The Russell Bustle

Bo's setting apart

2012-02-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

Trevor and Kim and new 2 week old Olivia Jean

Grandma Kathy... Grandpa is in the hospital... that's a whole other story but he's doing ok. He is home now waiting on results from a biopsy.

Aunt Diane, Megan and Grandma Russell

The Websters, Uncle Karl, Aunt Ann, Austin and Megan

The Flake's, Aunt Bet, Uncle Shea, Aubrey, Melany and Kamy

Cameron and Jordan

Monte and his family

Thanks to all the love and support we get from our family. We love you all!

The MTC drop off.

2012-02-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

Finally the day was here for Bo to step into missionary life. Driving up we stopped by the Bingham's and visited with them for about 3 hours... it was fun catching up with them. We went to the Salt Lake temple on Tuesday and then on to Provo where we met with David Wilde one of Gavin's companions. He took us on a little walking tour of BYU campus. That was really fun. Then we played raquetball, got some ice cream at the BYU Creamery, with another one of his missionary friends Jacob Hunt Tolman. yum!
Bo was a trooper, he was so tender, I loved his tight squeezes! Like he wouldn't get to squeeze me like that for a long time.... 2 years is a long time.
It was tough coming home without him and when we walked through the door last night, I lost it all over again. I love that quiet kid, he is so easy to be around. I love you Bo!

We made a quick trip to Mesa to see The Jay Russell family

2012-02-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

Makenzie got to come with us and while we were there we went to an afternoon cookout with our old camping group. The McMullin's the Hunt's and the McCray family. It was at the McCray's back yard. It was so great to see the families and how everyone has grown up.

Bo's Trip to St. David to see the Russell's

2012-02-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

On January 25 and 26 Bo and I went to see Chauncy and Shar and their kids - to say goodbye to them. We went to Tombstone. While there we did a tour of a silver mine, it was very interesting and fun. They made us homemade pizza and we got to see their new truck. We also bought some pecans and we also got to stop and see Aunt Bon and Jhett in Pima.

30 years!!!

2011-10-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary, I want to tell the world how thrilled I am to be the wife of Mike Russell for the last 30 years. He is my best friend and the love of my life. I will follow him everywhere, including the next 30 years. He told me when he asked me to marry him that he would spoil me and he is a man of his word. We will be leaving for Hawaii in the morning and I will get to spend the whole week with him... all alone just me and him. I love you Mike.

A side note... he has just been called to be on the High Council. We went this morning to the stake center where he was set apart. It was a very special occasion.

Building our lean-to.

2011-06-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

We need a place to put the 4-wheeler and the jet-ski's besides our crowded garage... and besides out in the sun. This is what we are building today Saturday 6/25/2011. We will store our toys and our soon to be riding lawn mower...(maybe next year) Mike and Bo have been having a good time working together. Trevor came by to help and we appreciated his and Grandpa's help putting up the beam. What a fun day! A little to windy - but a good day to work on this project. We will put some tin on for the roof. It will be open on the sides. Thanks Trevor and Bo for digging and working in the hot dry sun. As always Mike can do anything... Thank you honey for working so hard. I love you.

Co-ed Volleyball

2011-06-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

This should have been posted before the graduation post... but I forgot I had this picture in my camera and when downloading pictures I saw it and thought I had better share. We Played Co-ed with myself and Bo and Trevor - Jay and Brittany - T. Jordan and Tif. For tournament they put us in the "A" league and we weren't sure how well we would do. We ended up being at the top of the bracket and waiting for the losers to come and play us. We played for championship and the team we played had to beat us twice... they did :( But hey, we got a T-shirt! 2nd place isn't too bad. :) This was just May 16th... We had a lot of fun... I hope this isn't my last year to play... ha ha ha!!!!!! Thanks to 1st Propane for sponsoring us.

Bo Baby graduates

2011-06-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Seminary graduation was on Thursday the 26th of May. Bo sang a feature spot in the Seminary choir closing song "Praise to the Man" with Devin McNeil and Cameron Byrd. The Choir was spectacular. They really sounded great. The entire program was very good.

