Hittin' the Links

 We checked out the local mini-golf today.  it was fun but blazing hot.  We pondered that we never would have even considered mini-golf in July in Arizona.  We stopped at Walmart for more sunscreen and had to search to finally find some SPF's higher than 15 (who makes 8? Really?)  Apparently Californians do not fear the sun as we do.

The mini-golf place also had a Farrell's Ice Cream parlor.  We may never eat again.

But we were not through having fun.  No family fun day can be complete without trying to teach Ken how to play the latest wii game.  Right now they are all playing Toy Story Mania wii.  Life is good.

It has been a busy week (of course), Ken finished all his interviews with the missionaries and finalized the transfers.  Muy complicado.  He also had quite a few baptismal interviews this week.  He reports that it is amazing to see the changes people have made in their lives because of the gospel.

Next week we will be getting our first round of new missionaries and having the first round of departees.  Fortunately they are all coming and going from Burbank Airport this time.  Much less traffic and stress than LAX.  We met four of the six new-comers at the MTC so that will be fun to see them again.  So what do you wish you would have known when you entered the mission field? What about when you went home? I suppose Oh be wise (don't do dumb things) applies to both groups, but probably should say a bit more than that. :)

Whoops

Conversation with Brother Facilities Management:

(FM has come to remove some things from the house that we don't need)
FM: Did you want this (fake) plant to go?
Me:  Yes.
FM:  Good--because it's a marijuana plant.
Me:  Probably not the best choice for the mission home...

I have this vision of some poor sister 15 years ago innocently buying a fake marijuana plant while wearing her name tag.

 Never boring around this joint (rimshot).                                                            

P-day!

Our neighborhood has a tennis court, so for family P-day we decided to check it out.  It was really fun.  It's nice to have an activity that the whole family is on the same level--including Matthew.  In other words, we are terrible, terrible tennis players. 

However, we never let our competence (or lack thereof) interfere with our fun!  We smacked the balls over, into and around the net.  At one point we had more over the side fences than on the court.  We played 3 on 2 and still couldn't keep the ball in play.  We had so much fun.  It was hilarious.  We laughed and ran and tried to act like we knew what we were doing when people walked by. (I don't think they were fooled.) I'm not even sure we even know the rules. I should know the rules, I actually took a tennis clss at BYU.  Did you know if you flunk the physical tests and get A's on the written tests you can still pass with a C?  The kids are plotting to get up early tomorrow to go play again.

So don't look for us at the US Open anytime soon, but maybe after three years we can actually play a game.  But don't hold your breath...

Hey, Where's Perry?

I have the brain of a ten year old.  Even though our car is named Perry after Perry Mason (whom I love) I still can't resist homage to a certain platypus and am compelled to say, "Hey, where's Perry?" everytime I go into the parking lot.  And guess what I say when I find him? Is it, "Oh there you are Perry?"  Yes, yes it is.

We are almost, almost unpacked.  If I could manage to stop distracting myself with making dinner and playing yahtzee then I would be done.  But where is the fun in that? Since we are unpacking and exploring we are trying to figure out what spices, canned goods, etc are here.  So if anyone wants any canned beans, come on over.  All the cans remind me of the old Houston hurricane box days (I would only eat canned veggies in the event of a major disaster).  We also found some kind of food storage pasta pack that says it has a shelf life of 30 years. However, there is no packed on date but since the mission is only 18 years old we figure we're good for another 12 or so. 

Since I am so distractable, I had to quit unpacking and upload the 2010 New Mission President's Seminar that the former president left.  The Church sent us the 2011 when we were called and we just attended 2012 so I wanted to see how 2010 was. Great, of course.  It's amazing how calming it is to listen to, like General Conference, only funnier. 

We haven't seen much of El Presidente this week.  He is interviewing all the missionaries before transfers. It makes for very long days (7 a.m. to 9 p.m. not including travel or if he runs over).  He comes home exhausted but so glad for the opportunity to meet them.   I need to collar him and get my calendar co-ordinated.  He keeps randomly mentioning things like, "we've been asked to speak somewhere sometime," but I need details :)

 Tomorrow night is date night so I am picking him up after and we will go to dinner.  Saturday is our P-day and we are trying to find a good activity.  Maybe we'll check out the neighborhood pool or go on hike.  It's southern California, I'm sure there must be something we could do.

Hooray! We Found Super Walmart!

