Random Thoughts

Little Jasper...

Resting in Children's Hospital, getting stronger everyday! After heart surgery.

Just a few hours old, before we knew there were heart complications.

So Sweet!

Proud grandparents!

Baylie's soccer game.....

They won!

Action shots!

Vincent and Payton playing together at the soccer games....Cameron is the coach for Baylie's team.

Bryndie's not so sure about soccer.....

But she loves the drinks and snacks they get after!!

She is pretty cute in her soccer outfit!

Payton's second birthday party.

I haven't posted for a while, but a lot has been happening in the Holt household. Just when you hope things will calm down, your world is turned upside down. But keeping things in the right perspective, life is good, and I wouldn't trade mine for anything. Life at the mission office continues to be a wonderful experience. We have made such close relationships with President and Sister Howell and the other office staff. I have decided that when you serve together for a great cause miracles happen! I love the missionaries! One Elder said to me yesterday, "Sister Holt, we will always be friends! I can't wait to come and visit you when I return to the mission in future years!" So sweet! So many friendships! Such great young men and women! It's a privilege to associate with them every day. They have strong testimonies of the gospel and I'm so glad they are here in Minnesota to spread the gospel to the wonderful people here. Which brings me to my next point. Tonight, I called an old friend of mine who works at Children's Hospital to tell her about our little grandson Jasper, who is in PICU with a heart defect. Jasper was born last week, May 19, and was rushed to Children's that night. He had heart surgery Friday, and will probably be there for at least 4-6 more weeks, with possible surgery again. So many friends and family are praying for him and we appreciate it so much. Donna, who is not of our faith, called me back a few minutes ago to make sure she had Jasper's name right. She said "I like a name when I pray, and I want to tell my husband and daughter to pray for him too." I was so touched that here was a friend I haven't even kept in contact with lately and she was praying for Jasper! There sure are wonderful people in the world!!!! We are thankful that Jason was protected with his experience in New York, drug dealers, bad cops, etc......we are thankful that Jolyn's pregnancy is going well and looking forward to meeting her little baby girl in October, we are excited to have Jana, Tony and Kade come and live with us for the summer, and we are glad we can go watch Julie' s girls play soccer....which seems like the most normal thing in our lives right now! Here's some random pictures of the last few weeks!

More Utah

While I was in Utah, Marie Osmond had a book signing at Deseret Book. We didn't want to wait in line, but it was fun to see her! She was pretty down-to-earth in person! FYI, the white triangle at the top of her dress is a sock from DSW! She forgot her cami so she went shopping! I thought that was pretty creative although she had to adjust it every now and then! Better than being immodest!

One afternoon we took a ride to see the two new temples in the valley. This is the Draper Temple.

It is very beautiful and sits on the south east side of the valley. It's way up on the mountain and the view is spectaular!

This is the Oaker Mountain Temple. (not sure how to spell it....) It is on the south-west side of the valley. It sits on a pretty good size hill in the middle of nowhere! They are both beautiful temples!

Four temples right in the Salt Lake Valley! I think Brigham Young is excited!

Unexpected trip to Utah

On Tuesday, April 14th I left for Utah to go see my Mom who was admitted to the hospital for a heart attack. After 3 days in ICU, and 2 more days in the hospital, she came home and is doing pretty good. Paula, Patti, Lorie and I were all there and we were so glad it turned out better than the Doctors had first indicated. We were able to enjoy the time we had together. Lots of lunch dates, chatting and shopping! It was actually a nice little vacation, (except for leaving Birch home). Jana, Tony, Kade and I went to Hogle Zoo one afternoon. Kade was having fun watching all the animals. We rode the train and had fun in the gift shop!

I was able to spend a few days in Provo with Jana and Tony. While I was there, Birch's parents were in town and we met up at Cafe Rio for lunch and to present his dad with his 80th Birthday book that Michelle put together for him. Every member of the family has a page in the book, with pictures. We also included his siblings and many dear friends of theirs. It is a beautiful book with lots of wonderful tributes for a wonderful man.

It was fun to be together and meet Kat, Jared's girlfriend. Kevin Walton graduated from BYU that day so it was a day full of celebration. It's always fun to be with family.

