A Spare Minute!

A Spare Minute! Monday, November 9, 2009

So my companion dragged me back to the church because with his camera he wants to download his pictures onto the computer and send them I'm just going to send you my card sometime soon.
The letter I wrote was a real masterpiece and there is no way I'll have time to rewrite it, but I'll give you the Highlights version
This week we got to hear from Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He came to speak to the Seattle Mission and the Tacoma mission. He insisted on shaking everybody's hand when he shook mine he said, "Elder Long, Long way from home?" It was hilarious because me and Elder Martin (one of the missionaries in my zone) were making puns about my name while we were in line. I plan on saving that story for my grandkids. This week we were back on bike because the oil pan under the transmission was punctured. It was exciting it offered me a chance to bike in the hardest rain I've seen since I've been here it was also the first time I've done such a long bike ride. It was an hour plus to the appointment and and an hour plus back by the time we got home we were drenched I've only ever been that wet when I was in the pool or the tub. however my coat kept my upper half warm and reasonably dry. We are still teaching Isabell she is way awesome. I got the opportunity to teach a lesson on Honesty in church a few weeks ago and it filled my heart with joy and gratitude when she told us that she had been tempted to be dishonest and chose to be honest because of the lesson we taught and that she felt so good when everything worked out even though she chose not to tell a little lie to make her look a little better. She said she went to bed feeling wonderful that night. It made me glad to be a part of this wonderful work. We did get our car back Saturday after the rain started to let up a little all in all it was a great week I know that as I submit my will to the Savior and serve him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength I can bless not only the lives of others, but the lives of my self, my family, and my friends.
I love you guys
A lot
if I took the time to tell you how much this would be a really LONG letter
the other letter had a lot more puns, but I don't have time to figure them out. That is awesome that pats computer is getting set up I was excited to read the email that was here when I came and checked again.
that reminds me I got both my flu shots this week the regular variety flu shot and the swine style.
Oh and I have been doing better about making the most of my exercise time in the morning. I've even been doing a little bit of fencing practice with a toy sword some LONG gone missionary left in the apartment being this nerdy sure can be fun sometimes. Oh and I think that Joel's argument over whether Gandalf or Albus would win in a battle is a foregone conclusion. Albus always wins even when he dies he wins. It doesn't matter what the opponent does no matter how unexpected he is always five steps ahead even when things don't work out the way he expects his plans still come to fruition and his army still triumphs plus Dumbldores followers are a bunch of wizards and Gandalfs followers are four hobbits, a dwarf, an elf, a Secret king, and a wannabe king (who dies). Gandalf should just give up.


I love you guys and I hope you all have a great week sorry that you didn't get the original much better version.
LOVE ELDER LONG
no seriously I love you guys
a lot
so keep being reading and praying daily I wouldn't want to lose any of you I want to see each and everyone of you in the celestial Kingdom
LOVE

Roy’s Latest Email

Man I'm Tired

Monday October 26, 2009

FUNNY misconception. I always thought that Preparation Day was a relaxing day where one could take care of all the little things that can't be done in the ordinary missionary schedule. HAHAHAHAHAHA WRONG!

This is my seventh Preparation day since I've gotten to the Washington Seattle Mission. It's like a fantastic nightmare you look forward to it all week, but when it comes you never have time to finish everything that needs to get done. I was trying to figure out how many letters I would need to write to be mostly caught up with all the wonderful correspondence I've received. I managed to write five so far today and, I still have 9 more that I need to write. Unfortunately last week I only got one letter so if I continue at this pace I'll be caught up in three more weeks. I hope everything is going ok at home I was kind of worried when you didn't contact me at all last week. How did the testing go. Is this testing in regards to live liver transplant or just liver transplant in general? I'm pretty excited about being here working with Elder Burton. We have two individuals on date for baptism right now Isabell Dec. 26th and Khoune Nov 21st. It is a long road for both, but whom better to help them down a LONG road. (hahahaha) Last night I had dinner with my new Bishop, Bishop Durham he has two little girls age 6 and 3 (AND A HALF she was very insistent on that) and one 8 month year old baby he was crawling around a bunch which makes me wonder is Zach moving around much yet? How is everybody doing? Did Aaron's team finish the season undefeated? What craziness is going on now? How are things in the Taylor Crossings Kitchen? How cold is it there? What does the house look like I'm curious what decorations you put up? Every decked out house I come to here I instantly compare to Dad's decoration's (you're still as of yet winning based on house decorations of years past).
Have you guy's been helping the local missionaries. Have you been inviting your friends to church? How has family scripture study been going (I still hate 6:30 it's such a horrid time of day) have you guys been staying pretty faithful? How is everyone's personal scripture study going? Any cool stories you want to share? Now that I've loaded this email with all sorts of questions you guys can't help but send me a response in some form or another. Mail or email you can't leave these questions unanswered. Well I love you all and I'll write again next week. If you're lucky you may get a letter from me this week although like I pointed out earlier I'm way behind. That is one mission rule that I'm not going to break no matter how much you guys tempt me by sending me lots of letters in fact I'd challenge you to tempt me just so I can show you how obedient I am (I wonder if this reverse plea for letters is going to be effective).
LOTS OF LOVE
I mean A LOT A LOT OF LOVE
I mean we're talking EIGHTEEN WHEELER FULL OF LOVE
you guys are great thanks for all the love and support you make me proud (in the not unrighteous way)


