More from the Philippines

Cameron sent us some more pictures this week. We really enjoy being able to see where he is and what he is up to. This is him at a baptism in his last area before he was transfered. What a great group.Elder Leavitt always has the goofy face. This is an inactive family that he is teaching.
Elder Leavitt with his mission president and his companion, his mission president came to the baptism to support them.

On his P-Day he went for a hike with the other Elders. Again...a goofy face. We can see that he has lost some weight in this "King of the Hill" picture.

The group of missionaries that took the hike. We love that Cameron is the one always being a goof ball. Hope he never changes!

Here is Elder Leavitt standing out in the middle of a rice field.

And here he is trying to walk his new pet Caribo. He looks worried, but the Caribo looks even more concerned. Hope they were able to make friends!

Cameron was transfered a couple of weeks ago to another area, he said the area that he is now in, is alot more rural. We just sent him a CARE package with alot of his favorite snacks and new shoes, belt and seasonings for his rice. He was very happy to get his package. He is having a great adventure, and is learning more of the language each day. He said he still struggles alot to understand the language, but everyday learns something new. Keep those pictures and letters coming Elder Leavitt! You are loved and supported by your family and friends!

Pictures From the Philippines!

Cameron finally sent us his first pictures from his mission. We were all so excited to see a glimpse of where he has been and currently is living. These first two pictures are of him in the Taiwan Airport after his LONG flight from LAX. He told us that since he has traveled alot, the missionaries were all coming to him to ask questions on what to expect. I guess his 10+years of flying around the world finally paid off, and he is the PRO Traveler in the group.

Here he is enjoying a bite to eat before he gets on his plane to Manilla.

When he saw this gate all decked out in "Hello Kitty" he had to take a picture. Funny, but this ended up being his gate that he left out of to go to Manilla.

And here is his first apartment. He told us when he first got there that the beds were not stacked as bunkbeds. There was no room to move around, so he helped stack them. His bed is the top bunk,

Nice clean room, Notice the air conditioner in the window. I am sure that will come in handy. He said that even though it is only in the 70's, because of the humidity if there is not a fan blowing he is dying from sweat. And it is only January!

Here is his lovely kitchen. Yes, that is a propane tank for cooking his rice.

He warned us not to freak out about the bathroom. This is considered one of the nicest apartments in the mission. At least he has a flushing toilet and notice the toilet paper on the back of the toilet. This is a luxury that is not always available. He has a shower, but no hot water. So they fill the tub of water with the cold water and wash off in it. At least no more 20-minute steam showers for the next two years.

Here he is with his companion and a family that was recently baptized.

This is the chalkboard at the baptism. I think it was the sister missionaries that took care of this, unless Cameron has flourished in his art skills since he left.

This is their church building. We were surprised how nice it was considering all the hurricanes that hit there.

Okay, we're not to sure of what this is all about. But at least he is the same Ole Cameron, always a jokester.

Here he is helping to dig a trench. He borrowed some clothes to pitch in and help. I guess he had his companion take this picture.

This is a picture of Elder Leavitt and his companion. I can't remember his name and I would probably spell it wrong anyway. Cameron told us he will be transfered next week. We are sad because his companion has been soo good to him. I am sure he will love his new companion just as much.

And this is my favorite scenic picture that he sent. It is now our desktop picture. We don't know where this was taken, but how beautiful is that sunset? Cameron is doing great. I will try my hardest to get a few of his amazing letters posted for you to read. If you have a minute to email his email address is: storminmormon47@myldsmail.net. He would also love a letter in the real mail. He said to send his letters to his mission office, international stamps are 97 cents and it will take 2-3 weeks for him to receive it. Here is that address:

Elder Cameron W. Leavitt

Philippines Angeles Mission

1827 Gumain St. Redwood Villas

Clark Field, Angeles City

2009 Pampanga

Philippines

We should hear from him tomorrow and will keep everyone posted on what he is up to. God Speed Elder Leavitt!

Fall Family Pictures

Okay, now you can really see how lazy I have been at getting my blogging in. Last October before Cameron left on his mission we had one of Kandace's amazing friends take some family pictures for us. She did a fabulous job, Thanks Jessie! The following pictures are literally just a handful of the over 200 pictures she took of us that day.

The whole family. The family picture on this blog is our favorite, but here are a few more.

My handsome hubby and me. Together 26 years and we haven't changed a bit...right!

Casey and Tinke, great picture!

A funny story, she forgot to take Cameron's picture, and she called and met us at Gardener Village the Monday before he left and she took this great picture.

