10/07/2002 Newsletter
10-07-2002
This week has kind of been a wind-down week for us after the great dumpster filling excitement of last week. We have made quite a few changes to our house this week, but didn't have to lift a finger for them other than to pick up a pen to write a check.
We had our new furnace and AC unit installed on Wednesday. Since then we have enjoyed the luxury of not having to remember to turn the thermostat on and off and waking up to a warm bedroom instead of freezing for the first half hour of the morning. Getting the AC installed at the beginning of winter has been a little anti-climactic. Everyone is jealous though (everyone meaning my parents and my sister who both have swamp coolers.) I'm excited to try it out next year when it starts to get warm again.
We also had a new water heater installed and have loved taking long showers without the hot water running out. We decided to get a 50 gallon instead of just replacing our 40 gallon tank, we figure that the time will come when having those 10 extra gallons will be worth it.
James started his new job this week, but hasn't been able to get much work done due to technical difficulties with his new computer upgrade. He decided that if he was going to be working on his computer all day that he wanted it to be a little faster and nicer, so he bascially bought all the parts for a new computer. He had trouble with the new motherboard and after a day of trying to figure out what was wrong decided to replace it with a diffferent one. Everything seems to be up and running just fine now so hopefully he can get some regular work done this week, plus some make up for last week.
I have been working with the other members of the Primary Presidency to get our Primary program in order so that we can give it on the 20th. We are doing it very simply and in line with the guidelines that the church has set for it. The Primary president is very against doing "fluffy" extras that the church doesn't condone and I think she is very smart in this approach. So it will mostly just be singing and short parts by the kids. We have a very small Primary (for Utah that is) and so the program promises to be short and sweet.
We loved having Grandpa Lynn and Grandma Jean come and visit us this Friday. They took the grand tour of our house and are excited to come back and see how the work progresses. We also went out to dinner with them at the Macaroni Grill and enjoyed the good food and good company.
Saturday and Sunday were spent in watching and being edified by General Conference. I think the main theme of the conference this year was Preparedness and Sacrifice. There were several talks on Tithing and accepting Church callings, and James reported that in Priesthood session President Hinckley reiterated his call to get our houses in order and to get out of debt. Other major news from the Priesthood session was that Temple recommends are now going to be good for 2 years instead of one and that the Church is doing away with Missionary Farewells and Homecomings as we know them. I guess a Farewell and Homecoming will now only consist of the missionary speaking. There will be no parent talks, no special musical numbers, and no open houses afterward. I think that a lot of people will have a hard time with this counsel, but I think that it's good, espcially here in Utah where missionary stuff can get way out of hand.
Sunday we went to Laura's house for the 2nd session and dinner. We had yummy Sauerbraten and Cake and ice cream for Aunt Sally's birthday. It was a fun evening spent with family members that we don't get to see very often.
That's it for this week. We hope that everyone is well and happy and we'd love to hear from all of you.
Love,
Miekka and James
