The Butler Bunch

12/28/08

Ahh...The Annual Polar Bear Swim

Every year, Christmas morning, don't ask me how, but it's becoming a tradition in the Butler household that no child shall open any presents until we have our annual polar bear swim. So, we open the pool, to partake in the FREEZING water. You can probably guess that this tradition was not my idea, but Barry's. So, here are some of the pictures. And of course, Grandpa Butler, will NEVER pass up a challenge, so he's done it every year as well. Grandma Butler has even done it. She's made it up to her hips two years in a row! Big Fun!

Grandpa jumps in first!

Building up courage!

Now that's cold!!

Recovering in the hot tub.

12/20/08

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The lights are up, the house decorated, Christmas cards sent out...the shopping is done, presents wrapped, neighbor gifts finished and delivered, visiting teaching and home teaching gifts delivered, gifts to friends done, cookies made for the ward from the Elders Quorum (Barry is in the presidency)....We are officially ready for Christmas!
We might even have a white Christmas. It's been snowing here in Southern Utah, which is unusual. In fact, last Thursday, the kids were actually out for a SNOW DAY! That's big news here! We still have some lingering snow on the ground from last week here in Hurricane...and there is rumor that it siposed to snow again next week.
But the very best part is that on Christmas day we get to talk to our missionary. I am SO excited. We miss him so much, especially at this time of year. This will be his last Christmas in the mission field. Next year, he will be here, and Ryan won't. Life moves forward.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and Merry Christmas!

11/15/08

Here they are again...This was the day after we won the semi-final round of the football play-offs. The day after the game we did some shopping, visited family, and had a fun day. Next week-end it's back again to play for the state championship!!! We could not be more excited.

Elder Butler

Colten's companion - exhausted after a hard day of work.

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10/3/08

I am a Child of God

So, I was at work - in the middle of passing meds...very busy, and one of my ladies came up to me in her little automatic wheelchair.
Her name is "Barb", and I love her. She is about 70 years old. Now, before she had a stroke, Barb used to be a dealer in Vegas. Many of the big spender, high-rollers who came to Vegas would only deal with her. She really made a name for herself. So, she is not in any way LDS.
Barb knows that I am a Mormon, because I've told her about my children, and that my oldest son is on a mission in Mexico. Anyway, she came up to me, as she often does to talk to me. But this time, she asked me "Will you sing me that song, about Walk With Me?" I really had no clue what she was talking about...and I'll be honest, I love to talk to her, but I was busy drawing up insulin at the time, and didn't want to mess it up, or stop. I told her I didn't think that I knew that song. So, she asked again "That guide me, walk with me song". So, I asked her, "Do you mean I am a Child of God?". And, she said, "Yes, please sing me that song".
So, what could I do. There I stood, in the middle of the hallway, (feeling slightly stupid) singing to her I am a Child of God.
When I was done, I asked her how she knew that song. She told me that soon after she had her stroke, she would go to many long and painful hours of rehab. In her rehab sessions there was a lady there who was LDS. They became good friends. This lady had been beat up by her husband so badly that she had sustained brain damage. During their rehab sessions together, she would sit and massage Barb's arms (because they hurt from the exercises they made her do)...and as she did this, she would sing to her "I am a Child of God".
Barb told me that when she would sing her that song, it would comfort her, and help her to be able to get through all her rehab.
She told me that there was something about that song that always made her feel better.
This really touched me. It is amazing to me how something so simple as a little song can help someone feel the Comforter in their time of need. She didn't need to be a Mormon to feel of her Heavenly Father's love for her.
I have a feeling that I will probably be singing that song again for her someday.

9/21/08

Damean McGinty

This kid is amazing.
He's part of an Irish group called Celtic Thunder.
Makenna and her friends love him.
I could listen to him all day long. Enjoy!

I'm adding this one too...cuz, well, it's just adorable.
No-one could possibly listen to this without smiling!

I'm not sure, but...I think I'm Irish.

9/13/08

FOOTBALL!!

Ready to play the Bulldogs - Mesquite, Nevada. The final score was Tigers - 28, Bulldogs - 7! So far we are 4 and 0 this season. Hopefully we can keep it up! About the underarmour that Ryan is wearing...it only has one sleeve as you can see. It used to be Colten's. The other sleeve got ripped off in a championship game we had against Logan about two years ago. Ryan likes to wear it because it shows character. It also makes it easy to find him on the field!

Ryan...showing us his war wounds after the Moapa game. He gets so cut up and bruised up. He and his dad think it's awesome. I'm not so sure.

9/6/08

Colten and his new companion, Elder Mendez

Colten, Elder Butler's reaction to Ryan's call. Very entertaining.

