Christmas Letter 2009

December 2008

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New 2009 Year.



Dan keeps busy as a counselor in the Stake YM presidency. He enjoys going to the YM activities and working with the youth as well as spending time with Jace and Kurtis. After 20 years with the same company, Dan has a new employer. EDS was purchased by HP in August. The good news is that he still has a job. He is now part of EDS, An HP Company. The changes and cutbacks have been challenging, but Dan has risen to the challenge and continues to do a great job in all he does. Dan and Tina got to go to Utah together for their 25th wedding anniversary this summer. It has been a great 25 years.

Tina has started to substitute for PISD part time. She is mostly subbing in the Elementary school and at Plano East. It is very interesting to teach Juniors and Seniors one day and then teach Kindergarteners or 1st graders the next day. Tina is now working with the Girls Activity Days and the Ward Activity Committee. Volley Ball is still her favorite sport and she likes it when she gets to play 2ce a week.

Andrew is now in Cary, North Carolina. He has been on his mission for 14 months. He is working hard and is seeing other’s lives change for the good because of the Gospel. Here is a sample of one of his experiences: “So this week was pretty good, but Jessica (10 year old that has been waiting to be baptized for 3 weeks) didn't get baptized. She actually got in a car wreck on the way to the baptism. What happened was they were driving down Cary Parkway going to the church. They went through an intersection and a guy ran a red light and hit them right in between the front door and the back door on their van. He bent the door by Jessica and broke her femur. They said it would be a while before she would be out of the cast. Femurs are hard to heal, apparently. But that would be a crazy story if it had happened, but it didn’t. She was baptized on Tuesday by the Bishop and confirmed on the same day by Brother Guavera. It was really good. Her mom even made her a dress.” Andrew is now a trainer. He is also preparing the husband of a Plano East graduate for baptism on Dec. 27th. He should have a White Christmas!

Jace, is a Senior and is really enjoying his senior year. He is in the PALS program (Peer Assisted Leadership) and has done a lot of service through his class. He is also in AP 3-D Art. He loves to work with clay and make sculptures, especially if he can put in car parts. He was also a co-captain on the Cross Country team. He is very active in our ward and is the 1st assistant in the Priest Quorum. With all of this he still finds time to spend with the family and be a good influence on Kurtis, Jessica, and Tiara.

Kurtis is a Freshman. He is also on the Cross Country team and has enjoyed running with Jace. Kurtis is in Sign Language and is enjoying that very much. He is also in art. Kurtis started Seminary this year. He has had a very long schedule. He would leave at 5 to 6 in the morning and return at 5pm in the evening only to leave at 5:20 to go to his second cross country workout of the day. He would get home for the evening at 7:30 pm. Luckily this schedule only lasted for a few months. He did a great job in adjusting to the long school day. He continues to be a good example to those around him. Kurtis has discovered that he likes to write stories. He has been busily writing every chance he gets. It could be a result of all the Heimerdinger tapes he has listened to.

Jessica, is in the 4th grade. She is in the Environmental Club and in the 4th-5th grade school choir, as well as Girls Activity Days. She is working very hard and is earning good grades. She participated in the History Fair and won first Place at Hickey Elementary. She did go on to District, but didn’t place there. She did her project on “Nastia Liukin: Never Give Up”. The theme was “The Individual in History”. Nastia is our neighbor, so Jessica was able to do the project because Nastia became a local as well as a national hero this last summer when she won 5 medals in women’s gymnastics at the summer ’08 Olympics. Jessica is still working hard on her gymnastics. When Jessica wants to do something, she works hard and “Never Gives Up” like her hero, Nastia.

Tiara, is in 1st grade and is doing a great job. Her reading is really improving. She is learning and growing constantly. She lost her first tooth on Thanksgiving Day by drinking Root Beer. The tooth just “popped out”. Tiara’s favorite subject in school is art. She is constantly drawing. She is a great example to her friends at school. Tiara has a great sense of humor and entertains those her age as well as adults. We love her tidbits of wisdom.

