Oh, it has been awhile. I have decided that I get a little homesick whenever I post. I think that I realize that we are away and not coming home for awhile. Although we can now say that we will be home next year, it still is a long time away. The weeks seem to really go quickly and January is now over, but we have only passed our four months out mark. And it seems crazy that we will be here for another winter.

Anyway, must get off my pity pot. These are just some random pics that I pulled off the camera and I forgot to organize them, so here goes.

This is my pic of Miss Potter and the books I got at the library. I absolutely loved this movie. I watched it 6 times. (Usually between 10 and midnight after Dad had gone to bed.) Also read the books and one had a DVD to watch. It was fun. Took me back to childhood with you kids. Going to the library tomorrow to get The Lion King.

This is the first pic of our new walls. We finally have something on them. This is the plaque that Andrea made and sent us for Christmas. Guess she had seen my blog and saw what I said about the words on the door that I posted. Thank you Andrea. We love it.

As I pulled the curtains this AM, I saw this little squirrel right out in front trying to get in our car. He would stand on his hind legs and look up at the door. I asked Doug if we had anything to feed him.

This is our new treadmill. I love it! We have gone walking outside a few times lately, but when it is too cold, I just get up and walk alone. And I love that I have one of those huge scriptures and I can do my reading while I am walking. A little hard to do my marking though, so I haven't been real good with that. I am actually a little ahead in my schedule. You know me, I had to write out how much I needed to read each day to finish on time. I am such a scheduler and list person, it is pathetic!
This is the other wall in the living room. All those family pics framed in Salvation Army frames. Pretty good, huh! Amazing what I have found. Salvation Army, Savers, VFW store, Dollar Tree. That is where we hang out!

This is the silverware wind chime that I guess Eryn took off the apple tree, took it home with her and they fixed it up and sent it for Christmas. We don't get to hear it right now unless we manually move it, but we love it and it looks cute hanging between the living and dining area.

This is two of the sweet sisters that are at the VC. Sister Punivaha. Dad had a hard time saying her name, so they wrote out how to say it. POO-NIGH-VA-HA. He now does it perfectly and she give him a high five each time she comes in and he says it right. The other is Sister Lasalosi. You learn these Tongan and Samoan names by saying every vowel. Lasalosi is pretty easy.

That's all folks. Oh, we do have a new senior couple upstairs. Their name is Bouy. They are from Syracuse and she is the new nurse and he is working with the cell phoones and also housing and checking apartments. She worked at Primary Children's and knew Adrian and that was the first thing that she asked me, if I was Adrian's mother. Susan (Adrian and Erin's friend) knows her well and told her that we were here. It is amazing how everybody knows somebody that you know.

We have new missionaries coming on Wednesday, transfers on Thursday and missionaries leaving on Friday, and on Saturday we are having an all mission conference again. Elder David Bednar is coming to Lenexa for a stake conference, so he wanted to meet with the missionaries while he was here. It will be a big and hectic week with lots of kids hanging out at the office. We always try and have treats and goodies for them on these days. Of coarse, we always have stuff to eat at the office. Hot chocolate and Russian tea, if I get it made. Cookies and carrots, a big jar of candy on my desk, and the kids love the Tootsie Rolls that we buy at Costco. I have never bought so much candy and junk food to feed to kids. This week we will have some juice and veges and such. A little bit of good for you food. It is all beginning again in a few hours. See you later.