A Very Merry Christmas

On Saturday, December 22, David, Juliann, Clarissa, Jared, Michelle, Siena, Turin, and Brockton came to Las Vegas to celebrate Christmas with us!!!  We were SO excited to see them and grateful that the weather had been favorable so they could travel safely.  Being here in Las Vegas for Christmas reminded me of the Christmas that we were in San Francisco  and I was 8 3/4 months pregnant with David and the OB told us not to travel to Utah for Christmas.  We were SO disappointed!  But it turned out to be quite a memorable Christmas, and I was sure this one would be too, even though we wouldn't be celebrating with over half of our family.  But oh, how wonderful it was to have them come and share a part of Las Vegas with them at this time of joy and gladness.  They brought the best presents of all with them--their presence!

Before they came, we got this darling picture from Jade--how we love getting these!

                           This one is from Siena--so so cute!  We love the details on these pictures!

And this one from Lindsey with her favorite Christmas traditions on it!  This one made me a little homesick.

On Sunday we went to our ward--the Buffalo ward--and it was so great to see the ward members come up and greet them and be so kind to them. We really do love this ward. Bishop Larkin and his wife Melanie brought over a case of oranges for us--so so sweet since they know we are only temporary and our records are still in our ward in Layton.  It meant a lot.

On Sunday evening, we got together with our dear friends, the Trumans, at their daughter and her husband's home, Carolee and Jared Frost, for dinner.  It was awesome to be together and see their other children who had come to Las Vegas also, Kim and Stephanie and her husband Brock. Our families have had such good memories together over the years. We had a great time.

On Monday morning we went over to Jared and Michelle's hotel and swam in their indoor pool, which was WARM!!  It was fun to see how much Siena and Turin had improved in their swimming skills since we saw them last at the Tanglewood pool.  It was so fun to play games with them in the pool.

Later we went to the Bellagio hotel to see their Christmas display, which was amazing.  It was SO crowded--we learned that there are a LOT of people who fly to Las Vegas from around the world to celebrate Christmas here.  We also went outside to see the Bellagio fountains and then walked over to the Paris hotel and ate at a crepe restaurant and had French pastries--yum yum!  Fun fun!  The kids were such good sports!  Then David, Juliann, Clarissa, Glen and I, went to the south end of Las Vegas to see Wendy, Jeanette's oldest daughter who had recently moved here.  Jeanette had sent with Wendy some Christmas gifts for Clarissa that were incredible and so thoughtful.  It was fun to see her.

We then had our favorite Christmas tradition--the acting out of the Nativity.  We have been doing this for about 32 years, using about the same script and adding a few props or costumes each year.  We rotate the parts, and this year Michelle and Jared were Mary and Joseph and Brockton was baby Jesus.  The story of the Nativity never loses its impact for me, but rather increases each year. It is marvelous to me that the Son of God would be born in such humble circumstances.  We ended the Nativity singing one of our favorite Christmas songs:  "Heavenly choirs must have had children singing along as they came to the earth.  Jesus I know loved little children, so I imagine they sang at His birth: Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise to the Lord, praise to His Son, praise to the Lord, praise to His Son." 

  Siena and Turin then left healthy treats out for Santa. 

Our three little lambs--Siena, Clarissa, and Brockton.  Having grandchildren there for the Nativity and for Christmas day made it so special! 

 Siena and Turin were so excited to open their gifts on Christmas morning  and it was so fun to see them.  When Turin opened his ripstick, he said, "I told Santa I wanted a giant candy cane and all he got me was a ripstick!"  We laughed so hard!" 

Glen really spoiled me this Christmas and one of the things he gave me was a new CAMERA!!  I was so excited!  My camera  was officially broken  and I had really missed it.  Glen got some things he really needed too.  

Juliann made me this darling pillow and crocheted the stockings  for the newest members of our family during the past year.  Can you believe she has crocheted one for all 25 members of our family?  What a labor of love!

After all of our Christmas festivities and lunch,  it was time for them to go back to Utah, and we were so sad!      

We didn't want Christmas to end! Here we are in front of the building where we live.  Can you believe some of the trees are still green?

We stopped at the mission office since it's right on the way for them to go home and gave them a tour.  Thank you so much, David and Juliann and Jared and Michelle, for coming!  You totally helped us to have a very merry Christmas.  We love you so much!

