From Brazil... Transferred!

Here's the latest from our missionary... sounds like he loves his new area!

Oi Família!As you might have wondered, I got transfered. Right now i´m reeeealy far away from goiania. I got transfered to Barra do Garças. It´s in the state next to goias. Right now i´m in the state of andrew millet´s mission. My area is 3 little towns and it´s just me and my comp 6 hours away from the nearest missionary. This place is soo cool though. Just like in Rio de Janeiro there is a statue of christ, two rivers we can fish in, and a bunch of waterfalls we can go to. We can actually do stuff here unlike the other cities. It´s just a branch of 30 actives too and we have church from 7:00-8:30 or 9 ish at night because of the heat. This is the hottest place in the mission, good thing i´m from az!! My comp is Elder Wride and he´s from ogden,ut. He only been on the mission for 4 months. But he talks really well for the time he has. We should have a good time here, it seems really cool here. I took a bunch of pics on the bus but i will send them next week. That´s crazy trent´s mole had cancer. I don´t think i have any moles. That´s about it. Any questions for me? See you all later.Elder Lewis

Mole warning!

This is a story AND a warning for all...This post is a little different from my usual stuff... I have learned a LOT about "moles" in the past few days... and I don't mean the squinty eyed little furry creatures... I mean just regular ol ordinary little brown spots on your body... I think everyone probably has a couple.

This whole mole thing started early in December as Trent was getting his physical stuff done for his mission papers. During his physical the doctor noticed a mole on his back. He said it had a little black speck on it. He circled it with a pen and said show your mom... I want to remove it.

Soo.... Trent showed me and I thought to myself... it looks just like a regular ol mole... he's probably just being cautious.

So Trent had it removed... I thought he would have maybe two stitches... I mean... the mole was only just a little larger than a quarter inch...

So I was surprised when he came home with 6 stitches!

WARNING... GRAPHIC PIC OF STITCHES... I made it small so it wouldn't be too gross...

So... I kind of didn't think too much about it after that...

Then 2 1/2 weeks later came the phone call...

The pathology report said the mole was cancerous... at first it didn't sink in... I just thought... cancerous.... I certainly wasn't expecting that... I'm sure glad they took it out....

then the voice continued to say... something about a surgeon... cutting it back open... I've already checked your insurance... here is the doctor's name and number.. I'm faxing the report to her now... call right away!

NOT words a mom wants to hear... I didn't handle it very well... so I wanted more info ...so I looked on the internet... NOT a good idea....

So today we went to see a surgeon... not as bad as I expected.... we are VERY lucky. What they are concerned about are the abnormal cells that showed up in the tissue that wasn't part of the mole. If the cells in the tissue were full out cancerous, that would have been WAY WAY more serious and would have required WAY more serious treatment. So in this procedure Trent will have to have three times more tissue removed... but she will be able to do it in the office... only cuz Trent is a tough guy... and he will have to be very careful of that area for a long time until the skin can get some stretch back in it. He will also have to have some other moles removed after this.

Sooo.... this definitely puts off turning in his mission papers for a while... which we are VERY bummed about... but I am grateful for a keen eyed doctor that spotted the mole!

SOOOO besides being able to put my feelings about this on the blog... I have a sense of urgency to tell EVERYONE to go get your moles checked... REALLY!! I just had no idea what could happen.

The procedure is Wednesday... Trent wants me to be in the room with him... to take pictures!! I don't know if that will happen... but if it does... be ready for a VERY interesting blog post!!!

Facing "IT"...

Yay it's Saturday.... but instead of lounging around... Mike and I (mostly Mike) are tacking a BIG challenge... the ATTIC!!! It's hard to believe just how FULL the attic has become in just 3 1/2 years. When I moved in the attic was basically empty except for some construction garbage. And although I didn't come with too much..  boxes and tubs have accumulated somehow. So...  Mike is rearranging the attic, cleaning out the garbage and installing more floor. I am cleaning out old papers and junk that we don't need. So why all this work you ask?!? So we have room to store our REALLY  IMPORTANT ever growing supply of HOLIDAY DECORATIONS!!! Someone has to do it!!!

from Brazil...

Here's the latest from Brandon:

Hello everyone!Happy New Year!! New year was pretty normal. We ate dinner at a members house and then went home. At 9:30 all the parties are just begining. There were a ton of people launching fireworks. New years eve day, new years eve night, and new years day day were constant fireworks. And just like on christmas, new years day no one wanted to learn about jesus. We were the only ones awake on new years day. But it´s all good. Our church is at 9 in the morning. Just about every ward and branch in the country has church at this time. The chapels are small here and it´s usually just one ward per building. Transfers are next week and i´m sure i´ll have more to say then. See you all later. Elder Lewis

Trentbo...

Trent bought a new gun and was excited to go try it out... He took the camera and said he was going to take some "Rambo" pictures...

So there ya have it... not QUITE Rambo... more like "Trentbo"!!

Finally the Christmas post!

Finally the Christmas post! But WARNING... there are a LOT of pics!

Even before we had breakfast we had to see what Santa brought... notice all the tubs... those are filled with presents from Santa Dan...

Santa always leaves his bag at our house... It has gifts in it for the youngest kids... nowadays it's just Trent...

OOOhhhh Trent got a camera!

Mike got some clothes

Mom got some new pots and pans

now the search is on for the "pickle"

It's really hard to find...

It's hard to see in this pic, but Trent found the pickle!

Everyone arriving on Christmas... we get together in the afternoon..

FIRST things first... the much anticipated PHONE CALL from Brandon!

Brandon and Dustin talking to each other... technology is great!

It was so good to hear his voice and to hear some Portuguese! We got to talk almost an hour...

After talking that long we were hungry!

Since it's afternoon and everyone has other places to go... we do like a deli bar... sandwiches, salads, chips, cheese balls, little smokies, treats, snacks etc etc...

Everyone is excited to fill their plates

This must be the cool people table!

After our tummies are full... the next thing is the gift exchange...

We can't wait!

Almost ready...

passing out gifts...

and more gifts...

we have a lot of crazy fun....

MORE gifts...

CUTE!

MORE gifts..

Gift opening goes on for quite a while!

Whoa!

Mom got some MORE milk glass!

AND... Mike received a MAJOR award! I think it's cute... but it's only going to be on display during Christmas!

It's always great to get together with the fam and friends during the Christmas season to celebrate the the birth of our Savior, realize our blessings and have fun too!

2010!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Mike and I BARELY made it to midnight! He had to go to work early so he was up at 3 and I was up at 4:30.... AM!!!! BUT we started to party early cuz we both only had to work a half day... YAHOO... so we went to lunch and then went to the MALL! we hardly ever go there, but we had to WALK after a yummy lunch at Chili's.... We even did a little shopping spree and got some really smokin deals on new clothes AND I got a new phone... needed one cuz mine was broke.... so I got a new fangled one and I can text a LOT faster now! I think my kids are even impressed!..... So then in the evening we went to the Bishops house for a few and then back home cuz it would have been embarrassin to fall asleep at someone's house! So we watched the Twilight Zone marathon til midnight! Mike was literally a zombie but he made it and we even had just enough energy to have some sparklin cider! I hope everyone had a great New Year's too!