Elder Hodges in Basel Switzerland

David continues to diligently serve as a missionary in Switzerland. He absolutely loves the people, sharing the Gospel and the food! :-) He sent us some new pictures in his email on Monday! Needless to say I was pretty excited! He will be home in 7 1/2 months... I miss him but know he is doing what he needs to do and he is where Heavenly Father wants him to be!

This is Elder Lind, Severin and Elder Hodges on July 12, 2009. This is the day Severin was baptized! Doesn't he just glow? They all look so happy! The church is true! A day like this in the life of a missionary makes up for all the rejections and tracting long hours! Elder Hodges, Elder Lind, Carlos Pardo, and Severin. All were born in the USA and currently living in Basel. Carlos is Chilean but was born while both his parents were attending BYU. Severin was born in Washington DC.

David at the Matterhorn in Switzerland. He titled this picture, "Observing my newly acquired kingdom!" :-) It's great that he gets to visit some incredible places while serving. It is absolutely beautiful over there! He is making such lasting memories and friends while doing the Lord's work for 24 months!

Kyle is an adult, HS graduate, and Eagle Scout all in one week!

Kyle turned 18 on June 6... graduated from Denbigh HS on June 13...earned his Eagle Scout rank on June 16! It was quite an exciting week for him. Kyle has definitely decided to attend BYU-Idaho. He'll start there in January 2010. He actually went and tried out for the SVU coach in July and was offered a talent award. SVU cannot give scholarships because of the division it is in or something like that. It wasn't a full ride because they cannot do that. Kyle just didn't feel SVU was the right place... very small... less than 1,000 students. So, he decided after that to go to BYU-Idaho. He still has plenty of time to work, work, work and continue to earn money for his mission. He plans on leaving after going to BYU-I for one semester.

Kyle and Grandma Christman after graduation.

Kyle with his 2 best friends- Jordan and Justin Agee!

Girls' Camp FUN, FUN, FUN!!!!!

Yes, I am having such a fun summer.... I haven't had time to post anything! And I thought teaching seminary kept me busy during the school year... now the kids are keeping me busy this summer. We are having lots of fun. I'll post some pictures too. And soon it's school time again.

Summer started with GIRLS CAMP! I went as the assistant ward camp director. It was literally one of the best weeks of my life! I know most of you are thinking that is really sad because I've been on some awesome vacations but being with the Young Women of our ward... with no distractions like the TV, computer and cell phones. It was just amazing. We went to Sherando Lake in Western VA. It is beautiful there but you cannot get cell service. We had to drive out of the park about 5 miles to get cell service. I drove out on Friday (we were leaving on Saturday) to call Patrick because he was coming up that night because the Stake Presidency was speaking... when I got in range for me cell phone... I had lots of texts telling me Michael Jackson had died the day before! It was crazy to think we missed so much... but as I drove back to camp, I cried because I wasn't ready to go back to the "real world"! I loved getting to the know girls, laughing with them and having so much fun. I was actually really thankful I missed all the media circus over MJ. We have the greatest bunch of girls in the NN 1st Ward! I will forever be teased because we thought we had a bear in our camp. The ward camp director, Kim, left our tent with a stick to "save the girls" as did our other assistant, Ellen... I on the other hand was scared to death and stayed in the tent and prayed! It ended up being an albino skunk trying to eat our garbage! This is Ally. She was a YCL (youth camp leader) and one day they had to dress up as their camp nickname. Her nickname was "Sasquatch" because she has such big feet... which she really doesn't but she is always tripping over them! :-)

Another day... Ally had to dress up as a super hero... she choose "Y" Girl! And no, we are not obsessed with BYU or are we?! We had lots of fun making these costumes... and I have to say... she had the best ones in all of camp!!

I don't know how your Girls' Camp is but at ours when you lose something you have to do something silly to get it back like sing "I'm a little tea pot" or spell your name with your butt or anything else that is semi-humiliating in front of EVERYONE! Well... Fatima lost her bra (don't ask the most common question which is ... How on earth can you lose your bra??)... it so so funny when they held it up for the group to see! This is just a priceless picture... it was so funny!!

I love this picture too of Ashleigh in so much pain while getting her hair braided by Alice. What girls will do to look good at girls' camp!

