Merry Christmas Everyone!

A 5k and a Parade

On December 5th, Hayleigh and Keenan ran in her Girls on the Run 5K. It was in town around Mitchell College. It was SUCH a nasty day weather-wise! Cold and rainy.... Hayleigh and Keenan came in 4th overall and 2nd for her school! They did great!


While they were running, I happened to notice a beautifully decorated house next to the college - it was going to be part of the historic home tour that afternoon - and it just so happpened that Graeme had won tickets to the home tour and Lyn and I decided to go! There were some amazing decorations - it was a lot of fun (even if the weather was HORRIBLE).



On Sunday December 6th, Harmony had their Christmas Parade. Keenan and Ethan marched and the girls and I went to see them. It's a shame that because of weather, the Statesville Christmas Parade was cancelled last Sunday. The bands are so much fun to watch.



Some stuff from Kyle:

December 3rd - (Letter - Nampa)

Hey, I'm in Nampa, Idaho. It's my first area. I'm riding a bike. In 16 degree weather. Just a little bit cold. So far we've been having a lot of success. After all, it's Idaho. My companion, Elder Guidroz, and I have been averaging 7 lessons a day. We already have 2 baptism commitments. Everyone here has been feeding us. Biking is fun and I get to do it for about 12 hours today! In 12 degrees! Sweet! Time to get to work.
P.S. I think it's warming up! (NOT)

December 15th - (email - Nampa)

I met Elder Rowe of the Seventy yesterday. He shook my hand and said "Elder Watson, you have an aura about you that says 'I am here to work' and I don't expect anything less. In fact, I expect to hear a lot of good things about you." So that was really cool. I have been getting a lot of packages from people. Can you forward a big thank you to Susan Staus and her family? So far we have 3 baptism dates and 20 new investigators. Tell my brothers I said to be good because I can talk to Elder Holland anytime and make sure that they are sent somewhere really hard like tribal Brazil. (just kidding)
Got to go to work. Tell everyone I said hi.

Funny stuff....

On the way to the dentist today, Hayleigh asked me what age kids get kicked out of their houses. Since she's 9 1/2, I said "10".

Hayleigh - "oh no! ...... Wait a minute....Keenan's not 10 and he still lives there"
Me - "he acts 10"
Keenan - "hey. First of all, I don't act 10. Second, kids don't get kicked out, they just get persuaded to go"
Hayleigh - "oh. well, I don't have any money so I'm going to have to live in a trailer when I'm persuaded"

When I got home, I was going over the conversation with Tim. He remarked that if we had the typical family, we would be empty nesters and still young. I said, "so who's idea was this??" and Tim said that he wasn't really sure. Dallin laughed, jumped up from the table, threw his arms up in the air and said "Would you two stop wishing we weren't here???"

(just so you know - Dallin was joking - it was funny!)

The View From My Bedroom

When we lived in Quakertown, we lived in a twin-style house, so there were no windows on the wall that we shared with the neighbor. In our current house, we are in the middle of 73 acres. You would think that there would have been windows on every side of the house, but there weren't. While renovating the 'old' part of the house, Tim put in this window. When I wake up in the morning, this is what I see now:

What a wonderful view!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Ahhhhhh......the holiday season! My season starts with Halloween (I Love Halloween!) and goes right through to whenever I decide to take the Christmas tree down in January.

Last night was the soccer banquet for the high school soccer team. Ethan's JV team won the season! They had a great team this year! Keenan got an award for scoring the most goals - nobody remembered to keep stats this year, but we all agree that it was definitely more than 30 - which is AWESOME! Tyler made All-Conference and All-Region second team! He is actually the first Watson boy to achieve this - WAY TO GO TYLER!!!!

We've gotten some letters from Kyle:

November 12th (MTC) - "I got called to be the District Leader today. I got here and now I'm leadership. My roommates are awesome. My companion, Elder DelaCruz is just like me. Say hi to everyone."

November 18th (email - MTC) - "I will not be using email a lot because of the time limit. You get 30 minutes and then the computer logs off for you. It's retarded. Tell everyone I said hi. I have a lot of stories to tell but right now I have to go and check my laundry."

November 18th (MTC) - "Well being a District Leader is very time consuming. By the time you get this letter I will be called as a Zone Leader. I went to the Provo Temple today and did a session. The Provo Temple is cool. The food was great there. I ate breakfast there. It was great because the food at the MTC sucks. I have given Priesthood Blessing for my companions because some are really, really sick. I was told by the mission president that I was a great example of a leader in Zion. IT IS COLD. Write as much as you want. I have funny stories about the MTC but I'll tell them to you later."

November 28th (MTC) - "The package got here. Thanks. Today during gym I jumped while playing basketball. Of course. Then I landed and my left foot went pop, pop, pop, pop, so on and so forth. My ankle is huge. It sucks. Everything is fine. I've been busy. I'm almost done reading Jesus the Christ. And holy crap, it's a hard book. I'm leaving Tuesday the 1st at 6 AM. So I'll be in Boise when you get this. Say hi to everyone. I have to go to a meeting."

So ---- Kyle is now in Boise, ID. His address there is:

Elder Graeme K. Watson
IDAHO BOISE MISSION OFFICE
1111 South Cole Rd.
Boise, ID 83709

He would love to hear from everyone so if you get a chance, send him a note.