Happy 25th Anniversary

bucket list: drive through a redwood tree in a convertible. check

Russ planned our 25th anniversary trip to the Redwoods. I've always wanted to return there since I have a memory of going there as a child and I don't have too many memories as a young child so it must of left an impression on me. We went by train, plane and automobile and had a blast driving in our convertible through the redwoods and along the coast on Highway 1.

loved it

Thanks Russ for the greatest 25 years ever. I've loved every day with you!! I always tell everybody that Russ is my greatest blessing, and it's the truth. They really don't come any better than him. I love him with all my heart and look forward to forever with him.

WE LOVE SKIING!!

Skiing is what gets us through the winter here at this house.  I even paid hundreds of dollars to buy Erin new ski clothes to get her comfortable (she hates miss-fitting hand-me-downs) so she would start skiing with the family again.  She got to use them once until they accidentally got thrown away.  How does that happen you ask?  Well a well meaning daughter put them in a garbage bag so they wouldn't get her other clothes wet after a cabin trip and upon leaving we had to haul our own garbage out.  Well you can picture the rest of the story.  Mom grabbed bags in van and tossed them  in to the big garbage bin.  goodbye clothes, gloves, hats, coat and pants.  So sad.  Back to hand-me-downs for the rest of the season.  They sure looked hot for that one ski trip though.  

Russ and I signed up for classes at Brighton.  I got to ski with six very fun friends.  We had a crazy, fun time.  Russ skied on Saturdays with David Fonda and we would join him for the afternoons.  We love skiing.  This Friday we have organized a couples night ski with our neighborhood at Brighton to end the season.  It should be a blast.  If we can just leave the mountain this year with no injuries.  Somebody on the night ski always manages an injury.  Why do we continue to do this??....because it keeps us young.  So we think!!

Christmas Highlights

Christmas was great!!  These are my highlights.  Talking to Spencer in Armenia on Christmas day.  Exchanging love gifts as a family and getting my hand crocheted plum scarf and hat made for me by Trent.  Yes my 17 year old son.  I loved it!!  Also getting together Christmas eve with my family for games.  And yes, finally getting Erin to join the family skiing on Christmas eve day.   

Talking to Spencer was a treat although I have to admit when I got off the phone I kissed it because he seemed to be right there in the room with us for a few hours and then poof * he was gone.  It left me feeling very melancholy.  We learned that he is without water up to 3 weeks at a time.  No baths or laundering of clothes.  He also returns from a long cold day of walking on ice packed roads to an apartment of 45 to 55 degrees.  That is as cold as my garage on a very cold day.  He seems to be all good with it though.  We sat around a speaker phone.  I had prepare two pages of questions and was eager to get as much out of every minute that I could.  The family had other plans as they started talking about movies at the beginning.  I kept telling them there wasn't time.  Then you can guess they used that quote against me every time I asked a question.  "NO TIME!" will go down in our family now as a famous quote.  HA!  

 He is always optimistic and finds the humor in everything.  He spent his Christmas doing not the normal things we are used to.  A ward party with Santa dressed in red long underwear and a skull cap with fireworks in the church.  o.k.   His job was to entertain the group with games.  Right up his alley.  I miss and love him so much!  

Halloween Night

Halloween is always a fun holiday.  We had a blast at a halloween party where Russ could only stand to wear Spencer's costume (from when he was 5 years old) for about 5 minutes in to the party.  We played some fun games and ate bloody fingers made from peanut butter by Michelle.  O.K. actually I couldn't make myself eat one, but they looked really cool.  

Halloween night Russ and I took turns taking the little girls out trick-or-treating.  They seemed to enjoy gabbing and walking slowly along the way more than they did collecting candy.  A little different than the boys who couldn't run fast enough from house to house trying to get as much candy as possible before the night ended.    They collected around 142 pieces of candy each, gross. But, they have more fun making trades with their candy than anything.  Russ eventually will take the left overs for the candy dish in the Bishop's office.  

Trent and Katie dressed up for a Halloween dance as batman and a ninja turtle.  We later borrowed the same costumes for our adult halloween party.

Korie went out with her friends and some guys trick or treating then came back to the house for ghost stories and games.  She is loving being a 9th grader.    

