Isn't this great?

If you receive the New Ear each month, this should look familiar. Brandon and cousin Ryan were both attending conference for their first priesthood session. Jeffrey has since passed 8 years old and was there for the first time at the conference center. And we were attending for the first time since the mission and had our first mission reunion (our new favorite holiday...and it comes twice a year!) The boys ran into Roy Matsunaga, a former assistant from the AMM. So glad a real photographer was there to capture the memory!

Elder Andres Diaz

Not to be confused with Elder Diaz of the Phoenix mission. That's his twin brother. OUR Elder Diaz, the happy elder below, shared one of his family traditions with us today.

It's like a bingo game and called loteria. There are chances to win, quarto esquinas, cuadros, choro, llena; all four outside corners, the four inside squares, an across down or diagonal, and all the squares filled. We played with cinnamon bears as the prize thanks to Doug and Carter's contribution (my cousin and his son were in Arizona for the bowl game.)

And to make it really special, we had a favorite family dish.

Start with a large flat of fresh strawberries. Wash and rough chop. Add sour cream and plenty of white sugar. Mix it all together just like you see above. It is FANTASTIC!

The Missionary Choir on New Year's Eve!

This is one of my favorite nights of the year!!! They did a great job. We love them so much.

Game On!

It doesn't take long to open all the presents when you start before the sun is up; so before the morning was half over, the wrapping paper was thrown away, the piles cleared to the sides, and the games began! Elder Coffman's family stays in their jammies all day, and the kids were quick obliged. (Elder Diaz' family stays up on Christmas Eve until 12:01 and then opens all their presents and goes to bed around 3:00 am. We said no to that one!) So jammie clad, they headed off to the gym for a dodge ball. We eventually ended up back at the house to play lots of new games. One favorite? "Curses" from the assistants. Sorry-no pictures of that one, but it was awesome. Especially when Dad had both the curse of talking like he was using sign language and pretending like his hands extended directly from his shoulders.

Christmas Morning

The fire, the tree, the candles! It's all so perfect. The kids tried to stay sleeping to give us a break, but they couldn't help it. They were up early and texting the assistants (Who were up even earlier just waiting for the kids to call and say it was time...that's one of the perks of serving a mission as a family-we get to have the assistants with us for Christmas!)

One of our favorite family traditions is that Santa brings a favorite sugar cereal along with your stocking. I think everyone was pretty happy this year. We must have had 20 boxes between everyone. I'm not sure how the extras got in....but there they were.

I just loved the look of pure amazement on Jeffrey's face when he opened this one. We're still trying to figure out how it works.

Legos however, we know exactly what to do with those. jeffrey and the assistants had their legos out and they were building away.

And what do you do with lego machines when they're built? Battle

Favorite new ornament

Thanks to the Ellsworth family. We think it's perfect!

August Arrivals

This looks like a great new group-which is a good thing. They have big shoes to grow into, but they will before they know it. FYI, the pictures of them standing around talking are of them practicing TTI (Street contacting) short for Teach, Testify, and Invite. They'll be doing a lot of that. They talk to hundreds of people each month, but those first few times can be a little intimidating...OK maybe more than the first couple. After lunch and pictures, they head off with their new companions to go teach their first lessons. Whew. Big day.

August Departures

The Assistants had some fun with President's birthday.

We've had a whole birthday weekend. Wednesday, the office brought over cake and balloons (since they knew we were leaving the next day for interviews.). The missionaries sang, brought brownies and cookies-they even saved the corner/edge for President-that's true loyalty. Gauger's sent a key lime pie. And then of course, presents from the kids! Happy Birthday

What does he do?

Grandma and Grandpa Bassett went with us to Snowflake

so they could see what zone conferences were like.
We made certain to start the day off right-with German babies!

But the best part of the day is always walking up

to the church and spotting the missionaries.

Gratefully, I still get that sense of awe when I pull into the parking lot and

see all those cars filled with the elders and sisters.

And what a gorgeous day!

Unfortunately, this was also good-bye. Grandma and Grandpa left from here to continue their road trip onto the Manti Temple. Since the Atlanta Temple has closed, they had some time to travel and visit. We're so glad you came-we love you!

Father's Day Tie

Sister Tomoser and Sister Farnsworth helped their zone create this one of a kind father's day tie for Mark. love it!

June Transfers with a twist!

Today we said good-bye to a fantastic group of missionaries. It was a great group: 4 Spanish speaking sisters (with no replacements in the near future.....we need more sister missionaries!) and 8 elders. We met 3 of the elders at the MTC when we began our mission. I can't believe they're already going home. They've become great missionaries. It was a bitter sweet moment.

Normally, we don't have time to mourn their 'passing' since a new group of missionaries from the MTC is hot on their heels. But, they threw us a curve ball! The missionaries that were supposed to arrive today stayed at the MTC under quarantine for swine flu. Although none of our missionaries were affected, all the missionaries are being held until they are sure it is contained to the 3 infected missionaries (at least until the 16th!).

What a strange day. Now we have several missionaries already here that we're trying to find companions for...and they're GREAT missionaries since these were the ones who were designated as trainers. It also became necessary to switch some meetings around. So our Zone Leader Council meeting will be held this Friday instead of next Tuesday. Our new missionaries will probably arrive during zone conferences...so that will happen along with the 'train the trainer' meeting at the end of the day in the middle of a busy and stressful week! It's such a simple schedule, but one little hic-up and everything feels upside down!

(On top of all that, the kids are out of school and ready to play!)

