Monday, November 28, 2011

So long, for now

Today we had to say goodbye to Courtney,
But not for long, she's coming back in less
than a month for Christmas, yeah!
Not bad, she came with one suitcase and she's
going home with three, we did a little
Christmas shopping while she was here.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Smith's

Courtney had to go over and see the Smith family
before she goes back home.  They love her and she loves them.
Today in church they saw her for the first time since 
she's been here, they were so excited.
She was so thrilled to hold Raya, she was just 1 month old
when she left.  Now she smiles like crazy.
"dear" in the headlights
This face is hilarious, she looks like she's smirking.
Then she zonked, so sleepy, so sweet!
Nathan took long enough to say hi, then he went back 
to his computer games.  He was upset because we brought 
Trix cereal but not the box, he wants us to bring the 
box back next time we come.
Keeping their attention long enough to get a picture is like. . . 
Evan was not happy,
This was a great shot.  They are terrific friends,
 they even served us lemon meringue pie, yum!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Cute Bangs

When we were having family prayer tonight I noticed
Courtney's bangs, they were sooo pretty.  So I took a picture.

Deck the Halls

I put Courtney to work while she was here and we broke out
the Christmas decorations.  We got as far as unpacking all
the boxes and then I lost her.  She went on a date.
So now, all I have is the garland up on the banister and
decorations strewn all through the house.
Now it's up to me to finish and put everything up,
thank goodness I love this part.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving, better late than never

Just because we could, we switched things up a bit.
Because I didn't want to cook all night the first night Courtney
was here, we moved our Thanksgiving dinner to Friday and
took Courtney Christmas shopping Thursday afternoon.
These are the after photos, we cooked all morning
I cooked the perfect turkey and Chris carved? it.
The meat just fell off the bone, actually.
The gravy was good,
I made homemade rolls and sweet rolls just like Vola's.
The meal was complete, dressing, rolls, gravy, pretzel salad,
turkey, candied yams, cranberries and potatoes.
Yum, yum!
What am I thankful for?. . . . .
It was so good to have Courtney with us this Thanksgiving,
we've really missed her.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Shopping

Shopping

We took Courtney Christmas shopping while she was 
here for Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful time
spending the entire day with her.
We took her to the West Ed Mall.  They finally completed
the fountains on the main level. 
The lights change color
They were having lessons on the ice rink and for the first time, since
 we've been here, the water park was closed and completely empty.
But the decorations were up,
this poinsettia tree was breathtaking, 
and Santa was here, visiting from the North Pole.


Courtney didn't have to sit on Santa's lap, 
she just had to bat her eyes at Daddy,
and have at-ti-tude!

"You've Got A Friend in Me"

First thing Thursday morning. . . . early, the guys came over
and kidnapped Courtney.
They were taking her over to the mall to see Santa,
but they were off on the time so they went to Nathan's 
and had breakfast and then they came back to our house.
They played with my blocks, they always play with
my blocks.  It did say "Welcome Home Boo"


Now it says, "Travis and Nathan"
They are so confused, clueless and confused.
Hugs all around, or a Courtney sandwich.
True friends, Nathan and Travis, they've always been
good to Courtney.
She's good to them too, she hooked them up to her
muscle stimulator.
And made them feel pain, 
not really, it just made their muscles jump.
She was very happy to see them both,
I told them not to be strangers, come around anytime.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

She's Baaaaack!

We have waited for this, for over 3 months,
she's coming, she's coming today!
We can hardly wait to see her.  I have been making meal
plans and activity plans for weeks.
 She's here!
Her flight got in a little early along with two other flights,
so we waited and waited.  This is way worse than waiting for
new missionaries.  We were just so darn excited to see her.
 There she is!
She looked great and after many warm hugs we took her to the car.
 She was starving, she hadn't really eaten all day and she had 
been up since around 3:00 AM.  So we took her to an American
Five Guys Burgers and Fries.  Go figure.
 We ate and talked and laughed, it was a great start
to her visit.
 She's so plain, her hamburger that is, 
she gets mustard, ketchup and pickle.  That's it.

 She's home, isn't this a wonderful sight?  ;)

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Three Blind Mice!

 This is what happens when you put a blind
elder in charge of the fruit bowl. . . . 
ta da!
Not too bad.
He's not really blind, he was playing with the fruit while I was
interviewing new missionaries.  I kept hearing fruit dropping
on the floor.
I thought this was hilarious.

Incoming, November 2011

Another transfer, and we are welcoming in 5 new missionaries. 
They've banned our van from parking curbside at the airport, 
so we are trying something new.  President and I will wait for the missionaries
 to come out of customs, then we will call the assistants, who are parked at 
7-eleven.  They will drive the van over, come in long enough to meet the 
missionaries and then put the luggage in the van and drive the missionaries 
to the office.  Whew!
This group was supposed to arrive at 11:30, 
 but they landed even a little earlier than that.
They are here!
Practicing with my camera to get just the right shot.

Welcome to the cold, the temperature was around -10 centigrade.
Surprisingly, they were still excited to be here.

It's soooo cold outside and they're still hanging around.


From one vehicle to another, that's the way it goes.
The Woodruff's dealing contraband from the
back of their van, hee hee.