Charlie, our Dachshund, is now 5 years old. He is doing well and still loves to run and play. He entertains us quite well. He also lets us know when anyone comes to the house. It is his job and he does it well. He was also very good at sniffing out the mice when they moved into the house this spring. He was great at helping us move them back out of our house.

Shelby is our Russian Tortoise. She has been with us since last Christmas. She is thriving and growing quite well. She loves Romaine lettuce the best. She is quietly entertaining.

Christi and Ryan are still in Lancaster, Wisconsin where Ryan is a Lawyer. They welcomed Logan Daniel Dalton to their family this summer. He is a cute chunky big boy. His sisters, Kaitlyn , and Emily love him very much. We love it when we are able to see them. We were able to visit them this summer and then Tina got to go help Christi when Logan was a month old.

Julia and Cody now live in Princeton, Texas, which is 25 minutes from Parker. It is great having them so close. Cooper Alwyn Conger joined their family in the spring. He is a big boy and is a very happy baby. He is growing quickly. He loves to come to Grandpa and Grammy’s house. He gets loads of attention. He gives out great hugs and kisses.

Merry Christmas from the Dan and Tina Wilson and Family

Kyle's Baptism

Jace is almost 18. He home teaches Kyle. When Kyle decided to get baptized, he asked Jace to baptize him. Jace was humbled and yet very excited.


Jace with Jessica(with a bunch of braids in her hair) and Tiara. The girls love big brother Jace.

Jace & Kyle. The baptism went great. The spirit was very strong.

Elder Denny, Jace, Kyle, and Elder La Force. The missionaries did a great job of teaching Kyle. Jace is preparing for his mission and is planning on leaving on a mission in just over a year.

Reindeer at our house

Dan holding grandson, Cooper, while blowing out candles on a Cherry Cheese Cake Pie. The cherry topping later became the noses of our reindeer--did we have Christmas in July?




Our home at the end of the rainbow. We had a really quick rainstorm pass by. The sky went really weird so we went out and looked and we found a rainbow over the house. Notice the weather map with storm warnings on the tv.


Reindeer Tiara

Reindeer Jessica.

Nauvoo, and trip home

I took this picture of the Nauvoo Temple as we drove past. We got there in time to set up camp and then go watch the pagent, which we loved. Dan and I got to go through the Nauvoo Temple the next morning while Jace stayed with the kids and fed them breakfast.

Dan and Tina


Jace with the girls. We were eating after a long day in the car. We had fun taking pictures of everyone.

A glare from Kurtis.

Great pic. of Dan.

Tiara's sad face, while trying not to laugh.

Jace's sad face.


Jessica couldn't keep a straight face.

Cooper

Cooper is in the jump-up airplane.

Cooper and his Grandpa Wilson.

Jace and Cooper.

Julia, Cody, and Cooper

Airplane in Dubuque, Iowa

We went to Dubuque, Iowa on the way home. We stopped at a hardware store and this airplane was on display outside. The kids loved it. It is a great teeter-totter.


















Jace and Kurtis are showing off their ability to turn the plane while Jessica goes with out hands-flying high!


















My tough guys.


















This airplane has 7 seats. As you can see, even the big kids had a blast playing on it.

Wisconsin Trip

This summer we went to Wisconsin to visit Christi, Ryan, Kaitlyn and Emily. We were hoping to see Logan when we got there(Christi was on bedrest to prevent his arrival when we got there, but the next day it would have been ok for him to come), but he decided it was comfy where he was and didn't venture into the world at that time.

This picture is of Dan and the kids at a rest stop just inside of Iowa. We thought it was great that they had monuments about the Mormon Trail.

Christi and Ryan have a great climbing tree in their yard. My kids spent a ton of time in the tree. These pictures were taken by my cell phone. Kaitlyn was happy to be big enough to play in the tree with the big kids.

Jessica in the tree.