I really enjoyed the time with my parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and kids. I realize as time goes by how much family means to me and what I can learn from each one of them. I am especially thankful that Mom is doing as well as she is. She is such a great example to all of us as she endures health challenges with a cheerful (but weak) heart! She is amazing! And Dad does a wonderful job taking care of her!

The mission survived without me, thanks to Birch, who did my job and his. I am looking forward to going back tomorrow. I missed my mission family! It's been a busy few weeks!

Springtime

Yeah! It's finally starting to look like Spring in Minnesota! Saturday we had the AP's and the Anoka Zone leaders over for dinner. It was so nice we barbequed brats and burgers. The missionaries really enjoy it and we loved having them in our home. The Hunsakers and Holts came too so we had a house full. This week is transfer week so we will be losing Elder Halbert from the office back to the field. We will miss seeing him daily but Elder Jensen is a great guy too. I am continually amazed at these young men we serve with!

We enjoyed General Conference this month. Vincent came over for all 4 sessions and he was such a good little boy. He played so quiet and folded his arms for all the prayers. He had fun rocking on the rocking horse Grandpa Marden made for our kids.

Fisher Price people will always be a favorite. We are counting the weeks (6) for little Jasper to come into the world! I think Vincent will be a good big brother!

Here are the girls with their American Girl dolls. We all have so much fun going to the American Girl Store in the MOA! These were their Valentines dresses from Grandma! Sunday when they were here for dinner I pulled Bryndie's front tooth for her! She thought it was pretty fun that Grandma had a "Tooth Fairy" Madame Alexander doll for her to take home for the girls collection. You never know when things tucked away in the closet will come in handy!!!!! They also had fun playing with their 50th anniversary Barbies...I think I get my "doll" fascination from my mom!!!

March update

We've come to the end of another month! Time flys by....way to quickly! We are still in the process of getting papers ready for our mission. It's hard to find the time for doctor and dentist appointments when we are at the Mission Office every day. But we are getting closer.

The family is doing great. Jeff is visiting Jason in NYC today. He went there for business and extended his trip to spend some time with Jason. Jana, Tony and Kade are in Florida visiting Jolyn, Daniel and Dylan. Tony interviewed at a medical school in Tampa. They should hear in a few weeks where they will be going. He also interviewed in Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

We are anticipating the arrival of two new little babies in the family. Annette is due the end of May. We are looking forward to another little boy in the family. Jolyn is due the end of September. We can't wait to hear what she is having. Both are doing well.

Baylie and Bryndie are growing up. They are cute little girls and we love spending time with them. Payton and Vincent are fun little buddies. They love to play together. We enjoy the time we are together.

We"re reading Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon for book club this month. It's about the Hinckley Fire in Minnesota. Hopefully I can finish it by Thursday.

Birch and I enjoyed a night at the Old Log Theater. We had dinner there and then watch the play "Alone at Last" . It was cute. A story of a couple who finally had their last child leave home and the older ones started to come back home. We related a little....and had a few chuckles. Though when it comes right down to it, we would love to have our family here or at least close by all the time.

Life at the Mission Office is good. I think I have finally figured out most of what I am doing. We are enjoying the opportunity to be around such wonderful missionaries.

That's it for now. Not too much that is picture worthy.......maybe next month!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Happy St. Patricks Day! Tonight was our Instutute class and we decided to have a party! We had a short lesson and then played volleyball. We were so excited to have so many come. They are great young people! We had a few investigating friends, a new member of the church, and the Hmong missionaries! We love to have them come. Our class has grown from 2-3 last semester to an average of 12-13!

Everyone played...but me (I was the photographer...) and the refreshment coordinator!

As you can see, some remembered it was St. Paddy's Day and wore green. They got to have first pick of the Ice Cream cake! It was fun to see how green everyone's teeth got from the frosting!

Here we are in class before the volleyball game.

Birch did a great job teaching tonight. It's so nice to have students that want to be there and want to learn all they can about the gospel. It makes our Tuesdays busy...good thing we have tomorrow off from the Mission Office! Maybe we can take down the outside Christmas trees!!!!!!!

Finally a Family Picture

I've been trying to upload this picture for over a week now....Finally, it worked!