Fourteen!

It's hard to believe my second son is now 14! He has grown so much and is just a few hairs shorter then me. Even though he has gotten bigger...

He still loves food........

and he still likes to relax.... (sorry I couldn't get the picture below any bigger.)

We love you buddy! Happy Birthday, thanks for being such a great person.

Third Year of Whale Watching- see pictures below this post

We were told to not even try to go out and see the whales because it is really late in the season. We had friends that went out during the week for 3 hours and saw nothing. We took some friends and hoped for the best.

We get to use a nice boat that has a screen that shows any activity that is going on below us. Sure enough the Captain spotted some whales.

The boys climbed up to for a better view.

The girls were so excited.

And wow, we got up close to some whales. I don't care how many times you have the chance to do this it is always so amazing.

Here are the pics for the above in backward order!

Happy, happy Birthday!

I alway knew you would fly!

We all are thinking of you and hoping that you are having a great day. We miss you very much. Thanks for being YOU, what a joy, delight, breath of fresh air you are to us all. Thanks for your kindness and thoughtfulness and goodness. Hodeeho!!

Imunization Campaign

I had the opportunity to go out into the heart of Luanda to encourage women to immunize their children against polio and also to receive vitamin A.

We got our pep talk from Eduardo.

Then we headed out chasing down women with children. Even though my portuguese is limited to about 20 words (okay maybe more) it was great seeing people interested in helping their children.

This particular campaign has been working here in Luanda for about 3 years and as of last year there were only 9 reported cases of polio in Luanda. That is great news!

Little Critters'

There was a YW activity at our house on Saturday. The gal being kissed is one of their leaders.

Aren't they adorable! Maren's doing great with her Portuguese.

This is a really zoomed picture. Maren took them from her window. Don't worry the blue bird above is really small, the lizard looks bigger then he is beside the bird.

I love all the different varieties of birds we have here. It looks like the brown bird was grooming the green bird.

We had Adao over for FHE, we hadn't seen him since we got back and when he saw Jay he about died at how tall he has gotten. Adao told us that he was born a twin but that his sister didn't make it. Her name was Eve, can you guess what Adao means in English?

Summer of 2011

Nothing short of a miracle, but the weather is dare I say "cold" maybe just coolish. Enough to send the kids looking for their sweatshirts! It is so gorgeous that I wish that it was like this always. It's a great way to start the school year off.

Summer went by with it's usual blur.

The higlights always include cousins, water, sand dunes, pulling weeds (okay only for me)parades, snow cones, EFY, grandparents, the temple, dear friends visiting from far off places...

Reunions! Uncle Van's horses in magical Grover, Jana singing and playing the ukelele, piano and guitar, Will finishing his trilogy screen plays, Jay completing his 25 and 50 mile bike rides...

our very own 4th of July pancake breakfast and parad ...I'm already looking forward to summer of 2012!

End of the School Year

Can you spot the chicken that doesn't belong here? I know it's really tough! Ever since my niece Lindsay put up her beautiful picture of her "Swiss Chick" I thought about all the chickens I see here everyday.

We have lost 2 missionaries and will lose a couple more by the end of summer. But the great news is that we will be getting hopefully 10 more!! Since they combined the Portugal Missions we are so blessed to be getting one of those mission president's over here. The Mozambique Mission home is a long ways away. So it is such a blessing to have a President coming here.

So hopefully very soon there will be a seperate mission here.

Jay had his first guitar recital. He did a great job playing "Amazing Grace"

Maren had her first Prom.

The soccer tournament in Jo-berg South Africa was fun for all. Sadly their 2 star players couldn't go because of visa problems.

We have been asked to extend here. So we are in the process of reapplying for visas which can be problematic. But if all goes well we will return in the fall. So if you have always wanted to come here you still have a chance!

shopping anyone?

Gwen's class had a field trip to a local market that sells all kinds of African stuff. The kids brought their own money and were told to barter with the salesman. The kids that did really well were from here or from Nigeria. They are more accustom to it. It was great to watch the kids look for their treasures.

They sell anything from paintings to...

masks and all sorts wood carvings.

this must be the leftovers from the crocodile purses.

Some more gorgeous views

Even though it was overcasted for some of the day while we were there it didn't really rain. It was so nice being in cooler weather.

We nicknamed Maren "Grandma" when we were in Namibia last year riding quad bikes but not so this year. She was practically running me over! The terrain was rocky and muddy.

Here was Namibia last year, it looks like Star Wars doesn't it!

This was the bowling green. The tower behind was a wall climbing thing.

We enjoyed sitting out here in the evening s and in the mornings,

Okay Linz, I know it's not Switzerland, but we sure loved it.

We would have our lunch outside, and then they would serve "high tea" at 4:00 in the afternoon again outside. Ahhh, so nice, it was hard to leave!

Gorgeous Mountains

We loved being in the mountains again! We loved hiking and breathing in and out fresh air.

This is called mushroom rock and the picture of Jay above is here he is standing.

There were several water falls that we played in.

Gwen found her pony. She would take a guided pony ride every morning. She wishes so bad that she could have a horse of her own.

Maren and Jay had a blast doing archery.

Gwen said the quad bike was hard to steer. She liked driving herself.