Tiara in the tree.

Jess, Dan, Kurtis, Tina, Jace, and Tiara just chillin' and watching a movie at Christi's.

We had a great time in Wisconsin. The scenery is beautiful. We took a day and canoeing. We had a great time until Jace stepped into a ton of leeches. He wasn't happy after that. We got them off of him and then we headed back to Christi's. We went without the Daltons on that trip. We did get Wisconsin sweatshirts for me and the kids. I was glad to have a nice sweater up there. It was nice and cool. Once we got back to Texas, the sweaters went in the closet for a few weeks. Now that the kids are in school, they are the sweaters the kids are choosing to wear in school with the AC going all day. We all had a great time at Christi and Ryans.


Kaitlyn, Christi, Emily and Logan(in utero) watching the tree climbers.
Ryan managed to avoid my camera phone. I will get him next time!

Emily sitting in her stroller.

Kaitlyn in the tree.

Cooper is here!

Cooper was 8 pounds and 6 ounces. He is a cutie! His long dark hair is so fun to play with. He is such a good baby. Julia is a great mom. She has bounced back from the delivery so fast. I am so proud of her and Cody. They are working together so well.

Rain, Rain, Rain

It was rainy this morning. The clouds were low and dark. They passed with a sprinkle and then it really started raining. It rained, and rained and rained. Ok, it flooded. It rained all morning and into the afternoon. There were thunderstorms with it, but mostly rain. We wanted to go to Julia’s and pick up Kurtis and drop off the girls. It was too rainy at 1 when we planned on going. In the mean time I cleaned the girls carpet. They packed their bags. Jace put their beds into bunk beds. I have just a bit more to do in their room to finish the carpet.

I found the receipt for the washer. I called and the repair man will come out NEXT Tuesday. I sorted clothes and Julia said I could use her washer. I wanted to go at 2. There was a lull in the rain. Then it started again. We could see how flooded the back yard was. The stream to the pond was no longer a stream. It was a river that was trying to overflow it’s banks. The front yard was flooded and the ditches were full. Finally at 3:30 Julia called and said it wasn’t raining there and they were bored. It was only sprinkling here. That was all I needed. We loaded kids, clean and dirty clothes and a freshly baked cake into the car and we headed out. The pond was at capacity. On Parker we were looking at the area the pond drains into. It was flooded, over the road. I could still see the bottom of the road so I went through. I followed 2 other cars. It was flooded by Sycamore as well. I went on the edges of it and it wasn’t so bad. That was the worst flooding we encountered. We went up 75, which was slow, but safe. Just before we got to Julia’s the rain started to get heavy. We did make it safe. I was really glad I hadn’t tried it earlier when it was raining harder. We got at least 4 or 5 inches of rain.

Julia is doing well, and so is little Cooper. The girls got to stay the night. They were so excited.

I brought Jace and Kurtis home. We watched American Idol with Dan. David Archeletta did great. Brooke White did pretty well. She tried to do stuff out of her comfort zone. She just makes you smile when she sings. The judges didn't like it as much, but she is still really good. I’d like to hear her sing “Yesterday”, which one of the other contestants tried to sing. Brooke would have nailed it. I had just said that to Dan and then Simon said the same thing in his review of the other girl.

Charlie:Freedom--Gone

We have a dauchsund named Charlie. He loves to go outside. He has an electronic fence that has been wonderful. He can go outside and not run away because he won't go past the electronic fence--as long as it is working.
Charlie’s electric fence monitor that he wears around his neck broke apart today. The screws that hold on the lid came off when the plastic broke. I noticed the lid when I was cleaning up. I recognized it, but didn’t recognize what it was. A couple hours later, after my VT left, I noticed a short fat battery on the carpet by the door. I picked it up, wondering where it came from. Then I remembered the lid I had found earlier. CHARLIE! No Charlie. He went out with my VT. He was long gone. He came back a couple of hours later. Jace came home for lunch just after Charlie got back. We took off his collar and put in the battery and put on the lid and taped it on with black duct tape. He won’t be wondering the neighborhood tonight!

