Celebrate!

Yep, its my birthday! Hooray.  Its off to a great start. Feel free to call, email or send money ;) Okay, so dont worry about the last one, but I am looking forward to hearing all of your voices. I already got an email from Dad & Mom, and they even posted a birthday message on the blog (i feel extra special). Michelle has truly made my morning special - she decorated the house with balloons and made a really cool breakfast. I will post pics momentarily. Hooray! I will update more later...after all its barely 9am!

Its a birthday!

Well, I have been a bit "slow" with this blog. After some encouragement from Trish, I am posting. Sorry, I just kinda forget about this one. 

Whats new? Andrea just celebrated her birthday! It was a lovely occasion. Brian was the master grill - man. We enjoyed steak, yukon gold mashed potatoes, a green salad (made by yours truly), a tasty fruit salad (concoted by Candy) and of course, yorkshire pudding. The table was set beautifully. Earlier in the evening the Youells skyped in their participation and mom & dad skyped a little later!

Hannah was as cute as ever. I had worn my turqouise wedges to their house and soon after arrival, Hannah discovered them. She promptly put them on and successfully walked all around the family room and kitchen - quite content to be in big girl shoes. What a ham!! just imagine my big size 9 shoes on her itty bitty feet. Adorable. She was soo happy to play in them. I will post pictures as soon as I can get them from Brian.

Desert was delicious - and made by the Sawyers - baking just runs in their blood!!!

It was a lovely day to celebrate our fave sis - in - law Andrea! Best wishes to a great year ahead!

--Shannon

They're there with flair!

Try saying that ten times fast! So, our lovely parents are off and running - or at least walking up many flights of stairs. Mom says they are all getting along (her, the stairs and the knees!).  Mom is getting better at the computer and dad has been busy learning the office work.  Their apt is clean, they've attended a baptism, hosted dinners, attended church, and had a lot of spiritual experiences.  We're glad! They havent received internet in the apartment yet, so no skype or regular email for now....we will have to be patient! Dad has been updating the blog, so that is great.

I hope everyone's Fourth was enjoyable.  The weather was nice and well, the fireworks are a great reminder of the great country we live in.  

Brian, Andrea & Hannah are well - Andrea's birthday is this Sunday - dont forget! Her birthday party will be Sunday at around 4pm.  Skype counts as attendance, so dial in even if ya can't drive!

Scott is working at a local bar and doing well. 

The Youells are great - Sara is enjoying her time in the south with her grandparents out there. 

I am doing great at the new job and have just updated my blog, so link in to hear all the juicy tidbits. Yep. I just used the word tidbits. You know you love it.

Thats a wrap I think for the fam. I know Trish checks this, I am not so sure about anyone else. "Bueler, Bueler, anyone?"

love ya!

Shan

Yes, I believe they are there....

It's hard to say what will have been more exciting for Dad - sleeping for the 11 hours to Moscow, or the amazing service & quality of Aeroflot. Flip a coin to find out that answer. Maybe they will have served our parents the lovely little green juice concoction in those little wooden cups - does anyone else remember that? (I cant be the only one!)

On Friday they left for Russia and should have arrived in their Mission Saturday Afternoon US time, but Sunday morning to them in Russia. I know we are all looking forward to hearing confirmation of their arrival.  

We are a close knit family and this separation has been a little interesting - but, I am just so thrilled to hear their testimony. It rekindles memories of my missionary service and the joy of teaching the gospel & serving God's children.  We are blessed with wonderful parents - parents who love the Lord dearly and who have prepared themselves to be of service.  They have many skills and abilities which they share willingly and generously.  The next two years will bring continued growth to them as individuals, as a couple and I know they will be fantastic missionaries.  Their testimonies and teaching will be well used as they waste and wear out their lives in the Lord's service over the next 23 months. 

God speed, good faith and much energy to Elder & Sister Simmons.

love,

Shannon

Are they there yet?

And they're off! Our parents are finally out of the house. They are on their way to Siberia - land of a thousand icicles and frozen toes.

First stop, the MTC. Ahhh, the spacious rooms and delicious food. Oh, wait that was the vacation they took earlier this year. Whoops.  I hope they like each other and can survive on cereal and cafeteria food. And in a week and a half, they will be in Russia!

I will be burning the dvd slideshow of the open house photos I created - if you dont want a copy, let me know. Otherwise I will just give you a gratuitous copy - and you can file it away in the trusty trusty Simmons Treasure Box.  

Hope all is well for everyone!

A change is gonna come....

I was thinking about the course of events this week as I blended my smoothie for breakfast this morning. I thought about just how much change has occurred. Mom & dad are leaving for Siberia, my whole bishopric was changed out and even my hairdresser up and left to Florida. 

That feels like a lot of change at once. 

But, as dad reminded me last night, change keeps us humble and helps us grow. It prevents us from getting to comfortable in our own ways and helps us to stretch.

It looks like I should pick up gymnastic classes. Or at least yoga.  

Greetings! So, it is an evening of blogging for the Simmons family.  As you all know, I am a late owl and love staying up 'til the wee hours of the morning reading, crafting or working on a project. Tonight is no different.  After helping dad to set up his 'blog' site, I decided we needed a way to keep tabs on all the different sites and blogs in this family.  (especially with mom being less than a techy!).  So, I have been thinking and checking out some options.  I have created this blog as a sort of homepage to all the family happenings.  I put all the links to the various family members & their blogs.  If there is a site or a family blog you'd like to list, let me know.  I believe I am the moderator of this part of the blog, so I will see if and how others can post to this page.  

Check this out often as well as all the blogsites we have going on.

-Shannon