Happy Birthday Bret

Today is Bret's 27th birthday. Happy Birthday! Unfortunately he will spend the entire day at school. Bret is a fabulous student and works extremely hard to keep a very high GPA. Bret is a good mechanic, good musician, excellent video game player, enjoys soccer and basketball and is a good husband to our favorite daughter. We love you Bret and hope that you have a very wonderful birthday. We are glad that you are part of our crazy family!

Congratulations Camron

Way back when the snow was still on the ground Camron began planning the garden. He would spend time drawing maps of the garden and what would be planted in each row. When spring came he worked hard to prepare the ground and helped plant everything. His efforts paid off! On Saturday he took a zucchini, a crookneck squash and some beans up to the Stake Harvest Fair. Master Gardeners came in to judge the items. Camron ended up winning 1st place on his zucchini, and 2nd place on his squash and beans. He was very happy.

WAY TO GO!

Grandma Joy's 81st Bday

To end our week of family fun we gathered on Sunday for Grandma Joy's 81st Birthday. It was fun to visit with everyone. Kambree announced that she is expecting her 3rd baby next March. Yeah, more babies.

I thought this picture turned out cute of dad with his mom and siblings. Uncle Darcy got stuck having to pull Shelby's car down the mountain at the last minute and missed the party.

We certainly are blessed to have such great family love and support from both sides! Thanks Grandma for all your love. We have always felt that we could come to you with any problem and whatever we needed you would give us. Your love has been unconditional and abundant. WE LOVE YOU!! We wish you another great year with memory to spare.

Happy 100th Birthday Nana

Last Saturday we continued with Family Reunions and met at Alpine Park to celebrate an early 100th birthday for Nana. It was so wonderful to see so many of my cousins. Aunt Claudia's three children were there: Dave from Seattle, Dianne from Oregon and Paul from San Diego. I hadn't seen them forever. We even had a new family member arrive. I didn't get the whole story on how she came about being there or who she was related to but she lived in California and never knew that she had any family on the Nunley side until through genealogy she was found. While at the reunion she met a half sister she didn't know she had and was interested in finding out more about the church. I think she was a niece of Papa Joe??? It was great to visit with all the cousins! While chatting we decided that we love family blogs because it keeps us in contact when we are spread so far away. The best part is that it allows us to combine our efforts of prayer when family trials and health concerns arise!

There is always one thing we have in common and that is our great love of Nana. She has had such a huge impact on my life. She continues to send cards to all her posterity for birthdays and anniversaries. That is A LOT of cards. It has always been her way to share her love for ALL of us. Nana reminds me to use my talents and always be looking for ways to learn. Nana loves nature and the simple beauties of life. Nana loves her family and I hope she feels our abundant love for her!

Nunley Family Reunion - Walker's Cabin by Strawberry Reservoir

Last week we had a wonderful family reunion. Thanks to the Walker's and their great hospitality we all had a great time at their cabin. It was fun to be with family and the cousins especially loved being together. We played a lot of games (ripple, volleyball and parlevufrance??), ate a lot of fabulous food (stuffed french toast) and enjoyed visiting. The kids had a party trailer outside that they all enjoyed sleeping in. One day we went down to Strawberry where the kids loved catching crawdads! They caught about 10 and made a swimming pool for them. We stayed at the cabin Tuesday through Thursday evening. Friday we met at Grandma and Grandpa's to do a service project of weeding and trimming for a couple of hours. That evening we gathered back again in Alpine for a fabulous dinner and spiritual devotional. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for sharing your thoughts and testimony with us. You always inspire us! We love you and appreciate your happy, loving, spiritual example. We did miss our three family missionaries! and of course all the rest of my kids who couldn't come!

He Arrived

Check out Jacob's mission blog (Link is in right column) to see some fun pictures of his arrival in Argentina. So love the Mission President's wife for doing this blog!!!

Off to Argentina

Jacob called tonight!!!!!! He was on a layover at the Dallas airport. They always let the missionaries call from the airport when they are headed out. It was so good to hear his voice. He is doing wonderful and very anxious for the next step in Argentina. He got on the airport in Salt Lake around 2:30 today. He will load the plane again in Dallas at 7:40 and have a 13 hour flight to Buenos Aires. Fortunately he is traveling with around 20 Elders all headed to Buenos Aires. 14 to his mission and the others to the other Buenos Aires missions. He said they are attracting a lot of attention, so many clean cut, young men all dressed in dark suits.

Watch for his picture to come up on his mission blog site. His Mission President's wife is wonderful at taking pictures of the elder's coming and going and putting them up.

Remember to send Jacob letters. You can still do it at dearelder.com. Just do it for the pouch to the Buenos Aires West Mission. It will take several weeks to get there, but I'm sure he would still appreciate any mail from home!

Summer Fun

My latest Favorite Inspiring Story

"Someone told me the story of Thomas, who was alone on his boat when a big storm rose up. His boat capsized. He swam to shore and found himself alone on a deserted island. As the weeks passed, Thomas became so miserable, so distraught. He didn't think he would ever be found. He prayed and prayed, but the heavens seemed silent. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, his thatched-roof hut caught fire.

Thomas sat there weeping as his shelter went up in flames. It was like pouring salt on his wounds.

"God, I give up," he said. "I ask You to help me, but one bad thing after another happens."

He was so down, so discouraged.

Then, about an hour later, a Coast Guard rescue boat pulled up to the beach. Thomas could not believe it. He was thrilled.

"How in the world did you find me?" he asked.

"We saw the smoke coming from the signal fire you built," they said.

Sometimes what looks like a disappointment is simply God getting us in position for a rescue! "God created every one of us to be successful." Have a bigger vision for your life. There are exciting things in your future. The right people are out there to help you. Who can stop you from your destiny - not the enemy, not other people, nobody can keep you from your destiny --- except you.

My Dream Come True

It's been over 10 years that I have been dreaming of owning a Nissan Altima. Well my dream has come true. After working hard to save enough pennies, finding a great deal as well as sadly loosing so many kids to warrant it, I have been able to buy one. I must say I'm happy to be done with driving a mini-van, although we sure have a ton of good memories all jammed in the two white vans we've had. Thanks to all my kids who had to listen to my buying saga and help me make a decision. You are all great cheerleaders! Thanks! Dallen thinks this car would make a great 16th birthday present. He hasn't driven it yet but he sure has been a lot of help figuring all the gadgets out for us. It isn't the perfect deep red car I was dreaming of but hopefully it will be a good reliable car for us.