FYI - we are to report to the MTC in Provo, Utah on January 31. We will be there for 2 weeks and then flying to Armenia on Feb. 13. We will be in the MTC for 2 days with Peter before he goes to Tucson AZ (he has a blog at www.elderreese.blogspot.com ) It is going to be great to serve a mission at the same time Peter is!

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!