June Picts

A few random pictures from June 2023...

Kaide likes to go rides in his little car.

The cuteness level is off the charts.

Nico and Elizabeth Crissinger's wedding reception.

This is a pretty cute off the chartsas well😉

Visiting Gram

Some shirts I made for a local church.

Happy Father's Day Dad.  I made him a book telling him why I loved him.

Erin's grad party!

Father's Day shirts for Bri, Tan and Kaide

A Celebration and International Travel

 June 2023

Joyce and Jerry, Brian's parents, both have birthdays in June.  They also celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.  They are wonderful parents, grandparents, and in-laws.  As we have sent cards for their special days, it's been a little unusual.  Out of our kiddos, just Tanner has been home to write a little message on those cards, and the other three were out of the country.

Parker, of course, is in Ghana serving a mission.  Brinley was on a cruise in Mexico with her roommate Kierstin, and Aubrey was on a humanitarian trip in Guatemala.  

Here are a few picts of these events.

Anniversary happenings:

The happy couple

Karol and Mike had a 60th anniversary celebration for Joyce and Jerry in their backyard.  I'm glad Kaitlyn and Riley were able to come from Idaho and Scott and Carrie from Senora, California.

Brian went to Utah at the end of May, and a lot more of the family was able to gather and celebrate Joyce and Jerry's 60th wedding anniversary.  .Here is that post.

Ghana happenings:

Parker with his new companion from Tonga, Elder Fakatele.  One of these kiddos had a football, and they all had fun together.  In his letter, Parker said he hasn't had a companion who has liked sports for the past 18 months.  It's really nice that he and Elder Fakatele have that in common.

Also, one kind of cool thing that happened with his new companion was the mom connection.  On Parker's mission, they communicate with What'sApp.  Well, Elder Fakatele's family did not know that, and he didn't have a way to communicate that to them.  He lives on an island.  His mom doesn't have email.  She had downloaded Facebook to communicate with him, but Parker and Elder Fakatale don't have Facebook.  So....Park was worrying about his greenie.  

He sent me a message on Wednesday asking me to contact Sister Fakatele on FB and ask her to download WhatsApp.  I messaged her and friend requested her, but no response.  On Monday, we decided I should try to call her.  My phone couldn't make out of the country calls.  

This is where the mom connection comes in.  I headed over to my parents and Heidy, who is from Mexico, has international service.  She let me borrow her phone, and I called Sister Fakatele in Tonga.  I tried to communicate with this mom who speaks limited English and doesn't know technology the need to download WhatsApp and create an email.  It was crazy and fun.  And after a couple of calls to Ghana to get more information from Elder Fakatele and to Tonga to explain things to Sister Fakatele, we were able to get this new missionary and his family connected.  

Elder Gerrit Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve visited Ghana.  Parker's entire mission gathered together for the first time since he has been out.  They were able to hear Elder Gong's counsel and enjoy being taught as a mission.  Parker is on the front row and is 2nd from the left.  Elder Gong is on the 2nd row and is 4th from the left.  Pres and Sister Young, Parker's mission president and wife, are on the 2nd row far right.

Park loved this mission couple who worked in the office.  He was able to say goodbye to them before they left.  Parker, Bro and Sister Newton, & Elder Alli

Guatemala HXP   (Humanitarian Experiences)

And she's off!

I took Aub to the airport at 4:45 am to catch her flight to Miami to meet her group.  Then they caught an international flight to Guatemala.  She was excited and nervous to meet everyone in person, but after a few hours in the airport together, she was fine.  This is a phone free experience, so we only saw pictures the group leader posted on Intstagram.  We said lots of prayers and hoped she was doing just fine.

Her group was working to build a Diabetes clinic in a small town.  It still kind of shocks me that our girl who moans and groans so excessively when asked to load the dishwasher or take out the trash chose to do this humanitarian trip for part of her summer.  She even worked her tail off to earn several hundred dollars to go towards the trip.  (I think we asked her to cover 10% plus spending money.)  And...she wants to go again next summer! 