We found Super Walmart.  It only took 20 minutes to get there.  Woohoo!  Costco is bout the same distance in the opposite direction.  The kids are getting used to my name-tag and didn't even cringe when someone asked about it.  Life is good.  Except for the part about needing to go to the DMV soon. 

1 Week Down, 2 years 51 Weeks to Go

We may not be completely unpacked, but we have our magnets on the fridge and the hearts on the wall.  So we're home.

It has been a busy week (go figure).  Two dinner appointments (yummy, again Nice People Rule) and then Tuesday began 5 straight days of Meet the President/Zone Conferences.

The poor kids had to be dragged to the conferences.  Normally they would stay home and out of the spotlight, but for the "meet the President" that includes family and we were instructed at the MTC to take the kids to that.  I took them home after lunch so they wouldn't have to stay all six hours.

The stake RS's provided lunch which was so very kind.  It was so intresting to see how each different group approached it.  My favorite was the group that bought a ton of fried chickent from Albertsons--genius, I tell you.  Though the Spanish stake had a family do it and they were cooking up a storm--mmmm, Mexican food.

The mission home is kind of tucked away on a hillside so getting places generally involves a little backtracking as the crow flies.  Most of the time it involves multiple freeways but since we brought the van, the GPS just reroutes when I miss my interchange/exit/road.  We couldn't find anything without Della (our car is named Perry, for Perry Mason and the GPS is his secretary Della Street, or if we're going to the Spanish zones de la Street.  I crack myself up)

At the conferences, Presidente Ken introduced us, told a bit about how we were called, etc.  I introduced the family with some pictures and the kids waved.  After the intros it was down to business on missionary work.  I missed some of the morning training because I needed to see that lunch was actually going to happen.  I am such an introvert that I just tried to channel my inner Lisa B. and ask what needed to be done and introduce myself. Lisa is my hero.  Some groups were glad of the help and some shooed me out of the kitchen which enabled me to hear what the missionaries were learning.  All in all everyone was very (all together now) NICE.

The kids and I went home after lunch cleanup and tried to unpack.  We have progressed from everything in boxes to everything on the floor.  Sigh.  It is really odd moving into a house that already has stuff in it.  Especially in the kitchen--it took forever to find the measuring cups.  But that may have been because we have all cracked up.

Ken stayed to teach/train and then went out proselyting with the zone leaders up through their planning time.  So we haven't seen much of him since some of these zones are a ways away.  He's such a good egg but he must be exhausted.

Here are the intro pictures I used for the missionaries, they were taken in Arizona by the talented
Michelle Gifford. 

The black and white couple are my great-grandparents, Vivian and Oscar Mcconkie. Oscar was called to preside over the California Mission in 1946 (which included much of Arizona, too).  They are in front of the Los Angeles mission home.  Their mission included San Fernando.  The other picture is two sister missionaries and a convert in San Fernando 1964.  The tall red-headed missionary is Ken's mother! It is fun to come back to where our family served.

We're Here....Gulp

We drove into California singing Australian songs (seemed mission-ish at the time).  We stopped (read: stalled) at Roundtable Pizza, where Ken had a quick gospel discussion with the order taker, and then headed to the mission home.

President and Sister Martin welcomed us in and showed us around.  What nice people (there's that word again--I LOVE nice people).  They apologized to the kids for accidentally leaving the freezer full of ice cream. 

We dragged in our suitcases and Thomas got first pick of the kids' rooms and everyone seemed happy about their new digs. 

Saturday morning El Presidente and I went to the mission office to meet the office staff and the mission presidency.  Ken had lots of people to talk to about lots of things so I went back home to begin unpacking. 

It is a strange thing to move into a furnished house.  We couldn't find the measuring cups for the longest time (we knew they had to be here somewhere) and we had to google instructions for the kitchen fan. 

The Martins had worked really hard with Facilities Management to get he house updated and ready for us.  There are new counters and tile and a brand new church owned flat screen tv mounted on the family room wall.  President Martin was worried that the old one would not have worked for teenagers.  The kids are very, very grateful and have already hooked up the PS3.

We unpacked as much as we could, met the assistants and our area authority Elder Garns.  We also learned that the mission nurse truly is awesome.  Unfortuntely we learned this by experience as Ken came down with strep day one.  But Sister C worked her magic, Dr J worked his and Walgreen's worked theirs. 

We may not be all unpacked and have no idea what we are doing but at least the waiting is over!