Wednesday, May 16, 2012

May 16. 2012

Emily with her friend, Gideon.




























Just had to share some photo's of my
darling grand babies!
I simply love them so much. . . 

I made Emily a new skirt and a ladybug dress.

I made her put them on so I could take her picture.







Post wouldn't be complete if I didn't add a picture of 
our little Camden.  He loves Emily bike!
He is the cutest little bug.  
Isn't summer so much fun?

Monday, May 14, 2012

May 14, 2012 from Matt


Here's my presidents letter, it goes over the last week. I love you tons momma Monk! :)
 
 
Dear President Castro,
 
I was a great week here in Tehachapi! Elder Stratton and I are geting along great, and we have been blessed with many people to teach! We are so blessed, and I feel like we see more miracles each and every day.
 
 I am very glad to be able to serve these people up here, and I feel blessed to have this oppertunity to learn and to grow. I feel like in the last 8 or 9 weeks that  have changed alot.. I've been able to carve some of the negative things out of my life and replace them with more positive, uplifting things. It's strange to step back from you life and evaluate where you came from, where you are, and where you're going and see the very evident areas that are good, and those that are maybe.. less good. I feel lke I've become alot more temperate, and patient, and have been able to increase my teaching skills, and knowlege of the scriptures. Wow! It is just what I have needed.
 
I think the highlight of our week (for me) was Friday. We had a dinner appt. that night with John and Michelle and a lesson. Wereally wanted them to set a date for baptism, so on thursday night we decided to fast for them. We did, and worked very hard all Friday. It was a good day. Right before dinner we broke our fast with prayer, then had dinner. John and Michelle are great! they are so willing to learn, and so ready! John reads 10 Chapters every morning in the Book of Mormon. He really wants to know! We invited them to be baptized, and set a date.. They both said yes, but didn't want to set a date. Haha! We had a great lesson with them, and I think our fast will continue to work mircales in their lives. (Or at least help us to see miracles with them.) They did commit to read and pray to know if the church is true, so we have made alo of progress with them. I love them so much.
 
The work goes forward here! Thanks for all you do, and please send my love to everybody. I love you!
 
Elder Monk




Hi Mom!
 
Well,I sure enjoyed our phone call together! I love you so much, and I do miss calling you and talking. You have always been my best friend. I LOVE YOU MOM! You are the best. :)

 Here's some pictures!!



 We got lost on the way to a members house for dinner (They live in the boonies!) and we were in some beautiful country. Thousands of huge oak trees and feilds... It was nice!


 This wizard guy was on the doorstep of a 
house we tracted! Haha 2 Nephi 18:19.. look it up! :)


  I dont know if you can read the sign - It says, "Caution, low flying aircraft" 
haha! What a clever house number! :)




 Here's Elder Stratton for you! In front of the cool airplane thing.


Me in front of the plane! Haha








Well mom, I hope you know that I love you! You are the greatest. You're always in my prayers! I'll talk to you again in 7 mo. I love you!!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mother's Day 2012

I can't believe this day is over and now all I am doing is blogging about it.  
I'm kind of sad that the day has come to a close. 

Of course, the highlight was being able to talk to our missionary, Matt.  As a Mom of a missionary, I dream of talking to him all the time.  What would I say?  How will he react?  Is he doing okay?  Is he loving life?  Oh, so many questions and so little time.

I was so glad our whole family was there to welcome his call.  

It was starting to get late and he hadn't called yet.  Then, the phone rang!  I jumped and ran. . .   It wasn't him but it was one of the ward missionaries from the ward he is serving in.  Oh my, she said such nice things about our Matt.  I don't think I said but two words, she just talked and talked.  The two words I did say was thank you.  She said how she had prayed for a good set of missionaries and when Matt and  his companion showed up, they were the ones.  Oh my, it was so good to hear such great things about my son and even on Mother's Day!  Totally warmed my heart.  After we hung up, the wait was on again!  The phone finally did ring and there was my Matt with that contagious laugh that I have been missing.  He sounded so good and so happy!  We enjoyed visiting with him on speaker phone. Everyone could hear and it was so much fun.  I miss that kid so much!  I could feel of his growth and his love for his mission and the gospel.  As our conversation came to an end, I love this part, Wynn said a prayer and blessed our whole family.  It felt so good  having Matt there with us praying.  My heart is full and I feel so blessed.  Having a missionary is a HUGE blessing.  I feel it in my life each and every day.

(I already can't wait for his e-mail tomorrow!)



Today really was a fun day!  Steven, Brooke and the kids came to church with us.  I even got to take Emily to her primary class.  Such simple pleasures that mean so much.  As we sat in sacrament meeting and I watched Steve and Brooke wrestle with those darling little ones, my mind went back to when my kids were little.  It feels like it wasn't so long ago (then, I look in the mirror).  I remember one Mother's Day a long time ago.  Actually, it was the Saturday before Mother's Day and I was sitting at the desk in the kitchen and in walked my teenage son, Steve, with a red rose and a card.  The card even said that he loved me.  I just remember that because it meant so much to me. My teenage son remembered me on Mother's Day!  Isn't it funny what you remember the very most?

What I loved the most about Mother's Day:

That my Mom could come spend the day with us!  She even brought her famous potato salad.
I love you Mom, you mean the world to me.  

That my kids could all be here.  I love when we can all get together.  I just love my family so much.  




I got the best Mother's Day gifts, I just have to share. . . 

Natalie gave me an eternity necklace.  Isn't it just beautiful?  It has all my kids birthstones on it. 
It just mean so much to me.  She even made dessert!  You are the bomb Nat!  I love ya.


