In order to accomplish everything we need to do before we leave - we taped a big sheet of paper on the wall and started writing our to do list as we thought of things! Now that we have the condo up for rent - we have to take down our list. So here is a picture of us in front of it.

Armenia Yerevan Mission - serving in Georgia

We will be updating this site as we prepare to go on our mission to Georgia!

Packing for Peru!

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We are taking a vacation to Peru with our good friends Tracy and Sharon Stout. We are very excited about the trip.

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On of the ideas we had, in preparing for the trip, was to bring some gifts to the children of Peru. When Dave had gone before they took some small items like pencils and the children LOVED them.

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This time we sent out an e-mail with a list of suggested items that the children of Peru would enjoy. The response was overwhelming. People are generous and love to serve.

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Here are some photos of us packing all the "goodies" for the trip. Thank you everyone!

Girls night for Blair's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Blair!

For Blair's birthday Christy, Marcy and I got together and purchased her a night with a color consultant named Marion. Marion drapes different shades of color over you and determines which colors work best for you. There are 4 categories, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. Each "season" of color uses different shades.

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As you can see, she places the person in front of a mirror and has them look at what the different colors does to their face. Some will enhance her natural beauty, some will wash her out and some will create dark shadows and lines on her face. Christy, Marcy and I got to sit in the "viewing area" and watch this process (and give our opinions, of course!).

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It was a lot of fun. Marion always tells interesting stories of the people she has done this for in the past or her children's experiences. She is quick to share thoughts and ideas to help your colors work the best for you.

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Blair, it turns out is an Autumn. Yeah for her. Christy was excited to have someone to share colors with. Blair was excited because those are the colors she is usually drawn too and most of her house is decorated/painted in those colors.

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After our meeting with Marion we went out to dinner to Buca di Beppo's. It is a really nice Italian restaurant in Sacramento (reservation only type). The food was delicious and the company fantastic. We had a wonderful evening honoring Blair.

March Birthday Mania!

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As our family grows and grows it sometimes gets more difficult to get together on a regular basis. It doesn't help that we are all starting to move around as well. So we try to get together at least once a month to celebrate the birthdays for that month. This year we have not done so well. We finally got together this last weekend to celebrate the birthdays from January to March. This includes: January-Peter, February-Ammon, March-Megan, Blair, Marcy, and Ben.

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Here is a shot of our gift table. We decided that since we were having this up at my house, we should invite the Sheppard side of the family to join us. Almost everyone was able to stop by at some point. We had a great time!

We started the afternoon by letting the kids hang out and play. There is a big basketball court next to the pavilion that the kids were able to play in. They had a great time. Here are some shots of them "hanging out".

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Marcy was smart and brought some bubbles for them to play with also. They loved that. This picture is of Ammon (Christy's boy) making bubbles for Karly (BJ's girl).

Here is a "shot" of Abby, Jacob and Pyper (Christy's kids) playing basketball.

This is Abby and Jacob, just hangin' out and talking.

Every year, for Easter, while the kids were growing up my Mom would hide chocolate Easter eggs around her house. The kids would come up and get to find them. It was a lot of fun and they hid some of them really well (some years she would even find some throughout the year in places hidden so well that the kids had never found them!).

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Mom brought up some eggs this year and while the kids were playing in the basketball area the Uncles hid the eggs.

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Then the kids were brought in and were able to search for all the eggs.

They had a lot of fun hunting them down!

This was just a funny picture that Marcy and Christy took because they are pregnant at the same time! Marcy is due at the end of April and Christy is due in the middle of June!
After all the fun egg hunting we had dinner. Thank you Dave for always being our go-to BBQ guy! We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, veggie dip, and fruit. Plus we had lots of different kinds of soda. It was a regular party!

Usually Uncle Davey sits with the kids but he was running a little late today. BJ stepped up and took his place though. The kids had a great time playing with him while they ate.

After we ate, we all sat around and visited for a bit. This is Dad and Russ.

This is BJ and Troy (Cirbie's husband).

This is a shot of people visiting. From left to right Christy, me, Russ, Holly, Mom, Cassie.

Here are the "girls" hanging out. Blair, Marcy, Cirbie and baby Storm.

Then, of course, it was time for presents! Yes, I am guilty of wrapping my grandson's gift in princess paper. Luckily he didn't mind at all, as you can tell from his grin!

He loved his presents.

Marcy was very excited about all she got!

Isn't that the cutest smile!?! Megan loved opening her gifts.

Here is Blair opening one of her gifts! After the gift opening, several people left because Cirbie was having a surprise party for Troy up at the main house. We had some cake and ice cream. Then we settled in and watched a movie. That's right, the patio area next to our trailer has a pull down large screen and we can watch movies outside on it.

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The kids got all settled in with PJ's, jackets and warm blankets. We watched "The Frog and the Princess". It was a delightful movie and the kids had a great time outside!

Another shot of us watching the movie.

After the movie everyone bundled up and headed home. I thought it was the perfect ending to a delightful night. The whole afternoon ran smoothly and we had a great time. I am so thankful for a family that likes to get together and has a good time, without any drama. I can't wait for next month!

Our "WICKED" adventure...

Ever since the "Wicked" play came to be, my girls and I have wanted to go. We kept an ear out for any time it might be playing, anywhere near us. The closest it has been is L.A. (which is not very close) until this winter. Marcy sent me an e-mail from a mutual friend of ours announcing that she had an incredible deal on "Wicked" tickets showing in San Francisco. This e-mail came just as I was trying to decide what to buy everyone for Christmas this year. Talk about providental.