Love Elder Long
back to the letters
by the way thank you for sticking through to the end and enduring this LONG LETTER
Did I mention my new companions name is Burton not much you can do with that except take a Long ride down the mountain
Oh and this week we got a car which is good because being in two car area's in a row riding bike was kind of killing me
it took way too LONG to get where we were going (not to mention I can only keep up for so Long)
Oh and bishop Durham not knowing what he was opening himself up to made a joke out of my name last night at dinner. Needless to say it was a LONG dinner.
The End

Roy’s Latest Email

Capitol Hill or BUST!‏

10/20/09

So in the MTC we met a Return Missionary who had been to the Seattle Mission. One of the things that he talked a lot about was the terrors of Capitol Hill apparently it's the center of the weird gay's of the world. Apparently most missionaries don't end up serving there because there are so many area's so most of us MTC trainees felt safe from

receiving that call in fact I had almost pushed the Idea of Capital Hill completely out of my mind. Today after emails we went to make the transfers imagine my surprise to find that my second transfer I was sent to Capitol Hill. To make things even more exciting I'll be here during Halloween. I'm so stoked! My new Companion is Elder Burton he's been out for a little over a year apparently he came out September 19, 2008. He seems really cool I'm excited to get to work with him. Apparently this is another slow area so hopefully we will be able to get things going he seems excited about the work although he seems a little discouraged with the ward, but that can be fixed.
How are you guys doing we're going to go shopping after this I had to figure out what this apartment already had and what I was going to need. Unfortunately I'm going to have to buy more pancake mix, the good news is if I hadn't been transferred I have had to buy more anyway because I was running low. The great think about pancake mix is its super cheap and lasts a lot of mornings. Well now I'm just rambling about pancake mix so I think I should just get off and write a letter or two. Hope you have a great week Thanks for all the letters and love
Elder Long

Roy's Latest Email

Tuesday October 20, 2009
Exciting News
I'm getting transferred. We found out Saturday Night I'm not going to be working the Bellevue First Ward anymore. I guess that means I won't get a chance to convert Bill Gates (Oh well!). Yesterday we also got another miracle because the mission just picked up a few new cars. Bellevue First was selected to become a Car area which means that for the first thirty minutes I served in this area and for the last 21 hours I served here I was in a car area I'm pretty sure I'll end up in a bike area next because it would mess up the joke if I ended up having a car for a whole day. So this week was a good week we ended up teaching twelve total lessons. The mission president tells us that if we can teach ten total lessons consistently then we will baptize every other month if we can get that up to twelve to fourteen then we will baptize every month and if we can get it up to 20 total lessons a week which is the goal we all want to achieve then we will baptize 2 a month this is all according to the general trends it changes when you count in the people, but it is exciting that we have been able to get our area up to twelve before I leave. Hopefully Elder Sharp and who ever his new companion is can keep the work on the upward path. Yesterday we went on a tracting exchange with the Spanish elders it was incredible we found five new investigators (usually we don't even find five in a whole week and this was just in the first few hours of Monday morning) unfortunately none of them were in our area sever were Spanish speaking and the rest reside in Bellevue thirds area. Oh well we're all on the same team. Well I love you all and I hope to keep hearing from you the letters of love and support have really kept me excited the other day I was cursed with four letters it was horrible I didn't have time to read them all the first day I had to save some for the next day it was fantastic probably the best trial I've ever experienced. Thanks Nyki and Paul for the Pictures I have to say Zach is still my favorite second cousin, but he'd better watch out because Sophie was pretty cute. I love you all and I hope you all will continue to do your best and be your best Never Forget that this is the true church because it's Christ's Church built on his GospelHave I mentioned that I love you allwell I do so have a great week.

