YUMMY GIFTS!!!

 We had a visit from my friend that helps keep the Mission Home clean.  She is from Mexico and we love her so much.  We have become great friends.


Tonight she brought us over some homemade TAMALES and an incredible dessert made with pineapple, sour cream and sweetened milk.  No idea what it is called, but it is GOOD!

The family was thrilled...dinner was served.

I was thrilled.  I did not have to cook!
Had not wrapped a single gift.  Have piles of unfinished things I need to get caught up on.

Thanks to Argelia, we had the best Christmas Eve dinner ever! And I had time to wrap gifts!

SANTA EXPRESS

 Sunday after Church we loaded up the Transfer Van to take Christmas goodies to all the Zone Leaders to distribute to some of our missionaries.

 The van was packed to the brim with donated gift bags and the recent mail that had come in on Friday and Saturday.

 I had the bright idea to decorate the van to look like a reindeer...but had not been able to find one of those kits, so I made my own.  It worked.

Scott humored me.

Here we are after loading up and we are READY TO ROLL!

We spent all afternoon and evening delivering Christmas Cheer through the mission.

A couple of stakes donated about 32 gift bags filled with useful items for missionaries. We are blessed to serve where we are supported by the members in an incredible way!

Parents also donated towards some particular Christmas needs. 

It was great to be serving at this time of year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

DEVIL'S BRIDGE

Saturday we took Christmas packages up to the Cottonwood and Prescott Zones...and while we were in the area of SEDONA, we went on a hike we had been wanting to go on...

TO DEVIL'S BRIDGE!!

It was an incredibly nice day, especially for up north, and we were able to go it without needing much by way of jackets.

 Lots of time to walk and talk.

 From a distance, after walking about 1.7 miles, we saw the natural bridge.  It was AMAZING!

We got someone to take a family photo partway up at a good viewpoint...can you say "Next Year's Christmas Card?"

 The little girl in the family taking the photo wanted us to put our hands up...so we humored her!

 We enjoyed the natural steps of the red rock as we got closer up to the bridge.

 Braden played photog as we went out onto the arch.  It looks super scary and narrow from above...but when you are out on it, it is not bad, wider than it looks for sure!

With a couple of height challenged family members, we were very cautious!

But we did get Bre to go back out when we saw the view of the arch from the other side as we came back off...it was spectacular!

And she showed her enthusiasm with a leap of faith!

 We are loving exploring the trails of our mission area here in Arizona!  Come hike with us!  There are many more places we want to go!

WHERE'S WALDO'S?

Meet the Waldo family!

These are some of the nicest people you could ever meet!  Their legend preceded them in the mission as we had heard ever since we arrived here of their generosity and their amazing cooking skills!

They feed the missionaries for free so you can imagine that all possible missionaries go there!

And they have a testimony of the blessing of caring for missionaries.  They will tell you that business is better when they feed the missionaries.

 Our assistants finally tricked us into meeting them at their Diner for dinner.

POR FIN!!!

!La mejor comida Mexicana en el mundo!

Y una familia tan generosa tambien!

GRACIAS por toda la ayuda uds siempre dan a los misioneros!

We have plans to take our family back at Christmas time for a wonderful eating experience!

!Que Dios les bendiga a su familia!!

!FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Who wants to come out to eat with us next????

Help With Christmas Lights

 You better be careful when you ask if you can come see us at the Mission Home...



We might put you to work!!




That is what happened when one of our returned missionaries, Karalee Glenn, asked to come say hello on Saturday.
We had been waiting all day to borrow a ladder from the neighbor across the street and he brought it over just before Karalee and Aaron showed up.

 So,  we immediately put them to work!
It was getting dark and there was no time to lose.
Last year Braden helped me put up the lights, so it was nice to have a higher ladder and more help.  It went pretty fast!

 Scott untangled lights and kept them all organized.
Karalee held the ladder and untangled clips for me to take up with me and Aaron moved the ladder each time as we worked out way down the front of the house.

 It was organized and so helpful having extra hands!

And look how pretty it all ended up!

It was great to visit and work together!
Pretty much just like FAMILY!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Come see us!!  I am sure we can find another job that needs doing!

Real Thanksgiving- Fake Thanksgiving

REAL THANKSGIVING DAY
this is what we had for dinner.


Cauliflower-Broccoli Soup
Mixed leftover fruit from brunch
Baked Yams made by our Assistant, Elder Pollmeier.

Well...at least there was ONE traditional Thanksgiving food.




