Busy!

Hello.

I saw mom's email and then her post so I decided to take a couple of minutes and post a note.  I will have to have Dave and the boys help me post pictures later (maybe they can even figure out how to put the clip of Austin opening his mission call on), but if I don't do this right now who knows when I will get back to it. :)

Mom, your meetings sound wonderful!  You and dad have been extra busy!  I had some friends just return from Women' Conference and I was remembering the time that we girls all went.  We need to try and do that again sometime - it is such a rejuvenating experience!

We are excited for Austin's call to the Phoenix, Arizona mission.  The news that he will be reporting on June 19th really took us all by surprise.  He had made plans to work as a summer counselor at the beach in San Diego so he had to rearrange his plans and he is now here with us which we are thrilled about.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have a job so we are tying to keep him busy and trying not to make him go in to Dave's office too much since he REALLY does not like that. :)  We are proud, anxious, nervous, excited, thrilled, hesitant...so many emotions!  We know that this is where he is supposed to be at this time in his life and pray that the Lord will guide him on this next part of his journey.  He received a letter from his mission president this week also.  His name is Scott Taylor.  The mission includes suburbs of Phoenix but the map seems to say that downtown Phoenix itself is not in his mission - we will have to see.  Other areas include Prescott, Flagstaff, Sedona, the Grand Canyon area and they say there are many Indian Reservations in his mission as well.  We don't know if he will have the opportunity to serve on the reservations, but it is a possibility.  It is nice that he has some of the cooler areas of the state in his mission so hopefully he can escape some of that brutal Arizona heat.

We wanted to let you all know about the plans for Austin to take out his Endowment and to give his talk at church.  We know that circumstances being as they are many of you will not be able to make it.  However, we want you all to know that you are welcome and we would love to have you if it is something that can work in to your schedules.  He is going to take out his Endowment on June 8th at the 12:00 session in the Fresno Temple.  We will then drive back up to Roseville for him to give his talk in Church on June 9th.  He will not be set apart until the following Sunday or Monday.  We will leave Tuesday, June 18th to drive to Utah and he will report at the MTC on June 19th.  It will come fast!

I am also busy planning camp which is June 10-15.  It is because of the dates of camp that we are doing his farewell the weekend of June 8-9.  The day Austin's call came I had been talking to my assistants about how much less stressful it was to plan camp without a graduation and an Eagle court of honor...then that night I found out that I would be planning camp while trying to get a missionary off - I think I jinxed myself. :)  With camp, preparing Austin, all the end of the year field trips and projects we will be busy for the next few weeks.  However, after we drop Austin off at the MTC Katelynne and I will be in Utah for almost 3 weeks, which will make for a good recovery.  Katelynne and I were planning to head to Utah on the 22nd or 23rd so she can attend a gymnastics camp with Eli at the U of U starting the week of the 24th so we have decided just to stay after dropping Austin off as it doesn't make much sense to go back and forth.

Dave, Cordon & Cameron are going on a backpacking trip in Yosemite the week of June 24th.  The boys are really looking forward to that and the thoughts of all they have planned for the summer are making it hard for them to concentrate these last few weeks of school.  They have all done well in school, but are anxious to be done.  Cordon will also be working at SunSplash (our local water park) over the summer.  Since he isn't 16 he can't lifeguard, but he can cool off a bit in the water when he is working collecting tubes, etc.  It will be fun for him since he can go any day he is not working for free and bring a friend.  Cameron has taken up golf this year and really likes it.   We were hoping to find a fun golf camp for him in Utah, but nothing seems to line up right for when we will be there.  He does get to go to Scout camp, though and he is looking forward to that.  Both Cordon and Cameron have taken up fishing.  They fish some little wetlands and small lakes near our home(neighborhood man-made lakes...it is pretty funny), but they are looking forward to the fishing in the mountains and streams on their hikes this summer.  Maybe they can even get some fishing in when they come to Utah for the reunion.

Dave and I seem to stay up later and get up earlier than ever before, but still don't seem to be getting much more accomplished....but we are trying our best and working hard.  We know we are blessed and are so excited to be able to spend time with all of you in just a few short weeks.  I know that many of you have some busy weeks ahead of you also and many life changing events in the near future.  Our prayers and love are with you all!

Love, Cinda & Family

Let's Do Better!

Dear Family,
I just noticed it's been a couple of months since anyone posted on our blog....We have been busy as well, but let's try to do better!  This is a great way to keep in touch since we don't all have the opportunity to talk to each other on the phone regularly...
We just finished a DELICIOUS Mother's Day dinner!  I asked Dad if we could do this on a regular basis (every week - at LEAST once a month)...He fixed the entire dinner - complete with grilled salmon with Kristin's delicious mayo/tomato/basil sauce, fresh green beans, baked potato, french bread and green salad with all the trimmings.  For dessert, we're having some left-over cheesecake we served at a dinner we had here at the temple home last night, but Dad bought all the fixin's for the pineapple sherbet/vanilla ice cream dessert...So, we'll have that another time - soon!  We had wonderful meetings today.  We had a farewell message from a missionary leaving soon as well as a mother's day message.  The speaker was especially sensitive to those women who have not had the opportunity for marriage or to bear their own children, but who have (in every sense of the word) been great nurturers and "mothers" to many.  I wish mother's day could last a little longer...
We have been SO busy...I was asked to give a class at a stake women's conference last week, then the next day we had our yearly coordinator's meeting at the temple.  Yesterday we had a special session for all our sealers and their spouses followed by a dinner here.  It put the "cap" on a very busy two weeks, but was such a nice experience.  This last week we also traded a couple of our shifts at the temple with Dad's counselors and we escaped to SF with Callisters where we went to "Mary Poppins" at the Orpheum Theater and spent a night at the suites.  We are grateful for the opportunity to trade shifts because it allows us to take advantage of special opportunities, but it makes for difficult shifts coming up...But...we had a wonderful time even though we needed to hurry back to get ready for last night.
The opening session of the women's conference I attended was one of the best I have ever attended.  The stake president gave a great talk...I want to share some of it with you....He asked: