Countdown to Adam!

I had been waiting for an official letter from the mission office before I posted this. Yesterday the letter came. About two weeks ago I received a call from the Jacksonville, Florida mission office. The sister missionary told me she was working on scheduling flights home and wanted to know which airport we wanted Adam flown into. This call caught me completely off guard. First, the call came on my cell phone and second, I was dripping with peach juice as I was at Kimberly's house helping her can peaches. Adam was the furthest thing from my mind at the moment. All I was able to babble was "We don't even have a release date for him. We don't know when he's coming home!" She laughed and told me he would be released on December 23rd. Several thoughts rushed through my mind. We had hoped he would be released on the 17th then we could go and pick him up and play in Florida for a week and be home for Christmas. We can't do that if he is released on the 23rd. Adam has mentioned several times that he really wants to be home for Christmas. The next thought was "Wow! Adam is coming home! What an awesome Christmas present!" We are so excited to have a date to look forward to. So watch the ticker at the top of the blog and you can count down to December 23rd with us. And, of course, he will be flying into the local airport. Here are a few fun pictures Adam sent us this spring.

At first I thought this sign was funny. Now I think its kind of scary.

Adam hunting gators. The one in the background is hard to see. In his Monday e-mail, Roger had asked Adam how it was going with the investigators he has been working with. Adam replied that everything was going great with the "gators". Must be a mission pun.

I hope he used his camera zoom when he took this photo.

This picture was taken at a yearly ward party called the "Beast Feast". Notice the skin is hanging on a church gym wall. At the Beast Feast ward members bring all sorts of wild meat cooked different ways and they don't tell you what it is until after dinner. I think they serve everything from alligator to squirrel meat. Sounds like an interesting ward party.

Nana Ann's Cuties

Kailynn, Tanner and their parents came to visit Nana and Grandpa on Sunday. They were so cute that I had to take pictures to share. Kailynn was wearing an Apple Bottoms outfit. It included a zip hoodie over a t-shirt with a denim skirt. The kicker is that her mom also bought her little furry boots! So she was wearing "Apple Bottom Jeans and the Boots with the Fur! If you don't listen to current teenagers' music you will have no idea what I am talking about. This is a line in a song that was popular last spring. It was always on Laura and Rachel's radio stations. It seems like I just got the song out of my head, now its back. But Kailynn was so cute I had to take pictures. Today is her six month birthday. She is sitting up pretty good and likes to stand if you hold on to her. Alan is holding her up in this picture as she modeled for us.

Tanner was sporting his own style that day. Coonskin cap with his John Deere hoodie, t-shirt and jeans.

We had a little corn out of the garden for dinner that day. Tanner decided he likes corn. He kept gnawing on the ends and his mom had to keep showing him the middle. He really chowed down on it.

Powder Puff & Homecoming Week

This last week was homecoming at the high school. Rachel was having fun attending the many activities. I asked if she was going to play on the sophomore powder puff football team and she told me no she was just going to watch. Wednesday afternoon she called me to say she was playing powder puff that night at six. The sophomores didn't have enough players for a team and since her friend Courtney's boyfriend was coaching the team, Courtney, Rachel and Katie were recruited to play at the last minute. Which is really funny because Rachel has no idea of what is going on at a football game. She goes to games to visit and hang out. But with 30 minutes of coaching before the game she was ready to play! Roger and I were quite impressed with her aggressiveness. We saw a side to our mild little Rachel we hadn't seen before. She had a lot of playing time and played in both games. In the first game she was able to snag the flags off a senior girl running with the ball and came near to snagging the flags again a couple of other times. They still lost 24 to 0. In the second game they tied the juniors 6 to 6. Rachel had bruises on her shoulders the next day from blocking but she had a lot of fun. Rah Rah Rachel!!!

Rachel, Katie, Courtney & Coach Kelly

They also had dress up themes for each day of the week. Rachel thought some of the themes were kind of lame. I think one day was "Ninja/Pirate Day". What is that? Do you dress up as both or one or the other? Another day was "Grandparent Day". I offered her one of my grandmotherly dusters to wear but she declined. I understood. The one day she wanted to dress up for was "Hippie day". She and her friends tie dyed matching shirts the night before. I thought they turned out pretty "cool". Rachel did have a few boys inquire if she had a date to the homecoming dance on Saturday night but of course she had to advise them of her only being 15 status. She went out to dinner with her dad and mom that night. Oh well, next year.

