“Fourteen Towel Woman?”

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I love the book by Emily Watts, Confessions of an Unbalanced Woman. She tells the story of a washing machine, one of her children had loaded with 14 towels. The machine was capable of washing ten towels with no problem, but 14 made the machine out of balance. Then she compares this to her life and calls herself a “fourteen-towel woman in a ten-towel-capacity life.”

I have felt that way lately, too much to do, not enough time to do it.

As a family we are having wonderful, yet stressful times. Recently our darling missionary Alex came home from his mission to Durban, South Africa. We are so proud of him. Having a missionary come home is such fun, but it is busy! We cleaned the house, fixed up his room, worked in the yard, made signs that say, “Welcome Home”, and bought balloons, etc.

Then a week later, cleaned the house again for the get together after he spoke in church. Called, emailed, and texted family, and friends to organize food assignments. I wanted everything to be perfect for Alex, and wanted everything to be great and fun for everyone else.

It is so awesome to have him home. He is amazingly spiritual and the bonus is, he has an accent. He can share his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ in Zulu.

We ended up having 60 people over to our home after Alex’s talk. We had a great time! Now I can relax, a little, until Kelsey comes home in September, and then we can do it all again!

Pioneer Day!

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-July 24, 1847-

 this is the day the Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.

The Pioneers were an amazing group of people. They were Brave enough to leave a home they knew. Strong enough to sail across the ocean, walk mile after mile toward their goal. Spiritual enough to know they could do whatever was required to do, with God’s help.  Happy enough to sing and praise God in-spite of hardship. Faithful enough to believe God had a plan for them. They had enough Endurance enough to keep going, and start a new life in the valley.

These are my pioneer ancestors:

John Griggs White

Lucy Miranda Bailey

Joel William White

Joseph Moorhead Thomas

Mary Ann Thomas

Francis Anne Thomas

William Davis

Lucy Davis

John Davis

Jean LeSueur

Jane Caroline LeGresley

Jane Caroline LeSueur

David Daniel Jones

Ann Jones

Richard Dye

Mary Malden

Mary Malden Peek

I am so grateful to them for their lives, and for all they did to make life better for me.

