Stacey Coming Home!

Hey you all... just to let you know....Stacey is returning from her mission soon. She will be making the long flight from Salt Lake City to SeaTac airport on Mar 17th and will arrive at about 11am. I gotta say this is a bit more complicated seeings how her parents moved clear over to Montana. But here's the plan. Stacey flys to SeaTac. We come into town hopefully the night before. We all gather at Tony & Debbie's in Renton, WA (our home away from home.) We have plans to have Stacey talk in the Young Single Adult ward she left from on Sunday March 20th. The church building is in Tacoma, WA. 1221 Pearl Street. More commonly known as the 12th & Pearl Street Stake Center. Their Sacrament meeting starts at 1pm. Then Debbie has scheduled the church for a Linger Longer and get together for family and friends to welcome her home. We will have a simple luncheon of sorts and welcome as many of you who can make it. We would love to see you there!! Sorry I don't have pictures to post. We got a new printer and I've not been trained on scanning or importing pictures yet...but we'll get there. Stacey has had such a successful mission and has loved serving the Lord. Can't wait to hear all about it and to hear her speak Spanish to boot :) Gotta love it the missionary work.

Stacey Update

Finally a little update on Hermana Stacey. She is loving her mission. This last transfer they opened an area in Orem but for this transfer she is only english speaking, but she does refer on a lot of spanish contacts to the spanish Elders. I'm just going to show a bunch of pictures and caption them with Stacey's words. Here goes......

Zone conference. Sister High & Me (her current companion)

Sister High & I caught out in a rain storm, later to become a hail storm. (Doesn't dampen their spirits.)

Our service project in Suncrest 10th ward. Planting flowers. This is the finished project.

Mt Timpanogas Temple. Kelsea (a fellowshipper), Sister High and me.

Fall colors!! This is my favorite secret path.

District meeting at the temple. Only two Elders came.

Shay, our fellowshipper. She knows Tony from his mission. (Small world)

I've come to the conclusion that cats like me......He climbed onto me.

Okay all animals like me. This is Lulu a doberman pincer that was raised by datsuns and thinks she is one.

Attack of the walnuts...not a pretty sight......

Two warriors go to it and fight with service. Two happy but tired warriors calling it a day.

District halloween activity. A night of playing Phase 10 and watching Invictus. So this is what my week looked like: Going out with Sister Pittson Monday, the battle with the walnuts, Lacey deciding to get baptised this Sunday, eating lots and lots of candy, speaking in the Suncrest 4th Ward, being idolized by 9 year old girls that want to become our assistants. Making friends with a Doberman Pincer, Getting to 'dress up' for Halloween and watching a movie about Rugby.

Making omletes with Sister Edwards (Geneva 3rd Ward). My cooking, I was happy not to have scrambled eggs.

Lighting the match ....Mu-ha-ha-ha.

(So sorry to have to have you crank your neck. The editor is just too technically challenged to know how to fix this after I've posted the picture).

WA-LA!!! Flaming omlete.

Back to the story about the walnuts....we were given a bag of walnuts to use and I found this little bitty baby walnut.....so cute.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Home sweet home. We live in the basement appartment.

Hermana Rojas and me at Andrey's baptism. Cool spirit.

Interesting shot of me........No that is not a computer, it is a folder...Area book.

Me and Hermana Rojas. Ya gotta love those green walls. (Wow...now that's bright & funky)

Playing "don't break the sabbath" Jenga with my favorite family.

District group shot after a hike up to bridel Veil Falls.

We got to go to General conference. We sat down on the third row right side of the pulpit. When they were going out Pres Eying and Pres Uchtdorf both smiled really big when they saw us and then waved. So cool.

