Children

Welch Catch up

My Elder #1 and Elder #2 boys are doing great in their respective missions.  Truman has it all figured out. He Isn't needy.  He has his head totally in the game.  He is happy with a hard working last companion, and he can't believe we will be at his mission home door in 4 weeks.  One the other hand.....Monson is  emailing every week about needing something....a jacket, recipes, flashlight, cd's.... I am always sending him something.  He made me promise not to mail treats to him... which is why this email from his companion is so funny.

"Hey Sister Welch, This is Elder Jones.... I was just writing to say Elder Welch is too scared to tell you he wishes you would send treat packages.... As his trainer I have the obligation to make sure this is taken care of.  I am trying to help with your sons shyness and lack of courage.... We will get there I promise!!! haha God bless you guys... you have a great son!

Elder A. Jones"

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Landon had a horrible head ache week.  He hasn't had one that long or intense in weeks.  He takes mounds and mounds of medicine every day....but to no avail.  We are "over" this whole headache thing and wish someone would inform Mr. Migraine of this.

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Bre, Landon and Laila and Bro in Law - Rob Madsen, all tried out for South Pacific at CPT.   We hope they all make it.  I would love a Family show.  This was Laila's first "real" audition.  Usually I just sign her up or put her in a show I'm working on at Bountiful High.  She was a bit nervous about this audition.   She practiced her Own Little Corner song for weeks in advance.  She has great pitch and looks like a pacific islander, so unless something dreadfully wrong happens, I say, she is IN.

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Add and Bre are in their final semester for school. They both graduate as Musical Theatre majors in April.  I really am so proud of them.  They are doing something they love and following their passion. As Bre would say, " Huzzah! "   I have the answer for them when people ask about their plans after graduation...

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Wayne got a new car.  He traded in his boyhood dream- Jaguar for a  Black Hyundai Elantra. It's a decrease on the cool factor but an increase on the technology factor.  Plus, the gas mileage will be amah-zing this summer.  I am feeling a bit "smug" as a Prius owner as gas prices continue to rise.   A few days before Wayne got his Elantra, friend Eric Belnap got a dark gray Elantra.  Same exact car.  Too funny.

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GOOD NEWS-- My Momma's cancerous tumor is shrinking.   She came away from her doctor's yesterday higher than a kite.  The Chemo is working and she is on the mend.    These are her words,

"I am so amazed at the results of the scan, and yet I am not.  I knew my very healthy body could fight these cells.  I knew I had had a wonderful blessing that would happen if I did my part.  I still have two more sessions.....and I am willing to go through it to ensure the cancer is all gone.

I also knew that with the faith and prayers of all of you, things could be changed around.  Your prayers have been the key to everything.  Prayer is the only "Pain Pill" that works for me. I can never thank you enough."

You "nose" we Love You!!

Grandma Welch is 76!!!   We had a fun family night to celebrate her with  Holly, Lindsey and James, Tami and Rob, Kylie, Hunter, Alex, Nash, Wayne, Landon, Laila and me.

For the program we had the grandkids all come in wearing fake noses.  We knew this would make Wanee laugh.......AND IT DID!

"We nose you love us and you nose we love you too."  

Then they each said something sweet to Wanee that related to the letter they held up.  "G is for Gregarious.... grand.... R is for righteous, rad.... "  It was cute to see what they came up with.  ALex  said...." Grandma is da-best!" for the letter D.

We also shared talents...piano piece by Alex and Nash, singing by Laila, and a poem written by Hunter.  

Wayne did a rendition of "76 Trombones"..... 

"76 years old on your birthday now

but she's not quite as old as her twin

she grew up on a farm with her milking cow 

and now when she sings -' how much was that doggie in  the window?'.. she really makes us grin!"

We, of course, had Wanee sing "How much is that doggie" for posterity sake.  We got it all on video.

She has the best bark.

Tami put as many candles as she could on Wanee's cake..... it was a fire hazard, and took many breaths to blow all of the way out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 

 I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful mother in law..... she is a great example to me.

Family tubing at Soldier Hollow

Family Tubing at Soldier Hollow!   Bre, Wayne, Me, Landon and Laila had a wonderful, frosty time of it.  We would all hook our tubes together, go flying down the hill, then at the bottom all exclaim, "That was fun!  Let's do it again."

 Everyone was there, atleast in spirit.  We had Addison's wife, Truman's Snow pants, and Monson's gloves.   

Being pulled up the hill, while relaxing on your tube, with music wafting over the air waves is wonderful!   This is what civilized tubing is all about. 

We did this to kick off President's Weekend.  No school and lot's of time together...... I love America!

Valentines....... I love it!

Laila's 2012 Valentine card..... this plus a little Snicker's candy bar 

We had a fun  "Red hot" couples--Truth or Dare party!!!

We laughed ourselves silly.  The highlights included Grant  hopping around as cupid, promising each of us true love;  Kathleen singing "I'm a little tea pot," Mel wanting to Kiss Kyle Corver; Wayne leading us all in a "We want food" cheer,  Eric turning bright red again and again as he tried to discuss a romantic dream and Si saying something about hand cuffs???.....

 We had the Newmans, Wangsgaards, Evans, Fosters, Farleys and Belnaps ....... at our home.  It was a good group.

 I always wish my house was HUGE and I could have many more attend....... I love my friends!

Laughing is good......shared stories are fun.

Looking forward to more celebrations.

For Family night we learned about Love from Preacher Wayne.  Then we  made heart shaped cookies and HEART  hats, wrote love letters to our two missionary boys, and played card games.

 This was our version of the Mad Hatter/Queen of Hearts party.

