Merry Christmas from the Roberts Family!
We hope and pray that you found happiness and joy through the months of 2013. As the year comes to a close, we have so many things to be thankful for. It has been another amazing, crazy year filled with some challenges and unexpected blessings. As I write our family letter this year, all I can think about are the many tender mercies that the Lord has shown our family.
This year started out with our family in Tucson, Arizona. From January until June our family was blessed with the experience of working on the small family farm of our friends, the H family. The older boys learned how to care for animals and do other farm chores in return for eggs and meat from the farm. The rest of us just enjoyed playing with the animals, feeding a calf, weeding the garden and running around.
At the start of this year, S was working for Apex Microtechnology. D was in her 2nd semester at BYU, J and C in high school, with G, E and A all attending a K-8 Charter school. M was my only little buddy at home, but that didn't last too long. On April 20th, our family was blessed with the arrival of K. He weighed 9lbs 13oz and was 20 1/2 inches long when he was born. (See post below for more details) S's parents visited Tucson to help us welcome him to our family. They returned again in June for his blessing day. We are so grateful for their help and support in raising our children.
S took a week off of work while I was recovering from K's birth. The day he returned to work, he was called in to speak with his supervisor. He was told that the company was reorganizing again and that his position was no longer needed. In other words, he was laid off from his job. Stuart called me as he was driving home to let me know the news. I was a bit shocked, but Stuart said that he was completely relieved. To him, it felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The atmosphere at his work had been getting more and more uncomfortable over the years, and he had solved most of the problems with the machines so there was no more challenge to his job. He no longer enjoyed his job. It turned out that losing his job was probably the best thing that ever happened to him career-wise. He reassured me that we would be all right and that he wouldn't let us starve. He spent the next three months working in the hot Arizona summer sun, keeping that promise. He took whatever odd jobs he could find and helped friends weld, paint, fix sprinkler systems, etc. He also put his resume online and applied for engineering jobs all over the country.
Then, at the end of June, he received 2 phone calls from companies that wanted to interview him. The first was in Florida and the second was in Oregon. The job in Florida didn't appeal to him at all, but the job in Oregon seemed like a fantastic opportunity. He was given a job offer about 3 days after his interview and he accepted it immediately. Truly this was a tender mercy and a miracle to have found a good job so soon.
Before he left to start work at Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon, we decided to take a family vacation, to fulfill a promise we had made to A to take him to Disneyland "someday". Well, this summer was that someday. With S driving the truck and pulling the tent trailer and me driving the van, we headed off to Anaheim, Ca where we stayed for a week at the Orangeland RV Park. The RV park was so fun, with a pool and hot tub, outdoor grilling/picnic area, billiards, and laundry room. We spent two days at different beaches where the kids swam, surfed on boogie-boards and built sandcastles. We also had dinner at Medieval Times, which was amazing. And of course, we spent 2 days at the Disney parks. After our incredible week, S packed up the truck and trailer and headed north to start work with his new company and look for a place for our family to stay. I loaded the kids in the van and headed south to San Diego where we went to the beach
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| Chad and Greg on the Beach |
one more time and stayed with our friends, the M family. The next day, we said our goodbyes and went back home to start packing for our move to Oregon.
In the meantime, D had put in her paperwork to become a full-time missionary. She received a call in August to serve in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission with a report date of October 30-her 20th birthday. We feel so blessed to have a daughter who is worthy and willing to serve the Lord by teaching others about His restored gospel and to share her faith in our Savior to all who'll listen.
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| Mitchell loves the Fall |
As August came to an end, we said our goodbyes to S's sister's family in Gilbert, AZ and all our friends in the Tucson area and we packed everything we could fit into a moving truck and with D and J taking turns with me, we drove to our new home in Beaverton, OR. We took 5 days to get there, stopping along the way in Las Vegas, Saratoga Springs, Utah (to spend 2 nights with Stuart's parents and visit family there), and Boise, ID (where we drove around to see some of our favorite places from our years of living there). At each of those stops we also visited the temple. Including the Mesa temple that we visited prior to our move and the Portland temple that we visited the week after our move, we ended up visiting 6 temples in the shore period of time. It was neat to see all those beautiful houses dedicated to the Lord. We were so happy to arrive safely in Beaverton and count this as another miracle in our lives.
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| Irene Kopp with Heidi and Keenan |
In September, the boys started school again. J is a senior and C is a sophomore this year. G is in 7th grade and is homeschooling via the Oregon Virtual Academy. E is in 4th grade and Adin is in 1st grade at the elementary school which is only a mile walk from the house we are renting. We have wonderful neighbors and a super church family who helped us to unpack and settle into our new home. We feel so welcome here and are excited to explore the area. At the end of September, we were blessed with the visit of our dear friend, I K, from Switzerland. She stayed with us for a week and we enjoyed visiting the rose gardens, library and Portland temple with her. She has been an incredible friend to our family since S met her on his mission.
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| Our Missionary |
We are so happy that she was able to spend some time with Di before she departed for her mission too. D entered the Provo, UT MTC on October 30. She was there for 2 weeks before heading off to Minnesota, where she will be serving until May of 2015. S's parents also visited us again when they came to spend Thanksgiving week with our family.