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

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Hermana Kelsey 18:1 -email-
 Dearest family,
How are you all?!
I hope everything is good with you. Today we went to the TEMPLE!! Woo! It was so great! We are kind of stressed now, because we only have a couple hours left of our p-day, and we still have tons of stuff to do. But anyway, it was worth it. We just did a session with an hermana from our ward here, but it was cool talking with her, and spending time with her. She is a great lady. 🙂
So this week has been pretty good. I don’t really have time to write you a whole lot of things that happened this week, but it was pretty good.
Mom: I did have a great b-day! It was mostly like other days, but Sister M. made me breakfast in the morning and a cute sign for when I walked out of our bedroom that said, “Feliz Cumpleanos Hna. Fina”. Ha ha. That is the nickname Hermana P. gave me. She is just a sister in the ward, but she gives all the missionaries nicknames, and she named me Hermana Fina, because she said I am like fine perfumes, because they never come in big bottles, always tiny little bitty ones. 🙂 She is so stinkin cool. Then at lunch time, we got some money to go out to lunch from a member family, and so us and the elders went to eat at Golden Corral, and we ate a ton! Anyway, later in the evening we were eating dinner with a member family (the C.’s), and it happened to be a family member’s birthday on Thursday, and they still have delicious cupcakes left over. So they sang “Happy birthday” to me, and I ate a wedding cake cupcake. Then they were all joking that it was showing the future, because it was a wedding cake cupcake. Ha ha ha. They are crazy. But anyways it was fun. It was a pretty good birthday. I’m glad next year I will get to be with my family for my birthday though.
Dad: That is fun you had a ward party. We are having a stake activity Saturday at this water park here in D., and I want to go, but we can’t even swim or anything, so we’ll just have to go out and work. I’m glad you got to go to Bear Lake, and spend some time there. I really like Bear Lake, even thought it isn’t super famous or anything. Mostly I like the memories I have, and the good times that we spent with family there.
Riley:
HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY!!
Sorry, I forgot to send something off last p-day, and so I couldn’t send anything before the 19th! But Sister M. and I celebrated your birthday. I dan’t really remember what we did, but we did something fun. 🙂 Anyway, I got your email last week. I am so glad you’re doing great with your testimony. That really truly makes me happier than you can even imagine! 🙂 It is so good for you, and so good for you daughter, and so good for future children you have. 🙂 Anyway, how is life? I miss all of you a lot.
Alex: Congratulations on your new temporary job at Admiral! That’s pretty cool.
Emily: Yes, I got your letter and your card! Thank you! 🙂 It was super nice. I got more mail this week than any other week!! And most of it was from you and mom! 🙂 I really liked the picture you send with it too. Although, I feel like I don’t know who that girl is in that picture anymore. I know she is me, but at the same time it doesn’t feel like me. She is trying so hard to smile and be happy, but I can just tell she doesn’t feel it completely. And when I look at that picture it takes me back to that time, and reminds me that I never want to be that girl again. But you live and you learn right? 🙂 Now I know that I don’t have to feel like that.
So I might not get to writing you a letter today, but that is because we are running short on time. For reals, but I love you and I will write to you next week. 🙂
Natasha:
Happy Birthday sweet Natasha!!!
How are you my cute little niece?! I hope you are good. Do you remember me? 🙂 I miss you a lot, but I will see you soon. I love you and I hope you have a good b-day! Be good! :)LOVE, Kelsey
Well, I think that is all the time I have left. I love you all sooooo much! Cuidense!!
Love, Kelsey
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
    P.S. Guess who got their trunky package today?!?!?! Ahhhh! It’s the beginning of the end! 🙁

Family History Friday: Karen Petra Hogensen -Part 2

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To read Part -1 go here!

Karen Petra married her husband Christian Hogensen on the ship while they traveled across the Atlantic Ocean. After they arrived at New York they traveled by train to Florence, Nebraska. There they were organized into handcart companies and began the trip west. Their company consisted of 235 people, sixty handcarts, and six wagons.

The journey was quite hazardous. Once Petra did not feel well, she fell to the rear of the line and fainted. She was picked up by a horseman who was traveling to California. By the next morning she was rested and ready to help pull the handcart. While they were fording the Green River, she was swept off her feet by the current. A soldier saw her go down and urged his horse into the river and rescued her. They arrived in Salt Lake City September 4, 1859. They were weak, but very thankful. 