These are the priests in our ward who graduated from Seminary,
Kyle Lunt, Bo, Orrin Ramsey, Ammon McKinlay, Chandlar McCullough, Bryce Kay - going to Ohio on his mission in July, Michael Bonham

It was great to have all our family there - Chauncy and Shar and their 4 kids, Seth 5, Preston 4, Morgan 2 and Jaylee 2 months.
Val and Spencer (well, Spencer was here but drove to the valley to attend his sister Rachel's graduation from Massage Therapy School) but he was here for Seminary Grad and all other activities and their 3 kids, McKay 5, Dallin almost 3, Ethan 6 months. Jay and Brittany and Eden 1, Trevor and Kim, and Bo and Daniel. Gavin is still serving in Peru - 6 more months. Val was visiting with Louise Flake and so she got to be in the picture with us.

Daniel got to participate in the graduation. I'm thankful for a good boy to come and stay with us. He didn't give us any trouble at all, he was fun and happy and took a lot of teasing from his "older brothers" He put up with getting put out of his room when the married kids came to visit and putting up with the grandkids. He loves Eden and Eden loves Daniel. He got along great with everyone and was respectful and kind. We love Daniel and we will miss him. His flight back to Bogota was scheduled for May 30th at 7:15 am. Mike and Daniel drove to Phoenix early Monday morning. I was going to go with them but after late nights and early mornings all week I opted to stay home and spend the day with Val and her family because she was leaving that afternoon. He had been packing for 2 weeks. He had to leave a few things with Mike so he wouldn't have to pay 100 dollars extra for another bag. He collected a lot of things while here. We had a good time with Daniel. I hope that he feels good about his 10 month stay in Snowflake with us. It was fun.

This is a picture of us playing in our back yard on Saturday after graduation. We took a family picture and as we were smiling, McKay said "Daniel Montero" so we all said, "Daniel Montero" we looked at Daniel and he had tears in his eyes, it was a special moment.

Fresh meat at Ed's

2011-02-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Bo got a JOB at the Butcher Shop at Ed's. I went by today and I just happened to have my camera.... What did Bo say when I whipped it out? "Really Mom Really"
That's what Mom's are for!

Day 2

2011-01-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

I missed Day 1 (Favorite Song) and I'm not much of a songy person so I'll just skip that... so Day 2 ----
I wish I could show the clip from Quigly Down Under where he rides off up the hill on his horse and leaves 'Crazy Cora' on the porch watching to see if he will turn and look at her. It is just so sweet and it brings tears to my eyes when he turns his horse and pauses to look at her. It is a healing moment and he goes and defeats the bad guys and then they sail off to America together. The End And that is my Favorite!

Bo's Senior FOOTBALL Pictures

2010-11-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

senior pictures

2010-11-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

As Promised.....

2010-11-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday I got some better pictures of Daniel. Ok - he showed off a little.... Handsome boys! I want to share some og the funny things that Daniel says... Sunday evening we were talking about the events of the upcoming week and Bo was excited because on Monday the football team was going up to ShowLow to swim for practice. (On Daniel's profile he liked 2 sports... swimming and tennis) Mike was explaining to Daniel that Bo loves to swim He called Bo a fish, Daniel says, "I'm a shark" we thought that was funny. I was in Bo's room the other morning and was asking Bo about the clothes strewn about... Daniel walks in and says, "It's decoration!" It's fun to see Bo and Daniel get along so well. They are becoming pretty good pals.

Lobo bleacher quilt

2010-10-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

Not to be out done by the Hawks... if I could sew that little hawk, surely I could sew a Lobo logo..... The hard thing was hiding it from Bo. I wanted to surprise him for homecoming. He leaves early so I could start sewing early but then he comes home for lunch and I would have to put it away and then he comes home @ 1:30 then leaves again for football practice... I did this for 2 quilts, I made one for Derek Flake also (his has a basketball instead of a football because basketball is his fav) Thanks to Grandma Kathy for quilting these quilts, it was fun being in cahoots with her because she loves surprising people and we couldn't wait to give them to the boys... Love it!!!

