Webkinz FHE

{For 18 months – Jan ’17 to Jul ’18 – I’m posting our letter to Miranda while she's on her mission to Cochabamba, Bolivia.  Our letter titles are taken from a list of family sayings & catchphrases we recorded onto a pillowcase she has with her.  You can read her adventures on her mission blog: www.hermanamadsen.blogspot.com!}


Subject title relevant because of a conversation overheard this week, but I’ll get to that. 

First of all, Connor was Student of the Week. We made a poster about him and all his awesomeness; he took in some favorite stuffed friends; he brought some of his LEGO creations, and he passed out cookies and KitKats. His classmates got to ask him questions to get to know him better.  Special week. :)

After Connor’s class, I ran to Dr. Fenton’s to have my permanent wire removed because it came loose. Then I ran to Derek’s band performance at the school. As they were setting up I couldn’t help taking pictures of my smiling sunshine boy. 

Tuesday evening we took G&G to Tsunami for Grandma’s birthday. It was especially good. Can you see the little candle burning on her birthday dessert? 

That night:

On Wednesday, I went to the dentist, he checked out my teeth, and said I could still claim no cavities!!  

Then I went in to Fenton again and got impressions taken for my new retainer.  Did we already tell you that KelsiJo works in the office with Dr. Stucki?  Morgan & Carlie see her all the time. :) 

That night we went to the Court of Honor where Derek received TWO rank advancements. He’s been busy! 

And our favorite artist posted again. 

Then. Later that night, Sterling ran in the house with a mouse in his mouth.  He let it go, and when we tipped the couch back to get it, there were TWO. He has been bringing them in the house nonstop. So we got one, but lost one, even after pulling the fridge out. A couple hours later, I found this little kitty fascinated with the fridge. But it wouldn’t come out, no matter what we did.

So the next morning, Xena was trying to put her whole face into the vacuum hose, so I tipped the hose up, and a freshly dead mouse dropped out. (!!!) 

So more than 2 hours later, she was still nestled up to the vacuum, so I don’t know if there are more, but I wasn’t willing to investigate. (!?!?!?!!!)

We had a missionary mom lunch at Julie Huish’s house, where we all went around the table and gave an update/ talked about the things that are more unique to each mission. Talmage’s mission was swallowed into another mission; they got approval to wear plain clothes instead of shirt & tie and they are being overwhelmingly accepted. Still not allowed to proselytize, but people come up to them and talk and open up to them so easily... every mission is so different!! All the iPad missions are going to smart phone like David’s. :) 

And then Bam. 

Halle & Kierste opened their presents a day early - they got swimmy accessories, purses & lipgloss, clothes, skateboards,

And horseback riding lessons!!

Then Dad & I got on a bus. We love buses. We decided to take a trip and instead of flying or driving the new Raptor, we decided to climb on a charter bus with Mama J because she plans the best vacations ever. Oh, and Carlie came. And the LP a capella choir. We drove overnight Thursday, and went straight to the clinic on USC campus in LA.

Webkinz FHE came from all the kids bringing up webkinz on the bus ride. They reminisced about different games and their favorite spots to go. :) thought of you. :)

Then we went to Old Los Angeles, and went through the flea market, ate at this adorable and SO YUMMY “restaurant” - more like an outdoor market street vendor with a roof over his booth. So awesome! 

We also met Sacra, a visiting handiman, who was eating there for his third time that day because it was so good. When he heard we were from Utah, he told us we should call his sister in salt lake and tell her we saw him.  So he wrote her number on his business card and I kept it. You never know. 

Then after shopping around at the outdoor market, the kids came into this plaza where there was a live singer with a recorded band, and sweet Mexican people dancing. Our kids took over the plaza, entertaining everyone for hours. They did the Macarena, played missionary tag & duck duck goose, picked up little kids from the crowd and brought them into the dance, had a dance-off with this ancient man who was cutting a rug out there... he was on fire!!!

We got on our buses and headed straight to Hollywood, where we walked for a mile to our Broadway show. It was so sketchy! But look at all those stars on Hollywood Blvd!

We saw Aladdin. It was spectacular; such a sparkly, beautiful set design through the whole show. 

Saturday morning we went to the festival at Sunny Hills HS. I don’t know if you would have believed how rundown, old, and ancient and decrepit this school was. It was wow.