But it was really good!  After a fairly large brunch, we just decided we did not want to cook a big turkey and eat a big meal.

FAKE THANKSGIVING NIGHT
was Saturday night...that is just when it worked out.  Friday we had other things to do, so it just worked out that way.


But as you can see, it was worth the wait!

Spinach craisin salad...

 Pumpkin roll...

 Turkey and homemade stuffing
homemade cranberry sauce...(which I usually do not care for but this was REALLY GOOD)
Thank you to Susan for cooking the stuffing and cranberry sauce and pumpkin roll!  She is amazing and I get so tired of cooking for things all the time, it was great not to have to cook!

...and leftover yam casserole from Thursday.


IT WAS WONDERFUL!
SO GRATEFUL FOR SO MANY THINGS!

Amanda & Susan Visit

 We were so excited to have Amanda and Susan come visit us here!  We had a little overlap with Jenna and the boys, so that was fun!

Amanda came first, so we immediately took her hiking the next morning over at Thunderbird.

 Then on Thanksgiving day we sent Jenna and the boys home on an early flight, went to a delicious brunch at our neighbors, the Janulis...and then hiked that evening. Instead of eating Thanksgiving Dinner we did White Tank hike.
I will add some brunch pics when I get them from my neighbor, Dana.  She took some really good ones of us.  She calls Susan "Blonde Cheryl."  SO FUNNY!!
THANKS DANA & ED!

 As you can tell from the photos, it was warm enough to go without a jacket and the photos do not do the sunset justice.  We wanted to hike at sunset and it was really pretty!

 This was one of the larger cacti that we saw.

Trailblazer Scott sent us on a longer trail while he went to get the car and meet us.  It was a nice addition to our hiking experience!

















Saturday night we met our cousin Corby and his family first for dinner and then to go see the Christmas lights over at the Mesa LDS Temple.

It was a sweet experience to be with them and to be at the Temple with the beautiful lights.

Amanda and their son John also served in the same mission in Romania so that was fun for them to get together again as well.







Susan left early Sunday morning, but we got to take Amanda to Church with us and that was so good.

 Dana took these photos while we were over at their place for Thanksgiving Brunch...she calls me "Brown Eyed Susan."  So glad we are sisters!

We LOVED having time with two of our favorite girls.  THANK YOU SUSAN AND AMANDA for taking time to visit us!  It meant so much that you would!  We hope you come again while we are here.  It was good for all of us!

Pooltime in November

 We have learned that what we thought was warm in Utah is considered cool in Phoenix.  I remember telling the kids that they could not wear swimsuits until it was 70 degrees outside...maybe in June-August.

In Phoenix, it may get down to 70 one of these days...still holding out for it this fall.

 It was over 80 practically every day the kids were here...but it does feel cooler here compared to what we were used to all summer.

To New Jersey boys coming from 40-50 degrees...80 is heavenly!


So Carter and Bennett liked being in the pool a couple times while they were here...and once in Grandma and Grandpa's "pool" in our hot tub style tub in our room. :)

Good times in the backyard pool!  You can see we do have a few leaves falling on the grass, so technically it is fall here.

Temple Lights Round #1

 The week we had Jenna and the boys here as well as hosting the Koellikers for our Mission Tour, we went over to the Mesa Temple for a picnic dinner and walk-through of the lights which just "happened" to be on.  Not too many people were there and it was great!  Bennett would have been content just to walk up and down the ramp near the pool area.

 He was just so happy he could go up and down.  Oh to be so excited by something that simple!

 Cheesy Carter and tired Bennett after running all over the area.

 They really do a wonderful job with the lights here...not so big as Salt Lake, but really well done and MUCH WARMER.

 Grandpa with the boys.

Mommy Jenna with the boys.

 And Grandma with the boys.

 We enjoyed being inside the Visitor Center.
Carter walked right up to the Cristus Statue and said. "Jesus was really tall."
Yup.  He was.

 This is the north side of the Mesa Temple.  It is in-between the Visitor Center and the Temple itself.  They have ponds on the north and on the west side of this temple.

Carter helping Bennett walk back to the car.

 Scott and Sister Koelliker behind them.

It was a wonderful night.  We were blessed to have Sister Koellikers niece and little family come meet us at the temple grounds... the lights just happened to be on... we just happened to meet a man inside the visitor center that recognized us and let us into the Nativity Display of worldwide nativities... and Sister Koelliker just happened to run into an old high school friend who was serving in the visitor center that night!
You could call them coincidences if you want...but as for me, I call them tender mercies!