Two Christmas' in one !!!

How much fun is one Christmas!??!
Well, times that by two, because we had twice the fun this year!!!
Before going to California we spent Christmas (about a week early)
with Chris and Jen!!!
We had dinner, opened gifts, played games and watched Chris play
with his new toy helicopter!!!

They thoughtfully gave me really cute "Brighten" earrings
(my favorite brand)
and this really cute star to go with my starless Nativity!!!
Now it looks complete!!!

Then after flying to California to see Jennifer, Tyson,
Berkleigh and Merrick, we spent Christmas with them.
Berkleigh got a kitchen set which she apparently loved because after
seeing it we had a hard time getting her attention back on opening presents.
Uncle Chris and Aunt Jen got the twins this tent set which they also loved.
After we set it up for them they played in it for hours!!

Jennifer painted this watercolor picture for me of Seacliff beach in Aptos
where I grew up. Past the pier is a cement boat which has been there
since 1919. It use to be a restaurant and dance hall until
the depression when it was left empty.
Now it is a home for seagulls and pelicans.
Because we will not be going back every year to visit my parents,
(my Dad just moved to Washington to live with my sister and her family)
Jennifer knew how much I would miss this beach.
I love this picture and hung it up in a special place as soon as
we arrived home.
I have such thoughtful children!!!!

We also did a four way call on Christmas day with Matthew, Chris,
Jennifer and Mom and Dad.
Matthew is doing great and is loving his mission.
He was just transferred from
Mazitlan to Culiacan which is were the mission home is.
He is having trouble emailing pictures home but hopefully
we will have more pictures to share soon.

We feel so blessed at this time of year to share this wonderful
Christmas season of Christ's birth with our family and friends.
We hope all of you have had a
MERRY CHRISTMAS and will have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

20 years ago today.......

Happy 20th Birthday Matthew!!!

We love you and we are
so proud of you and the
great work you are doing!!!

Hope you have a terrific day today!!!!

Love from the Fam!!!
Mom, Dad, Jennifer, Tyson,
Merrick, Berkleigh,
Chris, Jen and Thunder!!!

Thanks to everyone who sent Birthday cards to Matthew!!!
I am sure that he will love them and all of you for thinking of him!!

Dedication

It has been a year today since my Mom passed away.
She was always such a great Mom to my sister and I and wife to my Dad. She was dedicated to us which was obvious by the way she was always involved in our lives.
She taught us to sew when we were young. Both Mary Jane and I completed 10 years in the 4-H program where we won many awards for our clothing and sheep projects.

Mom came with us each year as we attended 4-H summer camp.
Because the bathrooms were so far away from where we camped,
she would get up early each morning
and bring us water so we could freshen up and brush our teeth.
(Looking back, I think she just wanted to hurry us along,
but we thought it was because we were special!!!)

Mom was also my room mother every year at school until I grew out of having room mothers.
She always made special yummy treats for each of the holidays.
We were always the envy of the other classes.
She did all of this at the same time my Dad working as a carpenter.
She was always right there with him getting him supplies, painting
and helping with whatever he needed.

By her actions she taught me to be a kind and caring person.
They were always helping others, and actively, attended church.

We love this picture of Mom holding Berkleigh for the first time.

Mom loved to sew, crochet and knit. She always had a project that she was working on and many completed so she was ready to give anyone
who needed one a baby blanket or a hand made towel.

Mom loved flowers and hummingbirds. She had a collection of vases. And she loved to pick up and collect rocks from different placed they had visited.

Her favorite President was Ronald Reagan. When he was governer of California, he visited the Santa Cruz county fair. She crossed the barrier to shake his hand and get his picture. She might have had more pictures of Ronald Reagan than most of the rest of the family!

More recently, when we went to visit, Mom didn't usually
feel well enough to go out.
But this summer, we talked them into going to the beach for a barbeque.
Dad loved helping Tyson cook the hamburgers.
It was a great day.
(We always got a kick out of Mom's sunglasses!!!)

That same summer we also talked them into going to see the 10:00 pm showing of the
"Pirates of the Carribean".
We thought they would like it--- but not so much!!
Movies have changed a lot since they had seen their last one
20 years ago!!!