Happy Cute Courtney!

Kandace looking...Woooo Whooo! Beautiful picture.

Handsome Casey!

Me and my girls, isn't this a nice picture! But.......

It came after this silly picture. She caught everything on picture. Don't even ask what the girls are doing behind my back.

She even noticed Courtney's loud socks and snapped a picture!

I love this picture of Steve and the boys.

Like I said, she snapped everything, I am sure Cameron is comparing who's waist is smaller....

I love this picture of Steve and his girls.

And me and my two handsome boys.

The day we went back to take Cameron's picture she offered to do his missionary pictures.

She took over 60 pictures of just Elder Leavitt in his suit. So after a while I couldn't stand it and jumped in the picture and she snapped a few of just me and my Cam. I love these pictures.

And this is my favorite that day, my kiss and hug to last me for the next two years. We had a great time taking our family pictures, even though I got alot of grumbling about what to wear and why do we have to go to Gardner Village when it is soo crowded, these pictures were worth it. Thanks again to Jessie for putting up with us and taking so many great pictures!

Christmas here and gone!

This Christmas season just flew by. So I am a few weeks behind on my blogging. We ended up hosting 5 Christmas parties this season for Friends and Family, a total of 178 people were here to celebrate. Our favorite party every year is the "Haupt Family" Party. Even though we were small in numbers since a few people have moved away, we had a fun time.

Here is Tony plotting on how he can keep "Land of the Lost" DVD in the White Elephant game. Things always get a little crazy, which is why we love it! He did get his DVD in the end, and I got my Christmas bobble pig. Can't wait to see what great gift I walk away with next year

Another favorite game at the Haupt Family Christmas party is the "Candy Bar" game. This is always crazy and because we have played so many years we have added our own twist to the game by having 2-3 pairs of dice going at the same time, so it is hard to keep up with who has the candy bar that you really want. Courtney is plotting with Angelica on who has her "TOBLERONE"...I can't remember if she ended up with it, I think that Adair walked away with most of the candy because he can remember everything. It was great fun!

We ended the night with our special visitor. Tyson shows Santa that he wants his two front teeth for Christmas!

Tony lets Santa know that he was a very good boy this year!

Cry Baby Steve, still afraid of Santa!

Christmas morning Casey and Tinke came over to open presents and have breakfast.

The girls loved the gifts they gave each other this year.

And they loved their new headbands, scarf's and purses!

Steve was happy to get a Utah sweat shirt, so now he can go to a game with Mike! We had a wonderful Christmas, and our best gift came at 8 PM Christmas night when Cameron got to SKYPE us and talk to all of us at the same time. It was great to hear from him and know he is doing so well in the Philippines. We hope all of you had a fabulous Christmas too!

Tis the Season.....let the Festivities begin!

Okay, so my family thinks I am a little over the top at this time of year. What can I say, I love Christmas! This year I had my trees (we have 10 trees) up before I ran my race in November, knowing that I had a full calendar of events in December to be ready for. I had the privilege of helping to decorate the JetBlue "New York...New York" themed tree for the Festival of Trees,

Here is our tree that we decorated and all my friends from JetBlue. Left to Right is Margot Miller, Melanie Nebeker, Me, Brentz Brandt, and Karen Western. It took us about 7 hours, but....

Look at the detail. If you have ever been to New York, you would recognize everything on the tree, including pizza, chinese take out box, and taxi cabs. I went back to the festival on Friday and loved seeing people just taking their time to look at everything on the tree.

This is another great tree at festival of trees...The Grinch! Too fun.

These next pictures are things that reminded me of Germany. The windmill nativity is what I brought back as a souvenir, mine is not this elaborate though.

This Gingerbread house reminded me of New Swanstien Castle that we visited in Germany. I love going to the festival of trees every year, and really enjoyed being able to help with a tree this year.

Okay, so I host several Christmas parties every year at my home. The first was my team JetBlue party that me and my good friend Betty give every year for the past five years for our teams. We have the tradition of inviting one of our children's choirs to come over each year to sing to the crowd. This year we had the Madrigals, from Taylorsville perform for us. What a treat, I think I want a hippopotamus for Christmas now! This is why we love to have this party, for the great entertainment.

I think the crowd loved the singers! The night was a hit! I have since had my bunco group over for our Christmas party, and this week I will have the JetBlue supervisor party and the Haupt Family party next Sunday. Good thing I have a family that puts up with my crazy December over load of parties. We wish you all could be here and enjoy the fun with us! Happy Holidays, and we hope you are having a great time too!