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| Jacob's senior portrait |
Here in Beaverton, we have lots of things to keep us busy. My sister, I, and her family live only 1 1/2 hours away from us so we look forward to being able to spend time with them. We bought an Oregon Zoo membership and hope to visit it often. We have already taken the MAX train into the city a few times, which is a great adventure for the little boys. J is part of the Men's choir in high school and is looking forward to graduating next summer. C has begun putting together his Eagle Scout leadership project and hopes to finish it early next year. G loves the nearby skate park and is learning to do stunts on his scooter. He is also very interested in Quadcopters. E has joined an Oregon Battle of the Books team at his school and is reading up a storm to prepare for the "battle". A works hard at school and even harder at playing and having fun. M is only 3, but he learned how to ride a 2-wheeler this fall. Little K is 8 months old and now weighs about 23 lbs.
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| Keenan Bryce |
He started crawling and sitting up at 6 months, pulling himself up onto furniture at 7 months. I won't be surprised if he takes his first steps by Christmas, but I hope he waits a little longer. S absolutely loves his job! I'm so happy to see him taking joy in what he is doing to provide for our family again. I also feel a lot of joy in being his wife and the mom to all these wonderful children. They are growing up so quickly and I feel blessed to be a part of the chaos and excitement of raising them.
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| Chad and Santa |
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| Adin and Santa |
As 2013 now comes to an end, I have to express my thankfulness for my family. Through the challenges that my own family as well as those of my extended family, I feel so much closer to all of them. One of my sisters has battled a brain tumor this year and as scary and horrible as cancer is, the experience has left our family with the knowledge that we will all be there for each other through thick and thin. I love knowing that whenever there is a need, I can count on my loved ones to rally around and help me through it with their support and prayers. How grateful I am to belong to these people I call family. I love you all. I hope and pray you have a beautiful, joyful and merry Christmas as you and your loved ones celebrate the birth of our Lord this Christmas season. May you have a blessed New Year filled with happiness and tender mercies.
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| Stuart and Heidi |
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Love,
H and family
I've decided not to get upset with my husband when he gets home from work and plays with the boys instead of taking out the garbage or doing other mundane chores that I don't want to do myself. I realize that he makes a huge sacrifice to get up early and go to work each weekday. He misses so many of the "firsts" (and "lasts") that our children experience just so that I can stay home and experience them. There have been days when he has gotten up before the children and left for work and not returned home again until after they were in bed. I've rarely had a day like that where I couldn't be near my children. I'm so blessed to have been able to be a full-time mother for 19+ years because of the hard work, dedication, and sacrifice of my husband as he provides for our family. I have taken down the "honey-do" list for him and have decided that what he needs to do more than anything is to spend time with our children, letting them know he loves them and helping them learn how to grow into wonderful men, just like he is. The house will get fixed up later, as he teaches them the skills to do it.
have only left our children on about 3 or 4 occasions during the last 20+ years of our marriage and I used to be jealous of all the couples I knew who frequently got to take vacations together without their children, but no more. As much as I cherish the time I have alone with my eternal companion, I also realize the time I have with our children will soon be over and gone. It is precious and I am grateful that I haven't missed very many days of their hugs, kisses, growth, good-nights, and songs.
I pray that one day when I'm in my 60's or 70's, my now 5-day old son will let me have the blessing of holding his 5-day old child. When that day arrives, many years from now, but really just around the corner, I will probably think "This is the last time ever..."
While it was cooling a bit, I mixed 5 cups flour (mine was about 1/4 whole wheat, 3/4 white), 4 1/2 TBS of fast action yeast (2 pkg.), 4 TBS sugar, 2 tsp salt, 2 whole eggs and the whites of 2 eggs, reserving the yolks in a small bowl for later. Then I mixed 1/2 tsp vanilla extract with 2 TBS of sugar until the sugar was well coated. Add the vanilla sugar to the flour mixture. Slowly add the flour mixture with the butter mixture in the Bosch, then stir until combined and a dough forms. 
Sprinkle dough lightly with flour and take it out of the bowl. Knead it again briefly on floured work surface. Then I divided the dough and shaped it into rolls. Since we are going to be using this for Bratwurst, I shaped half of the rolls in a long shape to fit the sausages. At this point, you should mix the egg yolk with 4 tsp milk and brush it over the rolls. I forgot this step and did it after it has risen, but it still worked out ok. Let the dough rise until doubled in a warm place in your kitchen. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. Don't they look delicious!
Then, cut each cake in half horizontally. Place 1 layer, cut side up, on the serving plate and spread about 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam over the top. Then place the next cake layer, cut side down, on the jam and spread with the frosting. Continue to layer your cake, alternating jam with frosting between each layer. On the top layer, spread with frosting and frost the entire cake. Pipe frosting on top of the cake in a lace design if desired. Garnish with raspberries or chocolate leaves. 
We are so grateful this Thanksgiving to have my sister, G.S. and her husband S and their 3 sons, joined us for Thanksgiving. Our table is set for 14 people and we are so excited to enjoy our meal together. Here is the menu for this year and I'll follow it up with the recipes so I can use this blog to find them again next year!
G.S. made the stuffing using 2 small loaves of sourdough bread from the reduced bakery shelf. She sliced it very thin. Then she added sliced mushrooms, sliced celery, chopped artichokes, chicken broth, shredded parmesan cheese, rosemary, salt, and pepper. You could also add chopped onion, but the S's don't like onions. Mix it all up and bake at 350 degrees F for 30-45 minutes.
This classic recipe that we have every Thanksgiving and Christmas comes from S's mom. Here is her recipe that we doubled:
Easy Pie Crust:
Never-Fail Pie Crust:
Cook in a large saucepan on med heat stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, then boil for 1 minute longer. Will be thickened. Meanwhile, put 4 egg yolks in a mixing bowl and stir with a fork. Pour 1/2 of the milk mixture into the yolks and stir to blend, then pour it back into the saucepan and blend into the remaining milk mixture. 