(Here's an excerpt of a recent letter:)

....we had a crazy fast week of door knocking, zone conference, district meeting, three sacrament meetings, 10 lessons, having a general authority in our apartment, meeting crazy old men that love the church but don't want to committ to it and a whole lot of walking.....so the week flew by. I think I am in the best shape I have ever been in. We are getting to know the neighborhoods better and the members want to help us more. ...... The great thing called sympathy, from alot of the doors we knocked we have met a lot of older ladies who are so cute and they want us to stay all day. But the flip-side we have also met a few anti. Sister High is really good about just testifying to them, where as they make me mad and I have to just not say anything or I would end up arguing with them. Which would be bad...... I don't know it's just when someone tells me to go read the Bible, when I read it for almost a half hour a day...gets to me a little. I feel like saying, "no you need to read the scriptures!!" And that would be bad. So I let my wonderful companion testify about faith and we walk on...... I'm still working on that charity thing. :) I do love my area, my investigators, and my members. The work goes on and the Lord is definantly in charge."

CHRISTMAS WISH:

Stacey says " I was thinking about what I would like for Christmas.....I would like you all to write down some of your best mission stories and send me a copy or for like Mom or Nicole or those that didn't go on a mission to tell me some cool spiritual/missionary moments you've had in your life. I would love you to do that for me. I think it would help me stay focused for these last few months. Thanks!"

For those that are reading this and would like to contribute to Stacey's christmas wish....her address is: UT-PROVO MISSION, 2420 N University Ave, Ste 100, Provo, UT 84604.

'bout time computer!

Been having some technical difficulties....thus the reason for non blogging. So here is some catch up...
I made a quick trip to Washington during Conference Weekend and visited my favorite little family.
"Watching conference"....:)

Playing Battleship...Max style.

Can you spell "C-U-T-E"

Out for a drive to check out the fall leaves. Made a detour past the Seattle Temple. The gates were closed but we still got a great glimps.

Visiting Tony at work on the way to drop me off at the airport. These little guys don't get to see Daddy very often. Max was thrilled to ride in Daddy's truck and Tony was 'glowing'.

Part of my back yard. A performance of my blackeyed susans. I also had short 'hedges' of marigolds all along the back of my house. I thought I got a picture, but apparently it's gone to syber space.....

Big summer attraction in Billings. The Saturday market. It runs from first part of July to the first of October.

It's about 5 blocks long with lots of wonderful produce. We have a few Hutterite farms that set up on each block. And a bunch of local big garden farmers. And a variety of other stuff.

We even have a group that travels all the way from Oregon to sell their berries & fruit. The stand gets swormed and sells out fast. The market opens at 8:30am and closes at 1:30pm on Saturdays. If ya want berries ya best get there by 10am or they are gone.....

After the market closes the first of October some friends organized a co-op called Bountiful Baskets which is apparently all over. Any way it's the first time to be organized in Billings and is such a deal with fresh vegies and fruit. Even Saydi dog's checking it out.

J had a birthday SHOUT horray! This is the chair gizmo he got from his mom. There wasn't any where to 'hang' it outside, so he found the thing-a-ma-jig hanger jobber on line & ordered it. And wha-la, he now enjoys it in his man cave.

Now that I'm back...I promise to do an update on Stacey soon. Stay tuned...

Airshow Max & Ryan style..Hey it's an Epperson's passion

I made another trip to tac-town to help with the kiddos. Debbie was off having some much needed fun and I came for some much needed fun. Tony tracked down an airshow at McCord air base to take the boys too. These pictures are a Max & Ryan's idea of a low key show. Not the most thrilling show we've seen and I certainly had more fun snapping pictures of the boys than watching the show. No Blues here...
After waiting almost 2 hours we had the excitement of the first flyers, a helicopter.......

Giggle.....

Max with his 'nocklers' ready...

Oh the excitement........

