Back in the USA...

Dustin is back in the USA... for a little while anyway... So glad he is safe!

Don't they look just so happy and cute!

Brazil zoo pics

Had to post these pictures from a zoo in Brazil. There aren't zoos like that here!

Pics from Brazil

Brandon sent LOTS of pictures in his last email... heres a few and I'll post more later.

Its been a while since i´ve sent pics to you. Here´s a pic of a monkey at the park and the view of the park and lake. And a pic of me and elder barton with some indian stuff.

Picture of the day...

I love this picture... how often can you get an animal to pose and SMILE for the camera!

BIG news from Brazil!!!

(I have a VERY happy family right now!!! Brandon and Trent will have 13 days together before Trent leaves... can't even convey in words what this means to them... what a blessing!!)

Hey what´s up family,


You are all probably wondering when i´ll be coming home. I´ll be home september 16th. President said that i could come home 1 transfer early if i wanted to see trent. So i said that was great. So you can talk to bishop baker and our homecoming/ farewell can be on the same day. In just a few weeks i´ll be home!! It´s wierd to think about that. That´s the big news for now, see you all later. Elder Lewis

Not so fun craft...

A few weeks ago I was browsing through Pottery Barn ... they have such cute stuff but not so cute price tags! I like the boxwood plants they have ... but I've been noticing on blogs that crafters are just making these cute plants themselves.... AND they are a WHOLE bunch cheaper and so EASY!!!  HEY... (I thought to myself)... I can do that too!!!

So off to Savers I went for some great pots... and I found these beauties for a couple dollars. So I ripped out the flowers...

and put in styrofoam. Hobby Lobby had the plants I wanted for half off and I had a gift card!!! Pretty cheap and easy so far!

But now you will notice that there aren't any pictures from this point to the finished product.... WHY you may ask?!?!? First I got blisters from cutting all the little pieces of plant off the stems... I had to get Mike to do most of it cuz I wasn't a quitter!!! This will work!!! THEN after poking all those litle pieces in I ran out of plant... WHAT?!? these are just little pots... So I left the half bald future beautiful way better than potery barn planters sitting on my counter for days til I could go back to Hobby Lobby. Luckily the plants were still half off and I still had some gift card to use.. then I ran home to finish the LITTLE project! BUT... the more I looked at the pathetic things...I thought they are going to be WAY too big for these little pots. So I ripped the ugly things apart cut the styrofoam in half and forced myself to finish this project or ELSE!!!! And to make matters worse we started referring to them as Chia Pets!!!

Whew.... Well... here's my finished plants... I like them... and they turned out fine after all that... but they are still way too big for the spots I had picked out for them ...   So crafters beware!!! This was a NOT so fun craft!!!

My next project... to find perfect places for my overgrown Chia Pets!

Meet the birds...

I was looking through some pics on the computer and I ran accross these...I don't think I have blogged about the "birds"... except to mention the fact that they are cannibals and eat eggs and chicken! I definitely watch my fingers when I am around them. We tell everyone not to put their fingers in the cage cuz they might "bite"... but I don't think it's 'biting" that they are doing... I think it's more like "tasting"!  I guess technically they are my stepbirds since they came with Mike when we got married. The "birds" and I have a sort of love/hate relationship... they don't particularly like me but they will tolerate an occassional rub on the head and love when I give them treats. I like them... they are pretty cute... but when they are noisy (NOISY) and I can't hear myself... then I threaten to cook them... really... that seems to get their attention... then the cycle starts over again!

Kiwi...

Gizzmo...

Big Guy...

So you have now officially met our "birds"!