Things I've made

2010-10-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy last few weeks like the last 6 weeks...Crazy busy.
I made this bleacher quilt for my Sister Ann. Her kids attend Highland High School they are the Hawks... It turned out nice!

Daniel Montero - Busy fall - things I've made.....

2010-10-27T08:11:00.001-07:00

Ok, the blog has suffered because when I sew I do nothing else... no house work, no food preparation, no laundry.... JK I do enough to get by...it's a good thing my family is not demanding. I think our Student from Colombia is more demanding than Mike or Bo. Yesterday he drew a big picture on the white board that said,"Pick me up 3:26" Oh and "Don't forget" I have been really good at picking him after school but since I started coaching 8th grade volleyball with practice right after school we've had a few incidents where he had to wait a bit... Poor Daniel! All in all we've had a great time with him. His family came to visit and stayed 3 nights with us. We enjoyed them very much. Daniel comes from a wonderful family. I love when Daniel cooks for us, he makes good things, crepes, leche asada, some corn flour bread things with cheese inside, this morning he made some poached eggs in milk with cheese, the problem is the cheese, we don't have the cheese that he can get in Colombia and he is frustrated by that. But it was a good breakfast anyways. We were watching my favorite show last night {Biggest Loosa} and they were cooking and one of the ladies says, "Everyone thinks if you're Latino you can cook well" I looked over at Daniel and he just smiled a knowing smile like..."That's right!"
This is Daniel
Daniel would croak to know this picture of him is on the Blog. He is very
meticulous with his appearance. This picture was taken early before he got ready for school, Bo has Madrigals at 7 and Daniel doesn't have to go till 8. So he didn't have time to get ready. I will post a picture of him in Sunday suit... Both he and Bo look like Models on Sunday. I'm surrounded by good lookin Men!!!!

Our little vacation to Utah

2010-06-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Mike and Bo and I went on a little vacation to St. George and Manti. In St. George we stayed at the World Mark Resort and we played Racquetball at the Rec center in downtown St. George it was very fun! Our main reason for going was to see "Tarzan" at Tuacahn. We had a wonderful time there watching the performance in spite of the wind. Then we went to Manti to watch the pageant. That is something I've never seen before. I thought the Mormon Miracle Pageant was amazing! I loved it. We were excited to see the Bingham's and stay a couple of nights with them. We took a little picnic up the canyon and saw their water! We had a really good time. Very fun! While driving we finished the book we were reading, "The Undaunted" by Gerald Lund. I recommend it to anyone, it was a great book. I am amazed at the things the early pioneers did! What a great example they are of faith and courage... and lots more. I'm so thankful. Thankful I live now, thankful for all my blessings. I know they come from our loving Father in Heaven.

2010-06-14T10:43:00.001-07:00

"What Manner Of Men Ought Ye To Be Even As I Am" This is the center Block for Jake Judd's quilt, my sister Yvonne's boy. He served in the England London South Mission. Jake, I love the motto of your mission. As I have sat at my machine and this quote has gone through my thoughts over and over again ~ well, I really can't type into words how I really feel about these beautiful words but doesn't it really say it ALL? I'm proud of you Jake for serving a mission even when you had trials of bad health. You kept at it and I hope that throughout your life you will continue to live this motto.
The lettering is a first for me, I did it by hand. I love the "Old English" font and my machine doesn't do that so I tried doing it by hand and it turned out great!

The things I do.............

2010-05-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today I sewed a blouse, just a simple one but I had the material and everything and it went together really well. I love it when things turn out like that. I was just looking at all the blogs and it's so fun to see what others are up to ... so now you know what I've been doing.
Hey, what about the finale of Biggest Loser! That was so fun to watch. I love that change in people and how great they look and feel. Gary and Sarah and Trevor and Kim came over to watch it with us. We had some good Fat free treats. I enjoyed the whole season thanks to DVR, how did we live without it? :) Now I'll get back to the book I'm reading, "The Undaunted". Could I have been a pioneer? Hummmm.

