Christmas is over and so much has happened. First some things about Christmas.  Christmas eve started with our assignment at the PCC dressed in our wonderful costumes.  We had double the number of guests to greet...over 900!  It seemed like the line would never end.  Then we went home to crab legs from Costco.  They tasted so good.  I prepared a Christmas program that included a talk by Pres. Monson, the Nativity, Tabernacle Choir and our traditional sharing.  It worked but was certainly not the "real thing."  Then it was Christmas morning. We missed the huge Grandma Morgan stockings, but still had plenty of stuff from Santa. 

Kaye and Dennis on Christmas Morning opening Stockings

We opened presents and found lots of treasures.  Here are some photos.

Dad got a helicopter from the Boys

The best part of Christmas was having Facetime with all the family.  This is a great blessing of technology.

Santa left some pearl earrings for Mom

A Christmas Birdfeeder from the girls

After seeing what Santa left. We went with the other missionaries to the Turtle Bay resort for their annual Christmas buffet.  It had lots of food which was good, but not really Christmas dinner.  No green olives or baked yams.  But everything else you can imagine.

Wrights, Rowells, Frogleys Christmas 2013

Because we had the rest of the week off we went on a hike with the Cardnos up the side of the mountain south of Laie.  It was a two hour hike that went through real Hawaiian jungle vegetation of all different types.  We had cloud, sun, rain, fog during those two hours at different elevations.

Dad and Gary on the Hike

To celebrate our anniversary we decided to take a driving trip to Honolulu.  First we went to the International Market a Honolulu tourist stop for over 50 years.  We had seen it on our first trip to Hawaii and remembered how interesting it was.  It is being torn down to build a high rise and we wanted to visit it again before it disappeared on 31 December.  It was sad to see that it now looked much like the markets in China rather than what we remembered.  But I did have a famous Puka Dog.  It is made with a hogie that has a hole in the middle.  The hot dog is put in the hole with special sauce, relish, etc.  The bun is great as are the rest of the ingredients.  The shop is moving to Haleiwa so we can still get one. 

Dennis with a Puka Dog

Dennis  and Kaye at Tabernacle

After getting some deeply discounted trinkets we drove to the mission home.  It is an office building next to the 1950's famous David O McKay tabernacle downtown Honolulu.  Pictures are below.

Kaye at Mission Office

Dennis and Kaye at view point above Honolulu Diamond Head in background

 The week has flown by so we are grateful that we have one more week off.  Our branch president wants to go golfing at the Palmer course at Turtle Bay so we will have to do that.


Happy New Year to our followers...I think there are two or three.  I know- who wants to watch someones mission slides.  This is just the modern version.  I guess you would have had to be here to appreciate how great it is to be a missionary.  

Mele Kalilimaka! This week it will be Christmas and although I enjoy having new experiences and even new adventures, this is one time of the year when I am feeling a little homesick. Dennis and I spoke in church today and I was asked to share a favorite Christmas tradition. Of course, I told about our Christmas Family Home Evening. I explained how everyone gets to choose their favorite "pupu" (appetizer) and then we have our Christmas Eve program, complete with the acting out of the Nativity by the grandkids. I love seeing them in their bathrobes and towels. Most importantly, I told our branch members how we end the evening by giving each person the opportunity of sharing the feelings that are in their hearts. Love is expressed for one another and for being an eternal family, for having the gospel in our lives, and especially, for the gift of the Savior, His life and mission. The Spirit fills our home as well as our hearts and we go to sleep focused on the things that matter most in our lives. It is a sacred time of reflection and time for expressing gratitude for all that we have. So anyway, today has been a nice Sabbath but there have been a few moments too.

Last Sunday Dennis went Home Teaching to one of the boy's in our branch. He wasn't home but this is a picture of his family. The boy in the picture is Roman and he is the ward clerk in our branch. The mother in the family is from Tahiti and his father is a Howlie from Boise, Idaho. His younger brother, not pictured, just returned from his mission three weeks ago. When we went to Church today, we learned that his borther, Joseph, whom they went to visit had gotten married on Wednesday. Roman called it a "peanut butter and jelly" wedding. I interpret that to mean it was no muss-no fuss, just get 'er done.

On Thursday night we went through the temple with Jennifer. She was in our temple prep. class and was ready to take this step. She is such a nice girl, but today was her last Sunday in our branch as she is flying to Utah on Christmas day. She will live with some of her relatives, find work, and hopefully, be able to go to school there. She wants to go to UVU. I gave her my email so hopefully, she will stay in touch. It would be great to see her when we return home.

This is a goofy picture of Matsi with his girlfriend, Mel. They came to the temple on Thursday as well. I am hoping they get married as Mel is really a nice girl. She served her mission in Salt Lake City. Matsi also served a mission, but I can't remember where. I keep telling him he is so lucky to have her for his girlfriend. He is the new Elder's Quorum President as of today.

Dennis and I worked at the Christmas Lagoon last week. We directed guests where they should go to stand in line. One interesting observation we made is that nearly all the guests were local people with their families. It is a big local tradition to come through the Christmas Lagoon, but hardly any outside visitors went through. At the end of our time, we slipped in and took the canoe ride just to see what all the fuss was about. It was pretty much that: way over-hyped. Still it was ok. The first half tells the story of the Nativity and the second part is supposed to show how Christmas is celebrated in other lands. When we "visited" the North Pole to see Mr. and Mrs. Santa, there was a snow making machine. It malfunctioned and so we were pelted with a blizzard of sticky, soapy snowflakes. We were covered and drenched! And if once wasn't enough, they didn't have music playing and so they took us through a second time - more blizzard! More goo!
But we are having a great time, and enjoying many new and wonderful people and experiences!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Even the weather is a bit wintery.  The temperature is 68 F which is chilly.  Mom had to leave her raincoat on in Church because it is held in a building with only three walls with the fourth being a glass panel that they slide open.It poured rain all during Church and the electricity went out.  Dark and rainy...not very Hawaiian. 

House Christmas lights are not big in Laie.  The PCC has a Christmas Lagoon canoe ride which takes the visitors along a decorated waterway.  We will work there on Tuesday so we'll tell you more about it next week.  The McKay main building is decorated.  Poor pictures

Part of the PCC Christmas Lagoon

below  I don't now how to take photos of Christmas lights.  I guess my I phone is not really designed for that. 

We have been receiving Christmas packages which is nice.  We are late getting out our Christmas cards, but I think all the packages are on their way. 

It is very hard to think of it being Christmas.  It seems odd to see frosty the snowman among the palm trees.  I guess it is just what one gets used to associating with Christmas

Campus Entry Christmas lights

We have been to Christmas concerts, parties and other activities.  All nice, but still it is not really like Christmas.  Maybe just one day of really cold and snow and then it can go back to 80 F and sunny.  But that is not really winter on the North Shore, more like 72 and sometimes sunny.

We did decorate the apartment with an old tree and some used ornaments.  Here are a couple of photos of what we were able to scrounge together to make it seem more like Christmas

Mom and her Christmas tree  Not bad?

Mom decorated our pressed wood entertainment center I think it helps with the Christmas decor.  We also have a door wreath from Walmart. 

I am finished with classes for the fall semester.  Whew, what a learning curve I have been through, glad is is over and I can look forward as a wiser teacher to the next semester.  I will be ready this time.  Mom is almost done with her library and education projects.  She will start new ones after Christmas: teaching storytelling and upgrading the curriculum section of the library.  But for now, we have some time off for Christmas.  One of the advantages of being an education missionary, it is not 24X7. 

Last in this edition is a photo of our YSA Branch (Sunset Beach) This photo is historic because it represents the first time that the Church has had a presence (i.e. a unit of the Church) on the North Shore.  Hopefully we will be able to look back at our life's end and see that it has become a ward or a stake.  

