More of the first 6 months

After spending waaaaay more time that I'd have liked, I figured out how to make these collages. Here they are in all their glory, and to be honest, I actually like the other way better because it's less work, and these pictures are too small. But I'm posting them anyway. If you want to see them bigger, just click on the picture and a bigger version will pop up.

Above is the "Brownwood District." From what I could gather, Brownwood was a very small town with a definite "small-town" feel and Reed loved his time there. He had a great trainer, and loved the people he was working with.

Elder Stone & Elder Rusk "climbed on some tanks"

"This is Joseph. He'll be 19 in December. He as the coolest member kid in Brownwood. He would go out with us all the time."

Robert & Kathy

"They got baptized in a lake."

"40 Baptism celebration"

"Elder Schnyder came out with me. He is from Rocklin, CA."

Maybe Uncle Dave's family knows this guy?

"There were two foxes on our roof.

I'm in the window behind them and one is looking right at me."

"We rode down this tunnel and it went straight into a pond. We got soaked."

Then he got transfered to Midland . . .

The four missionaries above make up part of the Midland district. I guess they got matching P-Day clothes? On the back of the oil drill picture, Reed wrote, "Our new-suit jump--hint, hint, Anchor Man."

I think this pretty well sums up how he feels about Midland:

"District meeting. We rent our shirts in anger . . . don't worry it was an old shirt."

I don't get this, but Melanie probably will. (I'm not as knowledgeable on this group as she is). Reed's note on the back of this picture is:

"Flight of the Concords."

And that is a photo-update from Reed for all the family. Maybe in six months he'll send me some more. :) We just love him and are proud of his service in the mission field!

6 months down!

My brother Reed has been out on his mission for 6 months! I can't believe his mission is 1/4 over. Today I received a package of pictures from him that he sent so I can put them up on the blog so everybody can see them. (Evidently Jenny told him I was the queen of blogging, but really I think we should have given them to Melanie. She knows how to do the cool collage stuff. However, since I'm guessing she doesn't have a scanner, here's my feeble offering.)

If he wrote a description on the back, I'll put what it said underneath the picture.

"MTC distict w/ Brother Shelton, teacher"

"MTC District w/ Sister Mallory, teacher"

"Me & Elder Blackburn"

"Interviews"

Reed with his Mission President & wife--I think the president wasn't quite ready for the picture?

"My trainer, Elder Rusk"

"PT's Bike

(our Branch President)"

"Texas Sunset"

"This is how I look every day"

"The day we got sent to our 1st areas . . . Lubbock Temple"

"We saw this car all over town so we stopped her and took a picture."

Okay, more to come soon--but I'm gonna call Melanie and see if she can teach me how to do that collage thing-a-ma-bob, because I'm so annoyed that I can't figure it out!

forgetful

I forget stuff all the time, but I had two big ones two nights in a row recently. I am stretched thin these days, I'll concede, so I guess I'll just blame it on that. Like butter scraped over too much bread--(one of my favorite "Lord of the Rings quotes-probably because I really identify with it!)

So we had our Young Women in Excellence this week, and the Beehives (the 12-13 year old girls) were in charge of the dinner. So in preparation, the girls came to my house and we made 6 pans of green chile enchiladas. Those poor girls were really crying when we chopped up the onions. We kept a box of kleenex on the table just to save time.

Chicken choppers:

I just love all these girls!

So the enchiladas were made, each girl took a pan home to cook and bring the night of, but due to some being unable to attend and one gal whose oven is broken I kept one to cook too. I spent Thursday morning baking 60 corn muffins, and two "tres leches cake," then I taught piano lessons until 5:30, changed my clothes in 5 minutes, loaded the car with Arthur's help, and realized, I had FORGOTTEN to put my pan of enchiladas in the oven!

So I got to the church with my cold enchiladas, and realized I'd also forgotten the huge container of Lemonade mix, and the chopped cucumbers for the salad!

I was so annoyed at myself.

Luckily, by the time the fifth pan of enchiladas was running out, my 6th pan had been sufficiently warmed, and Sister Miller and I got to dish ourselves some from the pan fresh out of the oven. I guess nobody missed the cucumbers and lemonade since they didn't know we were supposed to have them anyway. But I'm pretty sure my Beehives must think I am out to lunch.

The next night, a young woman in our ward was putting on a "Modest is Hottest" fashion show for one of her Personal Progress projects. She had asked me to model my wedding dress. I told her I would, assuming I could get it to zip up. To my happy surprise, 10 years later I still fit into it!

Here's Daphne and her friend Kirra sitting on the front row, waiting for the fashion show to start.

When I went back to the dressing room to change, I realized I had forgotten something VERY IMPORTANT! I did not have my slip! Now, a lot of wedding dresses are poofy and have lots of layers under them and don't really require a slip. Mine is not poofy, and with those lights shining on me I was worried people could see right through my dress! I asked all the prom dress girls and anyone who wore a dress that night if they had a slip I could borrow, but none of them did! Well, I was the last dress of the whole fashion show, so I put on a smile, went out and walked (kind of quickly and self-consciously) down the cat-walk and I don't think it was too bad, but maybe people were just being nice.

I had nightmares that night that the whole ward could see right through my dress, and how could I ever go to church again!!!???

Here we are in our wedding dresses. My mother made mine, and I will always, always treasure it. And if I ever have occasion to wear it again, (and if by some miracle it still fits,) I will definitely NOT FORGET my slip.

Mass Happiness

Balloon Fiesta 2009

One of my favorite things about Albuquerque is the annual Balloon Fiesta--the largest ballooning event, and the most photographed event, in the world. I love that the name of the fiesta this year was "Mass Happiness" because it's hard to feel anything else when you're out there on the field as the sun peaks over the Sandia Mountains illuminating all the bright colors and shapes as they float upward. For a crowd of people who have gotten up before the sun and endured the traffic trying to get into the park, you won't find a happier bunch of early-risers, and all with their cameras pointed toward the sky. It's just so fun.

Here are pictures from our visit to the Saturday morning Mass Ascension.

The balloon being inflated here is named "Northern Lights" and comes from Canada, and the kids even got a collectors card from the pilot.

This balloon is called Firefly, and with the flames going, I think it looks like stained glass.

Arthur couldn't resist this shot. The moon framed by two balloons.

The ever-popular Darth Vader Balloon from Brazil. (It, along with several other special-shape balloons got stuck for DAYS at customs in China and missed the first weekend of the Fiesta. I bet they won't be going back to China any time soon.)

We ran into our good friends, the Schmutz's at the Fiesta. Here are Bobby & Dallin laughing at something hilarious. I always think it's miraculous when we run into people we know there because there are just so many people!

Hayden taking a bite out of a tasty breakfast burrito. Breakfast burritos, hot chocolate and an occasional funnel cake are all just part of the experience. And after freezing our buns off out there, the hot chocolate and green chili sure do warm you up. Gotta love it.

We love to share this event with friends and family, so mark your calendars for the 2010 Balloon Fiesta. It's always the first 2 weekends in October, so you have 365 days to plan your "Land of Enchantment Get-Away" and you won't find better priced lodging than our house! Come visit next year and experience "mass happiness" for yourself!!!

(I don't think I can be any more obvious than that.)