CHRISTMAS DAY was so special though we were miles from home. Whisperings of the Spirit tell us we were  not alone. The gifts we enjoyed from those we hold dear Has kept our thoughts close and helped us feel near!

The next day we had to be at the office at 8:00 and we got another Christmas surprise--Rand and Marilyn Matthews stopped in at the office!  We have loved them for over 20 years and it was so fun to see them!  We really appreciated their visit.  

And now it was officially time for us to get back to work, and there was a LOT piled up for us to do!  It took me 2 1/2 hours to do all the mail and packages!  But I'm so excited, because the transfer board is nearly half done and now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel that it will actually get done.  I also had another tender mercy--I couldn't get a certain document on the computer to work--a document I have had trouble with ever since we got here.  I have asked others to help me with it without success, but on Thursday Elder Weekes was able to fix it and show me what to do to fix it when it won't work--HURRAY!!  Maybe now I can get things done to get ready for our big transfer in just THREE weeks.  Missionary work moves forward--Hurrah for Israel!

Such a Wonderful Time of the Year

As usual, we have had such a busy week at the office!  There has been so much mail and so many packages that it takes me forever to get the mail done--which I am so happy to do, but it does take a long time.  I started working on the transfer board which has to be redone, and we were trying to figure out different ways that it could be done.  Glen and I tried some things on IMOS over the weekend for a few hours, President Black also tried some things on IMOS, and Elder Conder worked for hours trying to reduce the whole transfer card so we could keep the information that was already on the card. It just wasn't working the way we were hoping, and I was getting so discouraged about it. I just didn't like the looks of the things we had tried and yet we had put so much time into it so far!  I had even asked Brandon if he could make a new template for the transfer cards for me and had emailed him the old template a few days earlier.  So on Wednesday when I was feeling so discouraged and overwhelmed about how the transfer board could be redone, I got an email from Brandon with the new template that he had created, and it was perfect!  It was such an answer to my prayers!  After seeing it I knew it would be easier to just input all the information again onto the template and cut the picture down to fit the new template than to do all the other things we had tried.  So I finished redoing one zone (I thought I would redo one zone at a time) and it looks great!  It will take weeks to finish it but at least I have hope now--because I also need to get things ready (files, new mission notebooks, etc.) for the 26 new missionaries coming. We also got two new visa waiters this week that we had to process and orient. One of them is from Kaysville!

We were pretty excited to also be getting ready for David, Juliann and Clarissa, and Jared, Michelle, Siena, Turin, and Brockton to come for Christmas!  It just couldn't come fast enough!

But our fun Christmas events really helped the time go faster.  On Monday night, we had our senior missionary FHE at the mission home with President and Sister Black.  The counselors to the president were also there with their wives as well as the assistants, Elder Fairbanks and Elder Weekes, and the rest of the senior missionaries.  We had a wonderful dinner and program and then did a white elephant gift exchange--it was awesome! The picture above shows Elder Weekes exchanging a white elephant gift with us and President Webb is sitting next to us on the couch.  What a fun evening it was!

We were thinking we wouldn't have a Christmas tree this year because we just didn't have any time to go buy one or find decorations and lights for it.  But I kind of wanted one since the grandkids were coming--but what could we do?

On Tuesday night, I was in the bedroom putting things away and when I came out, Glen had put up a Christmas tree!  It just seemed so magical!  I couldn't imagine where he had gotten it--and then he told me that while he was in the garage getting some things, he found it--all decorated with lights and everything!  I guess it had been left by other senior missionaries who had lived here!  I was so so excited.  I don't know why it just feels so much more like Christmas when you have a tree!  Even though it was small we felt like it was just right.

On Wednesday night I went with the sister missionaries to go teaching!  Oh how I love to do that.  We went to a woman's house who was getting baptized on Saturday, and it was so amazing to talk to her.  She was probably around 50 and had been very active in another faith for 32 years when the sister missionaries came to her home.  She was very educated and beautiful and was really prepared to be taught.  She had read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, (which she just loved) and was now reading Preach My Gospel.  We also taught her 11 year old granddaughter and she was adorable and very receptive to what was taught.