Taken at the close of the first meeting of the Sunset Beach Branch held on the North Shore and we were there!

\\

Today was our first Sunday meeting at the Sunset Beach Recreation Center. We were worried that not many branch members would come because of the distance they now have to drive but we were happily surprised to see about 40 there. We had a group picture taken in front of the center to commemorate the historical significance of the event as it is the first time that there has been a meeting of the Church held on the North Shore.

The boy standing in back of us is named Fletcher. He is in the military and a good, happy member of our branch. We will be sad to see him leave when the military sends him someplace else. We are teaching the Temple Prep lessons and one of the girls taking the class is preparing to get her endowment this month. She is from Samoa and is one of the dancers at the PCC. She has already graduated and has decided to move to Utah to begin working on a Master's Degree. We will also miss her but she knows it is time to take the next step in her life. That is one thing about this branch - It is very fluid. The kids move in, move out, ward hop, always looking for someone new to date. I don't really blame them but it is hard to keep things going with so much constant change.

We were able to attend the Senior Missionary Home Evening this week. They rented out the Game Center on campus and everyone could bowl, play pool, ping pong, or dance. Our missionary neighbor, Elder Cochran loves 50's and 60's music and he was the deejay. We decided to bowl as dancing was not Dennis' first choice, or last. We bowled with Elder and Sister Rowell (our neighbors) and Gary and Laura Cardno. It was hilarious because we were all so terrible and the machines for setting the pins sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. I barely managed to break 100, but it was good enough to beat Dennis! HaHa. I think my mom would have been so proud. Dennis told everyone that I had a bowling trophy, but lest they expect too much, I had to confess that it was for "Most Improved."

 Below is a picture of me with President and Sister Wheelright. He is the president of BYU-Hawaii. They frequently attend functions with the Senior Couples. Maybe they miss 'hanging out' with their peers. Anyway, they seem quite nice and are highly visible on campus. We have seen them at Girls Volleyball Games, basketball games, our Senior 'Break-the-Fast' meal and we were once in a temple session with them. He was at BYU-I before he was asked to come here and tighten things up. No more good ol' boys club!

Dennis went golfing this week with several of the other Religious Ed. teachers. He has a student who can sometimes get deals on golfing the Arnold Palmer course over at Turtle Bay. They played 18 holes and Dennis was happy to report that he got 2 Birdies. He loves his new golf clubs. I guess he will have to stick with golf and give up bowling, While he was golfing I put up our little Christmas tree and decorated it. It is cute and makes our apt. feel more like Christmas.

On Thursday I went over to the PCC and helped decorate the Christmas trees for the Christmas Lagoon. Each village has a tree by the lagoon and over the last two weeks in December, people can ride in the canoes and they stop at each village and hear part of the Nativity. They are given snacks and sing Christmas music. It sounds quite nice and is something I am looking forward to doing. It was super hot when we were decorating, around 90 degrees - not too Christmas-y weatherwise.

Yesterday was a big day for us. I borrowed the School of Education staff car and we drove down to Wahiawa on our way down to Pearlridge to do some shopping. I think everyone knows that Dennis has this 'thing' about cars and he decided that we should sell the car we had and buy a new one. So, here he is with another new car. This one is a 2009 Chevy Cobalt. We hope it will prove reliable and get us around the island. We sold our car to a girl who needs one to get to Kaneoe to do her student teaching this next semester.

It is interesting that we went to this used car lot because the man in the picture, Ross, was a member of the Church until two years ago. He had been a convert and member for over 32 years. He worked in the Laie temple and has two children. Now he is divorced and inactive. He asked if we were from Utah. It turns out he has a son working for Adobe and living in Payson. His daughter lives in Haliewa but she is not active. I told him that the church wants to build a chapel there and maybe he could bring his daughter back. I told him about the Christmas Fireside tonight and invited him to come back. He was very nice and I was happy we had stopped at his car lot. I am trying to be a good missionary but I need people to cooperate with me!