7 Mothers day calls

2010-05-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Mothers day, in the past I've felt a little depressed on Mothers day. Maybe feeling a little inadequate, I'd be-rate myself that I could be doing more as a Mom. Now though ~ I don't think about Mothers Day like that I look at my children and just joy in the fact that they are happy fun people who live, love and laugh together.
We just had Trevor's wedding and it was all so great! It was wonderful to be in the temple with my family. Trevor and Kim are happy. It's fun to see them laugh together about the silliest things, they are having a good time together. And yes we got a call from our Missionary Gavin who is in Peru. He is doing so well! His Spanish sounded like he really knew what he was talking about. He sang for us in Spanish. (I love that) I thrill in my heart when I think of him as a Missionary! This was my 7th call from a missionary on Mothers Day. The best gift ever. I also got calls from Chauncy and Valerie, had dinner with the rest of our kids and the day was great. (I didn't have to cook or clean up) I'll post pictures of the wedding as soon as I get some.... Thank you my family. I love you all!

Trevor will Marry Kim Miller on April 23,2010

2010-04-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

It's funny,

Val pointed out that she was married on 10-23-04
Trevor is getting married on 04-23-10
We are excited for this event
Happy for Trevor!
Kim is just what he needs.
(Shar took these pictures that I really like)

2010-04-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

What have we been up to? Check out our re-model job of our boys shower/bath and painting our kitchen and living room.

Gavin enters the MTC December 2, 2009

2009-12-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

He is so ready to go! We are thrilled for him, he says he loves the MTC. He will leave for the MTC in Lima on December 23.

Bo's Court of Honor

2009-12-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

Bo got his Eagle on the day that Gavin had his farewell. Val is so proud of her brothers! The boys all stood and sang, "As Zion's Youth in Latter-Days" I loved it, and my chest puffed and I my eyes watered and proud is how I felt! I love these people.

Our family at the 50th wedding anniversary party

2009-12-14T15:48:00.000-08:00

Shum & Kathy's 50th Wedding Anniversary party

2009-12-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

We are only missing 4 people in this picture.
From Kim's family we are missing Chad, from Kristi's family we are missing Spencer. From Monte's family we are missing Logan (mission). From Yvonne's family we are missing Justin.

Gavin's temple day September 8, 2009

2009-12-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

We hosted the PSR in August 2009

2009-12-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

End of year report

2009-12-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin to sum up a year packed full of special family events and busy community projects? In July we were thrilled to greet Trevor, home from his 2 yr. mission in Russia. This is a picture we took at that time, we are missing Val's husband, Spencer. A week later thrilled for Gavin to open his call to Peru. We hosted the PSR (Paul Shumway Rogers) reunion in August at Sherwood Forest where we celebrated 50 years of our family, we had a sock hop and a bowling game and had a grand time. In September Gavin went through the temple, we knew we had a while to get him ready, he wouldn't report until December 2. He worked nights at Wal-mart and didn't like it really at all but even though it was hard he stayed with it until October 31st. Then he went on a traveling vacation. He went to Eastern Arizona College to spend some time with his friends, James, Dustin and Terel. I'm not sure what they did, but he had a good time. When he got back he flew to Oklahoma to spend some time with Valerie and to drive her back to Arizona to be here for G & G Rogers' 50th wedding Anniversary on Nov. 20. Meanwhile we were following Bo and the Snowflake Lobos Football team as they traveled to Chino Valley and then to Gilbert where they played two play-off games but where beaten by Fountain Hills. I have been sewing costumes nearly non-stop for the Christmas Spectacular that I volunteered to be a part of that just showed on Dec. 11 & 12. It was a fun show and everything went very well! I'll post some pictures from that when I get some back. Gavin had his farewell on Nov. 22 and Bo had his Eagle Court of Honor on that same Sunday. I'm so proud of Bo for finishing and getting his award. All 5 boys are Eagles, yeah! All of my family was together in one place and so we took pictures, the ones you see here. It's been about 4 1/2 years since we've all been together for a picture. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one day, Spencer and Val had to go back to OKC and Chauncy and Shar back to Sauhrita. Gavin leaves for his mission and Jay and Brittany will be with her family for Christmas as well as the other married kids. So we have had a really busy fall.
My Dad wasn't feeling well that Sunday evening and by Monday just didn't feel well at all. On Tuesday morning we took him to the ER where they did tests and finally at 5 pm they took him to surgery to remove his Gall Bladder. He got to come home on Friday and has been doing really well ever since. All of his tests were better than they had been for a year, he lost 13 pounds and he looks great! What a blessing! I just wish he would have felt this good for his anniversary party. Now we are taking a big sigh of relief as we look forward to Christmas.

