Take Down the Umbrella

Studying Pres Uchtdorf's message in General Conference.  We block God's blessings in so many ways.  If the rain represents God's blessings, then take down that umbrella.
We block the blessings by: 1)pick and choose which commandments to obey 2)We have selfish desires, we worry about how we look or if we are popular 3) see commandments as a 'to do' list
Gene Kelly shows us how to do it.  Let the blessings flow!  The blessings are there, don't block them.

If you want to know what your Dad does for work

High and Low for 2014

Dan

Highs:  Christmas in Driggs, Cancun with my wife, finishing the remodel of our house, Daph going undefeated in her first debate tournament, Scarlet singing the national anthem at the hockey game, Zane voted player of the year in fball and winning the home run derby, Brauer scoring 2 TDs in football, Levi making us all smile, wanting to snuggle and watch a movie. 

Lows:  getting Influenza A after Thanksgiving, working a lot

Natalie

High: Bryn getting baptized by Noel.

Being a mostly stay at home mom. I recognize that not everyone has this option and I am grateful that I do.

Lots of little moments that no one cares about but me like Tori losing her diaper at the bookstore or singing "let it go" in shower.

Trip to Europe without kids

Anytime Mom & Dad come to town is always a highlight

Alone time with Colie in March

Isa learning to ride her bike. 

Being in primary with my girls

Starting my preschool has been a great decision

Vegas with Noel

Tori getting potty trained

Lows: Noel's work schedule

Steve

High: We found out we would be having a baby.

Low: Everything else.

It's been a tough year, ha ha

Tom

I have three major highs:

1.  All my six kids:

  a.  Sealed in the temple, 

  b.  To wonderful spouses who love them and appreciate them, 

  c.  Having children and enjoying the heck out of them,

  d.  Appreciating that, because of a-c above, they are experiencing the greatest joy possible in this life.

Our tour guide on our bike trek in Vietnam asked me how many children and grandchildren I had.  When I told her she said,  "You will have many friends in your old age."  I loved that. 

2.  Living with Anita Packer for 38 years.  I don't know if you've noticed, but she is a whole lot of fun.

3.  Teaching Josh Yomedan and the other Young Men in our Ward on Sundays.  They are amazing people. 

Lows - Let's see.  I guess hurting every time I moved for about 8 weeks with a busted up sternum, and Anita's recuperation from her foot surgery.  It did keep her pretty humble though, for awhile. 

All in all 2014 was a great year.  Happy 2015.  Love, Dad

Heidi

 This year was a pretty good one. Jonah and Seth finishing residency are the biggest highs.  Moving during the week of Jonah's birth wasn't super awesome, but it went as well as could be expected and it's so nice to have more space to spread out. 2014 couldn't have been much better. 

Seth: "sounds great" (to what I said) 

Jake

My 2014 high point was the day Tommy and Kate were arguing over who was dad's favorite. They were both convinced it was them. I've got them right where I want them. My promotion was a big deal in finally feeling comfortable with the cost of living (at least in a town house and 1 car). Outside of NYC I still have the smallest square footage to family size ratio I know of. 

Low point...Katelyn breaking her arm. On Father's Day. On a bike. 

Mel

Highs: hiking Lake Tahoe, whale watching in Cape Cod, relaxing upstate New York, flower carpet in Brussels, Austria (all of it), biking with Jake in Amsterdam, author festival in Princeton, family bike rides, spending time with extended family, and watching my kids grow, learn, and be happy.

Low: Dealing with way too much family drama over a cruise vacation.

Nicole

Stout Highs 2014: Getting sealed in the Sacramento Temple & having family there to celebrate with us, finding out we're expecting a little one July 2015, Jed's new job + free rent, our first apartment above ground, Stout siblings trip to Hawaii, Tahoe with Herway family, camping in St. George, and fancy home cuisine

Stout Lows 2014: health issues (Colie's chest pains), mishaps (Jed's finger defeated by the car door), and paying back student loans 

Anita

High

Colie and Jed sealed.  Living downtown.  Trips with family:  Austria, Monterey, TX, Lake Tahoe.  Getting a free upgrade to 1st class/taxi to Jake/$600 flight voucher when we volunteered to be bumped at JFK.  Skiied in UT w/Dan fam and Steve and Colie.  Vietnam!  Jonah arrived.  Learning about 2 new grandchildren coming our way.