Mom was always really proud of her 5 Grandchildren and 7 Great Grand Children.
We love you Mom!!

It's a contest!!!

Matthew's birthday will soon be here on November 22nd.
So join in the fun to see how many birthday cards Matthew
can receive by his birthday!!!
It takes 3 weeks for him to get his mail,
(plus the wait in the mission home)
so if you send him a card sometime this week he should
receive it before his birthday!!!

Here is his address:
Elder Matthew Sorensen
Mexico Culiacan Mission
Rio Choix 888
Colonia Rosales
Culiacan, Sinaloa 80230
Mexico

This is not pouch mail. Cards are not allowed in the pouch mail.
So the cost of the card will be 72 cents.

Thanks for joining in on the fun!!!

Hurray!!!

We were so happy to finally receive pictures from Matthew.
He has had problems with his camera so he bought a disposable camera,
took some pictures and gave the camera to Elder Webb
who was on his way home from his mission.
Elder Webb was also serving in the Culiacan, Mexico Mission.
They met but did not serve together.
Meanwhile, Elder Webb's parents moved to Huntsville, TX.
so I was worried how we would get the pictures.
But Sister Webb called this last week and sent them to us.
So here are our first pictures of Elder Sorensen serving in
Los Cabos, Mexico.

Matthew's companion (Elder Thebault from Canada)
and the other two Elders who they room with.

The Elders in Black (EIB).......

And in white!!!

I had to add this picture because ...
1. It is my favorite and he looks very cute in this picture.
2. He is wearing the WALL-E watch that I sent him just for fun.
It turns out that he and his roommate lost their watches
about the same time my package arrived.
They were their favorite item in the package!!!
Go figure!!!
If you were not one of the lucky few who went to see the
movie "Wall-e" the first few days it was out,
then you may not have received a "Wall-e" watch.
Don't feel like you missed out.
It was just a plastic wrist band with a little watch
embedded in the plastic. I may need to send him a real watch
but for now he seems happy with Wall-e!!!

'Tis the season!!

No....
not for Christmas lights decorating our windows....
but for plywood panels!!!!

Chris helped us put these up Saturday morning before we
left because of the mandatory evacuation of
hurricane Gustav.
Even though we have experienced a hurricane before,
it is still very stressful. We appreciated Chris' help so we could be ready
for another adventure!!!

We were lucky enough to have fun cousins in Houston to invite us to
stay with them for a few days. Herb and Mary Hyatt and
the youngest 3 of their
8 children welcomed us into their home even though
we didn't arrive until
1:30 am on Sunday morning.
(It took us 7 hours to get to Houston)

After spending a couple of restful days with them we continued on to
Austin. But who knew that the evacuation would be lifted so soon
and Wayne would be
required to return to work the next morning.
So on the way home on Tuesday we decided to stop
at one of our favorite places!!!
It was well worth the drive!!!
(I should own stock!!!)
We took a tour and saw first hand how they make
the worlds best ice cream!!!

After the tour they gave us dishes of ice cream!!
Wayne and I both tried two of their newest flavors.
I had "Cantaloupe and Cream" which is now my new favorite flavor,
and Wayne had "Snickerdoodle". Which was interesting but I
am not a huge fan of cinnamon in my ice cream.
But it did have pieces of snickerdoodle cookies inside!!

We are glad that we returned home safely and to electricity
and trees still standing tall and straight!!!
We hope all of our friends and family were also safe and out of danger.

We thought of leaving our plywood panels up until the next three
hurricanes pass by. But we are pretty good at getting
them up and down quickly so we have taken them down.
(leaving Christmas lights up all year round is
also one of my pet peeves!!!)

"California here we come..."

We have been spending the last two weeks in California
with Jennifer, Tyson, Merrick and Berkleigh.
Chris and Jen were also able to come with us and spend a week
seeing the sights of sunny California.

The highlight of the trip was going to see the play "Wicked" at the
Pantages Theater in Hollywood. How many times have you seen the
"Wizard of Oz"? Well you do not know the complete story until you have seen the play.

The theater is beautifully decorated inside and is
really quite amazing!!!

And it is very close to the corner of ....

And of course we saw some of our favorite stars
on the sidewalks of Hollywood Blvd.