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.

Just a note to update whats been going on. The kidney stones have passed. Fall work is just about all done. There is still some corn to be harvested but most all the beets are harvested. Onion sheds are going strong. You can hear the fans from across town all night long. David has had the flu twice or the same flu with a respite in between being sick. He has got his wisdom teeth out and should have his mission papers in the next Sunday.

We have decided to stay home for Thanksgiving. Laura and Bobby will be here. David and Mom both have the day off. Lesley has to work so Cameron will come over with Alexis. I will smoke a turkey and hopefully watch some football. We will go down to Utah in December to go to Camie's wedding.

Grandpa fell today. The wind was blowing really hard and blew him over. He had to get stitches in his hand and chin, and has one heck of a black eye. David was home on break and between the two of us we got him to the house and then when I looked at his hand I knew he needed stitches. Grandma took him down to the clinic with David and I following to help get him inside. Gail cleaned him up and he got stitched up and then came home. David got off work long enough to help get him in the house. He will be awful sore for a few days.

I'm home today from work so I decided to post a few more pictures from our trip to Wendy's. The last week the weather has went from raining to a beautiful weekend. Yesterday I went home by way of the hospital with kidney stones. I've always knew that they hurt and know I know. They hurt worse than when I had Cancer. Hopefully I'll be back to work tomorrow. The pictures here are from the trip, if you look close you can see the climbers. The picture of David with Cutler is after we walked around the tower.

I was checking the blogs and realized I had not posted for 2 months. I got lazy. A lot has happened since August 9th. August we didn't really go anywhere or do anything, Lesley and Cameron and Alexis came over on a few of the Saturdays. In September we went to Wendy's. We drove out on a Wednesday, On Thursday Dawna and Wendy canned some tomatoes while David and I played with Shalon and Cutler, and got ready to go to South Dakota. Wes's parents kindly let Wes and Wendy borrow their van so we could all travel together. Friday morning we left and drove to Gillette where we had lunch. Then we drove to Devils Tower. We walked around the base of the tower and watched some climbers climbing the south side. Shalon walked most of the way and Wendy and David packed Cutler. He fell asleep before we finished. Wes carried Shalon when she was to tired to walk. Then we got back in the van and drove to Rapid City to a motel that had a water park attached to it. We had a lot of fun at the water park. Wendy has most of the pictures because I didn't take my camera. The picture that I have posted was taken the next morning as we were leaving. After the water park we went out to eat at Perkins. By that time Cutler had just about had all the fun the He could handle, So Wendy and Wes didn't get to enjoy a relaxed meal. The next morning We went to Mount Rushmore, ate lunch in Keystone, which is right by Mount Rushmore and then went to Reptile Gardens. Then the drive back to Sheridan which we got back about 9:30 on Saturday. Thank you Wes for doing all the driving. We came back on Sunday arriving home about 9:00 on Sunday night. It was a short trip but We had a lot of fun. Thank you Wes and Wendy for the great trip. Here are a few of the pictures in no particular order.
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McCall Reunion

I've had these pictures for a while and though I posted 1 last blog here are some more. The family picture was take by Bruce Tracy. He took a lot of pictures and works as a photographer. We had a lot of fun and in the evenings Joel asked Mom and Dad questions about their life's. It was really neat hearing the stories of youth and early married life. We played games, went on walks, went to McCall on Friday to eat by the lake. We didn't really want to go home to the plus 100 degree heat.

Our Bishopric got changed today, Bishop Johnson took a job in Germany being principle at a school on one the military bases. So today we got a new Bishop which is Gaylen Spear, 1st Counselor is Lee Long and 2nd is Stoney Schulthies. I've been Gaylen's home teacher for the last few years I guess now that I'll have to go more often. David started on his mission papers tonight. Ross

Time flies and I'm not even haveing all that much fun. Wendy keeps after me that I still need to blog the rest of our trip so I'll post some more pictures of the last of the trip at Andrew and Jana's home, Some pictures of Soren and Sydney, Pictures at Wendy's and some pictures of our reunion at McCall. Since we have got home life has been pretty busy. We have went to Boise several times to see Alexis. I am working the late shift and Saturday for the 2nd time in three weeks to help cover for some other employee's time off. But when this week is done I won't work another Saturday for 6 weeks. Dawna and I did go to the fair last Wed. We didn't stay to long because we had taken some of the young women over. We did eat fair food and had a good time while we were there. Ross