Kara & Nikki are so happy! Can you tell there was nothing but laughs all week??!! Everyone just got along so well! (We won't mention the ward next to ours that told us to "Shut Up" because our girls were up late into the night!) It was such a joy to be there! All the girls from our ward! The theme was "Know the Ropes"! I hope I can go again next year! I have to make up for not going when I was a teenager! Coming soon... Kyle's graduation!

Season's over :-(

I'm not talking about the season finale of a TV show either... to be honest we don't watch much TV unless it is on ESPN! :-) It's was kinda sad to see Kyle (#8) play his last HS baseball game. He LIVES for baseball! I'm sure he'll play ball with American Legion this summer. (Who cares about working and saving money for his mission when he can play ball??) Last Saturday was his last HS game. Denbigh lost in the District tournament. They got to play at a semi-pro baseball stadium... that part was pretty cool! Kyle continues to hope he can play baseball in college. He has been talking with the baseball coach at SVU (Southern Virginia University) in Buena Vista, VA. We'll see if he is offered some sort of scholarship. SVU is a small private university owned by LDS businessmen. They have an honor code much like BYU. He has been accepted to SVU but if he doesn't get some sort of scholarship, he will probably just go to BYU-Idaho. He will be graduating in 3 weeks and turning 18 in 2 weeks!! He is a great kid! He is an incredible missionary. He has already baptized 2 of his friends! Kyle looks forward to serving a mission in a year!

A VERY happy Mother's Day!!!

This Mother's Day was the BEST yet and it has nothing to do with the new camera I got... it was the BEST Mother's Day ever because we got to talk to our missionary, Elder Hodges. For those of you who have or had a missionary... I know you can relate... all of the rest of you will think I am crazy until you have a missionary out. It's amazing how just the sound of their voice makes you cry. David called us briefly on Saturday to give us the number we were suppose to call and the time for us to call on Sunday. Well, the caller ID said some city in Massachusetts (because of his calling card) so I figured it was a telemarketer but I answered the phone anyway. And then I heard, "Hello" and I said, "David?!!" A mother can never forget the voice of their child. Just that brief phone call made my Saturday brighter! So, you can imagine how Sunday felt. We talked to him for a total of 3 hours but not all at the same time. His companion and David were taking turns using the phone but it worked out great and we savored every second of it! We are VERY thankful for his mission president, President Matern. That he doesn't put a 30 minute limit on calls home like some mission presidents do. It regenerated me and I know now I can make it for 10 1/2 more months until he gets home! I just hope I can make it through 4 more missions with Kyle, Tanner, Brett, and Luke! I'll tell you I hope all of the others go on stateside missions! It's such a pain worrying about calling cards/time difference... then the other thing is mailing packages would be much simpler if they were in the US. Anyway... it was a great day! I did get breakfast in bed and chocolate covered strawberries too but the phone call was the best!!!

Elder Hodges, Matthais (member who took them hiking like every p-day) & Elder Keeler

Elder Hodges (back row, 3rd from right) & missionaries along with President & Sister Matern at the Swiss Temple. ~February 2009~

Elder Hodges with his new European tie that he had to take a picture for us to see! Missionaries get excited about the craziest things!! :-)

21 years ago today....

Patrick & we married in the Washington DC Temple! I can't believe we have been married for that long! It really does seem like just yesterday! Now 6 kids later... here we are!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! Seminary is SOOOOOOO time consuming right now I can do little else. I can barely find the time to do the laundry and make dinner each day! Plus our camera broke and we haven't bought a new one yet so I thought why post with no pictures but I guess I have so many other pictures on the computer that none of you have probably seen so I can use some of those! We've been busy with Kyle playing baseball for HS. He starts 3rd base is in 5th in the hitting rotation. He can really hit! It's quite impressive to see him. We are very proud. Ally is playing softball. Tanner and Luke are playing Little League baseball. And Brett is playing rec league soccer. So, every day but Sunday we have a least 1 game. Tonight we actually have 3 games all at the same time and Patrick has stake meetings so I'll have fun watching all 3 of them. They really enjoy playing and it's fun to watch. Luke also turned 7 years old on Monday. He is growing up so fast. Next year he'll be baptized, we are just glad David will be home by then to be here for it. Other exciting news is that Kyle got accepted to BYU Idaho. He is really excited. He would probably rather go somewhere where he can play baseball but.... we'll see how things go. I think I've filled you in on all the major events here in our home... until next time here are some pictures taken 21 years ago today! Sorry I must have our other wedding photos saved on our other hard drive... so these are the only ones I have on this laptop! And I have to go or I would try and find the other ones!! I'm sure you'll get a laugh out of these ... especially the hair! WOW! Were we totally stylin' or what??!! :-)

One year ago today......