Gavin's call

2009-09-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

Ok these posts should have been made back in July..... but I have been doing some major canning and reunions.... busy time for us. But this is to announce officially on the Blog that Gavin opened his call on July 17th. He is going to Peru Piura mission and doesn't report until December 2.

2009-09-27T08:22:00.001-07:00

2009-09-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

2009-09-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Trevor's quilt

2009-09-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

A wonderful Summer

2009-09-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy but wonderful Summer full of activities! We were anxiously awaiting Gavin's mission call and we thought it would get here before Trevor got home. Trevor arrived in Phoenix on July 8th. We had a joyous time at the airport then later at my Sister Ann's house letting him tell us about his experience in Russia. All of my kids were together for the first time in 4 years. It's funny how BIG my family is. Val is still tiny compared to their height. They lifted her up to be the same and the pictures were fun!

2009-06-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

He will be home in 11 days...... July 8th. He reports his mission on Sunday July 12th in our ward, it starts at 11:00 Temple view chapel.
WE CAN'T WAIT!

2009-06-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

Our garden..... it's looking beautiful!

2009-06-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is one of the projects we are doing this summer. We planted Aspen and pine trees on the top tier. Jay and Bo spread the rock yesterday and it looks nice!

2009-06-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

Their men, MANLY men

2009-06-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Silly Gavin!

2009-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

View from the Mountain, the Tram ride was so cool! The floor of the tram rotated so you could see the mountain granite as well as the view down on the valley.

2009-06-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Mike and Kristi and their 2 boys left at home.
Gavin just graduated waiting on a call, I bet it will come next Friday (July 3) Bo will be a Junior! When did that happen. Bo was complaining about his shoes being too tight. We measured him and he has grown about 3/4" since April. I hope he will still grow some more. We sure love these boys, we can't wait till Trevor get home 11 more days!

2009-06-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

One more picture, the resort was lovely!

2009-06-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

We had a blast! At the end of May we went on a 1 week vacation to Indio, California
It is near Palm Springs, we stayed at the World Mark Resort and we had so much fun
Swimming in the lazy river and the big pool and the little kiddy pool was really
fun for these little boys. We played tennis and 2 days we had a H-O-R-S-E contest
which Grandpa Mike won both days! (he will never let you forget that either)
We went to the Air Museum one day and we went on the Palm Springs Tram which
takes you up the mountain 8,000 ft. and we had a little picnic up there. It was beautiful
to look over the floor of the dessert and the beautiful city of Palm Springs.

