Sunday, April 29, 2012

Letter from Father to Son


April 29, 2012

Kevin,

Jessica’s home from BYU. She is looking for a job, and learning to cook. Apparently her cooking skills last year weren’t enough for her, and she is on the hunt for new things to cook. I think mom and I are going to be putting on some weight in the next couple of months.  Melissa has also gotten the food bug, and has made 3 different kinds of brownies this week. They are taking pictures of their culinary creations so posterity will remember this summer forever.  

 This week was stake conference, Rebecca joined us for conference. She will be attending FHE a little more now that she is feeling better. She came last week, and we had a fire in the backyard. I had to go to bed but She and
Jessica stayed up at least till midnight burning logs.

 The message for priesthood leadership was “lead by example”. One talk told a story by Ghandi. A mother brought her son to Ghandi, and said that her son eats too much sugar, and wanted Ghandi to tell her son not to eat too much sugar. Ghandi said he couldn’t do that, and told her to come back in a few weeks. She came back in a few weeks, and Ghandi looked the child in the eye and told him not to eat too much sugar. The mother was surprised and asked Ghandi why he couldn’t do that a few weeks ago. Ghandi replied, I couldn’t tell your son not to eat sugar, because I was eating too much sugar. Over the last few weeks I have not eaten too much sugar and now I feel I can tell your son to do the same.  Lead by example in all you do.


Jennifer is back at BYU, and taking more art classes. Bookbinding seems to be her favorite class this semester.


Melissa had a violin recital. Keturah Bay played piano. It went well, they both did very well.


I sent  Jessica, Melissa and Rachel to a Coldplay concert last week. They had a good time. There were 2 warm up bands, so they didn’t get home till after 10:30.  I think it was a good experience for them. They had to go by themselves (Rachel was mortified at the thought that Mom and I might come). They had a good time.

 I went to a work retreat for a day at the Skamania Lodge out in the Columbia gorge. It was good, we had a patent think tank for the stuff I am working on. A Patent think tank is where you brainstorm good ideas that you might not normally think of in your daily work, and file patents on it.


Devin Santa is home! He looks good. I think He’s taller now than when he left. His mom and dad are really happy to see him.

 Rachel had a couple of Lacrosse games last week. Both home games at Westview. I think I froze both games, but we won both handily. Rachel played goalie for the entire game on the second game. She let 4 goals go by, but since the other team let 15, I think she did pretty well.


Mom had a birthday last week. I got her a mug, and some flowers and a balloon for her birthday, Jessica made her favorite carrot cake.

Good luck, work hard, teach lots of people and baptize….

Dad

A Heart from Rachel

Bday Cake- 24.5 Candles (half her age)

Melissa after Recital with Keturah her accompanist and friend.

Melissa's Violin Recital

Here is a recording of Melissa playing at her violin recital. 
She played Concerto No. 5 in D Major, Op. 22, 3rd Mvt, by Friedrich Seitz.  
Her good friend, Keturah,  accomplianed her on piano - all for a plate of brownies that she helped bake!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Weekly Letter to Kevin April 22, 2012


Dear Elder Leete,

Well another week has gone by in the Leete Household.  Rebecca joined us for FHE- she is looking so much better- she even played the opening song for us on the piano.  We had a quick lesson before Rachel headed off to lacrosse practice.

Tuesday was YW/YM Standards night.   I think it went well.  We had 3 presentations for the For Strength of Youth that the youth rotated thru in groups.  Pres. Bair talked on Sexual Purity, Sister Densley talked on Friends, and Bro & Sis Wyckoff spoke on Entertainment and Media.  They all went well.  We had apple pie and ice-cream for refreshments.

I hosted a bridal shower on Wed for a sister that I visit teach.  It didn’t go well, as she didn’t make it there (long story).  The rest of us had fun anyway while waiting for her and addressed and put together all of her announcements.  We rescheduled a Bridal shower part 2 for today for her to come open her gifts, but she ended up coming and telling us all the wedding was called off.  It was a brave thing to do and we were all there to support her.


Saturday was prom.  Melissa and her friends went to the Priest / Laurel formal and had a real good time.  As I look at Facebook pictures I am proud of the LDS young women that choose to dress modestly.

Jessica came home on Friday!  It is good to have her home.  She wrote you a letter today and stuck it in the mail so it should get there sometime. . .Melissa also wrote you.

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and today.  Dad even took Jessica on a motorcycle ride, and cleaned the gutters.  We are hoping the moat out front will dry up soon so the inspector will allow the sidewalk cement to be poured soon!  It will be nice to get that all done.

We’ve been praying for your investigators- I hope that they are overcoming word of wisdom problems so they can be baptized.

Oh- did I tell you that Sis. Goodfellow’s nephew was called to your mission?  I have emailed with his mom before he left and they looked at your blog.  He entered the MTC in March.  So keep a look out for an Elder Cameron Millett from Oregon.

Well, I think that is all for now.  We are looking forward to Stake conference next Sunday.

 
Lots of Love,

MomJ

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Fun with Jennifer for her Spring Break

It was great to have Jennifer home for her spring break.  Something we had planned to do together was to create something out of all the tree branches that were piled in the back yard.  I had done the research and had formulated what I wanted to build:  kind of a cross between a chuppa and an arbor. I figured it could add something nice to some baren space on our back patio.  Jennifer was a good sport and followed my directions, gave great suggestions, and did lots of manual labor!  We got sun on most of the days she was here, so spent some time working on it almost each day while she was here.  We did pretty good and got most of it done before she left.  The roof frame was almost done, but not attached but laying next to it when she left.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without her.

Working on one side.  The roof is laying on the ground in the middle.


Some of the branches that I had stripped and sorted.

The pile of branches is a lot smaller now!
Actualy they have been moved and sorted by size and are in various places of the yard.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter Food

Easter mornig with baskets

Easter Dinner

Traditional Bunny Salad

Pork Chops with the Coating