Moving on -Stop over in Michigan

Since we were going that way anyway we decided to take a little detour by going to DeWitt Michigan to get a few things off the walls of our daughter's home in preparation for the professional movers in a few weeks. Some lucky family gets to live there and Rachel and Greg get to find a home of their own in Arizona. They had this home BEAUTIFULLY  staged. Who wouldn't want to buy it?? Good-bye house.

 Rachel's craft room is truly simply beautiful, even when she was crafting it was amazing.

 Naomi's nursery, I didn't take a picture of the crib! aaah it is so cute.....

 One of Greg's collections.

Master bath

 Wonderful touches here and there.
We really enjoyed our time there. We went to the little St. John's branch and got to talk with some of their friends. It was obvious that they will really miss Rachel, Greg and Naomi.

Most of us would not think to stage our pantry! There you go, I'm sure it mattered.



It was beautiful Rachel and Greg and I am sure the next one will be too! Moving on.

UTAH

Before leaving Arizona we got our travel packets, it seems that for Vistas we need more medical forms signed by Doctors so we will need to head back to Virginia.


First day in Utah we did our fingerprints for our FBI clearances. They are running about 6-8 weeks until they get returned to us. 

 We spent the first night with our oldest son Jaim and his wife Jody and this magnificent animal "Monster".  They have the most comfortable air mattress. Amazing.

 We visited Tyler in his studio and got to see some of the samples for some of the wonderful things he has done.

We got to go out to lunch with Helena Andelin. She is living in Utah now. We knew each other in Norfolk Virginia. She is a gracious wonderful that we are very pleased to know. Thanks Helena for lunches and chatting we loved it!!

 Charlotte had a birthday bash for Tyler. The Hightower family came and these are some of their girls Rylie and Kylee with Oliver and Tucker. Tucker has band-aids on each side of his face because his "smile hurts".  You know how sometimes you get those little sores in the corners of your mouth like cracks that can hurt so much? Well, his solution was band-aids. We all thought that was funny.

 Yup, it really did snow enough for Emmaline to go out and make a snow angel. She is a very fun grand daughter!

 Of course we had to do a little shopping while we were there and Savannah found a sweater dress. Emmaline and I didn't find much, but we did see as we knew before, Emmaline looks good in every kind of HAT! How can that be? Another shopper even stopped to tell us that she was amazed that she looked so good in so many....

 The church was reorganizing Tyler and Charlotte's stake and they did that in the Tabernacle.  After the meeting, and Oliver looking smooth. The children did amazingly well in this big place.

Have you ever read the story of the LITTLE PRINCE?
This is the Little Prince. He is small for his age, has a high pitched voice, and says the most amusing things. All he needs is a little double breasted coat, a rose and a drawing of an elephant in a snake that looks to adults like a hat. Great story, one of our favorites.

 Thanks Utah family we had a great time! Thanks for everything.


Somehow I didn't get photos of Jaim and Jody or Charlotte. I will keep looking for more. Nor did I get a photo at the temple and we were right there! So that I will ask for for Christmas perhaps?? Just a picture to take with us. We would love that.

OH FUN!!

LaVar and I left Arizona and went through "Surprise" and after "Nothing" hit the highway and drove to St. George. When in New Zealand the first time, forty-five years ago, LaVar met and taught Rhonda Carruthers she was 17 years old at the time. She was a Catholic and needed to wait until her 18th birthday so that she could get baptized. We met Rhonda and her family,again, when we were in Hawaii in 1982. We got the kids together and had many fun times.
Rhonda and some of her children live in St. George Utah.  She lives right across the street from the St. George temple.

            
This is Josh, they asked LaVar to baptize him in the ocean in Hawaii when Josh was eight years old. Josh works with troubled teens in St. George.

 It was great to see Rhonda and spend the night in her place and eat great soup! Thanks

 Brigham Young had a winter home...... there you go!

After St. George we went to Las Vegas and had lunch with my darling brother. He cracks me up, can you tell? I really did think I was taller than him, ooow guess not...... who knew?

We are going to miss this sweet little family! Hope they find the home of their dreams.

 We had so much fun with them!

Grandad will miss her, he has spent several weeks with her this summer and fall. He will miss her, "thanks Grandad!"
We were trying to get Naomi to call me "Mina" like other grandchildren do. Her dad had been reading her a library book that is all about a banana, well somehow the two combined and she started calling me, "Banana". One day Rachel asked me to give the blessing on our lunch. She is so cute and I had a hard time not watching her fold her little arms and as I was watching her a little too long, she furrowed her brow and said, "BANANA! PRAY!" that was hard to be reverent during the prayer.
Thanks for all those that we have visited it has been a great month! 

October 14, 2011 Continued

WE had our MISSION  call sent to our oldest son in SALT LAKE CITY.  He called us first thing in the morning and told us our letter had come. He said, "YOU WILL BE VERY VERY PLEASED"!  from that moment on we knew we had been called to AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND. The very same mission LaVar went to as a young missionary! We will be what is called "member and leader support". We are to report to the Mission Training Center in Provo January 30 and the itinerary says we leave Feb. 6 from Los Angles and fly non-stop, 13 hours to Auckland. We are excited! WOO HOO!
At first it seemed like a long time to "wait", but the time is filling up and after getting all we need to complete our VISA applications, we will do well to get it all done in time.


A mission call and a new grand baby all in the same day!! Day to remember