Jo the Missionary

We drove down to Zion Ponderosa late one night to be there with Kodi Jo when she read her mission call.  

Porto Alegre Brazil is a brand new place I'd never heard of before - but we are so excited for this soon-to-be Portuguese speaking sister missionary. 

Won't lie - there were some tears. 

As VP of her fan club I am completely excited!!!

 

Happy Christmas 2016

December was marked with a lot of FUN!  This year I decided to focus on spending TIME with the kids - so each day of the month they opened a game and a book and we played. every. single. one.  (ok, not EVERY one, we got a little busy once or twice and had to catch up).  It was so great to just enjoy each other and while it wasn't the most service-oriented Christmas (I'm already planning next year a little differently), I really enjoyed the time together.  

One of the games was a silly pie face game.  We enjoyed this one with the Elders.  Noah cried every time someone got cream in the face.  The rest of us thought it was pretty funny though.

Christmas morning is always SO exciting for me.  I am usually the one waking everyone up but after being teased about it this year, I decided I would stay in bed until someone asked me to get up.  I only laid there awake for about an hour.  about. 

Some of our favorites this year included "Ninja and Pippin" the guinea pigs (Ayvri's) and the girls doll house which turns out Noah loves just as much as the girls do.  

Here is my herd on Christmas morning.  We had church on Christmas this year and I didn't mind at all - in fact what a perfect way to celebrate!  We enjoyed opening presents before hand and then moseyed our way over to the chapel for some beautiful music and a timely devotional.  In all, I can't think of a more beautiful sight than these happy faces.  

Missionaries and Music

We love our missionaries and they are always such good sports.  

Elder Beazer was on FIRE with the gospel and we loved having him in our home.  They never let us keep our missionaries as long as we'd like and we were really sad to see him leave.  

The Elders came around Christmas and Elder Wassmer mentioned that he plays the guitar.  We had to let him show off a little and we were all impressed.

Then we asked Elder Leland what instrument he plays.  He couldn't think of one so we pulled out the flute and let him have a shot at it.  Turns out Elder Leland is actually quite good at the flute for a beginner - and it was highly entertaining to watch him try.

Thanks for being such great sports Elders.  We really love having the missionaries in our home - and I'm so thankful for their good example.  They always teach just the right lessons when they come and while they generally bring chaos in their wake (what is it with kids and company?)  they always handle it with class.  

And thankfully - I think we only have one kid left to train in the "arms length" rule.  This was a hard one for Darla and Leisl who are very touchy and will snuggle the vacuum salesman if given the chance.  It's been difficult for them to love the Elders without wanting to love on them, but they are learning!