Christmas Tree for Ty #2 :)

I'll try posting this picture again, and not moving it as Jill suggested. I'm hoping that will allow it to enlarge when it is click ed on. We'll see.

Luke

We are so thrilled to have this precious baby in our family! He looks a lot like Brandon did :)

Christmas Tree for Ty

I sent the Christmas Tree to Tyler last Monday - and he got it on Wednesday! That's what sending it FedEx can do - I won't even mention how much it cost - but it was more than I thought it would be. It is worth it to me, though because we really haven't sent much to him during his whole mission, and now he only has six months left.

I think it turned out really cute! Russ made the tree, it's about six feet tall. Tyler wrote that he already has it up on the wall by his desk. :) Thanks to everyone who made ornaments and sent them.

(Jill, I know your family's ornaments are still floating around Mexico somewhere, when we get them I'll let you know!)

I wish I knew why sometimes I can click on pictures and they go big, and sometimes they don't. If anyone can help me with this, please comment or send me an email. Thanks!

Baby Boy is here!

Our grandson Luke was born on Tuesday! He weighed 10 pounds - 4 ounces, and he is 22 inches long! Yes, he is a BIG BOY :) We got the news on Tuesday night, and we are so thrilled - when I figure out how to post pictures from email, I'll put some on :) Congratulations Brandon & Camille - we love you all.

Re-dedication of the Temple

Last weekend was a wonderful time to be in Mexico City as a missionary. We got to participate in the Re-dedication of the temple here, and also the Cultural Celebration at Azteca Stadium. Here are a few pictures from last weekend. Some I took myself, and some are from the Church News.

President Thomas S. Monson, his daughter Ann Dibb, President Henry B. Eyring and his wife Kathleen Eyring came to Mexico City. Russ, Ryan and I attended the second dedicatory session. The music was so beautiful! The last song actually sounded like angels were singing with them. I loved it!

This is part of Azteca Stadium where the cultural celebration was held. It has a capacity of 110,000. I read that there were 87,000 people in attendance. The crowd loved waving their white handkerchiefs to say hello to Pres. Monson

Russ and I got to sit in the box where Pres. Monson sat. It is a large booth and probably holds over 100 people. The Area Presidency, Area Seventies, and other mission presidents from Mexico were in attendance.

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The front row of missionaries are from our mission. Somehow they got positioned on the front row facing the prophet! It was great.

All the missionaries from six missions sat together. Ryan got to sit with them, we think he is the one standing right in the lower middle of the picture. That's the area where he was anyway.

Our mission provided parking attendants for the re-dedication, and they are also featured in the Church News this week. They all loved being a part of this extraordinary event.

Zone Leaders Council for November

We held the Zone Leaders Council here on Thursday. Eighteen zone leaders, two assistants and three secretaries. What a really great group of missionaries. They work hard at keeping the mission on track and really are dedicated to finding those who are searching for the gospel. It was great to have them here again.

Back row, left to right: Elder Puga, Elder Flores N, Elder Magdaleno, Elder Ojeda, Elder Adams, Elder Beltran, Elder Porter, Elder Mead, Elder Munoz, Elder Sander, Elder Inalef

Middle row: Elder Bolles, Elder Rush, Elder Zapata, Presidente, Hermana, Elder Lopez A, Elder Flores Y

Front row: Elder Bryan, Elder Fillerup, Elder Pena, Elder Alpuche, Elder Carretaro, Elder Camacho, Elder Jaramillo

Four Zone Leaders and one secretary will be leaving in the next end of the cycle. We'll miss them, they've been very good missionaries.

La Casa del Senor

Last night we took Ryan over to the Open House of the temple. This was only his second time touring a temple. The first time was in Mt. Timpanogos and he was only six years old. It was great to walk through with him and discuss the different rooms and have him feel the beautiful, reverent spirit of the temple.

Tens of thousands of people have toured the temple in the past two and a half weeks. The open house ends this Saturday. The cultural event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15th. The re-dedication will be Sunday, Nov. 16th. What a great time to be a missionary in Mexico City!

I didn't take these pictures, they are from the church web site, but I love these. The celestial room is so beautiful. The ceiling has an Aztec pattern, so does the carpet. Every temple has the same elements, but somehow the Church manages to personalize each one to the location. It's a really beautiful temple.

Dia de los muertos

On our way over to the other side of the city last night we went down Paseo de la Reforma, probably the most famous street in Mexico City. There is always something interesting to see whenever we go on this street. There are lots of fountains, monuments, and people! Last night there were these large paper mache sculptures for Dia de los muertos, or Day of the Dead. They are really large and colorful. Here are some of the favorites.....