D's Un-farewell talk 7-20-08 Lexi's Blessing

The day seemed so far away right after D opened his mission call is here! He spoke so amazingly and had a powerful message about tithes and offerings. We are so proud of him. We are grateful for all the support we recieved from our familes and feel like he will work hard and be an amazing missionary for the Lord.

Summer 2008

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Visiting Lexi

The last part of our New York vacation was a fun visit to Rochester to see Brad, Becca and Lexi. We picked up a rental car at LaGuardia airport out in Queens. We got there in a good ole New York taxi equipped to carry all of our luggage. We were proud of ourselves because this is the first taxi ride that we had to take during our entire stay in the city. They are expensive, and sometimes very slow to get around, not to mention trying to find a taxi that will carry 5 of us. When we rented our car, we also rented a GPS system to get us out of the city. If you have never used one of these when you rent a car in a strange place...we highly recommend it! Dad tends to stress out when we take wrong roads and get lost, so this was certainly money well spent. It is like taking your own little guide with you. We programed it to take us out through the country side on the way to Rochester, so we saw some really cool little villages and towns on the way. It was so green and beautiful. A real fun drive.

This is Brad and Becca's home in Rochester. It is in a beautiful area because there a trees and plenty of grass to enjoy. It is named after a renowned professor at University of Rochester who believed that if you study medicine that you have no place in your life for a family at the same time. Interestingly, the complex if filled with Mormons and Asians with a bunch of kids running around everywhere! Brad and Becca have made some great friends who live here and they are very happy to call this home. It is a little over a mile to the medical school, so Brad is able to walk to and from class each day. He loves this time to think or listen to his podcast that he downloads to his iPod. His favorite is one called "The Naked Scientist". Don't worry, it is G rated and is very cool. Try it, you'll see.

We finally arrived in Rochester to get our hands on our little Alexis. She is so fun and was full of smiles and goos for us. Shelley was in Rochester just after she was born, so she was excited to see all of the changes, the rest of us were just happy to get our hands on her. She is a great smiler and very happy to have all of the attention that she thinks she deserves! It was so much fun to meet her and this was definitely going to be the highlight of the whole trip. Erin and Dustin had a bunch of fun with her.

Grandpa gets a little time holding Lexi. She is such a great little girl and loves to be held.

This was a photo that we took on the iPhone and it shows what a cute little face she has. Becca says that she has Brad's mouth and we agree. The beautiful eyes and cute little ears are definitely Becca.

Brad and Becca took us on a tour of the medical school. Dustin found the Nobel Prize that one of the professors at the school was awarded. This is the actual award...and Dustin of course had to hold it!

While in New York, Dustin was able to go through the Palmyra Temple to receive his endowment. It was a very special experience for us and will always be a wonderful memory for Dustin. The Temple is beautiful, and it was very quiet with not many visitors there. When we arrived, they rolled out the red carpet for Dustin. The workers there were like angels and they made our visit a very spiritual experience. Both Dad and Brad were able to be an escort for D and so we all were able to meet in the President's office for a nice instructional visit and hear his testimony. After our visit to the Temple, we went down and took a quiet stroll through the sacred grove. One of those days never to be forgotten.

And if there are roller coasters around...well we just can't resist! A quick one hour trip to Buffalo and we found some awesome coasters and that is where Dad, D and E spent the day before we came home. This one had a 240 foot drop. Good times! As usual though, we found good coasters...bad food. We hurried home and went out to eat at Dinosaur BBQ... a restaurant you just can't miss if you visit Brad and Becca. Sooooo Gooooood for us to eat! We didn't have to convince B & B to go either!

The next day we were up early, packed and off to our little home in Cherry Village. What a fabulous adventure and we are very thankful to have been able to make the trip happen.

Thanks for a fun time in Rochester Brad, Becca and Lexi! We miss you guys and can't wait to see you soon.