Low

Tom breaking his sternum in Germany(as a result of my dumb idea).  My foot surgery and the forever, ongoing recuperation.  

HCMC for New Years 2015

Had lunch with the missionaries at the Ben Thanh Market.  They aren't allowed to wear their name tags, but I could spot them a mile away:  those white shirts and ties are a dead giveaway.  They just got permission from the Govt to teach in peoples homes.  Up until 2 days ago the lessons were all at the church.  It was 2012 when the missionaries were allowed in the country at all.  However, you must have Vietnamese bloodlines to be allowed in.  

These two cute girls were our tour guides one night.  The tourist district is #1 and they took us to District #8,7,4,2...it was great to see other parts of Saigon.  In district #7 is the expat area.  More cars than cycles!  You have a 300%import tax on cars.  You have to be rich!  Sadly there is very little middle class in Vietnam:  most poor and other mega rich.  The girls would start up a conversation with us and later I learned that Tom and I both had the same thoughts:  "Don't talk!  Keep your mind on your driving!"  The girls buy their own bikes, have to speak English fluently, and have a great personality, and be over 18 and under 30.  And in the next picture, they did confirm that you are allowed to drive on the sidewalks.  Look at that traffic, and we were part of it for an evening!

We couldn't figure out why you have sidewalks at all if you are allowed to drive on them!  

Beef cooked on a red tile slate over hot coals.  Then you add your greens and noodles and roll it up in a rice paper, like a spring roll.

Celebrating 40 years since the reunification of Vietnam as well as the New Year

Traffic 

Small pool on the 6th floor of our Rex Hotel.  The fireworks were shot from the  helicopter pad of the tower in the background.  We also spent our last night here on the deck enjoying the city lights, the warm weather, and rather basking in the fabulous trip we had just experienced.

Post Office.  We mailed a letter to my Mom on New Years Day with a special New Years Day stamp.

Beer and Coffee are specialties of Vietnam, and very cheap.  We stuck with Cap Tam however.  This drink is a mixture of all sorts of goodies which actually look disgusting but taste yummy.

Jade Pagoda.  It is a Taoist temple and people truly do worship here.  But it's a dive.  It got two pages in the tour book but it shouldn't have had more than a mention.

Yeah, my feeling exactly.   It was 30 degrees Celsius and way too hot.

For future Vietnam visitors.  Next time if the weather is right we will see Sapa in the North and spend a few days in the Mekong in the South.  Oh, and I wish we would have fit in Ankor Wat.  It's so close.  A shame not to add that.
Well, that concludes the trip to Vietnam.  It was a great trip never to be forgotten.  Thanks for listenin'
And now a great drought in photos.....Probably till March when we meet up with the Dan Herway family in Monterey!

Pagodas and Royal Tombs on the Perfume River (and happy anniversary to us!)

I just have to say that Dad thinks he deserves a throne like this....

The girls say that 'V' stands for Vietnam!

We weren't sure how we were going to execute this day.  It turned out fabulous.  After a nice breakfast, we walked to the harbor and arranged for a boat for the day.  For $50 we had a boat and a driver for 7 hours.  He took us down the Perfume River to see Thien Mu Pagoda and 3 tombs:  Tu  Duc Tomb, Khai Dinh Tomb, and Minh Mang Tomb.  All very different but our favorites were the last two.  Our boat driver had his mom on board to assist and she made us lunch.  Fantastic, much better than in the restaurant.  How she pulled it off right there in the boat is a miracle.  After the pagoda we were on land and traveled via chauffeured motorcycles to see two tombs.  That was a thrill.  At the end of the day we were walking back to the hotel and were stopped by two university students who had an assignment to talk to foreigners and practice English.  They have been studying English for 3 months:  "How old are you?"  "Where do you work" etc.  They are so tiny!  We stopped at a coffee shop and got blueberry smoothies to finish off the day.

Just want to shout out that today is our 38th anniversary!  We are still having fun, and Tom is still the one!

Imperial City Hue

Hue is one of the significant historical and cultural centers of Vietnam.  The Imperial City has undergone extensive restoration work and a glimmer of its former glory shines through.  Sadly a lot of it was damaged in the wars.  We enjoyed wandering around the complex for about 3 hours and felt we got a good feel for what it might have been like in 1805.  It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1993.

a snippet of our teenager! Happy Birthday today!

Found this little snippet of our newest teenager to get your stomach rolling....go Daph!  And Happy 13th Birthday!  XOXO