On Thursday night we were able to watch the second half of the BYU- San Diego State bowl game.  It sounded like the first half wasn't worth seeing anyway, so it was awesome to watch BYU pull out a come from behind victory--by Kyle Van Noys!

On Friday we were able to go the mission Christmas party.  It started with an incredible luncheon put on by the Las Vegas stake consisting of a full Thanksgiving type meal with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, potatoes and gravy, rolls, pie, etc.  Even though this picture is blurry it was all I had, so I put it on the blog anyway.  Seated with us is Elders Ringer, Findlay, Alford, and Driggs.

After the meal the missionaries all sang "Army of Helaman" with the last line being changed to say, "And thank you for the food" to the Relief Society sisters who do such an amazing job of cooking and serving the meal.  Notice that the missionaries are all in blue shirts--a member who wanted to remain anonymous had all these shirts made with the mission logo for every missionary in the mission--and we got one too!  Members are just amazing here.

In fact, the Las Vegas stake Relief Society had made these bags (almost grocery bag size) and filled them with gifts for each missionary!  Can you even believe it?  The snowman faces were made of painted salt dough glued onto the bags--so much work and truly a labor of love!  The boxes were filled with cold cereal, socks, candy, toothbrushes and toothpaste, mouthwash, an ornament, a little missionary cookbook, some Christmas stories,  a plan of salvation visual, and other things.  The time it must have taken these sisters to make these is mind boggling--but just shows how much the members here support the missionaries.  They were so excited to get them!

On Friday night we went with President and Sister Black to see the Christmas display at the Bellagio Hotel.  It was unbelievable!  There was a huge polar bear family made from thousands and thousands of live white carnations and a huge 45 foot Christmas tree that was oh so beautiful.  Pictures just don't do this display justice.  

Afterward we walked outside to see the fountain display in front of the Bellagio, and it was just magical to see the beautiful fountains go off in sync to Josh Groban singing.  In the background is the Eiffel Tower of the Paris Hotel all lit up.  It was just beautiful.  Then we ate a light dinner at the  French restaurant inside the Paris Hotel.  What a fun evening!

On Saturday was the baptism of Debbie, and it was so beautiful.  Pictured are the brother who baptized her, Sister Dewey, Debbie, and Sister Carr.  Debbie kept saying, "I finally found the whole truth and the loving people who teach it.  My former church was a church of doom and gloom and this church is a church of hope and love.  And it's all because of YOU!"  as she embraced Sister Carr and Sister Dewey.  She felt it was the best Christmas gift ever.  And here we are on a mission at Christmas time and it's such a wonderful place to be!  We too are giving our gifts to the Savior, gifts of service and love for Him, whom we love so much. I kept thinking about all of the missionaries here who are away from their families this Christmas and who are willingly giving this service because they love the Lord.  None of them who I talked to said they were homesick, but that they were grateful to be serving.  Aren't missionaries the greatest?  We're so grateful to be here too.

Transfer Week and Christmas Parties

I can hardly believe that it's only 9 days before Christmas.  This month has flown by because we have been so busy!  Also, since there weren't colorful leaves or barely even leaves falling from the trees, or snow, it seems like the months stay basically the same, although it is much colder here now.  We were busy all of last week getting ready for transfers and the week of transfers is just as busy, but luckily we only received seven new missionaries which made it a LOT easier.  So happily we were able to enjoy some Christmas parties with some of the wonderful people we have met here and they really helped to bring in the Christmas spirit.

On Sunday we had the most incredible Christmas dinner at Jay and Valerie Chapman's home.  We just couldn't believe all the amazing dishes that Valerie prepared--roast duck, lamb, rolls, several  Ukrainian dishes (she is from Ukraine), rolls, pie, etc.  It reminded us of the amazing dinners that Jared prepares for us each year on Christmas Eve that we have come to love and look so forward to.  Seated are Glen, Elder Alford, Sis. King,  Zena (also from Ukraine), the Chapmans, Sis. Judd, Elder Vieira, (this was his last dinner with us because he was transferred to the Lone Mountain Zone--we were so sad!) and Jay and Dorothy Burt--the funniest couple we have ever met!  The time spent together at this dinner was simply wonderful.  Valerie even gave all of us Christmas gifts.

