teaches you patience, humility, Charity, and so many other Christlike Attributes.

But anyway, the work is going good, Elder Varela and I are working really hard together. Doing the menial things is key I found also like contacting, it really is not fun at all, but that's how you find new people to teach. Or sometimes just getting up on time is hard and Satan wants you to think that not obeying the small commandments doesn't matter, but really you are either obedient or disobedient, there is no in between.

Anyway hope everything goes alright, and that Andy gets better!

Talk to you next week!

-Elder Edholm

Elder Edholm -- week 31

I really learned a lot this week. It was very interesting being still the beginning of the transfer and still learning how to get around my area by myself. I learned that I need to plan our visits better because our area is really big and I was putting visits right next to each other that were like on the complete opposite sides of our area, and I think that's why we weren't able to see as many people this week, but it really just taught me that the spirit comes with good organization.

We got a referrence a little while back from our ward mission leader, and his name is Julio. He is a really cool guy, right from the beginning he told us that he has some LDS friends and he really likes the example that they are to him and the life-style they had which really just told me that as members of this church we have to teach by example because who knows who is watching you and who knows who will get converted because of the example you set.

But he kind of failed us a little bit at first, wasn't in his house, didn't come to church, but we were persistent with him because we had a good feeling about him. He came to church yesterday and he is following up with his commitments. He told us how much he liked church and intends to keep on coming.

That was a big blessing because the week wasn't going at all how I wanted it, but the Lord teaches us lessons in many different ways, but it's really cool to see the fruits of being obedient, working with members and the ward, and living the missionary schedule.

Hope school is going good for everyone! Talk to you guys next week!

-Elder Edholm

Blog post on Orem Library's blog site: Chicken Pot Pie

This has been my favorite recipe that I've tried for the Orem Libray blog!  Loved it!

Just Browsing: Chicken Pot Pie

Basketball season

High school basketball season is in full swing.  The freshmen team played Thermopolis last night and beat them handily.

Andy is #34 with his back to the camera

#34 in action

Andy plays center and is getting better with each game.  He is playing in a tournament in Buffalo today.  They played Lovell, Powell, and Riverton and won all three games.  Andy was the high scorer against Lovell-24 points!

The Worland wrestling team has been in Vernal wrestling in the huge tournament that takes place there every year.  I'm finding I really miss watching Palmer wrestle!  Wrestlers have such heart and determination, I've become a convert to wrestling!  Peter gets to start the little kid wrestling in a couple of weeks, he's pretty excited!

Books in 2015

Reading is one of my top pastimes, it's up there with sleep and eating out with my husband!  In 2015 I read many books, not all of them were stellar, but some were awesome!  I've complied my list here along with my unbiased comments!  Apologies in advance if the ones on my most hated list are your favorites!

Thumbs up aka best books ever and I didn't want them to end!

Fiction:

Tourist Trap Mysteries, by Lyn Cahoon.  These simple mysteries really caught my heart!  Jill owns a bookstore/coffee shop in a small California town.  Her boyfriend is the local police chief.  Together they solve murder mysteries.  That summary sounds pretty cheesy, but the author really brings together a perfect balance of romance, mystery, intrigue, and happy endings!  As one reviewer put it this is pure relaxing escapism!  

Junior Fiction:

Jinx's Fire, by Sage Blackwood.  This is the conclusion to the trilogy and I loved it as much as I loved the first book!  Jinx is a lovable character that is trying to save the forest and keep peace between all the people who use the forest, magical and non-magical alike.  He makes mistakes and is foolishly courageous and so I found myself cheering for him the entire way.  I read the first book a few years ago and so I was very excited to see how the author ended his adventures.  I'm happy to say it was a satisfying ending!

Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick.  This is the first in the Mother-Daughter Book Club series and one I have been meaning to read for quite some time.  It didn't disappoint.  These girls, so different from each other, yet thrown together in a book club with their drastically different mothers made a very fun read.  I loved how the book they were reading--Little Women--was a part of their story.  A great book for aspiring young readers and writers!

Teen Fiction:

Waistcoats and Weaponry by Gail Carriger.  This is the third book in the Finishing School series.  It's a steampunk novel and I listened to it as I drove to Cody and back.  I don't normally like to listen to audio books, but this narrator was great!  All the characters in this book are described perfectly and I felt like their adventures were very believable in a unbelievable world.  

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson.  This takes place in the wild homesteads of Montana.  Hattie inherits a homestead at age 16 and has a year to make it successful so she can call it her own.  She has lots of pluck and spirit amidst many setbacks.  The descriptions of the Montana winters hit home as I was experiencing my own Wyoming winters.  My respect for those earlier settlers increased dramatically.  They were true heroes!

Books that I liked, but didn't love.  There is a lot of these so I'll just list their title and author with some genres at the end.