Finding the 'Pot of Gold"

A reminder where the real treasure is..... Thank-you Heavenly Father. (Billings, MT Temple)

A Walk-A-Bout

It's been a busy summer. We have found ourselves in many places recently. The end of June, Geniel, Debbie, and I went for a long walk-a-bout. We spent a Saturday morning walking/running a half marathon in Sun River, OR. Weez have braggin' rights now..... A feeling of "wow...we did it!!" And survived :) Thanks Debbie & Geniel for letting me talk you into this. It was fun. We spent a great weekend with Ken & Dorothy at the infamous property of LaPine. Awesome place...we even celebrated Max's third birthday out camping. I went with Ken & Dorothy and hiked in to see their Sparks Lake camp site. Some day I'm going to join you on your community campout adventures. The weekend of the Independence Day celebration we made our way to see Mike and Nicole. Here they are up to their elbows making tasty hamburgers for a BBQ. They tried out their brand new Mini Weber. They were delish.

Here we are waiting for the fireworks in Idaho Falls. We've been waiting about 6 hours, but the wait was worth it. It was the first fireworks for a long time where our boys have not been on the Pyro crew. We had a 'blow by blow' (pun definantly intented) commentary from all of them as the show played out. Other that one sideways blow out, the show was amazing, we had a great view safely across the river.

Back in Tacoma (after the trip to LaPine) I had an extra day to play with the boys. We went for a walk in Titlow Park. Max traveling by bike, Ryan glidding along in his stoller.

We discovered the big play thingy and stop for a climb and a slide.

Max turning the wheel of his "Pirate ship"

Ryan manuvering the stairs and loving it.

Later back home...... Max in his red car off to the 'store to get eggs'. Later gater.

A Hop Across the Sidewalk

Yes call us crazy but we just did another move.....the house next door came up for sale. They tried to sell it for a month but didn't. J got real friendly with the owner and found out they were considering renting it out for the same price as what we were paying at the duplex. It had been empty almost a year but they had been doing alot of indoor work on it. So the decission was made and we decided to hop across the sidewalk into a house & yard. Enjoy the walk through:

Our old abode. Nice duplex. Just come on down the stairs of 626 and walk across the sidewalk and you are at our new address 622 Parkhill Dr, Billings, MT 59102.

Ta----Da! This is the front of the house. Saydi Dog enduring her 4th move.

The back yard, again with Saydi enjoying the sunshine. The sidewalk leads to the garage

Which brings us to J's favorite....a 4 car garage. Nice and roomy for cars & storage. It's what sold J. Come on inside..... (and not in any particular order we have....)

The Master bedroom....

The upstairs hall bathroom....

The living room. The couch is the only place Saydie can 'perch' to see the outside activities.

The other side of the living room and to the right....(oops I forgot to take a picture of the dining room which is a major part of the living room...) Oh well another time...maybe or just come visit.

The kitchen and a little table nook in the right hand corner.

Moving on down the stairs into the basement....most houses around here have basements.

The spacious Family room with books and toys to accommadate grandkids .

Looking the other direction in the family room into the TV & computer area.

A peek at the laundry/sewing/craft room. Lots of cupboards & shelves.

One little shelf that's a quandary for me. Just as you are coming out of the laundry room there is a door in the wall that you can open and inside are these very narrow shelves. They are about 2 1/2 inches in width with 6 shelves built into the wall. Any ideas what I can use these for......?

Moving on down the very short hall in the basement we come to the spare 'ooom'. A future bed will also occupy this space for all our family & friends to come and visit

Doug's abode also in the basement.

Down stairs bathroom.

Moving back upstairs and across from the master bedroom is J's cubby. His den which as you can see still needs to be organized...it may take some time.

So any -who there you have it. We so appreciate Tony, Debbie, Max, even Ryan who did his 1 year old part of smiling, Mike & Nicole, all who planned their visit to our place just in time to also help us move. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!! I gots to admit it was the easiest move we've ever made. The owner let us start moving in two weeks before so we just made daily trips with stuff in our arms & laundry baskets and then the Elders quorm helped move the 'big' stuff on the last saturday of May. Our goal in 2011 is: NO MOVE ...... we'll see how that goes!!