Where in the World are Grandpa and Grandma this time?

One evening, we were sitting with our friends in St. George and Theron hands me the iPad and says, "What do you think?"  The message was for missionary couples to serve as technology specialists in Fiji.  I replied that we should write an e-mail and inquire.  The rest is history.

We wrote to the couple in the e-mail and they replied within a day and asked us to fill out a little survey of our technical skills.  Within another day, we were asked to prepare a resume and send to them.  A resume for a mission?  We then were scheduled to meet with several technical staff members at Riverton and were 'interviewed'.  The next step was doing a video conference with the ICS Manager at the New Zealand Area Office.  We passed and began completing our mission papers.


We waited most of December and the call finally came the first week in January.  We were assigned to serve as Area Technology Specialists in Apia, Samoa.  The MTC date was set at April 27.  We have now applied for our visas and are waiting for them to arrive.  If the visas can get her sooner than April, we will leave and begin our service to the Lord.

We are looking forward to this second full-time mission and look forward to seeing and witnessing what the Lord has in store for us to accomplish.

As we bid good-bye to 2014, we look forward to the future with anticipation of another wonderful adventure of life!  We are blessed with the most wonderful family in the world.  Our hearts are full of gratitude for our blessed children and their wonderful spouses and the most beautiful, bright, and brilliant grandchildren in the whole world!  We love you!!!

We have an abiding faith and love for Jesus Christ who is our redeemer and loving older brother.  We love our freedoms and the opportunities and blessing that come our way on a daily basis.  We want to exemplify a life of service to all.  What a great future we have - embrace it, love life and love the gospel!

Marc - You are how old? When did that happen?

Our baby turned 35 years old this December 25th.  When did that happen?  He's grown into a tremendous man, loving father and husband, and such a great man!  With Love and Kisses, Mom and Dad

The Bathroom Project - It's Officially Finished

This is the final photo of the new bathroom remodel.  It's complete and I have to say, it really looks great.  All the kids have fun using the sensor to turn the water on.

Christmas Cookies

I have tried to continue a holiday tradition of having all the kids and grandchildren up to make gingerbread houses or trains or something.  This year, the schedules just wouldn't allow for a day with the whole family. 

I couldn't let it go so on Christmas Eve day all the grandchildren, Adrian and Marc came up and we made sugar cookies.  Ali, Mason and Tyce helped put the batter together.  Tyce liked that he could crack an egg.  It was delightful to watch him look intently at Ali and Mason and see what he was supposed to do and then smile when it was his turn.


When the batter was "resting".  We entertained ourselves with an indoor snowball fight using some fluffy snowballs we purchased for just such an event.  I was planning on reading a story, but that was too long and boring to keep them entertained for more than one minute.

We then cut cookies, baked cookies, made tiny pizzas and then frosted cookies.  I think everyone got their fill of eating cookies, also.

Adrian and I made a 'special' batch for Neala's family - we tried to protect her as much as we could!

I love these kids and hope we are indeed building memories.

Christmas 2015

It's hard for me to believe an entire year has come and gone.  Neither Theron nor I were feeling much in the Christmas spirit this year, don't have a good reason.  Theron did not put up his light display and everyone asked about it.  Oh well, they will have to wait a couple more years - I'll explain in another blog.

We were able to enjoy the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Program at the Conference Center featuring the Muppets.  We loved the Bells on Temple Square Concert and the beautiful lights on Temple Square.  We tried and tried to travel to St. George for a few days, but that didn't happen.  But, we did get to travel to Kaysville and meet and greet ALL of Neala's family - Dan from New York, Karen Ann from South Carolina, and Darren from California.  All five of her grandchildren were there as were the spouses.  What a great family and what a treat for her and Louie.  Louie didn't get to spend too much time because his mother died and he had to travel to New York, but he did have Christmas Day.



We traveled to Adrian's and opened presents and then to Marc's and opened more presents.  It's such a joy seeing your kids' families and the joy that is there for our grandchildren on Christmas Day.  Always of course for us, it's a delight to celebrate Marc's birthday and remember Grandpa Schaefermeyer.

Theron and I bought new iPad Air 2 for each other and of course, we opened those way before Christmas.  

Cameron got new hockey gear, Taylor's got all camo, Mason got legos and action figures, Ali got a huge doll house, and Tyce got a Talking Elmo.  It was a celebration and we all recognized how blessed we are to have each other, to live in a free country, to have an abundance of everything!

Tyce is being patient with grandpa!

The story this year was that Taylor went shopping with us to pick out a pair of binoculars for Curt (but they were really for him) and he tried out several pair and told us the ones to buy.  He was surprised when he opened them on Christmas Day.  Way to go - picking out your own Christmas present and being surprised!

