Family Pictures

The Bird Is In The Nest!

Well, he's there, he's officially been delivered via the church's new drop-n-roll policy. It wasn't too bad really. We survived it. It was sad, and exciting, and wonderful, and horrible all at the same time. We miss him a lot though. It's just not the same around here without Ryan. He keeps us all laughing that's for sure. We got our first letter from him today. He's the senior companion (because he says his name Butler was closer to "A"). He's really bonding well with his district. I posted his letters on his web site at missionsite.net if anyone wants to check it out. And for our now returned missionary, Colten is doing great. A little lost, but adjusting well. He's already spoke in 3 sacrament meetings, gone on a few dates, registered for college, and been hunting for a job. Life truly does move on. We feel very blessed indeed!

Homecoming/Farewell

Our big day isn't too far away now. Colten comes home September 28th. He flies into St. George at 6 pm. We are SO EXCITED!!! I can't even tell you. Colten's homecoming, and Ryan's farewell are on the same Sunday...October 11th. Our church is at 1:00. So, to all the fam who would like to come, please do! We'd love to see you and have you there.

It's getting closer...

What a blessing it is to have a missionary out! And what a great experience it has been for our Colten. He has loved every minute of it. It's hard to believe that time is winding down. We are so excited to see him again, but at the same time, sad for him that it's coming to an end....and excited to see what other great adventures await him in his life.

Am I the only one?

Ahhh...am I the only one that could care less that Michael Jackson died? I'm so sick of hearing about it. One less psycho in the world...oh well. And all the media attention and hype? Puh-LEASE!!

Our annual trip to the Manti Pageant.

Every June, for the past 15 years we have gone to the Manti Pageant. It's definately a tradition of ours, and we love it. We always have a great time. It will be a couple of years until Ryan comes with us again, and next year we'll have Colten back...but we still go, and it's an awesome experience for our family. The production that they put on is beautiful. The temple is beautiful, and no matter how many times we've seen it, no doubt, Barry and I tear up at the very end. In fact, we usually stay for two nights, play at Snow College (raquetball, basketball, swimming, etc) for the day, and then back to the pageant for a second viewing. This year it rained all day the 2nd day we were there, but stopped just in time for the pageant to begin. We had a great time together.

Elder Butler is still a goof!

Colten's last letter begins....
"¿Còmo estan familia mia?
Everything is well here in the offices. But yesterday we ate something funny, and now i`m sick. I`ve been going to the bathroom every half hour. It's really enjoyable. The bad part is that the Hna. Flores gave me Asprin for the disease that i have. Asprin???.. honestly...i`ve lost faith in her medicine abilities."
Every letter we get from our Elder, he sounds really...happy. He's really LOVING his mission. He's still got that zingy personality that we love so much, and that always keeps us laughing. And by the way, Hna. Flores that he's talking about is his mission mom. She's a dentist, and a very sweet lady. Colten adores her.

I hope they call me on a mission...

Ryan opened his call tonight. He is going to the San Pablo Philippines Mission. He leaves Oct 14th, to the Provo MTC mission! We are so EXCITED!!!

Been Busy!

I don't know why my kids feel the need to graduate in flip-flops. O-well.
And, check out Makenna's poor little face, all swollen from getting her wisdom teeth out. She and Ryan had it done at the same time. Makenna was pretty ticked off that Ryan had no swelling at all.

Well, we've certainly been busy lately. Ryan graduated!!! We went on our cruise - had a ball. And, Ryan's mission papers are in! The bishop called us tonight to tell us that he checked the status on-line, and Ryan's call is IN THE MAIL!!! Exciting!

Boarding the ship

Together at dinner.