I CAN Blog!

So far this blog has been mostly letters to and from Andrew. I really do have more children then just my missionary son. Thanks to Christi, who set this up for me and has encouraged me to write on the blog, I am being brave enough to post.

Christi and her girls, Kaitlyn and Emily, got a new play kitchen set. Kaitlyn and Emily spent hours playing with it this morning, giving Mom Christi a little break. Yea! Thanks Ryan for bringing it home for them.
We are anxiously awaiting Julia to go into labor. She is very ready to have her baby boy. Cody is waiting just as axiously as the rest of us. They will make really great parents.
Andrew just got transfered to Lumberton, NC. It is located 1/2 way between Miami and New York in NC, close to the SC boarder. He helped at a 5K race and then went to a chili cook off where he ate deer, Beaver, and Bear meat. He thought it was good.
Jace is running track this season. He has been doing well. He has been running the 4 X 800 and the mile.
Kurtis just went to his Order of the Arrow Ordeal this last weekend. It is part of Boy Scouts. He had a great time and really loved the experience. His best friend is in OA, and so is his Uncle John and his Grammy Joy.
Jessica is performing in her school's PE show on Thursday. She is in the gymnastic group. The theme this year is Elvis. It should be a lot of fun. Coach Edwards needed a big bear for one of the performances. Jessica was given a huge white bear several years ago by our neighbor who was moving to California. Coach Edwards loved the bear. It will be fun to see if the bear makes the show.
Tiara is loving school. She is in the Discover program. She gets to go see Julia's 1st grade teacher once a week to do fun extra things. Julia loved Mrs. Lauten when she had her and Tiara loves her now.
Dan, my wonderful husband, has been very busy lately. He is the track booster club president, the 2nd councelor in the Stake YM, which means he has many scouting roles as well. He was intrumental in the very successful EDS Merit Badge College this last weekend. All this and he is a great husband and fathe as well.
I am kept busy keeping everyone headed in the right direction at the right time. Primary also keeps me a little bit busy. So that is just a little bit more about our family.

Elder Wilson- Feb. 11, 2008

hey
first off Happy B-Day Jessica
it sounds like a sweet party and alot of fun
its cool that we have a new stake prez and i did get to see the adultleadership session it was really good i liked how it was all set up. wehave stake confrence this week and were doing the same thing so thatwill be cool I still have a couple of weeks before transfers i dont knowif i go or stay till the sat. before and transfers are on tue but thingsare coming together again i talked to sister morden(the one whos son wassent home) and were gunna go see her next sunday she sounded aboutnormal she is still working like crazy (70 hour weeks) she really likesit though she ownes her own busines she is a syco theripist her husbandis bipolar so he gets free treatment. and i went over to britneys houseshe wasent there but her boyfriend was so we talked to him for a wilehes doing good he has a job as a casheir at a drugstore and is trying toget britney back in school then he can go to he is 18 and in 9th gradeif he went back he said that britneys mom is completly out of jail sincethursday she was in the halfway house till she found a job. the spanish elders had a cool exspirence yesterday they went to go seea member that just got out of jail and is on house arest went they weretalking to her a girl walked in so they started to teach her she is a 19year old white girl she has a 2 year old and one on the way but the 2year old is with the father because of a leagle issue she also smokesbut she wasts to stop and get her life on track then be baptized herdate is the 29 of march. we have been working with a ladie named gloria iv talked about herbefore but its cool we will go over there and theres always someonethere in fact me and my comp were teaching her about the importance of anon paid ministry when the phone rang and so we stoped for a minit andthis 22 year old black lady who was listning and acationaly walkesthrough while we are there just stood up and said if eather of you arelooking for a wife im availible then she sat down and luckly gloriareturned in i continued the leason so that was strange.oo yea this week i got realy mad at an investigator for the first timecarla price she has been investigating for a year and is geting nowereshe has called us over acouple times to do service which is cool i loveservice but this time she called us and asked us to scrub her deckorginize her yard(toys and stuff) and to wash thoughs off as well and toclean her playset and her front porchso we did we spent over 2 hours scrubing orginizing and washing ithought we did a good job without spending all day there but later she called and asked if we had eaven been there and why herekids toys werent sparkling i told her because we only did what was onthe list she gave us. but she was furious and so i just sat there andwith the phone on the talble so i didnt have to hear her rage wile itryed to keep my cool but that wasnt bad enuf the next day was sundayand she came and talked to us and personaly i thought she would haveapoligized were not slaves after all but she continued to blame us andthen she told us that she had prayed about calling and degrading us.so that was my week it was actualy pritty good
-Elder WIlson

