Some Holiday Magic

Once again we got to enjoy a fun evening, thanks to Emma's talented little self.  She loves to perform in plays, and this time she had a main role and several solo parts as Beverly in "Holiday Magic."  It was very fun, and she was so happy to have her grandparents come see the play.

These are some of her favorite performing pals.  Britlyn Vincent, on the left, has been her buddy since birth, since her mother, Kassie, and I are great friends.  Madison May (left of Emma) and Rebecca DeLoach (right) are friends she has made in CMT (Children's Music Theater) over the past year.  CMT has been a wonderful opportunity for Emma, and we have loved watching her grow more confident about performing.

Some Reflection

This has been a season of lasts for us.  It kind of sneaked up on me, and I wasn't really expecting it.  I first noticed it when I was asked to be in charge of Emma’s Halloween party. I was rolling out Playdough pumpkins and ghosts for 28 children to play Halloween Playdough Pictionary, just like I do every year, and I realized it was the last party I would plan as a room mother.  Emma will move up to Franklin next year and enter a world where Playdough, birthday cupcakes and room mothers are not quite as welcome as they were in elementary school.  Sniff…. 

After spending the past 14 years planning and attending book fairs, science exhibits, walkathons and art contests, it made me a little sad.  It's strange to be leaving a chunk of my life behind that used to take up so much of my time and energy.  I'll miss it all.  Well, except for being PTA president!  That is a load of work that I’m happy to have in my past!

Last week I noticed these changes even more when I attended Emma's Christmas program and realized that it was my last grade school concert. Every year I look forward to hearing one of my kids sing about "Dashing through the mashed potatoes and the candied yams." That's always been their favorite song at school-- "Christmastime is no time to diet!"  My favorite concert was the year Chris was in 3rd grade and he was chosen to sing a solo in "We Three Kings."  He looked so cute in his costume, and sounded perfect, especially when his voice cracked a little. I'm so glad our video camera was working that year!

Another last event is coming up soon, since it will probably be our last Christmas with all of us together for a while.  Devin will leave on his mission in March, and then by the time he gets home Chris will leave on his mission (and then who knows about Maren and Emma?!).  Maybe when they are all gone Del and I will start a new tradition---Christmas in Cancun!

Things are changing and the Symons family is growing up, whether I like it or not.  And really, I do like it!  I love the fun new things they are involved in as they get older.  Maren just finished up basketball season, and her team took 2nd place in the tournament.  Chris has been learning to play the guitar, and he's getting really good.  Emma had a lead role in her holiday play at the Children's Music Theater last week.  And Devin is learning great construction skills while he gets ready to leave for Tijuana.  This new phase with my kids so grown up is lots of fun!  It's just a little strange, that's all, when in my head they still seem like this:

 Sometimes I miss those little monkeys.  And I'll miss making Playdough pumpkins.

All Wrapped Up!

HO HO HO!

Here it is, December 5th, and I am completely finished with Christmas shopping and wrapping (even down to the stockings and Christmas candy)!  Wow!  I'm feeling impressed with myself!  I'm also feeling more than a little poor.  Kids are so much cheaper when they are younger.  Those dumb, coveted Zhu Zhu pets are only $6.99.  So much less painful than the Christmas lists of teens!

Adios Amigo!

 The moment we've been waiting for has arrived!  It actually arrived on Thursday, October 28 at 10:30am when I was home by myself and had no one to tell!  I was so excited to see the envelope from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I took a picture of it so Devin could see how good it looked!  (Really, it looks like it's time to repaint our mailbox!) 

I was jumping around yelling, "It's here!" but the kids were at school, Del and Devin were in Island Park building a cabin, and Olive (dog) and Millie (cat) didn't care.  I called Devin on the phone, but he and Del were up on the roof, so we couldn't talk much.  When Emma came home from school I told her, and at first she was really excited.  Then it hit her, and she said, "That means he'll be leaving soon.  I'll really miss him, Mom."  I thought it was sweet, especially considering that he's usually a total pest and loves to pick on her!


We waited until this morning to have him open it, so we could have grandparents and siblings there, too.  We realized that he is the first of the Nielson great-grandchildren and Thompson great-grandchildren to serve a mission, which is very exciting! We have speculated about so many places that he could be called to, but none of us guessed it right (unless you count my Dad, who said he bet he was NOT going to Denmark, Korea, Iran or Afghanistan.  Yep, Dad, you were right!). 

You are hereby called to serve in the Mexico Tijuana Mission...

When Devin read "Mexico Tijuana Mission" my first thought was, "They teach the gospel there?  I thought they just partied in Tijuana," but then we remembered that President Monson just announced the Tijuana temple a couple of weeks ago in conference!  It will be so exciting for him to serve where a temple is being built, since temples always offer a tremendous opportunity for missionary work.  He's really excited and will have plenty of time to get ready.  He'll report at the MTC on March 9th, so we'll probably have his farewell on March 6th.  He'll keep working with Del until then to earn money for his mission.

The Papers Are In!

We're now officially taking bets on the location of Devin's mission! (Just kidding! :)

For now Devin's location is Island Park to earn some more mission money. He's been working for Del and his Dad and brother, who have a construction business together. They're building a large addition onto a cabin. Since Devin just finished helping on the Extreme Makeover set, they tease him about knowing everything about construction and he teases them about being extremely slow! After all, the E.M. home was built in 4 1/2 days and it's already been over a week! Maybe he'll be sent to a mission where he'll have to teach people to build homes and church buildings and all of this experience will come in handy!