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So for Christmas this year I bought tickets for Blair, Christy, Marcy and myself. They were orchestra seats about 8 to 10 rows back. It was AWSEOME and to top it off, I got a great deal!

Here is a shot of us right outside the theatre. They don't let you take pictures inside the theatre but I wish you could have seen it. It was a beautiful building and fit perfect for this musical. It just enhanced the whole feeling of the night.

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The play was INCREDIBLE. The music was overwhelming and wonderful. Everything was done so well. Glenda the Good Witch kept us laughing, the "wicked witch" was endering and by the end you were totally rooting for her. The play even included and tied in the tin man, scarcrow, and lion. The whole thing was very well done and we enjoyed every minute. At the end we even commented that we wished we could just sit down again and start the whole show over. It was that amazing.

This is a shot of Marcy and I with the "scarecrow". He was the main love interest. He was a very nice guy and chatted us up for a little while, not minding at all how giddy we were!

Here is a shot of me entering the hotel. The hotel we stayed at was litterally 1 block away from the theatre. It was so easy to get our stuff all settled at the hotel and then walk down to the theatre. I am so glad we decided to stay the night, it took a lot of stress off of trying to find parking and having to drive late at night. Plus it gave us some good visiting time.

Here is a shot of Marcy showing us the scenery. It might not look like much but it was actually very pretty, especially at night with all the lights.

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I am so grateful to have daughters and daughters-in-law that I get along with and enjoy. It was so much fun to spend some time with them and to see the exitement they enjoyed from the Christmas gift.

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I would see "Wicked" again in a heatbeat and recommend that everyone see it. The music was inspiring and the story was very interesting. Merry Christmas everyone.

Happy 18th Birthday Peter!

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I can hardly believe it but my "baby" is 18. Where did the time go?

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On January 4th Peter turned 18 and we took him out for a birthday dinner at Red Robin.

We had a great time.


We were even able to embarrass him a little by having him sung too. Come on, it is his 18th birthday. Of course we had to have him sung too! Plus, this way he gets free ice cream!

Happy Birthday Peter. We hope you have a wonderful year.

Christmas 2009

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Every year we get together and celebrate the holidays. This year Davey volunteered to have it at his place. Thanks Davey! The only family we were missing were Tony, Connie, Alex, Emma, and Livvy. Tony wasn't able to get the time off this year and they had to stay in AZ. We missed them a lot!

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Davey's house was great. The kids had fun running up and down the stairs. He had Christmas music going and the Wii to play with.

We like to start our Christmas celebration with breakfast. This year I made the Belgium waffles. We had strawberries and whipped cream, bacon, egg nog and lots of other juices. It was fantastic, as usual. Here are 2 pictures of our breakfast crew!

It looks like everyone is enjoying the meal!

Then we let everyone hang out for a bit while clean-up was done. Here are some pictures of how everyone "hangs out"!

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Wii competitions...

Quick power naps...

Playing with the computer and just people watching....

And watching what everyone else is doing!

Then it was time for the gifts. The kids were SO excited! So many wonderful things were given and received this year. I will not go into detail of what everyone got (there isn't time or space for that) but everyone was happy and enjoyed the giving of gifts and seeing how well they were received!

Ok, I do have to explain these gifts because it will also explain the pictures. Davey bought each of the boys a Nerf rifle this year. They were a lot of fun and shot really far. After all the gifts were opened they spent a long time playing.

Here is a shot of Grandpa playing with the kids. He LOST!

As things settled down a little, the adults (and some kids) were able to settle down to a game of BINGO. I even had some small prizes for them to pick from if they won. It was a lot of fun!

After our extended morning at Davey's we headed up to Russ and Terese's house for our traditional Christmas Eve party. This year we decided against a formal dinner (there are just getting to be too many of us!) and went for "snacky" foods. The kitchen (which is quite large) was lined with LOTS of wonderful food. Every inch was covered and there was anything you could want to eat. Everyone had their fill, and then some!

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Once everyone was full and the initial visiting was slowing, we moved to talent time. Cirbie sang "Santa Baby" and did a GREAT job! Abby and Jacob both played a Christmas song on the piano (I have been giving them lessons and they did really well) and then we played a game Carrie had made. It was Christmas Jeopardy. Everyone had a blast shouting out answers.

After the talent and game portion, we did the traditional Christmas story. Peter read the script (which was taken directly from the Bible). The kids all dressed up and acted it out as Peter read. They did a wonderful job. I love the spirit that comes with telling Christ's story and having everyone participate. Ammon and Pyper were Mary and Joseph this year, Storm was baby Jesus, Karly (who isn't in the picture but did participate) was the angel, Jacob and Megan were Sheppard's and Abby and Courtney were the wise"men".

After the story of Christ's birth was told, we sang some Christmas songs (thanks Craig for always playing the piano!). Then it was time to share our Christmas gifts.

Christmas is such a special time of year and I am so thankful for the time we get to spend together. The gifts are nice but it is being able to visit with friends and family that you don't get to see on a regular basis and seeing their smiling faces that makes it all worthwhile. I am thankful for all the wonderful gifts that were shared and for all the hard work that went into making this Christmas Eve so delightful. Merry Christmas!

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Christmas morning was pretty quite around our house. Peter and Davey came over and we had a nice quite breakfast and morning.

Later Christmas day Dave & I joined Russ, Terese, Mom & Dad to see Avatar - the great new 3D movie that just came out - Great show!