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

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  Hermana Kelsey 17:4 -email-
Hola Familia!!!
This week was pretty good. We are getting close to the end of the transfer. It is going by way too fast!
Some stand out events:
Monday: We didn’t really do anything special. I got to write a bunch of letters, which was really good because I was getting behind, and there were people I was thinking about writing to that I got to write to. 🙂
Tuesday: We had a really cool lesson with a lady named L. She is super awesome. She just gets what we teach. We were teaching her little girls the 10 commandments, with little hand symbols that we use to remember them easier. The little girls names are J. and J., and they are 5 and 3. They were so cute and funny while we were teaching them, and then at the end we asked J., who tries to act really smart, what the 4th commandment was. She kind of giggled, and then said, “No sabo.” (she was trying to say that she didn’t know, which is no se, but she conjugated the verb wrong) We laughed a little, because it was so cute. Then she said “No sabo nada.” Then her mom said, “No J., es no sepo nada.” (which is the subjunctive version). We laughed even more after that. It was super funny. Anyway, it was funny to us. It probably doesn’t make as much sense to y’all. But anyways.. 🙂
Wednesday: We had district meeting. We talked about Christlike attributes, which was cool. I found a really cool scripture in Doctrine and Covenants while we were studying to prepare for district meeting, that talked about how we cannot help in the work of the Lord (for me that is missionary work now, but for y’all it’s in your callings and the responsibilites you have at church) without Christlike attributes. It was so good, but now I can’t think of where it is off the top of my head. Also, we taught our little investigator, D., who is so sweet and cute. He was telling us about how his favorite part of the Plan of Salvation was the creation, because he loved nature. We told him that God made the world the way He did just for us to enjoy it. Then D. said, “Wow! He guessed right!” 🙂 So cute! He is such a funny little kid.
Thursday: It was Sister M.’s halfway mark! She had this funny sign she made, because she talked to her younger brother, who is also on a mission about it, and he said that in Brazil, where he is on his mission when there is an h it is pronounced like an r. So instead of “hump day”, it was “rump day”! So she took said sign to Texas Roadhouse, when we went to eat there, and took a picture of her with the sign in front of Texas Roadhouse. Ha ha. Super awesome! 🙂
Friday: We went to an enchilada dinner, that like 5 different member families paid for us to go to, and it was super fun. The entire day felt like 4 hours. It was just gone super fast. But it was good. We met a cool new investigator there, who is the friend of an investigator that the elders are teaching, so that was cool as well.
Saturday: We went to eat with Hermana P., who is one of the coolest semi-recent converts ever. She takes such good care of us. She has only been a member for about 4 years, and she is very missionary oriented, and is just amazing. I want to be like her when I am older.
Sunday: We had three investigators at church! It was great. One of our investigators, L., told us the first time we invited her to church that she didn’t want to go, because she doesn’t like big crowds of people she doesn’t know. But she finally came! And she brought her older son, A., which was also super good because we are teaching him as well.
So anyway that is basically what is going on with me. Well, I better go now. I love you all lots!!!!
Love, Kelsey
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Sunday Best!

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“The pursuit of purity then, is the most important pursuit of our life. Becoming clean or pure is a daunting task, but God never asks us to do anything save He provides a way that we might accomplish it. His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ is The Way. Only through Him can we achieve perfect purity. He is the only person to pass through this life and remain perfectly pure, so He knows how! He is the essence of purity. He has been through the refining fires required for perfect purity. He knows that the effort is worth it because He has received a fullness of joy and a completeness of the power of purity. He can and will help us achieve these same blessings! He lives! He loves us! He will always guide and help us in our personal pursuit of purity.

 “How do we become more pure? We follow the Savior more closely. We trust and obey Him more fully. We start wherever we are and become a little more obedient. This obedience brings a little more purity into our lives, which gives us a little more power to become a little more obedient. The more obedient we are the more pure we become. The more pure we become, the more power from heaven we receive, and on and on. Alma rejoiced in this wonderful eternal round by saying: ‘it beginneth to enlarge my soul . . . enlighten my understanding . . . [and] be delicious to me.’ [Alma 32:28] I testify that the pursuit of purity is delicious!”

-Elder John H. Groberg

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Karen Petra Hogensen

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Karen is my darlin’s 2nd great gandmother.

She was born in Norway in 1830. Her father died when she was quite young. When she was old enough she became a nursemaid to the children of a wealthy family, and later she became cook for the family. 

She went to a church meeting that was being held nearby, out of curiosity, and was very impressed. The meeting was with Mormon missionaries. After investigating the church she was baptized. When the family she worked for became aware of her baptism, they were concerned for her welfare. After a discussion with their minister, it was decided that Petra could still work as long as she didn’t influence the other servants. She met Christian Hogensen at the Mormon meetings. He had just joined the church previously.

     Petra wanted to emigrate with other members of the church in 1859, but she had no money. Christian offered to loan her the money. Petra accepted and they sailed from Liverpool, England on the William Tapscott in the spring of 1859. This proved to be a very romantic voyage for Christian and Petra. They were married while they were still on the Atlantic Ocean. 

Story taken from “History of Bear Lake Pioneers”.