She was gone 16 days.  They worked at the site during the week and had the weekend off for travel and church.  

We missed her!  She made lots of friends, and I think had some spiritual experiences.  It was really fun to hear about her adventures once she got home.  

Her hot pink hat made it easy to spot her in group photos.

The worksite.  There was one group that went before them and there will be several other groups after.  The year Brinley went to Brazil, she was part of the last group.  It was fun to have a celebration with the local people with the completion of their new school.  Aubrey said one day several local leaders (women) came and prayed for them and thanked them.

We kept seeing her in these sunglasses All Of The Time, and we were confused.  She was able to write home one time halfway through, and we heard the why behind the sunglasses.  Her eyes were swelling really badly and her lip was going numb.  She had to miss one day working because they hurt so badly.  The leaders reached out to a doctor, and it was determined that she was probably having an allergic reaction to something at the site.  She started taking Claritin and wearing her friends sunglasses, and she was good to go.   Not going to lie...getting that letter from my girl about her eye issue but not being able to talk with her/help her was a little stressful.  I had an appointment set up with our eye doctor the first week she got back.

On the two weekends they did touristy stuff and then church of course.  They were able to go to the temple and do baptisms.  They went on a hike.  They went to a string making place and a chocolate factory.  In the evenings during the week, they were able to be involved with a local ward.  They played soccer and basketball and had FHE in members' homes and had dances.

I love this picture.  These youth worked so hard to build this clinic.  Nice to see such tangible results from their hard work.  Aubrey will follow the next groups on instagram to continue to see the progress.  She already saw that their bus driver, Edwin, whom they invited to church, is now taking the missionary lessons.  Pretty cool!

Cruise Happenings

Bryn and Kierstin's big cruise didn't go quite as planned.  They had a terrible winter in Utah with record snow falls for months.  They were imagining sunny skies and warm beaches.  They got cool, overcast days instead.  They are great friends though and had tons of fun doing other things around the ship like towel folding, evening shows and scavenger hunts.  Brinley ate so much she gained nine pounds!!!!

Hoping the sun would come out so they could tan.  They used their towels for blankets.

This is Bryn's 5th cruise probably...she's been on several.  She was excited to be with Kierstin on her first.

They enjoyed ziplining and hiking for their excursions and just had a lot of fun being together.

I'm glad to have most of my chickadees back in the states, and our Parker Bryce will be home in just a few weeks!

Ruidoso with My Guy

June 10-13, 2023

I am so grateful we were able to escape to Ruidoso.  I needed a break from the chaos of my home life.  The chaos of the state of the house, to be specific.  Plus, a break from living with random workers in my house for WAY TOO LONG.  Honestly, Ruidoso was just what I needed.  I felt like I could breathe.  It was amazing.

How it came about....It was a random, last minute trip.  Ang called on Friday and said they forgot to cancel their time share rental and offered to let us or anyone else we might now use it.  They had just gotten home from a trip to Israel and Greece, so they were going to stay put.  Brian and I had a wedding reception that night, and I was helping with my mom from 4:45-8:00 am on Saturday morning so my dad could work in the temple.  By 10 am on Saturday morning we were packed and heading out on our mountain getaway.

It was so beautiful and relaxing.  We did walks and small hikes together.  We watched the Chosen.  We ate out a few times and cooked in the condo a couple of times.  We went to church.  We took aafternoon naps.  I blogged.  Brian fished.  I did long walks up and down mountain trails.  We looked at the shops downtown.  It was very relaxing and filling.

One day I walked up the road to find a resort that we had stayed at before that was up higher than ours.  It made for an intense walk/hike up a paved road, but this beautiful view was my reward.  When I showed Bri the picture, he said that lake was where he had been fishing early in the morning.  I'm glad we were both able to enjoy the beauty if different ways.

Sunday afternoon hike in the Lincoln National forest.

Over the years when we have gone to Ruidoso, we have gone in the winter and have done tubing, skiing, horseback riding activities.  This late spring trip was a fun, new way to experience and enjoy Ruidoso.  