.....David entered the MTC and started his mission. Patrick and I flew out to Utah with him. It was an amazing, spiritual experience taking him to the MTC. I knew it was the right place for him to be. The experience was so sacred to both Patrick and I, we barely spoke the rest of the day... we were both just contemplating and pondering what happened. It was and still is very bittersweet feelings of that day. We were so happy and proud of David making this choice to serve a mission but at the same time so heart wrenching sad because we won't see him for 2 years and can't just pick up and call him when I felt like it. That aching feeling latest for about a month or so... I still miss him and wish I could talk to him but I have come to the realization that I can survive this especially since 1 million other mothers have done this before me. If they all survived so can I! :-)

Extreme Makeover- Beehive Addition

On March 10th... our ward YW had our New Beginnings Program. Ally and her friend Katie wrote a play (& starred in it too!) called "Extreme Makeover- Beehive Addition". It was totally amazing and so cute too. It was about how Beehives (and YW) need to use certain tools (including their personal progress book) to help them throughout their day/life... they had a tool belt and showed a new Beehive how to make good decision using the tool belt. It was really cute and spiritual at the same time. Everyone was very impressed with it. Also pictured below is a Beehive cake that someone in our ward made who is very, very talented (more than most people should be in my opinion!! :-). It was a fun, inspiring night for all the YW.

Our little GIRL....... our only GIRL........ is sweet 16!

Our little girl is now 16 years old! I can hardly believe it! She is a beautiful young women! We can't find too many faults with her except she has the world's messiest bedroom & she won't practice the piano without great persuasion & she makes me late for seminary (and as the teacher that isn't so good!! :-). Other than that she is absolutely the perfect teenager! She totally completed her Personal Progress and was going to the receive her Young Womenhood Recognition Award last November around that time they added the new value "virtue" and she said she wanted to finish that value before she got her medallion. She is also like 18th in her class at school so she is smart too. She really is perfect... she loves being a Laurel too!! She had a fun birthday party. She had a bunch of friends over and we had 2 Wii's on one with Guitar Hero Rock Band and the other with 2 DDR's!! We are very proud of our little girl!! Everyone wonders how we managed to get the perfect daughter. I know Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when He sent her to us because He had to make up for sending us 5 boys so He gave us one perfect girl!! As you can tell we love her a lot!!!

We Surround Them!

As most of you know... I am a huge Glenn Beck fan and avid listener to his radio program! He just simply makes sense plus as an added bonus he is LDS! I hope you all will take the time to watch his show on Fox News on Friday evening at 5 pm EST. I will be posting soon about Ally's 16th birthday, Ward Chili cook off, Brett's trip to the ER, and tonight's YW New Beginnings program!! It's been an incredibly busy week and with the time change now I am getting up at 3 am instead of 4 am and it's been tough to adjust!!
March 13th on FOX News 5pm ET Glenn Beck and others will be speaking! This is from Glenn's website:

Do you watch the direction that America is being taken in and feel powerless to stop it? Do you believe that your voice isn’t loud enough to be heard above the noise anymore? Do you read the headlines everyday and feel an empty pit in your stomach…as if you’re completely alone? If so, then you’ve fallen for the Wizard of Oz lie. While the voices you hear in the distance may sound intimidating, as if they surround us from all sides—the reality is very different. Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all. We surround them.

So, how do we show America what’s really behind the curtain? Below are nine simple principles. If you believe in at least seven of them, then we have something in common. I urge you to read the instructions at the end for how to help make your voice heard.

The Nine Principles
1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

12 Values
Honesty
Reverence
Hope
Thrift
Humility
Charity
Sincerity
Moderation
Hard Work
Courage
Personal Responsibility
Friendship
You Are Not Alone

If you agree with at least seven of those principles, then you are not alone. Please send a digital version of your picture to: wesurroundthem@foxnews.com and then stay tuned to the radio and television shows over the coming weeks to see how we intend to pull back the curtain.

Cow eyes anyone?

Which one is the cow eye??