Monday was transfers.  We held the orientation for the new missionaries at the Employment Center next door, which made things so much easier.  We were able to do it because with only seven to orient, we didn't need a large room.  I am responsible for the luncheon for these new missionaries as well, and that was easier also because it was just next door.  The luncheon went smoothly, and Glen and I and Sis. Conder did our orientation to this group who seemed excited and ready to do missionary work.  I just love seeing the new missionaries from the MTC!

After their day long orientation, we all went to the church building nearby to do the actual transfers.  I LOVE seeing the enthusiasm of the missionaries to see each other and give bear hugs to each other as they wait to see who the new missionaries are as they are matched to their trainers.  

These pictures don't do justice to the feeling that is there.  I also had to bring all the zillions of packages  and mail to the church to deliver to the missionaries--and as usual, they were SO excited to get their packages and mail from family and friends!  Please remember to send your missionaries packages and cards for Christmas, because does it ever make their day.  Many times when missionaries ask if there is anything for them and I say, "Not this time--so sorry!" And they say, "Where's the love?"

On Monday night we were invited to go to Empty Nester's Christmas FHE at the church by the Burts who were in charge.  We had such a great time there as we exchanged Christmas ornaments and had a little Christmas program and yummy treats.

On Tuesday night it was the Relief Society Christmas party.  We went to three different homes for appetizers, main course and then dessert.  At each home there was a Christmas program and it was just amazing.  At the first home, there was a huge variety of amazing appetizers followed by songs and stories.  Pictured here are my friends, Karlee Phelps, Jill Judd, Diane Christensen and Tamra Lott.  

At the second home was soups and breads, and an amazing talk by Bethany Jones (pictured in front and center) that had us in tears.  There was a knock at the door and a double quartet of men in the stake sang Christmas carols so beautifully that brought such a Christmas spirit!  The third home was equally as wonderful.  It was just a magical night.  I just love these sisters in the Relief Society!

I got all my transfer letters done, the final processing done for the new missionaries, and ALL the release dates changed on IMOS for every missionary (it took me hours)  plus processing all the Christmas mail and packages this week, and we had been working SO SO hard in the office.  Imagine our surprise and happiness when we opened a package addressed to the "office staff" and found Danish treats and cookies and a 4-5 inch solid chocolate of our initials for each of us!!!  It was sent by the mother of one of our missionaries, Elder Hoskins, to thank us for all of our work.  She especially loves the blog that Sister Black does for the mission and the letters she gets from the mission and she just wanted to show her appreciation.  Can you believe how thoughtful people are?  

After this, President Black told me that we will be updating the transfer board (the HUGE board that shows the pictures of all the missionaries (plus when they arrived, when they will depart, their birthdays, and where they are from) because with all the new missionaries that we will be receiving, the transfer board won't hold all of them.  So I will have to make  about 180 new transfer cards and find a way to design them!  AHHHHH!  The transfer board protectors will have to be cut in half (a huge job in itself because they are very thick with a large magnet across the back) and then the new cards put inside.  That, along with processing the 26 new missionaries that we will be getting on Jan. 21.  That also means making 26 new guidebooks--a huge job!  My work is cut out for me for the next several weeks.

On Saturday we attended the Buffalo ward Christmas breakfast.  It was a lot like the Christmas breakfasts that we love in the Canyonwoods ward!  The Young Men and Young Women had decorated and it was so beautiful, and then they put on a nativity with all the costumes and songs and it was so pure and sweet.  We were able to sit by our friends John and Nadia Davies who are not members and have a wonderful time with them.  Oh, isn't the Christmas season just so great?  We have heard nearly nothing about Santa Claus this season and have really seen a focus on the birth of Christ and peace on earth and good will toward men--the benefit of being missionaries, I'm sure.  We have heard beautiful Christmas stories and thoughts in our daily devotionals at the office.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

The Five Month Mark

Can you even believe we've been on our mission for five months?  In some ways it seems like it has flown by and in other ways it seems like we've been here for a long long time.  But we feel like we're catching on and we're having a wonderful time.  Oh how we love the missionaries and are so inspired by them!  We have had so many unique experiences here.