More pictures of our New York City trip

The Fabulous New York Tour 2008

Well, we are finally getting around to putting some stuff on the blog about our wonderful family vacation to New York. Brad and Becca say it was to see the big city, but in truth, it was to see our new little grandaughter, Lexi. And to put it mildly, we had just about the greatest time for 10 wonderful days away that a family could have. We had a ball. We started our big adventure out by flying the RED eye out of Salt Lake City on JetBlue. Now, we love JetBlue....but the midnight flight leaves much to be desired. Actually, the flight was very nice. Smooth as silk and we had the great inflight televisions to pass the time. The flight attendants don't bug you too much and everyone is trying to get a little sleep anyway. The only problem is that when you arrive at 5:30am at JFK, you have basically given up a night's sleep. At first we were so charged up, that it really didn't seem to matter. But we quickly found out that it was definately going to be a long day. With our plan of attending a Yankee's game in the old stadium before it is torn down this year, Christopher just couldn't let that dream go by...so he took a couple of days away from the office and joined us. His flight arrived 10 minutes after ours did...perfect timing! He found us and we waited for our ride to the city. We had arranged for a SUV to pick us up because of all the luggage and bodies. Much to our pleasant surprise the service rolled up with a 10 passenger stretch limo! What a way to ride into the big city....cool. We could not check into our hotel until 3:00 in the afternoon, so we just planted our luggage in the lobby storage and headed out for some early morning food and fun. We quickly found out that the food was going to be one of the highlights. Not only is it everywhere...but it is GOOD. Especially the pizza. There was a little deli across the street from the Hotel Stanford called Speedy's and we found ourselves there on a fairly regular basis. We bought some tickets to the RED double decker bus to take the lower tour so that we could get an idea of where we wanted to go. Good idea, especially since we were so tired and wouldn't have lasted long walking or navigating the subway. It is very crazy when this is your first view of New York because it all seems so big and unbelieveably busy and wild.

This is Erin and Christopher and a shot of Madison Square Garden (which is round). We finally checked into our hotel room and everyone decided to take a "short" nap. Well....that ended up being the end of the first day for Mom, Erin and Dustin. Night night!! Christopher and Dad couldn't sleep that soundly, so we packed up and had a father son trip to Times Square for the evening. Christopher only had a couple of days, so we made the most of the time he had.

Times Square Ernst and Young building.

Grand Central Station. We found this to also be a good potty break!

One of our dreams was to someday watch a game in Yankee Stadium. Because they are going to tear it down this year, we knew that this would be our last chance. So we made it happen! Whether you are a Yankee fan or not, being in the stadium and seeing all of the history of the game that has happened there is very exciting. Above is a memorial that they have to some of the greats that have played for the Yankees. Pretty cool. Below is D standing by his babe! This is all we will allow until he finishes his mish!

The Yankee Crew. We went out in the 3rd inning to get some food and one of the foul balls hit between Christopher and Dustin's chair! The little kid behind us got the ball. Bad deal. Another came close, but not close enough to get to. Below is the field view from our seats and then a picture of the new stadium that is being built across the street from the old park where we were.

It was a fun time. After, we hung around and waited for the crowd to thin so the subway wouldn't be so packed for our trip home. We went down to some stores and bars across the street from the stadium and watched the party. Yankees beat the Padres 9-0. The subway ride home was another adventure. As we got close to home, Dustin was worried that mom would have to walk quite a ways if we stayed on the 4 train. So we all decided to switch to the R train which would come right by the hotel. Well....we managed to jump on the R, but in the wrong direction and we ended up out in Queens at about 11:30pm. We had to do some navagating, but we finally made it back to the hotel and collapsed into bed after a long day of fun and adventure.

We will try to post a slide show with more pictures as soon as we figure it out. The second half of our trip was enjoyed in Rochester with Brad, Becca and Alexis. That blog is to come.

Opening Dustin's mission call

Here are some pictures that we took of the eventful Wednesday that Dustin opened his mission call. It was a great day and we were happy to be able to share it with friends and family.

Here is the mailman's delivery-->

Dustin picking up the prize

Reading the call to the Baltic States Mission. McKay's knee, Robyn, Jessa, Brother John F. (Dustin's YM's president), Nana and Grandpa listen in. Note on the computer is Brad, Becca and Alexis in New York. They were able to watch it live on a computer video link. Christopher and Jeni were on a an Internet audio link and Joe was on the speaker phone.

Amanda and Matt along with Grandma R were there to hear the big news. We also invited a video guy in the background.

Erin with her friends Jenny and Ellysha. You can see Corbie in the background. He came with Nana and Grandpa.
Dustin is holding a picture of his mission map up so Brad and Becca can see it. The book is filled with instructions from the Quorum of the 12 for Dustin as he gets ready to leave.

We are painting Dustin's room, so Mom added a few current events on his wall!

The Call has arrived!!

Dustin has been called to the Baltic States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He recieved his call from President Thomas S. Monson on Wednesday, May 7 2008. It came in the mail about 4:00 pm and we invited family and friends over at 7:00 pm to open it up and find out the good news. As Dustin opened it and read the first few lines, it announced that he would be going to the Baltic States...and everyone was silent...thinking, where in the world is that?? Then he read that he would be speaking Russian...and everyone cheered, then oooohed. At least we knew approximately where he would be going! Luckily, there was a map included in some other material and we were able to see exactly where the Baltic States are. It was very exciting to know that he will be spending the next two years in a country that is so far away and speaks such a different language. They even have their own alphabet.

He will be entering the Mission Training Center in Provo Utah on August 13, 2008 to prepare to serve the Lord in the Baltic States Mission. We are very grateful to the Lord for this great blessing to our family and are so pleased that Dustin is worthy and ready to serve a mission. Go get'em D!