Busy May

I can't believe how much we have going on this month...especially the END of this month. Ryan graduates from Seminary tomorrow, from High School on Friday. Wow. Hard to believe. And, he's putting his missionary papers in on the 24th of May. Yikes! The seniors checked out of school last week. They are so done!! Ryan and Makenna get their wisdom teeth out this Wednesday...hope it goes well. And, we are going on a cruise on the 25th of May. To...Mexico? Well, it was supposed to be Mexico, but with all this swine flu stuff, they are re-routing us. Which is fine with me, cuz I'm not in love with Encinada. Anyway, it's the Senior trip, and we are taking, of course, the whole family. We're pretty excited about it. We went on the same cruise for Colten's senior trip. It was a ball. I highly recommend it. I honestly think that it was one of the funnest things we've ever done as a family. It doesn't even matter where you go. It's just fun.
We got to talk to Colten last Sunday. It was quite a memorable Mother's Day for me. Ryan was set apart as an Elder last Sunday. He also spoke in church. Did a great job. Made me cry. And, of course we got to talk to our missionary. Which is always an amazing and emotional experience. His accent is just so strong, it's very difficult to understand him. He's doing great. He's really happy. I'm sure that it will be quite an adjustment for him to come home. I can tell that he's nervous about it. So, things are moving forward for us. Life has a way of doing that doesn't it?

Update

Well, thought I would do a quick up-date on our humble little lives here in Southern Utah. Here goes.
1) Ryan is getting ready to put his papers in. (ahhh!) He and Danielle decided to be responsible, and break up, because Ryan is going on a mission, and he needs to focus on that. I never thought I would see that happen. I am so proud of my Ryan, I can't even tell you.
2) The big talk here is the SWINE FLU (which I don't even know WHY they call it the swine flu, cuz it has nothing to do with pigs). All of the teachers here have gotten lesson plans ready, and the kids have been told that it's only a matter of time before the schools are closed for the rest of the year. There are 5 unconfirmed cases here in Washington County. As soon as they ARE confirmed - the schools close. The kids will have to do their work on-line. They only have 3 more weeks of school here anyway. We'll see what happens.
3) Guess who's son is in hello...MEXICO!!! And guess who e-mailed us last week saying he was sick. Yeah, I've been worried all week. I CAN'T WAIT to hear from him today. I want to know what he has heard. I just keep reminding myself that if he is obedient, which he is, that he will be ok, and that the Lord will take care of him. But, I'm still a mom, so it's hard not to worry about my boy.
4) Mother's day is next week-end, and we are VERY excited to be able to talk to Colten.
5) Other than all that, life is pretty boring and usual here. I'm still working home health, love it. Barry is still working for Cindy Taylor Construction, doing good. We feel very blessed.
Hope you all are doing good too!!!

Hilarious!

We found this on You-Tube. Pretty funny stuff.

And if I was more of a computer whiz, I would figure out how to post a video without lopping off the right side...but I'm not, so it is. o-well. At least you get the general idea.

"LESSONS I LEARNED AS A BOY" by President Hinckley

In Colten's last letter, he told us to watch this video. We did. Even though I've heard this story before, I loved it.

Update on Colten

Colten and his new companion, Elder Franco, in front of another huge cathedral.

I realize that my blog is pretty much about my kids. But, that's just because...well, that's what I really care about. What can I say. I thought that this post I would update everyone on Colten. The best way to do that is to hear it straight from him. He writes:

"Changes came and went. I decided about 3 days before the changes came that I don`t want to go back to Juarez. I`m not in the mood to see all the drugs and death. I`m done with that. So i was really worried when Elder Carnohan told me the results of my district. I got changed. However, I feel really good about it. I`m opening up an area that has been closed for about 4 months. It's called Centro. Its located in the heart of Chihuahua. Yes, I`m in Chihuahua. I`m really loving it. I got a nice surprise though. When i showed up here today i heard that my area doesn't have a house. And that the area had been closed, which I didn`t know. I kept on asking around, and come to find out I`m going to the mission offices. Thats right I`m in the mission offices as the reference secretary. Thats cool and all but that means that my baptisms just all went out the window. Its hard to baptize in the offices because 1/2 the day we spend in the offices doing who knows what. So I`m happy and a little sad. Its possible that i`ll finish my mision here. Usually the Eldere last 8 months in the offices. I have 6 left, so this very well could be my last area. Who knows though.

My comp is Elder Franco. He`s from Mexico City. He has more time than I do, but is junior companion. Also, i`m still district leader. But I`m getting the feeling that this Elder is dead. The presidente pulled him aside and gave him a big warning before we came here to the internet. I think that the pres wants to keep him on a short leash. I don`t know though. Its going to take a great deal of patience. I hope that I can help this guy.