Andrew 1-28-08

Hey,
This week was pretty cool, but what week isn’t when you’re a missionary. The highlight probably would have been when I went to campus at NC State. It’s just north of my area in Garner. The beginning of the day kind of sucked, it was about 30 and we were outside the whole time. That wasn’t too bad, but no one would talk to me. I was getting mad they would just keep walking and I would walk with them and ask how their day went and stuff, but they wouldn’t answer. So I decided to find a captive audience so I would walk around looking for people who were sitting or smoking. A couple times they even asked my if I had a lite, then they’d be stuck hearing about Joseph Smith and I would have to explain things like polygamy and how we don’t do that any more. But, finally, we had an appointment in the library. Finally, heat, but the weird thing is that the people we were teaching were two girls who graduated in 07. It’s weird to teach someone your own age, especially if you’re used to teaching 50 or 60-year old black people. That went surprisingly well. Then we went and played 4 square. I’ve only played a couple of times, but I still think it’s pointless. Then we went to eat. It was cool, I owned my zone leader and his member at table soccer. Then we went night tracting. Night tracting on a Friday in NC State housing, it was cool. The first person we talked to was a guy who messed up his leg pretty bad and had to use a cane, but he decided to see how well he could walk with out it. I’ve never seen someone go slower. It was sad, but he showed us. We started to tract and the first 3 houses were Asian. They didn’t even believe in Christ, so we taught them prayer. Then some white guy who said he’d go to church just to get us to leave so he could go to his party. Then my favorite 4 black guys walked by with a couple 12 packs of Carona, so we taught them. Most went inside, but one stayed, but he was already drunk, so it was hard to reason with him. But we still got the message across. Then we retired to the car, but we saw a guy getting out of the car so we asked him if we could help. He said no, but we talked to him for a while. It turns out he had gotten a restoration pamphlet some how and was looking through it and was pretty interested, so that was fun. He was probably the only one who listened to me the whole day. Stupid students, lol.
Elder Wilson

Elder Andrew Wilson letter 1-14-08

This weeks been different, on Wednesday we went over to a members house and gave them a priesthood blessing because they were sick, so that went well. They started feeling better and were able to go on their trip. In the middle of the night my companion Elder Hill started throwing up. I was fine though, but at about 8:00 am I felt horrible. So I just kind of kept working and luckily we did weekly planning which is 3 hours long. So I had some time to be a little sick, but after that I still felt like crap. At around 2 the APs came over (they are the missionaries that are over me. They came to see how I was handling the area I was assigned) then I finally puked. I felt so much better but I still felt like crap so we went out and did missionary work. We went over to Matthew and Sue’s and found out that they haven’t been married for 31 years. They have just been going out, so that was interesting and a bit of a surprise. If you’ve ever talked about not having premarital sex to a 62 year old, you know what I mean, lol. Then we came back and talked to a couple of other people and waited for dinner. I passed out on the couch because I was still pretty sick, but our dinner came and picked up us and the Spanish missionaries. When we got there, it was amazing. She had cooked 3 or 4 different types of Chinese food, but man I was not hungry. As a missionary, if we’re invited, we always come, if we like it or not. So I ate. I did pretty good. I said a lot of prayers that I wouldn’t puke. Luckily my prayers were answered and I made it. So then we went home and we still had a couple of hours before I could call it a day, so I decided I’d scare the A.P. that was with me a bit. So I did one of my favorite things: night contacting. It’s where we walk the streets and find a bunch of black people huddled up just hanging out and we would go teach them. It was fun to watch the A.P. When I told him we were going over there, he was scared out of his mind, but we found a couple people that were interested, so it was cool. The rest of the week we were pretty much just sick so we didn’t do a whole lot.

