A BRIEF OF WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IN MY FAMILY!

Okay, so besides Prop 8, our family has been really busy lately! Amazingly busy, actually! Scott has had, and continues to have a lot going on with his Stake YM's calling. In fact, you should have seen him dressed like Indiana Jones for the last stake dance! He looked awesome! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of him! :( His next project is a youth fireside this weekend called "Dating 911". (That is the first performance, then we'll do it again in about a month!) He, with the help of others has a great skit that will be performed for the youth in our stake. (I'll let you know how it goes afterwards. I'm in it! LOL) Fortunately, we've had a lot of other fun as a family in there, too! But first I need to say a few thanks here....I have the best buddy in the world! She has kept my family well nourished....We have received homemade peach pie, wheat bread, cinnamon pull aparts, "mormon" tirimisu, and lasagne. (I hope I didn't forget anything!) It has all been so yummy! Not only that, we've gone to dinner for steak, and Mexican food. Sound good? Well, it has been! We've also been to Cold Stone Creamery and Powell's Sweet Shoppe (http://powellssweetshoppe.com/) for gelato! Yum, Yum! Okay, so my waistline is really messed up about now! It has been a ton of fun and we (Scott and I) love doing things with my buddy and her hubby!!! It has helped keep me SANE!!!!!! We look forward to more fun with them ahead!

Another way I'm going to be kept sane is by going to Utah to take care of Sage for a couple of weeks while her mommy is in Austria with her other Grandma! Am I a lucky Grandma or what? I can hardly wait! Let the spoiling begin! LOL I'll be flying out on Monday morning!

As for the rest of the family Scott and David will come to Utah at the end of the week and visit. Scott will leave to Montana to fish with his brother, and David will stay with me so we can get some of his missionary clothes. It will be nice to have some time to concentrate on David and get him ready to go and serve the Lord! So exciting!

As for Steven, he is in his 3rd week of "Police Dispatcher" School. That is his new project! He loves it! We call him our resident volunteer in the public safety area! He may live at our house, but we never see him as he is either working ambulance, volunteering at the fire department or the police department! What a life of a bachelor! LOL

So, now that you know I'm alive....I hope all of you are doing well!

I am still alive!!!

For those of you who may have wondered what happened to me.......well, I am alive! I have been very busy in life, not only with my family and church responsibilities but also being our towns zip code coordinator for "Yes on Prop 8". (The proposition on the California ballot that says that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California".) You may wonder what a "zip code coordinator" does. Well, we get the names of all the registered voters in our town and try to contact as many of them as possible to let them know about Prop 8. It has been an interesting process getting people to volunteer on this important moral amendment that will affect everyone if it doesn't pass here. Fortunately, I have had the support of my mother-in-law and she has been a strong advocate as well as many others. Scott and I also visited with leaders of different churches to see where they stand. Many are seeing the moral value of this proposition and are on board with it. It has been an interesting experience and one that I know that I am supposed to be doing. Up until now, if anyone would have ever asked me if I would ever do something like this, I would have said, "no". But, I am so glad to be involved in standing up for the rights of my family, my children and the institution of marriage! And....I'm happy to say that most of my town has been informed about Prop 8! If any of you that are reading this are interested in more information go to http://www.protectmarriage.com/

DAVID'S MISSION CALL...

(Little did we know when we took this picture this past summer

that the Spokane temple would be part of David's future mission!)

Today was an exciting day for us as we opened the mailbox to find the envelope from the Office of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints....Yes, the valued big white envelope that every worthy young man waits anxiously for at the mailbox. Unfortunately at our house, we didn't know that everything had been totally completed with the Bishop and Stake President, so it was more of a shock that it had arrived because we weren't expecting it so soon! But it was a wonderful shock at that! Scott called David and showed him the envelope and then we woke up Steven from a much needed nap. It was pretty exciting to watch David open the envelope as the rest of us sat in the living room. We have a tradition in our family that when the "Elder" envelope gets opened we cover the letter so you can only see one line at a time. This prevents the missionary from seeing where they are going until they get to that line! Fortunately, it is usually the second line of the letter, after the opening. David was thrilled to find out that he will be serving the Lord in the Washington Spokane Mission, English speaking. He will report to the MTC in Provo, Utah on December 10th. As his mother, I have to admit that I really felt like he was going to go to Washington or Oregon, so I wasn't surprised when he said that. The fun part is that he will be serving in places that we just spent our last Allred Family Reunion visiting. He is now looking forward to all the things he needs to do to prepare for this wonderful experience that he will have serving the Savior. We are so excited for him. After opening the call David then shared the news by first calling Michael, Kim and Sage, then lots of other loved ones, relatives and friends. What a special day! We are so extremely grateful for David and his desire to serve the Lord.