Two Thumbs UP

BAD Blogger, Bad, Bad Blogger......OK, it's been a while. I will keep this short and sweet, checkout the pics of David, working hard in Brazil.

Kauai

ALOHA, How I love to hear that word!! Charlotte and I went on our every other year trip with our Vancouver friends and it was awesome!! We spent 7 days on the island of Kauai and had a great time. Snorkeling, swimming, sailing, boggie boarding and just plain relaxing. Ashley was an angel to watch the boys and give us this break:) I have added some photos so you can evperience it too. CLICK ON THE PICTURE AT THE RIGHT.

Dave is on his way!!

Dave Left this Tuesday, headed for Brasil. He will be spending the next two years teaching the people about the Savior and bringing his special warmth to the Brasilian people.

We had a wonderful month before he left, attending the Temple with him, getting last minute details done, going to his favorite restruants, seeing "Wicked" and just hanging out as a family. I regretted no final family skiing, but my ankle is just starting to work right and I will have to wait till next year:(

The scene at the airport was filled with lots of laughter and some happy tears. We really will miss him. It is already so quiet, as the piano has silenced and no one is bursting out in song.

Dave will be in Sao Paulo for two months, learning the language before he get assigned to his area.

He does get to email once a week for a few minutes. So if you want to be on the email pass-on list, just let me know.

I will get some departing pictures up soon.

The Boot is gone!!

Small but super news....The Boot got the BOOT!! I finally an just wearing an ankle support (not an ankle bracklet) and should be back to normal (or as I was, before the break) soon:)

BIG NEWS!!!!

David got his Mission Call and will be serving in the Brazil Joao Mission. The mission includes the two Northeastern Brazilian states, that make up that "bump" out into the Atlantic, (the furthest point East in South America). Very close to the equator, so short sleeves will be the standard. Sorry, no shorts:(

The only Down side is I will not have any tech support for 2 years. YIKES!!!!

He will be leaving for 2 years of service April 8Th!!

Dave, We are SUPER proud of you!!!!

Written by Charlotte: What an amazing year this has been. Brittany had the incredible experience of studying at the BYU Jerusalem center. We had two wonderful newsletters from her before time demands became too much to continue. If Rick can figure out how to load them here, I will talk him into it. For those of you who have a facebook account, become our friend and you can see all her photos from her semester there. I am so happy she had the opportunity to experience the world from a completely different perspective, as well as see how tremendously blessed we are to have such abundance and freedom in America. Meeting up with her was a great way to finally pay off her reward trip to Europe for graduating high school with a 4.0. I have wanted to go to Europe as long as I can remember, so I stretched the trip to three weeks, wanting to see as much a possible. To say I had high expectations of an incredible trip is putting it mildly. I wanted to have a wonderful and amazing experience. See my top priorities at each location. Have a great time with Brittany while building our relationship. Get to know the character of the young man she met in Jerusalem, who would accompany us for a week. As well as have our faith straightened, our minds expanded, and to cap it all off for me to be able to relax and enjoy myself. Which in and of itself is no small task as when I travel, as I usually stress over the logistics, time and money. I had prayed extensively before the trip in all aspects of planning. We prayed daily for the help we needed to accomplish these goals. In addition too the thrill of experiencing the beauty, food, ambiance and culture, it was an incredibily faith straightening time. Every day we had our prayers answered as trains or planes were delayed so we were able to catch them. Finding a place for storing luggage for three weeks that was affordable. Finding rooms when none had been available, etc. Each and every day of our trip we experienced marvelous answers to our prayers large and small. One that still sends chills through me is an experience we had in Rome. As I had mentioned I had prayed continually to be guided in planning and preparing the itinerary. There were many things I desired to see and tried to fit them all in. Two of the things I thought would be the most spiritually uplifting for me, did not fit into the itinerary and had to be left out which was disappointing. On our last day in Rome we didn't have a set plan, so we asked for recommendations. Based on the things we said we were interested in, we were directed one way. We were hungry and headed on the road we thought would give us the best culinary options, while leading us back in the right direction. We noticed a nondescript church and decided to take a look. It was not like the many grandiose ornate churches we had visited. We were enjoying the feel of this worn unobtrusive church wandering through it. When I came upon an exact replica of the shroud of Turin, one of the two spiritual experiences I was so disappointed I would not be able to experience. As I stood there thanking Heavenly Father for this blessing I was completely overwhelmed as I heard the priests chanting the psalms. The other item I had left off was hearing "Gregorian" chants. I stood there with tears streaming down my face as the spirit witnessed to me that I am known and loved by my Father. It was a fantastic trip of a lifetime. I am tring to convince Rick that he(we) need to take a trip of a lifetime.

Ready for ski season

OK, I would like to say I have been trying out new boots for the ski season.....but I can't. For all of you that watched me limp around at the wedding, it was not an act!! My left ankle was broken. I did get an X-Ray, two weeks later. I'm now in an even cooler cast, that will go perfect with a Darth Vadar Halloween costume. I will be glad to get the boot off in about 3-4 more weeks, it has really slowed me down, but sure beats a surgery:)

WOW, What a weekend. Our little Brittany got married!! How fast the years fly by. It was a wonderful time with friends and family highlighted by the Sealing of Brittany and Russell in the Portland Temple for time and all eternity.

We were blessed with exceptional weather, with NO RAIN!!

It truely is a blessing to see your child follow the teachings that you have taught, reminded, coaxed and sometimes almost forced them to learn:) The path to happiness, truely is staright and narrow and sometimes the world's way seems more exciting, but the eternal reward is worth the efforts that are needed to stay on the Lord's path.

Brittany looked stunning in her dress and that guy she picked up along the way cleans up pretty well too:)

CONGRATULATIONS Mr & Mrs. Urness

WE LOVE YOU!!

Families Can Be Together Forever

That's a catchy slogan....Oh, it's already been used:) Well, next time your feeling like cutting the grass or catching up on your filing...JUST SAY NO!! Pack up the people you love and go somewhere, anywhere. I prefer places that have spotty cell phone reception (just enough to call an ambulance, or the fire Dept :) ) and the Ipods might get dirty or wet, so they get left in the car!! We realize that we do this too infrequently!! These times are the ones they will remember, when the parents can't even remember the kids names. Hopefully that will still be a while!!

As our 3 older kids are all leaving us soon and we start raising the 2nd family. I realized that we really do like each other and have grown to appreciate each person for their special contributions. OK enough of that!!

Checkout our new Mt Hood day photos on my myspace page.....it was priceless!! Sorry Dave, nothing personal, but the weather was so nice!! We did miss you. Dave was in SLC.

Fathers Day

I know Fathers Day was in June, but Dad's passing was just too recent for me that day. I love this photo of him with 3 very cute kids:) Remember when he wanted to be called "Uncle Mel", instead of Grandpa? That changed fast as 25 Grandkids melted his heart with LOVE.

One of the things I loved the most about Dad was his ability to keep it real and never make you too uncomfortable hearing it.

Happy Late Fathers Day to a great teacher, defender of the faith and role model. I know he was wearing a Superman suit under that shirt!!

Now that's the life. Hanging out in Europe for 23 days with your daughter. Thanks to Michele & Kyle for showing "my girls" around London. It was a well deserved reward for good grades and being SUPER MOM. They had a blast and hopefully missed us a little, although they had a hard time figuring out how to call home!! Check back for the photo gallery, coming soon.