Andrew's letter Jan. 7, 2008

Hey
IT actualy happend, you got a van! i thought i would never see the day. it sounds prity cool, but im still kinda trying to get used to the fact and its a chrysler not evan a ford. it sounds like you picked it out, how did you do it? was dad blindfolded and def cause that dosent sound like a v8. i bet it smells like cryans too. i guess the gas prices must be high. how does jace feel about this? maby when i get home ill be used to the whole van idea, but im gunna need 21 mounths at least. im just kiding, it sounds cool at least its not a pt.
and i have the 2 gig card, ill try and fill it but i couldnt eaven fill the other one. but as time goes on i will acumilate alot of pitcures. this weeks gone pretty good. well kinda there were many good things but i've been working with this family that are resent converts. their son is on a mission (its the piture were were drinking) and this week the bishop called me into the ofice and told me to see what i could do to help them because there son got sent home early. so iv been kinda stresed out over that. i still dont know if he is EXed or not but ill get it in order eventualy. but we have found some cool new investigaters and we have acouple of dates set up for the 19th that might actualy go through. one will but the other two have to of stoped smoking yesterday. and i've been working with some of the youth. we are going to have a "Bible Study" this week with a couple of there friends who already have book of mormons, so im exsited about that. that was prity much my new years week. isn't really a holiday as a missionary, we got to go to sleep at 10, half an hour early it was good.
wow Rita is going to utah i know a couple of misionarys there. most of them are canadian wich is kinda cool i geuss. thats cool ill beable to hang out with someone when i get back who is still used to the same rules. its gunna be a difrent for the johnsons to go to public school. hopfuly everything goes well.
Britneys mom will get out of jail this week so we will probably be over there next week.
-Elder Wilson

Jan 7 2008

This is Chiristi,
I was supossed to show mom how to work blogger over Christmas, and it didn't happen, so I'm still posting for mom. This is a letter she sent to Andew on his mission. I thought it was a good way for you to see what's up at home.

Hi Elder Andrew,
How are you doing today? We are all doing well. The kids are happily back in school--that is they left happy. Kurtis and Jace may not be so happy when they get home and realize they have finals in a week.Julia and Cody got home from California on Saturday. We went through their house yesterday. It is coming along well. It will be finished in 2 to 3 weeks. It is coming up fast. Julia and Cody are getting excited about it.Christi and Ryan and girls are back in Wisconsin. Christi goes to work at the day care today. It will be interesting to see how she does. I hope she doesn't get sick. I hope Kaitlyn likes it as well. Emily rolls with the flow very well and should do well. She is like you in that way.Rita Havenar got her mission call. She is going to the Salt Lake City Utah Mission. She doesn't know any one there or have any relatives there so it ought to be a great mission for her. She is excited to go. She reports to the MTC on April 2nd., which means she will get home just about the same time you will.We got your SD card. I liked the shirt you put it in---very clever! I really liked the videos. Elder Hill really sounds a lot like Josh Matheney. I noticed it right away. Julia said the same thing. Josh was excited when I told him. He will come over soon and watch the videos.Bethany got married this weekend. Margaret Johnson is doing super well. She even did the music for us on Sunday and did a great job. It is such a miracle that she is doing so well.How are your investigators doing? Did the mom get out of jail? How is that situation going?I love you and I am sending this so you can get it.Have a great day!Love,Mom