THEN WE WENT TO MEDIEVAL TIMES.  It was like Madrigal Feaste on steroids. Like lots of steroids. See the arena?!?  There are 15 rows of seated people all the way around the arena, being served food without utensils, and there is a full-on pageant/show, complete with jousting knights, a ruling queen and her advisor MC-ing... it was pretty legit. We could hardly believe it existed and we were there. 

Eating half a chicken, etc. during the show. 

Then we ran to Disneyland for the awards ceremony. Just for a few hours.

We only really had time for one ride before the awards; we got gold and second place. They don’t know what they’re talking about because our choir crushed it. 

They made the awards ceremony totally cute with all the characters coming out for a song & dance number. It was super amazing. 

This morning they sang in church of course. 

Then they sung at the LA temple visitor center. Look how official the performance is!!

One of the sister missionaries in charge of the program was Sister Salvador from Cochabamba! We were so happy to have that little connection. Shes from the aeropuerto stake.  She’s coming home from her mission in June so there’s a chance you’ll see her. :)

We returned to the stake where we went to church, had the customary pizza in the cultural hall, and gave a fireside... The Elders there were from PG and Saratoga Springs!  They were super excited to see kids from lone peak, and they said they had invited a ton of people for that night. It looked like most of the people attending were investigators and the kids hadn’t sounded better the whole trip. It was by far their best performance on all the songs and a lot of them were in tears by the end. They got to hear Mama bear her testimony of music and the tough times it has gotten her through. :)

We took a group pic with the Elders and sent it to their mommies and made them cry. :) success!!!

So today we’re in Disneyland for the rest of today, waiting for our BaBa to Hangout with us. :) Love you so much!!!!! ️️️️️️️

Skiing

{For 18 months – Jan ’17 to Jul ’18 – I’m posting our letter to Miranda while she's on her mission to Cochabamba, Bolivia.  Our letter titles are taken from a list of family sayings & catchphrases we recorded onto a pillowcase she has with her.  You can read her adventures on her mission blog: www.hermanamadsen.blogspot.com!}


Subject title because this week, Dad had the best skiing day of his WHOLE LIFE.  Pretty epic moment in time.

Apparently, Monday was:

Tuesday, we went to lunch for Kimmy & Grandma's birthdays, and Aunt Helen came, too!  And Sam.  =)

This also popped up on my Memories... remember how cute???

That night, Carlie got asked to Prom by Andrew Conley.  =)  When they were on a previous date, they had accidentally put 4 sticks of butter in their cookies, so this poster is more clever than you might initially think.  =)

Then this arrived on the interwebs:

Wednesday was kind of a big day.  First of all, it was an overcast day, and started raining/snowing later in the day, so we got this FULL, DOUBLE rainbow:

Our sweet Xena made the final leap into the family:  She got her claws removed.  She's SO MISERABLE, and I feel really sorry for her, but for us, it's the claws out, or stay at the shelter.  I really think she would choose us.

But what made it big was the national school walk out.  Started by gun control enthusiasts, there was a 17 minute walk out at 10am.  Some put it out there as if it was to "honor the 17 victims" of the FL school shooting. Some said it was to protest against guns being legal - if we take all the guns away, there won't be any shootings...

So we talked about it as a family, so the kids would know what they were up against.  If they want to walk out, do it.  Just know what you're doing and why.  So all over the U.S., there were walk outs; some with impassioned speeches, some with shouting & signs, and some thought it should be a silent time of rememberance.  We didn't get any personal pics of Lone Peak or Timberline, but here's your other favorite school participating:

And, of course, there ended up being the college kids that know everything... Hahahaha!  Some people just hear about a cause, get swayed by the talking points of the most popular opinion, and then go protest things they don't even understand.  And sometimes they have it dead wrong.  Hahaha!

Here are 2 of the funny reactions to these girls' post:

It got really crazy with the schools' reactions to the walkout, too.  There was at least one kid in Ohio (no surprise - they are the most extreme liberal state I've heard of), who was SUSPENDED because he WOULDN'T WALK OUT during the protest.  Persecuted because he wouldn't be a tool of the gun-control propaganda machine.  What a crazy world we're in.

I really liked this idea.  I heard that some kids around here tried this, and in other parts of the U.S.

Since it was 3-14 (Grandma Levie's bday, too =), Grandma Madsen had a March Madness/ Pi party at her house... Watching basketball & eating you-know-what.  But we didn't take any pictures, so it's almost like it didn't happen...  Here's a meme to take its place:

Wait.  Allow a tiny bit more nerdiness:

That night during scriptures, I kept looking over at H&K, and honestly, this is the 3rd or 4th pose that they spontaneously did exactly alike.  They were just messing around, and kept ending up in the same position at the same time, just like when they were tiny.

