Is Portugeuse the same as Spanish

Stephen received his mission call in the mail today...He will be going to MACIEO BRAZIL, He is pretty excited. Brazil has it's own Mission Training Center in Sao Paulo and he will be flying directly there from here. He leaves February 18 and will be serving for 24 months.

Here are some pictures and a map of his mission that came with his call, we will keep you updated as we receive more information

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Indian Project

Sarah came home from school about a week ago, and said she had to build a house that Indian's would have lived in for a school project..(at least we had a weeks notice, with the boys it was usually the night before). We decided that it would be fun to build a Pueblo since we live in the South West.

Our first efforts pretty much met with disaster...we used an air dry clay, and we would get the walls up, then the next day the clay had shrunk so much during the night that everything would be distorted and cracked the next morning...after trying for 2 days to unsuccessfully repair the shrinking issues, we decided to scrap the whole thing and try with a poly based clay.

That made a huge difference, and from there on everything went smoothly...To be totally honest I probably had more fun than Sarah did, but she did help put everything together, and we had fun doing it.

She gave her presentation today, and said that she looked down to point out how we had made some of the ground cover, and when she looked up the whole class was gathered around ...She's pretty sure she'll get an A

Fall Garden and Man Tomato's

There is supposed to be a Hard Freeze tonight, (which is about 2 weeks earlier than normal), So I blew out the sprinklers, and brought all the tomato's that were still on the vine into the Garage, where I hung them up to see if any would still ripen on their own.

We had a great garden this year...LOT's of zuccini and summer squash...next year I'm just putting in one squash...they are just to prolific and they take up to much room...(we still have shredded zuccini in the freezer from last year) The Corn was fantastic, and we had enough tomato's to keep me happy most of the summer, I even made some homeade maranara sauce for dinner the other night and it was really good.

I didn't realize that there were Male and Female tomato plants...I guess I got the Male ones this year.

Anyway, I'm sad to see it go....next year I think we will be ready for another go at the Giant pumpkin...

So many things to do...and just not nearly enouph time or money.

No It's Not Halloween yet!

No...that's not grey hair...well maybe just a couple are, (shh...we won't mention that to Randie)

A few weeks ago the Relief Society had "Fabulous Friday", it's basically the same as "Super Saturday", or "Wonderful Wednesday"... anyway all the women in the ward get together for a Huge blowout Craft night, of chatting, and treats. Since Randie is the Coordinator of all that, she spent quite a bit of time putting it all together. I must say I was impressed with how she dealt with all the logistics. It's not an easy task putting together something that large for 60-80 women.

One of the Crafts was "Picture Blocks" where you take 3 large blocks and put pictures on all 6 sides of each Block then stack them strategically somewhere in your house for people to ooh and aah over. (They really do turn out pretty nice.)

The person who was going to cut out and sand all the blocks fell through, so Randie and I (and a couple other women) ended up doing 200+ blocks ourselves.

Can I just say my wife is amazing...(Even when she looks like she just walked out of a sandstorm)

HomeComing

Yes, Justin went to Homecoming this year, (His first Semi-Formal Date). He asked Jenny Miller if she would go with him, and of course she said yes. He ended up opting for the Teddy Bear/Note on the porch approach, and since it was also her birthday threw in some roses as well. She answered with the classic hidden message in the cupcake, and it was all good.



They ended up doing a Group date with 3 other couples, and had planned on going miniature golfing, but the weather didn't want to cooperate, so they changed horses mid stream, and decided to come over to our house to play games, but one of the couples ended up being 1/2 hour late, so they pretty much just hung out and chatted until it was time to go to dinner at one of the other parents homes, were they were waited on by siblings.

After dinner they were going to come back over to our house and make cookies, but it got to late to fast, and they ended up just going to the dance.

The dances at the school are just not good...I could be more detailed but don't want to offend any ones sensibilities... The guys had previously decorated another parents basement and then joined up with another 4 couples and had the dance there....that way they had control over the music, refreshments, atmosphere etc.

Justin had a great time...and I'm sure we will be seeing Jenny again.