Our first holiday in Hawaii.  This Thanksgiving week flew by.  Classes ran Monday and Tuesday then off throughout the rest of the week.  Gave us time to catch up on a few things.  I have been busy getting things ready for next semester.  I had to write new syllabi for the second half of the D&C and a one for Missionary Prep, a course that I have never taught.  But I am excited about both of the courses and anxious to apply what I have learned about teaching at BYUH in the next semester.  The courses will be much more structured and specific because that is what the students here expect and depend on.  So more projects, outside assignments, in class quizzes and exams and fewer writing assignments.  These are especially difficult and frustrating for students and for their instructor.

We thought it would be our last Branch meeting in the BYUH theater but there was a mix up and we will not move to the Sunset Beach Community center until 8 December.  We'll have pictures of our new home next week.  We are even going to do a group photo as a historic moment of the first YSA branch to be organized on the north shore.   Here are some photos of our most recent activity, a YSA beach bonfire (hot dogs, smores and a talk by elderwright)

A huge beach bonfire made of drift wood

Kaye and Ku'ulei at the bonfire

 The activity was a success with more new people who are less active and hopefully will start participating.  Some are even returned missionaries who are lost in the surf community.  It is a life style with no responsibilities and mind numbing sameness. They just sit around and wait for waves.  Hardly the stuff of eternal progression.  But most tire of it and hopefully the Branch will be there to help them come home.





This young sister is very sharp, a photographer who is one of the key branch members.  She is in the RS presidency and works hard to help others feel welcome.  It seems like every ward or branch has such people which is a good thing.

We still don't have computer lists of the member who live on the north shore.  Apparently we just have to discover them and then tell the Church where they are that week.  At least if we can identify them we may have a chance of following them.  It is interesting.

We went to the Triple Crown of Surfing which is right across from the community center where we will go to Church.  The crowds are really something.  They have huge temporary buildings full of judges, commentators, cameras, etc.  Good thing there is a huge jumbo tron or we could not see anything because the big waves are off shore making the surfers had to see.  They have cameras on jet skis that take the best pictures for the screen.  I have never seen such big waves.  Here we are at the Vans sponsored championship event.

Dennis at the world cup main "building"

Kaye in front of the jumbo tron

Kaye has been very active at the Library.  They have given her the responsibility of updating the children's collection and ordering almost $10,000 worth of books.  She has been almost heady with so much power and responsibility.  Each day boxes of books arrive.  She and her student aides catalog and enter the books into the library system before they go on the shelf.  The big thing was allowing her to leave the covers on the new books.  The past policy had been to remove them.  But Kaye taught them how to protect the covers and thus made the book more appealing to the community and faculty kids that use the library.  She is doing a great job.  Her education responsibilities are not as exciting but reorganizing of the department materials is sorely needed and will be a big help.  She is daily discovering materials and "stuff" that they did not even know they had.  

The paddle out Surfers are leaving with some already in water

On a sad note we went to a surfer memorial for our branch member who was killed.  Remember his name was Kirk.  The community has a native Hawaiian pastor who conducted a service for about 100 friends and family.  They call this a "paddle out"  It starts with a meeting where all hold hands and the pastor chants and prays in Hawaiian.  He forms an inner circle with the family and has another set of prayers.  Then the group all grabs their boards and paddles out to sea where they sit on their boards in another circle.  I don't know exactly what happens out there but from time to time they splash into the middle of the circle

Paddle Out Memorial for Kirk Passmore

After about a half an hour they all come to shore and have treats and beer.  This kid that died was an active member of the Church but was one of those people that everyone liked and he liked everyone.  He ran a surfboard and t-shirt shop and knew everyone.  So the memorial service had lots of support.  We were there in our nametags as he would have liked us to be.  He was very proud that he had become active in the Church and told everyone.  Good publicity for the Church.  But the Hawaiian native pastor did not think so much of us being there when he saw our tags.  I don't think he knew Kirk was an active Mormon.  But we were there, the branch leadership were there and paddled out along with a dozen or so members of the Branch.  A very unique experience.

