A few Seasonal Pictures.

Below are a few random pictures from the past few weeks. Here is our tree. Yes it's real...I couldn't imagine having an artificial tree.

Nali enjoys taking pictures. This is one of my favorites of hers. I like the ray of light shining on Mary and Baby Jesus. I especially love the 3 horses Nali has posed around baby Jesus. Who knew there were so many horses there...
One of our Family "Conditions" as Nali likes to call it is to make Gingerbread houses at my mom's with the kids and grandkids. Nali was quite please with ours.
Hailey posing for Nali.
Our wintery scene! Not much snow compared to Jen Jackson in Boston...But we did get about 4 more inches last night.
Sam and Nali decorating the tree.

Our little angel.
Another one of Nalis pictures.
Again Nali.

The Christmas Season Officially Begins!

Ella's first Christmas Dress.

So we've had a few Church Christmas Parties lately. For my parents party all of us went. This included 4 grandkids. Nali DOESN'T enjoy Santa Claus. At our party she started crying hysterically when he came in. For my parents we convinced her that she HAD to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. She she boldly told him that she wanted "Horseland".

Cousin Hailey, she was SO excited when they announced that Santa was coming!
Cousin Chase just chilling.
All the grandkids on Santa's knee...I can't help but see a little fear in Santa's eye's.
My parents enjoying the grandkids. I don't know if I told you all but my Mom broke her ankle about a month and a half ago. She can't put any pressure on it for 3-5 months...it's changed a lot of things and we're all hoping for a complete recovery!

Nali's Christmas Dress.
Repeat
This is what Nali does when Santa comes...3 years in a row she's hid under the table.
Ella wondering what the heck this is all about.

Avoiding the tag...

So I've been tagged several times over the past few months and have been avoiding doing it. But I've finally broken down and will let you know 6 Habits/Facts/Embarassing moments about myself.

1-I've been known to be a little neurotic about things. One of my BIGGEST OCD's is that Triscuits need to be eaten with the salt side down...When we make triscuits with melted cheese on them I have to make sure that all the crackers are lined up salt side down...
2-I LOVE watching "The Hills" I also LOVED watching "Laguna Beach" the real OC. I know that these shows are "bubble gumish" BUT for some reason the are my favorite. Every Monday night I SHUT DOWN from 8:00 to 8:30.
3-I was pulled off the stage at a Sarah Mclachlan concert...I don't think that this is embarrassing more like pretty cool...Long story short. I threw my concert book on stage, she picked it up to hand it back to me in the process I kissed her hand while being pulled off the stage by 2 security guards.
4-I cannot delete/move to another folder an email until I respond to it...even if I email a short ok...then it can be properly filed.
5-There are a few random movies that I don't think that I could live with out. Some Kind of Wonderful, Mixed Nuts, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Steel Magnolias, Pretty in Pink.
6-I used to LOVE "New Kids on the Block" I believe that Joey was my favorite. I had a whole wall PLASTERED with their pictures. If they were to reunite for a tour I would probably have to say that I'd attend...I also LOVED Minni Vanelli at that time.

I will not Tag anyone as I believe that I am the last one that is it.

Ella and a Spatula!

Nali's Actual Birthday

So is this what your face would look like if it was your 5th Birthday party at preschool???? SERIOUSLY!
Now that's a little better. Notice the classis cupcake in icecream cone treat...
We took Nali to this really nice resturant called Ric's Grill...it's in this old water tower...it looks over the whole city. The only reason Nali wanted to eat here is because it has a crown on top. The food was actually horrible. The best thing was Nali was happy and I got this cute picture. After dinner we took her "Enchanted".
This was the first time that Nali has asked to feed Ella. Funny....Ella's old enough to do it on her own now.
Nali and Ella just received this from their Grandma & Grandpa Richards. They are currently on a mission in Russia. They are auditors for the Eastern Europe Area so they get to travel a lot. This was made in Aremenia. The person who carved it could see Mount Ararat from where he was. What a great keepsake.

Nali's Week Long Birthday Celebration!

SOooo Nali will be 5 years old tomorrow! Hard to believe isn't it! Sometimes I look at Ella and think that it's Nali. They have a lot of the same features. So the week long celebration has begun. On Saturday we had a party at Michael's craft store. We had 8 kids there. It was a great time. Nali enjoyed it. Then Sunday we had all of my family over for dinner then cake and ice-cream after. Tomorrow night we're taking her out to a really nice resturant then the the movie "Enchanted".

Opening her first gift from her cousin Hailey.

Giving her cousin Hailey a gift for the present!
Contemplating the miracle of Birthdays!
I LOVE that grin!
Ella sneaking a piece of cake!
At the birthday party. Cousin Hailey and her mom Jamie.
Nali strking a pose.
I think that my brother Bryan enjoyed the crafts more than the kids.
3 cute girls striking a pose.
We had a "no" gifts request for her friends party. We asked her friends to bring items for the food bank instead. This is the food we got. Monday Nali and I took it to the foodbank. They were very gracious to her and took her on a tour. It was a touching experience.

