21 Oct 2011

The last days of fall have arrived.  And we did enjoy them.  So many beautiful trees all around us. I do not know if we were just still in survival mode last fall or if the leaves were not as pretty.  But we do not remember the colors being so pretty last fall.
We all had flu shots again.  I am going to choose to not post any pictures this time. 
We have busy helping a new couple get settled.  They are a new CES couple (The Naegles) who will work in the CES office which is in the same hall as our office.  So the office elders found them an apt. about 20 steps away from ours.  It is in a building just across the corner from us.  So we have spent the week trying to show them around.  How to use ATM'S, how to grocery shop, get metro passes and bus passes and help try to find furnishing's for their apt.  But it was nice to get another couple and I am just gald it is not me.  Every time we bring in a new couple, I just go, thank you that is not me.  Those first few weeks are so hard and such a culture shock.
We enjoyed another visa trip to Riga Lativa and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors there.  We will take one more visa trip since our release date is 12 Feb.
The other event was watching General Conference a week later on a small t.v. in black and white with the missionaries and a few members who watched it in English.  Of course we can watch it on the internet in color.  But for the missionaries that is there only way to see conference.  so we enjoy it with them.
Another big event..Mitch shot an elk and was so happy.
Our Cody is doing great.  He will leave for the Washington D.C. mission Wed.  He is so excited to get on his way to his mission.
                                              Now a few pictures:

The next few pictures are of our visa trip to Riga.
We took a train to Segulda Park.

Try and read those signs and decide which
way you want to go????

Train we rode to Segulda Park

Pretty little church at the park

Maybe if we cannot read the signs we
can try reading the map.  No such luck!!

Walking into the park

Castle they are re-building

Leaving the park

I ran into this handsome man at the park.

Beautiful fall views from the hotel window

The colors were so pretty

Beautiful tree looking out our kitchen window.

More pretty trees looking out the kitchen window.

Pretty fall evenning down at the lake in our forest.

Fall was just so pretty this year.  All the trees around us were
beautiful colors.  This little lake is about a 15 min. walk
through the forest behind us.

Pretty berries with the pretty red and yellow leaves.

Elder Walker (works for the legal dept of the church) plays
the saw.  It is really pretty.

He played it for us at Senior Night,

We said good by to our dear friends the Patterson's.
They were a humanitarian couple.

A fun package from Michelle.  Love to get packages.

Look at all the fun stuff.  Michelle really knows how
to pack a box.  Not a corner  is left empty.  She takes
great advantage of the ships if it fits.

She puts cake mixes in zip locks so she can get
more in.  She flattens all the boxes and lays them
on the bottom.

None of these in Russia.

In between sessions at confernce.  We took some sandwhich
things and banana bread and shared with the missionaries.
We just had 1 hr. in-between the morning and afternoon session.

Few of the cute kids in the ward wandered up when
they heard we had food.  They are so cute.

West Office Elders.  We love them both.  Elder
Beck and Elder Kavas.

Thanks to Michelle for her orange frosting I made halloween
cookies for senior night.  Lots of work.  But they were so good.

Office elders, Elder Bruv and Elder Ablett with our new member
friend Yevgenny came over for dinner.

Two Mission Presidents.  Figuring out their i-phones.

O.K. Elder Gronning and Elder Ayers took on
Elder Palmer and Elder Elder Hayes.  They lost.
This was after English club.  They have a ping pong
table at the back of the chapel.

President and Sister Sorenson's daughter and her family
came to visit for a week.  Aren't they so cute.

I loved on the baby and it was just so good to hold a little baby.

Way to go Mitch.  Nice elk.  Karlee did not like it,
but Morgan did.

Look at WShellie's new pretty teeth.  No more braces.
And she got her first letter from her brother in the MTC.

05 Oct 2011--Cody is on his way to the MTC

This blog is just my Cody blog.  I love him so much.  He just skyped with us while they were driving to the MTC.  Pretty hard for Michael and Julie and Shellie and his girlfriend Melissa. I can still remember the day we took Michael.  But I can also remember the day he came home.  We hope so much that Cody will enjoy every minute of his mission.  He is going to the Best of the Best.  Everyone will love him.  He makes his grandparents proud.All these pictures I took from pictures sent to me.  So that is why they are a little blurry or fuzzy...but oh they are all cute..

Our grandson Missionary going to Washington D.C. South.
All dressed in his red, white and blue.

Fun at Michaels house 2 weekends before Cody left. Michael has a
pool in his backyard, and the everyone, especially the children
spent endless hours in it.They all had so much fun. Gracie and Sadie

Cody and Melissa

Gracie and Sadie

This is everyone that went to Cody's farewell. They are grouped in families.
Notice all the red, white and blue.  Little girls had red, white and blue bows in
their hair.  Big girls had red, white and blue corsages and the boys all
had red, white and blue flag ties.

Who could not love those boys?  Dane and Clay, Mitch, Cody,
Mat and Michael.