Just another Post

Once again a lot has happened since my last post. College life is crazy and I just haven't had time to update until now. Roy left on his mission on the 19^th of September; I was unable to go with the rest of the family to drop him off because I had Marching Band Camp that whole week. The other kids all said they had a really good time but it was hard dropping him off. Roy left the MTC a few weeks later and is now in Bellevue, Washington. We usually receive emails from him once a week and they are amazing they always boost my spirits. If you would like us to send them to you just shoot us an email and we will forward them on. Or if you would like to send him a letter his address is,

Elder Roy Long
13353 Bel-Red Road
Bellevue, Washington 98005

    Ashlee is doing really well in school; she is taking several honors classes and having a lot of fun hanging out with her friends at the football games and other school activities. Right now she is trying to catch up on school work she missed out on due to a sinus infection last week. She is still playing the clarinet in band and has her first concert on October 29.

    Aaron is busy with sports, his football team has gone undefeated this season and they have their championship game on Saturday. (I wish I could say the same about my football team.) He just started wrestling last week and is pumped about that. He is also involved in band but can't seem to decide between the Tuba and the Trombone.

    Timothy has been busy with school work and Cub Scouts. He is extremely excited about getting to spend next week in Kanab with Grandma and Grandpa while Mom and Dad go to Phoenix. Timothy loves his teacher this year, especially since she doesn't assign homework over the weekend. He never fails to remind me of that when I call to check on him. Man what a life!

    I am having tons of fun at College, my roommate and our friends Jessica and Rosie have been having way too much fun trying to break me of my bedtime. I must admit as much as I enjoy going to bed before 2:00 in the morning all of the fun things seem to happen at night. I was asked to go to the Military Ball with a boy in my ward and am way excited for that and I have been lovin' the fact that my math teacher has Swine Flu because that means I don't have math at 8:00 in the morning. I am sure that is going to come back to haunt me latter.

    As you probably know if you have been checking Dad's post, we got another call for a transplant and once again it was no good. For those of you who don't already know Dad and Mom have also been looking into the living donor option. Dad has a friend that works with him that has offered him his liver and they have been thinking very seriously about trying this route. They are going to Phoenix next week to meet with a transplant team there to see if it is possible. There is more information about this on Dad's Blog you should check it out if you haven't already; it clears a lot of things up and gives some more details.

    Well that is about all that has been happening around here, hope I haven't bored you out of your mind. We appreciate all that everyone has done for us especially the Rockwood's and Schweider's and are grateful for the amazing friends and family.

Thank you for the love, support and prayers.

