Our Gang

When I was a kid, oh say 100 years ago or so, there was a television show called "Spanky and Our Gang". It was about a group of mischevious kids and their crazy adventures. AND of course it was in glorious black and white. Funny show.Fast forward half a century and meet Our Gang. We are probably closer to the "Over the Hill Gang" than Spanky's gang.

Senior couples of the

Colorado Springs Mission.

The pictures were taken during our all day Senior Retreat. We had a blast! We started with a hardy breakfast from Denny's "senior menu". Next we loaded up the crew and headed to scenic "Garden of the Gods" park, where the senior men posed for some "Moving Mountains" pictures. (Our mission slogan is "Colorado Colorado Springs Mission; Moving Mountains"- so the horse play was actually somewhat fitting).

We then spent an hour touring the world famous art studio of sculptor Michael Garman. After quenching our thirst for culture we headed to a quaint Chinese restaraunt for lunch. The rest of the day was spent in the beautiful mission home. We listened to President Mark McConkie, son of Bruce R. McConkie. His words were entertaining and inspiring. We enjoyed contributions by several of the seniors... "at their best".

Then ended with a barbecue dinner Montana style. Such a wonderful day... such good people... what a gang!

Ahhh...GRANDCHILDREN

FINALLY... granchildren!
So much fun to have Bostyn and Kamree bring their parents and come hangout!

Okay...Hunter, Cooper, Bryson, Jaron,

Kaila, Kaden,Ashton, Kierra,

Gracie, Kami, Chloe, Jack, Kalea,
Ariana, Molly and Olivia...
WE ARE WAITING!

Ring in the New...

We welcomed 2009 with 20 house guests. Wall to wall missionaries. They began arriving at about 5:00 on New Year's Eve and the last pair left the afternoon of New Year's Day. It wasn't the first time in our lives that we had to walk over sleeping bodies in the middle of the night. Our home in Montana was often the Spring Break scene. So we were somewhat prepared for this event. We had a blast. Lots of food, movies from the Mission President's approved list, dominoes and other board games... it was quite the party. Of course lights out was long before the dawn of the New Year and 2009 crept in with not a single eye witness in our little house.

2008 was an eventful year...

we look forward to all 2009 will bring.

2008 Christmas Collage

Though we are far away from home and despite experiencing a few moments of longing for our family and traditions of Christmas's past...

This year
**Three wonderful Baptisms,
**Christmas Eve in the homes of new friends,
**Sharing our little home and Christmas brunch with friends and strangers
** A lovley traditional Christmas dinner with Leola and her family. (True friendship stands the test of time)
**Letters from our family of Christmas memories and testimonies read aloud (a pile of wet Kleenex and a heap of damp paper towels)
**Delicious authentic tamales with the Moraga family
(friendships with a gospel foundation quickly become deep)
**Delivering 7 plates of goodies with Christmas DVDs.

All of this and more will make this truly a Christmas to be remembered.

Parable of the Amaryllis

On my birthday- eve I received a gift with a promise. The gift itself was plain and nothing to be desired. It came with a bag of rich brown soil, a green pot and some instructions. For the doubting heart, it might have been considered a thing of naught and quickly discarded. But because I had great faith in the giver, I hoped that following the directions would bring a beautiful reward.

.

So faithfully I read and heeded the directions. I placed the bulb in the soil and added the water. I carefully placed it where it would receive sunlight and and warmth. Then I waited and watched .

I was excited to see the bulb produce a green shoot that grew several inches in just one week. My faith in the gift grew just as the green shoot had grown.

The next week I suffered a moment of doubt. Oh, the shoot grew rapidly it was true. But there was no blossom, no thing of beauty as I had hoped. Still, I continued nurturing and caring for the growing plant. This I did because I had faith in the giver of the gift.

Just about three weeks from the day I received the gift, the reward came. Beautiful bright blossoms. Just three weeks of heeding the word and nurturing my faith and the beautiful gift arrived.

I trusted the giver (my Mother) and had faith in the Word (the instructions). Though it required some effort on my part, the reward was truly a gift.

As the world celebrates the glorious gift of the Savior of mankind. Let us remember to have Faith in the Giver, to heed the Word, to nurture our growing Faith- and the Gift we most certainly will receive will be more Glorious than we could even imagine.

Merry Christmas to all of you,

my dear family and friends

SWEET TRADITIONS

Yummy...aren't these beautiful cookies. They tasted even better than they look. Our friend Liz and her two sons made them for us. I LOVE Christmas cookies.

When the kids were little we would make them every year. I would mix the dough and pull out all the cookie cutters. The kids would help roll the dough out, cut the cookies in their favorite shapes and place them on a cookie sheet. Then when they cooled we would decorate them. The kids helped with everything- except maybe the clean up. It was messy, but worth it. Now I just get to reap the benefits of other people's talents. I like that a lot... but I do miss those chubby little sticky fingers helping me make plates of Christmas sweets.

NEW TRADITIONS

The only thing better than Zone Conference... CHRISTMAS ZONE CONFERENCE