Good new though i`m with Elder Williams again. He`s in the offices as the finance secretary. I`m with my old comp again. I love that guy.

It was great experience leaving Jimenez. I felt so content with the work that I had done. I loved Jimenez. I`m going to miss it a lot. My testimony has grown so much about the reality of revelation. I know that President Flores is truly guiding us by the Holy Ghost. Thats wrong. I know that my Savior is guiding us in His work through the Holy Ghost. We are so blessed.

I am so thankful for this awesome chance I have to serve Him."

Photo Shoot

Thanks to my dear and wonderful friend, Mrs. Erma Rainey...We have these amazing pictures of our children (minus Colten, of course).
Thanks Erm!

Mission Life!

Another great zone conference. The zone "Sur del Estado"

And...another misionary memory...as told by Colten:
"Oh. We about died the other night. We were in divisions. Elder Carnohan, our ZL from San Diego, came to Jimenez to have diviciones with me. Elder Aguilars bike was flat so for the night we rode around on our...devils? They aren´t called devils in english. The things you put on your back tire so that someone can ride with you standing up. They use them to grind and stuff in the X-games. Anyways, he was standing on those things and i was riding the bike. When we came to a crucial moment - a speed bump. I began to slow down so that we would go over it really slow, but Elder Carnohan started to tell me to pick up speed, and told me to do it. So we hit that speed bump pretty fast. Ya we crashed. Elder Carnohan literally flew over my head and landed on the street. I got all tangled up in the bike chain. It was so funny. The amazing thing is that we are both good. We didn´t even have a scratch. I wish we could have snapped a pic of that. It would have been great."
Colten's companion, in their laundry room.

Ryan's eventful week-end; Hadie Sawkins, and being turned down at Burger King.

This was quite an eventful week-end for our Ryan. His first adventure was going horseback riding with a friend of his. I don't know why, but Ryan got the most "active" horse, which isn't good, because Ryan doesn't have a great history with horses. For some reason they thought it would be awesome to go through the drive through at Burger King on horse-back. But turns out, they got turned down, and as Ryan said "We got STERN looks". They are going to try for Wendy's next week. I'll keep you posted.
Also, this Saturday was Hurricane High's "Hadie Sawkins" dance. (Boys ask girls, opposite from Sadie Hawkins). So, of course Ryan took Danielle. Their group day date was going to dinner, and Walmart to get some funky matching outfits. I guess they did pretty good because they won "best dressed", and got their pictures for free. We are so proud.

Danielle, Ryan, Shad, Kenzie - quite a group. They are all such awesome kids!

The church is so true it's ridiculous!

These are all guys from Colten's "generation"...meaning, they all entered the MTC together, and came into the mission field together. They love seeing each other. Colten truly loves these guys.

Colten is doing so awesome. He is so happy. We love to hear his testimony and his excitement for the gospel. Here's is a part of one of his letters:
"I have gained such a testimony of the importance of prayer. I love the fact that nobody has to believe in the words that we tell them. I love telling people who are a lot older than me, and have seen a lot more things, that i dont know everything. I dont know what its like to have a kid, to not have work, or to have to pay bills. im young, and in MANY ways unexperienced in many things, but what i do know is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the church of Jesus Christ here on the Earth. The best of our message is that we ALWAYS invite people to act. To pray and ask their Heavenly Father if the things that we are teaching them are true. Our message is amazing. It can get discouraging when so many people reject us, not even knowing what they are rejecting. The Church is true. If i choose to know one thing without doubt, i would choose to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the restored church of Jesus Christ. I love how our church is EXACTLY the same as the church that Jesus Christ established when he came to the Earth. So many churchs dont even have a clue. Its so important for us to preach this message to everyone. I know this is the true church. There isnt a doubt in my mind.
Our church is so true its ridiculous."

Happy Sweet 16!

Well, after counting down for over 150 days until the big day...it finally happened. Makenna is officially 16, and legally driving. Heaven help us all. Her birthday, January 5th, was quite a day. We had a big snow storm that day. I picked Makenna up from school to take her to the DMV. When we left it was snowing...lightly and pleasantly...and when we came out, it was a full-on storm. Black ice, cars turned over everywhere. It was quite a drive home. But, she insisted on driving (of course), and did fine. I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up.