Sam and Hailey gave me a  hanging strawberry plant.  Oh my gosh, what a wonderful idea!
I love it, I can't wait to pick those plump, sweet, berries off this plant.  (Eight weeks and they will welcome their sweet little baby girl into their home.  I can hardly wait to meet her).

Brooke, Steven and the kids gave me this darling basket full of cute things.  You see, I collect Teddy Bears and BINGO, this basket was full of them.  Such cute things, I don't know where they found them but they sure tickled my fancy! 



Last Thursday, I received a package in the mail from Matt.  A sister in his ward gave him the popouri things you see above to send to his Mother for Mother's Day.  Wasn't that so kind of her?  These are hand made out of dried oranges, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks.  The wreath has lavender on it.  They are so cute and I feel blessed that I was thought of.  


My Mom gave me a matt to dry my dishes on.  I already have dishes drying on it as we speak.  I think it is going to work great!  I love it!  (She even gave me some $.  I think I'll go buy me a new shirt).  

I know, I know, you are dying to find out what Wynn gave me.  Everyone kept asking and here you go. . .   He gave me the best gift of all times.  Let me tell you about it. . . 

So there was this Quilting Shop Hop thingy going on.  Oh, I really wanted to go.  It's kind of addicting.
As you can see on the schedule below, there were 14 shops, from Wyoming, Idaho and Utah.  Yip, Wynn took me to each and everyone of them.  Well, I did the ones in Idaho Falls, Rexburg, and Rigby but for two week ends, he drove me to these shops and waited patiently in the car while I browsed.  So, for two week-ends in a row, we went on road trips.  It was a blast!  I got lots of great ideas and I can't wait to spend the summer at my sewing machine.  I know that yesterday, he really wanted to say home and work on getting the old fence down so we can put up a knew one and the weather was suppose to be gorgeous but, he spent the day with me in the car driving all over the country side.  I couldn't be more happy, it was the perfect gift, the gift of time (and gas!)


Monday, May 7, 2012

From Matt ~ May 7th, 2012


Hey Mom!

Well, Mothers Day!! I’m actually excited, haha! That's usually not the case... Like I said at Christmas, it's just a lot of stress and all that, but I'm looking forward to it! We'll be calling from John and Michelle King's house at about 5 or 5:30, so 4 or 4:30 your time. :) 

I sent you a Mothers day present today! I hope you like it. It's not too special, but you'll like it! HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY!!!! :)

Sooo, I got a new companion, Elder Stratton from Bountiful. He's a way nice guy! WAYYYYY easy to work with, and I'm lovin' that. Sarcastic and funny, so no complaints here. And we have conversations!!! WE TALK!!! It’s a blessing. He reminds me A LOT of Brennan,
 so that’s fun, it’s like being with Elder Jackson.

We had dinner with a family - The Handy's - this week, and right afterwards, Bro. Weaver set an appointment up for us to meet a potential investigator at the church (She was going to a Relief Society thing, and agreed to meet us). We too the husband because this lady taught their daughter in school, and LOVED HER! It was an awesome lesson, she has had the lessons like 6 times she says, and LOVEs it, but cant wrap her head around the idea of us getting planets when we die? Hahah crazy ideas. We set her a baptismal date of June 9, right after school is out, and she accepted!! WOO! Miracle! Then... we hoofed it to the Kings, and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and asked them what they thought they should do now, and John said, "I need to be baptized." :O WOOOAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tried to set a date, but they said they still want to discuss some stuff, but john said, "I will be baptized. I know that's what i need to do." Michelle was also way positive, so I think the prayers have been paying off!!!!!! THEY ARE GOING TO GET BAPTIZED!!! They are my ULTIMATE goal this transfer. It's like a challenge... I have to get them baptized... They were dubbed, "Eternigators" and have been meeting with missionaries for 2 years. Since we have gotten here, they have been coming to church actively, and keeping commitments. WOW. They've never done that before! It is a strong testimony to the power of prayer and the power of obedience. All we do when we teach is teach the lessons. No "this" or "that" just pure simple doctrine. That has been the best at answering their questions.

We've had a pretty good week. On Saturday morning we haled an older couple dig trenches for a sprinkling system (The ground here is like clay... so tough!), then we helped bro. Waring put chicken wire around a dog run so Sis. Waring can have chickens. Haha! We're keeping busy! 

We met with Andres Lauriault (Loreo) and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and gave him a blessing to quit smoking. We talked to him yesterday at church and he said he's still doing it - 4 cigs a day - so that means he can't get baptized the 26th. But he still wants to! He just has to kick the habit before he can do it! hahaha! But things have been going so well. I am so blessed!!!!!!!!! 

I hope things are going well for you! Thanks for getting those CD's! Don't delay in sending it now... :) hahah! Thanks for all you do for me... It doesn't go unnoticed! I love you so much! Your bedroom looks great! I'll write a letter to grandma today.  I love you bunches!


--
Elder Matthew Monk
  California Ventura Mission
          Jan. 2011 - Jan. 2013

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Bedroom Remodel


About a year ago, I was released from my Stake calling.  I remember
feeling so low and out of the picture.  I told Wynn I needed a
project to keep my busy.  Silly me!  I promptly went to the paint
store and purchased lots of paint.  About the time I was to start 
painting, our basement flooded and that took up most of the 
summer.  Then, we decided to remodel the bathroom before
we painted the bedroom.  So, one thing lead to another and we
ended up with a new vanity, new tile floor and of course,
new paint in the bathroom.  It was after Thanksgiving when that ended.  So,
just two weeks ago, I started painting the bedroom.  It went pretty
fast considering, we didn't have to do the bathroom!  :)

What do you think?