Grandma Martha

Dear Family,
Between my short-term memory and my long-term memory and my failing eyesight I write this epistle.

I suppose the highlight of the past two months would be Sisters' week. Emily got us a nice Swiss looking condo in Midway to have our party. Thanks to Lucy we had a member of the opposite sex with us named Garrett. He is so lovable …we all enjoyed our stay that much more. During our get together we went out to eat twice, once in Midway and once in Park City. We played games like card Monopoly and Scramble Slam...also Phase 10 at several Intervals. It was enjoyable to go to church in Midway the one Sunday we were there. Several walks were taken…scenery was like being In Switzerland. Weather was all in our favor.

Lucy came early so she could put up grape juice. Unfortunately some deer caused the amount of grapes to have dwindled, so the amount was less than hoped for…but I appreciate the bottles that were done.
At the end of our time we were able to visit with Robin at her home and also at the little restaurant where her son works and where we ate.

Janet and Marty took me out to visit with Wendy and family at their new home in Daybreak. It was fun to see how the homes out there looked like the picture I have of the House that the Jacobsens lived in around the early 1900's in Chicago.

I have been invited to spend Thanksgiving with the Hill family and am looking forward to it.

Heather took me out to Saratoga Springs to witness the baptism of Katelyn Bosley. It was good to see many of the families of Rick & Reba's posterity. Nicole gave a good talk on baptism. I was very impressed with Jeff Troutman Jr. What a fine young man he is…also the hugs from the great grandchildren.

For my Birthday the Relief society and my visiting teachers took me to Lunch and presented me with an enlarged print copy of the lesson manual.

Annemarie and I went out to lunch. She is the Family History Consultant in her ward and is frustrated. So we compared some notes.

Well I’ve had my third shot for the eyes and can't see any improvement. Grateful for Dorothy who has taken me to all my appointments as well as to the Bountiful Temple…getting cards done. Rick Jr. called . Good to hear from him. He was heading for Washington DC on a flight
Thanks again for the calls Thanks for Rick's kindness to me. For the food. Nice for Heather to be here to give piano lessons to Mitchell and Alyssa. For John and Emily’s help in picking up groceries.

Leaves are all down, we’ve had our first snow so season is changing. It was fun to see the Andersons clever costumes for Halloween.

Good to have family I am so grateful. Love forever to all of you.
Signing off is Grandma,Great Grandma, Mom…Martha

Dorothy

November 11, 2010
Dear Family,
Marcus has been out on his mission for four months and Penny has just four months left. Crazy! They are both enjoying their missions and are doing well. They have investigators who are very interested and hope to be baptized soon. They love getting letters the snail-mail way, so take a moment to write or send a Christmas card. Postage to England is 98c, Canada, 75c.

Elder Marcus Albert Tomlinson
England London South Mission
The London Temple, West Park Road
Newchapel, Surrey
England RH7 6 NB

Sister Penny Sue Tomlinson
Canada Calgary Mission
7044 Farrell Rd SE
Calgary, Alberta T2H OT2
Canada