By the time I got my phone out, they had already been through some other ones.  It was crazy.

They also will break into spontaneous song together at the same time... it's always when they're already giggling and in sync, but it's the weirdest thing ever.  Spontaneous identicalness.

Friday was a little huge, too. Daddy said he had the best skiing day of his entire life.  Did you read that right?  Yes, you did.

Derek left for the Klondike campout.  They went to Mutual Dell:

Clint Severson is now the scoutmaster, and he brought this gargantuan tent for just him and Brother Grant.  IT HAS A WOOD BURNING STOVE IN IT. 

Dad went to the Grants' house AND HUNG OUT WITH MITT ROMNEY.  He only had time to shake hands with 4 people, and Dad was one of them!  But no one got a picture.  =/

This showed up on IG:

And then we ran over to Grandma's house for Mark & Arianny's gender reveal party.  They didn't even know the gender; only Grandma knew, and prepared everything.  So Mark got the pin ready...

Another girl!! 

Saturday, we ran over to Allen & Martha's to help them move to Mapleton, closer to their bakery.  Some of us washed all the walls in the basement, while some of us helped load the truck.

Carlie left for her Day Date to the BYU Art Museum for Morp with her date Ben... and Sela... 

and Jacob, who I think kept thinking he was just happy to be on a date with Carlie, too.  =)  In a lot of the pictures I've seen, like this one, he's looking at Carlie, or has his arm around her, or hey, is ON HER TEAM instead of Sela's for Codenames?  I'll get to that later.

THEN.  Halle & Kierste had their THIRTEEN friends over for their birthday party.  They played pictionary, did presents & cake:

Then, during the party, Carlie left for Morp.  Since the theme was Tropical, they went as pirates & mermaids... naturally, the girls were the pirates.

After pizza, etc., H&K took their friends down to the theater to watch Coco (like I've said before, a must-see) with the typical Madsen smorgasbord of treats & glow sticks:

When the friends left and only a few cousins were left, the kids turned on the HomePod on full blast, and had a dance show down to every song Siri could find for them... at one point, every light was off in the house, and the glow sticks were thrashing around the house, accompanied by wild giggling.  

As soon as I had said kids in bed, Carlie came over with her entourage for some spontaneous ice cream and game playing... good thing we had the house decorated and decked out with food & soda!!

Good times.

Today we celebrated Jodie's bday with the twins' at Grandma's.  We had mac & cheese (!!!) and ribs... you have got to have Grandpa's ribs from the smoker!!!

The end.

Now the memes:

MY LIFE:

A couple gun memes, because Theme of the Week:

Because there was another "challenge" going around to eat Tide Pods (and kids were dying/ being hospitalized):

And my friend is in Germany right now... She posted this last week.  Hahaha. I hope you know the ridiculousness he has done, and how insanely popular he got in Germany for it... he was so hot on Knight Rider & then did Baywatch, but then he made all these amazing music videos where he flew through the air on unicorns... whatever pays the bills?  David Hasselhoff:

Hey, we talked as a family about the profound influence Satan can have on us when we're vulnerable and let our guard down.  That he's always trying to find ways of tearing at us to bring us down.  That he & his followers really want us to be miserable like themselves, and we have to keep our shield up at all times.  We talked about our pre-earth life, and how when the veil is taken from our eyes, we are going to remember our life before, and remember our Dad & Mom from heaven, just as well as we know each other now.  But the war in heaven continues here, and we have to guard against falling for the voices of the adversary; they're all around us, and want us so badly.  They'll say & do anything to convince us that staying true to Jesus & Heavenly Father is old-fashioned or outdated.  They try to make the ways of the world seem so glamorous and alluring, but participating in the activities of the Great & Spacious Building always brings misery and sadness, no matter what it looks like on movies & TV.  In real life, following Satan is empty and depressing in the long run.  True happiness comes from having the Spirit with you; being able to navigate clearly through the sludge of the world; enjoying the blessings of living righteously that bring joy to our lives.  The kids had so many awesome questions about the cosmos and the workings of the Plan of Salvation.  I love it when that happens.  Answering those questions is my very favorite.  =)

Love you!  Can't wait to talk to you tomorrow, but I'll be in Connor's class because he's the Student of the Week, then at an ortho appt (!!!) to have my permanent retainer glued back onto my teeth, then at Derek's band concert at school, but I'll sneak messages to you in between & during all of that.  =)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxox, Mama