AUSTRALIA COUNTDOWN!!,

Well, according to Elder Moyes he has started his 'D&C Countdown'. Apparently in his mission when you have 138 days let, you begin reading the D&C. It has 138 sections and you read one section a day until it's done and then your time is over. Gosh! When you say it that way it sure seems closer. We've made our plane reservations, rented a house in Melbourne, reserved a van, made hotel reservations for two nights in Sydney and have our passports and visas. Guess we should be reading and counting down too. Even with all the plans that are made, it still doesn't seem real.

MEL'S ENGAGED

Congratulations to Melanie! She's engaged to Nick Hemingway. He's the son of David and Wendy Hemingway, formerly of Bakersfield. No date has been set yet but we're still excited!! Will keep you posted.

AUSTRALIA BOUND!!

Well, Elder Moyes has been gone almost 18 months. Yes, really! And what is even more surprising - and exciting - is that we are going to go and get him at the end of his mission. Brad, Matthew, Marsha and Scott, Melanie and I have airline reservations to fly over on 12/26. We will arrive there on Monday, the 28th and his mission president has approved his release to us. We're going to stay about 12 days and see the sights before returning home on January 6th. Don't have any concrete plans yet, but anything we do all together will be fun!! (And just so you know that we aren't leaving Mark and Andrea out....they are planning on spending NY Eve at Disney World with their kids.)

BFFs - REALLY!!!

Whoever came up with the acronym, BFF (Best Friends Forever) must have looked into a crystal ball and seen the "Laurels". The year was 1973. Six young women came together - from different paths, different family situations, different personalities - and yet created a bond that would last forever. These six were my Laurels. Debbie, Susan, Jill, Diana, Shelly and me. We led our own lives and yet, were always together. The church may have brought us together, but the bond of sisterhood we share, has kept us together. Through the years, we've married (and some divorced), moved and moved back home, seen each other all the times, sometimes and hardly ever - but last Saturday night - you would never have believed that it wasn't 1973 again. OK - so there were a few gray hairs here and there, maybe a few (or more) pounds here and there, and yes.....menopause was part of our discussion - but the laughter and love were still there. IT ALWAYS WILL BE.

Disney's Annual Pass = Getting Our Money's Worth

Yep! we made another trip to "The Happiest Place On Earth". On the spur of the moment, Heidi called one Monday night and asked if I wanted to join her, Ethan and Andrea at Disneyland the next day. Well, I did have to work....but what are sick days for anyway??!! So, called in and we all headed to Anaheim for a great day. Believe it or not, for a nice, warm May day, it was relatively empty. There were a few lines here and there, but we had a blast. The kids rode everything they wanted to - at least once. Heidi has decided she is a roller coaster person and absolutely loved Big Thunder Railroad. Ethan, however, didn't. In fact, if not for Grandma's quick hands, I think we would have lost him on that ride. He was tall enough to ride....but I'm sure he won't be going back for a while. I think the kids were asleep before we got to the freeway. But oh! what fun. As soon as summer is over, I'm getting a new annual pass.

HEIDI'S GRADUATION

Well, I thought it would be a few more years til I attended a grandchild's graduation but it was May. OK - it was only a preschool graduation, but I was still proud. Believe it or not, they marched in to "Pomp and Circumstance". Of course, there were a lot more wiggles amongst the graduates and laughter from the audience.

Happy New Year

I hope your holidays were happy ones. Our were! Christmas was wonderful with almost all the kids home. Of course, Michael was in Australia but we enjoyed a lengthy conversation with him on Christmas day. (He said he bought a calling card with 10,000 minutes and I think he did his best to try and use them all.) Mark fixed a delicious prime rib (Cindy's favorite)! Santa was good to everyone! New Year's Day was equally nice too. Mark made another prime rib and it was just as good. Everyone seemed to relax and enjoy just hanging together. Yesterday was Michael's one year anniversary- boy! has it gone fast. I hope you all are well and the Moyes Family wishes you all the best in 2009!!