Fiction:

Freefall by Traci Hunter Abramson, Saint Squad #1 (contemporary, LDS, spy)

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs, Alpha and Omega #1 (fantasy, werewolf, LDS author)

Dawn Comes Early by Margaret Brownely, Brides of the Last Chance Ranch #1 (historical, romance)

Longing for Home by Sarah M. Eden (historical, romance)

Junior Fiction:

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.  2015 Newbery Award Winner. (contemporary, basketball)

Unlocking the Spell by E.D. Baker.  A Tale of the Wide Awake Princess series.  (fantasy, fairy tale)

The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black. Magisterium #2.  Read aloud to my kids. (fantasy)

The Girl Who Could Not Dream by Sarah Beth Dunst. (fantasy)

Savvy and Scumble both by Ingrid Law.  Read aloud to my kids. (contemporary fantasy)

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel by Michael Scott.  6 books in the series.  (fantasy)
Stormbreaker and Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz, first two books in the Alex Rider series. Read aloud to Peter who absolutely loves these James Bondish books for young people!  (contemporary, spy, intrigue)

Teen Fiction:

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. (contemporary)

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen (contemporary)

The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson (fantasy)

Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey (contemporary)

Forgiven by Janet Fox (historical)

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson (fantasy, steampunk)

Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier.  Shadowfell #1. (fantasy)

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer Nielsen. Ascendance #3. (fantasy)

Deliverance by C.J. Redwine. Courier's Daughter #3. (fantasy)

Aos Si, Under Hill, and Midnight all by Rebecca Lyn Shelley.  Aos Si series.  (fantasy)

Fractured and Shattered by Teri Terry.  Slated series 2 and 3. (post-apocalyptic) 

Non-Fiction:

Assisted: An Autobiography by John Stockton (biography)

The following books didn't make my hate pile, but were just lukewarm.

Teen Fiction:

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting.  (fantasy)

The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson. (fantasy, fairy tale)

Dangerous by Shannon Hale. (contemporary, mystery)

Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James.  (fantasy, fairy tale)

The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban.  (contemporary)

Defy by Sara Larson. Defy series #1. (fantasy)

The Chapel Wars by Lindsey Leavitt (contemporary, romance)

Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont  (science fiction, time travel)

Here they are!!  I really didn't like these at all.

Fiction:

Until We Touch by Susan Mallory.  This is a contemporary romance, but had too many sexual situations and I couldn't read some of it.

Steadfast Heart by Tracie Peterson.  Brides of Seattle #1.  Historical romance that was just badly written and frankly boring.

Junior Fiction:

Alek by Bodil Bredsdorff. This is in the Children of Crow Cove series that takes place in Denmark 100 years ago or so.  I had read some of the other ones and liked them so I read this aloud to my kids.  It was just too boring!  Thankfully it was short. 

House of Secrets by Chris Columbus.  This is a very popular series--House of Secrets, but I really didn't like it.  Andy asked me to read it because he loved it, but there were just 18 too many over the top bad things happening to these kids.  I mean I know in fantasy novels bad things happen, but really this was just too much.  The plot felt very forced.  

The Book of Storms by Ruth Hatfield.  I only have one word for this book--weird.  It was just too weird for me.  Fantasy books can border on the weirdness level, but this was a little too far fetched.  Plus the bad guy was really creepy.

Teen Fiction:

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.  This is a nightmare inducing novel.  I really didn't like it at all!  The evil presence was very menacing and even the resolved ending didn't help.  Very dark fantasy.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lyn Barnes.  My daughter will not like to see this title on my hate list. It was a well written book and the plot and characters were great.  It was just too violent for me, a little too much blood and talk of serial killers put the nail in this one's coffin.  Contemporary mystery.  

Elder Edholm -- week 30

Well we got transfers right after Christmas and Elder Solis left to San Juan which is way far west, but we had a great time together as companions. We were both really young and we learned a lot together. I think we were only together for one transfer because we had such a good companionship.

So I got Elder Varela. He is from Honduras and he is from the same group as Elder Solis. But a new transfer is always good because for me it gives me a new chance to start over and just have a new fire to work hard again. 

I really do so the fruits of being obedient and working hard because we have found a couple of new people that I really feel good about that I don't think we would've found if we weren't being obedient and working hard.

Today we went to the Nobles's house, there was an activity there, but they are a really cool family. They have been members for 50 years! That is just unheard of in this country. They have lived in the states for a lot of years. He worked at the Kansas City Royals baseball stadium for like 12 years. But there house was really cool. It's really far out there, but they've got like a river in their backyard, and they have a pool table in their house! Brother Nobles is really good and he taught me a lot.

But I don't know if I've told you guys about Pablo. Pablo was a referrence from the ward. He is the husband of a member, and we started teaching him about six weeks ago and he is progressing really well. The only thing is that we can only teach him like two times a week, but he has a baptismal date for January 30th, and that should go through.

But everything is going well here and it was cool to talk to you guys last week, hope you guys had a good new years too!

Orem Library blog

Here is my latest post contribution to the Orem Public Library's blog--Just Browsing.

Gingerbread Cookies