One of my responsibilities is to take calls concerning blessing requests.  We probably get two or three a week where someone calls and asks if the elders can go to the hospital and give their loved one a blessing.  I then call the zone leader in the particular area where the hospital is located (there are SO many hospitals here) and they then call the elders in their zone to perform the blessing.  This week I had a call from the hospital saying that the mother of a middle aged patient wanted the elders as quickly as possible to come because the patient was in critical condition, so I immediately called the zone leaders.  About 45 minutes went by and the hospital called back saying that the patient had just died!  I called the zone leaders again to tell them and they said that they had just arrived at the hospital and would still go to see the mother of the now deceased patient. They went to CCU and met with the distraught mother, who wasn't a member of the church, but the patient was, and gave her (the mother) a blessing.  They talked for awhile and then the mother requested to meet with them to be taught.  It was quite the experience for the elders and for me to see the wonderful attitude that these elders had about the difficult situation.  I also get a few calls each week for the elders to perform some sort of service for someone, and when I call the elders, they always respond so eagerly, no matter what the service is.  I'm so impressed by them.

Tomorrow is our 4th transfer--we can hardly believe it!  We are only getting seven new missionaries (whew!) so it won't be too bad.  I have already started my many letters to missionaries and to parents that have to be done at transfers.  I also completely finished redoing the entire 2013 calendar (it took hours and hours) that had to be changed because our transfer dates were being changed.  That also meant that I had to change every missionary's departure date, and I'm 3/4 finished with that huge project.  There is never a dull moment here!

We had a really fun week in spite of all the work that had to be done.  Let me share some of the highlights:

On Sunday we were invited to have dinner with JB and RaNae Watsabaugh, a wonderful convert couple who have also served a mission.  We loved hearing their conversion story and were inspired by their examples of faithfulness and dedication.

On Monday morning a 17 yr. old boy walked into the office and told me he wanted to become a member of the church and wanted to know how to do it because he had stopped at the Bishop's Storehouse to get food and they told him he had to be a member to receive food.  I asked him if he knew anything about the church and he didn't even know we were Mormons. It sounded like he thought this may be a club of some sort.  I talked to him for about 20 minutes and he told me he hated his dad and that he was mean to his dad, and all other sorts of awful things.  I gave his name to the missionaries who made an appointment with him, but he stood them up.  It seems that he only was interested in the food and it was such a sad, sad situation.  But you never know!

Monday night we went to a Christmas concert at Artemus Hall on the UNLV campus.  We were pretty excited to see where the UNLV campus was, and the concert was really good.  NOTHING like the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, but really good nonetheless.

On Tuesday morning, I got to do the FUNNEST thing ever!  Elder Weaver of the Highland Hills Zone asked if I would participate in the zone training meeting by being an "investigator" who would ask "questions of the soul" to each companionship in the zone to give them practice in responding to those questions.  Sis. Conder agreed to cover the office for me and I went to the nearby church where the meeting was held and got to see firsthand how a zone training meeting went.  I just loved it!  Elder Weaver was so encouraging to his zone members and showed so much love for them.  I loved how the missionaries responded to "my" questions and it was a great experience for me. 

The Highland Hills Zone.  I love these missionaries!

Elder Weaver.  He is going home on this transfer and I will really miss him! He was dressed this way for something he was teaching before I got to the meeting--this is not missionary attire!

On Tuesday night we went to the temple and it was wonderful as usual.  We always go straight from the office and then eat dinner at the temple, and the temple cafeteria gives us missionaries a full dinner for $3 each--can you believe that?  The dry cleaners not far from us also give us our dry cleaning and do Glen's shirts for free.  Such wonderful blessings!

On Thursday night we had an awesome experience.  Our stake, the Redrock stake, puts on an annual live Christmas nativity, held at a beautiful venue called Opportunity Village--held outside.  You just couldn't believe this nativity--the set was magnificent, it had live animals (horses, goats, sheep), a live baby Jesus, and the most incredible costumes I've ever seen.  It had narration and beautiful music and the actors were well rehearsed.  It lasted about 35 minutes and was so touching it just brought tears to our eyes.  The picture above shows the angels appearing to the shepherds and singing hosannahs--they are on top of the building!

The shepherds respond with awe.  Can you see the sheep?

The shepherds come to Bethlehem.

The wise men came in on magnificent horses, but we couldn't get a clear picture of them--but it was so impressive!  They present their gifts to the baby Jesus.  Can you believe these costumes?  Mary was such a beautiful girl and Joseph and Mary played their parts so well.  It was so touching.

