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!

Spa Days

The spa in the middle of summer in Arizona?
Yes and it was awesome! It was actually cool this week (relatively cool anyway). Perfect weather. Jeffrey frequently ran to get into the spa and warm up. (One day we'll get some meat on his bones then he'll be able to hold his heat.)

5 & Diner

Faith's one regret about their visit? No trip to the '5 & Diner'....

until, surprise! On the way to take the Brashers to the airport we stopped off for dinner. Great idea Faith!
I think Lucy is sad because guess what? No Olivia at this '5 & Diner'!

These two off on their own again.

It got really great when they started dancing to the juke box music. Don't know where Jeffrey & Grace learned the pulp fiction moves. Grace said it was from dance class?

Jackson just letting go.

Emily, you'll have to post your group shot pictures!

The Kiddy Pool

Splish Splash

Today we had fun exploring different areas of the grounds.

I think the big kids had more fun in this section of the pools than the little kids.

These buckets were my favorite.

Not to be outdone by the girls, the dads took a faceful.

Game time

Noddle Wars

I was a little worried my bigger kids would be too rough with their younger cousins; then Tom got into the show.

Isn't it always about the food?

A few pictures of us doing what we do best!

Plan. Cook. Eat.

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.