Spring Break

2009-03-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

To start our week we had a new baby grand DAUGHTER born Sunday March 22. We planned to go to Tucson for Spring Break. I hitched a ride with Shea and Yvette and family to Pima on Sunday evening. We arrived at the hospital to see Morgan at about 7:45, I think. Shar was doing well and it was fun to meet our new baby. She is so sweet and soft, I'm awed at the miracle of birth. What a wonderful thing it is! I stayed to help with Chauncy's boys on Monday and Tuesday and then Tuesday afternoon Mike and Gavin and Bo came to get me and we went to Tucson. We stayed at the World Mark Resort. On Wednesday we went shopping and to the Zoo, when you shop with boys/men, it really doesn't take that long, they cant stand it any longer than neccesary. It's rather frustrating. The Zoo was fun. It's small and doesn't take very long to see everything. I was impressed with the closeness you get to the animals. We watched the polar bear swim and we could've touched him if the glass wasn't there to protect 'him'. The monkey's put on a show for us and went swinging in their cage, that was fun to watch. Gavin clapped. The tiger came and walked to the near side of his cage and peed right on the wall in front of us, we felt so lucky to witness that! The giraffe's habitat was really neat. You can watch them eat out of these baskets that are eye level, that was very interesting. We enjoyed the Zoo. Then on the next day we got tickets for the baseball game, Rockies vs Dodgers. It was 73 but windy. The game was not that exciting.... but we enjoyed it. As we were leaving the game Shea called and said that it was snowing in Snowflake so it was even more fun to be in Tucson. On our way back to our resort we went by to pick up Jakki she was in Tucson for Spring Break also, staying with her brother who is going to the UofA. We sat in the jacuzzi for a while then we made some delicious chicken and veggies for dinner. It was fun to get to know Jakki she is a sweet girl. The next morning we played some tennis before we had to pack up and go.
The neighbor next door was feeding some havalina (sp) wild pigs. Out the back door of our place. He was feeding them carrots, he said they like bananas too. So we went and got the banans we had left and sure enough they came right up to our back porch b-bque area and ate all that we threw to them. There were 5 in all. That was kinda fun. We drove home through Gilbert we stopped by Aunt Ann's to sign some papers. Then we came on home. On Saturday Mike and Bo finished his last Merit Badge - Home Repairs. They finished fixing the linoleum in the pantry and made the trap door stronger so you don't feel like you might fall through. It looks good and I'm so glad to have all his Merit badges done. Now we can finish the paper work and hopefully have a court of honor when Trevor gets back and before Gavin leaves.
We all went glofing on Saturday, we wanted to go while in Tucson but it was really expensive. So we golfed with Bo here. He is enjoying being on the golf team. His face is getting very dark from being out in the sun already. He is getting tall and handsome. "He's alway been handsome" I love my family.... seems like this was the spring board for another busy summer, hopefully we'll keep you posted.
K

snow on our new wall

2009-02-19T04:17:00.000-08:00

2009-02-02T10:51:00.000-08:00

I loved the basketball game on Friday night! The Lobos played Alchesay at home. The madrigals sang the National Anthem (that was a great start) Gavin and Trevor Merrill went and sang with them. (they are both on the team) The band was there to play. White River came in mass. The gym was almost packed. The kids on the end of the court were ready to rock! It was so fun. The Lobos played so well. Robbie Martindell got two dunks, he has wanted to do that all season and finally did. Gavin played so well. He was crashing the boards like crazy, taking control of our destiny. He had a left handed put back that was so amazing. He had lots of comments on that one play. He played with heart, the way I know he can. I hope he continues to play that kind of ball. 3 more regular season games left. Tuesday vs ShowLow (last home game) Friday in BR and Saturday in Payson. Then we go to the play-offs. We hope they all do great. Good luck Lobos.

The WALL

2009-01-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed having Val and Spencer here for the last month, they were on their break from school and we hired him to do some cement work and some major back yard work at our house. It looks great and we are so grateful that that job is progressing. We want to plant some trees and grass and have our own little back yard garden area. We are going to love it! I'm so excited to finally have something done back there. We have lived on this property for about 14 years and we are really due to make something of the place.

2009-01-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Disneyland at Christmas time is so fun! We were amazed at the decorations....we? ok maybe just me, I was amazed at the decorations and the fun and music at Disneyland for Christmas. Everything was so perfect accept the crowds. There were so many people. We went to California on the 28th and spent Monday and Tuesday in the park. The Christmas parade was my favorite thing. I loved it. We have video if anyone is interested in watching. We came home on the 31st. It was a fun trip to take these two spoiled boys left at home. I enjoyed being with them and Mike. We were tired of walking and making our way through the crowds but we enjoyed being together. We got home in time for the boys to go to the New Years dance. Then on Jan. 2 & 3 all our kids came to town for our Kung Fu Panda Wa-chow party. Val had given us assignments to come up with a song from Christmas, and we had Chinese food that was just delicious. We decorated the garage and had our party down there. We then went over to Jay and Brittany's and swam in Kirk and Wendy Brimhall's pool. We then had a planning mtg. for the upcoming year, we have lots going on. We have our first granddaughter coming in April and then we have 3 graduations, Chanucy from nursing school in Thatcher and Spencer from engineer school in New Mexico and Gavin from HS. Gavin will by then have a mission call and we will be looking forward to Trevor's return in July. We are in charge of our family reunion the end of July and it seems that life could not be more busy. But all is good and we love life.

