Christmas-Here and Gone

I thought about updating this blog for a few weeks now. I just haven't been able to get any great inspiration. That is about how my life is right now. We had such a wonderful Christmas. Allison and Matt were here, the day was calm and relaxing. I got all the things I asked for (amazing how well that works when you send your husband an email with links to exactly what you want). We had a great phone call with Brett and Kyle. We were able to talk to both of them and they were able to talk to each other thanks to Skype. We only had a few technical difficulties. And I think that is where the problem lies. If someone had told me 20 years ago how hard it would be to send my boys out on missions I might have opted to only have girls. I looked forward to that phone call for so long and then it was over. And I can't remember anything we talked about or said. I just know how great it was to hear their voices. But I'm back to crying everytime I think about them now. And then I do silly things like buy a 2009 calendar called Unto All the World. It is old pictures of missionaries with appropriate scriptures and quotes. And I cry everytime I look at it. So, enough with my pity party. We are so blessed to have two worthy, hard working young men serving missions. And I wouldn't want them doing anything else right now. I am so amazed at the men they are becoming and the testimonies that they are developing. What a wonderful way to grow boys into men.





Here is Elder Anderson singing with Hermana Griggs at the Christmas Zone Conference. This is an excerpt from a letter we recieved from Sister Duvall, the Mission President's wife:


I just wanted to take a minute to tell you what a pleasure it is to serve with your son. He is doing such a great job and I love feeling of his special spirit whenever we are with him. Every missionary comes into the mission field with different talents, skills and abilities and it is so fun to watch them grow, develop and share those wonderful talents. During our Christmas Zone Conferences, we have every district in each zone perform a musical number. We also ask for additional musical numbers from anyone who would like to sing or play the piano. Most of the Elders would rather have their teeth pulled than perform in front of their peers, but not your son. I had never heard Elder Anderson really sing before, but I was pleasantly surprised by his willingness to volunteer to sing a duet with one of the sisters in his district. The music was incredible and I was so amazed at how well he could harmonize and blend with her voice. I asked him afterwards if he had sung in school or show choirs, but he said no that he has always just enjoyed singing for fun. Their song brought such a special spirit into the meeting and it was a pleasure to watch him share his talents.

He has been working so hard on learning Spanish and is really doing well. In this same meeting we had given each missionary a question and they were to find the answer to the question in the Book of Mormon and then present it. When it was his turn, he did a superb job in sharing his scripture and his answer in Spanish and expressed himself very well. What a great thing it is to watch these young men grow and become powerful representatives of Jesus Christ. He is a very sweet and humble young man, yet very impressive.

Brett's Caption: Santa himself getting a present on Christmas(we stayed up till he came down the chimney and I jumped on his lap. And as you know, when you are on Santa´s lap you can´t lose. We set up a return visit next year Same time)

Warning! The following picture could cause a seriously turned stomach

Kyle's Caption: So dad, the picture I sent you of the Balot is good, but the other Elder actually got a better one on his camera. Hopefully I can send a copy, but his memory card is a different model, so I might just have him develop it. It actually didn’t taste bad, you just don’t want to play with it first, or poke it, or smell it, or open the beak and make quacking sounds…not that I did that, you taught me well not to play with my food.

On that happy and appetizing note-- here is the best recipe from our annual New Year's Day Favorites Dinner. (Everyone in the family chooses a favorite dish and Mom cooks them all, no restrictions) Of course this was my favorite. It is not only seriously good but the first time I made it was right after Kyle went to the MTC and Brett and I double handedly devoured the entire thing!

Connie's Chocolate Cobbler
2 sticks butter or margarine
1¼ cups sugar
1½ cups self-rising flour
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup milk
For the chocolate layer:
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp. cocoa
2 cups boiling water

Preheat the oven to 350. In a 9x13 glass baking dish, melt the 2 sticks of butter in the oven. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together the 1¼ cups sugar, flour, vanilla and milk. Once the butter is melted, pour the batter over the butter, but don't stir. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix the cocoa and sugar together and sprinkle on top of the batter (don't stir). Pour the 2 cups of boiling water on top of that (don't stir) and bake for 30-45 minutes.
Yield: 9x13 pan, Serves: 8