Alan and I are taking a weekly CES class held in our stake on Doctrine & Covenants and Church History. As one of his high council assignments, he unlocks the doors and sets things up for it each week. I assist by playing the organ. We really enjoy these classes.
One of Alan’s newer responsibilities is over missionary work in the stake. He’s done this for just a few weeks, but I notice him really enjoying it as he becomes more involved with the spirit of missionary work.
Ariane went to lots of play rehearsals before and after school during September and October until the musical, “Guys and Dolls” was performed last weekend at Copper Hills High School. She was in more than half of the scenes (female ensemble). She played her part very well and had fun doing it. I’m glad to have her home right after school again (keeps me company), and she’s glad to have a little more time to sleep.
I was also more involved with the play this year because I volunteered to do a few things during the musical, like sell concessions, etc. After that first parents meeting, I soon found myself as a member of the school’s performing arts board. I guess I should be involved in some way since I haven’t done much volunteering in behalf of my children since they left elementary (I used to volunteer to help out a lot when they were that age), and Ariane is the last one in her last year of school. I’m missing that chapter in my life already! But at the same time I’m enjoying the new chapter that is unfolding, that of Grandparenthood! Thank you Jason and Becky for making it possible!!
During UEA when the kids were out of school, Alan took two days off work so we could have a family mini-vacation. Five of us went to Aspen Grove to their sponsored “Family Weekend Get-Away.” We enjoyed hiking and playing lots of outdoor and indoor games together, plus the weather was perfect.
As soon as we got back from that, I left for a few more days for a “sisters get-away” with Lucy, Emily, Priscilla, Jennifer, and Mom. Emily was able to make arrangements for us to stay in a nice place in Midway. Again the weather was perfect. We felt like we were in Europe with the Swiss flavor of the area. We enjoyed going for walks, eating out, shopping, and playing games together. I’m glad we have continued this tradition.
I’m so thankful for all of you and feel very blessed to be part of this wonderful Lindgren family clan. I’m thankful for our rich heritage and a wonderful mother who taught me about them and continues to tell me stories about them. I love you all. May you have a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving.
Love, Dorothy

Tomlinson photos

more Tomlinson fun!

Sister Penny Tomlinson

Elder Marcus Tomlinson

Heather

Hello, family! Happy Holidays! I'm getting excited to decorate MY HOUSE for Christmas! As soon as we're through with Thanksgiving, of course... I don't even remember what I have packed away anymore. Hopefully I'll be able to get rid of a few things as I go through the boxes of stuff I've accumulated over the last several years. (rather than save forgotten treasures, like I did with several boxes I was planning to 'clean out' when I moved in...) There hasn't been a big snowstorm, yet, but I'm thinking a snowblower may be a good investment to help clear the sidewalks that came with the house... It will also be interesting to see what kind of bills I have as it gets colder. Life is good. I'm still the librarian/math teacher/reading teacher at school, teach piano lessons for Mitchell and Alyssa once a week, sing with the Sterling Singers on Sunday evenings. (Christmas concert at the end of November, and a concert in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in March! cool) I haven't been dancing much lately - living in Pleasant Grove has moved me further away from the places I used to go. Thanks to the economy troubles, there haven't been as many opportunities, either. As a dancing friend pointed out, I need to put it back at the top of my priority list... It has been nice to have my brother, Daniel, living with me. We don't see a lot of each other - I work all day, he works till at least 8 most evenings. But, it's good to know I'm not alone. I see him more now than I used to! I still have an empty (except for several empty boxes) bedroom if a cousin wants to move in for a while... (reasonable rent!) Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I am very Thankful to be part of the Lindgren clan, and to claim you as family.

Love, Heather

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Ammon

Hey Lindgrens!

Ammon here reporting from a damp and cold November in Seattle. Things are going well for the Gilberts and it has been quite the busy last couple of months. Finn and Harper are doing great--Harper is getting more and more teeth everyday it seems like and she's about 2 seconds away from walking around on both feet. She's taken up to four steps but still prefers the method of crawling for her main form of transportation (so much faster than stepping at this point). She also LOVES to eat and will pretty each eat and try everything and anything you put in front of her. Her hair is growing in super curly and much darker than her brother's, it's just a matter of time before she's in pigtails, I'm sure of it.

Finn is back in preschool and enjoying every second of it. He's still into trains and firetrucks and superheroes and watching cartoons. He's also getting pretty savy on his Skoot Bike (a bike without a pedals), so much so that we have to run after him just to keep up. He's really good and talking and communicating what he wants and what he doesn't want and he loves to talk about his day and all the fun adventures he's had at the dinnertable.

At the beginning of October we piled the kids in the car, picked up Mom and Steve at the airport, and headed down to Great Wolf Lodge, a waterpark resort of sorts for kiddos. We went to celebrate Finn's 3rd birthday and boy did we have fun! Along with fun in the water, our room was like a giant wolf cave and there was even an arcade which sucked both his parents and him in. Even Harper had fun playing in the water in the kiddie-pool area. To top it off, we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and Finn got an exploding volcano cake--he was in heaven.