Grain Harvest 2008

The men starting cutting the grain on Saturday, August 16th. Because of the late start planting this year and the cooler weather there were some fields that were still green. They started on the ones that were the ripest and then moved on to the others as they ripened. Harvest went pretty well. It did rain one day about half way through harvest. The weather wasn't warm enough to dry the grain for a few days after it rained and it set them back about five days. The moisture content of the grain needs to be so low before it can be stored. They finished with the last of the grain on Friday, September 12th and they started cutting third crop hay the next day.

This field is Cherry 4 (yes the fields have names)

Unloading into the old Peterbilt.

Off for another round.

Unloading grain from truck into grain storage bin behind Grandma's.

Roger watching the auger unload the grain into bins.

Tanner watching Uncle Alan move the auger to grain bins behind our house.

Jacksonville Florida Mission Blog

I received a card in the mail Saturday from Adam's Mission President's wife announcing the new Jacksonville, Florida Mission Blog. I guess it was in response to all the worried parents during the tropical storm Fay. I know I was worried. I knew Adam was to be transferred that week and I had no idea where he was. I was thrilled to learn of the new blog. When I went to the blog, there in the top picture of the "Zone Leader Council" third person in from the right was my boy! Whoo Hoo! It makes this mom proud. If you would like to check out the blog and the picture, the link to the mission blog is under "Family" on the right. Double click on the group picture to get a better look at the Elders. Let me know what you think. Ann

Rachel's Summer Job

With the start of school Rachel's summer job has come to an end. She has been babysitting her nephew, Tanner, three days a week. She would usually watch him at Mike and Kim's house but sometimes she watched him here at home. On the days she would watch him at Kim's, she would get on her bicycle and ride the three miles to Kim's house for her morning workout. I don't know if you could really call it a job. I think she had too much fun playing with Tanner, eating Kimberly's food and watching movies while Tanner napped. Rachel already misses seeing Tanner almost everyday. You can tell Tanner also thinks Rachel is pretty special. He gets so excited when he sees her. Rachel really likes being the favorite Aunt. Tanner now gets to spend a few days with his Grandmothers and one day playing at cousin Michelle's house with her boys.

Here are a few pictures of Rachel "working"

Tanner showing Rachel how "tuff" he is.

Laura Moves to College

We've been talking about this all summer but reality has finally hit...Laura has moved to college. We were worried about getting all her stuff in her car, but she made it fit. This is a lot different than just moving to Rexburg. She can't run home for something she forgot.

We--we being Laura in her little Civic, Samantha Perez, Laura's best friend in her Camry, and Rachel and I in my Camry left Thursday morning, August 14th and drove convoy style the eight and a half hours to the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

Laura, Samantha & Rachel. Behind them are the dorms they will be staying in this week.

Laura and Sam wanted to join a Sorority so they needed to be there on the 15th for Rush. The process of joining a sorority commonly begins with a "formal recruitment" period, often called "rush week." There are 300 girls going through "rush" this year. They are divided into nine groups and will visit the nine different sororities houses to meet the members and learn about the activities and events the house is involved with and get a feel for what it would be like to be a part of that particular group. After "rush" is over, Laura and Sam should have an idea of which house they like, and the members of each house will vote on who they will ask to join. The houses then give the girls a "bid" or invitation to join and each girl has the choice of whether to accept or decline. They took all their cell phones away their first night there. The idea being each girl needs to make her own individual choice without influence of parents or friends. Being cell phone less for five days was quite disconcerting for both Laura and Sam. To tell the truth, I'm not real comfortable with it either. So we won't be able to talk to her until Wednesday or Thursday after they have chosen which sorority to join.
Yes, it was terribly hard to leave her and we will miss her greatly. But we know that Laura will do awesome no matter where she goes to school. We are so proud of her. We love you Laura!