Monday, September 30, 2013

Halloween Countdown 2013

Dale has moved the hearses to the front yard.
Who knew that hearses were such kid magnets? Kids in the neighborhood begin wearing their costumes and playing in our yard. The number of kids seems to be directly proportional to the number of decorations... stay tuned for more.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Flags

We've had this flag hanging out in front of our house for the past couple weeks: 


A few people have asked us why we have been flying the Texas flag. This is NOT the Texas flag!

This:

is the Texas flag. We realize that Lone Star thing may be confusing. Our flag is the flag of Liberia--Rain's home for the next two years!

To confuse matters even more, Dale chose to wave in a cowboy hat with our Liberian flag. 
Note: Not a real cowboy hat. Or cowboy.
We sent this photo in our first email to Rain. He arrived for training in Accra, Ghana this morning. He'll stay there for the next 12 days, then he'll fly to Liberia.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Family Update

Growing up and moving out. We wrote our original "The Family" post in June 2011, and now it's time to update the blog with a new family photo and status.

Ryatt aka Riot (little story there, but Dad spells it one way while Mom spells it the other way) is now in fourth grade. He has recently discovered a love for camouflage and can't wait to get a set of real dog tags from his future brother-in-law, Zakk. Ryatt loves karate, football, reading, video games, and listening to his dad's funny stories.

Rain is moving out on Thursday. Really far out. He's headed to Liberia, West Africa to serve as an LDS missionary for the next two years. We'll get emails weekly (if we're lucky), and phone calls on Christmas and Mother's Day. Rain graduated from high school with high honors, earned his Eagle Scout award, and will head to Brigham Young University when he returns from Africa.

Rikki is now a senior at Utah State University, majoring in Management Information Systems with a minor in Computer Science. She's engaged to be married later this year with plans to move to Anchorage, Alaska after college graduation in May.

Rochelle continues to work at ProModel Corporation in Orem, Utah, with occasional trips around the country and globe teaching engineers. She ran her second marathon in May, in the rain, somewhat slowly.

Dale is entering Halloween season a little behind his normal decorating schedule due to Rain's mission preparation activities and our various family reunions and get-togethers. When he's not making us chuckle (or laugh out loud), Dale's fixing cars and ATVs, driving Ryatt to karate, coaching Ryatt's football team, working on the yard, or working out at Ultimate Peak Crossfit.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

White Shirts

Two weeks from today, Rain flies to West Africa to begin his service as an LDS missionary. What does it take to get an 18 year old ready for two years in Africa? Immunizations, a sizable packing list, and of course, white shirts. Lots of white shirts.