Once there was a snowman...

 

 snowman

 snowman

 once there was

a snowman

tall, tall, tall

we made him a wifey

and doggie 

a little boy

now he has a family

 

and that is all

 until it rained the next day and all of Jennifer and Erika  (and a few friends) hard work melted away.

I couldn't bear to take melting pics....

A sad morning

(photo credit)

Mark and I got a text at 6:15 this morning from Christian that the roof of the Provo Tabernacle had just collapsed. He and his roommates heard a news report that it was on fire and they when downtown to see it for themselves. The fire was reported at 2:40 AM or so but the building was already engulfed enough that they couldn't fight it from the inside. Christian said the stain glass windows were just melting. Such a great loss. This building was built in the late 1800's and had been used for many many years by the community for all kinds of meetings and concerts (usually free). A week ago last Sunday Jennifer (as part of the German club from Timpview High School) took part in a German Christmas celebration here. Jennifer played her flute. During the month of December it's booked solid with free events every evening and many other churches holding church services here also. Since we have lived in Provo, we have attended Stake Conference in the tabernacle twice a year, including one year when President Hinckley attended as a surprise guest. It was an amazing building with carved wood, stained glass windows, circular staircases and a balcony. Utah has had a rash of vandalism of church buildings lately, including our own stake center just two weeks ago. I really hope we didn't loose this historic building because of the selfishness of a few people. You can get updated information here.

Erika

This is Erika.

Erika is from Brazil.

When Robbie was in the Sao Paulo MTC Erika taught him Portugese.

The missionaries she had for the two years she taught at the MTC taught her English

Erika will be staying with us while attending BYU this winter semester to study English.

If you know English in Brazil you can get a job teaching English,

but if you have studied English in America you can get a really good job teaching English...

enough to help pay for the really good university in Brazil.

Erika arrived Sunday and we have really enjoyed having her with us.

Her English is very good and we can usually guess the word she is looking for when she doesn't remember the right word.

We took her to see Inception - which was not her favorite.

I tried to starve her with my meager lunch yesterday

(In Brazil the biggest meal of the day is lunch)

but made up for it by taking her to In and Out Burger today

which she LOVED.

She is getting settled in and we are looking forward to a fun few months showing her around Utah.

What I've been up to...

busy with life

having a blast with kindermusik

getting ready for Erika* to come

and while Mark was out of town for a week I took on a few projects

OK a few too many projects

but here are some I finished:

 Made two of these for the living room, 

same fabric, different birdy placement

 Dresser for Jenn's room

used to be a plain, cheap pine dresser

 painted and stenciled - some new knobs

Gutted and set up Jenn's closet.

*more about Erika soon.

Although I failed to post...

I'm not completely ungrateful:

Not shown in this picture is

"A beautiful wife who loves me"

and I would also add

incredible children

incredible spouses of my children 

totally amazing granddaughters

music

Kindermusik

a fabulous husband who loves and supports me in everything I do.

I am truly blessed!