Be very careful what you are eating when you come to our home... because it might not be a grape...or it could be cow eyes!! Okay... only 1 was a cow eye... see picture below with the flash on and you can easily see which one it is. The boys in our house (including Patrick... I should say mostly Patrick! :-) had so much fun with this cow eye over the weekend. Justin (Kyle's friend who is like a son to us) brought this to our house after dissecting it at school... so everyone that came over to our house this past week was asked if they wanted some grapes and then Patrick would pretend he was accidentally eating the cow eyeball! This was hilariously funny to all the boys in our house but Ally & I wouldn't even come close to touching this thing!!! It was disgusting!

Pinewood Derby Champion AGAIN!!

Brett won our tri-ward pinewood derby on Friday! For the 3rd year in row he won first place in the pinewood derby! He was so happy! We kept telling him that he's already won twice, it would be okay if he didn't win this year. Patrick and Brett worked on his car all week... they had a lot of fun together. Brett designed the car... they painted it Philadelphia Eagles green and then printed out Eagles logos to put stickers on his car! It looked totally sweet! He was so proud of it and then he won! He came in first in every single race! There was about 25 cars total in the race. Patrick and sons have made a total of 12 derby cars... now he has only 3 to go with Luke! Patrick loves this quality time with his sons... and they truly work on this together and makes it such a memorable experience for each of them... win or not! This year they happen to win! Everyone was asking why Brett was crying after he won... well that is a great question... why was Brett crying... because his mean mom made him put on his Cub Scout shirt (which he absolutely hates to wear) so when he got his award he would look like a Cub Scout! What a rough life!!
If any of you have spare time and are interested in seeing all 200+ pictures from David's memory card. Go to http://photobucket.com/davidsmission ... spare time! HA! HA!! David's camera broke too... he just emailed us yesterday so he is sending it back to us so we can get it repaired because it's still under warranty.

We also missed having pictures of Tanner's first trip to the Temple for baptisms! (Thanks to our broken camera!) It was a great day! Patrick and I were happy to be there with him. It was a special day.

Last week, Patrick & I spent Tuesday at the DC Temple to be there for friends that were sealed! I do have pictures of them (they emailed them to me!) It was a beautiful, special day for us to share it with them. Some of you might recognize the older teenage girl, Jessica, she is one of Ally's best friends and went on several of our family vacations with us! It was great to see her family sealed in the Temple. Many of you know we live 3 hours each way from the DC Temple so going twice in a week is a rare occurrence for us. It was beautiful and wish we could do it more often!

David finally sends us his memory card!!

David had planned to send us his memory card for Christmas but as missionaries do, they got very busy! It was such a joy to get new pictures! Although, we don't know who the people are in them (he just sends his memory card, no description of pictures). We are just thankful for pictures so it's hard to complain! He looks great and very happy! It looks absolutely beautiful in Switzerland. David is now in Germany as of February 5. Last Sunday his branch had 18 people attending. There is a lot of work to do for the missionaries in Germany and Switzerland! We are so thankful David is serving the Lord.

We've been HEART attacked!!

The YW/YM love us... they "heart attacked" our door during Tuesday night's activity! It's nice to be loved!! We love them too!!

It's a new year!

Yes, I think (& hope) I am finally going to try and update our blog more frequently! I have been reading lots of my friends blogs and I love it because it keeps me up to date on what they are doing so I thought maybe I'd try the same. I don't know how great I'll be with pictures but I'll try!! It usually takes me 6 months to download them from the memory card! :-)

Since so far all I have posted is about David receiving his mission call, I guess I'll first update everyone on David or Elder Hodges! He is doing great. He has been on his mission to the Switzerland Zurich Mission for 10 months! WOW! I honestly did not think I would ever say it has gone by quickly but truly it has. It was just David's 20th birthday on February 1st so I've been thinking of him more than usual lately. It's hard to imagine that the little baby I had 20 years ago is on a mission serving the Lord. I miss him terribly but I know he is doing the right thing! Today he is being transferred from Kreuzlingen, Switzerland to Offenburg, Germany! I used Google Earth and have seen his apartment and church building (well, it's not 100% clear but hey... it's better than nothing, right?)! I love google earth! The kids think I'm crazy and say "are you on google earth again?" when I really, really miss David, it is nice to look & see where he is. If any of you have had a son or daughter on a mission, I know you can relate... the rest of you will think I am a little (or a lot) crazy! Anyway... he is now is Germany - in the area where some of my ancestors are from!! He is also senior companion after being in the mission field for only 8 months! Anyway... I will try and post more exciting things next time like: Luke's 100 day of school project... my seminary lesson for tomorrow... or how to properly clean the kitchen floor! Okay so my life it just boring... what can I say??!! :-)