Girls Camp

Summer has been a lot of fun.   I was put back in to young womens over the mia maids, and I am with my cute daughter Korie now along with 7 more darling girls.  I signed up for the full time at girls camp this year.  I love being a girl again.  O.K. I've always been a girl, but when your 46 years old sometimes people think you're an old lady.   So dancing crazy, tubing behind the boat and staying up late talking in to the wee hours of the night makes you feel like a young girl again. We did all of these things at girls camp.  The girls told me the next day when we showed up at the lake and it was a down pour it was my fault and I needed to repent for my scandalous dancing the night before at our American Idol activity. What are they talking about? See I told you a  "46 year old lady" isn't allowed to shake her hips a little without being scandalous.  Well I conceded and repented and the clouds broke and the sun came out.  Maybe they were right. The rest of the day was great!  

Later that night Russ and Erin came and joined us for testimony night.    Wow, there were amazing testmonies shared that night and the spirit was very strong.  These girls are spiritual beyond their years.  Korie and Erin both shared their testimonies.  Korie talked about her brother Spencer's great example and Erin talked about the feeling she felt at girls camp and bore her testimony.  Erin later commented on the beautiful feeling that she had never felt before.  O.K. I've tried at home, but it's a little hard when people are playing with the dog, or sleeping during family scripture time. Well, it was a great girls camp and best of all I got to share it with my two girls and Russ.

Our annual trek to the beach included great friends this year.  Our oldest friends the Fonda's came along with Bennions and the Krolls. We sunbathed on the white, sandy beach of San Clemente.  We rode the waves and we were thrown around in the waves, but we all survived the enormous waves this year.  Our favorite things to do  are get up and play tennis, eat a great breakfast, pack a huge lunch and head to the beach for the day.  At the beach we enjoy the waves the most.  Some choose to use a boogie board and others body surf.  The waves were especially large this year.  Trent managed to break two boards in the waves, I'm just glad it wasn't his face.  We dug holes in memory of Spencer (that's something he spends a lot of time doing) He says he just likes digging holes.  We also played a lot of volleyball, built some sand castles,  sculpted sharks and turtles.  We also enjoyed some horse shoes.  I just love doing it all so I have a hard time just sitting.  We've been going to the beach now for 12 years.  Yes, we definitely love it!!

Wednesday was a great day!  What could be more excting than watching your son leave on a mission.  I am so happy for him.  We didn't have to drop him off until 12:00, so the morning was very relaxing.  We had a big waffle breakfast together.  Talked outside on the patio for awhile as Erin sat on her big brother's lap.  We arrived in Provo a half an hour later so we went to the Provo temple and took pictures with Spence.  Then we went to the MTC to check him in.  Spence is a very loving son.  He walked around with his arms around Erin and myself. (korie went to school, because she had several tests she didn't want to miss)  During the meeting Spencer put his arms around both Erin and me who sat on either side of him.  His arms were there the entire meeting which was so sweet.  After the meeting we stood up for our last hug for two years.  Russ hugged him first and was overcome with emotion and cried out loud.  Spencer told him several times how much he loved him, and how he was the perfect Dad for him.  That was it for me I followed with plenty of my own tears.  He commented that Erin was doing better than me.  She's the sobber in the family.  I told him I was so excited for him and to go and have a great mission.  He hugged his brother and sister and left.  Right before he disappeared behind the wall he stopped and gave us one last wave and smile.  I could see he was full of emotion.  But I knew he would be fine as they wisked him away.  

Erin sobbed so much that night she came up and asked Russ to give her a blessing.  She finally calmed herself down enough to go to sleep.  We are all doing great now.  We received a letter he wrote the night of his first day.  He said,"I feel weird saying this but so far I can honestly say that I love it here.  He mentions numerous times how friendly everybody is. He has two companions that he says are very cool.  One a small guy who is a semi pro rock climber. and the other who is taller and skinnier than him, who played football, basketball, and baseball in Highschool so that I guess is what makes them cool.  He said, "even the nerds aren't bad."  He said he learned the order of the hardest languages to learn were first finnish, second armenian, than korean, and after that he wasn't paying to much attention after they said armenian was the second hardest to learn.  (Pray for him to be able to learn it quickly)  

The second best part of the letter after hearing how happy he was was his P.S. "The church is TRUE!"  My excitement for him far exceeds my missing him.  I am just one happy mom!!!!

Than