October also consisted of pumpkin patches (we hit up the same one Angela and I got engaged at) and a Halloween party with Finn and his preschool buddies and their families. Angela went all out and made our house the coolest Halloween-savy house in the neighborhood, busting out all kinds of crafty Halloween fun for all to enjoy. We then went Trick or Treating and Finn came away with more candy than any of his other friends. Don't know how, but the kid has a knack for scoring candy. Harper also go in the candy spirit and ate her way through the wrappers of a Reeses Pieces Peanut Butter Cup, a Heath bar, and chowed down about 5 or 6 candy corns--all while we weren't looking. What can I say--she LOVES to eat!

For Halloween, Finn was Buzz Lightyear... and a Zoo Keeper... and Wonder Woman... and Peter Pan. The kid loves dressing up so he had a new costume for all the various Halloween events throughout the month. His favorite was Wonder Woman though--just don't call him Super Girl. He'll be quick to correct you. Harper was also Wonder Woman--and Tinkerbell. Halloween night I was Captain Hook, Finn was Peter Pan, Harper was Tinkerbell, and Angela was Wendy. We had quite the theme going for ourselves this year.

I'm "gowing" a mustache for Movember, it's a charity thing, but also just an excuse to grow a mustache. This year I thought I'd be old enough to actually grow facial hair but as we're 2 weeks into it and it's slightly more than fuzz, I'm thinking it's not gonna really happen. Maybe once I hit 30....

Work is going great for me, I really dig working at Microsoft--except for the commute, especially now that it gets dark by 5 o'clock. But I enjoy what I do now so I can't really complain.

We can't wait for the holiday season to kick-off--it's gonna be a busy next couple of months but we'll have fun (as usual). Looking forward to hearing your stories and adventures!

Love, The Gilberts (Ammon, Angela, Finn, Harper)

Ryan

Hello Lindgrens!

Hope you are all well. We've had a busy past month of traveling and moving.

We had a fun trip across the US. We drove with four month old Sammy and visited friends and family throughout the U. S. Sam was really good in the car but we did take a lot of breaks. He would wear out at the end of the day. We tried to keep car time at around 5 hours for most days. We ended up stopping in Dayton Ohio, Springfield Illinois, St Louis Missouri, Nauvoo Illinois, Independence Missouri, Abilene, Kansas, and Denver, CO on out way to Colorado Springs.

One cool thing is we got to spend time with Misty and her cute kids in Nauvoo. I posted on Facebook that we were in Nauvoo and Mike made sure we connected. Misty gave us insider tours of Carthage, the Nauvoo cemetery, and Nauvoo. I (Ryan) had only met Misty once before she was a Lindgren at a family Christmas party and we enjoyed getting to know her family. We are grateful for her hospitality. Its too bad Rick was off flying around the country or we could have spent time with him too. She cooked us meals and even took care of Sam while we went to the Nauvoo Temple.

I accepted a job working as a Social Worker with active duty US Army service members with psych and physical difficulties at Fort Carson. We had all of our stuff shipped separately from North Carolina, so we didn't have to drag extra stuff as we moved our little family to Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have been out here for about three weeks now and are living in a townhouse near base. It's an adjustment working for the Army but my coworkers are nice and I think I will like what I am able to do counseling the soldiers. The altitude and temperature is the biggest adjustment. We are using the heat, humidifiers, lotion and chap stick. I think we are going to like it here.

Here are some more pictures and a post of our trip on our blog: http://cheyneyandryan. blogspot.com/2010/10/more- nauvoo.html

Ryan, Cheyney, and Sam

Priscilla

Dear Lindgren family

Time keeps moving too fast. Already it is cold. Jim has cut some wood and our wood stove is keeping us warm. I have a bunch of carrots in the garden.

I obtained State of Arizona substitute teacher certificate just in case I would need it. I used it Friday when a substitute at our school had an emergency and had to leave. So I taught 5th graders for two hours. It was great because the teacher has the class so organized. The students said, “I can’t believe we have a substitute for our substitute.” We had silent reading, then science when I got to teach about cell membranes, and then extra Friday recess for those who earned it. In my classroom the regular teacher left to teach 1st grade, a position that opened when a teacher left the state. So now we have a long term substitute. Special Ed teacher position is hard to stay filled here.

