The Best Christmas Present Ever! December 25, 2016

Mom notes: I just had to write a bit about our Christmas Day phone call. Brooklyn's sister Candice and her husband Shane have been trying to have another baby for quite some time. Brooklyn loves babies and one of the things she was worried about missing while on her mission was new babies in the family! Shortly after she left on her mission, Candice found out she was pregnant! We were all a little worried about how Brooklyn might feel. Candice decided that she'd wait until the Christmas phone call to tell her, (or anyone else) and it would be a fun surprise, but also because we felt that by then Brooklyn would have been out on her mission long enough to not care as much about missing the newborn stage. Candice had some fun scratch cards made that revealed the gender and mailed one to Brooklyn. On the outside of the envelope it said DO NOT OPEN UNTIL OUR PHONE CALL ON CHRISTMAS DAY!!! We thought if anything she might suspect Candice was pregnant, but wouldn't suspect she already knew the gender. Our family all came to our ward's Sacrament Meeting since it was at noon. After church we went home and had an early dinner. Then we waited.....and waited....and waited for Brooklyn's Skype call. We were starting to worry when I got a phone call asking us why we weren't accepting her call? Brooklyn had used an old Skype account, not the new one we were using. We figured out what was wrong and finally connected. It was soooo fun to see her. She was giddy and silly during the call, which made us very happy to see her in such a good mood. Then we got down to business. Candice showed Brooklyn the shirt she was wearing. It said "Baby bumps first Christmas". She was so happy and told Candice she'd been praying so hard for them to have a baby! Then everyone in our house got a scratch card and we scratched them at the same time as Brooklyn. It revealed PINK underneath. We are getting another granddaughter, due June 2! Everyone had plenty of time to talk to Brooklyn and ask her questions about her mission and how she was doing. We probably should of only talked for 40 minutes, but we ended up being able to talk for about 2 hours! It was wonderful!

After technical difficulties on the laptop we switched to the ipad, then switched to dad's phone and used face time. It still wasn't the greatest connection, but it was much better than just a phone call being able to see her beautiful face and smile!

 The coat Brooklyn bought in Minnesota wasn't warm enough. Luckily we were able to research lots of different ones online and after reading reviews found her one we thought would be lots warmer. Her aunt Dianna had a discount with Columbia we were able to use and we bought this coat for half the listed price! It arrived 2 days before Christmas and so far it's been better. She will be there for 2 winters, so a good warm coat is a must!

 Here she is modeling her new coat!

The fancy phone she gets to use!

 Face timing is such a blessing for missionary parents!

 Someone left a tiny tree and some gifts for the missionaries on their doorstep.

 Enjoying some Christmas gifts from members of their ward.