Little Pink Baby Burrito

Here's little Livia looking just as cute as she can be.  The weird thing to me is that she looks so much like my baby pictures!  I guess that's not weird, because her dad has always looked like me, too.  And I really like pink.  I think when we finally meet, we'll be good friends, Livia and me.  I'm hoping she'll like her great-aunt Marianne.  You must be a special little girl, Livia, because you got great parents who love the Lord.  And I personally think you lucked into a very nice family. 

Grandpa's All Right

Here's my brother Jay looking cool for being the grandfather of two!  (Photo: Linnea Farnsworth)

I think that jacket looks oddly simillar to the one worn here by Barbie's beau Ken back in 1972... Hmmmmmm....

Fred's Sister Livia Has Arrived!

Livia Evelina Evensen was born at 2:05 a.m. EST. She is a healthy 6 pound 7 oz baby, 19 3/4 inches long.  I'm so thrilled. She wasn't due until April 9th, so she was in a hurry to get here!

They picked a old-fashioned Scandinavian name that Holly could easily pronounce, my nephew Daniel said. Mom Holly is doing fine.  Little Livia was "kicking and crying and really healthy" according to her proud papa.  Daniel is the oldest of my brother Jay's children.

Little Fred doesn’t really understand he’s a big brother yet, I’m sure! He will be 2 in August.

Daniel also said there were a lot of children coming into the world yesterday. The maternity ward there in Arlington, Virginia was so full, they waited 4 hours for a room! I was texting them last night clear up until the end. It was so fun (well, at least for ME).

So, now I'm a Great Aunt twice over!

Dianna Among the Lamanites

The above photo was recently posted to the Arizona LDS newspaper, The Beehive.  It shows my good friend Dianna Lynn among the other gardening missionaries serving in the Navajo-Hopi Indian Reservations last year.  Look at the size of those squash plants.  Talk about gi-normous!

The gardening project was a huge success and, from what I hear, it will be continued and expanded.

This was a wonderful opportunity for seniors to learn about another culture and share their skills to help the indigenous people of Arizona both temporally and spiritually.  Dianna and I grew up together.  It was so fun to share in this experience with her in a small way.  I loved hearing the stories about the wonderful Saints on the Res.

Elder Nils in Cuernavaca

Elder Nils Evensen arrived in Cuernavaca, Mexico, after four days in the mission home in Mexico City.
He's seen here with President and Sister Spannaus, their daughters, and the missionaries he came from the MTC with: Elder Crowther (his companion), Elder Wood and Elder Smith.

I'm so happy that he arrived there safely.  He looks happy and excited!

Elder Nils is on his way!

Elder Nils Evensen arrived in Mexico City, Mexico yesterday in all his earthly glory! 

He writes:
"Flying into Mexico city is indescribable, it's probably one of the most awe-inspiring things I've ever seen! Just lights everywhere! As far as the eye could see, it was like, I dunno, from above it just looks amazing, it's huge! It goes on forever just lit up with little cars driving around eachother.


"So then we get off the plane, and the first thing we realized is none of us speak Spanish, and of course, most of the people helping us, don't speak English.

"So we pick up our suitcases and stuff, and then I start to realize, I'm the only blonde person in the place. I'm not really sure if I like sticking out like that here, so now I'm like super gringo! "

I love his comment that "none of us speak Spanish" after 2 months of intensive Spanish language training!  Ha. 

I love our super Gringo.  He'll be in Mexico City for four days and then it's off to Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City, where he'll be serving.

He sounds so happy and excited.  I'm thrilled to share in the experience through his letters.

Pickering Ward Babies

                                                                Lately we've had a few Pickering Ward activities where I've been able to steal some pictures of a few of our Ward family babies. Here is Alecia Lai with Parker.  He's the cutie wootiest.  This was at the Relief Society evening a couple of weeks ago.

This is Levi Peary.  He got caught red-handed, or perhaps I should say chocolate-mouthed... at the Linger Longer Luncheon a couple of Sundays ago.

This is Lauren Hall looking a bit surprised at that weird lady flashing lights in her face.  Lauren is going to grow up to be a super model.  I just know it. Look at those big baby blues! She just needs to work a little on her camera presence.

This is Meredith Terranova with her nephew, the youngest Brother Barney.  If I could remember Brother Barney's given name, which may or may not be Spencer, I'd be a lot happier.  It's like taking a botany class and being able to name genus and phylum, but not the common name...  My excuse is that I don't work in Primary or in the Nursery and there are lots of these little ones running around at the moment.  Which is great, by the way.  Don't get me wrong.  I wouldn't be running around myself taking pictures of these little cuties if I didn't think so.