Eric's Big Brazilian Bash

Eric, whose birthday falls right before New Year's Eve usually just made New Year's Eve his party. I decided it would be fun to throw him a party and invite all his family and friends which meant throwing the party at the church.....
First, we decorated....which was quite fun. All the kids and some of their friends helped!

Kylie was the main decorator!

Ryan, Jacob and Thomas did the balloons!

Eric even helped!

Yea! We're done!

I was in the kitchen making rice, beans, sausage, fresh Salsa, and Brazilian candies.

Eric and his friends are ready to party!

The best part of the whole night was a slide show by Sterling Sudweeks (shown here with his wife, Claudia). Sterling served a mission in Brazil about 20 years ago and just recently got to go back and had a lot of interaction with many of the people he taught. He shared those experiences and it was incredible.


Here are some of the guests: Uncle Craig and kids

Uncle Kevin, Aunt Bev, Thomas and Eric

Grandma, of course

Aunt Donelle, Uncle Jerry, Brittany and Mike

The Grahams

Teri and Gary Quigg

Paula Carter and girls!

The Soderstrom Clan

Uncle Don, Aunt Janice and girls!

The Seamons

Uncle Gary, Aunt Nicole, Zach and Sean&Meagan

Heuers and Quiggs
See Matt in the baseball cap at the end. He was the other best part of the night. He got up and taught all of us how to sing Happy Birthday in Portuguese! He did great! Definitely comfortable behind a mic and singing solos!

Eric's favorite table with all his friends

Then we had to CLEAN UP......THAT was not so fun....it kind of made me think, Gee, this is like a wedding lunch....what was I thinking????

Then we went home and lit the candles, sang happy birthday again and opened gifts!

New luggage! That should come in handy!

Eric's Mission Call

Eric turned his mission papers in on September 30 (the earliest he could turn them in ) and he received his call in the mail on Friday October 10th. The letter came around noon but we waited until all of Eric's siblings could be home which was 9:30 pm. By then lots of friends and extended family had heard we were gathering and we invited them to come. There was quite a crowd of supporters listening as Eric read his letter.



The letter sat tentalizingly unopened on our dining room table for about nine hours. We happen to have a world map on our table so it was kind of fun to wonder "where in the world will Eric be going." In fact, as everyone gathered, people wrote on the envelope where they thought he might go.

Finally, everyone was gathered and Eric started opening the envelope...

Oh, the anticipation....

Never was opening an envelope so enthralling.....


I just love the expressions on everyone's faces.


Dear Elder Moe:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Brazil Salvador Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday, 21 January 2009. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Portuguese language.

You can hear Eric read the letter himself live on video found on Katrina's blog (www.lifeoftheseamons.blogspot.com).

We are so excited for Eric and so very proud of his decision to serve a mission. He has such a happy attitude and loving nature that I am sure he will love being a missionary even during the hard times.

General Conference Weekend

We were all together for conference for the Sunday session. It was so nice to have our college-aged kids home. Even though they all live in Provo, we aren't often all together at the same time. Kamryn, of course, was the center of attention.


The Uncles love their niece.


CUTE SMILE!


I think Kamryn has such beautiful features. I love her little princess lips, her pert little nose, her beautiful, wide eyes (she rarely blinks--like she doesn't want to miss a second of the big world by blinking), and her cute hairline and round face.


I wanted to get a picture of four generations of Burdett Women. (And three Generations of Moe women!) We will get a four generation picture with Grandma Moe in November!

Katrina and I had seen a picture of a couple we know with their new baby that was set up a little like the above shot, but we just couldn't get a good one. This one makes me laugh because Kamryn looks a little frightened like "What are you doing to me!" We tried a different pose and got this next one (with some photo-shopping!)

Brandon has been around for a Decade!

Happy Birthday to my youngest child! He's 10! WOW! Wasn't he just born?Brandon celebrated his actual birthday on the 4-wheeling trip. He had a family party when he got home the next day. He had a friend party the next weekend.
I had planned on sending a present with Randy to give to Brandon on his actual birthday while they were on the trip but I forgot to send it with Randy. I called Randy after they had left to tell him to buy something at a store before they leave civilization. Randy is so great. He remembered, found the present I had hidden and took it. I'd never discussed it with him so I was very impressed. He is so amazing.
When Brandon got home we gave him his main gift: a ripstick, helmet and pads. He asked for a pink one. He is very secure in his manhood! Real men can have pink rip-sticks!



Happy Birthday Brandon! We love you!

Randy and the Boys go 4-wheeling

On the weekend of September 27th, Randy took all four of his sons with him to go 4-wheeling (with Jeff and Craig and some of their kids). He originally was planning on taking two boys: Eric because he would be going on a mission soon and taking Brandon because it was his birthday weekend. Ryan found out Jacob Heuer was going, so he hinted around that he wanted to go so Randy ended up taking everyone. How could he leave just Austin home? Such a good Dad. As it turned out Austin was excited about the option of being home to play "screens" all by himself. We made him go 4-wheeling... he needs to learn there are other fun things besides video games!

Randy enjoying the beautiful scenery
Gorgeous! Wish you were here!
Austin communing with nature.

Enough of nature! Let's do screens!

Eric teasing Makayla! Hey, what's your stuffed animal doing on the antenna?

It hailed while they were out and about. They found a tree and waited it out!

Pretty big little hailstones!