Happy Boy!

We were outside hanging with the neighbors while they washed their car and rhino. Dan was in LOVE!!! Jason promised him that when he was done he would take him for a ride. He couldn't stop smiling. Look closely in the back and you can see Danny in the shadows.

He is such a monkey!

Her first white dress

We blesses Sadie last Sunday. It was a beautiful blessing and she looked gorgeous. We missed you guys.

Moving Into Our New Office Diggs

We have spent the better part of this month moving from one office to this one. It is much improved from our last Mission Office. No smoke filled room when we arrive. It is so clean, airy and much more comfortable. For the past 2 weeks all of our office computers have not worked and so we all are feeling very stressed out trying to get caught up.

Along with changing offices we have also changed our Mission President... Richard is now sitting in for President Watkins... Just KIDDING! But doesn't he look good in the President's desk?

This is how our desks are situated in the office... I love it because I now have more control over Richard. I can kick him or throw something to get him to "shut it"....

I hate office work, ... So this is where I type, file and smile.... It seems to work because no one knows how miserable I am except for Richard.

Once again, Richard is in charge of all of the money... He takes care of the mission finances. His job is much more time intensive than mine... Gratefully....

Movie Night

We are back to "Early Marriage"... going from a 100 inch/diam. surround sound HDTV projector... to a little computer screen to watch movies... In any case we love to come home from work and watch a movie at the end of the day...

She loves to nurse...

She even dreams about it while sleeping.

Happy Fathers Day!

Church

Our chapel is just a small office space but it is surrounded on all sides by bars... So, Sunday morning when we go to church, the smell is quite interesting.... We all go home with tobacco on our clothes and smell like we have been partying hard!

Salamanca

Well, we headed to a different city today for another adventure. Salamanca is 2 hours northwest of Madrid. Here in the distance is their beautiful cathedral. There is a "old" part of the cathedral which was built in the 1200's but the remainder which is called the "new" part built in the 1500's. The view from a distance reminds me of a scene from "Star Wars". This city is very young and lively because of the University within.

Saturday in Salamanca

Here is the front entrance to the University. It is the oldest University in Spain. It was built in the 1200's. Columbus came here to learn some travel tips before leaving for America. For over 400 years, this University was one of the most prestigious in Europe. Today, it is not that well known except for American's who come to Spain for summer exchanges.
The streets are quite charming. We loved walking them and looking in the shops.
Believe it or not, we found Earnest Hemmingway and had lunch with him... Actually, his name is Ed and is an American living in Spain. We began a conversation with him and then he took us on a short tour of Salamanca. Plaza Mayor, here in Salamanca, is considered the finest Plaza in Spain. It is large, beautiful and very relaxing.

I have learned to love the Spanish hot coco and a churrio. The hot coco, is hot chocolate pudding, thick and rich and the churrio is similar to churrio's at Cost-co but not sweet. You dip the churrio in the chocolate and eat it. On cold days (our weather has turned cold, which we understand is very odd this time of year) such as we have had, hot chocolate and a churrio is perfect.
Not far from the Plaza was this park with vendors from different parts of Spain selling their wears... It was fun to look at but there would be no way to get this stuff home..

Day at the Prado Museum

Richard and I are getting very good at going from our apartment, into Madrid via the train. It only takes 30 minutes to get into the center of Madrid called Plaza de Sol. From there we walked to the Prado Museum.It rained most of the day but even so I was able to get a pic of dad in front of the Prado. The Prado is second only to Paris's Louvre. (Many say it is even better in some respects.) We spent over 4 hours in the Museum and still didn't get to see everything we wanted to see, but our feet and legs gave out. There are many great works from:El Greco, Diego Velazquez, Luis de Morales, and Francisco de Goya, Rubens, Raphael, etc, . The museum is 3 floors and has over 8,000 paintings, with many early Roman sculptures, coins, drawings etc. We had so much fun reading and seeing such great works of art.
We bought a Prado Guide book and will study it and then go back to see the art we missed the first time we went.

Fun with Family

It was so much fun having Lori come visit us for a long weekend. Thought we'd share a few fun pics of her trip. We hung out the fist few days and went to natalie's dance recital. The last few days we drove around Minneapolis, saw the Temple, walked through the sculpture gardens and then took a drive into Stillwater. The kids enjoyed Aunt Lori so much. Isaac kept calling her his babysitter, I have no clue where he got that.
Thanks Lori for coming out. We can't wait to see you in July!

Merida, Spain

On Friday after work, we decided to take a weekend car ride to the boarder of Spain and Portugal. It is an area that will be out of our mission once the boundaries have changed in July. We knew that there were some interesting places to visit and so we took the opportunity to go. Merida, was a Roman city built around 25 B.C. It has one of the best preserved Roman Theaters and Antiteatro, in Spain, which was the place of many battles with Roman Gladiators. There was also a wonderful Roman Museum well worth our time.
It is hard to believe how old these ruins are, and how well preserved some of the structures are.
We also went to Caceres, a city close by Merida, and took the Sister Missionaries, Sister Ball and Sister Cannuci, out to lunch. Sister Ball comes from an LDS family living in Sandy, Utah. Sister Cannuci is from Italy and she is the only member of her family to join The Church. Richard felt very bad for them because they will be sent to the other mission when our boarders change. We had a great time with them and a so, so lunch (Spanish food isn't the best).

We returned home on Sunday afternoon and it is hotter than blazes... We only wish we had a cool swimming pool to cool off in.

The best part of Merida was the museum, where we were not allowed to take any pictures. They had preserved many fine statues and masonry artifacts. The most stunning were the huge mosaics measuring 20' x 30' or more. They were massive and both Hermana Seel and I marveled how they could be mounted so perfectly on tericota bricks, which is what the museum was built with. They were breathtaking and stunning both in their size and display. I wish we could have taken a few pictures so that you could see for yourself.

The drives between Merida and Caceras was like us driving from Martinez up to Redding. Especially the part of that drive between Red Bluff and Redding, where the hills gently roll and the oak trees pepper the landscape. We drove through the most beautiful rolling hills on the way up to Caceras. It was like going home.

The Monson Boys Shelter: Walk-ins Welcome

If anyone is looking for their missing boys, there is a good chance I've got them! This week I have had Mason (my friend Heather's son) while his mom is at girls camp and my sister's boys came over today while their mom is off visiting my brother and his new baby. We've had a great time playing in the sprinklers, riding bikes and playing.

Cody, me, Mason, Carson, Danny, Josh, Caden and Jake

Here's everyone's silly faces!