Weekend Update

The blog's been a bit neglected lately, in part because we've been in Kentucky helping Tori's sister and her family get settled into their new home there.

We had a quick stop in Memphis on the way out, just long enough to eat some great Memphis barbeque:

One of the larger projects of the weekend was building a previously missing rail for the stairs. (Important with 5 kids going up and down all the time)
We really didn't take many pictures, but we did take the camera along for a walk along the Ohio river:
(^^^Indiana is in the background)

We had a nice time and were able to get a lot of little projects done around their house.

Our late flight home Sunday became an early Monday flight thanks to a long delay in Minneapolis, but we were fortunate enough to be at the Dairy Queen in MSP airport just as a couple with a bunch of soon-to-expire airline vouchers treated everybody in the restaurant to free ice cream. Nice.

We eventually made it home and were happy to see Rachel after leaving her at Grandma's for four days.

In memoriam....

Our beloved Chevrolet Corsica passed away peacefully Friday at the age of 13 after a long and courageous battle with a leaking intake manifold gasket. The Corsica was born in 1996 at the General Motors assembly plant in Wilmington, Delaware and after leaving the plant, spent its early years selflessly serving as a rental car in southern California. After an honorable discharge from the rental fleet, and spending time with a private owner in the Phoenix area, the Corsica was sold at auction and eventually joined our family in March 2007.
The Corsica was always eager and ready for the numerous commutes between Clearfield, Murray and Weber State University. Never one to complain about the long days or cold nights parked in the open, the Corsica always happy and willing to be driven wherever we needed to go. It especially enjoyed occasional weekend trips to Idaho or Southern Utah when we were concerned about putting too many miles on the Elantra.
In 2008, it was diagnosed with a coolant leak and began suffering from stalling and acceleration problems due to a failing EGR Valve. Despite this and an accident involving an improperly tethered steel pipe this spring on Highway 89, the Corsica served faithfully until its last commute to Murray this morning.
The Corsica was preceded in life by the Chevrolet Citation and leaves behind the Chevrolet Malibu, born in 1997 after production of the Corsica was discontinued. The Corsica will be laid to rest at a salvage yard and will likely be sold for parts. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to an account established at America First Credit Union to help quickly pay down the loan on the Corsica’s replacement:

Where were we then?

Here's what we were up to five years ago this month:


Tyler-
(in Ussuriysk, Russia)

Well, I finally have a few peaceful minutes at the end of a long busy day in a long busy week. It is 11:45 P.M., and I am waiting for laundry to finish so I can hang it up to dry before the baptism tomorrow morning. Alexander, Denis, and Rodion are all getting baptized. It will be very good, but I am getting stressed out by everything lately, and after their baptisms will feel much better about everything. Last night, I called the other elders around 9:40 and nobody answered. I called the Cluffs and they didn’t answer either. Well, around 10:30 after calling them both and still no answer, I called Elder Coffman in Vlad, who called President Rhyne. They eventually all got home but were really late because the baptismal interview with Rodion went late. Then, Elder Purcella was talking on the phone for 40+ minutes and the line was busy, so I couldn’t get through to them. I finally talked to them though. They were all safe, and I reported by phone to President Rhyne at 11:30. Nice first conversation with the new mission president, a late night phone call telling him all of the missionaries in my district were missing. I was pretty stressed by it all and don’t know how it must have been for my parents when I came home late as a teen. I’ll have to be sure to apologize to them this week in my e-mail.

Tori-
(in Aruba)

Sometimes, when I read my journal entries, I think I’m crazy. I probably am crazy. I wonder who will read my journal.
Aruba is still great. The work is still hard. I’m learning a lot out here. I still wonder if I’m the “standard” missionary. I compare myself to some of the Elders and how diligent and “into” the gospel they are. I want to be like that. I know I’m a different person and spirit, but . . . I don’ t know.
We’re working with Glen (Billy) Bundel. He has some crazy ideas, but I think they stem from some weird childhood event. He is a good guy. Raymond Chun is great! I think he is on his way to the waters. Everything was clicking for Him. It would be great to baptize a good strong priesthood holder. I want to help this branch so much. The members work and work. I know the Lord will bless them/
We had some Georgian tourist at church last week. It was interesting. The tourist are great. I like it when they wave and honk. Then, I know they are members. I hit my 9 month mark soon. It really hasn’t been that long, or so it seems to me.
The more I learn-the more I feel dumb for being dumb in the past!

Family Reunion somewhere in Idaho

We drove through Twin Falls on our way to a place I call nowhere. Tyler lived in Twin Falls when he was little, so we stopped to see some boyhood memories and to see the new temple.

Little Rae did great the whole trip even when she was sooo tired. She really liked to play outside in the dirt.

There where two great water falls across from our campsite. Beautiful!

As so as we arrived and put up the tent, we had an Idaho rain storm. Rachel did not want to hang out in the tent, but we sang songs while we eat our half soggy burgers.

Here is what camping looks like at a reunion. It looks like one of those tent cities.

We were right next to the Snake River.

On Saturday, we saw a sign for some fossil beds and thought it would be great to visit. This is all that was there-a sign saying the fossils were sent to a museum. Dumb!

Here is the alligator "farm." It was really just a fish hachery with two alligators as attractions.

Rachel had a lot of fun playing outside and swimming. She was so tired, but she played as much as she possibly could.