Love ya,

        Annie

From False Call to Mission Call

Man a lot has happened since the last post. Sorry I haven't been dedicated about updating the blog. I thought once school got out I would have more time to do those kinds of things. As I said a lot has happened and I suppose the best place to start is where I left off.
The next two weeks in May were pretty calm (comparatively) Roy got home on the first of May and was able to help Dad take care of Zach while Nyki and Mom were at work. Zach as gotten so big he no longer is content to just sleep all day which makes him rather fussy when he is not given your full attention. This made it very difficult for Dad to take care of him. Before Roy got home Ashlee and I would come home during lunch to calm him down and get him to sleep. It worked out pretty well except we were often late for class; our teachers were fine with it when we explained the situation but it was a great relief when Roy was able to take over Zach Duty.
Finals for me were a pain but I made it through or else I would assume so (I never actually saw my scores) because I was able to graduate with honors. Looking back I think Heavenly Father was blessing us with those few calm weeks to give us the strength for what he had in store the last week of May.
Late Monday the 25th Grandma, Grandpa, Jacob, Josh, and Brandie arrived at our house for the week's events. On Tuesday I got to go to Lagoon with all of the Seniors of Bonneville High school for our senior trip. It was a blast! My friends and I got stuck on top of the White Roller Coaster for almost 20 min. while it poured buckets of rain, it was great fun! On the way home Mom informed me that Aunt Betsey had just had her Baby Boy so Grandma, Grandpa and Josh had gone up to Rexburg to help out with her other four kids.
Wednesday was even more exciting. After a grueling three hours of graduation practice some of my friends and I decided we need some sugar to get us through the next few days so we went and got Ice Cream at the local dairy (Reed's Dairy is the best Ice cream you will ever have, even better than Aggie Ice cream and that is saying something, it must be the potato flakes.) while we were eating our Ice cream and reminiscing about high school, I got a phone call from Dad, We Got The Call! Oh my Gosh I thought I was going to explode I was so excited!!! One of my friends drove me home (in his Mustang) so I could see Mom and Dad before they left for SLC. I was afraid I was going to miss them but when we pulled into the driveway they were still there, they had been waiting for the other kids to get out of school so we could have a family prayer before they left.
Ashlee got home shortly after me and was balling because she thought I would feel forgotten because Mom and Dad weren't going to be at graduation. Several of our Young women's leaders had showed up to offer support and to promise me that they would be there cheering me on tomorrow.
Before Mom and Dad could even get out the door the Relief society had already showed up with enough food to feed a third world country. Mom and Dad got on the road a little after four and made it to SLC with plenty of time to spare.
When they arrived at the Hospital they were told they would have to wait until after midnight because the donor had not yet died. When they were Finally ready to harvest the organs (around 4:00 am) the doctor discovered none of the organs were healthy enough for donation, so they ended up sending Dad and several others home without transplants.
Dad was starving he hadn't eaten anything since the breakfast sandwich I made him around 10:00 Wednesday morning. So Mom and Dad got breakfast and then drove as far as Tremonton where they stayed for a few hours to take a nap and rest before they got home to the chaos that awaited them there.
They got home with an hour or so before graduation. Graduation was just like any other nothing exciting happened except that all of the graduates gave the Principal a key for him to use to try and unlock his car which we had unbeknownst to him chained to a tree, his daughter had the key he needed but by the time he got to her he started sticking them in the diplomas when he handed them to the students ( I don't know how he Finally got his car free, that should teach him to never give away something his daughter gives him.)
After graduation we had a small party where I was extremely spoiled with gifts ranging from a small TV that was probably made in the early 80's to an amazing blender my favorite sister and my cousin gave me. I will no longer have nightmare about not being able to make milkshakes while I am at college. After that Dad set up a drive in movie for my friends and I in our driveway so we could have our own Senior all nighter instead of going to the athletic club and paying an outrageous price to swim and play volley-ball. It was great fun and lasted almost to four. I however fell asleep several time during the movies but I don't think I am the only one.
Friday we spent getting ready for Jacob and Brandie's wedding on Saturday. Saturday we went to a Baby Shower for Betsey and then threw together a Wedding in just a few hours. It was a chaotic and frustrating experience but it happened and now Jacob and Brandie have been married for almoste two months.
On Sunday we blessed Zach and the family left. It is kind of weird going from a house that is bursting at the seams with people to just us but it is so nice at the same time.
Roy turned 19 on the 19th of June. Roy completed his mission papers and submitted them by the end of June.
On the second of July Dad, Mom, Ashlee and I went to Utah for Dad's swim team reunion. Mom, Ashlee and I felt a little out of place but Dad had a great time reuniting with his swim team buddies. We got home mid-morning on the Fourth. Mom had to drive up to Rexburg to take care of some family drama that cropped up between the little boys and Grandpa, it got pretty tense there for a little while but it seems to have worked out now so we will see what happens. Latter that night we made our own little firework show in our driveway and had a blast blowing things up with Mom.
Ashlee turned 15 on the fifth, Mom made her a Delicious cake that we took Rexburg and shared with the whole Long/Smith family because Betsey and Trent were also blessing their baby Colman that day.
On July 8 Roy received his mission call to the Seattle Washington mission, he leaves the 19 of August! we have a big map on our wall in the basement with sticky-notes where everybody guessed he would go and where all of our family members have served. It is really cool to see how far the Long/Fulgham/Smith family has gone to serve The Lord.
On the 13th Timothy turned 10 and we had a nice little party with a Giant Oreo Cookie Cake. he was so funny because all he wanted for his birthday was a clock, a watch and a Pocket watch, you would think he was having a hard time keeping track of time or something. It is funny to see him walk around the house with a watch on both wrists and a pocket watch hanging out of his gym shorts. Ah little brothers you never know what to expect with them.
Roy had his interview with the Bishop and Stake President on Sunday and is now a worthy temple recommend holder (Sunday is exactly one month after his birthday and he leaves on the 19 of August two months after his birthday, kind of cool hu?). He is planning on going through the temple sometime next week.
We have the big Donald and Elberta Long Family Reunion in Lagoon the the 24th and 25th and so we are getting ready for that. we have had some issues getting work schedules straightened out and figuring out transportation. The way it looks right now most of us will be riding up with Betsey and Trent Thursday night because Dad is not up to going. Ashlee has invited her best friend Acacia from Colorado to come with us. Acacia will be flying into Idaho Falls on Friday night and so Mom will be driving her up to spend Saturday in Lagoon with us. It is pretty exciting.
August looks to be an other crazy month for our family. Nyki has recently become engaged to Paule Knight, a nurse that works at the Life Care Center where Pat is. He is a great man and seams to really care and love Nyki and Zach. He seams very mature and has been preparing for Nyki and Zach to join his family. They will be married in August and then we will have a reception for them in September.
Aaron doesn't turn 13 until the 9th of August but he is already acting like a teenager, butting heads with Dad and doing the exact thing you tell him not to. It is probably a good thing I am going away for college, I won't be at home fighting with Aaron and making everything harder for Mom and Dad.
Of coerce Roy enters the MTC on the 19th, we are planning on all going. We will leave Monday so we can get a Steak and Cheese Sandwich from the Italian Place on Tuesday and then dropping him off at the MTC on Wednesday. When I say dropping him off I am serious, no longer is the family allowed inside the MTC you have to just drop the Missionaries off at the curb and go. It is going to be a hard trip home.
This week is going to be especially hard for Mom because she is not just loosing Roy on Wednesday but I leave for College on Friday. I however am just going an hour away to Idaho State University in Pocatello. I will be staying in the dorms with Kelsey Jones a friend of mine from school and a fellow band nerd. It should be lots of fun.
Hopefully these next few weeks will be fun and memorable. Though with our luck we will probably get the call right in the middle of all of it. As crazy as that sounds, we would just be happy to get Dad better.
Well I think I have probably bored you out of your mind now so I will stop writing, not to mention I think my fingers will start bleeding soon from all this typing. As bad and crazy as our life may seem it is so full of blessings and it is never hard to see God's Hand helping us along the way. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support.