Christmas letter 2008

2008-12-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends, 12/18/2008

Merry Christmas! We have come to the end of another year, we hope we’re wiser too. We have much to be grateful for. It’s snowing outside this morning here in Snowflake. It makes Christmas feel so much more like the real thing when it’s snowing. I guess it just puts me in the Christmas spirit. With the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives we feel at peace even when the world is very much in turmoil. We feel gratitude to live in a small community with wonderful friends and family. We are so grateful for our family who are struggling students working their way to a better life for themselves and their families. Keep up the good work Chauncy and Shar in Pima finishing nursing school and Spencer and Valerie in Socorro, NM finishing his degree in Petroleum Engineering, both will finish up in May. We are excited for Jay and Brittany living here in Snowflake and starting school at NPC. We are so grateful for our business and those who work with us. What a blessing it has been to have this Propane business. This is our 10 year anniversary for our business. We are thankful for our good customers.

We look forward to a phone call on Christmas day from our missionary in Russia. Trevor has just 5-6 months left, could be more if he renews his visa at the end of May and stays for another 3 month visa term. He is having great success and loves everything. He has never complained about anything the whole time he has been out, he even likes the freezing weather.

We have had a wonderful year full of fun activities. Mike and I were the fireside chairmen for the Youth Trek, we enjoyed getting to know other people in our stake and watching the youth learn and grow during the trek experience. We are so glad that Gavin and Bo were able to participate in that. We are thankful to all the hard work by the wonderful leaders of our youth. Mike and Gavin and Bo went to Moab and went jeeping and 4-wheeler riding and river rafting on the Colorado River. They took Uncle Keith and met Uncle Ed McMullin and friends there. They had a great time. I got to go to Oklahoma City in July to be with Val as her and Spencer welcomed a new little boy into their family. We were grateful to have a great Doctor there who took good care of her. Dallin was born on 7/7/08. What a cute little bundle he is, now McKay has someone to play with. I was once again the parade chairman in July and we survived another parade. It went well. During this time we were making wedding plans for Jay. He married Brittany Noble on 8/8/08. As soon as we got home from our camp week at the PSR (Paul Shumway Rogers Reunion) we had the wedding in Mesa and then the reception in Snowflake. All went well and we are thrilled to know Brittany, she is so perfect for Jay. Gavin and Bo stayed busy this summer mowing lawns and working a little for Mike at the Propane yard and painting tanks and doing cement curb in our yard. We remodeled a motor home for us to camp in. We call it “Nutsy”. It was fun to have a good place to stay in this year. Our gardens did well this summer we grew pinto beans and we had a day of separating the hull from the bean. It took a group of us to do it but we got 112 pounds of pinto beans off our little garden. We also had a bumper crop of cucumbers. We made relish and dill pickles and Mike mad some delicious bread and butter pickles. We have one jar left. Next year we’ll definitely have to grow more cucumbers. Gavin played football and did really well, his best game was the Blue Ridge game. He caught 5 passes and scored once. He was fun to watch. He is now playing basketball, his true love and he really does a good job. He is a team captain and he is smooth and fun to watch. He will be 19 next month and we will be putting papers in for him about March.

Bo is a Sophomore and he also played football. He had a good time doing that. During fall break we quickly got approval to do his eagle project. We gave the Social Hall a face lift. It took 3 days and a lot of hard work but we got it done.

Life is good. We feel gratitude for all these blessings. We hope and pray for our Nation for our Military and for our freedom to be preserved and prospered. We are wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Love,

Mike and Kristi, Trevor, Gavin and Bo

Touchdown!