A Fun Day with Mason and Ali

It's really a comfortable place to be in life when you don't have any other responsibilities and you can just call up and say "can Mason and Ali come for an outing today."  Well, there are a few other things behind all of this - Brittney has been ill with the flu and early pneumonia and Taylor and Cameron are in school and Tyce, well, was too small this time.

There is a new aquarium in Salt Lake so we decided a fish adventure was just what was needed.  Ali told us a couple of times how very excited she was, that little sparkle in her eye and and you know how excited she really was.  We started right off looking at fish exhibits, then Mason kept asking, "I want to see the sharks."  Now, this was repeated about fifty times always with the explanation, "I've seen enough fish."

The penguins did not cooperate by getting in the water, in fact, Ali asked if they were alive.  The large fish, the small fish, the frogs, and all other animal life soon lost their interest.  We couldn't get Mason to touch the starfish, but Ali did and then said, yuck.  Finally, we relented and went to the sharks.  Just as soon as we turned the corner to walk under the big tube viewing area for the sharks, Mason, stopped, "I'm afraid."  Well, we tugged a little and he timidly walked through the tube; Ali was all face to the glass.

Then, we took them to the best place of all - the Tiki Playhouse.  That's where they spent a good part of the day until time was up and we had to leave (you pay by the hour to play there).  We herded them to the Amazon area to see the big anaconda snake and to encourage them to walk the rope bridge.  Ali and I walked once together and she learned that she could do it.  Then Mason and her walked several more times.

It's fun to see new things and ask new questions through a child's eye.  Love and Kisses Grandma and Grandpa.

Another Bucket List Accomplished - Machu Picchu, Peru

I have looked at pictures of Machu Picchu for years and thought how strange to build a city in the top of a mountain, how strange to invest all that time and energy to stack stones and then just leave, how beautiful the view, and on and on.  It's been one of the bucket list items for a long time and finally this November we were able to walk the ruins, see Cusco and other Inca sites and enjoy the beauty of Peru.

Curt and Melanee traveled with us to Peru.  It was fun having our kids along and taking in the splendor of these ancient sites.  We flew from Salt Lake to LA to Lima, Peru and on to Cusco - a long arduous journey, but well worth it.  In the Lima Airport, we met John and Carol Padilla who are serving an LDS mission in Peru.  They flew in from Trujillo to gather all the medicines, clothes and other supplies we took for them.  They couldn't get away to go to Cusco, so it was just a short visit for us.

In Cusco, we met our tour guide and had a private van and tour of all the sites each day.  The first night in Cusco we enjoyed a Peruvian dinner and show which featured dances, singing, and lots of costumed characters doing various things.

The next day we traveled the hillside and near valleys and mountains of Cusco to numerous Inca ruins.  Along the journey through the Sacred Valley (Cusco is supposed to be the center of the Sacred Valley) the Incas built a city or stopping village every 18-20 miles and all of them are in the mountains.  Cusco is about 13,000 feet above sea level and sometimes we had to stop to breathe.

Llama and apalca everywhere

The next day it was the Sacred City of Ollantaytambo.  Actually, this area is larger than Machu Picchu and this is the city where you catch the train to travel to Aguas Caliente.  We had a beautiful hotel and a wonderful look at the mountains of this rain forest area.

Thursday, Thanksgiving in Utah, we took the 25 minute bus ride to Machu Picchu and spend the entire day walking the ruins of this pristine Inca city.  When we arrived at about 7 a.m., the clouds were surrounding the various mountains and shadowing the city.  As we walked and looked, it was like magic and they disappeared and there in full view was this fantastic city.  The day was perfect (except for the little bugs that bit our legs and left red welts - oh well, the things we must endure) and we walked every part of the ruin.  Curt, Melanee and Theron hiked the original Inca Trail to the Sun Gate; I went part way.  Curt and Theron hiked the Inca Bridge trail.

Machu Picchu early in the morning with Huayna Picchu in background

The next day, Curt and Melanee left early in the morning to hike Huayna Picchu which is the large mountain overlooking the city of Machu Picchu.  They only let so many hikers up a day and you have to have a special ticket which we obtained before leaving Utah.  It was cloudy and misty that day so the view was not as good as it could have been, but what an experience.

Inca Trail to Sun Temple

Trail to the Inca Bridge

We left that afternoon to travel back to Cusco and arrived in Cusco late in the evening.  The next day was Saturday and we rested, went to see a couple of Inca Museums and rested.  We left Sunday to fly to Lima where we met a friend of John and Carol's who took us on a tour of Lima.  We had a long, long layover to catch our plane back to the states.  This is a city of 10 million people and lots of traffic and no freeway system.  It is a very beautiful city and we enjoyed our time seeing the sites and walking some of the streets.

Lima, Peru

Another memory we will always cherish.