And who could not love all these girl?.Michelle, Melissa,oops, there is Cody
with them, Julie, Sonya, Marcy Callie.  Then litte Karlee and Courtnee,
Sadie, Shellie, Gracie and Morgan.

Look aat our precious grandchildren.  Two more precious ones could
not make it and one more precious granddaughter is on the way.

Love you Cody..

01 Oct 2011

There has been so many things going on the past couple of weeks.   We have kept very busy.  We have had a Specialized training meeting, we have been to two cultural events and a very special baptism.  And then best of all has been Cody getting ready to go to the MTC Oct 5th. 

Our weather has already got cold.  We have had to start wearing our winter coats.  We went to church yesterday in our light coats and we about froze by the time we got home.  There has been a very cold wind.

We will go out on Visa Tuesday the 4th to Riga Lativa and return on the 5th.  We are hoping this will be our last visa.  The visa trips are such a pain for all of us.  Lots of time and lots of money.  But it has to be that way if we want to stay in Russia.  So we just do it. The young missionaries enjoy going to the Kyev Temple when they are on visa.  So that is a good place for them to spend the day.  They cannot stay overnight.  But the senior couples usually have to take all the passports to Riga and then bring back the new ones.

There are so many pictures again.  Just look at the ones that interest you. 

Sister Sorenson talked about the 2000 Stripling warriors at our
Specialized taining and Elder Breedlove drew all these for her free-hand.
It amazes me, because I have no art talent at...zip

Elder Breedlove showing the page of them that he dres.

Then he ran off 200 copies and Sister Sorenson taped them
all together to make 2,000.  It was a very good lesson.

Eder Paul was so hungry and the spagetti tasted so good
that he could not spoon it in fast enough.  Then he ate
another whole plate full and they were big plates of spagetti.
I ate about one third of my plate and was stuffed.


Elder Carpenter was the smart one and wore his napkin.  Most
of us had spagetti down our fronts.


This is the tie that a lot of the Missionaries like to buy here
in Russia.  I really like it.  How do you like their double knot?
Elder Gronning does not like it, but I like it a lot.  Is that a surprise?

Cute babushka's (grandmothers) that served us lunch.  They
kept going to the elders and bringing them a new plate
of spagetti.  When she came to Elder Gronning he patted his
tummy and stuck it out fat and she got the message..no more.

                                               
                                             
                                                               

Dinner at the Starlight Diner before we went to the Russian
Dance.  Gene was having an oreo shake for Gracie.  She told
him to have one for her.  She ate with us here and loved it.
They serve good American food.

                           

YUMMY

Oreo Milkshake for Gracie

Theatre

More theatre

Cute picture of Elder, Dr. Hatch and Sister Hatch
waiting for the program to start.

Elder and Sister Carpenter and Elder and Sister Craythorn.

                                           .

They did dances from all around the world.  Very talented people

Driving home in President Sorenson's car looking
out the window at the Kremlin.

                                                                                                     

Another pciture of the Kremlin

The theatres are beautiful both inside and outside.  This is going to
the Golden Cockerell Opera.

This cute group of girls came to the opera all dressed alike.
Prim and proper.  We are gussing they might be from a private
girls school.

They all have on the same pretty suits and shoes

Pretty chantelier?(Light) in the theatre.  There were many
of these all around

And the senior missionaries waiting for the opera to start. It was
a 3hr opera and not one of us liked it. 

Beautiful balcony

Good orchestra

                                                  

Our two cute office elders.  Elder Ablett from
England and Elder Bruev from Russia.

Elder Gronning got a warmer hat so Elder Hayes wanted his
summer one.  We call these Cody hats, because our Cody always wore them.

Then Elder Palmer borrowed Elder Gronning for a hat phot
with Elder Hayes.  They love Elder Gronning.

We are starting to have beautiful fall colors.  There are little
forest all around us and big trees everywhere.  So the colors
are around us all day.

Pretty colors everywhere.

Kaseenia our new member and Sister Ashby

Kaseenia was baptized last Sat. by Elder Spoerri.  She is such
a sweet girl.  We all just love her.

Sister Trunova, Sister Ashby and Sister Marty with Keesenia and
Elder Spoerri.  These are the sisters who taught her.

This is all the missionaries and ward people who
were at the babptism.  There were others but they
did not make the picture.

Elder Gronning, Elder Spoerri, Elder Goddard (from Idaho, he knows Mat )
and Elder Hayes.

                                                         

Elder Hayes playing the prelude music.

Cute family in our branch.  He is a counselor in the bishopric
and Mawsha and Anna are his daughters.  We love
the girls so much.  Mawsha and Anna are our two
little friends.

I just love the Russian children.  They always walk holding
onto a parents hand and they usually are carrying something
or pushing something.  How cute is this? 

Is this cute enoug?.  Mat and his two litlle girls hunting
on the 4-wheeler. I think they were hunting for Grouse Sadie and Courtnee.