2008-11-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

Gavin had a touchdown! That's two on the season, one in Round Valley and

this one in the Blue Ridge game. Gavin is #86 Robbie Martindell is #10. I e-mailed a set of 4 awesome pictures taken by Terel Nichols brother Torel. He has a nice camera and has a bunch more that I can't wait for him to share with us. The Lobos travel to Safford for the first round of playoffs. Go Lobos.

Bo's Eagle Project

2008-10-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Fall Break! What a great time to do the Eagle Project! We had Jay's reception in the Social in August (although it was planned outside) The wall paper in there is over 30 years old and they had painted over the back wall over wall paper a color that is the same color as the blue painters tape. It did not match the decor. It was horrible! We thought then, "That would be a good eagle project" so we did some checking around and we got approval from the Holbrook facilities maintenance group. ( a church entity) anyways we met with the guy and gave him our proposal and it was approved. That was on Thursday and on Saturday we started. It took us all day to tear off the wallpaper and clean up for a missionary luncheon scheduled in there on Sunday. Then on Monday we started early and taped off to paint. It was such a process, Mike had to repair some drywall, in one place there was a hole in the wall. Some of it is plaster.... the back wall and the entry way had to be textured to be able to paint them. We waited for the drywall mud to dry to be able to paint. We finished the paint on Tuesday. I was glad the boys had Mon & Tues off. It was a little bigger job than we bargained for but it turned out beautifully! Thanks to all who came and helped! We would still be working there if you hadn't come to help. Thank you, Thank you!

My kids are growing old

2008-10-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

I just had to giggle at Gavin for dressing up this morning as a Senior Citizen. It helps to have G Russell downstairs to supply the walker and Grandpa's old sweater.

Trevor's Mission to Russia

2008-10-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

Our Son Trevor is in Krasnoyarsk Russia in the Novosibirsk Mission. He left on June 20, 2007. We are thrilled with the things he has been doing. Learning a new language - especially one where the N's and R's are backwards, traveling long distances - sometimes alone. He recently traveled to Madrid, Spain to renew his visa (not alone but with a group). He was able to go to Red Square and eat at McDonalds but he said the highlight of the trip was to attend the Madrid temple. He serves as a Zone leader and is doing well. He mentioned that it is starting to get cold. AHHH Siberia! I love you Trevor! I love having a missionary out. It's so.....rewarding, scary, spiritual, stressful, emotional, fulfilling, lovely, gratifying, it's lots of things all lumped into one. The other picture Was taken in Madrid. They were able to go on a little tour of the city. This is Peter the apostle holding the "keys". Trev looks great! Don't you think?

Celebrity Day

2008-10-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

Can you guess which celebrities Gavin and Bo are?

Ok they are probably supposed to be real people - real celebrities not characters from movies - but this is who they wanted to be for today ( Woody from Toy Story and Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. It's Homecoming week at Snowflake High School and for those who attended HS here you know it's quite a big week. Gavin is a Senior and is in Madrigals and tonight (Monday) is the ice cream social. Gavin is so funny! He is really good on stage. The last Madrigal concert he played the part of a 'nerd'. It was hillarious. Bo is a Sophomore and is a little more reserved. I was glad that they were both brave enough to go to school "dressed up".

Gavin's Touchdown!

2008-10-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

We played Round Valley on Friday the 3rd. Sorry this picture isn't that great. I was so nervous, RV is a tough place to play and historically we have had some injuries over in the Dome. Gavin caught a pass and ran for about 60 yards in the 3rd quarter making the score 19 to 17. We were winning. From there the game went downhill and the final score: 19 to 40. But we were happy for Gavin and his first touchdown of the season. When we asked him about the play he said this, "The pass wasn't intended for me, it hit Terel and I thought well it's down. The next thing I knew it was in my hands so I turned and ran. The ball just stays in my hands over there" Gavin had a really GOOD JV game last year in the dome. The Lobos will hopefully put some offense together and see some good things happen in the next weeks. They play this Friday for homecoming VS Alchesay. The best is yet to come from the Lobos!

Welcome to our home - I love fall!

2008-09-30T11:19:00.000-07:00