Del served a mission in South Carolina, my father served in New Zealand and my grandfather served in Australia. I think it would be wonderful if he went to any of those missions, but he is excited to go wherever the Lord chooses to send him, of course!

ABBAmania!

No matter how many years I have loved and listened to ABBA, they just never get old! The incredible harmony and fun lyrics are timeless, and I expect to be spinning around the kitchen to "Dancing Queen" for a good many years to come! I wish they had performed in concert somewhere near little Pocatello before they broke up. Seeing them perform live would have been the ultimate concert for me!

Well, ABBAmania may not have been the real thing, but it was still lots of fun for me and my girls. We went with 2 of my friends and their 3 daughters, and we had a great time! The artists who portrayed ABBA were good, and at times I felt like I was watching them in the 70's. Maren and Emma have learned to love their hits right along with me, and it was fun dancing to a group we all love.(I love their stylish outfits! Maybe Abba is the reason I have a boot addiction! I think I'm up to 12 pairs now, but I still need some knee-length white naplak, so if you see any please let me know!)

By the way, if anyone is wondering if my boys felt left out, let me assure you that they don't share our love of all things ABBA. They had a boys' night at the Winders' house, and they were much happier that way.

A few months ago, though, I took Devin and Chris to Sanang Tapas Restaurant (pricey but yummy) because they had a celtic band performing live and we love celtic music. I didn't want to pay a hundred dollars or more for dinner, so I ordered two appetizers to share while we listened to music. For $28 we each got one piece of crostini drizzled with balsamic vinegar and one mushroom with a scallop on top! It was beautiful and delicious, but shockingly expensive! Fortunately the music was excellent and free, and that is what we went for anyway, so we had a really fun time.

Devin's Exciting Temp Work

Pocatello just had an Extreme Makeover! It was the coolest thing ever and Devin got to be a part of it. Thanks to some connections to Rockwell Homes, the company chosen to build the home, Devin was hired to be a Production Assistant for the full week! He worked at least 10 hours a day and usually got home after midnight. Here's a picture we took of him one night; we missed him, so we went to see him at the site. He got to work with all of the crew, and he had a great time. He said Ty Pennington is just as crazy as he is on the show, but he wasn't there very often until it was time to film. Ed was there all of the time, though, and I saw him working on some really cool projects for the house. Most of the time, Devin just drove little cars around emptying garbage and delivering water, but it was a great experience and helped him earn money for his mission, so we felt very blessed. I think his favorite part was demolition, but he didn't get any pictures of it. He said he was always too busy to take pictures (except for a few during initial construction), but I volunteered one day, too, and took a few.

Here's the best picture I got of Ty Pennington. This is when they were filming the Move That Bus scene. In the other picture Ty and Ed are throwing a pillow to someone to carry in the house. I was standing facing the sun, though, so it's a crappy shot. The house is beautiful, and it's amazing that they can build a home like that in 4 1/2 days! It's in the middle of our historic university neighborhood, and they did a great job of making it fit in and stand out at the same time!

Here's a picture of our friends Joe and Michelle Winder: Joe is the brother of one of the main guys at Rockwell Homes of Idaho Falls and the reason Devin was hired. Rockwell is a great company. They paid for the building costs and offered to pay for the family's property taxes for 20 years. Last year they did their own version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They built a home for a needy family in two weeks. They are very generous. They pay for many missionaries to go out every year.
The family chosen is a terrific family we know from our stake. Her name is Jane Marshall and she is a single mother with 9 children. She found out that she had breast cancer a couple of years ago and while she was recovering they had a house fire that left it uninhabitable. They have been living in a tiny apartment in back and in tents pitched in the backyard for a while and have used the insurance from the home to pay bills and live on, so they basically had nothing. The oldest son dropped out of high school to help earn money. The kids are very smart and musically gifted; Sophie played in the ISU Symphony last year as its youngest member. ISU gave 8 of the children full ride scholarships (the oldest is married), which was very exciting. They are a terrific family, and I'm so thrilled for them!

At the unveiling everyone was surprised to see Kylie Minogue, who looked and sounded fabulous. I only saw her on the news because I didn't want to fight the crowds, but Devin got a few pictures. She sang "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" repeatedly while they got footage for the show. My friend, Michelle, asked me if I knew who she was, and I told her of course I did! I had her album back in 1988 when I graduated. Do you remember her remake of "Locomotion"? It's kind of obnoxious, but they still play it! I can't believe she's that old and still around! That's ancient! :)
Devin and I had a great time! Del signed up to volunteer, too, but there was a computer glitch that deleted the names of all of the people who had signed up online, so they never scheduled him. He wasn't too sad, though, since he's pretty busy with his own makeover projects.

It was so fun having this project in Pocatello, even though they blocked off the streets and the park for a while. After it was over, Michelle asked one of the security guards who travels with Extreme Makeover if he was going to be happy to go home. He said he wasn't and he wished he could stay. He said that the people in Pocatello were so nice and he really loved this community. He has been keeping in touch with the Winders by phone. I think he's probably lonely traveling from place to place. Jane Marshall said that some of the show's crew members told her that this is their favorite place that they've worked because of the people. They were blown away at the number of volunteers they had sign up. They had asked for about 2,500 and got about 3 times as many as they needed. That was really nice to hear. On a lighter note, Gene Dutton, a friend of ours, asked a guy on their crew what he liked best about Pocatello. The man told him he was amazed that the women in Pocatello are so beautiful! I thought that was funny! It's the good, clean living! And the fact that everyone who went to look at the house got all dressed up, hoping to be on camera!

The show will air during the new season, probably the end of October or first of November. When you watch it, look for Devin!