Our Missionaries

This is a real missionary season for our family with lots of family members serving!  My parents who are now in Vanuatu (at least I hope that's where they are - we haven't heard from them since they arrived...):

My niece Abby in North Carolina:

Abby - in the middle

Yep, my little brother, Eli, has a niece that is a year older than he is!  They are great friends:)
My brother Eli in Santiago Chile (although he is still in the Missionary Training Center in Chile:

Eli - third from the left

 My Father and Mother-in-law who are serving their second mission at the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor's Center:

I am having a hard time getting letters written to all of them AND simultaneously keeping up with this blog, plus a Relief Society blog that I am now responsible for, for our ward!  Maybe I will start posting my letters to the missionaries on here?  I will have to come up with something!!

This has been such a great experience for our family- missionary work is on our minds and I notice lots of our family devotionals focus on it (when the kids teach it as well as when we teach it). We have been trying to do more lessons from 'Preach My Gospel' and everyone has been trying to keep the missionaries in mail!

The million dollar smiles

Caden got his braces off a month ago  - Kami went in last week and got hers off too... and I finally caught up with them today after school.  So here are the new smiles- I think they look amazing, and they are so excited to be done with the whole ordeal!!

Caden getting ready to pull a face:

I think braces really did a lot for them, don't you?:)

I think braces really did a lot for them, don't you?:)

Pace gets blessed

Here is a big string of pictures of him for all you siblings that have been requesting to see what he is looking like nowadays...

He's still pretty cute - but boy is it hard to catch a picture of this little wiggly worm!

We all put our heads together after church to try and remember what Pace had been blessed with.  He was blessed to appreciate the love of his family, that all of his siblings would strive to be a good example to him, that he would be a good example to his siblings, that he would preach the gospel, and that he would make all the covenants and receive the blessings of the temple. 

 Pace was as good as gold all through church - sacrament meeting is last - so he was great all before and after his blessing... BUT... apparently he isn't too crazy about his name because he cried all through the blessing:)  Shawn said that he also kept kicking him in the stomach and then lurching away from him, so he was constantly trying to keep from dropping him.  Needless to say, his dad was a little distracted and his blessing may have ended a little sooner than it originally would have:)

This is a good picture for showing off his chub.  I figure he weighs around 11 lbs.  We shall see when he goes to the doctor in a couple more weeks!

Pace with his dad and Uncle Terry

SOME of the kids at our chaotic family dinner!

Another shot from the family dinner,-once the kids were dished up, the adults were finally getting to!

Shawn had all but two of his siblings that came for the blessing.  David and Kelley and their kids even drove up from Utah!  That meant a lot to us, guys - thanks for coming.  Kristi and Terry also were there and Suzette and her boyfriend Kory and his kids.  It was David's birthday, so we had cake and homemade ice cream (made by Caden) for dessert. No one from my family came this time, but I didn't advertise the blessing, either, because I figured that any one that could travel would be heading to the MTC with mom and dad:)

Missionaries

My parents went into the MTC to begin their mission to Vanuatu Port Villa on Saturday.  This will be a new, exciting adventure for them and a whole new phase of life.  They have been full-time parents for the last 43 years!  Most people are finished raising a family long before that!  Eli (their youngest) left on his mission to Chile two weeks earlier.

My dad is a convert to the church, and my whole life he has told us kids that some day he was going to serve a mission.  He has looked forward to it for a very long time...he and mom have sent six sons off on missions...and I am thrilled that they get to go at last.

 Interestingly, enough, however, is that I have been on the verge of tears ever since they left! I didn't realize how much their leaving was affecting me until, on the day they left, I mentioned the fact to one of my friends.  I couldn't say it without crying - which if I had known I would cry, I never would have brought it up!  Later I thought I had things under control, and Caden and I were telling each other about our day.  I told him that I had had a sad day - and started crying again.  He looked a little alarmed because I'm not much of a crier:) I think a lot of us siblings feel the same, because while talking to my sister Katie, she got all choked up, and it was so quiet on the other end that  I thought we had lost our connection. I guess we all get to experience what it's like to be orphans for a little while:)

Vanuatu - a tropical paradise!

Saturday evening I went to the Relief Society Broadcast and there was my niece, Abby, singing with the choir from the MTC!  She looked so beautiful and all official with her name tag on.

This is a missionary season for our family!  Shawn's parents are serving, my parents, my brother, my niece, and soon a nephew.  It is a neat time and I see my own children's minds being turned to missionary work and service.  It will be a real blessing!

You know you're smart when you are 3 and know EVERYTHING!

I finally took Abram to a REAL doctor last week. Every since February of this year, he has been coughing every night, all. night. long.  Then he starts wheezing like crazy and has a hard time breathing.  The wheezing has always started on a weekend or a holiday, so we have taken him to community care.  They generally give him a steroid shot, and prescribe an allergy medicine - last time they prescribed breathing treatments and we had to buy a nebulizer, but they never really get to the bottom of the problem, and the coughing has continued.  And Abram has seemed worn out every day. 

The REAL doctor has give him some medicines for asthma and allergies, and Abram is all fixed up!

I liked this conversation that Abe had with the doctor:
Doctor:  How old are you?
Abram: Three...But I will turn four in a few more months!
Doctor: When's your birthday?
Abram tells him.
Doctor: Wow!  You're smart!!
Abram: (looking smug) I know...I know everything.
Doctor: (chuckling) So why are you so smart?
Abram:  Because the kids (meaning his siblings) read to me!

We've got spirit, yes we do!

It was homecoming week last week!
Caden's school did a crazy hair/pajama day, Kami's school did pajama day- she wore some of Suzette's old pj's and got all sorts of compliments:)

Nice night cap!

Kami for "clash day" Caden for "duck dynasty" day:

i know- i can never get pics to rotate, but wanted the full deal :)

"Spirit Day" - Caden with red hair and eyebrows, Kami with another great outfit found at Grandma Gee's:

Blooming beautiful!

Our yard is coming right along - I always get a lot of enjoyment from my yard.  The family has had to do most of the up-keep on it this year - they are sick to death of it, and  I have missed it.  Saturday one of the jobs on their list was to do some weeding.  Everyone groaned. So I said, "would you rather babysit, or weed?"  They all picked baby sitting, and I did all the weeding.  A win-win situation!!:)