We Love y'all
Annie

The Ridiculously Long Update

Hey guys,

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. Life has been pretty busy. Who would guess a senior would be busy. Things have been going pretty good around here. Zach has been out of the hospital for over two months now and is just thriving. The doctors say he is doing great and to treat him like a regular baby. The way it is looking he will not need to have his heart surgery until he is three or four.

Nyki and Zach are both living with us right now and it has been a lot of fun having a baby in the house with out having to be the one who has to get up with it-not that I have ever had to get up with a baby in the middle of the night, but still it is good.

Roy is done with his first year of college now and is home with us, it is always better when Roy is home. Right now Roy is preparing for his mission and getting all of his dental work done. Soon he will be able to put his papers and in and get called on a mission. Isn't Life exciting?

I am almost done with High school and I can't wait. I have the count down started... as of next Monday there will be exactly ten days of school left for me (not counting graduation practice and the senior Lagoon trip.) I got my senior pictures taken two weeks ago and created my Graduation Announcement so now all I have to do is get them printed up and mailed out. Just in case I don't get them out in time consider your self Officially invited. It is on Thursday May 28th at 7:00 at Bonneville High School.

I got back on Sunday from a State Solo Band Competition where I took Third Place out of all the French Horns in Idaho. It was pretty exciting. I Had a great accompanist who took me to Boise where the competition was held. We had a wonderful time and I am so grateful for her help.

Ashlee has been busy with school projects and book reports. She just recently did a science project on the Hydroelectricity plant here in town, not only did she get a perfect score on it the teacher asked her to find out who to contact about getting a tour of the dam for their class. She participated in our schools Academic Excellence Program's reward day which consisted of Go-kart racing, Pizza, and a movie, not to mention she pretty much got a get out of school free card.

Tomorrow she has an activity with the National Honors Society.

Aaron is struggling with Seventh grade and anything to do with school. He has recently found the Joy of books and has been doing a lot of reading which is really surprising because reading is typically related to school.

Timothy has become crazy about the Harry Potter books and has been reading along with the books on tape. He is rather funny about it because he will not listen to them on CD, it has to be tape, even if it means he has to wait for them to be returned to the Library before he can check it out.

Mom is still working at the Charter school on weekdays and then McDonalds on Saturdays. She spent last Thursday through Saturday in Twin Falls, Id at a lunch lady convention and had a lot of fun hanging out with the girls. She was so excited about the trip she went out and bought some new Pj's just in case they decided to have a slumber Party. I was able to meet up with her on Friday on my way to Boise to have lunch with her for my Birthday.

Dad just got back from Salt Lake. Sadly it was not because he got the transplant but because he had to get more tests. There is more information about his trip on his blog just click on the link on the right side of the screen to check it out. Dad has been doing a lot of reading lately also. He is running low on books so if you have any suggestions we would greatly appreciate them. It seems like even the long 600 page books don't last him more than a week or two.

Well now that I have probably bored you out of you mind I will finish this ridiculously long blog and let you get on with your life. Thank you as always for your love and support, we appreciate it more than you could possibly know.

I love you all ,

Love Annie