We had Thanksgiving at the Sharp's home with their family and a group of students.  It was a traditional feast with all the fixins.  Kaye is now boiling the bones to make her famous turkey noodle soup with homemade noodles.  That will be good.

It was a nice week and we are grateful to be missionaries and having the opportunity for service, adventures and new learning.

This week the weather has been somewhat cooler. It is about 75 degrees and we actually only have one fan going at the moment. I have been wearing longer pants and even wore a light jacket to the movie last night. It is pleasant not to be so hot and sticky. They have something here called "vog" which is really fog but if the winds are blowing from the Big Island, then it brings volcanic ash in the air and becomes "vog."

This is a picture of Dennis with two of his Chinese students. They are from China. The boy is from Hong Kong and the girl is from Mainland China. Dad says the Asian students are good thinkers, but have such a difficult time with the language that their written exams and papers are hard to understand. These two students are members of the Church. It is amazing how many members of the Church we meet who are Chinese. The Church is growing in their country one baptism at a time, many occurring
here in Laie.  One of our student helpers at the School of Education is from Hong Kong. Victoria is the only member in her family but says her parents are supportive. She has a Chinese boyfriend who lives in Hong Kong who is also a member and he was just hired to work for the Church to help the missionaries with the language.

This is a picture of Dennis out for his morning walk. He usually walks out to a place called the 'Point.' It is a narrow piece of land that juts out into the ocean. Sometimes when it is stormy the waves will crash over the rock formation in the background. There are some very nice homes up at the Point. This was the first time I had walked since we came. I like to blame it on my leg, but I think we can all agree that may not be entirely true. He leaves the apt. at 6:30 in the morning and it is still dark. We all know that is too early for his lazy wife.

Thursday night we went to the Women's volleyball game. It was their last game of the season and they were ranked #2 in their division. They played Pacific University, the only team to have beaten them. But fortunately, our lady Seasiders won. We were there with a group of other senior missionaries and it was fun to be there.This is their 'Marriott center.' These girls are not built like typical volleyball players but they are quite good.

Dennis has been enjoying golfing each week and has been to Turtle Bay, but this is not their clubhouse, but the one at the course in Kahuku. It is only $16.00 and no carts which lets me out, but I think he is enjoying going with different people and has even gone by himself.

OK - This is disgusting but I thought I should give a bug update. This is our first cockroach. The picture does not do it justice but it was as big as my thumb. While Dennis was out walking I went into the bathroom and there this creature was, crawling around the bathtub. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed our can of Roach and Ant spray and raced back into the bathroom where I let him have it. It sent chills up my body. We have been here 3 months and this is our first one, so that is pretty good. I think it crawled up the drain in the tub.
We also have a small gecko who lives with us. I don't mind him though because he eats sugar ants. I have only seen him once, but the other night when Dennis opened the cupboard door, he found him lounging on a can of soup. He tried to sell Dennis some car insurance.

We worked at the PCC the other night at the Prime Dining buffet. While we were waiting for the doors to open we took this picture of a couple of the girls who were working with us. They greet the guests and have their pictures taken with them. The girl on the far left is MaKayla and she is in our branch. The girl with the headress on, pretending to be  from Fiji or Tahiti is actually from Florida and is part Phillipino. I thought that was funny.
We are getting tired of the food at the luaus. It is basically cafeteria food, call it what you may. It is fun to meet people from all over but it has been very slow lately. Good thing we get all the Japanese tourists! Things are supposed to pick up at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Another week gone by; another link on our homemade chain taken off. It will be Thanksgiving this Thursday but hard to feel the holiday without family or snow but we are well taken care of and count many blessings as we ponder the holiday - family, friends, and the gospel.