" You have been called to serve in the South Africa Cape Town Mission"

So 10 years ago today I received my mission call. I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up early and KNEW that I was getting it that day and had to get some things done before work as I KNEW I would open my mission call at lunch time and then go to a Sarah Mclachlan concert in the evening. I really had NO idea what I was getting myself into at the time. Serving a full-time mission was something that I had wanted to do since I was 16 and now my time had come. I really don't think I had a clue about how it would change my life. One of my companions/friends posted on her blog listening to Elder Holland speak and how he still thinks about his mission everyday. I'd have to agree. In some shape or form I think about it. The people, the food, the sights...I miss it... I am SO grateful for my time there as a missionary and for ALL that it taught me. Probably the most important things I learned was how to Love, how to Serve and how to be Grateful.
So bare with me as I take you on a brief tour of the 18 months that changed my life.
Below is Anne. She was a member referal. She is a Hindu. She was the first person that I ever invited to be baptized. She said "I would be lying to you if I said yes...." She didn't want to commit but knew in the future she would. This was her baptism. She was married and sealed in the Temple 4 days after I returned home.
This is me and Sister Lawerence. She fed us the most amazing lunch every Thursday afternoon. She made a special trip to some grocery store to buy "California Crush" because she thought that we loved. We didn't have the heart to tell her that it wasn't our favorite. She passed away 3 weeks before I was transfered back to Cape Town. I wish that I could've told her one last time how much she mean't to me.
This was my first mission family The Youlton's. Amazing...they tried so hard. She would sign up to feed 6 companionships. I later learned that she told her children to let us eat first...then they could eat because she was worried that there wasn't enough to eat. We would eat then them...the missionaries would have seconds then they would...there would always be leftovers. Truly a modern miracle of a womans faith. I love them.
No mission album would be complete with out a picture of Mama Jean...she took care of us. She was a recent convert when I arrived and had the zeal and testimony that got anyone going. She was an angel. In one area I lived 3 blocks from her. At the end of the month she would call and tell us to start walking to her house and that she would meet us half way. She would give us 1/2 dozen eggs and some bread among other things. She knew that missionaries didn't have much by the end of the month. When ever we would stop to visit she would serve us up a hot bowl of ox-tail soup. I served in her ward 3 times.
Just a little of the beauty of South Africa. This is Cape Point. The little pennisula you see on the map south of Cape Town.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures. I love the way the sun hits his face. This was my Oupa Browne. He was baptized on December 26th, 1998. He sewed his own baptisimal clothes. I believe that he was over 70. It was amazing to see him grasp the gospel. He met with missionaries for about a year before he was baptized. One sister OYM'd (opened your/her mouth) him over his fence one day.
This was Immaculee and her daughter Aloysia. They were refugee's from Rwanda. Imaculee's husband was killed in Rwanda. Aloysia was captured several times during the genocide there. Amazing people. I had the honour of being at Aloysia's baptism.
This was in the room that they shared. We would go and visit them and make taco's. Very humble living circumstances. Unfortuntley life took it's toll on Immaculee and she passed away a few years ago. Her story is here.
Funny how you bring out a camera and a hundred kids will jump all over you.
Another picture of Oupa and Ouma Browne. His wife never joined the church as far as I know. He waited as long as he could for her but then decided with or with out her he needed to join. I can't think of a better way to spend the day after Christmas.

I served in Windhoek Namibia for 5 months. It is the country north of South Africa. It fought for it's independance from South Africa in 1990. A very young country that has one of the highest HIV/AID infection rates in the world aprox. 25% At the time there was only 8 missionaries and a couple in the whole country. I loved it here.
These kids were our friends. Amazing to watch them play and be completely content with tires. The also made cars out of coat hangers.
This woman lived in this 20x20 foot room with her husband and 3 kids. One night she was waiting on our door step. She had no money or food. We gave her all we could. I know that they say you shouldn't give people things but how can't you...Yes the boys were taking a bath.
We were able to play with lion cubs one day. This one latched onto my pants.
My kids again...

SO these are the tire kids. Probably one of the funniest things about being in Namibia was I stuck out! Really a white girl walking down the street. I don't think that these kids had ever had such close contact with a white person. They were AMAZED with my soft hair and couldn't believe how big my nose was.
This is Sylvia. I believe that this was my last night seeing her. The first baptism that I went to in Namibia was hers. She was OYM'd by a Sister in a park. She had a dream and knew that the church was true. She gave me the name of her youngest daughter before I left "Nydaynale". We called the little girl "Nali" for short. I promised her that I would name my first girl after hers...I'm so happy that I was able to keep that promise. Nali is our oldest and Ella is our second. Ella is also named after her oldest daughter.
Nali is the one in the red sweater on her dads lap. He is from Sweden. Ella is in the pink dress on the back of the couch.
Ella's baptism along with some of her brothers. We taught the guy on the left. His name was Melki...it was short for Melchezidek...can you believe it? How great it was to see him be baptized received the priesthood then baptize someone else.
The poverty is shocking...this is a daycare/kindergarten.