Another one for the book!

Elder Eldredge contributed this recipe for our 'book'. Each Sunday his family made batches of orange julius and ate it with popcorn! That's one we can live with. See all those cans of OJ? We sent Taylor to the store with Jess. He ran in to grab the food and came out with 8 gallons of prepared OJ instead of 8 cans of OJ concentrate. Jess said she couldn't stop laughing.

Look at that smile! Maybe we won't let him go home when the next few months are over. Do you think his mom will mind?

So here's the recipe:

1/2 can OJ Concentrate

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix everything in the blender, add ice to thicken as needed.

Elder Eldredge actually has a few other 'recipes'. I'll have to get his permission before I post them. He showed them to me before he sent them to his brother on his 16th birthday. The first-The 16 Commandments of Dating". They are awesome, but even better he sent a list of dating ideas. There is going to be one lucky girl out there come fall. (Too bad Jessica is so much like a sister to all of them! Can I say that?)

I guess we'll need to start a song book, too. See that post-it note leaning against the piano? Elder Maxwell and Elder Gee decided on a few hymns to put into a medley. Elder Gee wrote the names of the hymns on the post-it with a note here and there about key changes-Elder Maxwell sang (of course). They whipped this out for a stake priesthood session this morning. Mark thought it was so great, he made them repeat it for me. It is by far my favorite thing they've done for us. We don't have this one recorded (not enough time before they go home) which just means they'll have to find a way to get it done when they get back. President's birthday is August 14th-hint hint.

We tried to video tape it. I keep try to get videos to post, but my connection doesn't like how long it takes. One day.

Jeffrey's Night Out

Even after several days of Easter Pageant, Jeffrey was still excited to go again. He was the only one who opted to head out with Mom and Dad Wednesday day night to meet with the missionaries before the pageant started. From 5:30 to 8:00 when the pageant starts, he was busy collecting autographs. His goal was to have an autograph from every Roman soldier. (I think he really just wanted to hold the swords, daggers and whips.)

He even made me get in a picture.

This is the man that portrays John the Baptist each year. (He and his new wife recently moved to our ward, but I don't think Jeffrey recognized him even though he sits behind the kids each Sunday.)

Not satisfied with that, he started seeking out the other cast members,

and even the random police officers. (Although this policeman doesn't sign autographs. Jeff didn't really understand that. He thought everybody signed them.)

Even missionaries

Of course, he stopped to shake hands with the different missionaries we saw. (He has an incredible repartee of secret handshakes with different missionaries. I don't know how he keeps them all straight.)

We went to Subway after the pageant for a LATE dinner. We had such a great time with Jeffrey, we decided that it would be OK for him to miss a day of school and come with us to Payson and then Snowflake the next couple of days. We had to leave at 5:00 am, so it was a little early for him. He slept most of the way (and his hair showed it), but when he arrived he was all smiles. He joined in on several of the elders trainings-some of the missionaries were using his ideas. He was eager to share his opinions. It was great to see my 7 year old holding his own teaching these missionaries!
After interviews-Subway again and on up the rest of the way to Snowflake.

Jeff had fun feeding the chickens next door to the bed and breakfast-but the best part of the week end was the bed dad made for him in the bath tub. When Mark first suggested it, he was joking, but Jeffrey thought the idea was a great one. He even made me get in and try it out. I'll admit, it was warm and cozy.

Trust your team-mate

We have an awesome missionary named Elder Brucker. He's one that fits the term 'giant gentle'. One of the sweetest young men I've ever met, and he is a giant. Every time I shake his hand, I'm amazed that hands could be so big. Mark teases that he could play hop scotch with the states. Blessed with such a large stature, it's no surprise then, that he played football before he was a missionary. He shared a great football analogy the other day that I'd like to pass along (with his permission).

Elder Brucker played on the offensive line with a great team. They played well together, especially he and the teammate to his right. They knew how to work together. One day, that player was replaced. It was a player Elder Brucker didn't know and that didn't know him. They struggled to work together. They didn't trust each other and so each was trying to do their own job plus the job of the other. As a result, neither position was holding its weight. After a long practice, they finally sat down together to work things out. They came to the conclusion that they needed to trust each other enough to focus solely on their own part in the game. There was an immediate difference and success followed. Elder Brucker related that to missionary work (and we could really relate it to any commandment Heavenly Father has given us). We don't have to do it all, but we must do our part. We leave the rest to God. We express that trust in our Father in Heaven through prayers of real intent and He blesses our efforts. He used the scripture in 1 Nephi 3:7. The prophet's teachings in Words of Mormon 1:7 also fits well and here are a few more.
No one understands better or cares more about our success than our Heavenly Father. He is not only able to help us, but it is his chiefest desire to do so.

It's in the bag!

Here's another bag recipe; this one brought to us courtesy of Elder Gee and the Estrada's: TACO SALADAbove, you'll notice all the ingredients: single serving dorittos, taco meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce, avocado, sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, red beans. [Disregard the strawberries. Those are to serve on the side. Jeffrey thought they were supposed to go in his taco salad-gross! Dad-don't even think of trying it and telling me it tastes good.]

First, snip a small hole in the corner of the chip bag and mash the bag together to crush the chips. (My kids favorite part.)

Next, cut a slit across the long side of the bag.

Then fill with the ingredients of your choice (This is my favorite part-if you don't like the way it tastes, it's nobody's fault but your own!)

Stir it up and get to it!

My kids ate about 2 bags each. It was great and clean up is easy!

Have fun!