The crowd was so big that we couldn't get near the baby Jesus to take a picture.  But we got one with the wisemen!  We were so grateful to witness such a beautiful production.  The story of the birth of Christ is just beyond words and our feelings were so tender.

On Friday night we got to see Jack Jeppesen, our beloved back door neighbor!  It was so fun to see him and visit with him, and he was able to take some things back to Layton for us.  Thank you Jack!

On Saturday we drove out to Pahrump where four of our elders are living and check out where they live.  Since it is on the way to Death Valley, we drove there also and had so much fun.   In fact, it was the elders who encouraged us to go there!  It really is such a unique place, and is actually in our mission boundaries, even though it's in California.  It's the hottest place on the earth!

The visitor center people told us that it is usually 120 degrees daily in the summer, but you can see that it was a perfect 72 on Dec. 8--the day we were there.

After going through a couple of visitors' centers and touring the area a bit, we hiked up Golden Canyon and did a 4.3 mile loop.  It was so fun to be able to enjoy the beautiful (in its own way) area and feel so renewed. The landscape is a bit different than Adam's Canyon!

The view of Death Valley from the canyon.  It's a huge valley!

Glen's gps registered an altitude of minus 281 feet below sea level--and the sign said it was minus 282 feet below sea level!  Pretty close!  

The white in the background is salt.  It reminded us a lot of the Dead Sea area which is 1388 feet below sea level.  Glen said, "We went to Death Valley and came out feeling alive!"  What a great way to celebrate our five month mark on our mission!

Getting ready for Christmas

After spending a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with our family, several people asked me if it was hard to come back.  I responded each time with, "No--we really feel that this is where we're supposed to be!"  We started right back in, energized to continue our work. It became official this week that our transfer dates will change, which means that I have to completely redo the entire 2013 calendar and change the zone conference luncheons and other luncheons after I have already scheduled the buildings and the luncheons with the stake Relief Society presidents.  It has already taken me hours to schedule them, and now I will have to start all over!  I also have to change every single missionary's departure date on IMOS since the transfer dates have changed--can you believe it?  So scary!  I just have a ton of work to do.

David texted me this picture of Clarissa with this message:  "Grammy, I want to be just like you. I am an office missionary in training. I love you."  Is that the cutest thing ever?  She is just so adorable.  Maybe you could come and help me, Clarissa, with all of my work!

 I kind of had my heart set on decorating the office for Christmas and putting up a tree with the name of each missionary on an ornament.  But we didn't have a tree--or any ornaments!  I went over to magical DI and voila--they had a tree AND some ornaments!  Sister Conder worked on typing the names of each missionary and then we cut the namestrips and put them on an ornament--160 of them!  We weren't sure if they would all fit on the tree, but they did and we were so excited about it!  The true test was if the missionaries would even notice.

Not only did they notice, but as they came to the office, they wanted to find their own ornaments!  They would search and once they found them, they would take a picture of it.  Here are Sister Fisher, Sister McKnight, and Sister Luamanu trying to find their's.

And Elder Jacobsen and Elder Pennington looking for theirs.  I also put some garland under the counter  and  put my olive wood nativity from Jerusalem on the counter over the cabinets, and it looked so nice!  I was so excited about helping to make the office look so festive for Christmas. 

On Thursday night I was able to go teaching with Sister Carr and Sister Dewey again.  I just love that! 

 On Friday, Bryce and Dawna (Glen's brother and his wife) came to Las Vegas and we were able to have lunch with them at the mission office.  We were so excited to see them!

On Saturday night we went to the famous Stratosphere on the north end of the strip and had dinner with Bryce and Dawna and then went to the top of the Stratosphere, 109 stories!  The elevator went up so fast that our ears couldn't pop fast enough.

We went to the look out and saw an incredible view of the Las Vegas valley.  This is the strip side.  Too bad the picture is so blurry!

Then we went up one more floor where they have some rides and we rode the ride on the very top where we were strapped in and then lifted up on the big tower and then dropped at a fast speed.  We were screaming!  It was so much fun--we just wanted to be able to say that we did it!  We are seated on the chairs that are halfway up the tower.

They spent the night with us at our condo and then went to church with us.  We just loved seeing them and being able to spend some time with them.