Hyrum developed a toothache and turns out he needs a root canal. Orthodontics moved his teeth and the root of #7 bent at the top and pinched of the nerve that started to decay and cause an infection. Bryan will be getting braces and Isaiah broke his glasses and needs new ones.

Jim accompanied the kindergarten field trip to the dairy. He was responsible for Riley, Juan and our neighbor Randy.

I was sustained as Stake Primary President in stake conference today. I have lots of people to get to know. We already had a stake leadership meeting earlier this month. It went well.

Love, Priscilla

Sisters

Wendy

Hi Lingos,

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We are finally living in Utah and are thrilled to be home. It's so nice to have family nearby. We love our neighborhood. Living within walking distance to school, church, the temple, and shopping has been so nice (although having a Target so close is breaking my budget!). It's a very active community with miles and miles of paths for biking, running, roller blading, and walking. I went to DI and bought all my kids roller blades for 5 bucks and we've been having a great time! There's a beautiful lake to go boating, and we keep discovering all sorts of parks. We love it!

Uprooting our family from the South and moving across the country was definitely daring, but we feel like it was the right thing and the right time for our family. We enjoyed stopping in Nauvoo on the drive out and seeing the historical sites. Our kids have made friends quickly at school. My kids are in year-round school, so they had most of October off. We filled our time going on mini field trips with my mom. We visited Sweet's Candy Factory, Thanksgiving Point, candy shop in Alpine, Cabela's, visited a rare coin store, aquarium, Gateway children's museum, etc. My kids really enjoyed visiting Grandma and picking grapes, apples, plums, and raspberries. Lucy taught us how to make grape juice and applesauce, while Grandma made a plum kuchen.

Emilie is about to turn 12 and enter the Young Women's program. I'm so excited for her--I loved YW. Elisabeth had a big birthday party where the girls decorated cakes and did manicures. She and Alexander are signed up for the Junior Jazz basketball program. They're also going to take ice skating lessons. They're very excited about the snow, although I have not missed the snow one bit these past 13 years in Georgia. Benjamin is busy collecting pennies on the ground to put in his penguin purse. He loves riding his bike and I'm glad to have him as my side kick. Justin is doing well and is in India this week on business. With this uncertain economy and his company's restructuring, we are very thankful he still has his job, and that they didn't mind us moving.

Love, Wendy and family

Jennifer

Dear Family,

Finn turned three on his birthday early in October -- we spent the night at the Great Wolf Lodge, famous for its indoor water park. Finn was so happy to get his Batman Cave that was on his "wish list," along with another superhero, Spiderman. He loved playing in the water at the water park -- and so did Harper. He dressed up as a fireman since the Lodge was in Halloween mode. It was a fun celebration.

The following week I met up with my sisters and mom in Midway and enjoyed a few days of togetherness and silliness -- we made some delicious meals (shredded pork burritos) and shared healthy tips for longevity. And I learned a new game -- Monopoly Deal.

The Friday before Halloween I dressed up as a pumpkin, and wore my costume to work. On Halloween we ate at Claim Jumpers (for my traditional birthday that comes every year on this day) and came home in time to catch most of the World Series (in which the San Francisco Giants won!) and to treat the trick or treators.

On October 1 our law firm merged with another firm -- and just when you'd think we were big enough, we're going to get even bigger with another merger on January 1. We'll then have 17 offices all over the world and our new name will be Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton, with over 650 attorneys (headquartered in Atlanta, GA). We'll be getting new computers, phones, and will be learning a whole new document management system, etc. I'll be learning all kinds of new stuff. Our small Oakland branch does construction litigation. So the little family law firm that I've worked at for 19 years is gone...kinda sad.

This weekend we put in a new garage door opener -- that is, Steve did, with my assistance. Just one more thing to repair...

Wishing a very special Happy 30th Birthday to my little boy who is going to be 30 on the 30th of this month!! Happy Birthday Ammon!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Love, Jennifer and Steve