Other Fun Stuff...

Some other fun stuff we've been up to the last few months...meeting up with good friends from high school, Heidi and her cute baby girl Brielle

going to the pool at the flamingo only to find it closed :(

discovering new ways to eat trix!

a special day...i'll tell you why later...

hanging out with cousins looking at the airplanes

playing at the park

Better Late Than Never!!!

Her 2nd airplane ride! On our way to Utah for my dad's wedding

My brother Matt, me and dad

Flyin high! My little bro Jimbo sending his daughter Sarah to outer space...

Sweet cousins

Angry cousins???

the bachelorette party at bucca di peppo

Aunt Nancy, Aunt Janie, me, my sis Jenn and sis-in-law Angel

nephew Ryan with the girls

so excited they can hardly stand it. kaye was literally jumping up and down in this pic

mmmmmmmwah!

all the siblings--Matt, Jenn, me, Chris and Jim (this is the 1st time we had all been together since mom's funeral...ironic

Jimbo, Sarah, Angel, DJ

Uncle Boo and Baylee

"i'm tired mommy, i don't wanna go on the plane..."

ok, i'm better now! Bye!!

The Wedding Shop

Isn't my dad a handsome man?Jennifer
Matt Chris
Me

Matt, me, Jenn, Chris

My mom and Dad had a wedding shop when we were kids. It was called The Two Of You. My dad did the photography and mom did the cakes, decorations, etc. They loved that shop and were devastated when everything was destroyed in the Teton Dam flood. In these pictures though, my mom was behind the lens. She did a great job huh?! My little bro Jim had to be in mom's tummy, so he's the only kid not in the pics.

Daddy and Baylee

From the pool....

To church.....

She sure loves her daddy. Doesn't it just make your heart melt?

INO FUN!!

This is Esther. She's a senior this year and works for me at INO. She's a star associate--always on time, will come in on her day off if I need her, very funny, very good with the customers--just a great girl. A few weeks ago I told her that I wanted a picture of her leaving for the first day of school. I was having the worst day at work when I looked at my phone and it indicated I had new picture mail. She sent me this photo and brightened my day. Esther, you make me laugh girl.



This is Jeff, one of my shift managers--he's a goofball. The associates love him cause he's funny, gets everyone excited to be at work and runs a great shift. A customer left his hat on one of the tables in the dining room, so we had it in the office in case he came back. Well, Jeff was finishing up the afternoon stuff and decided to wear it. What a goof!

Happy Birthday 221!!! A little late I know, but on Aug 28th we celebrated our year mark of being open. My Assistant Manager Alicia found this cake at Wal-Mart....yes, it is a cake! Cool huh???

Memories from the Mission

Ready for this? These next 3 pictures are from 1998 when I was on my mission in Brasil. My trainer, Sis Oz recently went back to visit and she brought great news with her. These wonderful people that we taught are still strong in the Gospel and have been sealed in the temple. Oh how marvelous the work!

Julio, Maria Sebastiana, Joel holding Jasmin and Veronica

Rodrigo, Marcelo, Julio, Maria, Veronica, Joel, me, Sis Oz

(this was Julio's baptism)

Me, Sis Oz, Tiago, Maria, Julio, Elder Hopkin, Veronica, Joel, E. Johnston

(this was Maria's baptism a few months later. She took a little

longer to grasp the Gospel, but when she did, it was pretty

amazing that her husband, Julio, got to baptize her!)

Ok, so the following exerpt I took off Emily's blog (hope you don't mind Em!). She was my senior companion when we were serving in Grajau and met Binho, Julio, Neide and the others. She and I taught Julio and his wife. What amazing memories came alive when I read this post on her blog. I literally had tears streaming down my face while reading this. I haven't heard about how these people were doing for over 10 years and it's absolutely incredible to know that they are still strong in the Gospel. Here you go!

"Here we finally are in Cocaia. The reason for the visit. I received an email from Binho that sparked this whole visit. This is Binho with his wife Julianne on the left and a friend Neide on the right. His mom has lived across from our church for over 20 years. He invited some of the people we taught and other friends to have lunch before church at his mom's house. As we drove by I looked out the car window and tears came flooding as I saw him on the street in his suit. I didn't even recognize Robeiro who was standing next to him. I had never seen him in a suit either.

This is Julio, Sebastiana and his son. We first met Julio in a bar on a Sunday night as we were calling in our numbers. He had one too many drinks to carry on a conversation so it didn't go to far. The next day he happened to be outside his house as we walked by. The spirit stopped us and told us to turn around and go give him a Book of Mormon. To our surprise when we were returning home that evening he had already read 20-30 pages and was ready to discuss. We taught he and his wife and his brother and sister-in-law. His wife was not interested and was a practicing Catholic. She pulled us aside to tell us that he was only listening because we were beautiful and he would be back to drinking any day. To her surprise he committed fully to the gospel and was baptized. A few months later Elder Hopkin came into the area and taught his wife and Julio was able to baptize her a member of the church. They have since been sealed. He jokes he is a lucky man to have been married 3 times. Once in the Catholic church, once in the Mormon Church, and once in the temple.

Roberio was such a big surprise. We met his wife contacting on a bus. We taught them the discussions and worked through their doubts. The spirit was so strong during some our visits. Roberio shared that he can still remember the song we sang when we gave the first discussion. He said that we sang, "Families Can Be Together Forever". I remembered that night sitting around their kitchen table. It broke my heart because he told me that a few years later his wife wanted nothing to do with the church and it led to a divorce. The message and promise of families being together forever was his primary motivation for joining the church so I was truly sad for them. At the same time, I was so grateful and proud of him for developing his testimony and living the gospel.

I regret I didn't get a picture of Felix and his wife. Neide is Felix's daughter. He had been a member of the Assembly of God for 14 years. His children had all joined the church and he had been taking the discussions in Cidade D'Outra from Elder Erickson. Sister Williamson and I took over on the 4th-6th discussion. The 5th discussion had about 35 members attending. We were a little nervous as we only had a few months experience in Brazil. He joined the church and just recently met a woman and was married in the temple. It was wonderful to see him again and meet her briefly. He sent his love to Sister Williamson."

Thanks Sis Oz for sharing your experiences from Brasil!