Another one-year anniversary

Johnny's temple endowment day was one year ago today. It was a beautiful day. We needed to be at the temple by 5 am. The guests were invited to the 7 am session at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.
I'll never forget watching his face as he experienced the wonderful Spirit of the Lord in the temple. We were grateful for the friends and family who got up so early on a Saturday morning to share this day with Johnny.



He has now been on his mission in Indiana for 10 months. Can you believe how fast that has gone by? He is serving as a district leader in Muncie, Indiana. He loves everything about being a missionary and is so excited about sharing the gospel. This is a picture of him with his companion Elder Bijou.


God is the best!

One year ago today

My daughter Michal got a phone call at 7:30 pm saying that her best friend Maquelle had been in a car accident. She picked up her purse and ran out the door saying "I have to go to Idaho." Then she said "How do I get to Idaho?" I told her to just hold on a minute and I would drive her there. We picked up Maquelle's mom on the way and drove for 4 hours. We stopped at a little hospital in a town just south of Mallad. It was there that we found out Maquelle had been thrown from the car and killed in the accident. Maquelle's mom and my daughter both fell completely apart. It was horrible to watch. I couldn't think of anything to do but pray in my heart that somehow God would bring them comfort. I told the doctors that we wanted to see Maquelle. They said we'd have to wait because they were still working on her at the mortuary. We were finally able to go there after what seemed like hours. I'll never forget feeling my daughter's heartache as she looked at her best friend lying there in the funeral home. Maquelle just looked like she was asleep and if you shook her she'd wake up. Her face was perfect. She didn't even look like anything had happened.
As we drove back home, Michal was calling and texting all of her friends to meet at our house to support each other. We got home at about 4 am and Michal's friends and my mom were there.
God bless them all.



Michal and I spent today together and kept busy with LaCinda's baby shower, some shopping and eating lots of garlic at Chinese Buffet:) Tonight, we went to Maquelle's grave to light some candles and remember. It was raining and cold and the wind was blowing so the candles didn't stay lit but Michal just said that was Maquelle having her way.
It's going to be allright. It's just hard to see my daughter still hurting so much. She is strong, though and she knows that Maquelle is OK.

Bird Man

Here's my cute husband feeding 'his' birds. He loves to watch them out in the back yard. He doesn't want them to go hungry in the snow. I'm sure he'll have them named soon. Isn't he so darling!:)

Double Deuce

Look at this cutie pie! 2 days old. All that dark hair. Perfect fingers. Sweet, heart-shaped face:)





3 months old. Doesn't she just melt your heart:)






10 months old. What a dainty little princess. All dressed up and loving to be in front of the camera.




Now she's Twenty Two! Look at all these shoes! Can you believe how fast time flies? She still has a mischievous look in her eyes. Happy Birthday Michal! You are loved!

The Great Pumpking Massacre

Over the summer, my husband helped our cute neighbor with her garden. This is one of the pumpkins that was grown there!

I wanted to cut it open, keep a few seeds to plant, then cook the pumpkin down and freeze it to use for baking.


Well.....
After the giant pumpkin sat in the garage all fall and most of the winter, getting frozen and thawed over and over, I had finally had enough.


So last week, we cut it open and tried to salvage what we could. Jason had to use a saw to get the thing cut open! Then he had to punch it to get to the middle!

Michal took out the seeds. (about 100) We kept 5 or 6 of them to plant next year and cooked the rest with some salt. They tasted yucky because they had been frozen. The pumpkin was also ca ca poo so we had to throw that away. I was mad at myself for wasting it. Ugh! I just can't do it all!

Uncle Jay

This is our darling niece, Harper and my cute husband, Jason. Harper loooovveees her Uncle Jay. She has called him on the phone 2 or 3 times this past week. Just to 'chat'. She'll say, Hi, Uncle Jay! What you doin'? It's Harper. I call you on the phone. I love you Uncle Jay! She's sooo cute! Tonight we went to visit at Piper's house and Harper was showing Uncle Jay her laptop she got for Christmas. Later she was singing the alphabet and it went something like this: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, Uncle Jay! Uncle Jay! Uncle Jay! HA! Love this little girl!

Johnny's in a 'Hick' town

Check out some new pictures from our boy in Indiana. He's standing in front of a house that he calls "the house with the scary sign in the window". He says that he and his companion did NOT
knock on this door.














Here's a closeup of the sign.

















Here's another 'scary sign' on the door of a house.
He said they knocked on this door. I guess it all worked out because I got his email today:)











I love hearing from my boy. He's such a funny kid!

He loves his mission. He loves serving the Lord. I know he's having spiritual experiences because he tells us about them. The pictures just don't show much of the spiritual side.


This is a picture of the Elwood, Indiana district missionaries. Yes, that's my boy in the PLAID suit that someone gave to him. I wonder what Jesus is thinking. See his picture there in the background? Oh, it's a good thing the Church is true!
:)