The Philipinnes. That's awesome. You are going to eat mangos like crazy. i love mangos. man you are going to love it. We have a book of Mormon in Tagalog here in the offices. I don`t undestand a lick of that book. I`m so excited for you. I`m glad that your excited. I just hope that you`ll come back. With all the bugs, diseases, and tsunamies (Sri Lanka anyone) i`m not too sure that you`ll come back. And its horrible that you`re going to be by the beach all day. All that sand and clear water, and you`ll never be able to get in. think about the heat. you`ll be sweating a lot, and then you`ll come the beach...the cool refreshing water will be calling you, and you wont be able to get in. Thats tough stuff. I was extremely blessed. The Lord sent me to a desert. I`m jealouse though. You`re mission is going to be great. You`re going to baptize a lot there. They are a really humble people. Also it looks like we are going to speak the same Sunday. I`ll be back in H-Town the 28th or 29th. i`m not sure, its a Monday though. The following Sunday will be a fast and testimony meeting. So i`ll have to wait till the next week, and the next week will be the week that Ryan will have his Farewell. So we are going to have our Homecoming and our Farwell the very same day. Thats going to be a great treat. I can`t wait. I`m glad that we are going to be able to see each other and go to the temple. Its going to be awesome. You are going to be big hot all day long. I hope you know that. you are going to have to get used to feeling dirty 24/7. oh i love it. don`t worry though i`ll be sure to take an extra shower for you everyday. Good stuff. Who is your mission president. Is he an american or is he a naitive. i hope that he is a naitive. i don`t know though. Hey, i think that i heard one time that toilet paper doesn`t exist there. Is that true? tough luck. and i promise you that i`ll never send you toilet paper. in order to gain the confidence of the people you have to accept their culture. Every aspect. Sorry hermanito, but its something that you`re just going to have to get use to. Are you excited? i`m excited for you. what else...flip flops. thats horrible. i would give anything to use flip flops in the mission. your feet get hot here walking on the black pavetop. good stuff. I`m jealous what else...think of of all the diseases that you`ll get? poor kid. Don`t worry we`ll pray for you. You`re going to a third world country. Mexico is not a third world country. its a second world country. you are going to see some great things there. i just hope you don`t die. If you have a question about anything on the list ask me. Granted Ryan`s mission is really different, he could die from a tsunami for example, but there are a lot of things that are the same. i hope that you get bit by a monkey. That would make for some great pictures. Hey do you know that you are going to go to Taiwan. To fly to the Philippines you have to fly to Taiwan. I`m so jealous of you. You are going to have an awesome mission. Work hard. I don`t know too much about your language. But if you are only going to be in the MTC for 9 weeks that means that its not too hard. You`ll get your language down in 6 months. Don`t worry about that at all. Just study hard and speak your langauge. I hope that your first comp is a naitive. it will you help you out a bunch. Is there a temple in the Philippines? lets hope so. I`M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! but i give you a 50/50 chance of returning normal. Something is goin go to happen to you. They are going ot have to cut off your arm or something because a monkey bites you. What a blessing. Rice huh...i think that you like rice. I`m grateful that i`ll get to see you for a week. I really want to go to the temple with you. Hopefully i`ll be going with my black mexican crocodile boots, but i`m working on that. i think that your mission is joke. Just from the name San Pablo mission. Come on. thats so Spanish. But you know what that means...you`ll be facing a bunch of CATHOLICS. gotta luv em. I hope that they don`t worship la virgen there. thats so cool. You might die though...thats the only bad thing. think of all the mesquito bites you are going to have. You all thought that Pig black lung things was bad, ha - thats nothing compared to the diseases that Ryan wil come up against. THATS SO COOL!!! we are going to speak the same day. thats awesome. Mother will cry. You`ve got to work through your members. GOOD NEWS!!! the Asistants just called us and we are going to HONG KONG BUFFET. oh man its going to be good. i love the offices. you do a lot of crazy things happen there. For example last night Elder Espinoza, from Heber, Utah, sang some new gangster song that we don`t know and danced like he knew how. it was soo funny. i really enjoy the offices. everyone was telling me that i was going to hate it, but i really enjoy my work and being with the other Elders. Its just a different atmosphere here. Ryan don`t worry about going to the offices. you`ll be dead in give or take...13 maybe 15 months. I`ll pray for you though. i`m just kidding i love you. I had a great week. i`m so thankful that the Lord has given me the opportunity to serve him as a missionary. I love it. i love mexico and the Mexican people. One day i`m going to be a Mexican. I love the mission. We have so many blessings. we`re hungry. i`ll talk to you next week. paz a vosotros, Elder Butler

Havin' Fun

Yesterday we went on a ROAD TRIP. We went three hours northeast of Chihauhau to the border town of Ojinaga. I really liked Ojinaga. I like a lot more the little towns. You don`t baptize as much, but its just got a different feeling. I would have really enjoyed to be in Ojinaga. We did a super family activity. We had a waterballoon fight, shaved balloons, races, and to top it off we watched the Testaments. IT was really good, and we found 5 or 6 really good references. I really enjoyed it. We left at 7:30 in the morning, and got back at 1:30 in the morning. It was fun. I drove the whole way. It was cool. I like Mexico. You guys should come down here. I invite you, and if you do i`ll even throw in a free kilo of tortillas bien calentitas. Yum yum.

Train Station

Talking to Colten on Christmas day was so wonderful. But, it was hard to understand him because he has such a thick Mexican accent now. He is so happy, and doing so good. I must admit that afterwards I had good cry, and then I felt better. Hearing his voice makes me realize how much I love him, and miss him...but also how blessed I am to have a beautiful worthy son who is willing to serve his Heavenly Father for two years. Talking to our missionary was the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for!