BYU Football Recruit Joins Us at the MTC

This giant young missionary was hard to ignore at the MTC. 

As soon as we saw him in the cafeteria, we recognized that he was the new BYU recruit that had been all over the local and national news just the week before. He is Motekai Langi, a 6'7" 410 pound lineman from Tonga, who has never played football. He left a few days later to begin his mission in Phoenix, so he will join the team in 2017.  He was such a good sport to let us take a picture with him. We weren't the only ones. We saw him being pestered everywhere for pictures. He seemed to take it good naturedly though. Would you let him in if he knocked at your door?

Our Mission Begins

We're in the Provo MTC! Its where three of our sons began their missions, so we posed by the famous map just as they did so many years ago (21, 19, & 15 years ago). It was great to experience the things that they did when they were there — yes, the food affected us too :). We LOVED feeling the spirit of all the missionaries at the MTC and interacting with the young Elders and Sisters in the halls, in the cafeteria, and in our classes each day. 

It was fun to see the familiar faces of the Sampsons from St. George in our Senior Couples classes. They are off to Vanuatu near Fiji. 

And we got a few hours off to hit the famous BYU Creamery close to the MTC. The best part was hanging out with the nieces and nephews, Andrew, Ashley, and Tawni. They each had been gone all day in classes and work, but they still made time for us! Love those cute Barretts! 

Hanging Up the Badge

After 33 years in law enforcement, Kirk is hanging up the badge! He will retire as Sheriff of Washington County on January 4th (Mike's birthday). He was sworn in on January 4th as Sheriff 12 years ago, and he was sworn in as a Highway Patrolman on January 4th in 1978. So Mike's birthday has been extra eventful through the years. There have definitely been mixed emotions for us, and especially for Kirk as he has attended many retirement events in his behalf, and has been honored by many organizations, and by many individual people. A retirement open house that the county put on for Kirk had people lined up out of the meeting room, into the foyer, down the stairs and out into the parking lot. He was really humbled by all the attention he received. One night we attended 3 events where he was honored. He's received plaques and statues and gifts (the county gave him an ipad instead of a watch - he's LOVING that), and lots of cards. The most touching to me have been the individual cards and stories that I've read and heard people tell, about how Kirk made a difference in their lives. From a wife telling us that Kirk was the one who stopped her husband from committing suicide years ago, to the man who came into his office and said, "you arrested me 20 years ago, and I spent prison three years in prison . . . and you saved my life" —we heard story after story of his good influence through the years. I think I should write a book about him! I think the comment I heard most often was about Kirk's honesty, integrity, and his "incredible moral compass" (as one person explained it). I am so proud of him and his career.

We're Moving to Pine Valley!

We've got lots of changes going on in our lives right now. One BIG change is our upcoming move to Pine Valley. After 27 years in Santa Clara, we're heading up the road about 40 minutes to Pine Valley. We might find out that we're nuts - but we're planning to live there year round. Might be a bit of an adjustment for us both, but especially for our Southern California Surf boy Kirk. We shall see! We purchased an older home there and are now in the process of remodeling/updating a bit. Hopefully we'll be done and in by the end of January. Here are a few before pictures. Can't wait to post the finished pictures. We love the view out our back windows, and are looking forward to watching the deer and the mountains, and having friends stop by to "sit a spell" on our back porch.

Fun Helping Weeks

We had a fun in Bountiful helping out my Mom and Dad a few weeks ago. Mom isn't able to do as much as she used to do, so Dad is kind of doing double duty these days. He's doing a great job, but my brothers and sisters and I decided we'd each take a week to give them some extra help with meals, household chores, yardwork, etc. So, once every six weeks, I'll be able to go spend some extra time with them. Kirk has been a great help too. The project this time was to clean my parents drapes that hung in the kitchen over the stove. Kirk loved vacuuming spider webs, and scrubbing the kitchen grease off the walls and windows. He did a great job. My first helping week was a lot of fun - we saw Julie's kids at their Primary Program, cheered on Tommy at his basketball game at SLCC, rode the ForeRunner Train from Bountiful to Salt Lake to Ogden and back, ate lunch at the Gateway, saw the Planetarium, , watched Jazz games and threw in several games of Anagrams too. Besides having lots of good time with my Mom and Dad, I was able to spend time with Nancy, Julie's family, Brent's family and all of Bob's family. It was a great week with my awesome family!

Time Out For Women

Christan flew into Las Vegas from Virginia to join Shellie and I for "Time Out For Women," a 2-day conference for women put on by Deseret Book. Christan had been to one in Virginia last year, and really loved it - so we decided to give the one in Vegas a try. I enjoyed everything, but especially the talk by Chris Belcher, who is blind. You wouldn't think that was a funny subject, but she has learned to find the humor, and her talk was hilarious. We were practically crying, it was so funny. In addition to being funny, the talks were spiritual and uplifting (see below for Shellie's reaction to the especially spiritual ones!), and there was lots of good music performed. We also fit in a pedicure, maternity shopping for Christan, and several yummy restaurants. I LOVED being with "my girls" and I hope we can get Emily to join us next year. It was a spur of the moment decision to do it, so Emily wasn't able to get off work to join us. And, for some reason, Bri couldn't just hop on the next plane from China either! But I'd love to make it an annual tradition to get together and have a special time with my darling daughter and daughter-in-laws. Thanks to Kenny for taking off work to take care of three kids for 4 days so that it could happen




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Sister Reunion

My sisters Nancy and Julie and I decided we need to do an annual or semi-annual "Sisters Reunion." We decided Mom and Dad and Shellie would make a nice addition to the weekend, and we all went to Tuacahn to see "Crazy For You." I was really hoping to see Tarzan, instead, but it was sold out. Turns out the music to Crazy For You was from Mom and Dad's era, and the rest of us loved the production too. We had tickets right on the front row on the side - they were great! The next day, Nancy and Julie and I went to the Temple with some family names that Julie had prepared. When we got there, I discovered that my recommend had expired a week earlier! Rats! Even my sweetest smile and multiple attempts at bribery (my husband will make sure you never get a traffic ticket, etc., etc.) couldn't faze the nice man at the front desk. So, with my eternal salvation in jeopardy, we went shopping instead! We also caught an afternoon matinee and had a pajama party at Nancy's condo where we played games as TALKED into the night. It was so fun! We've decided we'll make it an annual happening. Tuacahn is doing "Grease" and "Little Mermaid" in 2011, so we're planning next year already.