It is Grandpa's turn to do the weekly blog.  We had an unusual week, sad in some ways.  Our YSA branch (Sunset Beach) lost one of its members this week who was killed in a surfing accident.  I will share his photo and CNN picture below and tell you more about him. He was raised in California near where Geoffrey's friend Joe lived.  They went to the same schools.  He moved to Hawaii with his dad and lived in Haleiwa where he worked in a restaurant and ran a small surf shop.  He had just received the priesthood and was
 preparing to marry Taylor, another member in our branch.  They were nice kids and we enjoyed them. Here is a part of the CNN article about him. They have given up searching for his body.

Kirk Passmore, a business owner and restaurant manager, was last seen late Wednesday morning at a surfing spot known as Alligator Rock in Haleiwa.

Witnesses told the station that the experienced big-wave surfer fell off his board on the 20-foot swell and was hit by another wave. His partially damaged surfboard was found down the beach.

He started coming to Hawaii when he was 14 and was an experienced and expert surfer. He was not new to big wave surfing, having surfed most of the well-known big wave locations. 

Jamie Sterling, a surfer who saw Passmore wipe out, told KHNL, "He was seen swimming down with his feet up above the surface, and we think he broke his eardrum because what happens when you break your eardrum is you have complete loss of balance and you have vertigo."

Coast Guard crews, Ocean Safety lifeguards, the Honolulu Fire Department and fellow surfers searched for Passmore on Wednesday to no avail. The Coast Guard continued searching through the night, while other rescuers suspended their search until sunrise.

A helicopter, jet skis and a Coast Guard cutter were used in the search, KHNL reported.

Oahu's North Shore was under a high-surf warning, with waves reaching 25 to 35 feet, and some surfers questioned why Passmore wasn't wearing a flotation vest in the perilous conditions.

Ironically our YSA stake had a "Helping hands" project scheduled for Sunset Beach the Saturday after his death.  The surfing community said very nice things about our effort and about losing one of our members.  Our service was to clean and do work at the beach and at the Sunset Beach rec center where we will start holding Church on 1 December.  Amazing what a few hundred university students can do in a morning.  It was hard keeping up with them.  Here are Kaye and I in our "Helping Hands" vests.  You will note that it is winter here, which means rain and wind.  and then wind and rain.  Every day...but that makes for big waves and some are HUGE.   I am glad that Nick is not here, we would be worried sick. 

  While we were helping hands I learned more about surfing.  I saw this relatively normal person waxing his surfboard. So I asked him about it.  He learned that I was a skier and said they wax for the exact opposite reason than a skier does.  The wax they use is sticky and is put on the top of the board.  It gives their feet grip on the wet board.  He said some use pads, but he was a purest who preferred the wax.  He was waxing a short board because he does the smaller waves where you can do tricks and have "more fun."  He said that the big waves are not really fun, just scary.  I thought I am happy just to boogie board once in awhile.  Skiing is dangerous enough for me and I have a lift to carry me and don't have to paddle up the mountain. 

I am now finishing up the semester.  Just a few classes left.  I have learned so much about teaching a diverse student body.  I am busy with next semester's curriculum and will be better prepared for the diversity and need for increased structure.  Oh...of course, I have learned why so many teachers have "no phone zone" classrooms.  They are a real distraction.  I have learned you cannot just ask students to turn off their phones, it has to be a commandment.  I can do that.  

Mom has spent thousands of dollars this week ordering new kids books for the library.  She is being trusted more and more to be turned loose in the library.  She is so good at what she does that the full time people have given her a vote of full confidence.  That was a while in coming because they didn't know about this missionary sister who seemed to know so much about kids books. 

I had an infection at the back of my mouth at the gum line.  I had to take antibiotics for two weeks and that cleared it up.  The dentist said that it was possibly a problem that would need a gum specialist but he wanted to try and clear it up and if that worked then I would not worry about it.  It cleared up and I am fine.   