Papers are In

After getting all his paperwork done and sent in it is pretty much a waiting game now to find out where he will be going. He met with the Bishop on Sunday, and will be meeting with the Stake President sometime this week. The Bishop said that he will most likely get his mission call sometime between October 20th-31st and will probably be leaving before Christmas.

The minor health issues he was having seem to be working themselves out. The doctor put him on a mild antibiotic and gave him a nasal spray to counter act the allergy problems he's been having...I think once he gets away from all the grass cutting at the golf course that he will be fine. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health, so I don't think it will impact where he is called. He still wants to go on a foreign mission, so we'll see what happens. Will keep you all posted as we get more information.

Balloon Fest

Another indication that 1 more year has flown by....Every year we try and make it out to Memorial Park for the Colorado Springs Balloon Festival, it's pretty much a tradition now. It is always fun to stand and watch all the multi-colored balloons launch into the sky, and you can never have enouph pictures of hot air balloons...at least thats what it would seem if you went back and compiled all the pictures I've taken over the last few years...Good times where had by all, and of course you always have to get a funnel cake or it's just not a Balloon Festival.

Pikes Peak

Ok... so we have lived here for 7+ years now and have never taken the time to go to the top of Pikes Peak (14,000 ft) so on Saturday we loaded up the van, and headed up the mountain, It's about a 3 hour round trip up and back, and I have to admit that I got a little nervous after we got to about 12,000 ft. the drop off from the road was a LONG way down.




Once we go to the top you could definitely tell that the air was a LOT thinner, even for us who are used to breathing at 6,500 feet. The brochure that they gave us said that at that altitude you were breathing 1/2 the oxygen that you get at sea level.




The view was spectacular, It was kind of disconcerting to see some of the clouds floating below you... the were also some amazing cloud formations, that looked totally different from where we were at.




There is a gift shop at the top (of course there is) we learned that they get over 500,000 visitors a year, and since it was a Holiday weekend there was probably 100+ people there, we got some doughnuts and fudge, as a reward for making the trip.






I took some pictures but they don't do any justice to the magnitude and grandeur of the view.



If you get out this way, it's definitely worth the trip, we plan on going back in October to see the Autumn leaves on the way up... to bad we've missed it all these years.

Dutch Oven: Round 2

Yes, It's true... I don't give up easily, or maybe I'm a sucker for punishment, but I decided to tackle the whole Dutch oven thing again...but this time armed with all the failures of last time.

So first order of business was to get a Dutch oven that wasn't big enough to feed the entire state of Texas, I had to hit a couple of stores to find one, and ended up with a nice little 10" oven. (I could actually lift this one with one hand.) Next was to get some new briquettes, something that would actually catch fire and stay lit.

I decided to go with a desert this time, and I have always been a big fan of Pinapple Upside down cake... (I know what your thinking, but hey it's just a cake it can't be that hard)



I pulled up several recipes on the internet, and using them as a guide came up with one that I thought would work really well.

I'ts been raining alot here, so I put some tin foil down in the garage and soaked some briquettes in lighter fluid...amaziningly with in about 15 minutes I had some nice coals going...I put everything together, sat the oven on some coals and put some more on top...and 45 minutes later....this Is what I got.



YEAH!!! Now were talking....

Ready, Set, Go...

We are fast approaching that "Great and Dreadful" day when Stephen will be leaving to go on his mission. Great, because he will be leaving on one of the greatest adventures of his life. Dreadful becasue for us as his parents it will be like there was a death in our family... I can't even imagine what it will be like to not have him around anymore...
He met with the Bishop on Sunday and recieved the go ahead to "Start his paperwork". My understanding is that the earliest you can turn in your papers is 3 months before your 19th birthday...and that is where we are at right now.
In preperation for getting everything ready we had his wisdom teeth pulled last week, so he would be up to date on all of his dental work, All that we need to do now is have the dentist sign off...He goes in for his physical next week, and then I think it's just a matter of filling everything else out. (it is all done online now, once it's finalized the bishop sends it electronically to Salt Lake)
Once it is sent, we were told that Stephen should get his letter telling him where he will be going within 2 weeks.