Grad Party

June 3, 2023

Tanner went back and forth about having a grad party, but at the last minute asked if we could go for it.  Parker's was at the Birds, and Tanner thought that sounded like a great place.  Bless them for being so generous and kind in sharing their backyard set up.  Also, the hours they spent in getting everything ready on their end was very appreciated. 

We wanted to celebrate Erin too, even though she has one scheduled with her family.  It was just a small group plus family, so it seemed weird to leave her off out.  I made this invite on Canva.

Tanner was envisioning a sports night, and it was awesome.  We set up 9 square, and brought over three cornholes.  They also have pickleball, ping pong, a basketball shooting machine, and a huge backyard for soccer etc.  The weather was perfect.  Luckily it was overcast, and we even had a breeze.

His good friend since elementary, Julian Torres, was able to come.  He also invited maybe three other high school friends plus his work group which is his bosses Ryan and Max and their families plus Nate and Jacob.  Erin invited her immediate family plus about 10 friends.  Then we had the Vore family group: the Birds, Chris Vores, Kerry Vores, Grandpa Vore, and Grandma and Grandpa Honey (Ang's parents.)  It was a fun group!

When Parker saw the pictures of Tanner playing cornhole while holding Kaide, he went bonkers.  He thought it was awesome, and it's his new favorite picture of Tanner.  

Erin's "Midland Mom," Darlene came Saturday morning and helped me set up.  It was so appreciated.  We had a great time visiting about the upcoming wedding and getting to know each other better.

Erin's mom, Melissa, made Tanner this cool money lei.  Tanner and Erin both received many generous gifts.

Brian and Adam cooked the burgers and hotdogs.  We had fresh fruit and potato chips for the sides.  Ang made a last minute trip to Walmart and bought cheese, more burgers and more chips just in case.  It's so nice to have family who is willing to help.

Left side: Chris & John (Martin) Right side: Hannah Conner, Grandpa, & Shari Martin

Erin's (step) mom Melissa Flores, her mom Darlene Martinez, and her Uncle Adam and Aunt Michelle

Megan, Lauron and Ang Vore

Char and Brian

Brit came up with the AMAZING idea for a S'mores Bar.  She also was so very kind and purchased everything for it.  Bless her one million times.  It was so nice not to have that on my list of things to do for the party.  Also, she made it so much more fun than I would have.   She and Adam stocked their fridge to the brim with lots of drinks too.  I was really feeling badly because they were doing so much, but she did agree to let it count as their grad gift to Tanner and Erin.  That helped me feel a little better.

I purchased this cute file off of Etsy and edited it to fit our needs.  Then I printed it at Walgreens as a 24x36 poster, so huge in other words, and glued it on a foam board.  

Erin w/ Kaide & Jewel Jacobo

I'm really regretting not getting a picture of Britney's masterpiece.  It was so extra, so appreciated,  and so delicious.  Here are the best two pictures I took of the bar.  

This was her prep setup in the house.  She purchased tons and tons of ingredients for all the different combinations.  She also had these cute jars to put everything in.

Aubrey, Hannah, Brooklyn Norton, La & me

It was a hit!

Ralph, Jewel, & ?

Brit & Char

Color changing marshmallows....Char was a fan.

Great Uncle Adam w/ Kaide & Brit

Lots of people were able to love and play with Kaide.  It was probably the most relaxed I've seen Tanner or Erin with him.  They usually keep him right with them.   I'm glad they were able to just enjoy visitng and having fun at the party.  They also are very religious about his 8:00 bedtime.  All sets of grandparents were shocked that he was getting to stay out so late!  (Past 9:00.  He is a great sleeper and they've worked very hard to make that

Emmerson Norton

Nine Square fun

Erin's dad Ruben

Aub, Adam (my nephew), Christian & Lincoln Vore

Kaide was pretty happy crawling around on a blanket on the grass on and off throughout the night.  Also, lots of people were able to hold and snuggle him.

I'm glad we were able to celebrate Tanner and Erin graduating.  It was a fun evening.