mission call, Christmas

It's been and interesting couple of weeks. David finally received his mission call on the 10th of Dec. He is going to the England Burningham Mission. He reports to the MTC in England on the 12th of March. He is very excited to go. The neat thing is that his 1st cousin Christopher Stoddard is going to the same mission on the exact same day. They both fly out on the 11th of March. We went mission shopping a week ago today. Stuff costs a lot more than when I went in 1977 or even when Cameron went in 2001. We just went to one store, Peterson's in Boise which was nice because they had everything and we did not chase all over like we did with Cameron. The suits were half off because of the end of year close outs, same with the shoes which they actually had because David has a small foot. A lot of his stuff needs tailored because of his size.

Dawna and I took the day off before Christmas eve to make a fast trip to Utah to go to Cami's Wedding and Reception in Utah. We left at 6 am and made it to the Institute building where everything was taking place at 12:30 pm. We were the first ones there. We rested and read for a while till family started showing up. Rochell had Kasarah cut Dawna's hair for a Christmas gift so her hair is now short. It looks really nice. The wedding was nice with a luncheon following and the the reception started at 5:30. When it was over we stayed at Kris's. The next day we headed home with a stop in Boise to go shopping and then went to Patterson's for a Christmas eve dinner that Lesley and Cameron were putting on. It was very good and we really enjoyed visiting with the Patterson's and holding Alexis. David came over after work and we enjoyed a movie.

Christmas morning Dawna called work and they put her on call. So we went back to bed and slept till David couldn't take it any more and woke us up. So we got up and unwrapped gifts. It was a good Christmas. We enjoyed the gifts and listening to Christmas music. Dawna and I talked to all of our kids who were away from home this year. About 10:00 David and I took Grandpa and Grandma to McCall to JoAnn and Terry's home. We got there about 12:30. We had lunch about 1:30. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone. David and I rode snowmobile for a few minutes before we headed back. We got home about 6:30 and Dawna told us moki had took off. He was outside and the neighbors started shooting skeet. Dawna had looked for him for several hours but had no luck. David looked for a few minutes but couldn't find him. This morning the Vet clinic called and told us that Annette Hart who David works with at M&W had him. So he is back home. Today we are just taking it easy. This evening there is Mark and June Hartley's 60th Wedding Aniversery and also Cami and Taylors wedding reception.

I finally got around to uploading some pictures we took on thanksgiving day. As you can tell Alexis was was the star attraction. She is really easy going and will even let me hold her for more than 30 seconds. Thanksgiving was great. We missed our family that was not here. We just don't seem complete unless everyone is here. I brined and then smoked a turkey breast and also tried to smoke a ham shank. The turkey turned out great and was all gone by Sat. It was was just as good cold as it was hot. I finished the ham off this last weekend in some ham and bean soup that turned out quite good. We watched too much football (is that possible?), ate too much food, and played to few games. The weather was clear but cold so we didn't do much outside. David and I did build Grandpa and Grandma a new set of steps for the back door that has shorter risers. We are trying to get into the Christmas spirit. We are waiting for David's Mission call. It should show up tomorrow on Tuesday. Bishop checked and it was sent out on Friday. We will let you know as quick as we know.