It seems like I always start with a weather report when it is my turn to post something on our blog, so today I can finally report a definite change in the weather. It poured buckets all day yesterday. I have never seen so much water. The wind was blowing like crazy and two power lines were blown over in Hau'ula (the town just south of Laie) and the people down there couldn't get back home for six hours. There were flash flood alerts on TV all day, telling people to go to higher ground. Since we live on the second floor we didn't worry too much. I think this is winter weather here. It is much cooler today and I even wore a cardigan to church. It was nice to be able to wear something different.

Here is a picture of Dennis at a beach park on our way home from Kaneohe on Friday. That is Chinaman's Hat in the background. We have been to this beach before and it is nice, but didn't stay this time as the weather was cool and rainy.
We went to Kaneohe to see a dentist because Dennis had a sore tooth and we were afraid he might need another root canal, but the dentist said he didn't need one so that was a relief. He is taking an antibiotic to clear up the infection so hopefully, that will take care of the problem until we get home.
After doing a little shopping at the mall, we had lunch at a Japanese restaurant. Elise says I talk about food all the time, so just so you know, Dad had a bowl of udon soup and I had tempura vegetables and shrimp. haha. When we got home we went to see Thor at our local movie house. We thought it was a waste of money.

This is on the same trip but looking the other way with the beautiful mountains in the background. I am standing in front of our faithful little Dodge neon. Dennis secretly wishes he had a cool car to drive, but this one seems to be working just fine. So far we have put about 900 miles on it.
I thought I would list a few of the prices of groceries to give you an idea of the cost of living here: A gallon of milk is $7.00, small jar of pickles - $5.00, most cereal - $7.00 (but we try to buy what is on sale), can of olives - $2.50, kettle chips (not the large size)- $2.50 (on sale), one avocado - $2.00, 1 can of Pringles - $2.50, 1 carton of strawberries - $6.00, pineapple - $.99/lb. carton of 18 eggs - $4.29, bananas - $1.29/lb. Things are pricey, but we aren't buying that much. We found the meat has a weird taste so we have started buying it at Costco and then dividing it into smaller portions and throwing it in the freezer. Oh, and gas is currently $3.99 a gallon.

This is where we go and get our mail. It is a highlight of our day when we actually have something fun. I have started ordering things online just so I get packages. So far I have ordered a library pendant, thanks to Kim's pintrest suggestion, my 2014 Franklin calendar (I know, old school), and Friday I bought two blouses which they are mailing to me since one is coming from Maui. If we have a little green slip in our box then we go inside and pick up our package. Dad is waiting for a new robe. Pretty exciting stuff.

This is one of two laundry facilities. They kind of work but some don't work at all. We have a little laundry basket on wheels which we pull over to the building. We take turns. When I do it then Dennis comes downstairs and hauls the cart upstairs for me. He has done it more than I have since we try to do our laundry when all the kids aren't trying to get in. That means Thursday afternoons when dad finishes early and I am still at work. Pretty smart on my part. . .


Everything is going well. Our branch will be changing locations in December and we will be driving over to Sunset Beach Community Center for our meetings. It is about a 20 minute drive from Laie. One of the girls just got her mission call and she is going to Bolivia and to the MTC in Columbia.  We are teaching the Temple Prep class on Sunday and Dennis is doing a good job. I was enjoying it until he told me I have to teach the next lesson on how doing temple work blesses our lives. Any suggestions?! There is always something going on, usually last minute information. I am pretty sure they have a secret underground information system since everyone seems to know what is happening except dad and me.
We are meeting with the mission president for the first time tomorrow evening and then he and his wife will be speaking at the senior missionary FHE. It will be nice to meet them. The following week Dennis has been asked to speak at FHE.  Since it falls on Veteran's Day, he is going to do a presentation on Saints at War. These old couples will enjoy it I'm sure.
The biggest news of the week is that I finally got my hair done!!!