Parties, gatherings, silly play at Family night, all energize my marriage.  This type of stuff takes me out of the rut of the day to day...and let's me see my Wayne again in a whole new, or should I say, remembered light.  This is why I fell in love with this man in the first place.

Thinking about my Wayne...and getting all mushy.......
I love the crook of Wayne's shoulder.  It's where I lay my head just prior to falling asleep.  He is warm and cuddly.

 I love the bottom of Wayne's left foot.  It's where I touch him with the top of my right foot, just before I drift off to sweet dreams.

I love when Wayne plays and is silly with the family....coming up with crazy lyrics to old songs....dancing around with Laila.

I love flowers..any kind....and chocolates....dark ones... Wayne knows this, and showers me with these beautiful gifts.  He is a sweetheart and got flowers for me, flowers for Laila and flowers for his mom.

Wayne got me dark Mindy Mints..and I got him a box too....

I love Wayne's eyes.  They are gold and blue... really cool, just like him..he's as good as gold, and true blue.  He looks into my soul and sees the real Melinda on my good days and on my bad ones.  The amazing part is he continues to love me.

Happy Valentine's Day Wayne....
In the words of my favorite philosopher, Winnie the Pooh, “If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you”. 

Laila's card to me.....

Love  my girl!

Family Doings...... Do-be-do-be-do

We have Elder Welch Sr. and Elder Welch Jr. serving right now.  It's great to read their letters and compare one fresh out with one almost home.  They are both so filled with faith, yet handling their circumstances from such different vantage points.

I like how Marcie's family prays for my boys.  "Bless the Elders Welch."   It's cute.    Laila prays for them this way,  "and please bless all of the millions of missionaries in our world, but especially my two brothers in all that they do."    I just pray.....constantly...that they are doing okay.

We are going to pick up Truman in six weeks..... I can't believe it.  Six weeks to see my Sweet Tru and six weeks to be with the Sharkeys in Scotland.  Somebody pinch me!

Addison and Bre just finished up with "Xanadu" at Weber State.... again.  This show was put on last November, but then it made the College cut and got in to the ACTF festival that is going on this week.  They had 3 shows of it yesterday, and  came away with glowing reports, and hysterical audiences.  The judges loved it.  IT was better than last November.  IT's like it all marinated and the sound got better and the  music sweeter.  It was Xana-do----- not Xana- don't, that's fur sure.


Landon got his hair cut awhile back.  He grew it out for an entire year.   It went from an almost Buzz cut to.... this..... in one years time.

It is now short again.... and I love it.   Landon found out that having "long" hair is hard.... so much to do.


Mom and Dad are trying to get their basement back together.  ALong with Chemo, Cancer, and Care taking....they had a big sewage back up all over their basement.  Doo-doo everywhere...literally.  So now 3 weeks later we are still in clean up stage.  They are going to get a lovely basement out of all of this, but we need to do a major "death" march on the remaining items in the basement bedrooms and storage room before the re-do can happen.  What would we get rid of if Mom and Dad were dead?    This sounds morbid, but it works for us.  I can't wait to see the  beautiful after.   I'm glad I didn't see the  @%#+_# before.

I'll finish up with a Yoda quote.... "Do or do not, there is no try."

Divine Potential

In Young Womens, yesterday, we had a great lesson on Divine Potential and finding joy where we are at NOW.

Pres. Kathleen Newman shared an ugly duckling story about herself and some early grade school pictures where she looked like a boy and told us that she actually  got escorted out of a couple of female bathrooms in the 70's.

The pics were great!?!?!

I was reminded of my own short hair, ugly duckling pics.   The bangs are especially awesome...and the medallion.  I was definitely "hip" in  my own way.

Pres. Deiter Uchtdorff shared this:

"The Ugly Duckling

One of the most beloved storytellers of all time was the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. In one of his stories, “The Ugly Duckling,” a mother duck discovers that one of her newly hatched chicks is unusually large and very ugly. At first the mother wonders if she has hatched a turkey egg, but the ugly child can swim as well as her other children. And so she comes to the conclusion that the poor thing is simply abnormal and disfigured.

The other ducklings, however, cannot leave the ugly child alone. They punish him mercilessly, pecking at him and teasing him and making him miserable. Finally, the ugly duckling decides it would be better for everyone if he left his family, and he runs away. During the bitter cold of his first winter on his own, the poor duckling nearly freezes to death, but somehow he survives. In spite of his privations, he feels himself getting stronger, and he loves spreading his wings and taking flight even though he’s alone.

Then one day he sees flying overhead a flock of majestic birds, white as snow, graceful in their movements, with beautiful long necks and wide, elegant wings. Oh, what glorious and happy creatures! The ugly duckling longs to fly with them. He is afraid that they might kill him because he is so ugly. But then he decides that would be better than being pecked at by the other animals forever or freezing to death in the winter. And so he takes flight and follows them to a beautiful lake where they settle onto the water.

As he lands, the ugly duckling looks into the water and sees the reflection of a magnificent swan. Gradually, unable to believe it at first, the ugly duckling realizes that the reflection is his own! To his surprise the other swans welcome him, and they even agree that he is the most beautiful, most majestic of all the swans. At last he has discovered who he really is.

Like this young swan, most of us have felt at one time or another that we don’t quite fit in. Much of the confusion we experience in this life comes from simply not understanding who we are. Too many go about their lives thinking they are of little worth when, in reality, they are elegant and eternal creatures of infinite value with potential beyond imagination."

NOW I'm not saying I am a beautiful Swan.... but I do like to think I have come a long way baby, and having the gospel of Jesus Christ as my compass and anchor has certainly helped. It's fun to look back at where I was and see the change and growth.  40 years of perspective has a lot to do with it.   I am a child of God....not an ugly duckling.